The white light lasted for a full minute before ending. The scene it revealed was... unexpected...
Lexon, in his demonized form, was covered in wounds. The Susanoo he had manifested was fragmented, and the chains created by the Adamantine Sealing Chains had all been shattered.
"Truly unexpected."
Lexon, still in his demonized form and bleeding, smirked and muttered with a smile.
The next moment, his terrifying regenerative ability healed all his wounds. Aside from his somewhat tattered "Akatsuki" uniform, his body was the same as before.
[End Demonization]
Lexon deactivated his demonization, returning to his human form. He took a new set of clothes from his space ring and changed.
Then, he dismissed the Susanoo, the Markings, and all other enhancements...
Returning to his normal state.
"It seems I really can't underestimate these Reincarnators," Lexon muttered, looking at the spot where Zhongh had disintegrated.
That spherical mechanical device was an explosive. The power it unleashed was beyond Lexon's imagination. Even he, blocking it at full power, was left in a sorry state.
His chakra and stamina had been heavily depleted.
However, this was also because Lexon had been standing at the center of the explosion and had forcibly contained all the blast energy, restricting it to a certain area.
Otherwise, even a sliver of the explosion's shockwave would have been enough to kill Zabuza and the others.
Even so, it demonstrated the terror of that spherical device.
'I can't be so overconfident in the future,' Lexon thought.
This served as a lesson for him and gave him a new perspective on these Reincarnators.
'I can't underestimate Reincarnators who have survived multiple story worlds.'
'You never know what kind of trump card these guys will pull out.'
'So I still need to be a bit careful.'
'After all, who would have thought that a group of Reincarnators, who barely reached Kage-level when combined, could pull out a one-time-use item with Super-Kage-level power...'
'By the way, were Zhongh's dying words true or false?'
'"Idle time of more than five years... means we'll encounter... only..."'
'What came after that?'
'Was it just to distract me? Just to buy time to use that spherical device?'
Lexon's mind turned.
Swoosh...
The sound of a ninja approaching.
"What just happened?" The newcomer was Kakuzu. He looked at the somewhat shattered ground and asked.
"Nothing, don't worry about it," Lexon replied.
Hearing this, Kakuzu didn't press the issue.
"You're not wearing your uniform?" Kakuzu asked, seeing Lexon in casual clothes.
"It's ruined. I'll ask the leader for a few more later."
"Oh." 'As long as he's not asking me for it,' Kakuzu thought.
He then looked at the unconscious Zabuza and the others, asking Lexon, "These guys are still alive. Should I kill them?"
"Except for those two," Lexon pointed at the unconscious Zabuza and Haku under the tree, signaling that Kakuzu could kill everyone else.
"Okay." After agreeing, Kakuzu began to reap the lives of the unconscious Kirigakure Anbu, as well as the few Reincarnators from the Crimson Knight Brigade who were still clinging to life.
In a short while, Kakuzu was finished.
He returned to Lexon's side, looked at the unconscious Zabuza and Haku, and asked, "What do you plan to do with these two?"
"It looks like they won't be waking up anytime soon," Lexon said, looking at Zabuza and Haku.
"That's the rogue ninja Zabuza, isn't it... Juzo Biwa's sword, who died half a month ago, seems to have fallen into his hands. He's a rogue ninja himself. He should fetch a high price." Staring at Zabuza, Kakuzu, who loved money, couldn't help but think about money-related matters.
"In that case..." Lexon looked at Kakuzu.
"In that case?" Kakuzu followed his lead, his mind already calculating Zabuza's bounty and the approximate price of the sword.
"In that case, you can carry them," Lexon finished.
'Huh?' A question mark seemed to appear over Kakuzu's head.
"I'm counting on you," Lexon said, patting Kakuzu's shoulder.
"..."
The face under Kakuzu's mask was black, perhaps even blacker than his Earth Grudge Fear.
In the end, Kakuzu could only obediently accept Lexon's "request."
He had no choice. The situation was what it was.
'The other guy is much stronger. I have no room to refuse. Just like how I used to kill my partners along with the enemy just because I didn't like them...'
'Ah... I shouldn't think about that. Every time I do, I want to smack my past self...'
Kakuzu didn't carry the unconscious pair himself. Instead, he created an Earth Grudge mask-monster and had it carry them.
"How long to Amegakure?" Lexon asked Kakuzu.
"Two days," Kakuzu replied.
"That long?" Lexon was a bit surprised. After all, it had only taken them a little over half a day to get from the Land of Fire to the Land of Water, where Kirigakure was.
"Amegakure is on the other side of the Land of Fire. It's far from our current location," Kakuzu explained. "And two days is if we travel at full speed."
"Then let's go. A little long is fine. We can slack off on the way," Lexon said, unconcerned.
'I knew you'd say that...' Kakuzu glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.
As the "Akatsuki" organization's workhorse, driven by his love for money, Kakuzu naturally looked down on Lexon's behavior.
But... there was nothing he could do about it.
"Let's go," he said.
Then, the two of them and the mask-monster vanished.
...
"Your sword... Didn't you drop your sword? What's the use of asking me," Lexon said to Zabuza.
"That's a very famous weapon, the Kubikiribocho," Zabuza said.
Clearly, he felt that the other party wouldn't just ignore such a valuable item. If he had taken it, Zabuza was hoping to trade for it.
After all, it was a very important weapon for him, a great help in his battles.
"Do you think I care about your little broken sword?" Lexon asked.
Zabuza fell silent. 'Indeed, with his strength, he has no need to take my sword. And no need to lie about it.'
"Go back and check where you dropped it. It might still be there," Lexon continued.
"Thank you..." Zabuza lowered his head slightly, speaking politely.
"What's there to thank me for..." Lexon glanced at him strangely.
"Thank you for saving me and Haku."
"Ah... I didn't intend to save you." Lexon moved past Zabuza, and with imperceptible speed, quickly patted Haku's shoulder as he walked by.
His voice continued from ahead, "Your lives were just a byproduct of something I wanted to do."
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