Konoha's Mission Master

"Barrier: The Boundary of the Three Wonders of Wind, Fire, and Thunder!"

Kakuzu clasped his hands together.

A triangular cone barrier appeared, trapping Yakumo within it. At the three points of the triangular cone stood three masked monsters, which were three clones created by Kakuzu's Grudge.

"You cannot leave here within half an hour."

Kakuzu said confidently, the triangular cone barrier was filled with arcs of electricity, firelight, and the slight whistling of the wind, the three of which mixed to present a deep blue color.

"mercy."

Two shadow clones formed hand seals, and in the blink of an eye, thirty-two transparent water droplets split and splashed in different directions, colliding with the barrier and creating patches of blue ripples.

Eventually, the water bombs dissipated, but the barrier remained standing.

Kakuzu's barrier technique is very effective at trapping enemies, and most importantly, it is provided with chakra by the three Earth Grudge Clones, so there is no need to worry about consuming it.

Five masks, six sources of chakra.

The five masks inside Kakuzu's body represent the five strongest warriors of each element in the past, and the heart behind each mask stores all the chakra of that warrior in his lifetime.

The Earth Grudge Fear, a forbidden technique of Takigakure, not only steals the heart, but also the entire amount of chakra a person possesses.

In terms of chakra reserves... Yakumo was utterly crushed.

"The Earthly Grudge and Desire Pattern".

Kakuzu spoke softly, and two painted monster masks appeared on his shoulders, representing the earth and water chakra within him.

"Water Escape: Water Shot!"

The water-type mask opened its mouth wide, and a thick, azure water column reached Yakumo at incredible speed…

Yakumo retreated half a step, and the water-type mask immediately changed direction, with the water column following closely. The area inside the barrier was not large to begin with, and simply dodging was not a solution. Yakumo moved left and right, while quickly approaching Kakuzu.

At the same time, the two shadow clones began to run and gather their strength.

"Waltz!"

The Milky Way suddenly appeared, falling straight down from the ninth heaven.

The double-edged blades swiftly slashed back, outlining a perfect arc, and a stylish blade domain descended, with black and white electric arcs twisting and entwining.

"drink."

Yakumo let out a soft shout, his arm muscles bulged, and his twin blades met to unleash an extremely violent slash... Heaven Opening.

Heaven: Next time, I'll crack myself.

Black and white blade energy lashed out from the blade, forcefully scattering the water column and splashing rain everywhere... Yakumo exerted force with both legs and began to run, a series of water columns shot into the sky from the top of the tower, and the water under Yakumo's feet exploded into huge, turbulent ripples.

At the same time, the two shadow clones flicked their fingers and launched two charged Compassions, like swords being drawn from their sheaths.

Bang, bang, like cannonballs colliding with a solid wall, a terrifying roar accompanied by shockwaves that radiated in all directions at extremely high speed.

"Click, click."

Cracks appeared in the barrier, making it teeter on the brink of collapse.

The next second, the two shadow clones threw out thirty-two transparent water droplets that collided with the barrier, followed by sixty-four, one hundred and twenty-eight... endlessly. The two shadow clones simply gathered their compassion into a single line and attacked the barrier on the same side.

Water dripping on stone wears it away, with a loud bang.

The barrier shattered.

Two shadow clones instantly broke free of the barrier and rushed towards the direction of the battle. He had promised Jiraiya that he would protect Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan.

"I'm protecting Yahiko today... I'm telling you, even if Madara Uchiha personally intervenes, it won't make a difference...!!"

Yakumo thought to himself.

The three-masked monster returned to Kakuzu's back. Although he did not launch an attack, Yakumo could still sense that Kakuzu was angry.

"My money...!"

Kakuzu rapidly formed hand seals; the ninjutsu was incredibly complex. Before he could even complete the seals, Yakumo had already brought his two ninja swords close to Kakuzu's body.

Yakumo's eyes narrowed slightly. He could sense that Kakuzu was brewing a powerful ninjutsu, and he absolutely could not let him use it.

With arms crossed in front of the chest, the two blades form a cross.

The twin blades spun, creating tiny cyan wind blades. A gentle breeze swirled around Yakumo's body, and in the next instant, hundreds and thousands of wind blades sprayed towards Kakuzu's entire body.

Swish swish swish...

Kakuzu abandoned hand seals and swept his hands across the dense black threads, forming a large black net. At the same time, all the wind blades were drawn into the net. The next moment, the net contracted and annihilated the wind blades into scattered blue light spots.

As Kakuzu parried the wind blades, Yakumo had already closed in, his two swords whistling through the air, aimed directly at the mask on Kakuzu's shoulder. At the same time, the swirling sword energy stuck to Kakuzu like a swamp, preventing him from escaping Yakumo's slash range.

"Damn it!" Kakuzu roared.

Kakuzu was quite surprised. The enemy in front of him seemed to know the forbidden technique of Earth Grudge Fear very well. The direction of the double blade attack was always the mask that stored the heart, instead of the conventional vital organs of the human body such as the cervical spine and the heart.

Kakuzu's hands, wrapped in extremely hard black threads, collided with Yakumo's blade. The black threads snapped the moment they made contact, and Kakuzu's arms were severed.

The next second, the black lines extended and reconnected his hands. At this moment, Kakuzu was already considering retreating, after all, Yakumo's shadow clone had already broken through... his mission had already failed.

I'm out of money...

Kakuzu successfully completed the hand seals after enduring Yakumo Tsugumi's fierce slash and paying the price of having his earth and water masks destroyed.

"Fire Escape·Tou Ke Ku!"

The fire mask on its shoulder opened its mouth wide, revealing a red flame the size of a thumb. The flame then rapidly expanded and grew, forming a waterfall-like sea of ​​fire that enveloped the entire top of the tower.

The heat was intense, unbearable. At that moment, it seemed as if even the puddles on the ground were ignited. Before the rain could fall, it was evaporated into massive amounts of white steam that piled up like extremely dense clouds. The next second, it dissipated quickly into a thin mist under the influence of a gentle breeze.

Yakumo naturally did not dodge, but instead walked against the sea of ​​fire toward Kakuzu, and walked faster and faster until a series of silver afterimages appeared behind him.

Yakumo wielded his swords with both hands, the double blades swirling and slashing, creating a black and white domain that was impenetrable to water, like an incomparably solid barrier.

The next second, he crossed his hands in front of him, and the Jade-Cutting Short Blade was instantly sheathed, ready to launch a new attack.

At this moment, Yakumo tightly gripped Fuma, and from his body emerged silver-white lightning chakra and light blue wind chakra, these two powers merging and wrapping around the blade of Fuma.

The Demon-Subduing Blade is long and imposing, as if it were soaked in clear water. Tiny water droplets roll down the blade, becoming even lighter and sharper after merging with two different powers.

It seemed capable of cutting everything in two.

Yakumo's eyes were now fixed on only one thing: the two masks on Kakuzu's shoulders. The blade of Fuma pressed down inch by inch, splitting the air, the rain, and even the space itself in two. The silvery-white blade energy spread outwards, as if trying to cut the entire night in two.

As for the sea of ​​fire that had been painstakingly created, it was split in two by the terrifying wind pressure the moment the blade descended, and Yakumo unleashed a series of strikes under the cover of the silver blade energy.

"Earthly Grudge - Black Rain!"

Kakuzu was covered in black lines, with many even emerging from his mouth. From Yakumo's perspective, Kakuzu had completely transformed into a monster made of black lines.

Countless black senbon needles shot towards Yakumo under the cover of night. A layer of lightning was faintly wrapped around the surface of these needles. In the blink of an eye, the needles reached Yakumo, but he simply swung his sword, endlessly swinging it, the speed increasing until it reached a new limit...

"Waltz!"

Even after reaching the master level of the Hatake Secret Manual, Yakumo's strength continued to increase rapidly. Through repeated tempering with iron and fire, his swordsmanship became even more ruthless and deadly. Finally, after his physique broke through forty points, his swordsmanship underwent a new qualitative change.

Yakumo unleashed eighteen sword strikes in a single second!

A black and white millstone stretched across the top of the tower, and at this moment, even the rain falling from the sky was blocked by the dense blade energy, preventing it from descending.

The next second, to Kakuzu's astonishment...

The black senbon needles were sent flying backwards by the force of the blade!

And after a brief processing by Yakumo, silvery-white electric arcs danced on the surface of those black senbon needles.

"Earthly Grudge Yu - Eight-Legged Ink!"

A massive amount of black threads surged out, and Kakuzu completely transformed into a monster. The black threads intersected to form eight thick tentacles, which then coalesced into a black shield in the next second, directly blocking the black senbon raining down from the sky.

The two stopped fighting at the same time. Kakuzu's eerie blue eyes were filled with apprehension, a apprehension of Yakumo's strength. Yakumo, on the other hand, was filled with worry. Judging from the time, the two shadow clones should have arrived at the battlefield by now, but he didn't know what the outcome would be.

"Since you're out of money anyway, why don't you call here?"

Yakumo held Fuma's hand and softly offered his advice.

"That makes sense. Well then... goodbye!"

The black lines gradually returned to his body, and Kakuzu put his raincoat back on, then turned and walked away into the distance.

"The leader of Akatsuki is a fool who only wants peace in the ninja world. Why don't you consider joining Akatsuki...?" Yakumo shouted.

Kakuzu paused, then asked with some interest.

"Do you have money?"

"No…"

"Oh, not interested."

In Kakuzu's view, as long as there is money, he is willing to do anything, not only to protect the peace of the ninja world, but even to destroy the world. If there is no money, sorry... I am not interested.

The fight between the two was more like a test. After realizing that it was impossible to defeat their opponent easily, they both chose to give up. Kakuzu did so because he wouldn't earn any more money if he continued fighting, while Yakumo did so because he still needed to rescue Jiraiya and the others.

Through the rain, Yakumo rushed to the battlefield.

At this moment, the two shadow clones had arrived at the battlefield, standing on high ground overlooking the two sides in battle. Almost all the civilian ninjas who had joined the Akatsuki organization had been killed or wounded.

The casualties among Konoha's Anbu were also enormous; this unexpected ambush was completely outside of Akatsuki's plans.

After all, it was common knowledge in Amegakure that the guards, the Anbu, and the medical department were at odds, yet they appeared together tonight to annihilate the Akatsuki.

"To avenge... Lord Hanzo!"

Rio Yamashita was shouting and cooperating with two elite Jonin to surround and kill Jiraiya. At the same time, the Anbu and the head of the medical department were also making their move. The reason they put aside their prejudices and conflicts and made their move tonight was to surround and kill Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin!

They want revenge for Hanzo the Salamander!

“Such a hero will naturally have some followers who are willing to follow him…” He suddenly realized.

Suddenly, the image of Hanzo the Salamander resolutely wading through the puddles toward the border of the Land of Rain flashed into Yakumo's mind.

He is truly a hero and a great man.

The last two were ANBU members from Sunagakure and Iwagakure. Although they were elite Jonin, their chakra reserves and attack methods were already approaching Kage level. Moreover, the ninjutsu they mastered was fundamentally different from those weaklings from Kusagakure who lacked proper training.

This is also why Jiraiya was so tightly controlled.

Yakumo's two shadow clones formed hand seals once more.

Four, six... a total of eight shadow clones, they looked down over the entire battlefield from their high positions, while a total of one hundred and twenty-eight transparent water droplets gathered at their fingertips.