Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

That's right, they are ninjas.

Hanzo could see that Kirito wasn't a real samurai; strictly speaking, he was just a ninja in samurai skin.

Of course, Kirito's various incredibly powerful sword techniques were not fake, but in terms of swordsmanship, Kirito's swordsmanship was only so-so in Hanzo's eyes, barely passable.

But none of this prevents Hanzo from acknowledging Kirito as a powerful Kage-level shinobi.

"Where did this person come from? Do the Five Great Ninja Villages have such a powerful ninja who is skilled in swordsmanship and also masters all five basic chakra natures?"

Hanzo was filled with doubt.

Among the five powerful figures from the five great nations in his memory, there was no one named Kirito.

It has to be said that the ninja world is still very complex; such a powerful figure suddenly appeared.

Kirito had no time to pay attention to the shock in Kakuzu and Hanzo's hearts. After discovering Kakuzu's weakness, he began to think about how to kill Kakuzu here.

On the other side, while Kakuzu was internally shocked by Kirito's mastery of the five basic chakra natures, his hands did not stop moving.

With his extensive combat experience, he knew exactly how to force the enemy who had infiltrated underground to come out, and instantly came up with a solution.

He quickly completed the hand seals and then placed himself on the ground.

Earth Release: Opening the Earth and Raising the Ridge!

The next moment, a volcano suddenly rose from the ground in front of Kakuzu, spewing out a large amount of mud.

At the same time, the lightning-masked monster in the sky once again unleashed a massive lightning spear to attack.

Lightning Release: False Darkness!

In an instant, the enormous lightning spear struck a large amount of mud in mid-air.

However, to Kakuzu's surprise, Kirito was not seen in the mud, and his attack failed again.

"How could this be? Is this person's Earth Release ninjutsu able to move underground this fast?"

Kakuzu thought in surprise.

He had lived long enough to be considered knowledgeable and experienced. He had also dealt with Iwagakure, who were skilled in Earth Release techniques, many times. As far as he knew, no Earth Release ninjutsu that could move underground could match the speed of the Earth Release ninjutsu used by the enemy in front of him.

He immediately used Earth Release: Earth Rising Ridge, a ninjutsu that can force enemies lurking underground to surface, all within two seconds.

In such a short time, the enemy had already run more than 100 meters underground?

Upon realizing this, Kakuzu felt a long-lost chill creep into his heart.

If the enemy possesses such a powerful Earth Release ninjutsu, his chances of defeating the enemy will become extremely slim. In addition, if the enemy possesses that terrifying Lightning Release ninjutsu that accelerates speed, it will be very difficult for him to escape.

However, Kakuzu didn't dwell on such trivial questions as how he had offended Kirito.

As a bounty hunter at the top of the pyramid, he had long since lost count of how many people he had offended, and he knew that sooner or later someone would come looking for revenge.

He who kills will be killed.

Since he committed murder for the bounty, he was prepared for retaliation afterward.

Therefore, he neither thinks about the reasons why the enemy attacked him, nor is he interested in them, and he would never beg for mercy.

In this ruthless world, ninjas are meant to fight until the moment of their death.

Kakuzu had long been aware of this.

A deadly sensation came from behind him, and without thinking, he quickly used the Substitution Jutsu.

The next moment, a katana flashing with electricity sliced ​​his body in two.

Kirito once again used his sword technique, Lightning Flash, and successfully launched a sneak attack.

With a loud "bang".

A puff of white smoke appeared, and Kakuzu's body turned into a piece of wood that had been chopped in two.

Upon seeing this, Kirito frowned, and his famous sword instantly became covered with attribute-less chakra. He then quickly turned around and swung it three times in three directions.

Three massive chakra slashes appeared, shooting at high speed towards the two masked monsters in mid-air and the location where Kakuzu had appeared after dodging using the Substitution Jutsu.

Kakuzu immediately used Earth Release: Earth Spear, the Earth Release technique he usually uses most often in his body, to defend himself. His hands instantly turned pitch black, easily blocking and deflecting the incoming chakra slash wave.

In mid-air, he also manipulated the Water Release Masked Monster to use Water Release: Water Wall for defense.

A massive wall of water suddenly appeared in front of the Water Release Masked Monster and the Lightning Release Masked Monster, blocking the two incoming chakra slashes.

However, a wave of air suddenly shot out from the forest behind the two masked monsters, cleaving the lightning-style masked monster in two along with its mask and body.

The Lightning Mask Monster was destroyed.

"what!"

Kakuzu immediately let out a scream.

Clearly, the death of a masked monster also caused him great harm.

"It seems that's really the case; you're not very good at being surrounded."

Upon seeing this, Kirito sneered.

As he spoke, he threw out several kunai with his free left hand, aiming at Kakuzu and the remaining Water Release masked monsters in mid-air, but they were easily blocked and deflected by both, and could not cause them any effective damage.

"Are there still his companions in the forest? Or did he leave behind a shadow clone in the forest before?"

Kakuzu clutched his chest, spitting out some necrotic earth grime, staring intently at Kirito ahead. Then, he secretly glanced at the direction of the forest from which the air slash was shooting out, and thought to himself, "This is bad."

He had realized that the enemy had discovered his weakness in controlling the masked monster in battle.

That's right. Because of the Earth Grudge Fear Secret Technique, he can control four masked monsters with different attributes to fight at the same time. However, he can only use one ninjutsu at a time, either himself or the masked monster. He can't handle more than that.

Otherwise, it will affect the normal release of ninjutsu and easily lead to the failure of ninjutsu release.

Releasing ninjutsu requires a high degree of concentration, and when he releases two ninjutsu at the same time, it is temporarily impossible for him to pay attention to other things.

At this moment, if an enemy launches a sneak attack, he will definitely be caught off guard.

Therefore, just as Kirito said, he is not good at being surrounded.

But that was only when he was held up by a strong opponent of the same level and had no time to spare.

If Kirito were merely a Jonin, he wouldn't be afraid even if two more elite Jonin came, because a mere elite Jonin wouldn't be able to survive his combination ninjutsu in a direct battle.

One of the masked monsters has been destroyed, and the enemy has also discovered the weakness of controlling the masked monster in battle.

Kakuzu had already begun to consider retiring.

For Kakuzu, running away is not a shameful thing; it is simply a means of survival.

Back in the day, he was a man who escaped from the clutches of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, so he was not lacking in escape methods.

With a thought, the Fire Release mask on his shoulder and the Wind Release mask monster joined forces once again to perform a combined ninjutsu.

Fire Release: Head Carving!

Wind Release: Pressure Damage!

Suddenly, a massive wave of fire surged toward Kirito, forcing him to use his sword technique, Heaven's Return: Water, to defend himself.

However, Kirito is not fighting alone now; there is also a shadow clone of him in the forest.

The shadow clone decisively took the opportunity to consume the little chakra left in its body and spat out a huge air slash.

Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!

A sneak attack is based on the premise that the enemy is unaware of it.

With Kakuzu on guard, the shadow clones' attacks were obviously much less likely to succeed.

When using two ninjutsu simultaneously, Kakuzu immediately manipulated the Water Release Masked Monster to fly down.

Although he couldn't control all three masked monsters to perform ninjutsu attacks simultaneously, he still had the capacity to control the third masked monster to make simple movements while controlling two of them to use ninjutsu.

The shadow clone's sneak attack failed.

Taking advantage of the gap in Kirito's defense against his combination ninjutsu, Kakuzu immediately jumped onto the body of the Water Release masked monster that came down from the sky, and then controlled the Water Release masked monster to fly up quickly with him.

At the same time, the Wind Release Masked Monster on his shoulder spewed out a stream of air that wrapped around the Water Release Masked Monster, instantly increasing its flight speed several times over. It flew at high speed in the air, quickly escaping with Kakuzu.

Wind Release: Gale Palm!

"Want to run?"

Kirito noticed Kakuzu's actions with his white eye, sneered, and then moved the five fingers of his left hand.

The next moment, Kakuzu, who was riding the Water Release Masked Monster and quickly retreating in the sky, suddenly found his body being pulled by a huge force and then fell from the sky.

Not only him, but also the Water-Style Masked Monster.

Kirito's throwing of the kunai with his left hand was not a probing attack, but rather a covert act of attaching incredibly resilient chakra threads to Kakuzu and the Water Release Masked Monster.

This is a puppetry technique he learned from Chi Sha and Sha Lan using the Spirit Transformation Technique: Soul Search.

The purpose, of course, is to artificially create weaknesses in Kakuzu's defenses for an attack.

However, preventing the enemy from escaping, as is the case now, is also a good application.

"What exactly happened?"

Kakuzu, who was falling rapidly, thought to himself, full of doubt.

"Could this technique be the chakra threads used by the puppeteers of Sunagakure?"

Hanzo's shadow clone, who was watching the battle, saw Kakuzu and the Water Release Masked Monster suddenly fall from the sky to the ground and pondered thoughtfully.

He had fought with Chiyo, that old woman, and thus deeply understood how insidious the puppeteer's methods were. What impressed him most was not the various poisonous hidden weapons on the puppets controlled by the puppeteer, but the chakra threads that the puppeteer used to control the puppets.

The chakra lines are so fine that they are almost impossible to see with the naked eye.

What's most terrifying is that these chakra threads are incredibly tough. If you accidentally get entangled in them during a battle, and you don't notice it immediately and cut it with a weapon wrapped in chakra, the puppeteer might use it to create an opportunity for a fatal blow.

The scene before him now was strikingly similar to the time when he almost died from Chiyo's chakra threads that had secretly bound his body, when he tried to get rid of her entanglement.

"Could this guy be from Sunagakure?"

When Hanzo's shadow clone looked at Kirito, a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

But he quickly dismissed the possibility.

If this mysterious Kage-level powerhouse were from Sunagakure, Sunagakure would have used him in the war against Konoha long ago, instead of keeping him hidden until now. They wouldn't be turning a blind eye to the battle between Chiyo and the others from Sunagakure and Iwagakure, and instead choose to cause trouble for the immortal Kakuzu.

"Then who is he on? He knows powerful sword techniques with five elements and can also use puppetry."