"Kiyosuke, did you just strip him? You're dead!"
Kiyosuke smirked. His eyes flicked over the stitches crisscrossing Kakuzu's body, then down to the Akatsuki cloak burned to ash on the ground.
Yeah, victory was in the bag.
"You insane? Looking to die?"
Kakuzu glared at Kiyosuke, clearly irritated, but no matter what he tried, he just couldn't put him down.
Kiyosuke chuckled nastily.
"I just love that look on your face. You can't stand me, and yet you can't kill me. It's perfect."
That only made Kakuzu's anger boil over.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
"Fire Release: Searing Migraine!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon!"
The power of Earth Grudge Fear lay in being able to unleash multiple elemental jutsu at once. Each of Kakuzu's hearts allowed him to wield a different chakra nature. Because of Asuma's earlier strike, the lightning heart was already gone, meaning Kakuzu was down to just four.
Even so, four elemental barrages roared forward.
Kiyosuke raised both palms.
"Flame Veil!!"
A massive wall of fire burst upward, blocking the onslaught.
The earth dragon tore from the ground, but Kiyosuke stepped forward and shattered its head with a single kick.
"Asuma!"
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!!"
A rain of shuriken clones filled the air. Kakuzu's skin hardened to iron, and one of the masked monsters rushed straight for Asuma.
Kiyosuke moved in a blur. He flashed to Kakuzu's side, drove a fist into his chest, sending him flying, then seized one of the masked beasts. With raw force, he ripped it apart, tearing the mask in half.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Snakes burst from his sleeves, coiling tightly around another masked beast. It writhed and thrashed, but the serpents only constricted harder, muscles tightening until its body snapped like brittle wood.
Asuma exhaled a sharp, cutting gale. The last mask dodged instinctively, and that was exactly what Asuma had been waiting for. He closed in at once, chakra blades in hand.
Wind chakra surged down the blades, extending them into longer, sharper edges. His strikes came in a storm, slash after slash hammering down with relentless speed, each blow powerful enough to cleave stone.
Crack!
The mask shattered to pieces.
"Well then," Kiyosuke stretched his shoulders with a grin. "Looks like all your puppets are gone. Time to give up, Kakuzu. I'll make it quick."
He added with a mocking tilt of his head.
"Honestly, bragging about fighting the First Hokage isn't much. But going up against Uchiha Madara and living to tell the tale? Now that's worth mentioning."
With Hashirama's personality, he might've spared you. But Madara? The fact you survived him is a miracle.
The name "Shura of the Ninja World" wasn't for show.
Taunted again and again, Kakuzu's nerves frayed. He hated every second of it. But with only one life left, he couldn't afford reckless moves.
Black threads gushed from every seam in his body, hard and sharp as steel wires.
Earth Grudge Fear had long since transformed Kakuzu's body into something no longer human. By replacing his hearts, he could remain young indefinitely. Five hearts meant five lives, five chances to cheat death.
A twisted path to immortality.
Back in Takigakure, there were plenty of strange treasures—the Hero Water, for one, which boosted chakra massively but cut down the drinker's lifespan. Not exactly something Kiyosuke cared to use.
Threads spewed like a tide, even pouring from Kakuzu's mouth. The sight alone was enough to send sanity plummeting.
"What the hell is that? Disgusting!"
Asuma appeared at Kiyosuke's side, face twisted in revulsion.
"Takigakure's Earth Grudge Fear," Kiyosuke explained. "That's how this old monster's still alive. Those mask creatures were just extensions of it."
And by the looks of it, the geezer was ready to go all out.
Kiyosuke sneered.
"Your so-called secret jutsu is worthless, old man!"
Kakuzu just snorted. Suddenly, the ground beneath him gave way, and he dropped straight down into the earth.
"What the—?"
Kiyosuke and Asuma exchanged a stunned glance. A gaping hole yawned before them.
Was that even allowed?
Kiyosuke's eyes narrowed as it clicked.
"So that's it. While we were talking, he threaded through the ground and dug a hole beneath himself. But that speed—too damn fast!"
"Enough talking, after him!"
"I know, I know! Watch this!"
Kiyosuke's body ignited into flame, and in a blink, he dove into the hole after Kakuzu.
Asuma turned toward the public restroom. Hidan was still locked inside.
But before he could step in, Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane came out, lugging several chests and dragging a motionless Hidan. Both looked sick.
"Who the hell picks a bathroom as a hideout?" Kotetsu groaned. "Smells like death in there. Anyway, mission complete. The money's all here."
Izumo set down the chests and handed Asuma a scroll.
"Chiriku's inside this."
"Got it. Thanks."
Asuma fell silent for a moment, then carefully stowed the scroll on his person. He flicked his lighter, lit a cigarette, and exhaled smoke.
Kotetsu asked, "Where's Kiyosuke-sama?"
"He's chasing down the last Akatsuki member."
Even with his neck burned through, Hidan's body was already regenerating. He laughed harshly.
"Hah! Kakuzu'll never get caught. That guy's the best there is at running. Even the First Hokage couldn't pin him down."
Izumo chuckled.
"You mean the same Kakuzu who tried to ambush the First and only managed to throw a shuriken? Kiyosuke-sama already said it—annoying, sure, but not impossible to kill."
Kotetsu added, "As long as the four mask monsters are destroyed, the last one's easy pickings. That was Kiyosuke-sama's own words. Not many in the ninja world can actually trouble him."
And they had reason to believe it. Two years ago, they'd all witnessed Kiyosuke trading blows with both the First and Second Hokage without breaking a sweat. His power wasn't in doubt.
"Tch! No way Kakuzu goes down that easy!" Hidan spat back.
But right then, the ground exploded.
Asuma's cigarette almost dropped from his lips.
"Run! That bastard's blowing everything up again!"
He grabbed Hidan and bolted. Izumo and Kotetsu sprinted after him. They'd barely gotten far when the restroom behind them detonated, filling the air with a wave of choking stench.
"Urgh—Kiyosuke, you lunatic!"
Asuma pinched his nose, gagging as chaos erupted around them. The whole area was nothing but a censored mess.
Then, from right by his feet, a head popped out of the ground. Kiyosuke, covered in grime, gagged at the stench.
"Damn it—I blew up the wrong place! Ugh, that reeks!"