Chapter 302: Final Shot
"Strange Wind-Flurrying Wave!"
Kakuzu's Wind and Fire masks unleashed their nature transformations simultaneously, targeting Ino and her team.
Wind fanned the flames.
A towering inferno erupted from the flat ground, covering the sky and blotting out the sun. It was an endless, scorching wall of fire.
"What?!"
Staring at the seemingly boundless and terrifying ninjutsu, Ino and the other three broke into a cold sweat. Choji was terrified, but he steeled his resolve and stepped in front of his teammates. He expanded his body to giant proportions, intending to use his own flesh to provide a sliver of hope for his friends' survival.
"Choji!" Ino screamed.
Rumble!
The searing heat scorched the very air. Just then, a massive pangolin leaped up, swallowing the giant Choji and the rest of the team whole into its mouth.
Boom!
Kakuzu's ninjutsu slammed directly into the pangolin.
Sizzle!
The sound of instant searing echoed.
"Their strength is still a bit lacking," Tonbo Tobitake muttered, his gaze falling on Kakuzu after saving the group.
Using the Earth Grudge Fear monsters to break Genjutsu through the masks... as expected of an old fox, Tonbo thought. Kakuzu had pretended to be caught in the illusion earlier, likely deducing the general effects of the Genjutsu by observing Hidan's state.
As Kakuzu's flames died down, the fish head was charred and tattered, leaving only a thin protective layer around the four ninjas. When Ino and the others opened their eyes and realized they had been saved, they let out a collective sigh of relief.
"It's Uncle Tonbo's Eye of the Creator," Ino said, looking back at the battlefield. Kakuzu was the most troublesome enemy she had ever seen. He could crack Tonbo's Genjutsu and unleash such massive-scale ninjutsu.
On the other side.
Tonbo's three teammates were being pushed back by Hidan, who was now free from the illusions.
"Die! Die! I'll hack you lot to pieces and then deal with that other guy!" Hidan laughed maniacally, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Suddenly, several pangolins burrowed out of the ground, swarming Hidan. One clamped its jaws onto his scythe, while others bit into his limbs. The manic laughter vanished from Hidan's face.
"Kakuzu, save me!"
Hidan realized these summoned beasts were highly intelligent; they bit down on his weakest leverage points, neutralizing his ability to exert force. He was pinned.
The moment he called out, the masked monster attached to his body fired long black threads, piercing through all the pangolins. It snapped their necks and flung them off Hidan.
"Dammit, how many summons does he have?"
Hidan prepared to finish off the Konoha ninjas before dealing with "that annoying guy," but as he looked around, he saw more than just pangolins. A horde of different summoned beasts—rats, snakes, insects, toads, apes—had him surrounded. They swarmed him instantly, giving him no time to think.
Roar! Meow! Cawk!
They came from the sky, the ground, and beneath the earth.
"Fine then! You'll all be sacrifices for Lord Jashin!"
This time Hidan was cautious, paying special attention to the ground beneath his feet. With so many powerful summons, Lord Jashin would surely be pleased.
Slash! Slash!
He charged with his scythe, reaping the summons like wheat, cutting them in half. However, in the heat of battle, he failed to notice that every time a summon was "killed," it turned into a bamboo-woven action figure.
"Tonbo Tobitake... I've heard of you. As the rumors say, you are a very capable ninja."
Kakuzu fixed his gaze on Tonbo. This man was more troublesome than he had imagined, especially after seeing Hidan swarmed by those "summons." He suspected those weren't true summoning spells, but high-level ninjutsu. He had noticed the dead beasts turning into broken bamboo.
"Is that so? I've heard plenty about the members of the Akatsuki as well. Your reputation precedes you," Tonbo smiled. "However, do you want to be taken back alive or dead? If you want to live, surrender quietly. I don't have the best temper."
Kakuzu's pale green eyes flared, and black threads erupted from his body. "Even the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, couldn't take me down. Do you truly believe you can stand beside him?"
As he spoke, his hands blurred into signs.
Lightning Style: False Darkness.
A spear of lightning shot out, aimed directly at Tonbo.
"Void Break," Tonbo whispered.
The air in front of him distorted.
Crackle!
Kakuzu's lightning was stopped dead by an invisible wall of wind. It seems ninjas of Kakuzu's level can be handled without even using my hidden Trump cards; ordinary ninjutsu is enough, Tonbo thought. Having massive chakra reserves feels great.
"But that's enough. If we play any longer, the rest of Konoha's reinforcements will arrive. It's no fun having my kills stolen."
A talisman appeared in Tonbo's hand, along with a strand of black thread he had snatched from Kakuzu's water-mask monster earlier.
Across the field, Kakuzu saw his lightning neutralized. Just as he prepared a combined elemental attack, he saw Tonbo's movements. Decades of combat experience screamed of danger.
"Don't you dare!"
Normally, with his Earth Grudge Fear technique active, Kakuzu feared no ninjutsu other than Lightning. But the sense of peril forced his hand. He unleashed a barrage of lightning, wind, and fire at Tonbo.
"Too late. Soul-Body Separation Jutsu!"
The talisman in Tonbo's hand exploded with runes that etched themselves into the void. Simultaneously, he used high-speed Taijutsu to weave through the elemental onslaught.
Whoosh!
A translucent, ethereal soul began to rise out of Kakuzu's body.
"A spirit-control technique? Dammit!"
As his vision blurred and he felt himself being pulled from his physical form, Kakuzu issued one final command to his hearts. A moment later, his soul was sucked into the talisman in Tonbo's hand.
"Got him."
Wait. Tonbo looked at Kakuzu's body. The remaining masks had congregated onto Kakuzu's arm. It seemed that extracting the primary soul didn't immediately deactivate the monsters. Though one mask went limp as the main soul vanished, the others were surging.
Crackle!
Three masks focused their power simultaneously, massive amounts of chakra condensing at their mouths. The energy merged rapidly into a single point.
Final Shot.
"Such high chakra density!"
Tonbo felt the sheer energy—this was a ninjutsu born from ultra-high density chakra compression.
Boom!
The moment the energy peaked, the beam fired, giving Tonbo no chance to counter. A pillar of pure chakra light obliterated everything in its path.
"Tonbo-Sensei!"
The battle had happened in the blink of an eye. Ino and her team had only just escaped their own brush with death when they saw Tonbo take a direct hit from the blast. He vanished instantly in the light, seemingly wiped from existence.
"Don't worry, Ino. Look over there," Yamashiro Aoba said, pointing at Hidan.
Hidan was still hacking away at the summons. It was obvious—if Tonbo were dead, the constructs created by his ninjutsu would have dispelled.
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