Kakuzu didn't flinch in the slightest when two Leaf ANBU suddenly struck.
Maybe he'd expected it.
Konoha didn't negotiate with bounty hunters over things like this—not seriously.
And even if Konoha did want to talk, Kakuzu wouldn't.
He'd thought he was simply killing a Konoha ninja with a decent bounty.
Only after the job was done did he realize the truth—this "Leaf shinobi" was actually from Sunagakure.
More importantly, the reward posted for the man wasn't bad at all.
At first, Kakuzu hadn't bothered thinking too deeply about why someone wearing Leaf gear would be disguising himself as a Leaf ninja.
Maybe it was just to avoid trouble while operating inside the Land of Fire.
But now he understood.
This man had been planted in Konoha as a spy. He'd been exposed, ANBU had been sent to erase him, and by pure coincidence Kakuzu had stumbled onto the situation first.
So he knows Leaf intelligence.
Kakuzu was practical to the bone—he didn't care about the Five Great Nations.
If he did, he wouldn't have ever joined something like Akatsuki.
If I sell this corpse as "important intel," it'll fetch an even higher price.
So why would I hand it back to Konoha alone?
His hands clasped together.
Chakra surged violently inside him, and in the next instant a scorching presence rolled outward.
"Fire Release: Searing Migraine!" (Katon: Zukokku!)
A torrent of flame erupted, melting the kunai in midair and sealing off Hikaru and Kakashi's forward path.
Hikaru had no choice but to snap through hand seals.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!" (Suiton: Suijinheki!)
A thick curtain of water surged up, colliding head-on with Kakuzu's fire.
But Hikaru's water wall couldn't truly stop that level of flame.
In an instant, massive steam exploded outward, blanketing the forest in a choking white fog.
Hikaru leapt up immediately and darted sideways, using the mist to break the line of fire while closing the distance.
He knew exactly how strong Kakuzu was.
A man who'd lived that long didn't just have terrifying chakra reserves—his chakra quality, his combat sense, his experience… all of it was monstrous.
Hikaru didn't believe he and Kakashi could win.
He'd attacked for one reason only:
To give themselves a reasonable excuse to retreat.
They were Leaf ANBU. And Hikaru had a future to consider.
He couldn't afford to be seen as someone who ran at the first whiff of danger.
Try to snatch the body back. If that fails—run.
Hikaru's plan was clean and simple.
Kakashi, however, didn't know what was in his captain's head.
Protected by the water release, Kakashi avoided the blaze, and the moment the steam rose he accelerated, cutting to the side.
Without meaning to, he and Hikaru formed a pincer angle on Kakuzu.
As he sprinted, the short sword strapped across his back was already sliding free.
Kakashi swung hard—one brutal slash straight at Kakuzu's torso.
Clang—!
The harsh ring of metal echoed through the fog-soaked forest.
Kakashi's eyes narrowed.
Kakuzu had blocked the blade with one hand.
How tough is his body?
He didn't get time to think.
Kakuzu gave a small shove—
And a terrifying force blasted through the contact point, sending Kakashi flying backward.
But Kakashi had survived the battlefield for years. His instincts were sharp.
He forced his body stable midair, then rode the momentum into a backward flip, aiming to land on a nearby tree.
Kakuzu didn't intend to let him go.
But as he reached out, his peripheral vision caught something—
The other ANBU was already closing in on his "loot."
"Hmph."
Kakuzu clicked his tongue and abandoned Kakashi for the moment.
He turned sharply toward Hikaru.
A fist wrapped in black threads detached at the wrist—snapping free like a launched weapon—and shot toward Hikaru with a violent crack of air.
Hikaru's reaction was instantaneous.
No Sharingan. No perfect read of trajectory.
But years of "planting trees" inside his own body—especially those early attribute fruits—had given him reflexes that were anything but normal.
He twisted slightly.
The punch screamed past his shoulder and slammed into the ground.
Stone exploded upward in a spray of debris.
Hikaru used that opening to hop aside, then his blade flashed like lightning, slicing clean through the black threads.
With Hikaru buying him time, Kakashi managed to land on the treetop.
His eyes flicked to his sword—
A small chunk of the edge was missing.
Cracks spiderwebbed down toward the hilt.
Kakashi's brow furrowed.
"His body… is that Earth Release?"
"So that's it. Earth Release for defense, Fire Release for offense."
He really was a genius.
Just one brief exchange, and he'd already peeled back part of Kakuzu's kit.
If it was Earth Release defense, then Kakashi was confident he could break it.
His hands flew through seals.
Blue lightning gathered in his palm, arcs snapping and crawling across his skin—
And then that shrill, birdlike screech burst into life.
Chidori.
Lightning Release countered Earth Release, and Chidori's piercing power was infamous. Kakashi wasn't worried about failing to crack the defense.
Hikaru didn't even need sensory skills to notice it.
That sound was impossible to miss.
So much for an assassination technique.
With that noise, you're basically announcing it to the whole forest.
Hikaru shook his head internally.
In the future, Kakashi's Chidori became silent until the moment it landed—Kakuzu would only hear the scream after being hit.
That meant future Kakashi had refined the technique repeatedly.
Right now, he hadn't.
Still, the power was the power.
Hikaru decided to coordinate.
Kakashi had Obito's Sharingan—his tracking and lock-on would be fine.
All he needed was for Kakuzu's attention to be split.
Hikaru stopped retreating and stepped forward—closing the gap.
He was jōnin-level at best. Compared to a veteran Kage-class monster like Kakuzu, the gap was obscene.
But Kakuzu wasn't going all-out yet.
That gave them a chance.
If they could make Kakuzu pay even a little, it would already be a win.
"Childish."
Kakuzu had heard the Chidori's scream too.
He understood immediately—and felt, for a moment, like he'd just hit the jackpot.
That was Chidori.
And the one using it had to be Hatake Kakashi—
A bounty worth ten million ryō and more.
He was just about to turn his focus back to Kakashi when that other white-haired brat closed in again, clearly trying to coordinate.
Kakuzu's annoyance spiked.
This kid thinks he can break my Earth Release defense?
Ridiculous.
But a heartbeat later, Kakuzu's expression shifted.
Hikaru suddenly sprang high into the air—
And the blade in his hand began to spin, chakra compressing along its edge, water nature twisting into something razor-thin and murderous.
"Water Release: Water Blade Slash!" (Suiton: Suijin Zangeki!)