Chapter 157: Magic Lantern Body Technique

Chapter 157: Chapter 157: Magic Lantern Body Technique

Listening to Kakuzu’s cold and merciless words, Hyuga Kagami suddenly remembered that Kakuzu had indeed gone through several partners in the Akatsuki. It wasn’t until he eventually met Hidan, who possessed an immortal body, that he finally formed the stable duo known as the "Immortal Duo."

"Even after joining the Akatsuki, you still can’t escape the law of the jungle, huh!"

After sighing inwardly, Kagami stopped paying attention to the Akatsuki member lying on the ground, whose fate was still unknown, and focused all his attention on Kakuzu.

Although the Akatsuki member had taken the brunt of the Lightning Release ninjutsu just now, Kagami had still been caught in part of the attack. At this moment, half of his body was still numb.

Kakuzu seemed to understand Kagami’s current condition as well, so he didn’t waste another word and immediately lunged toward him.

At the same time, the four masked monsters scattered around Kakuzu also spread out in unison, faintly surrounding Kagami from all sides.

Kagami immediately formed hand seals and shouted, "Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!"

Crash—!

As Kagami unleashed his ninjutsu, an enormous wave instantly surged forth, blotting out the surroundings as it crashed toward Kakuzu.

Kakuzu’s expression tightened.

For the first time, a look of surprise appeared on his face.

Clearly, the power of the Water Release ninjutsu Kagami had unleashed far exceeded Kakuzu’s expectations.

To be able to perform a Water Style technique on such a massive scale in a place without any nearby water source—even Kakuzu, who had lived for more than seventy years, could recall very few people capable of such a feat.

At that moment, one of the masked monsters, whose mask was marked with red patterns, opened its mouth toward Kagami.

One fireball after another shot from its mouth like cannon shells!

Kagami made no unnecessary movements and simply formed another set of hand seals.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Technique!"

In an instant, a massive water dragon appeared out of thin air. Coiling its enormous body around Kagami, it shielded him within.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The fireballs slammed into the water dragon, producing a series of thunderous explosions and sending clouds of steam billowing into the air, quickly forming a dense mist.

Bang—!

Immediately afterward, another Wind Style air bullet shot toward Kagami, tearing away half of the water dragon protecting him.

Having been severed in two by the Wind Release attack, the water dragon collapsed with a loud splash, dispersing into ordinary water.

At that moment, Kakuzu leaped onto the tree, burst through the thick mist, and drove a fist straight toward Kagami.

Kagami’s expression darkened as he pulled out a kunai and met the attack head-on.

Clang—!

The kunai, forged from refined steel, struck Kakuzu’s fist—

and actually produced the sharp sound of metal colliding with metal!

Clearly, Kakuzu had reinforced his arm with Earth Release!

Using the force behind Kakuzu’s punch, Kagami leaped backward while thinking to himself, "This guy’s ridiculously strong!"

Kakuzu didn’t immediately pursue him.

Standing amid the thick mist, he extended both arms toward the retreating Kagami. At that moment, his arms actually detached from his body!

Connected to him by mysterious bundles of black threads, the two arms shot toward Kagami at incredible speed.

Still suspended in midair, Kagami had nothing to push off against and no way to dodge. The two flying hands caught him dead-on, clamping tightly around his throat.

As Kakuzu’s arms slowly retracted, they dragged Kagami directly toward him.

Once his arms had fully returned, Kakuzu gripped Kagami by the neck with one hand and lifted him into the air.

"Kid, you’re not weak," Kakuzu said coldly. "Tell me everything you know about Yama, and I can spare your life."

Kagami struggled desperately for a moment before suddenly going still.

Then he chuckled softly.

"Tell me, do you think I’ll spare your life?"

Kakuzu froze.

"You... Wait, something’s wrong!"

BOOM—!

BOOM—!

BOOM—!

Before Kakuzu could finish speaking, a chain of violent explosions erupted from Kagami’s body while Kakuzu was still gripping him by the throat!

Blasted out of the explosion in a sorry state, Kakuzu coughed violently as he hurriedly searched for Kagami’s figure.

At that moment, Kagami leisurely stepped out from behind a large tree.

"Heh. Even an explosion at point-blank range couldn’t kill you. You really are one tough bastard, aren’t you?"

"You used a Water Style clone as bait and rigged it with explosive tags to deal with me. Hmph, it seems I underestimated you!" Kakuzu’s eyes remained locked firmly on Kagami as he continued, "When the mist rose just now, you used it to block my vision and secretly created a water clone, didn’t you?"

Kagami smiled.

"Good guess."

Kakuzu’s gaze grew even sharper.

"Very well. Let’s see what other tricks you have up your sleeve!"

By now, Kakuzu had already figured it out.

Kagami had deliberately used the Water Dragon Technique to block the Fire Release attack. His real purpose had been to generate a thick cloud of mist, then use that cover to launch a decoy attack with a water clone.

In other words, from the very beginning of that exchange, Kakuzu had been dancing in the palm of Kagami’s hand...

...

Inside a rocky cave somewhere in the Land of Fire.

Uchiha Shinichi and Jūzō Biwa sat in front of a campfire, warming themselves by the flames.

Stretching lazily, Shinichi complained, "They’ve got us running all over the world looking for some mysterious guy, but we don’t even know what the bastard looks like. Don’t you think that’s ridiculous?"

Beside him, Jūzō leaned back against the stone wall with his eyes closed, seemingly dozing.

He showed absolutely no reaction to Shinichi’s complaints.

Apparently, Jūzō had long since gotten used to all of this.

Suddenly, a mental message was transmitted directly into both of their minds.

Shinichi clicked his tongue.

"What do they want with us this time?"

Jūzō, on the other hand, said nothing. He immediately formed a hand seal and shouted in a low voice,

"Magic Lantern Body Technique—Connect!"

In an instant, the spiritual projections of Jūzō and Uchiha Shinichi appeared inside an enormous cavern.

Within the cavern stood an absolutely massive humanoid stone statue.

The statue’s face was horribly distorted, and nine tightly shut eyes were arranged across it, giving it an incredibly eerie appearance.

After his spiritual projection landed atop one of the statue’s fingers, Shinichi glanced around.

Aside from their leader, Pain, who had summoned him and Jūzō, he discovered the spiritual projections of two other Akatsuki members standing on the fingers of the statue’s other hand.

At that moment, Pain, who stood atop the statue’s thumb, spoke.

"Kakuzu’s team has encountered a powerful enemy in the Land of Fire. Orochimaru, Sasori, Uchiha Shinichi, Jūzō Biwa—your two teams are the closest to Kakuzu’s position.

"I want you to head there immediately and reinforce them.

"Capture the enemy alive!"

Uchiha Shinichi remarked, "Kakuzu always looked pretty strong. Never thought he’d have trouble dealing with a mere bounty ninja."

Orochimaru’s gaze lingered on Shinichi for quite a while before he extended his tongue and licked his lips.

"Is his opponent that bounty ninja called ’Yama’?"

Pain shook his head.

"We don’t have any detailed information on the enemy yet. That’s why you need to get there as quickly as possible!"

Sasori asked, "Where are they?"

After giving the four of them Kakuzu’s location, Pain said,

"Dismissed!"

Immediately, one spiritual projection after another vanished from the cavern...