Chapter 48
Orochimaru's expression was grave as he clasped his hands together and quickly formed seals. "Summoning Technique!"
After a burst of smoke cleared, an incomparably huge python appeared before him. Its scales glittered with a chilling light, its tongue flicking out, its eyes ferocious. This was Orochimaru's summoning beast—Manda.
Manda, having just been summoned, spoke discontentedly: "Orochimaru, what do you want with me? I was this close to catching my prey!"
Orochimaru's face was dark, his tone ice-cold as he replied: "Shut your mouth! You won't miss out on the sacrifice! Hurry—get to the front line's logistics unit at full speed."
Manda sensed Orochimaru's seriousness and didn't dare say more. It swiftly slithered forward at high speed.
Orochimaru sat astride Manda's back, thinking to himself: "Nawaki... I hope I'm wrong!" His eyes were filled with worry.
...
At this moment, Nawaki was already locked in battle with Kakuzu.
Clearly Nawaki was the one pressing Kakuzu, yet Nawaki felt more and more panicked—because since putting on Incursio, he had never encountered anyone who could fight him head-on in close combat.
Not even his teacher Orochimaru could!
And it wasn't just the terrifying power in Kakuzu's punches and kicks—the taijutsu techniques were also very strong. It was only because Nawaki was almost completely undefended that he appeared to be suppressing Kakuzu on the surface.
After probing with taijutsu for a while, Kakuzu knew he had no way to kill Nawaki before breaking through the armor.
Considering there was no one nearby, Kakuzu made a big leap backward, creating distance before saying: "Heh heh! Your armor really is impressive. I even feel this armor is worth far more than 20 million ryō!"
Nawaki remembered what Naraku had told him before—they were Naraku's walking advertisements. Plus, to avoid looking weak, he directly declared: "This is the strongest armor forged by Master Naraku, the future number one forger in the ninja world!"
Hearing "Naraku" also reminded Kakuzu of that other kid with a 70 million ryō bounty. Similarly, in Kakuzu's view, this kid was worth far more than 70 million ryō—with the ability to forge weapons of this level, he should be worth an even higher price.
Kakuzu watched Nawaki charge toward him, a disdainful smile curling at the corner of his mouth. His hands quickly formed seals: "Fire Release: Head Engraving Pain!"
A massive blaze erupted from Kakuzu's mouth.
Thanks to Kakuzu's terrifying chakra reserves and years of precise control from experience, the flames surged like a raging tidal wave, carrying scorching heat and overwhelming power, sweeping toward Nawaki in a sky-covering, earth-shrouding manner.
However, Nawaki was not frightened by this terrifying fire. He had prepared in advance—his figure moved nimbly, dodging in the blink of an eye and avoiding the initial flame surge. But because of this, he relaxed his vigilance. Kakuzu's ninjutsu would never be that simple!
Then, after landing, Kakuzu's flames did not dissipate—instead they instantly expanded in scope. What had originally been just a small sea of fire had now become a massive fire domain, as if it wanted to swallow the entire world.
The powerful flames spread mercilessly, igniting the surrounding trees one after another and burning them into dead wood. The temperature in the sea of fire rose sharply, making people feel a suffocating, scorching heat.
Nawaki naturally could not dodge such a wide-ranging blaze, but he discovered his armor seemed to have exceptional resistance to flames.
Even this high-powered Fire Release attack only felt like a minor injury when it hit him.
What Nawaki didn't know was that this was because, before Incursio was forged, Jiraiya's barrage of Frog Oil Flame Bullets had burned it, causing Tyrant to develop even stronger adaptation to fire-attribute damage. Although this resistance would continue to increase after being made into armor, the innate resistance to Fire Release already made the armor far superior at resisting Fire Release.
Kakuzu looked at the sea of flames in front of him. He was convinced Nawaki absolutely could not evade such a wide-area attack, and since he hadn't seen Nawaki counter with Water Release in actual combat, he believed Nawaki was most likely already dead ahead. Now he could go collect his prize.
As Kakuzu slowly walked forward, he suddenly felt a long spear protruding from his heart position—the spearhead flickering with faint lightning!
Only then did Kakuzu realize that the previously invisible Nawaki was slowly revealing himself.
With the withdrawal of Nawaki's spear, Kakuzu slowly collapsed.
It turned out Nawaki had used the terrifying power of Kakuzu's Fire Release as cover, stealthily activating Incursio's built-in invisibility, and succeeded in the sneak attack thanks to Kakuzu's carelessness!
Nawaki stood in place gasping heavily. It was only during the fight that he remembered: Kakuzu's powerful defense likely came from Earth Release: Earth Spear enhancement.
And Lightning Release extremely countered Earth Release. So he had covered his long spear with Lightning chakra, easily piercing Kakuzu's heart.
Just as Nawaki cautiously advanced toward the center of the battlefield, the "corpse" of Kakuzu on the ground suddenly kicked out at Nawaki.
Nawaki was sent flying by the kick, crashing through a large tree.
After standing up, Kakuzu no longer held back—he threw off his long robe.
Four masks were visible on Kakuzu's back. The mask at his heart position seemed damaged from Nawaki's earlier attack.
As Kakuzu bent forward, countless black threads surged from his back—or rather, the masks detached from Kakuzu's body!
With Kakuzu's continuous convulsions, four differently shaped masks fully separated from him, forming four monsters of varying sizes. These monsters stood upright on two legs, their bodies composed of densely packed black threads.
Suddenly, one of the damaged-mask monsters collapsed to the ground.
In the end, only a puddle of black water remained.
Kakuzu said calmly: "You probably never dodged my Fire Release at all! You just tanked the damage with that armor! And that earlier invisibility was also the armor's ability, right?"
Nawaki looked shocked. His combat experience was far too shallow compared to these top-tier powerhouses—he truly couldn't understand how the enemy had so quickly figured out his information.
But Nawaki had some brains. He looked at the mask he had pierced earlier.
He roughly guessed how to kill this enemy. He decided to bluff and said: "You're indeed strong. It seems I can only kill you by destroying all your masks, right!"
Kakuzu didn't fall for it. He simply replied coldly: "Forty million ryō!"
"What?" Nawaki looked confused.
Kakuzu emphasized again: "That armor of yours is worth at least forty million ryō!"
Seeing how obsessed the enemy was with money, Nawaki had an idea. He pointed to the faint green gem at his brow and said: "This is the gem left behind by my grandfather, the First Hokage. Just this one gem could buy several large mountains! You'd better not damage it!"
--------------------------
Support us on patreon (+Gain access to 100 chapters in advance)
patreon.com/inkshield