"Ninja Art: Jutsu of a Thousand Scattering Crows!"
Watching Kakuzu and Hidan sitting on a rock with their eyes closed, Aoba Yamashiro formed hand seals and summoned a flock of crows.
"Go!"
A dense swarm of crows flew toward Kakuzu and Hidan like a squadron of bombers.
However, just as the crows arrived, Kakuzu and Hidan suddenly snapped their eyes open.
"Mere crows..."
Just as Hidan was about to scoff, a black blade thrust out from the flock, aiming straight for Kakuzu's neck.
"Combo Jutsu: Black Blade—Fatal Strike!"
Raido Namiashi's figure emerged from the midst of the crows.
This was a combined technique he shared with Aoba Yamashiro—one that had never failed. The black blade was coated in a deadly poison; a single scratch was enough to claim an enemy's life.
"Interesting." Kakuzu jerked his head, and his neck snapped apart in a grotesque fashion—held together only by a few fibrous tendrils—allowing him to narrowly dodge the strike.
He then lashed out with a kick, sending Raidō Namiashi flying.
Using a murder of crows to obscure vision before launching a sneak attack was indeed a tactic that caught most opponents off guard.
But for someone like him—ninety-one years old and a veteran of countless battles—it was still a bit too amateurish.
"Fire Style: Head..."
Just as Kakuzu prepared to finish his opponent off with a fire technique, two kunai came hurtling toward him and Hidan.
He initially intended to dodge, but realized too late that explosive tags were attached to the trailing ends of the kunai.
He was forced to abandon the fire technique and instantly switch to an Earth Style defense to shield himself.
BOOM!
As the explosion rang out, two dark shapes rapidly slithered across the ground toward Kakuzu and Hidan.
It was Shikamaru's Shadow Possession Jutsu.
Once pinned by the shadow, even the two of them would be rendered immobile for a time.
"Watch out for the shadow!"
Kakuzu quickly retreated, shouting a warning to the brainless Hidan.
"I'm not falling for that again!"
Hidan roared, his teeth bared in anger as he brandished his massive scythe.
He had lost his head earlier precisely because he'd been caught by that jutsu; he wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.
Just then, two more kunai came flying in—aimed straight at their heads—each trailing an explosive tag.
"Dodge!"
Kakuzu and Hidan simultaneously tilted their heads to avoid the kunai, tensing their legs to leap backward and escape the imminent explosion.
But then, they realized something: the explosion never came, and their bodies refused to move.
"Fell for it."
Kakuzu's gaze swept over the special kunai pinned to their shadows, and he narrowed his eyes.
"Shadow Imitation Shuriken Technique... Success!"
Shikamaru jumped down from the tree with a smile, reinforcing his control over Hidan using the Shadow Imitation Technique.
The second wave of kunai consisted of chakra-conductive weapons belonging to his teacher, Asuma; their ability to channel chakra was precisely what enabled him to execute the Shadow Imitation Shuriken Technique.
Meanwhile, Raido Namiashi—who had previously been kicked away by Kakuzu—had closed in on Hidan and swung his blade at Hidan's neck.
While they lacked intelligence on Kakuzu, they had essentially gathered all the necessary information regarding Hidan.
Consequently, their strategy was to eliminate Hidan first, then join forces to take down Kakuzu.
"Kakuzu! My head's about to get chopped off again!"
Seeing the black blade slashing toward his neck, Hidan immediately let out a loud, panicked shout.
Just then, one of Kakuzu's hands suddenly shot out toward Raido, seizing him by the throat.
The experienced ninja had, in fact, detached one of his hands and concealed it underground the moment he was first attacked.
The instant his body was pinned in place, he used that hidden hand to... The tide turns.
The control was broken.
"Spiky Human Bullet Tank!"
Choji, having prepared the move in advance, came rolling toward Kakuzu.
This forced Kakuzu to drop Raido Namiashi and harden his body with earth-style jutsu to defend himself.
"Thousand-Armed Murder!"
But it didn't end there.
Kakuzu, sent flying by Choji's charge, landed right in front of Asuma.
Asuma unleashed the signature technique of his late friend Chiriku, summoning a thousand-armed Kannon statue to pummel Kakuzu, forcing him into a desperate defensive stance.
Choji's jutsu couldn't break through Kakuzu's defenses, but Asuma's could.
At that moment, Ino, who had been lying in wait, made her move.
"Mind Transfer Jutsu!"
While Asuma's Thousand-Armed Kannon pinned Kakuzu down, rendering him unable to move, Ino's jutsu successfully struck him, seizing control of his body for a few seconds.
Seizing that brief window, Raido Namiashi reappeared beside Hidan and decapitated him with a single stroke.
Immediately after, Aoba Yamashiro summoned a crow that snatched up Hidan's severed head and flew away.
Although Hidan possessed an immortal body and wouldn't die from decapitation, separating his head far enough from his body effectively neutralized him for the time being.
"Looks like it's time to get serious."
After breaking free from Ino's jutsu, Kakuzu found himself surrounded by eight Konoha ninja, including Asuma and Shikamaru.
Yet, there was no trace of anxiety on his face; he knew that even if they joined forces, they were no match for him.
The only one who gave him a moment's pause was the youth with formidable taijutsu skills—but a quick sweep of the area revealed the boy was nowhere to be seen.
It wasn't that Goku was absent; rather, Kakuzu had failed to detect his presence entirely.
When Goku entered the "Transparent World" state and deliberately suppressed his energy signature, it was impossible for anyone to spot him.
At that moment, Goku was perched on the branch of a large tree, watching the battle unfold below.
To his eyes, the strength of Asuma and the others wasn't particularly impressive—at best, they were on par with the likes of Tien Shinhan and his friends.
However, their tactical ingenuity caught his eye.
The sheer variety of their jutsu was also quite intriguing.
"Huh? Is this guy some kind of monster?"
Just then, he saw Kakuzu's body split apart, with three masked black monsters emerging from his back.
It reminded him of the first time he saw Bulma driving a car; he had mistaken her for a monster, only to realize later it was a vehicle.
"Whoa, how did he split into multiple people? Is that a jutsu too?"
Moments later, as the battle intensified, he saw some of the Konoha ninja—like Asuma—actually create duplicates of themselves to aid in the fight.
With his keen eyesight, he could tell these weren't the "Afterimage Technique" he used to employ—illusions created simply by moving at high speed.
These were genuine duplicates of themselves.
Yet, upon taking a solid hit, they would vanish with a "poof"—a truly fascinating phenomenon.
This instantly piqued his interest in the world's jutsu.
In truth, he wasn't particularly interested in elemental jutsu involving fire or lightning, as those effects could easily be replicated with magic.
The mages of the Fairy Tail Guild, for instance, were experts at using such magic.
Natsu and Laxus could even devour others' fire and lightning to boost their own power.
Moreover, in his view, the power of those ninjutsu techniques paled in comparison to his Ki blasts—or even his Ki breathing technique.
However, he was quite interested in Ino's technique—which allowed her to project her consciousness into an enemy's body to control them—and Asuma's shadow clone technique used for combat support.
These types of ninjutsu could enhance his own combat capabilities.
Then there was Choji's body-enlarging technique; it bore some resemblance to his own "Giant Magic" and might prove useful to him as well.
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