Naruto : Blazing Legend

Chapter 44: The Power of the S-Rank Missing Ninja

Wind Release: Pressure Damage.

The technique hit like the wrath of gods—a tornado compressed to impossible density, fired with the force of heavy artillery. When it struck, the explosion consumed everything within twenty meters. Trees, stone, flesh—all swept away by wind pressure that could level mountains.

Seven Mist ninja died instantly, their screams cut short by the howling wind. Two jōnin among them, reduced to scattered remains in the span of a heartbeat. Yuki Shira and the surviving Mist operatives were hurled through the air like broken dolls, smashing into trees dozens of meters away.

When consciousness returned to them, they found themselves staring at a nightmare given form. Kakuzu stood amid the carnage, four grotesque masked creatures floating around him like attendant demons. Black tentacles writhed from his body, suturing wounds that should have been fatal.

The remaining Mist ninja—more than a dozen hardened killers—charged with desperate fury. They had no choice. Run, and he'd hunt them down. Fight, and perhaps some might survive.

They learned quickly that survival wasn't an option. Kakuzu's elemental techniques tore through their ranks easily. When they managed to land hits—a blade across his throat, kunai in his heart—the monster simply stitched himself back together with those obscene black threads. Their weapons might as well have been paper. Their jutsu, children's tricks.

In the end, the proud Mist ninja fled like whipped dogs, carrying whatever pitiful intelligence they'd gathered. The Whirlpool Country belonged to the monster now.

---

"Found someone. Over there." Gaku's voice was tight with tension as his sensory technique painted a picture of malevolent chakra.

The five Konoha operatives moved as one, racing through the ruins until they reached the source. A figure stood atop a broken stone pillar, looking down at them with the casual interest of a predator evaluating prey.

Rei's blood turned to ice water in his veins. Kakuzu. The name hammered in his mind like a funeral bell. The immortal bounty hunter, the man who'd fought the First Hokage and lived to boast about it. He'd crossed an ocean for one purpose: to claim the price on Rei's head.

"Rei, do you know this missing-nin?" Senzo caught the boy's barely suppressed recognition.

"S-rank missing-nin from Takigakure," Rei managed, his voice steadier than he felt. "Everyone be careful. This one's survived for nearly a century by being very, very good at killing people."

Minato's frown deepened. He'd never encountered this particular legend, but the chakra signature alone made his instincts scream warnings. This wasn't a fight they could win cleanly.

In Takigakure's early records, Kakuzu had been documented as S-rank, but Konoha had never directly engaged him. The Earth Grudge technique had transformed him so thoroughly that he barely resembled the man in their intelligence files. He was something else now—something worse.

"Oh? You must be Uchiha Rei." Kakuzu's voice carried the weight of absolute confidence as he dropped from his perch. "You have more sense than I expected. Come quietly, and I'll spare your companions."

Nine million ryō for a child's head. Easy money, he thought. Time to collect.

"Can we talk?" Rei stepped forward, his smile masking the terror clawing at his chest.

Instantly, Minato and the others formed a loose circle around Kakuzu. Professional spacing, weapons ready, escape routes calculated. If he moved wrong, they'd converge like a closing fist.

"Right now, you're facing five jōnin-level operatives," Rei continued, his voice carrying clearly across the ruins. "The odds aren't in your favor. But I'm willing to pay double whatever bounty you're after—for information on whoever put out the contract."

Minato's eyes sharpened. Brilliant. Turn the hunter into an ally, use his greed against whoever was pulling the strings. For a moment, hope flickered.

"Unfortunately," Kakuzu's tone remained conversational, "I don't know who's paying. The contract came through intermediaries. So if you want to hire me..." He shrugged eloquently. "You'll have to wait until I've collected your head and asked around."

"Everyone, behind us!" Gaku's warning came a split second too late.

Wind Release: Pressure Damage.

The flying mask materialized behind their formation, storm winds erupting from its grotesque features. The technique formed a hurricane's eye among them, scattering the team like leaves in a typhoon.

Of course. Rei tumbled through the air, cursing his naivety. Kakuzu hadn't stood there talking out of courtesy—he'd been positioning his killing tools.

Minato twisted mid-flight, hurling three of his special kunai at Kakuzu's center mass. The blades struck home, only to be turned aside by skin hard as steel. Earth Release: Hardening—the missing-nin's flesh had become living armor.

Lightning crackled behind Minato as he landed. Another mask-creature, this one wreathed in electric death.

Lightning Release: False Darkness.

Minato vanished, reappearing beside one of his fallen kunai. The Rasengan formed in his palm like a miniature star, slamming into Kakuzu with enough force to launch him through the air.

"Flying Thunder God!?" Shock colored Kakuzu's voice even as he hardened his body mid-flight. That technique belonged to legends, to the Second Hokage himself.

Rei didn't waste the opening. His Sharingan spun to life as Chidori screamed in his right hand, lightning coiling around his fingers like a serpent of pure destruction. He layered a genjutsu over the attack—useless against Kakuzu's experience, but worth the attempt.

Seeing the Uchiha boy charging with his signature lightning technique, Kakuzu's tactical mind kicked in. Black tendrils shot out, wrapping around a stone pillar and yanking him three meters into the air. Let the boy try to reach him there.

But Rei's enhanced perception had already tracked the movement. Chidori died in his palm as he pivoted, drawing his sword and launching himself upward in a silver arc of killing steel.

The blade met flesh turned stone-hard, sparks flew as Kakuzu's hardening technique held firm. Dozens of black tendrils reached for Rei, forcing him to abandon the attack and leap clear.

Across the battlefield, chaos reigned. Minato had bisected the Lightning mask-creature, only to watch in horror as it reconnected like some obscene puzzle. Daki had taken a direct hit but survived through quick hardening, blood streaming from his mouth. Senzo battled the Fire mask with water techniques, steam hissing where the elements met. Gaki danced around the Water mask's attacks, his sensory abilities the only thing keeping him alive.

"Everyone!" Rei's voice cut through the mayhem. "Target the masks! They're the weak points—hitting anything else is useless!"

"You little bastard!" Kakuzu's composure finally cracked. "Who the hell are you? How do you know about Earth Grudge?"

The question hung in the air like an accusation. Too much knowledge, revealed too quickly. But there was no time for subtlety now.

Seeing Minato and Senzo redirect their attacks toward the masks, Kakuzu recalled his creatures with desperate urgency. If they discovered the full extent of his weaknesses...

"Ask the Sage of Six Paths when you meet him!" Rei's hands blurred through seals, the movements almost too fast to track.

Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet.

Stone and soil erupted beside Kakuzu, forming a serpentine dragon that lunged with gaping jaws. The Lightning mask intercepted with False Darkness, chakra-enhanced electricity shattering the construct into harmless debris.

"Water Style: Water Cannon!" Senzo's technique followed immediately—three massive spheres of pressurized water racing toward their target.

An earth wall rose to meet them. Two projectiles shattered the barrier, the third catching Kakuzu center mass and driving him backward. Only his hardening technique saved him from pulverization.

The Wind mask struck back with another Pressure Damage, forcing the team to scatter again. But Minato was already moving, kunai flashing through the air to land behind Kakuzu. Space folded, and suddenly the Yellow Flash was there, blade sliding through the missing-nin's neck like butter.

Kakuzu's head toppled from his shoulders.

Then the black threads emerged, writhing like living things, pulling the severed pieces back together. In seconds, he was whole again, that damned smirk never leaving his face.

"Incoming!" Gaku's warning sent Minato flickering away just as the Fire mask painted his previous position in flames.

Daki's earth wall crumbled under False Darkness, the lightning technique hurling him backward with bone-breaking force. Serious injuries, but he was still breathing—barely.

Senzo found himself wrapped in the Water mask's tendrils while Gaku desperately threw shuriken to cut him free.

From the surrounding ruins, other bounty hunters watched in terror. This wasn't a battle—it was a catastrophe. The kind of fight that left landscapes scarred and legends born. As the destruction began to spread, they fled without shame, survival instinct overriding any thoughts of profit.

The S-rank missing-nin lived up to their reputation. This was what true power looked like—immortal, inexorable, and absolutely terrifying. And they were only seeing the beginning of what Kakuzu could do.