"Fire, Wind, Earth, Water."
"Other than Lightning Release, this guy has already used four different chakra natures against me. His chakra reserves are enormous."
"If what you said is true… and he really has five hearts…"
"This is troublesome."
Kakashi and Uchiha Yujin whispered to each other in a low voice. On the opposite side, Kakuzu didn't seem in any hurry to finish them off. He looked completely confident.
"No, Kakashi-sensei. With these eyes, I can see it clearly. He also has lightning chakra. No… not just that! His Lightning Release is his strongest!" Uchiha Yujin declared, attributing all his observations to the pair of Sharingan eyes in his sockets—the two-tomoe eyes shaped like scorpion stingers.
Kakashi had no reason to doubt him. Instead, a wave of guilt washed over him.
He glanced at Yujin's black, scaly tail, glimmering faintly in the light, and his heart filled with regret.
In Kakashi's mind, this was all Orochimaru's doing. His own negligence had allowed Yujin to face that monster alone, and the boy had been remade into this inhuman form.
Kakashi exhaled, his thoughts heavy.
"This child is a prodigy, but with the Cursed Seal of Heaven draining his life, he's destined to die young. It's all my fault."
"Hey! Kakashi-sensei!" Yujin's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Don't hold back your chakra! Use Multi-Shadow Clone! We'll split up and escape! We have to find a way back to the Land of Lightning!"
"Reaching the Land of Lightning won't necessarily be a good thing," Kakashi replied quickly.
"Even if it becomes a diplomatic incident, it's better than being killed outright by the Akatsuki! Stop hesitating! Our only Kakuzuce is to run!"
As he spoke, Yujin's wings unfurled, and his body lifted into the sky.
Kakashi's expression shifted.
If Yujin had taken off and fled the moment the battle started, he would have already escaped.
But instead, he turned back… just to say these words. Just to save his teacher.
Kakashi couldn't hesitate any longer. He pulled up his forehead protector, bringing out his Sharingan, and pressed his hands together.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Kakashi's chakra was far from the vast reserves of Naruto.
His multiple shadow clones numbered just over thirty.
Fortunately, each clone was extremely fast.
With a single leap, they scattered in all directions!
In the sky, Uchiha Yujin, flying above, saw Kakashi's clones fleeing and let out a sigh of relief.
With Kakashi's strength and the detailed intel on Kakuzu, as long as he didn't confront him head-on, his chances of survival were still quite high.
"This mission is really cursed," he muttered. "Every enemy I encounter is more dangerous than the last."
Uchiha Yujin thought he was about to escape the danger.
Suddenly, his pupils constricted, and his heart skipped a beat!
Deep in the forest, a black, rapidly moving creature was charging straight toward him!
It was one of the monsters created from Kakuzu's body by his Earth Grudge Fear.
Its lines were fluid yet eerie, the face on its mask was cruel and merciless, and the wings behind it left afterimages, moving as fast as a ghost in a horror film.
With the aid of his Sharingan, Uchiha Yujin noticed the color on the monster's mask.
Blue!
It was an Earth Grudge Fear creature imbued with wind chakra!
Carrying the power of wind, the creature was astonishingly fast.
In the blink of an eye, it had caught up to the airborne Uchiha Yujin!
He had known that Kakuzu's monsters could fly, but he didn't realize they could move this fast!
Feeling the fierce wind behind him, Uchiha Yujin immediately tried to form hand seals, but he was a step too slow!
The monster didn't need hand seals at all—it unleashed a wind attack directly from its mouth.
Whoosh!
A violent gust struck, throwing Uchiha Yujin off balance.
He plummeted toward the ground!
Just before impact, he forced his body into a stable position and quickly formed hand seals.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
A column of water appeared, supporting his body and lessening the force of his fall.
Barely standing, he inhaled deeply, aimed at the creature above, and launched a fireball.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Hoo… hoo… hoo!"
A ball of scorching flame gathered under Uchiha Yujin's control.
But at that moment, the monster in the sky opened its mouth and unleashed a powerful gust of wind!
The wind was unbelievably strong, blowing the forming fireball apart.
The flames scattered in every direction, unable to maintain their original shape.
As the saying goes, wind can feed fire, but in this case, the wind was far too strong.
The fireball's flames couldn't stay focused, let alone hit the target.
It was like trying to light a match in a hurricane—impossible!
Uchiha Yujin reacted quickly and tried a new method of attack.
The feathers on his wings glowed with a cold, sharp light.
With the help of his Sharingan, he aimed at the monster above and launched them.
The black feathers cut through the air, glinting sharply in the sunlight like black arrows, striking straight toward the monster in the sky.
"Whoosh!"
The wind roared violently.
But the feathers moved faster and struck harder, far more potent than a large-scale jutsu like the fireball.
Some of the feathers managed to pierce through the raging wind and hit the monster's body!
They left instant holes on its surface.
However, the Earth Grudge Wind monster had a bizarre body structure.
It was made of countless black threads that could quickly reweave themselves, repairing any damage from attacks.
Within a second, the holes were filled by the black threads, and the wind-style monster's body returned to its original state, as if it had never been harmed.
"Boom—"
In the distance, the Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work Technique engulfed the entire forest.
The red-masked Earth Grudge Fire monster leaped atop the treetops, searching for Kakashi's presence.
Seeing this, Uchiha Yujin's heart raced with anxiety.
Kakuzu could split into five monsters with different chakra natures, and this was only one—already incredibly difficult to deal with.
If another appeared… he would be doomed.
He had to take down the flying Earth Grudge Wind monster as quickly as possible!
"You're a monster, but I'm no pushover either!"
Uchiha Yujin's entire body was covered by the second stage of the Cursed Seal of Heaven.
The marks glowed with an ominous red light on his skin, as if flames were burning within his veins.
Both his tail feathers and wing feathers mutated under the seal's second stage, and with the Gene Lock activated, Uchiha Yujin had reached the peak of his combat power!
The Wind Release: Earth Grudge monster sensed Uchiha Yujin's threat.
It let out a sharp, piercing screech.
The black lines on its body writhed violently, and the power of the Wind Release grew even stronger.
It tried to blow Uchiha Yujin away with a gust of wind, but his speed was too fast.
The Wind Release could only make the edges of his clothing flutter!
He accelerated again, rushing straight in front of the Wind Release: Earth Grudge monster.
He gathered all his strength into his fist and punched the creature!
The force of that punch was enough to shatter a boulder.
The monster's body dented from the impact, but astonishingly, it recovered almost instantly.
****
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