"If you are willing to leave on your own, it might be easier." Mokgetsu replied with a faint smile.
Kakuzu frowned slightly, "Your naivety is misplaced."
Whoosh!
Kakuzu suddenly burst forward, releasing a surge of chakra, aggressively charging towards Mokgetsu.
Mokgetsu had already activated the Transparent World; he saw through Kakuzu's attack effortlessly and casually caught Kakuzu's attacking fist, then countered with a punch that sent Kakuzu flying ten meters away.
"Are you skilled in Taijutsu?" Kakuzu touched his abdomen where he was hit, his expression unchanged, preparing to use Ninjutsu.
Earth Grudge Fear made him resilient, but Kakuzu wasn't foolish enough to contend directly with others' strengths.
As he used Earth Grudge Fear, a large number of black threads exploded from Kakuzu's back, with a mask monster made of black threads emerging from behind him.
"What kind of Ninjutsu is this?" Yahiko looked puzzled towards Nagato beside him.
Nagato knew many Ninjutsu techniques, so Yahiko would ask him about unfamiliar ones.
However, that was before. Now, Yahiko would directly ask Mokgetsu, but since Mokgetsu was in battle, Yahiko inquired with Nagato.
"I don't recognize it either." Nagato shook his head.
He guessed it was likely a rather obscure Secret Technique.
"Fire Release: Headache!"
The red-mouthed mask monster opened its mouth wide, gathering a large amount of chakra in its mouth and quickly spitting out a seemingly small fireball towards Mokgetsu.
"Fire Release: Headache!"
Mokgetsu swiftly formed hand seals, gathering a large amount of chakra and transforming it all into Fire Attribute Chakra at once, then compressed and spat it out, also forming a fireball of modest size, but the flame's color appeared deeper than Kakuzu's.
Kakuzu was slightly stunned, surprised that Mokgetsu also knew this Ninjutsu.
What astonished Kakuzu even more was about to happen next.
Whoosh whoosh!!
Boom!
The two fireballs collided, and all the compressed flames exploded simultaneously, instantly creating a not insignificant sea of fire, scorching the ground black.
However, Mokgetsu's side of the fire was evidently more vigorous, quickly breaking through Kakuzu's flames and continuing to spread towards the running Kakuzu.
Kakuzu looked at Mokgetsu in shock.
He initially planned for the mask and Mokgetsu to clash, then the main body would seize the opportunity to attack.
He never expected his Fire Release to lose to Mokgetsu, nor did he expect the gap to be so significant.
Not only was Kakuzu shocked, but even the ninjas who had followed Mokgetsu for over a month showed expressions of surprise.
Had Mokgetsu not asked them to retreat in advance, they might have been caught in that terrifying sea of fire.
Mokgetsu had used Headache before, but it never had this much power.
"Such a Fire Release could probably burn down an entire forest," Ike Masaya thought to himself.
Previously, Ike thought he overly exaggerated Mokgetsu's strength to himself, causing trouble, but now Ike felt he might've underestimated Mokgetsu's power.
Kakuzu retreated rapidly and released the Water Attribute Chakra Mask.
The Water Attribute Mask spewed out a massive stream of water, preventing Kakuzu from being roasted.
Kakuzu wiped the sweat from his forehead, his gaze towards Mokgetsu becoming extremely serious, suspecting that Mokgetsu might be the second strongest opponent he'd ever encountered.
Without any hesitation, Kakuzu released the Wind and Thunder Attribute Masks.
"You guys retreat a bit further," Mokgetsu thought for a moment and said, looking back.
His Fire Release could indeed overwhelm Kakuzu's, but other attributes weren't as exaggerated. Wind and Water Attributes could still suppress Kakuzu, but Mokgetsu was slightly inferior with Lightning and Earth Nature Changes.
The ninjas obediently retreated further back, though Yahiko and the others retreated less so they could provide emergency support to Mokgetsu.
Under Kakuzu's control, the Wind Attribute Mask and Fire Attribute Mask stood together, opening their mouths wide to use Ninjutsu.
"Fire Release: Headache!"
"Wind Release: Pressure!"
A wind sphere and a fireball were spat out simultaneously; the wind fueled the flames, immediately creating a massive sea of flames.
Mokgetsu silently created a Shadow Clone, with his main body using Fire Release and the Shadow Clone using Wind Release.
"Fire Release: Headache!"
"Wind Release: Pressure!"
Similarly, a fireball and a wind sphere were launched; the wind fueled the flames, forming a terrifying sea of fire that quickly engulfed Kakuzu's flames.
Kakuzu: ...
Kakuzu felt a bit numb; he felt like he was being toyed with, as Mokgetsu consistently used the same Ninjutsu as him, but with greater power.
With the Water-Thunder Mask and his main body combined, Kakuzu barely managed to block Mokgetsu's sea of fire.
Fortunately, Kakuzu had lived as an experienced ninja for over seventy years, having faced all kinds of situations, so he wasn't panicking.
He quickly devised a new battle plan, having the Water-Thunder Mask distract Mokgetsu while the main body and the Wind-Fire Mask searched for opportunities to strike.
His Earth Grudge Fear Mask was much superior to Shadow Clones; although it could die, it didn't break as easily as a Shadow Clone.
Kakuzu indeed brought a bit of trouble for Mokgetsu since Kakuzu's main body could also use Earth Grudge Fear tentacles to harass Mokgetsu.
"How can I defeat Kakuzu using the least amount of chakra?" Mokgetsu pondered tactics while dealing with Kakuzu's attacks.
If victory was the sole objective, Mokgetsu had many ways to win.
With Perfect-level Fire Attribute Chakra Nature Changes and Breath of Flame Chakra Mode, Mokgetsu could unexpectedly use Fire Release to clear all the masks Kakuzu released.
As long as he didn't use the Fire Release Nin-Taijutsu like Obito, there was no fear of others noticing the Breath of Flame; they'd simply perceive Mokgetsu's Fire Release as implausibly strong.
Of course, such powerful techniques consumed a substantial amount of chakra.
Mokgetsu had chakra anxiety, feeling uncomfortable when his chakra was below fifty percent, concerned about encountering enemies like the Third Raikage, Third Tsuchikage, or Hanzo when his chakra was low.
Thus, Mokgetsu aimed to conserve chakra as much as possible while defeating Kakuzu, preserving more chakra to guard against unforeseen events.
This was also because Kakuzu hadn't targeted Mokgetsu's followers; otherwise, Mokgetsu would've secured his followers' safety by rapidly defeating Kakuzu.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bomb Jutsu!"
Yahiko formed seals, launching a water dragon at the Fire Attribute Mask.
"Uncle Sosuke, let us help you hold off some of the clones," Yahiko shouted.
Having observed earlier, Yahiko gleaned some information about Kakuzu, and seeing Mokgetsu's situation deteriorating, felt compelled to join the battle.
Konan followed, releasing paper shurikens.
Nagato used Lighting Release Ninjutsu in combination with Yahiko, transforming Yahiko's Water Dragon Bomb into a Lighting Water Dragon Bomb, enhancing its power and adding a paralysis effect.
Not only Yahiko and his friends, but all ninjas with long-range capabilities employed their techniques to attack Kakuzu's masks.
However, due to the lack of coordination practice, their attacks were disorganized and generally ineffective.
Mokgetsu sighed softly; he anticipated this chaos, which was why he considered solving the issue alone. Coordinating with dozens of strangers was challenging.
"Do you have a death wish?" Kakuzu asked, puzzled, looking at the group of attacking ninjas.
Seeing his strength, instead of fleeing, they initiated the attack. Kakuzu couldn't defeat Mokgetsu immediately, but he could still kill a group of ordinary wandering ninjas.
"In that case, I'll deal with you first." Kakuzu directed the Wind-Fire Mask to launch a combined Ninjutsu at the ninjas.
This combined Ninjutsu would result in half of them dying, if not entirely wiped out.
From Kakuzu's perspective, a team with half casualties was effectively destroyed since the survivors would surely flee.
Suddenly, Kakuzu sensed a terrifying aura rising.
Mokgetsu's breathing became extremely focused, with the continuously burning chakra within him providing an immense boost.
"Fire Dragon Dance!"
Mokgetsu gathered an enormous amount of chakra in his throat; under the Breath of Flame Chakra Mode's augmentation, it all transformed instantaneously into formidable Fire Attribute Chakra.
Mokgetsu pretended to form a seal, then released intensely blazing and extremely high-temperature flames.
In the Breath of Flame Chakra Mode, Mokgetsu, of course, didn't need to form seals, but in order not to expose his identity, he had to play along.