Chapter 158: The Akatsuki Gangs Up

Chapter 158: Chapter 158: The Akatsuki Gangs Up

Two shinobi clad in black robes patterned with red clouds sped through the Land of Fire at astonishing speed.

They moved so fast that they practically left afterimages in their wake, causing the civilians who happened to catch sight of them along the way to wonder if their eyes had been playing tricks on them.

As they raced onward, Uchiha Shinichi asked his partner beside him, "Hey, you think we’re gonna come up empty-handed again this time?"

Recently, in order to track down the mysterious individual the organization was searching for, Uchiha Shinichi had practically traveled across the entire Land of Fire.

Juzo Biwa casually replied, "Who knows?"

As far as Juzo was concerned, failing to find that mysterious individual wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

After all, anyone capable of making the organization wary was obviously no ordinary person. If they actually had the bad luck to run into him, there was no telling whether they might end up facing a brutal battle.

After passing through yet another forest, Uchiha Shinichi gazed into the distance and asked Juzo, "That should be the town up ahead, right?"

Juzo nodded. "Yeah, that’s the one!"

A short while later, the two arrived at the town.

After finding the black-market boss, Juzo Biwa asked, "Which way did Kakuzu go?"

The black-market boss didn’t dare conceal anything. He hurriedly pointed in the direction Hyuga Kagami and Kakuzu had gone and said, "Lord Kakuzu and Lord Kawa went that way!"

"Kawa...!?" Uchiha Shinichi frowned. "Wasn’t that bounty ninja called Yama?"

The black-market boss gave a bitter smile and explained, "The one who fought Lord Kakuzu really was Lord Kawa. And according to Lord Kawa, Lord Yama is their leader!"

Whether it was the organization Kakuzu belonged to or the one Kawa belonged to, anyone could tell at a glance that neither was something to be trifled with. Right now, all the black-market boss could hope for was that the conflict between these two mysterious organizations wouldn’t drag him into it.

Uchiha Shinichi chuckled. "Oh? So the other side has an organization too!"

Juzo’s expression darkened. "Let’s go!"

After leaving the town, the two raced in the direction the black-market boss had pointed.

Before long, they noticed dark clouds gathering across the distant horizon, with flashes of lightning and rolling thunder.

Uchiha Shinichi asked, "Rain clouds?"

"No. Someone’s fighting over there. Kakuzu should be there!"

As a shinobi of Kirigakure who had been born in the Land of Water, Juzo quickly recognized that the rain clouds in the distance were not a natural phenomenon, but something created artificially.

Just then, Uchiha Shinichi’s gaze shifted to the side.

"Someone’s coming!"

Juzo immediately went on guard. "Which side?"

After sensing his surroundings for a moment, Uchiha Shinichi said, "Don’t worry. It’s Orochimaru and the others."

A moment later, Orochimaru and Sasori landed in front of them.

Orochimaru glanced at Uchiha Shinichi and said in his raspy voice, "You two certainly move fast."

Juzo Biwa pointed toward the rain clouds in the distance. "The battlefield should be over there."

Standing atop a large tree, Sasori gazed in that direction before grinning. "Quite the commotion. Looks like the other guy would make some pretty good puppet material."

Uchiha Shinichi had always disliked someone like Sasori who toyed with corpses, so he snorted. "Heh, the boss said we’re supposed to capture him alive. Afraid you won’t be getting your wish."

......

On the battlefield.

Mist produced by the collision of Water Release and Fire Release blanketed the entire forest, shrouding everything in a hazy veil.

Combined with the fine drizzle falling steadily from the sky, the forest seemed so indistinct that it almost felt unreal.

Hyuga Kagami crouched on a tree branch, breathing lightly.

After exchanging blows for some time, he realized that he didn’t have any particularly effective way of dealing with Kakuzu.

The problem was that he lacked a decisive finishing move—something capable of ending the battle in a single strike.

Without such a technique, he had no way to inflict a truly fatal wound on Kakuzu.

Meanwhile, with the cooperation of his four masked monsters, Kakuzu could wield ninjutsu of all five chakra natures—Water, Fire, Earth, Lightning, and Wind. In a conventional battle, he was practically without weakness.

What made things even more troublesome was that the four masked monsters could fly, and their coordination with one another was exceptionally seamless.

At times, they would even combine in pairs and unleash combination ninjutsu of two different chakra natures, putting Hyuga Kagami, who could only use Water Release in this body, under tremendous pressure.

"I’ve burned through too much chakra. Time to pull out!"

Even with the Dragon Vein supporting him, and despite this body’s extraordinary affinity with Water-natured chakra, Hyuga Kagami was beginning to feel that he couldn’t keep this up much longer.

Besides, his purpose this time had only been to enjoy a satisfying, all-out battle.

Whether or not he could kill Kakuzu wasn’t particularly important to him.

Now that the fight had reached this point, it really was time to consider retreating.

Just then, one of the masked monsters, whose mask bore blue markings, spotted Hyuga Kagami and opened its mouth, spitting out a mass of lightning.

"Tch!"

Clicking his tongue, Hyuga Kagami leaped away and dodged the incoming lightning.

Earth Release had a clear advantage over Water Release. Whether it was earth walls or body-hardening techniques, Earth Release ninjutsu could easily withstand Water Release ninjutsu of the same level.

Wind Release and Lightning Release could also counter Water Release to a certain extent under certain circumstances.

In other words, aside from when facing Fire Release, Water Release was often at a disadvantage against the other chakra natures.

Of course, Water Release wasn’t without its strengths.

Its advantages lay in its stable nature and high chakra efficiency.

It was precisely because of these characteristics of Water Release that Hyuga Kagami found himself constantly restrained when facing Kakuzu, who could wield all five chakra natures. The slightest lapse in concentration could give Kakuzu an opening to exploit.

After landing on the ground, Hyuga Kagami activated his Byakugan and surveyed his surroundings.

He quickly pinpointed the locations of all four masked monsters.

But Kakuzu’s main body was nowhere to be found.

"Did he go underground?"

Hyuga Kagami cautiously looked beneath his feet.

Many advanced Earth Style techniques that allowed the user to travel underground could evade even the Byakugan’s detection, provided they went deep enough and used the earth’s ley lines as cover.

However, through his earlier observations, Hyuga Kagami had already noticed something about the four masked monsters that had separated from Kakuzu’s body.

Although they could fly and move freely, they didn’t seem capable of straying too far from Kakuzu’s main body.

Therefore, based on the positions of the four masked monsters, Hyuga Kagami could still roughly determine where Kakuzu himself was hiding.

But by this point, Hyuga Kagami had already lost interest in continuing to tangle with Kakuzu.

Since Kakuzu had gone underground, he decided to take advantage of the opportunity and disengage from the battle.

Suddenly, he sensed several enormous chakra signatures rapidly approaching his position.

He immediately activated his Byakugan.

"One... two... four. Four people in total! And with chakra reserves like these, all four of them are experts!"

They were moving incredibly fast. By the time Hyuga Kagami noticed them, they were already almost upon him.

Before long, four figures descended around him, surrounding Hyuga Kagami from all sides.

After recognizing the identities of the four newcomers, Hyuga Kagami couldn’t help but curse inwardly:

"What the hell? Since when does the Akatsuki gang up on people?"