"Naruto: Ice God"Chapter 157: Fierce Battle, Kakuzu (Part One)
"I advise you not to act rashly. The money exchange has stood firm in the shinobi world for years—its backing is not something ordinary ninja like you can—"
The man forced himself to maintain composure, making a final attempt to intimidate the two young people before him with words.
Feng Bai didn't want to hear his nonsense and shook his head lightly: "Tell me something I'm interested in, like where Kakuzu is right now."
"You're Konoha ninja, and this is within the Land of Fire. Once news of my incident leaks out, Konoha will face—"
"I see." Feng Bai showed a look of sudden understanding, interrupting the man's struggle for the second time: "You're absolutely right. If this gets leaked, it would indeed cause me considerable trouble, so..."
Feng Bai's words gave the man a glimmer of hope, but it instantly vanished.
Because Feng Bai and Yakura, right in front of him, removed their Konoha forehead protectors and replaced them with Sunagakure ones.
"Fine, fine, you little..."
The man laughed—he used his actions to prove that when people reach a state of extreme speechlessness, they really do laugh out loud.
"I'm kindhearted and can't bear to see others suffer, so I'll leave this to you." Seeing the man still unwilling to submit, Feng Bai sighed helplessly, entrusting this arduous task to Yakura, then quietly turned his head away.
Yakura, full of betrayal-fueled anger with nowhere to vent, didn't decline. She sneered and walked toward the man before her.
...
Land of Fire, border forest.
At this moment, Kakuzu looked like a wild man, his hair disheveled, sitting shirtless beneath a large tree. No one could tell this was the same ruthless individual who had once crossed fists with the First Hokage.
"Who's there?"
He jerked his head up sharply. Years of wilderness survival had made Kakuzu extremely alert, and those green eyes now gleamed with light.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Kakuzu. I'm here to invite you."
Feng Bai walked slowly into Kakuzu's field of vision, with Yakura following step by step behind him, her gaze toward Kakuzu carrying a hint of wariness.
"An invitation? Sorry, I have no interest in any organization, especially Konoha. However..." Kakuzu looked with disgust at the Konoha forehead protector on Feng Bai's body. Every time he saw that symbol, Kakuzu felt his heart ache faintly.
Shifting his gaze to Yakura, Kakuzu's tone finally showed some fluctuation. He pulled out a small notebook from his tattered pocket, flipping through page by page until he found Yakura's entry: "Scorch Release Yakura, bounty amount twenty-five million ryo—quite a valuable head."
"Hey, hey, hey, are you just going to ignore me completely?"
Feng Bai felt somewhat hurt. He had thought he was at least somewhat famous in the shinobi world, but judging by Kakuzu's expression, no one had placed a bounty on him at all.
"Hmph, worthless little girl, stay quietly on the side and don't speak!"
His right arm shot up suddenly, and Kakuzu's hand flew toward Yakura like a cannonball under the influence of black threads.
"Scorch Release."
Facing Kakuzu's flying right hand, Yakura summoned three fireballs to orbit around herself, guarding against Kakuzu's attack.
"Who are you calling a little girl?!" Feng Bai frowned and threw the kunai from his hand.
Three kunai flew straight toward Kakuzu, colliding with his body and producing crackling metallic collision sounds.
"Mere kunai—"
Kakuzu hadn't finished speaking when he noticed through his peripheral vision the jutsu formula inscribed on the kunai. Years of combat experience transformed into warnings exploding in his mind.
Realizing the kunai held hidden tricks, Kakuzu had no time to finish his words and immediately tried to escape from his position.
"Hatake Style: Thunderfire Blade—Instant Lightning Flash!"
Using the Flying Thunder God Technique to approach Kakuzu, Feng Bai's White Fang blade, wreathed in lightning and fire, sliced through Kakuzu's tough body.
With a large gash torn in his waist, Kakuzu couldn't concern himself with Yakura anymore. He took several retreating steps to distance himself from Feng Bai.
"Fire Release: Searing Migraine!"
Without any hesitation, Kakuzu unleashed a Fire Release the instant he landed.
Surging flames like a tsunami, with tremendous impact force, directly reduced the trees blocking the attack range to powder.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Water waves no less impressive in range than Searing Migraine appeared from thin air, colliding with the fire waves and generating white steam.
"Just who is this brat? In ninjutsu, he's actually not inferior to me!"
Kakuzu could accept having his ninjutsu countered by his opponent. What he couldn't accept was that someone capable of reaching the same level of mastery was a teenager.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
But now was clearly not the time for contemplation. Seeing the steam beginning to obscure his vision and worried about a Scorch Release sneak attack, Kakuzu released a powerful Wind Release.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
Feng Bai's voice came from within the mist. Almost simultaneously, both unleashed large-scale Wind Release techniques capable of tearing apart mountains and rocks.
The moment the two jutsu collided, they produced a tremendous roar that echoed throughout the entire forest. The steam instantly dissipated, and both sides saw each other's silhouettes at the same time.
Water Release, Wind Release, and the lightning-fire nature that had just torn through his body—could this brat possibly...
After the brief exchange, Kakuzu deduced that the brat before him had likely, like himself, already mastered nature transformation of all five elements.
This was too terrifying. He could use five-element ninjutsu because of Earth Grudge Fear's ability to steal hearts. But how old was this brat?!
Equally shocked was Yakura, who had been observing the battle from the side. Previously, she had only heard scattered accounts of Feng Bai's exploits. Although she had seen him training in Shikkotsu Forest, this was her first time witnessing actual combat.
A terrifying kid. If she had faced him, her performance would probably be even worse than that masked weirdo.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
Armed with intelligence about Kakuzu, Feng Bai didn't need to analyze while fighting like Kakuzu did. Working single-threaded, he only needed to seize the right moment to release his jutsu.
Cross-shaped wind blades whistled toward Kakuzu. For ninja without Sharingan or Byakugan, attacks from invisible wind-nature blades could only be dodged by intuition.
As the Wind Release hit its mark, massive dust clouds briefly obscured Feng Bai's vision.
When the dust settled, Kakuzu's grotesque form was exposed.
"What kind of monster is that?" The one exclaiming was Yakura. She had never seen such a terrifying human—no, the Kakuzu before her had already transcended human classification.
What could make Yakura cry out could only be the Earth Grudge Fear state.
Knowing that releasing hearts to fight independently against someone of Feng Bai's caliber would only be feeding him kills, Kakuzu simply entered his strongest state.
Countless black threads extended from every crack in Kakuzu's body. More and more threads coiled together, transforming Kakuzu into an indescribable form.
Two masks emerged from his shoulders, producing crisp sounds as they opened their mouths.
"Die!"
Two thick black threads suddenly shot up from underground, binding Feng Bai tightly.
"Combined Ninja Art: Masked Beast!"
Fire and wind chakra intertwined, forming an even more terrifying sea of flames that directly engulfed the restrained Feng Bai.
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