A few days had passed since Izumi's last mission when she suddenly received a summons from Pain. Without hesitation, she activated her Flying Thunder God Technique and swiftly teleported to the designated meeting point.
Upon seeing her arrive, Pain wasted no time and immediately delivered some unsettling news.
"Uchiha Itachi no longer wishes to team up with you," Pain stated bluntly.
Izumi blinked in surprise and confusion. "Eh? Why? I get along quite well with him!" she protested, her voice laced with disbelief. She even coughed, adding a touch of irony to her words, "Mom… cough cough… I really do."
Pain's expression darkened as he explained, "He says you curse him frequently and keep bringing up his family and younger brother, which causes him great distress."
"Hmph!" Izumi scoffed in frustration. "Do you know how much it hurt when he ambushed me with a kunai? I only cursed him a few times! He can't even handle that? Are you biased in his favor? Honestly, it was strange to have paired me with him in the first place."
Pain sighed deeply and said, "It's like this. I wanted you to vent your dissatisfaction, and besides, his new partner will arrive soon. That person is assigned specifically to monitor him. You and Itachi were always temporary teammates. Since he requested it, and we cannot risk losing him from the organization due to dissatisfaction, this arrangement is necessary."
Izumi rolled her eyes but sighed in acceptance. "Hmph, fine. But now it's so boring here. There's only one person in the organization. Hmm... oh! I know! I'll team up with Kakuzu for a while."
Pain raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Why suddenly team up with Kakuzu?"
Izumi stuck out her tongue mischievously and licked her lips. "He seemed very arrogant before. I wonder what his expression will be when he's begging for mercy, hehehehehehe."
Pain looked at her sly smile and shook his head firmly. "No. He is one of our important comrades. You cannot harm comrades."
Izumi grinned cheekily. "But he's already killed several comrades, hasn't he?"
Pain fell silent, unable to refute her.
"There you go," Izumi said with a smile. "I'll go teach him a lesson and remind him how important comrades really are."
Pain's tone turned serious. "Are you really thinking that?"
Izumi shook her head and waved the notion away. "How could that be? I'm just bored and want to beat him up. Besides, he has several lives anyway."
Pain gave a warning glance. "Don't go too far. He's the one who manages the organization's finances."
Izumi smiled brightly. "Don't worry." With that, her figure vanished.
Pain watched Izumi disappear and muttered softly, "It shouldn't get too serious... right?"
---
Meanwhile, Kakuzu was on a mission deep in the jungle. His clones were busy attacking a group of enemies below, their movements coordinated and deadly. Suddenly, Kakuzu turned sharply and shouted, "Who's there?"
Beside him, a tall humanoid monster, one of his own clones, also turned to look in that direction.
In front of them appeared a dull-eyed figure dressed in a white mascot costume—a bird with blank eyes. She raised a sign that read, "It's me, it's me, Uncle Kakuzu, don't attack me!"
Kakuzu frowned. "Why are you here?"
Just then, explosions sounded nearby—boom! boom!—signaling that Kakuzu's other clones were still engaged in battle.
Izumi raised another sign: "I'm here to temporarily team up with you."
Kakuzu looked puzzled. "But aren't you teamed up with Itachi?"
Izumi responded with a sign: "He no longer wants to team up with me."
Kakuzu's brow furrowed further. "Oh? Why not?"
Izumi held up a sign that said: "He's too amazing. I can't keep up with his pace, so I came to find you!"
"Hmm?" Kakuzu said grimly. "Are you implying I'm too weak?"
Izumi immediately pretended to be alarmed and shook her head vigorously. She then raised a sign: "No! It's just that my attacks are indiscriminate, and Itachi can't block any of them!"
Kakuzu raised an eyebrow, a sneer curling on his lips. "Indiscriminate attacks, huh? Almost all my ninjutsu have the widest attack range imaginable. You wouldn't even know where you were during my assaults."
He looked her up and down and scoffed, "Hmph. I didn't expect you to be the same kind of person as me—someone who doesn't care about the lives of comrades. Here's the deal: show me a demonstration. I want to see what you've got. If you can impress me, I'll support you. If not, well..."
Izumi flashed a confident smile and held up a sign: "A demonstration? No problem! I'll show you my moves! You'll definitely be surprised! But you don't need to support me. My moves are powerful; yours are useless by comparison. It'd be dangerous if you supported me."
Kakuzu snorted coldly. "My moves are useless? Kid, you're full of confidence. You've successfully angered me. If you can't satisfy me, I'll kill you."
Izumi raised a sign that read: "Alright then, you better be careful."
Kakuzu's eyes gleamed with killing intent as he stared at her. "Hmph. Don't worry, I'll watch out for your safety. You better surprise me—I haven't been surprised in a long time."
Izumi nodded vigorously and wrote, "Since you've lived so long, you must be bored. Today, I'll give you a surprise!"
Kakuzu gestured toward the dense forest below. "There are many hidden enemies down there. Use your full power to attack. I'll see how many you can defeat."
Izumi's sign read: "What if I hit your clones?"
Kakuzu waved dismissively. "Hmph! They're spread out. If you can wipe all of my clones out, fine—go ahead and attack directly."
Izumi smiled and held up a sign: "Alright, I'll let you watch from the sidelines."
Kakuzu took a few steps back and positioned one of his Wind Release: Earth Grudge Fear clones behind him. The clone stared intently at Izumi, observing her every move.
Izumi didn't mind the scrutiny. She stepped forward, gazing at the distant forest below, and began warming up with strange, fluid motions.
Kakuzu watched impatiently. The clone behind him opened its mouth to speak.
"Faster!" Kakuzu barked. "If you delay, I'll kill you!"
Izumi nodded calmly and raised a sign: "Don't rush. The timing is just right."
She positioned herself on the edge of the cliff and opened the beak of her mascot costume's bird head.
From the dark beak emerged a radiant blue light.
Suddenly, the bird's beak split open wider and wider, the blue light intensifying until it dazzled the eyes.
Kakuzu's eyes widened in shock as a vast, overwhelming chakra burst forth from Izumi.
The immense chakra forced Kakuzu to take several involuntary steps backward, his face frozen in disbelief.
Before him, the mascot costume transformed into a colossal chakra cannon.
"Boom!"
The thick chakra cannon expanded rapidly, engulfing everything ahead in pure white light.
The world seemed to lose all color, falling silent and still in that moment.
Countless trees, rocks, animals, and even Kakuzu's own clones instantly vanished, swallowed by the endless white brilliance.
Kakuzu barely managed to steady himself against the overwhelming force.
When the smoke cleared, the green forest was gone.
In its place was a conical, bottomless gully stretching infinitely into the distance.
The earth beneath had changed color, revealing layers of soil that had never seen the sun.
Kakuzu stared blankly at the sight, his eyes nearly popping from his skull.
He looked at the gaping chasm and felt like an insignificant ant confronted by a vast abyss.
Turning his gaze to a distant mountain, he noticed half of it was gone, the remaining section a jagged stump.
The other half had been completely obliterated.
For the first time in a long while, Kakuzu's usually unflappable demeanor shattered into stunned silence.
---
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