"How's it going?" Sasuke asked, a faint smile playing at the corner of his lips. His tone was half-joking, half-serious. "I killed your companion, and you took out a few of our Konoha shinobi. Why not just call it even and part ways?"
Kakuzu's eyes narrowed slightly. "Uchiha brat," he said coldly, "are you joking?"
'He's trying to distract me with words, then exploit the opportunity to unleash an Illusion Technique?'
As he spoke, Kakuzu scrutinized Sasuke from head to toe. When he saw Sasuke's eyes remained clear and focused, he frowned inwardly.
In Kakuzu's eyes, Uchiha Sasuke, who had managed to defeat Hidan, would undoubtedly have awakened his Sharingan.
Moreover, given Sasuke's status as an Uchiha orphan and his harsh upbringing, he didn't strike Kakuzu as someone who would utter such naive and absurd words.
Clearly, Sasuke was trying to lull him into complacency through words or some psychological tactic, hoping to seize the opportunity to launch an Illusion Technique and secure victory!
'Too bad for him, Illusion Techniques have little effect on me.'
Kakuzu sneered inwardly, confident that he had seen through the young man's entire scheme.
Having mastered the Earth Grudge Fear, Kakuzu possessed five hearts. Even after Kakashi destroyed one, he still had four remaining.
To make an Illusion Technique work on him, you had to hypnotize his main body and all three heart clones simultaneously. Otherwise, even if just one remained, he could instantly snap out of it.
After nearly being defeated by Kakashi moments earlier, Kakuzu had grown serious, no longer daring to underestimate his opponent.
The fact that Uchiha Sasuke had managed to kill Hidan—regardless of the circumstances—proved his strength.
"Finally tell the truth for once, and nobody believes me," Sasuke muttered under his breath, seeing Kakuzu remain unmoved, perhaps even mentally concocting further schemes.
Sasuke genuinely didn't want to fight. In his normal state, he was only slightly stronger than Kakashi and no match for a fully serious Kakuzu.
To confront Kakuzu, Sasuke would have to use his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Unless he could completely eliminate Kakuzu here and now, his Mangekyō would be exposed.
Most crucially,
Uchiha Obito had arrived!
Sasuke's talent for superhuman visual perception, combined with the body's immense spiritual power, had undergone a profound qualitative transformation.
For over four years, this visual perception had been unfailingly effective.
Like the "observer effect," the act of observation inevitably alters the observed phenomenon.
Any attempt to spy on Sasuke would be instantly detected.
Whether it was the Third Hokage's crystal ball, Danzo's covert surveillance within Konoha, or Kirigakure's silent assassination techniques.
Even the slightest creature, fish, shrimp, insects, couldn't evade his visual perception if they directed their gaze upon him.
However, to avoid overwhelming his mind with irrelevant information, Sasuke typically filtered out the unconscious, weak gazes of animals.
As he stepped onto the battlefield between Kakuzu and Kakashi, he sensed an indescribable sensation.
It didn't quite feel like direct observation; the sensation was vague, elusive, both distant and immediate.
Ephemeral and ethereal!
If anyone were truly focusing their gaze on him, it felt as though that gaze originated from another world, another dimension.
'Kamui Space!'
What truly convinced Sasuke that Uchiha Obito's appearance wasn't a figment of his imagination was the ephemeral, ethereal sensation that had just surfaced.
A gaze simultaneously brimming with flippant curiosity and cautious composure turned toward Sasuke.
Though this gaze was extremely subtle and faint, it lacked the previous otherworldly quality, as if it belonged fully to this world.
'Zetsu!'
Sasuke also deduced that Kakashi had used some technique to destroy one of Kakuzu's hearts while the latter was at full strength.
'Kamui!'
A few minutes earlier, within a vast, dark, otherworldly dimension where the sky was filled with endless shadowy hues, Uchiha Obito stared at a monstrous corpse that had suddenly materialized, its body torn into countless fragments and mangled remains.
He recognized the creature's origin.
After a long silence, Obito touched his right eye, then rose and stepped toward the lingering spatial distortion left behind.
After a spatial vortex, Uchiha Obito's figure vanished into the Kamui Space.
"Wow, I can't believe Hidan actually died," White Zetsu murmured from within the Venus flytrap, grinning widely and exclaiming with exaggerated amusement.
"And he was taken down by Uchiha Sasuke no less! No wonder he's Itachi's younger brother, tsk tsk tsk!"
"But how did he manage to take down Hidan? I'm dying of curiosity! Aaaaraaaaraaa!"
White Zetsu watched Kakuzu and Sasuke facing off, clicking his tongue in wonder.
He then turned to the silent Uchiha Obito, grinning mischievously. "Hey, Obito, you got here a bit earlier than us. Did you see how Uchiha Sasuke killed Hidan?"
Uchiha Obito glanced at the White Zetsu out of the corner of his eye, not even bothering to reply. He simply shook his head slightly.
How would he know how Hidan died at Sasuke's hands?
The moment he emerged from the Kamui Space, he'd found Kakuzu battling Kakashi.
It wasn't until Sasuke arrived and the two exchanged words that he learned Hidan was dead.
"Huh? Even you don't know, Obito?" White Zetsu's eyes widened as he scratched his head in frustration. "I'm dying to know what happened! It's driving me crazy with curiosity! It's just like how I've never understood what it feels like to take a shit!"
"Idiot!" Black Zetsu suddenly snapped, his gaze still fixed intently on the scene before them, frustration coloring his voice. "You're curious, fine, but why did you have to touch my butt?"
"What's wrong with touching you? You can't even poop," White Zetsu retorted, pouting dismissively. "Out of the three of us, only Obito can poop."
'Then go grab Obito's butt,' Black Zetsu thought, his mouth opening to retort, but he stopped when he saw the corner of Uchiha Obito's eye twitch.
Though the mask hid his expression, Black Zetsu knew it must be hideous right now, and he swallowed his words.
"Hey, Obito, tell me again about—"
"Shut up!"
The ever-silent Uchiha Obito finally snapped, his voice as cold as ice, as if squeezed through clenched teeth. "One more word, and I'll kill you!"
'Why did I ever waste my time endlessly discussing this crap with this idiot back then? Now I'm stuck dealing with this annoyance.'
White Zetsu slumped, looking dejected.
After White Zetsu's antics, Black Zetsu regained his composure and was about to refocus on the battlefield when a mental message flashed through the ring on his finger.
"Nagato is summoning us."
___
This Sasuke Is Strange 240 advanced chapters: (5 ch updates everyday)
Patreon.com/rashta
Be a member so you can also read:
1. 345 adv ch of Talent System In Naruto (Completed)
2. 487 adv ch of This Danzo Is Weird
3. 270 adv ch of Uchiha Madara's Cousin
4. 163 adv ch of WDQK: Divorcing Ling Qingzhu (Completed)
5. 560 adv ch of Qian Renxue's Younger Brother
6. 274 adv ch of I'm Huo Yuhao's System
7. Adv chapters of Naruto: Galgame System (Upcoming)