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Chapter 157 Mr. Kakuzu, are you interested in becoming my minister?
As he was about to step out of the dense woods, Kakuzu's vision gradually widened, and he could already see several evergreen low mountains in the distance, as well as the villages and towns sparsely scattered among them.
As long as he could escape the sight of the Takigakure ninjas behind him and blend in, then with his concealment ability he could get rid of these dog-skin plasters...
But at this moment, an extremely thick fog surged behind him, swallowing up the surroundings in an instant, causing Kakuzu's dark green pupils to freeze.
The houses on the distant low mountains went from being vaguely visible to being completely white. Everything was shrouded in thick fog, making it difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion.
"Water Style: Mist Hidden Technique?"
Fearing that he might get lost or fall into a trap, Kakuzu stopped and stood on the tree, looking up with a serious expression. The wide view in front of him was blocked and the visibility was less than one meter.
Moreover, the thick fog was not pure white, but mixed with some black and purple.
Although the wisps were not easy to detect, Kakuzu, who had already slowed down his breathing, still noticed it and held his breath before inhaling.
It seems that it's not just the Water Style: Mist Hidden Technique that the Kirigakure Village is good at, but also the Water Style: Poison Mist Hidden Technique that the people of Takigakure are good at?
Phew!
Countless black threads were awakened like living tentacles, twisting out of his body, drilling through his skin, and bursting out from behind his clothes.
As the flying silk threads continued to surge, two monsters wearing similar white masks appeared on the shoulders on both sides, representing the heart of wind and fire attributes respectively.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
The masked monster with a blue stripe at the corner of its right shoulder opened its mouth, and the wind-attribute chakra condensed in it was compressed and released.
Buzz!!
Just like the whistling sound coming out of the masked monster's mouth, the hurricane contracted and exploded violently, turning into a strong wind that swept across most of the dense jungle in front of it!
However, looking at the poisonous fog that was blown away by the hurricane and then quickly filled up again, Kakuzu, who was spitting out black lines from his mouth, looked ugly.
"Does the guy who led the team have a grudge against me? Or did I kill some of his relatives or friends..."
Although the jungle environment is foggy, to achieve this level of success would require at least a few jonin-level Takigakure ninjas who would use their full strength without regard for chakra.
Obviously, the other party was determined to keep him even if it meant using more people to fight him head-on.
"Then give it a try, you fool who overestimates your own abilities."
After realizing the determination of the group of Takigakure Village pursuers behind him, Kakuzu's already tightly furrowed brows became even deeper, and the fire-attributed masked monster on his left shoulder opened its red mouth.
"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work!"
The masked monster with fire attribute spit out tongues of fire from its mouth. After a large piece of flame like a tidal wave fell to the ground, it instantly expanded to cover everything around it, spreading out like waves surging in the sea.
Wherever it passed, large areas of poisonous fog were swept away by the horrific heat wave, revealing towering trees that were ignited and gradually began to spread the flames, as well as the charred ground that was eroded and engulfed by the flames.
But looking at this scene, there was no joy in Kakuzu's eyes.
The flames gradually dissipated in the air, and a large number of sparks rustled down like a group of fireflies. His dark green pupils pierced through the air distorted by the high temperature and looked at the Takigakure ninjas who were standing in the distance with their hands forming seals.
In the dense jungle, the gentle rain covered the entire place and fell on Kakuzu's shoulders.
——Secret Technique: Mist Rain.
This is a secret technique that can weaken all ninjutsu and chakra except water-style ninjutsu. When used together by several Takigakure ninjas, it is enough to weaken other attribute ninjutsus.
Feeling his attack weakened several times, Kakuzu couldn't help but feel a little annoyed: "If I had known that I would encounter such a troublesome situation, I would have taken the water-attributed heart of the Iwagakure traitor."
The Iwagakure rebel ninja who was sent to the gold exchange center by him, the change of earth attribute chakra nature was acquired through training by Iwagakure rebel ninja, his innate chakra nature was actually water attribute.
He had previously disliked that water-attributed heart as rubbish, so he didn't replace it for himself. He sent it directly to the gold exchange office intact and got more bounty.
In his prime, he possessed five hearts, and mastered the five chakra nature changes of fire release, earth release, water release, lightning release, and wind release. As long as the five hearts were not destroyed, he would not die.
But now, he did not replace the water-attribute heart, and except for the thunder-attribute heart that was damaged before, he only had the fire and wind hearts left, and his own earth-attribute heart.
No, even if I had replaced it with a water-attributed heart, it wouldn't have been of much use.
Because these Takigakure ninjas were too well prepared, there were several Takigakure ninjas at the level of Jonin who cooperated very well, and each of them was good at perception, taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, etc.
This is not the configuration of a team to hunt down rebel ninjas, this is clearly the configuration of a force used for war raids. It is a waste of talent to use it to deal with a rebel ninja!
"If Takigakure is really targeting me, such an obvious personnel transfer would not be hidden from the spies I have planted in Takigakure."
Kakuzu's eyes flickered, and he thought, "So, these guys weren't out to get me at all, but I was just unlucky and ran into them."
"Their target is actually the Land of Mountains?"
"No, it should be Kagero Village!"
It was just when he was not in his prime that he encountered the Takigakure troops, which consisted of more than a hundred people, preparing to secretly attack Kagero Village. The leader of the troops had a grudge against him, and when he saw him, he just ignored everything and led his men to target him.
This luck is extremely bad.
Those who understood everything couldn't help but twitch their eyes.
"Kakuzu!"
At this moment, the blue-haired Taki-nin standing in the front of the team suddenly spoke up and shouted, "If you don't want to die, hand over the Earth Grudge Technique immediately and go back with us to stand trial!"
Go back to Takigakure with you to stand trial?
Can an unjust trial be called a "trial"?
That's clearly a lynching driven by profit, squeezing out all his remaining value
and then abandoning him! Hearing the hatred in the other person's tone that he couldn't hide even if he tried to suppress it, Kakuzu's dark green eyes showed a cold smile that was not sure whether it was self-mockery or sarcasm.
"The kids nowadays are becoming more and more brazen."
Kakuzu's voice was hoarse and cold. He looked at the blue-haired Taki-nin in the distance and sneered, "No wonder you look familiar. I recognized you. Your father is the guy who played with spirit, right? Same blue hair, same face."
"He was proud of learning the spirit secrets passed down by the Takigakure Village, but I killed him with a single blow when his soul left his body. It's a pity that I couldn't see his expression when he saw his body being chopped into pieces."
"You probably don't know, but your father, who is always so proud of himself in front of others, is actually extremely afraid of death. Every time he takes action, I have to stand by and watch over him. I don't know if he has become a homeless wandering soul..."
Hearing Kakuzu's insults to his father, the blue-haired Taki-nin, who had been suppressing his hatred, suddenly exploded and roared, "I'm going to kill you!"
"Try it if you can!"
Kakuzu, whose body was filled with chakra, fought back, and the two masked monsters on his shoulders opened their mouths at the same time.
Combine the fire-attribute masked monster and the wind-attribute masked monster, and use Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work and Wind Release: Pressure Damage at the same time. The wind helps the fire turn into a large-scale sea of fire that pours out.
"Cooperation ninjutsu: Strange Mask Exploding Flame!"
Boom!!
This attack was several times more powerful than the previous one, and faint wailing could be heard as the flames spread.
Obviously, when faced with the raging fire and extremely strong wind pressure, the Takigakure ninjas who were hiding nearby and waiting for an opportunity were unable to dodge and were directly sucked into it and turned into black charred corpses.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
After the Takigakure ninjas reacted, they immediately formed hand seals and sprayed water from their mouths to erect a huge water wall in front of them to block the surging and terrifying fire tide.
The fire and water caused white steam to rise up, covering the surroundings, and the already invisible fog became even thicker.
However, it also diluted the chakra of the "Water Style: Poison Mist Hidden Technique", causing the Taki ninjas who were originally able to perceive clearly to be in a state of panic.
"Wind Release: Passing Typhoon!"
A violent hurricane spewed out of the blue-haired Taki ninja's mouth, blowing away most of the fog that was originally extremely difficult to dispel, and he saw the fire-attribute masked monster that was left in place.
The black giant with a red mask is made up of black threads all over his body, but he can separate from Kakuzu's body to form an independent individual and attack.
"That traitor Kakuzu has actually mastered the Earth Grudge Technique to this extent?!" The blue-haired Taki-nin's face suddenly darkened, and a hint of jealousy rose in his heart.
If such a powerful secret technique had not been stolen by Kakuzu, how could Takigakure Village have fallen to the point where it can only survive by relying on its past glory and heritage?
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The fire-attribute masked monster made a crackling sound, and what came out of its mouth was not a sea of fire but fire bombs.
The power of the fire bomb is far lower than that of the sea of fire, but it wins in speed and quantity. It made a sound of breaking through the air and went towards the Takigakure ninja.
Looking at the figure running away in the distance hidden in the thick fog, the blue-haired Taki-nin understood that the other party was trying to use indiscriminate attacks to slow down their pursuit, and quickly ordered: "Don't get entangled by this ghost thing."
"Leave the three-man team behind, and the others will follow Kakuzu with me!"
Based on his intelligence and understanding of Earth Grudge Technique and Kakuzu, the power of the five-attribute chakra release technique used simultaneously is terrifying, but the masked monster with a single attribute is not that scary.
A monster that can only use Fire Style can be suppressed by using Ninjutsu with the opposite chakra nature. There is no need to worry about it at all.
No matter what, Kakuzu's body must be brought back today to comfort his father's spirit in heaven!
Boom boom boom!
Several people were assigned to hold back the fire-attributed masked monster, while the blue-haired Takigakure ninja led the remaining Takigakure ninjas to chase after Kakuzu.
No longer concerned about whether or not it would alarm the people of Kagero Village, they aimed the kunais with explosive tags at Kakuzu.
Even though Kakuzu had used Earth Style: Earth Spear to harden his body, he still felt waves of pain in his body after being hit by the explosions repeatedly.
The kunai posed no threat to him, but on the kunai that fell like raindrops, there were extremely powerful explosive tags. Even if his hardened skin could block them, it would make his internal organs resonate and vibrate.
Buzz!!
The wind-attributed masked monster let out a sharp whistle behind it, blowing away the explosive kunai that were shot at it.
But even so, Kakuzu could clearly feel that the sensing ninja was still locking onto him.
Explosive Tags kept exploding beside him, and his ears were filled with the buzzing sound, so he could no longer hear anything.
Sensing the chakra in his body was about to be exhausted, and with several gusts of evil wind coming from behind, Kakuzu could only turn around and raise his arms to block.
Boom!!
Multiple explosive tags shattered and exploded in front of him, and the arm as hard as stone was blown away.
Kakuzu flew backwards from the smoke and dust, using the impact of the explosion to gain some distance, and rolled on the ground in a somewhat awkward manner for several times until he crashed into a tree and stopped.
"Ahem!"
Looking at his empty arms with only dancing black threads left, and the wind-attribute masked monster on his shoulders that was gradually wilting, Kakuzu's frowned brows and constricted pupils gradually relaxed.
For him, who now only has two hearts, wind and earth, and his own information is exposed, the chakra is not enough to support him to break through the siege. Everything he faces can be described as a fatal desperate situation.
But it doesn't matter.
Kakuzu's dark green pupils remained calm, just looking at Taki-nin who was chasing him from a distance.
Ever since He embarked on this lonely road, he has been prepared to be killed.
Compared to the death that was approaching, Kakuzu just felt a little regretful that he failed to complete the mission worth hundreds of millions.
This is a black spot that is difficult to wash away for him who has a 100% mission completion rate.
"Take down this traitor and cut off his hands and feet."
The blue-haired Taki-nin stood on the tree, looking down at him.
Seeing Kakuzu still alive despite such injuries, he could hardly hide the jealousy in his eyes and said coldly: "I want to see how he escapes this time!"
"Yes!"
Several Taki ninjas behind him responded and instantly came under the tree, coming within a few meters in front of Kakuzu.
When one of them took a step forward, Kakuzu's head suddenly raised up, with the murderous intent of a trapped beast in his eyes, and the masked monster on his right shoulder opened his mouth.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
Buzz!!
The bloody wind and waves surged like a hurricane, causing the ground in front to tremble and crack.
Taki-nin, who took the first step, was sucked into the hurricane that was like a meat grinder. Even his voice was concealed and turned into flesh and blood, and the mist was completely dispersed.
Seeing this, the faces of the other Taki ninjas changed. They retracted their steps before they could take a step and threw out the kunai with explosive tags.
"I've been completely cornered this time."
Kakuzu's calm pupils were like the calm green water surface, clearly reflecting the several explosive tags shot towards him.
He was still trying his best to extract chakra, trying to drag a few more people down with him before he died.
But in the next moment, Kakuzu suddenly felt a creepy evil wind from the sky, as if a massive mountain was collapsing, bringing with it a suffocating pressure.
Boom!!
The blinding light of the explosion enveloped everything, but the force released by that thing falling to the ground directly shattered the ground within a hundred meters.
It was like a giant punched the table called "Earth" with a loud bang, and the lush trees were shaken to the ground like the models on the table.
"Compared to the explosive tags of Kagero Village, your explosive tags are not very effective."
A hoarse voice full of violence came from the smoke and dust of the explosion.
With the help of the flashing firelight, Kakuzu could clearly see the exaggerated figure that was more than two meters tall and was looming in the crowd. The shadow of the terrifying back muscles that could not be concealed was enough to make people feel a primitive fear.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Kakuzu."
Just as Kakuzu was stunned and dazed, a voice that was so gentle and inappropriate suddenly sounded from beside him.
He subconsciously turned his head to look, but was met with a pair of dark blue eyes filled with an interesting smile.
At some point, Kumokawa put his arms on his knees, squatted next to Kakuzu, and said with a smile, "Are you interested in becoming the Minister of my Finance Department?"
(End of this chapter)