Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Wind Release: Pressure Damage!

The massive, high-density wind mass formed a terrifying storm, like a powerful cannonball, blowing everything around it away, including huge trees.

The bolt of lightning that Kakuzu was looking at was also blown away.

"Hmph, what an overconfident fool, daring to set his sights on me."

Upon seeing this, Kakuzu sneered.

But no sooner had he finished speaking than the bolt of lightning reappeared, hurtling towards him with lightning speed.

This time, his long-standing habit of leaving items nearby that could be used with the Substitute Technique saved him.

After the thunder roared, a piece of wood, cut in two, appeared where Kakuzu had been standing.

Kirito appears before Kakuzu as a mysterious samurai.

Kakuzu was clearly a ruthless and taciturn man. Without asking Kirito the reason for assassinating him, he immediately activated the Earth Grudge Mode, and two masked monsters appeared on his shoulders, one a fire-style masked monster and the other a wind-style masked monster. Then, two more masked monsters split off from his body.

Having witnessed Kirito's swordsmanship, Lightning Flash, Kakuzu now considers Kirito an opponent of equal caliber and goes all out from the start.

"So this is Takigakure's Earth Grudge Fear technique? What an amazing ninjutsu."

Kirito looked at Kakuzu's current stance and spoke in a calm tone.

Through their recent exchange, he had roughly figured out the difference in strength between himself and Kakuzu.

He has the advantage in speed.

He also has the advantage in terms of intelligence.

Therefore, it is not impossible for him to defeat Kakuzu.

"So you know me very well? Then you should just die."

Upon hearing Kirito's words, Kakuzu's expression changed, and he said coldly.

As he spoke, the two masked monsters on his shoulders simultaneously activated their ninjutsu.

Fire Release: Head Carving!

Wind Release: Pressure Damage!

The wind intensifies the fire.

A massive fan-shaped sea of ​​fire rushed toward Kirito.

At the same time, the masked monster flying in the air, the one with the lightning-type nature, shot out a sharp, huge lightning spear from its mouth, which landed in the sea of ​​fire.

Lightning Release: False Darkness!

"Oh!"

In an instant, a massive explosion occurred in the sea of ​​fire.

The sudden explosion instantly enveloped Kirito.

"Hmph, foolish fellow."

After witnessing Kirito being engulfed in the explosion, Kakuzu sneered.

His combined ninjutsu, which combines the three powerful ninjutsu of wind, fire, and lightning, is characterized by its surprise and has enormous power and range. Even if the enemy uses a body-flickering technique in time, it is difficult to escape.

Unsurprisingly, the mysterious samurai who had just appeared was blasted to ashes by his combination of ninjutsu.

But just as he was thinking this, he suddenly realized that something was wrong with the sea of ​​fire in front of him.

Soon, a rapidly spinning chakra ball appeared in his eyes.

Chapter 146: A Battle of Shadow Levels

"They're still alive! Is that the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist: Rotation?"

Kakuzu looked at the chakra ball gradually appearing in the sea of ​​fire and asked in confusion.

But soon he realized what was going on, and a look of shock appeared on his face.

The rapidly spinning chakra ball was actually formed by the mysterious samurai spinning his katana at high speed, not the absolute defensive technique, Gentle Fist, that the Hyuga clan used in combination with Gentle Fist, as he remembered it.

Sword Technique: Heaven's Return - Water!

This is a defensive sword technique that Kirito revived by combining the principle of Gentle Fist: Rotation of the Heavenly Sword, which involves rotating high-density, attribute-less chakra at high speed, and using the famous sword in his hand, which is made of chakra metal and has excellent chakra conductivity. It has powerful defensive capabilities.

Furthermore, in order to consume less chakra, Kirito also used Water Release chakra to unleash the sword technique Rotation, which easily blocked Kakuzu's explosive Fire Release attack, a combination of three powerful ninjutsu: wind, fire, and lightning.

"That attack was powerful, but not strong enough."

Kirito stopped what he was doing, ended the Resurrection, and smiled calmly amidst the gradually dying embers.

"Hmph, let's see how many times you can block it."

Upon hearing this, Kakuzu roared angrily.

The next moment, the two masked monsters in the sky immediately activated their ninjutsu, one shooting out a huge water cannon from its mouth and the other shooting out a huge lightning spear.

Water Release: Water Curtain!

Lightning Release: False Darkness!

The water bullet was enormous, over twenty meters long, and incredibly fast, falling like a mountain crashing down. If Kirito were hit, he would surely be crushed into a pulp, because that water bullet wasn't ordinary water; it was water with the hardness of steel.

However, compared to water cannon fire, the giant lightning spear is Kirito's primary threat right now, as it inherits the lightning release ninjutsu's fast and rapid attack speed.

Almost in the blink of an eye, it was about to hit Kirito.

The White Zetsu clone activated its Byakugan, and the massive lightning spear that was moving at high speed suddenly became slow and sluggish, allowing the chakra flow nodes within it to be clearly seen.

Kirito's famous sword was instantly covered with a dense wind-style chakra, and a rapid upward airflow appeared around him before he swung the sword upwards.

A massive air-cutting wave, hundreds of meters in diameter, appeared instantly, whipping up a gale as it roared away.

Sword Skill: Wind Chimes!

The air slashing wave instantly struck the giant lightning spear, which was instantly annihilated, turning into pure, non-aggressive lightning chakra.

Subsequently, the air chopper collided with the giant water bullet.

Without any obstruction, the incredibly sharp air slicing wave instantly cleaved the giant water bullet in two.

Then, the giant water bullet, which had been cut in half, was split again, shattering into a large number of neat fragments. In the end, it could no longer maintain the form of the ninjutsu and turned into rain.

"That damned guy!"

Kakuzu watched as Kirito easily broke through his proud ninjutsu, and his heart sank. He said coldly.

As he spoke, a large number of resentful tentacles shot out from his body, transforming into eight enormous, serpentine tentacles that swept towards Kirito.

At the same time, two tentacles quietly emerged from his heels and burrowed into the ground.

Kirito observed Kakuzu's subtle movements and began to move quickly on the ground, dodging and parrying the tentacles' attacks while rapidly approaching Kakuzu.

Kakuzu naturally wouldn't let Kirito have his way, and in order to block Kirito's terrifying lightning-style acceleration technique, the wind-style masked monster on its shoulder kept spewing out huge gusts of wind to attack.

Wind Release: Pressure Damage!

The high-density, massive wind mass formed a terrifying storm, making it difficult for Kirito to approach Kakuzu.

The Thunderclap Secret Technique could not be successfully executed because it was countered by Wind Release.

At this moment, Kakuzu finally completed the hand seals with both hands, and then slapped his right hand on the ground.

The ground around Kirito instantly turned into a huge swamp.

Earth Escape·Yellow Quan Marsh!

As a powerful ninja who is over seventy years old, Kakuzu naturally has mastered a considerable number of ninjutsu, including useful techniques like Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld, which can effectively restrict the enemy's movements.

After all, he has lived for so long and has hunted countless targets. He has seen many speed-type enemies like Kirito and knows very well how to deal with this type of enemy.

As long as the enemy's speed is blocked, the enemy won't be able to jump around.

As soon as Kakuzu successfully activated Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld, Kirito's legs immediately sank into the soft, sticky ground, restricting his movement and rendering him temporarily unable to move.

Kakuzu naturally wouldn't miss such a good opportunity. His two Earth Grudge Tentacles, which had been burrowing underground, instantly emerged from the ground around Kirito and then dispersed into a large number of tiny tentacles that shot towards Kirito.

Not only that, but the eight long, snake-like tentacles on his body also swiftly stabbed towards Kirito.

Upon seeing this, Kirito's famous sword instantly burst into flames, and then, using immense force, he forced his body to spin once in the swamp.

A massive vortex of fire instantly appeared around him.

All the attacking tentacles were burned to ashes by the high-temperature flames.

Sword Skill: Fiery Dance!

With many of the Earth Grudge Tentacles damaged, Kakuzu couldn't help but let out a muffled cry of pain. However, he did not stop his actions. Since the sneak attack failed, he once again had the Wind Release Masked Monster on his body and the Water Release Masked Monster in the sky launch an attack.

A large amount of vacuum waves were ejected from the mouth of the Wind Release Mask monster.

The Water-Clad Masked Monster let out a strange cry, and the rain falling from the sky and the water on the ground quickly gathered together to form a huge water dragon.

Wind Release: Vacuum Ball!

Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!

"Just as I thought. Every time this guy attacks, he can only let one masked monster attack when he launches an attack. When two masked monsters attack, his own body and the other masked monsters cannot attack. In other words, with the help of the Earth Grudge Fear Secret Technique, this guy can only release two different ninjutsu at most at one time. This must be due to the lack of intelligence attribute. However, being able to use two ninjutsu to attack at the same time during battle is something that 99% of ninjas cannot do."

Kirito, whose body was mostly mired in the mud, watched Kakuzu launch another fierce attack by controlling the two masked monsters, and thought calmly.

The next moment, to Kakuzu's astonishment, he deliberately burrowed underground, thus successfully avoiding the attacks of the two masked monsters.

Ninja Art: Mayfly Technique!

"This guy can even use Earth Release. The chakra he just used already includes Lightning Release, Water Release, Wind Release, and Fire Release. He's a ninja who has mastered all five basic chakra natures, just like me. Who is he? Which great ninja village trained him in?"

Kakuzu watched as Kirito clearly used some kind of Earth Release ninjutsu to burrow underground, and thought to himself with utter shock.

Kakuzu was very clear about why he could master the five basic chakra natures. It was entirely due to the secret technique Earth Grudge Fear, which allowed him to obtain the chakra natures of other ninjas by plundering their hearts.

That is why he possesses the five basic chakra natures; it is not something he mastered through his own talent.

In the ninja world, there are very few ninjas who can master all five basic chakra natures at the same time; each one is an absolute genius.

Hanzo, who was watching from a distance, was equally shocked.

The battle between Kirito and Kakuzu caused such a commotion that Hanzo couldn't possibly have missed it. However, since he needed to keep a close eye on the battle between Iwagakure and Sunagakure, he had no choice but to send a shadow clone to observe. As a result, he witnessed a spectacular battle and a mysterious, powerful ninja who possessed all five basic chakra natures.