Kikyo's bow carried a dominant offensive that nearly backed Kakuzu into an absolute dead end.
However, as an old monster who had survived for many years in the ninja world, Kakuzu would never sit still and wait for death.
Innumerable black blood vessels surged out from all directions, transforming into a sky full of black lines that flew toward Kikyo, looking as though they would blot out everything. The offensive was exceptionally fierce and terrifying.
Kikyo loosed an arrow, shredding Kakuzu's body, yet she watched as his various parts were stitched together by countless black lines. With icy cold eyes, he charged forward with the strange stealth of a phantom in the dark of night.
As a matter of ninja pride, Kakuzu absolutely would not allow himself to fail like this. Kikyo, however, did not display a single ripple of emotion. The Sacred Arrow of Exorcism in her hand once again swept forward, carrying a vast, brilliant light.
"Die!"
The exact moment the Sacred Arrow of Exorcism hit Kakuzu, one of his fire-attribute hearts fused together with the surrounding black lines, directly generating a massive elemental explosion.
Inside the detonating fire-attribute heart was a special scroll sealed away, showing that someone else was clearly assisting Kakuzu.
In fact, at the precise moment Kakuzu detonated a heart to blast toward Kikyo, the third individual in the shadows finally made his move.
Sasori of the Red Sand manipulated countless red puppets to frantically attack Kikyo. As a hidden ambush force lying in wait, even though he had multiple opportunities to launch a sneak attack on Kikyo earlier, he had not directly acted.
This was because the aura radiating from Kikyo filled even a living corpse like him, who utilized a Regeneration Core, with fear.
Due to his existence as a human puppet, ordinary people could rarely perceive Sasori's presence. Therefore, while leveraging the sudden raid of the endless puppets, his true killing blow rested within the poison stinger on his hand.
With lightning speed, Kikyo caught Sasori's fatal stinger with one hand, only to watch a wave of holy spiritual energy forcefully purify Sasori's toxic gas until it was completely clean.
"A poison manufactured using miasma..."
Sasori's poison was brewed from a specific type of miasma. Under normal parameters, if an ordinary person were pricked, their body would instantly become paralyzed. Yet Kikyo permitted it to pierce her palm, and then her spiritual energy began the purification process.
Furthermore, there was no blood on her hand.
She is a puppet just like me... no, she is a living corpse brought back by the Impure World Reincarnation!
As one of Orochimaru's former temporary partners, Sasori possessed some understanding of the Impure World Reincarnation. However, the Kikyo before him did not seem like an ordinary, low-grade reincarnation; she was a living corpse with an exceptionally high degree of completion.
Perceiving all of this, Sasori rapidly retreated several steps, manipulating a massive volume of puppets to strike frantically. The heavily injured Kakuzu retreated half a step.
Currently, he had only two hearts left, causing his combat power to decline sharply as he panted heavily while monitoring the changes on the battlefield.
Sasori of the Red Sand, who commanded an immense puppet army, might just be the best candidate to deal with the priestess...
"I didn't expect us to meet again, mysterious female swordsman."
On a street within the Hidden Rain Village, Unohana Retsu held her Zanpakuto, looking with a smile at Obito, who was acting stealthily in his mask. Her Zanpakuto reflected a gorgeous yet deadly light.
Obito had a massive headache right now. Shiraishi's sudden raid on the Hidden Rain Village had dealt Akatsuki a heavy blow. Although he desperately wanted to support Nagato's side, the appearance of this woman made it very difficult for him to break away.
This was because her blade, along with her terrifying killing intent, remained completely locked onto him.
Back during the night of the Uchiha clan downfall, he had personally tasted this woman's terrifying locking capability.
Therefore, the moment Obito intended to deploy his Kamui virtualization technique, Unohana Retsu's blade had already struck.
The blade pierced straight through Obito's virtualized body, yet Unohana Retsu did not show a single trace of surprise. Instead, she continued to wield her sword, transforming her movements into a magnificent storm of sword dances.
The continuous chain of swordsmanship attacks formed an airtight curtain of sword energy. Even though Obito did not fear physical offensives, looking at Unohana Retsu still filled his heart with dread. Furthermore, Unohana Retsu's attacks were not entirely ineffective.
When the Zanpakuto pierced through his virtualized arm, Obito consistently felt a thread of discomfort and strangeness. Soon, he discovered that his mental state was actually being somewhat weakened!
How could this be possible? He possessed the First Hokage's Wood Release cells, so why would he feel fatigued?
Could it be soul damage? Just like the Shinigami summoned by the Third Hokage, possessing a specific sealing effect on the soul?
Obito's deduction was not wrong. In reality, a Zanpakuto was fundamentally a weapon composed of numerous souls, which was completely different from a standard physical weapon. Even an Asauchi before it truly became a custom Zanpakuto possessed specific soul-damaging attributes.
Therefore, Unohana Retsu's attacks practically inflicted a certain level of damage on Obito's soul as well.
This time, Obito had no choice but to become deeply cautious, because Unohana Retsu truly possessed the ability to injure him.
"Oh, you noticed. I thought you would continue to stand here blankly and take a beating for a while longer, haha."
Unohana Retsu smiled very icily, giving Obito an absolute shuddering sensation.
High up in the airspace of the battlefield, Pain's Deva Path watched with an icy gaze: "Uchiha Kaede, a mere Mangekyo Sharingan is insufficient to pose a threat to me."
During the confrontation between the two, Nagato did not immediately command the Deva Path to make a move. Instead, Konan flew straight forward, manipulating countless paper talents to strike at Uchiha Kaede.
The opponent Nagato was waiting for was the Fifth Kazekage, so he absolutely could not permit Uchiha Kaede to drain too much of his power. Konan, understanding Nagato's thoughts, proactively engaged Uchiha Kaede.
Uchiha Kaede, operating under the control of his fire turbines, actually exerted a certain level of suppression against Konan's Dance of the Shikigami.
The Dance of the Shikigami was a technique that transformed one's own body into countless paper-like fragments, a ninjutsu that allowed for free movement and transformation!
The applications of this technique were exceptionally broad, making it suitable for both reconnaissance and surprise raids. Furthermore, turning into countless pieces of paper drifting through the air carried a certain mesmerizing effect for those prone to illusion.
Konan had independently developed this technique back during her training under Jiraiya's guidance. In a certain sense, Konan's natural talent and ability were exceptionally prominent.
Years ago, even Sasori of the Red Sand had suffered a defeat at Konan's hands before obediently joining the Akatsuki organization, proving that her strength was by no means weak.
However, even so, when matched against Uchiha Kaede who possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, Konan's situation remained highly difficult.
Dance of the Shikigami: Paper Drizzle!
While maintained in the Dance of the Shikigami state, her two pairs of wings rapidly fired off countless sheets of paper. The paper sheets launched could also rapidly reattach to the wings, providing a cyclical effect in terms of tactics.
Seeing this, Uchiha Kaede stimulated countless blazing flames around his frame. Utilizing the same Fire Release Sage Body cells as Ace, three miniature golden suns manifested to encircle his back.
Armed with the defensive perimeter of the miniature golden suns, Uchiha Kaede rapidly converted his stance into a wild offensive.
Both sides generated a fierce clash and confrontation in the sky. Facing Uchiha Kaede, Konan converted the innumerable flying paper cranes in her hands into paper bombs, detonating them across various coordinates.
"Kazekage, you have finally arrived."
The Six Paths of Pain emerged from the darkness. Compared to their previous battlefield encounter, the standing positions of the six individuals were vastly more cautious. However, Shiraishi, facing the Rinnegan once again, did not care about these puppets.
Aside from Shiraishi, Deidara, who had discarded his red cloud black cloak attire, also rapidly manifested at a different coordinate, locking onto several of the other Pain bodies.
"Sage Art: Goemon!"
In an instant, from the region directly beneath where Shiraishi stood, Jiraiya's roaring voice echoed out completely. Jiraiya, possessing a perfect combination of Orochimaru's senjutsu power, deployed Sage Mode entirely on his own.
Concurrently, Wind Release, Fire Release, and oil were perfectly combined, structuring a terrifying, high-temperature burning system.
This single move instantly flooded the battlefield with boiling oil reaching several thousand degrees, capable of burning an opponent to absolute ashes over a massive area.
It was comparable to the extreme heat on the surface of the sun, theoretically capable of swallowing all tangible physical matter.
The completely unexpected attacker caused Kazekage Shiraishi to be directly engulfed by the raging wall of fire...
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