Meanwhile, Naraku and the two others, who had evacuated to a safe area, stood on a hillside, looking from afar at the battlefield where various ninjutsu and taijutsu flew chaotically—the Matsukata Family's mansion.
Matsukata Seigou pointed and said with surprise, "Are all ninja like this?"
Naraku carefully observed the battlefield while answering, "No, there aren't many in the entire ninja world who can achieve this level."
Kakashi happened to see the scene of the Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work attack. His eyes twitched slightly as he muttered, "Just who is this guy?"
Aside from his father, Sakumo Hatake, and the Third Hokage, who rarely made a move nowadays, Kakashi had never before seen an enemy ninja of Kakuzu's caliber.
Large-scale ninjutsu of multiple attributes, with power and range that would require two or three Jonin to neutralize... Even Might Duy, who had opened the Fifth Gate, was only able to suppress the opponent in taijutsu by a narrow margin, still not enough to decide victory.
Isn't this a B-rank mission?
How could an enemy of this strength appear?
If Naraku had heard Kakashi's inner question, he would only have replied that he, too, wanted to know why this was happening.
Logically, before Asuma, no one in Konoha—except for the First Hokage—should have had contact with the opponent; otherwise, there wouldn't be absolutely no intelligence on him.
Or perhaps, Konoha ninja had indeed encountered Kakuzu, but they were too weak and were all killed by him, so Konoha never received any intel.
But no matter what, how could Minato and Kakuzu have met?
Could Minato really die by Kakuzu's hand?
The greatest possibility was that his arrival in this world had altered part of the plot, and the mission Minato took this time was likely one he didn't take in the original timeline, causing him to encounter Kakuzu.
As for the original timeline, the Konoha ninja who carried out this mission were likely all wiped out, but it wasn't described in the anime.
Matsukata Seigou raised an eyebrow. "Oh? So, according to you, this ninja is very strong?"
"Yes," Naraku nodded. "Much stronger than Konoha's elite Jonin."
"Hmph. How could the Tamai Family, after hiring hundreds of rogue ninja, still have money to hire a strong person of this level?" Matsukata Seigou's tone gradually became somewhat gritty as he spoke. "It seems they couldn't wait any longer."
Kakashi: Who couldn't wait?
Naraku: ...Brother, shut up. I'm really about to break character...
Center of the battlefield.
Ishikawa and Kazama's ninjutsu bombarded Kakuzu one after another, usually forcing Kakuzu to use his masks to cast ninjutsu that countered their attributes.
Might Duy tried to attack Kakuzu several times during the ninjutsu intervals but was blocked by Earth Release: Earth Spear. Fortunately, Ishikawa seized the opportunity to bind Kakuzu's feet with Earth Release, fixing him in place and forcing him to endure Might Duy's Front Lotus.
"Hmph!"
Might Duy's final kick landed squarely on Kakuzu, causing the ground beneath him to ripple and crack into a spiderweb pattern.
Minato seized the opportunity to use the Flying Thunder God Technique, teleporting behind Kakuzu. Due to the impact of the Front Lotus, Kakuzu didn't have time to react and was fiercely impaled through the back of his heart by Minato's short blade, the sword protruding an inch from his chest.
Minato even cautiously twisted the hilt to ensure Kakuzu's heart would be pulverized, then jumped back to prevent any self-detonation jutsu from the corpse.
Just as the few people present secretly breathed a sigh of relief, Kakuzu's body glowed with lightning. In a dazzling flash of white light, he broke free from the Earth Release and moved rapidly into the distance.
"What?!"
Ishikawa's eyes widened; he had just watched Konoha's Jonin mangle this enemy's chest. How could he still be alive?
"No, he's escaping! Quick, pursue him!"
...
"He's coming our way!"
Naraku yelled at Kakashi, and the two quickly pulled Matsukata Seigou to retreat to the side.
Kakuzu's escape speed was very fast, but Minato was even faster, managing to intercept him before Kakuzu encountered Naraku and the others.
"How is this possible?"
Kakuzu was a little puzzled as to how Minato's Body Flicker Technique could be so fast. It was highly likely not a combination of taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu, but rather relied on spatial transference.
Could it be that jutsu once used by the Second Hokage?
He recalled that the first time Minato touched him, it must have been then that he placed some mark.
"This is a bit troublesome."
He glanced at the ninja rushing from all directions, thinking to himself that this mission was truly a loss.
Because to leave here successfully, he would have to abandon both his fire-attribute mask and clone to possibly shake off the pursuit.
He had just killed two targets, earning a mere twenty million ryo, and now he had to sacrifice a useful heart.
As Kakuzu was fuming, the corner of his eye caught sight of the three figures fleeing in the distance. Matsukata Seigou's noble attire and Naraku's conspicuous fan emblem on his back were clearly visible in the moonlight.
One of the targets and an Uchiha skilled in Fire Release... Perfect!
Earn another ten million, and replace the fire-attribute heart at the same time!
Kakuzu decisively separated his fire-attribute mask clone, used it to cast Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work, blocking the pursuing ninja, and took the opportunity to rush in Naraku's direction.
Kakuzu, attacking from behind, arrived almost in the blink of an eye, about to touch Matsukata Seigou's back.
A flash of a blade, and his outstretched hand was severed by Kakashi. Even though he reconnected it with his tendrils in time, he lost the chance to kill the target.
At the same time, a special kunai thrown by Minato had already landed at Matsukata Seigou's feet. He immediately activated the Flying Thunder God to teleport to the latter's side, took the person from Naraku's hands, and continued to teleport to an even greater distance, temporarily taking the only non-ninja person present out of the battlefield.
Seeing ten million slip away, Kakuzu could only find a way to compensate for the loss of his heart.
Fortunately, this Uchiha brat wasn't old and seemed very easy to kill.