Cursed energy surged quietly beneath his skin, woven into muscle and bone. He focused on reinforcement—density, control, precision. Every movement had to be clean. Every strike had to matter.
Kakuzu finally stepped into the clearing, rolling his shoulders, eyes never leaving Sukuna. "If you were really trying to run, then it was a pathetic attempt," he said. "And if you wished to lure us here, I possibly can't say why you even bothered."
Kakuzu spoke with laced annoyance in his tone.
Sukuna said nothing. His stance lowered, loose but ready.
Hidan, leaning against a tree, groaned theatrically. "Ugh. You're really gonna make me watch? That's boring. Don't kill him, Kakuzu. We need him breathing."
'That's why you're not fighting him, you idiot, we need him alive.' Kakuzu wished to retort so much. But he didn't answer, focusing on the upcoming fight.
Threads burst from his sleeves like living wires, snapping toward Sukuna's throat. Sukuna slid aside at the last moment, feeling the wind of them brush his cheek, and drove a reinforced fist into Kakuzu's ribs. The impact landed—but it felt wrong. Hollow. Like striking packed rope instead of flesh.
'A clone…?!' Sukuna could say, by how easily that first connected in the first place…
And surely enough, the Kakuzu in front of him vanished, and another appeared beside him.
Kakuzu countered instantly, a heavy backhand that Sukuna barely blocked. The force sent him skidding across the dirt, boots carving trenches into the ground. Strong. Stronger than most jonin.
Kage level, but barely. And not even close to what Izumi had done to him. He could handle it.
They collided again.
Sukuna only stuck with Taijutsu. Turns out Kakuzu wasn't half bad in Taijutsu either. The man was ancient. It's only natural that he learned Taijutsu during his time.
Taijutsu met taijutsu—fast, brutal, relentless. Sukuna ducked under a punch and elbowed Kakuzu's jaw, following with a knee to the gut. Kakuzu absorbed it, grabbed Sukuna's wrist, and flung him into a tree hard enough to crack bark.
Both were almost equally skilled in Taijutsu. Kakuzu since he lived a long time, and Sukuna because that was his entire thing in the village, since he couldn't use lethal techniques against students there.
Pain flared. For all that mattered, Sukuna wasn't quite used to getting hit ever since he had gotten his Kamui. So he welcomed it. Knowing that this was improving his reinforcement.
Next second, he vanished. No teleportation, just pure speed.
Kakuzu missed his attack, and the next second Sukuna reappeared again behind Kakuzu and swept his legs, forcing him to stumble.
Sukuna pressed in, blows flowing faster now, cursed energy reinforcing every strike. This was training as much as battle—testing limits, sharpening control.
Kakuzu adapted quickly. His body hardened, skin darkening, blows growing heavier.
'Armament Haki…?!' Sukuna for a second thought the man was cheating. No borrowing techniques from other worlds—that was his exclusive right as a reincarnator—but then he recalled Kakuzu doing that once in the anime.
This jutsu of his was very similar to Armament Haki from the One Piece world.
Each exchange shook the clearing. Sukuna felt the difference immediately—he was landing hits, but Kakuzu was enduring them just as fast.
'It even acts like Armament Haki…' Sukuna grumbled.
Now the question wasn't who copied who, Kishimoto or Oda.
Shaking his head, he suddenly broke into a grin. This meant he could dish out a bit of damage as well. Just taking damage for his reinforcement improvement wasn't fun.
He made a fist, just like any other fist he had made so far, but this one came at Kakuzu faster.
Kakuzu intended to tank this one as well, then counter. However, just as the fist connected, he felt a chill spread throughout his body.
An eerie flash of black lightning broke out. Thunder erupted the instant the fist connected, and Kakuzu felt the entire world halt. Like space itself bent where the fist connected.
And then the impact came. Gutting Kakuzu so hard that it knocked all the air from his lungs. Even his threads couldn't absorb the impact of this attack, sending him flying back.
Hidan clapped lazily. "C'mon, Kakuzu! Don't tell me you're gonna lose against him. Better let me kill him!"
Kakuzu didn't hear him. He was completely groggy, his head buzzing from that Black Flash. He crashed into the nearby trees, grunting in pain.
At the same time, Sukuna entered the zone. His CE entered into a 120% boost.
'Ah, so better reinforcement does improve physical attack power as well. And even a little difference at the base attack does wonders with Black Flash.' Sukuna grinned, waiting for Kakuzu to get back up, eager to train a bit more while still keeping an eye on the White Zetsu and Hidan on the side.
However, just then he felt something. A tug of cursed energy from the side of his senses. It was far, very far, and very weak.
He halted. This particular tingling feeling wasn't similar to what happened back with Karin. No, that was his cursed energy which sent an SOS message.
This one here was more like a coordination—where he had to go.
'Flying Thunder God…' He immediately understood. And since it was Flying Thunder God, this meant that it was done by either Karin in the village or someone from Team 7 who were outside the village.
'Not again… what's going on now.' He grumbled with irritation, but worry for them also sank inside him.
He saw the Akatsuki member getting up once again and cursed.
'Seems like it's time to end this…' Sigh. 'And here I was getting the hang of my reinforcement.'
With that, he slowly lowered his glasses, only a bit. And then, Kakuzu—who was already forming hand signs for a big attack—froze.
The world tilted.
Sukuna could still use Genjutsu. Even if someone found out that he had a dōjutsu, which was already pretty hard, they wouldn't find it was a Mangekyo because of the strange pattern his Sharingan had.
Though he doubted they would find it in the first place. His Genjutsu was quite discreet.
For a fraction of a second, Kakuzu saw himself surrounded—blood, fire, ruin, and chaos.
It was an all-out disaster, like an apocalypse had hit the world. And there on a throne of fire, dead bodies, skulls, and dread sat a shadowy figure looking down at him with so much malice that even Kakuzu felt his bones chill.
'T-this…' his voice hitched. This kind of fear and malice—he had never seen it before. He had seen strong people, but this kind of evil… it froze him on the spot.
Cut…
Before he knew it, pain racked through his body. He felt like his body was cut open like an onion.
From his body, blood didn't flow. However, he found his Akatsuki cloak shattered into pieces, and even the multiple masks on his body were torn open, with every fiber on his body shredded.
That pain tore him free of his paralysing Genjutsu. However, he was a complete mess.
His eyes shook when he realized what had just happened.
His hearts. All of his extra hearts were destroyed.
He still stood there in a daze. It only took a second before he lost all of his hearts.
'When did he…? No, how did he do…? No, no… what is more important is how did the brat know?' Kakuzu was completely baffled and caught off guard.
It was Cleave. Sukuna, in that fraction of a second, had closed the distance between them and then touched Kakuzu, activating his Cleave and shredding Kakuzu into pieces.
"Sorry, but I gotta go…" Sukuna murmured and then threw a smoke bomb on the ground.
Hidan didn't even sense a thing while watching the entire fight. He was still waiting for the match to go on after the smoke cleared out.
However, when the smoke did clear out, there was nothing. Nothing was left there. Both Sukuna and Kakuzu were gone.
"Ah… where did they go?"
xXx
A/N : Oh who it would be this time. Wondering, well there is only way to know.
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