Suiton: Taihōdan.
Takeshi spat out a large amount of water in the narrow alley, trying to keep Kakuzu away.
To his displeasure, an earth wall rose several meters, containing his jet of water with disdainful ease.
—Get away! Ignore the kunoichi, she won't attack you!— Takeshi called out to his mother, who had been paralyzed by the abrupt change of events.
His words jolted Kimiko out of her daze. A flash of defiance shone in the woman's black eyes, but an intense blaze destroyed the rock wall and evaporated Takeshi's water in a matter of seconds, roaring wildly towards them.
—Go!— Takeshi yelled at his mother while weaving hand signs, summoning crystal walls in rapid succession.
Cold and heat met, the dense ice walls holding up quite well against the intense heat of Kakuzu's flames, barely melting completely.
Perceiving the opponent's Ninjutsu level, Kimiko clenched her fists and turned around, passing by an indifferent Konan who barely spared her a glance.
That only amplified the woman's frustration. A bitter feeling of powerlessness, uselessness, and weakness hammered in her chest.
Back in the alley, Kakuzu raised an eyebrow, noticing how his fire was unable to penetrate the opponent's defenses. He snorted, deciding to send something more... Explosive.
Katon: Zukokku.
Fūton: Atsugai.
More fire was unleashed against the Yuki, amplified by the wind element.
This time, even Konan was forced to convert part of her body into paper and ascend into the air at high speed.
Takeshi recognized the lethality of this technique and wondered why Kakuzu was being so rough with him. Sure, Sasori was beaten up and Orochimaru had a Shinra Tensei thrown in his face, but a nobody like Takeshi couldn't receive the same treatment as a Sannin and a Kage killer.
—...A Kage, that's it!— the young man suddenly shouted, comprehension hitting him almost at the same time as Kakuzu's combined Jutsu.
A powerful explosion shook the vicinity of the Daimyō's Palace, the flames sending waves of intense heat for tens of meters, their light illuminating more than any lantern or streetlamp, and the blast of wind destroying part of the surrounding buildings, causing a rain of debris that ravaged the passersby of the nocturnal capital.
Civilians, drunks, prostitutes, families in their homes, and guests in their inns, all felt the tremor and more than one unfortunate person received a giant piece of debris on their head.
Kimiko turned with a pale face, her eyes reflecting the dome of fire that expanded and burst into a true inferno.
The kunoichi felt her heart stop, her breathing interrupted, and disbelief immobilizing her again.
For her, a girl protected in the safety of her Clan first and a beggar fleeing from problems later, this level of attack was a difficult fact to accept.
She suddenly felt nauseous at the memory of the first time her son contacted that man and dared to chat jovially with him.
Meanwhile, from the air, Konan watched what was happening below with indifference and a slight touch of surprise.
She saw and heard the brat yell something while snapping his fingers, as if a deadly attack wasn't about to explode in his face. Then, she glimpsed a large amount of chakra manifesting around the child, just before the explosion.
And now, as the flames roared and burning debris rained down on this insignificant city, Konan saw a structure reflecting the lights of the fire, right in the center of the conflagration.
A barely distinguishable silhouette remained inside the summoned structure.
The next moment, a visible surge of chakra erupted from the ice construct, devouring the flames as soon as they made contact and extinguishing them immediately after passing.
After clearing the vicinity, the wave of chakra returned to the ice, and the construct began to crack and bulge, forming a dozen humanoid silhouettes.
Hyōton: Kōri Bunshin no Jutsu.
Ice Clones jumped from the ice block that protected Yuki Takeshi, all immediately charging towards Kakuzu, who had not moved once from his position, curiously admiring how the Meiton devoured the residual chakra of his flames.
Both he and Konan wondered why Takeshi didn't use it to absorb the Jutsu directly. Neither had all the information to know that, in fact, the Meiton was ineffective when absorbing combined Ninjutsu.
With a burst of crystal fragments, Yuki Takeshi shot out along with his clones towards Kakuzu, his hands moving carefully and precisely through a variety of seals.
More than for slowness or inexperience, Takeshi liked to imitate Kisame's relaxed style. It looked cool, in his opinion.
Hyōton: Tsubame Fubuki.
The ice block he took refuge in cracked completely, releasing from its loose parts countless ice swallows that quickly lunged at the former Taki-Nin.
With a snort, Kakuzu unleashed a great breakthrough, destroying many of the ice constructs and hindering the advance of the Kōri Bunshin.
However, the clones wove hand signs and began to drain Kakuzu's technique, forcing their way through the storm while swelling with chakra.
The main body smiled, absorbing a considerable part of the Jutsu and sending an internal thanks to the Akatsuki. This was the first Daitoppa thrown at him, so in a way, Kakuzu made a great contribution to Takeshi.
Taking advantage of what he had learned and now knowing the seals for that technique, which he did with many of the most famous ones in case someone was ever kind enough to gift them to him, Takeshi used the very chakra he stole from Kakuzu to try his own wind release.
Fūton: Daitoppa.
The young Yuki exhaled, helping his clones with the sudden impulse and using a Wind Release Jutsu for the first time.
—Interesting, brat. Now let's see what you're really made of!— Kakuzu said, jumping into close combat with more enthusiasm after witnessing with his own eyes a Dark Release user much more skilled than the first one he encountered.
To Takeshi's dismay, what followed was a one-sided beating by the Takigakure fossil against his clones.
Kakuzu wasn't exactly a shinobi dedicated to speed, but the guy was tremendously fast. Much faster than Takeshi and his clones.
His strength was monstrous, probably due to the ugly things inside him. His reactions were insane, and his skill and experience were top-notch.
Demolishing punches that cracked his tough Ice clones, a colossal kick that split one in half, a very good command of battle despite being outnumbered.
And all this with pure taijutsu.
One of his Bunshin created a dense mist, which Takeshi took advantage of to try and stab the man in the back and take one of those ugly masks/hearts.
Kakuzu snorted and wove two hand signs, ready to unleash a blast of wind to disperse the mist.
However, because it wasn't precisely an attack, he didn't notice the wave of chakra that traveled across the ground to his position, emerging under his feet and entering his body.
The chakra intended to unleash the wind was interrupted and plundered, so the Jutsu was not completed.
But Kakuzu was not as foolish as Rasa. He quickly allocated more chakra to the Jutsu to replace the small amount taken and managed to dissipate the mist.
It was at that moment that Takeshi, with his fists covered in ice, jumped onto the man's back.
Manipulating its structure, the tip of the iron gauntlet deformed and turned into a spike, intended to pierce that ugly thing.
Kakuzu didn't manage to react in time and his back was pierced in two spots that coincidentally aligned with his masks.
Although, to be fair, those things are large and cover a good area, so the man didn't suspect Takeshi's knowledge of his Jiongu.
Takeshi contemplated with a thoughtful expression how the Kakuzu he stabbed dissolved into rock, wondering at what bloody moment he had swapped places with the main body.
—That Dark Release of yours doesn't seem like much. I really expected more from such a strange Kekkei Genkai— Kakuzu's cold voice came from behind Takeshi.
A punch slammed into the young Yuki's back, embedding him into the ground with a crash and an explosion of rocks and dust.