Chapter 51: Deception, Shocking Change, Falling Off a Cliff
[Clang!]
[You bravely stood up to Kakuzu, who mocked you for being poor, and gained a random skill from him: Secret Technique - Earth Grudge Fear Stitching (Proficient, A).]
[Your Heartsteel level has increased.]
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The Blazing Sword swung down.
Carrying an unstoppable storm, flames, and a tail of fire, it descended.
It roared towards the water barrier that Kakuzu had raised from the ground!
The massive water barrier, standing at six meters tall and seemingly impressive, was sliced through like a hot knife through butter.
Sizzle—
Violent steam erupted immediately, then was swept away by the wind that the Blazing Sword brought with it.
The battlefield suddenly cleared.
Uchiha Ci, now able to see the scene behind the water barrier, narrowed his eyes sharply.
At this moment, Kakuzu had already replaced his heart with a water-type heart. The earth-element Earth Grudge Fear mask creature had hardened its body and leapt up, attempting to block Uchiha Ci's Blazing Longsword.
Meanwhile, the three mask creatures of fire, wind, and lightning that Uchiha Ci had thought were preparing to clash with him... were facing away from him!
In the next instant,
The Earth Grudge Fear's Final Shot blue energy cannon roared out. The giant cannon, fused with fire, wind, and lightning, constantly combining and reinforcing each other, was fired in the completely opposite direction of Uchiha Ci, directly at the Super Death Battle Barrier!
The light screen of the barrier rippled and deformed, pushed out and cracked by the cannon.
Even the entire cliff, wrapped by the barrier, began to split with huge cracks, on the verge of collapse.
Seeing this scene,
Uchiha Ci's eyes widened instantly, his pupils shrinking to a point.
The skin on his face twisted ferociously, veins bulging on his forehead.
With great difficulty, he controlled the Blazing Sword to slash fiercely towards Kakuzu's body,
a wave of emotions—betrayal, near despair—crawling madly in his heart!
"What are you doing?!"
"Kakuzu! What are you doing?"
"You coward!"
"Are you trying to escape?"
"Huh?!"
At this moment,
Uchiha Ci had already sacrificed everything, holding onto the resolve to fight to the death with his enemy.
But now, Kakuzu was trying to run?
He actually wanted to run?
What a joke!
If Kakuzu escaped, then Uchiha Ci, who would be burned alive by his own technique after the battle, was that situation still covered by insurance?
Uchiha Ci didn't know, and he couldn't afford to gamble, so his eyes filled with madness as he forced his body, already nearing its limit, to leap forward!
"Come back!"
"Get back here!"
"Arrrghhhh!"
"You coward!"
"Fight me to the last drop of blood!"
Uchiha Ci's bloodshot eyes, his scarlet Sharingan wide open, exuded a sinister, demonic madness.
Midair, he twisted his waist, lowered his head, spun and looped around, his entire body rolling as he swung the Blazing Sword in a wide arc!
The Earth Grudge Fear mask creature of the Earth Style, under the pressure of this sword, was smashed deep into the cliff wall, then flung back out by the force of the blade, only to be met by another returning strike midair.
This returning strike, encompassed Kakuzu's body and all his other mask creatures in its range!
"This kind of power is truly terrifying."
Kakuzu looked up at the godlike sword, his eyes narrowing with deep apprehension.
Then, a cold smile appeared on his lips as he formed hand seals.
"But, I still win."
The Blazing Sword fell, sweeping across Kakuzu's body, forcing his eyes wide open as his body began to evaporate from the waist up.
Then, he turned into a puddle of water.
As soon as that water hit the ground, a deafening roar erupted!
Countless Earth Grudge Fear tendrils burst through the surface, surging madly, wrapping around the Blazing Sword!
This was Earth Grudge Fear!
Hiding life beneath the battlefield, waiting to strike with its black tendrils!
Though the sword cut down, burning countless tendrils to ash, more kept emerging from beneath the ground, one wave after another, continuously.
They forcibly slowed the sword's sweeping motion.
Just that slight pause.
The blue energy cannon of the Earth Grudge Fear's Final Shot pierced through the Super Death Battle Barrier.
Kakuzu jumped out from the puddle on the cliff, recalled his three mask creatures, and leapt out through the gap in the barrier.
Immediately after, he darted forward, rushing towards the twisted old tree in the middle of the cliff before anyone could react.
"Hidan, run!"
From inside the barrier, Uchiha Ci's furious shout echoed.
Outside the barrier, the three stunned bystanders finally snapped out of it. Terumi Mei was the first to regain her senses. She quickly turned her head and saw Kakuzu charging towards them, instinctively beginning to form hand seals.
However, on the cliff, a hand, gathered by Earth Grudge Fear's tendrils, burst through the ground and grabbed Terumi Mei's leg, pulling her down and stopping her from completing the seals.
Standing on the tree, Hidan looked left and right at the abyss on either side, a sense of despair rising in his heart.
What the hell, where can I even run to?
Trusting Uchiha Ci, Hidan simply closed his eyes and leapt off the tree.
Seeing this, Shinno was shocked and immediately rushed down the cliff, trying to catch Hidan.
But Kakuzu was faster.
With a twist of his waist, Kakuzu extended his Earth Grudge Fear arm, which stretched through the wind and wrapped around Hidan, pulling him back and tucking him under his arm.
Hidan opened his eyes, bewildered.
But Kakuzu didn't waste words with his future "immortal partner"—he slapped Hidan on the back of the head, knocking him out cold.
In a few leaps, they reached the wall, jumped down, and quickly arrived at the entrance to the underground cave of the Church of Jashin.
Shinno watched this, narrowing his eyes and halting his steps.
When Kakuzu grabbed Hidan, Shinno had the ability to use his Body Revival technique or the Eight Gates to stop him, or at least engage him in battle.
But for some unknown reason, he stopped.
After the shocking turn of events, the battlefield returned to peace.
The full moon gradually faded, and the wind howled ominously.
The colossal barrier shattered.
The Blazing Sword in Uchiha Ci's hand turned into scattered wild flames, blown away by the wind.
He knelt on the cliff, his body completely burnt, with no intact skin left. His crimson muscles were exposed, and the burnt skin oozed thick oil, dripping from his charred body.
The kunai he clenched tore off a piece of flesh, falling from midair, smoking as it hit the bottom of the cliff and melted into a puddle of molten iron.
Nearly all the chakra in his body had been completely consumed.
Uchiha Ci dazedly turned his head to look in the direction Kakuzu had escaped.
Immediately, an angry expression appeared on his face.
His eyes bulged, teeth gritting, fists clenched tightly.
But beneath this expression, there was a faint trace of panic.
Finally, all his intense emotions were swallowed by an overwhelming sense of powerlessness, leaving him in a state of blankness.
What will happen next?
He fought to the last moment—can he go home now?
But the enemy escaped. If he ends up dying by his own hand, is that still covered by insurance?
Hopefully, the boss of the Will of the Heavens won't be so petty, right?
Will Hidan still become that fanatical follower of Jashin?
Was everything he did worth it?
One question after another floated in his mind, desperately seeking an answer.
But he no longer had the capacity to think.
Ah, it seems like his brain has already burnt out.
His body can't move anymore either.
He couldn't hear anything around him; his eardrums had already been burnt through.
Only silence remained. Only silence.
Uchiha Ci weakly closed his eyes as the last trace of chakra in his feet dissipated.
He fell headfirst down the cliff.
Oddly enough,
he didn't feel the pain of smashing into the ground like a pile of rotten flesh.
Instead, it was as if he had fallen into a soft, warm, fluffy cloud of cotton candy.