57 Hunter of Hunters (9)

I recalled back when I was with Jiraiya, Minato, and their two lackeys,

Minato and I were conversing among ourselves, after the hard day of training under Jiraiya's guidance.

<What game?> I asked during then, to which Minato answered by flipping out a bingo book from his pocket.

Minato was a fellow with a good memory. I knew that he probably memorized most, if not all, of the individuals listed in the bingo book. However, out of boredom,

<Fine then,> I accepted the game, snatching the book from Minato's hand and opening the book to a random page, <C-ranked, Honekawa Suneo.>

Giving a snort, I closed the book and threw it back to Minato, who closed his eyes and opened to a particular page with confidence,

<Well?> Minato, with his eyes still closed, asked, <Who is it?>

<...S-ranked, Kakuzu.>

And now, here I stood, in front of the S-ranked rogue ninja himself, with such man's malicious intent all headed at me.

My grip on Ryuma unconsciously tightened, as I prepared myself form an upcoming attack.

"Don't think of escaping out of my sight this time around." Kakuzu, who didn't give a single gaze at the fallen bushy-browed shinobi, slowly walked at me, "The same trick doesn't work on me twice."

Then, Kakuzu stopped upon sighting the burned corpses of the ninjas whom I previously fought.

"...Dead?" All of a sudden, the calm demeanour that Kakuzu possessed, was replaced by that of a shock, "All of you, the so-called ROOT of Danzo, were wiped out by this single kid?"

His eyes narrowed as they were focused on me,

"I see that you are more than I gave a credit for, but," Kakuzu muttered, "that means that you currently are just as exhausted."

Then, Kakuzu flipped out a kunai from his sleeve as he propelled himself at me at a frightening speed—

"Dynamic Entry!!!"

BOOM!

—before he was suddenly kicked sideways by the bushy-browed shinobi who suddenly appeared by the side.

"Haa... haa... cough..." The said man breathed heavily, while frowning due to the pain from his injuries. However, he nonetheless turned at me, before giving me a thumbs up and a toothy smile, rendering me confused by this man's attitude.

"Hello there, stranger!" The man then introduced himself to me all of a sudden, "My name is—cough—Maito Dai, currently in danger due to that masked man over there, just like you!"

Boom! Just then, Kakuzu punched away the fallen chunk of a tree nearby him and stood back up.

"I say that we form an alliance for now, until that man is defeated!"

"...How funny." Kakuzu growled in a low tone, before dashing at a fearsome speed, once more.

"Well? What do you say?"

...The pace was too fast. First of all, I knew nothing about this man named Maito Dai. The only indication that I could trust in his cooperation, was Kakuzu's overwhelming strength and no more.

'But I don't have a choice here,' I quickly thought before swinging Ryuma counter-clockwise to prevent Kakuzu's kunai from making its way to my skull,

CLANG!

"Maito Dai was it?" While struggling to withstand Kakuzu's strength, I opened my mouth, "I accept the deal—ugh!"

I was then knocked back by Kakuzu, who then twirled his kunai before throwing it at me.

'That kunai...!' I managed to gaze at its tip during the momentary clash against Kakuzu, 'It has poison on it, with no doubt!'

SWOOSH!

Meanwhile, Dai, with a serious expression on his face, threw a quick straight at Kakuzu, to which the latter responded by swiftly tilting his head to dodge Dai's fist.

Reaching for my pouch, I quickly took out two shurikens that I managed to pick up during my fight with 'ROOT,' and enveloped them with the sharp gust of air, which was generated from the application of Wind Release. Immediately after, while Kakuzu was busy engaging himself against Dai in hand-to-hand combat, I threw the shurikens with precision.

Tap.

Simultaneously, pushing against the ground, I dashed at Kakuzu, who just sighted my shurikens while his hands were in a deadlock with Dai's.

"Earth Release,"

Kakuzu, with his sense of calm still intact, stated,

"Iron Skin."

CLANG CLANG!

The wind-enforced shurikens were effortlessly blocked by Kakuzu's darkened skin.

My expression darkened, 'My mastery over the wind nature is not enough, it seems.'

But that wasn't the end.

BOOM!

All of a sudden, Dai's body burst out an incredible surge of chakra, so much that his hair was floating.

"Tch...!" Kakuzu frowned as Dai slowly began to overwhelm him, being pushed down to the ground.

I, who was now hovering up in the air above Kakuzu, noted,

'Eight Gates... without a doubt.'

Dai shouted as he now had Kakuzu pinned down on the ground, "NOW!"

Right after Dai's shout, I drew an arc with blazing Ryuma, which headed to the exposed neck of Kakuzu—

—before the black tendrils burst out of Kakuzu's body all of a sudden, instantly pushing Dai away and blocking the blazing blade of Ryuma.

BOOM!

From the back, I heard Dai's groan as he crashed onto another tree, all while I was now surrounded by four black tendril creatures wearing masks, which suddenly appeared out of Kakuzu's body.

"Water Release,"

My eye widened upon sighting the black creature with a water mask right in front of me, 'What is with this man? Is he a human even—'

The water mask's mouth section ripped open in a grotesque fashion,

"Wild Water Wave!"

BOOM!

I felt a cold sweat on my back as I managed to escape at the last second, with the use of Substitution technique. The pressurized water that was shot out from the mouth collided the ground that I previously stood on top of, before splashing all across the area and covering Kakuzu from my sight momentarily.

Swoosh.

By the time the splashed water dropped on the ground, Kakuzu was already in front of me, with his right fist, currently cocked back, darkened.

BOOM! Before I had time to react, I found the hard fist slamming into my abdomen, causing me to choke before crashing into the tree behind me.

Immediately after, Kakuzu raised his arms up to form an X,

"HA—!!"

BOOOM!

Reducing the impact of Dai's punch, which was so strong that it sent Kakuzu skidding backward.

But Dai wasn't done. Not giving Kakuzu any time to finish me off, Dai dashed at Kakuzu and threw fast-paced punches and kicks, and I had to admit—he was momentarily overwhelming Kakuzu!

"Haa..." Taking in a deep breath, I placed my hands on the ground and raised myself up. Although my body felt heavy and weak, I couldn't stop here.

'And I need a strategy,' I thought seriously as Dai was suddenly slammed on the ground by Kakuzu's masked tendril monsters, 'but in order to form a strategy, the time to think is required.'

'For now, I shouldn't be thinking of running away—it will be impossible, and will do nothing but amplify the degree of my fear of that man. Instead, think of actually killing that man. I will achieve my original purpose of coming here; defeating the no.1 of the black market industry will technically serve as getting rid of the bounty hunters on my tail.'

Gripping Ryuma with my right hand, I then began to run at Kakuzu and pinned Dai, while taking out another small-sized scroll from my pouch, with my left hand.

Kakuzu's lightning and water mask immediately reacted upon sighting my approach,

"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"

The sudden combination of electricity and water impeded my pathway, but I didn't stop.

'Ryujin Jakka!'

While throwing the scroll in my left hand up high, I grabbed Ryuma, which had its blade blazed once again, and swung horizontally on the approaching wave of electrified water, creating an intense spark.

PAZZZZZ!

Using that gap of time where Kakuzu was blinded by the sudden light, I formed a seal with my left hand and created a single ash clone, before,

'Hiding Like a Mole technique!'

softening the ground and quickly descending downward.

As Kakuzu's eyes were now headed at the clone who replaced my spot, I immediately positioned myself below, and yanked Dai into the ground, out of the masked creature's grip.

At the same time, my clone snatched the falling scroll that I previously threw, before unscrolling it.

Poof!

From the scroll, the numerous shruikens and kunais were flown out at Kakuzu,

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"

which were easily countered by the pressurized wind that was blown out from Kakuzu's black creature with the wind mask.

However, it no longer mattered, for,

"Haa... haa..."

Dai and I were now at some distance away from Kakuzu, leaning our backs against a tree trunk, catching a breath.

"Thank... huff... thank you." Dai said with vivid exhaustion on his face, due to the doping effect of Eight Gates having died down now. Knowing that the opening of Eight Gates tends to be followed by a rebound, I was amazed that this man managed to keep himself conscious.

Taking in a breath, I stood back up and held my hand out at Dai, "My name is Akashi. And right now, we don't have much time."

Looking at Dai with a grim expression, I stated, "Within this short period of time that we got, we need to come up with a strategy to defeat Kakuzu, for this is the only way for us to survive."

Gripping my hand, Dai stood up with some difficulty, before asking,

"...What's in your mind?"

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