A light breeze swept through the forest as Kakuzu suddenly tensed, stopping in his tracks and turning toward the dense foliage beside him.
"Who's there?!"
His voice was calm but carried a terrifying murderous intent. Having just obtained a corpse with a massive bounty, he had been in a good mood. However, the moment he sensed someone following him, his mood soured.
As a ninja, nothing irritated him more than being tailed.
Rustle.
The sound of leaves shifting echoed softly, and a figure slowly emerged from the dense forest. The man wore black pajamas, his long red hair swaying gently in the breeze. A long blade rested in his hand, making him look more like a samurai from the Land of Iron than a ninja.
However, Kakuzu's eyes quickly locked onto something unusual—the young man's eyes. They weren't human. His pupils were red, vertical slits, resembling a beast that preyed on others. A chill ran down Kakuzu's spine.
"Hah!"
"Are you here for revenge? Who are you?"
Kakuzu cracked his neck, stretching his muscles slightly, a smirk creeping onto his face.
"Yes, I'm here for revenge."
"Hand over the corpse behind you."
Uzumaki Raiden's voice was calm as he slightly lowered his gaze.
The young man who had emerged from the forest was none other than Raiden, who had tracked Kakuzu's movements and pursued him. By now, they were far from the capital of the Land of Flowers. It was clear that after parting with Raiden and the others last night, Sarutobi Shinnosuke and his team had discovered the enemy's trail and chased them through the night.
Along the way, Raiden had come across battle remnants and the corpses of several Konoha ninjas. As he gathered the fallen for proper burial, his rage grew. The closer he got to Kakuzu, the stronger his anger burned.
Without realizing it, the chakra of the Nine-Tails had begun leaking from him, altering his pupils.
The beast inside him—Kurama—remained silent, neither stopping him nor suppressing the chakra that spilled out like a violent tide.
"This head is worth twenty million ryo. Do you plan to rob me?"
Kakuzu was fully aware that the man before him had come seeking vengeance. Judging by his words, his target was Shinnosuke's corpse. Still, Kakuzu's tone was dripping with mockery, deliberately provoking his opponent.
"Talking to you is a waste of time."
Raiden drew Sakegari no Tachi, casually tossing the scabbard aside.
The next moment, his figure disappeared.
"So fast?!"
Kakuzu's pupils shrank. Without hesitation, he dodged to the side, but a streak of lightning flashed past him, accompanied by the gleam of a blade. A sharp stinging sensation coursed through his right arm, making Kakuzu grimace.
"Zzt!"
A soft crackle of electricity filled the air. Kakuzu tumbled across the ground, barely managing to stop himself. When he looked back, the red-haired young man in pajamas stood where he had been a moment ago, holding a corpse in his left hand and a long blade in his right.
Not far from Raiden lay a severed arm.
Kakuzu glanced down at himself. His right arm was missing, but not a single drop of blood spilled from the wound. He stared at the empty space where his limb had been, his expression growing cold.
He realized that his opponent's strength was far beyond his expectations.
Without hesitation, black tendrils began writhing from Kakuzu's severed limb, reaching toward his fallen arm. Within seconds, the threads reattached it, seamlessly restoring his lost limb.
"Heh... Hehehe..."
"Boy, you may be strong, but you can't defeat me!"
"I fought against the Ninja God, Senju Hashirama! Compared to him, you're just a—"
Before Kakuzu could finish his sentence, Raiden flicked the tip of his blade, sending out a lightning bolt. Mid-air, the lightning split into four separate streaks, each one striking toward a different angle around Kakuzu.
His face darkened.
Quickly, he reinforced his body with Earth Release, channeling a vast amount of chakra into his arms, crossing them in front of himself as a shield.
"BOOM!!"
The four lightning strikes struck simultaneously, but Kakuzu stood his ground. The attack had not harmed him. Without hesitation, he leapt backward, tearing off his cloak to reveal his body.
On Kakuzu's back, four grotesque masks twitched and writhed. As he shed his robe, the masks seemed to come alive, pulsating with eerie energy.
The next second, the four masks detached from his body, dragging black tendrils with them, forming four monstrous entities at his side.
"You bastard! DIE!"
Kakuzu's eyes gleamed with a mix of excitement and madness. He raised both hands toward Raiden.
His arms detached at the elbows, shooting toward Raiden like living projectiles, connected by writhing black tendrils.
At the same time, two of the masked creatures opened their mouths.
A massive wall of fire erupted, but before it could dissipate, a powerful wind blast fed into it, turning the flames into an inferno that surged toward Raiden.
The separated entities could not only unleash powerful jutsu on their own, but they could also combine them, exponentially increasing their strength.
"If I had known Kotaro was chasing you, I would've come myself."
"I've grown soft from this peaceful life."
Raiden's expression remained calm. Swiftly, he pulled out a scroll and sealed Shinnosuke's body inside.
Then, he raised his left hand. A surge of terrifying chakra erupted from within him.
A crimson chakra barrier formed before him.
The firestorm and Kakuzu's dismembered fists crashed into the chakra wall.
Kakuzu's eyes lit up in excitement, watching the raging flames consume the space. But as the fire slowly faded, his expression twisted from triumph to horror.
"You're... Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki...?! Uzumaki Raiden?!"
For the first time in decades, true fear gripped Kakuzu.
A monstrous chakra now flooded the battlefield. The chakra wall that had withstood his attack transformed before his eyes, taking shape into something massive.
A towering beast—Nine-Tails!
The pressure it exuded made Kakuzu feel as though he had traveled back in time—to when he had faced Senju Hashirama himself.
"Have you finished your little performance?"
"Now it's my turn."
"Don't die too fast, bastard. I want to enjoy this!"
Raiden stood within the head of the chakra-forged Nine-Tails, his body wrapped in golden chains. The chains extended outward, forming an armored lattice over the beast, reinforcing its immense power.
The sheer weight of his chakra pressed down on the battlefield, making it difficult to even breathe.
Kakuzu's heart pounded.
"You damn brat! DIE!" he roared, trying to mask his fear.
But the next instant, an enormous claw swung down toward him.
"BOOM!!!!"
(End of this chapter)