[A/N: MASS RELEASE TOMORROW! HERE AND ON PATREON.Thanks for the support. ✌️ Peace ]
The Lightning Mask opened its jaws. A spear of crackling chakra tore through the air toward Naruto.
Naruto jumped just as it fired, electricity slicing through the space where his head had been a moment earlier. The bolt detonated against a tree behind him, splintering it into smoking shards.
Kakuzu was already moving.
Black threads burst forward and wrapped tightly around Naruto's arm and leg.
"Tch—!"
With a violent yank, Kakuzu whipped him downward. Naruto was hurled straight into the forest floor—
BOOOOM!
—but at the last second, chakra surged from his body.
WOOSH
A cushion of compressed wind exploded beneath him, reducing the impact just enough to keep his bones intact. The ground still cratered, dirt and roots flying everywhere.
Naruto rolled, slashing the threads with a kunai in one clean motion. The severed tendrils twitched like severed nerves as he bolted forward, weaving between trees.
Kakuzu didn't chase blindly. His Earth Mask activated. The ground trembled violently.
Cracks split open beneath the forest, roots snapping, trees tilting as the entire area shook like it was alive. Naruto stumbled, nearly losing his footing—but he caught himself, teeth gritted, and kept moving.
Then he stopped. Naruto skidded to a halt, turned, and swung his arm through the air like he was cutting something invisible.
For half a second— Silence. Then the air screamed. A compressed blade of wind detonated forward, ripping through the forest and slamming into Kakuzu.
BWOOOOOOSH!!
The immortal was launched backward, plowing through a line of thick trees as if they were paper, trunks exploding behind him one after another.
'Been a while since I used that,' Naruto thought calmly. 'Never even gave it a name. Oh well.'
He vanished. Space folded. Naruto appeared directly in front of Kakuzu in a flash.
His fist drove forward—
BAM!
Kakuzu's head smashed into the tree behind him and burst straight through the other side, bark and blood spraying outward.
Naruto began to skip forward, light on his feet, almost casual.
'I've been meaning to get a boxing bag.'
His fists moved.
CRACK.
CRACK.
Both remaining masks shattered instantly, fragments raining down as they lost cohesion.bNaruto stepped in closer. Slow. Measured.
BAM.
BAM.
BAM.
Each punch sank deep, controlled and brutal. Kakuzu's screams echoed through the trees—but there was no one around to hear them. Just him. And Naruto.
'I don't even hate him enough to keep this going,' Naruto thought. 'Let's end it.'
He grabbed Kakuzu by the throat and ripped his head free from the tree, lifting him effortlessly. He was surprisingly light.
"S-spare me…" Kakuzu muttered.
Naruto didn't hear him.The wind howled in his ears. A Rasengan formed in his palm—tight, controlled, screaming with power.
He drove it straight into Kakuzu's chest.
WHIRRRRR—
The threads unraveled instantly. Kakuzu went limp. Dead. Naruto exhaled slowly and let the body drop.
He stood there for a moment, chest rising and falling, the battlefield suddenly quiet. A sick feeling twisted in his gut.
He swallowed hard. 'It's going to take time to get used to that.' This was his first kill. And he didn't like it. Something fell from Kakuzu's remains.
A pouch.
Naruto picked it up—and froze. Inside was more money than he had ever seen in his life. His mood improved instantly as he tied it to his belt.
'…Okay,' he thought.
'Maybe I regret it a little less now.'
The wind rustled through the broken forest as Naruto turned back toward the rest of the battlefield.
The mission wasn't over yet.
Naruto hoisted Kakuzu's body over his shoulder and moved.
He leapt from tree to tree, boots barely touching bark as the forest rushed past beneath him. The sky darkened, and before long, rain began to fall—first a drizzle, then a steady downpour that washed blood from his clothes and cooled the heat still lingering in his veins.
By the time he reached the battlefield, rain pattered against broken trees and churned mud.
The sight that greeted him was… excessive.
Hidan was skewered by every weapon imaginable—kunai through his arms, swords pinning his legs, chakra blades lodged through his torso. He looked more like a gruesome shrine than a man.
And yet—he was still alive.
Shikamaru stood some distance away, sweat pouring down his face as he maintained Shadow Possession, his legs trembling from the strain.
Naruto dropped down from above.
THUD.
Kakuzu's corpse hit the ground at everyone's feet.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Hidan snapped.
"KAKUZU, YOU IDIOT!" he screamed, thrashing uselessly against the shadow bind. "NOW HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET OUT OF THIS?! I swear I'm gonna curse you after this! I'll make sure Jashin tortures your soul for eternity!"
Shikamaru blinked, staring at the body… then at Naruto.
"…Naruto. You won?"
Naruto nodded, rain dripping from his hair.
"Yeah. It was kinda tough, but I figured him out. He was immortal too—kinda like him—but he had multiple hearts."
He turned his gaze toward Hidan.
"I got some info from the other guy. This one genuinely won't—and can't—die. He's got a neat trick too. If he licks your blood, any damage done to him gets transferred to the person whose blood he tasted."
Hidan froze.
Naruto continued calmly, "Don't know which god he worships, but he's working overtime to keep him alive. Best option is to bury him."
"You're lying!" Hidan snapped. "Kakuzu would never sell me out—unless you paid him!"
Asuma stepped forward, rain dripping from the edge of his coat.
"With an ability like that, bringing him back to the Leaf is too dangerous," he said firmly. "Izumo. Kotetsu. You know what to do."
Naruto raised a finger.
"Wait—slice him up first. Just to be sure."
Kotetsu hesitated. "Won't that kill him?"
Naruto smiled slightly.
"Nope."
Izumo and Kotetsu exchanged a glance… then shrugged.
"Works for me."
They went to work.
Hidan screamed, cursed, and ranted the entire time—but no one listened. Steel flashed. Flesh parted. And still—he didn't die.
When they were done, Izumo and Kotetsu dug deep, narrow holes, spaced far apart, each one long and difficult to climb out of.
Naruto pulled out paper bombs and retrieved strands of Kakuzu's chakra threads. He tied Hidan's pieces together with them carefully.
"If he even twitches," Naruto said, "they go boom."
They buried him.
Only then did Shikamaru release the Shadow Possession.
He collapsed to his knees instantly, gasping, rain soaking him to the bone.
"…Tch. Troublesome," he muttered weakly.
Asuma looked at Naruto thoughtfully.
"When did you get so strong… and so smart?"
Naruto shrugged.
"I dunno."
The group looked at each other.
Then shrugged as well.
"Come on," Kotetsu said, dragging Kakuzu's body. "Let's burn this thing."
As they walked, Naruto spoke casually.
"Oh—did you guys know this dude fought the First Hokage once?"
Shikamaru stopped dead.
"…What?"
"Yeah. He said he stole people's hearts while they were still alive to extend his lifespan."
Izumo grimaced. "That's disgusting… Good thing you came, Naruto. You really saved us."
Naruto smiled, rubbing the back of his head.
"I just got lucky."
They burned Kakuzu's body until nothing remained but ash.
After that, they regrouped with other shinobi teams on similar missions, exchanged brief reports, and finally—under the fading rain—returned to the Leaf
TO BE CONTINUED