Traveling through Naruto with Heroes of Might and Magic.

"puff!"

The masked man's arm was severed at the shoulder, finally struck by a [magic arrow]. His aura instantly weakened, and his struggles became much weaker.

Qingwu showed no mercy, and another [Magic Arrow] quickly condensed at her fingertips.

Even if a basic spell is upgraded to LV4, the amount of natural energy consumed is negligible for him now.

Just then, a figure descended from the tree, accompanied by a deep, angry shout, "Useless trash! You couldn't even stop a brat!"

Qingwu did not turn around immediately. Instead, with the help of the withered wood guards, he dealt with the masked man first before turning around.

Kakuzu's tiny, beady eyes were filled with malevolence.

"Spiritual communication!"

Two silver flying horses appeared beside him, one on his left and one on his right, and Qingwu felt much more at ease.

This way, he can leave at any time if the situation becomes unfavorable.

That's right. Now that he'd reached open ground, he didn't intend to run away immediately, but instead tried to exchange blows with Kakuzu.

After all... the rewards for a battle against a Kage-level opponent are very tempting.

"Ok?"

Kakuzu's beady eyes narrowed as he noticed that the young man's gaze was different from before.

Previously at the underground gold exchange, the young man's eyes were full of apprehension, but now... what's with this restless eagerness?

"You brat, are you looking for death?" Kakuzu's rough voice rang out, tinged with doubt.

Qingwu's lips curled slightly, but he did not respond. Behind him, five enormous withered wooden guards stood silently.

Kakuzu's expression turned serious. The fact that this young man could summon a creature of this level proved that his chakra was quite terrifying.

Moreover, he had a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen related information somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.

"It seems I underestimated you, but..."

Kakuzu stepped forward, his voice icy: "Today, I want both your money and your heart!"

After he finished speaking, Qingwu was the first to make a move.

The same tactic as before—click, click!

Countless roots broke through the soil, enveloping Kakuzu's entire body, attempting to form a cage-like domain.

"Humph!"

Kakuzu snorted coldly, stretched out his palm, and shot out dense black tentacles that aimed straight at Qingwu's face. At the same time, he moved his feet quickly to avoid being entangled by the roots.

"Wood Release·Wood Spindle Wall·Thousand Weights!"

Qingwu dared not be careless, and its roots formed a wooden wall to block the earth-resentment tentacles of Jiaodu.

"boom--!!"

The wooden wall crumbled, but it could only break through the first few floors before it could not advance any further.

Kakuzu's beady eyes narrowed slightly; clearly, the defensive power of Wood Release had exceeded his expectations. "There are actually people who can use Wood Release to this extent."

"I am someone who has fought against Hashirama Senju. Young man, are you his descendant?"

As he spoke, Kakuzu noticed the Wood Release technique forming a cage, and scoffed disdainfully, "Earth Release: Earth Spear!"

His arm turned black and he lunged straight at the cage.

"Click, click, click—!!"

With unstoppable momentum, countless roots were destroyed by the rigid earth spear technique.

Midway through, Kakuzu even raised his arm to block a sneak attack from Qingwu's [Magic Arrow].

Qingwu frowned slightly; the defensive and offensive capabilities of the earthen spear also exceeded his expectations.

However, upon hearing Kakuzu's words, he couldn't help but scoff, "You fought the First Hokage? You consider throwing a shuriken from 800 miles away as a fight?"

"What did you say, brat?" A fierce glint flashed in Kakuzu's eyes as he rushed forward and stabbed a withered wooden guard with his earthen spear.

"Crack—!!"

The defense of the Deadwood Guardian's main body is much stronger than that of its roots, and Kakuzu's jet-black arm is stuck inside the Deadwood Guardian's body.

At the same time, Qingwu seized the opportunity and waved his hand, summoning hundreds of great elves to appear in the arena, drawing their bows and shooting arrows.

"Whoosh-"

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

A dense barrage of emerald green arrows shot towards Kakuzu, who was trapped in front of the withered tree guard.

A hint of surprise flashed in Kakuzu's eyes. He had a sense of déjà vu as he faced "Sasori of the Red Sand" within the organization, who could also control hundreds of puppets at once.

"boom--!!"

Kakuzu has unleashed his ultimate attack.

The crimson cloud and black robe exploded, the Earthly Grudge Mode was activated, and countless tentacles knocked away all the arrows shot at him.

And three masks separated from his body, connected by tentacles, and floated behind him.

……

Chapter 150 Fierce Battle with Kakuzu

Even when facing Kakuzu in the Earth Grudge Mode, Qingwu dared not be careless in the slightest.

Five more withered tree guardians descended and landed beside him.

Kakuzu's beady eyes narrowed violently, and then he was filled with rage. "Kid, you've got some skills, but my methods go far beyond that."

Before he could finish speaking, one of the masks behind him opened its mouth, "Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"

A high-pressure wind ball was released from the mouth of the Earth Grudge: Wind Release Mask Monster, clearing away a large area of ​​its surrounding roots.

Immediately afterwards, a vast expanse of flames, like seawater, was released from the mouth of the Earth Grudge Fear Fire Release Masked Monster, turning all the remaining roots to ashes.

Qingwu's expression was more solemn than ever before.

What he lacks is precisely this kind of wide-range destructive skill, but after Kakuzu activates Earth Grudge Fear, every move he makes is a powerful attack.

Fortunately, the roots could be burned, but neither wind nor fire techniques could completely destroy the withered tree guardian.

Qingwu recalled the two weakened and wounded Drywood Guardians and replaced them with two others.

There were still 10 withered tree guardians, forming an encirclement from opposite corners.

After thinking it over, he decided not to send the Silver Pegasus to raid Kakuzu.

With the defensive capabilities of the "Earth Spear," the Silver Pegasus would most likely be unable to inflict effective damage, and there is even a possibility that it could be instantly killed by a wide-range ninjutsu.

After all, the Silver Pegasus's strength lies in its speed, not its high health pool like the Deadwood Guardian.

Lightning Release: False Darkness!

Kakuzu's wide-range ninjutsu continued; this guy seemed to have gone mad.

The Earth Grudge Fear: Lightning Release Masked Monster unleashed a sharp lightning spear from its mouth, sweeping from near to far, instantly piercing through two withered tree guards.

Seeing this, Qingwu was glad he made the choice. If the Silver Pegasus had been pierced by such a lightning ninjutsu, it would have been instantly killed.

"..."

Kakuzu, slightly out of breath after unleashing a series of wide-range ninjutsu, noticed the ever-growing number of enormous summoned creatures in the arena, and his deep voice grew serious:

"You brat, you have thoroughly enraged me!"

Qingwu dared not be careless in the slightest, casting the magic [Protective Shield] on the withered tree guardian.

And always maintain at least 10 Deadwood Guardians to besiege and wear down Kakuzu.

He knew that continuing to fight might not guarantee a victory, but he wanted to leave Kakuzu with something to remember him by before leaving, and that way the rewards at the end of the battle would be even greater.

Kakuzu was extremely annoyed by the countless roots surging up again.

So...

The fire and wind style masked monsters behind him suddenly snapped together and reformed, unleashing a "Combined Ninjutsu: Flame Wind Chaos!"

"boom--!!"

The wind fanned the flames, and the inferno was even about to spread to the distant city wall of Duan Ce Street.

The roots were cleared away again.

However, the green parasol tree standing atop the dead tree guardian was completely unharmed.

This enraged Kakuzu even more.

The battle taking place here had already alerted the residents and ninjas of Tanabata, but the commotion was so great that no one dared to come and investigate.

Faced with Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear, Qingwu dared not engage in close combat, because he knew that this guy's tentacles also had a binding effect.

If he is caught, even the Silver Pegasus will be unable to help him escape.

Therefore, his tactics were clear from beginning to end: to use the high-HP Dryad Guardians to constantly wear down Kakuzu, similar to his previous battle against the Jinchuriki, Roshi.

However, now that he is facing Kakuzu, Qingwu realizes that Lao Zi didn't use his full strength that night at all.

Otherwise, given the amount of chakra a Jinchuriki possesses, if they continuously use large-scale Lava Release, even with a large number of Dryad Guardians' [Root Entanglement] spells, they probably wouldn't be able to achieve their goal easily.

Time passed second by second, the sea of ​​fire in the forest gradually subsided, and Kakuzu's ninjutsu frequency also began to decrease.

Even though he has lived for nearly a hundred years and can use the Earth Grudge Fear technique to steal other people's chakra nature, his total chakra amount is still limited.

Seeing that even combined ninjutsu couldn't kill Qingwu, Kakuzu changed his strategy.

Instead of unleashing any more powerful ninjutsu, he combined smaller ninjutsu with taijutsu to try and defeat his opponent.

This conserves his chakra, allowing him to deliver a fatal blow at a crucial moment.

With the help of the dense tentacles of the Earth Grudge Mode, this guy, like a giant spider, constantly used the surrounding environment to swing and sway, rapidly approaching Qingwu.

Kakuzu's tactical thinking is simple: summoned creatures are troublesome, so just deal with their masters!

When faced with wide-range ninjutsu, Qingwu had already put away the Great Spirit, but now he released it again.