Chapter 310: Be Careful

Mei and Pakura looked toward the explosion.

Inside the cloud of smoke, a half-circular wooden barrier stood in front of the masked man.

Tsunade’s fist had struck it directly.

The monstrous strength capable of flattening a hill had only produced a web of cracks across the wooden surface.

It hadn’t broken through.

The recoil traveled back through Tsunade’s arm.

She used the force to flip through the air and landed steadily beside Kaede.

Tsunade stared at the remains of the wooden wall sinking underground.

Her face darkened, teeth clenched.

"Wood Release?"

"How is that possible...?"

Kaede’s expression barely changed.

If anything, he had expected it.

Obito had been able to use Wood Release with half his body reconstructed from Hashirama cells.

Someone whose body had been modified enough to support the Rinnegan would only have undergone even more extreme changes.

Tsunade noticed his calmness and turned toward him with an obvious question in her eyes.

Kaede lowered his voice enough for only her to hear.

"His body was modified using the First Hokage’s cells."

The words fell like a spark into gunpowder.

Fire nearly erupted from Tsunade’s eyes.

Her grandfather’s cells?

Those hiding rats were actually using them as weapons against Konoha?

She clenched her fist and charged again.

Kaede pushed off the ground and followed immediately.

Their attack rhythm became twice as fast.

Tsunade pressed directly from the front, fists roaring through the air.

Kaede moved like a ghost between gaps in her offense, constantly searching for flaws.

Fu was driven backward again and again.

But Kaede’s heart slowly sank.

Something was wrong.

This man’s responses were too fast.

Tsunade’s style was straightforward, but her monstrous strength meant even a grazing hit could cripple or kill.

Yet Fu always seemed to capture the line of her attacks half a step in advance.

Every dodge was dangerously close and somehow perfectly timed.

Kaede formed a seal.

A Water Dragon roared forward to restrict Fu’s movement.

It accomplished nothing.

The instant the water touched Fu, it collapsed and vanished into his body as though swallowed by empty space.

Not even a splash remained.

"Tch."

Kaede abandoned ninjutsu and closed in again, switching to a more vicious and irregular taijutsu sequence.

Then something even more unsettling happened.

Fu broke down the combination again, cleaner and faster than during their first exchange.

’He knows how I’m going to attack?’

The feeling was deeply unnatural.

For the first time, Kaede felt genuinely suppressed in taijutsu.

During one brief lapse in concentration, Fu flicked his wrist and launched several black rods at Tsunade from difficult angles.

Tsunade had to stop her assault and dodge.

That was the opening.

Kaede flashed forward from a perfect blind spot.

His fingers had already touched the edge of Fu’s clothing.

But the enemy reacted even faster.

Without turning, Fu thrust his left palm outward.

A terrifying repulsive force exploded.

Kaede felt as though something had smashed directly into his chest.

He was hurled backward seven or eight meters.

While twisting in the air to regain control, his mind worked rapidly.

This wasn’t going to work.

Their two-person assault had been effective at first, but not anymore.

Tsunade’s fighting style was being countered too completely.

If this continued, Kaede would have to divide his attention to protect her.

Before he could warn her, Fu moved.

Tsunade had just avoided the final black rod.

The moment her foot touched the ground, the earth beneath her exploded.

"Careful!"

Kaede’s warning had barely left his mouth when several Wood Release roots covered in ominous dark chakra burst upward like striking snakes.

They stabbed directly toward Tsunade’s abdomen.

She had no time to respond.

Her balance wasn’t settled. There was nowhere to evade.

At the critical instant, an arm locked tightly around her waist.

An irresistible force pulled her sideways through the air.

The sharp roots pierced upward less than half a meter from her back.

Kaede held Tsunade and landed steadily.

She instinctively looked down at the arm around her, feeling the astonishing strength and warmth.

Kaede released her almost immediately.

"I’ll handle this."

He kept his eyes on Fu and spoke without looking back.

"Go help the others."

Tsunade opened her mouth and instinctively wanted to refuse.

But after looking at Kaede’s profile, she swallowed the words.

She wasn’t stupid.

During the fight, she had already realized that the enemy had completely adapted to her attack pattern.

Remaining here would only burden Kaede.

After a short silence, Tsunade nodded.

"Be careful."

The concern and trust in her eyes were impossible to hide.

Then she turned and leaped toward the distant Tailed Beasts.

Only Kaede and Fu remained facing each other on that part of the battlefield.

...

Deep in the distant forest, Black Zetsu’s half-black, half-white face twisted into an ugly expression.

The plan still hadn’t succeeded.

The White Zetsu infiltration it had prepared so carefully had been exposed with ridiculous ease.

The Tailed Beast Bombs had all been dealt with as well.

Now even Fu, implanted with the Rinnegan and carrying Black Zetsu’s expectations, had fought for so long without taking control of the battle.

Black Zetsu had lived in this world for more years than most could imagine.

It had seen every kind of situation.

For the sake of reviving its mother, it could hide in darkness like an insect for centuries.

Patience had always been its greatest weapon.

But in front of the variable called Kitahara Kaede, that thousand years of accumulated patience was being worn away piece by piece.

Irritation.

An unprecedented level of irritation.

Black Zetsu’s eyes moved between Kaede and Fu.

The Rinnegan was powerful, but Fu’s body had limits.

If this became a prolonged battle, Fu would certainly lose.

They couldn’t drag it out.

Black Zetsu needed one opportunity to kill Kaede instantly.

Its gaze swept across the battlefield around him.

There.

Fu’s taijutsu could tie Kaede down from the front.

Once they entered close combat, Kaede’s attention would necessarily be occupied by Fu.

That meant he would inevitably have a blind spot.

Black Zetsu’s body softened and sank underground.

It only needed to appear in that blind spot for a few critical seconds.

Then seize Kaede’s body.

A single instant of paralysis would be enough for Fu’s black rod to pierce his heart.