The flames died down, revealing Kakuzu's figure.
His clothes were gone, and his body was covered with numerous dark, severe burn wounds.
Despite the body reinforcement granted by his Earth Release: Earth Spear technique, he couldn't avoid being heavily injured by one of the most powerful fire-style jutsus—Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation.
"Cough… Uchiha Fugaku, you sure know how to hide yourself well!"
Supporting himself with one hand, Kakuzu glared fiercely at Uchiha Fugaku.
He had come with the intention of hunting Fugaku but ended up taking a huge loss at his hands. Not only had he failed to wound Fugaku, but he himself was severely injured first.
To have inflicted such heavy damage on an S-rank ninja like Kakuzu, there was no doubt that Fugaku's strength had reached the S-rank level.
The supposedly fallen noble head of the Uchiha clan was nothing more than a facade.
Fugaku was hiding his true power deeply—possessing S-rank strength but keeping it concealed, fooling everyone.
"It's too late to realize that now!" Fugaku said coldly.
Without forming any hand seals, a massive fireball, like a blazing meteor, suddenly appeared and shot toward Kakuzu.
Boom!
The heavily wounded Kakuzu had no time to dodge and was once again engulfed by the scorching flames.
After a moment, the fire died out, leaving Kakuzu's body charred black, lying on the ground like a corpse, motionless.
Only the slight rise and fall of his chest showed that he was still alive.
Whoosh—
Fugaku appeared beside Kakuzu as if teleporting and stabbed a kunai into Kakuzu's chest where his heart was.
Puncture!
With the sound of flesh being pierced, a bloody hole appeared in Kakuzu's chest.
The faint movement of his chest stopped completely.
Swish—
The surrounding scenery suddenly changed.
Previously, the huge area around them was burned to scorched earth by the two great fireball attacks, and the air was thick with smoke and the smell of burning.
But all of that vanished in an instant.
The scorched land disappeared without a trace; the surroundings showed no signs of burning whatsoever.
Only Kakuzu's charred body remained, clutching his chest before collapsing to the ground with a thud.
"What happened? The two just met and haven't even started fighting—how did Kakuzu get so badly injured?"
Hundreds of meters away in the mountains, Kaze stared in shock at Kakuzu, who suddenly collapsed injured.
He couldn't understand how Kakuzu was hurt.
From the moment Kakuzu met Uchiha Fugaku until he was severely injured and fell, only a few breaths had passed.
During that time, Kaze only saw the two exchange words, never a fight.
He immediately ruled out genjutsu, because the wounds Kakuzu suffered were real and physical—something genjutsu couldn't cause.
What he didn't know was that Fugaku had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and had gained a new dōjutsu: the True Genjutsu.
Although True Genjutsu cannot manipulate time to the extent of Uchiha Itachi's Tsukuyomi—turning a moment into 24 hours—it can still manipulate time to a certain degree.
"Did he automatically exit the True Genjutsu when the target died?"
Fugaku pondered as he watched Kakuzu's body fall.
With Kakuzu's death, the True Genjutsu targeting him was lifted.
All traces of destruction caused by the genjutsu vanished, except for the actual injuries Kakuzu sustained.
"But others don't understand the characteristics of Earth Grudge Fear—how could I not?"
His eyes held a mocking glare as he stared at Kakuzu's "corpse."
Kakuzu was indeed killed, but only once.
Thanks to Earth Grudge Fear, Kakuzu has five hearts and theoretically five lives.
To truly kill him, he must be killed four more times.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation."
Fugaku quickly formed hand seals, summoning a meteor-like massive fireball that hurtled toward Kakuzu's fallen body.
"Water Release: Water Screen Formation."
Just as the huge fireball was about to strike, Kakuzu suddenly flipped over from the ground, crouched low, and formed hand seals with both hands.
A rushing flood appeared, surging forward like a water curtain to block the incoming fireball.
Hiss—
The two collided, producing a sharp, piercing sound.
The meteor-like fireball was extinguished, and the rushing flood was partially evaporated.
"How did you know I'm not dead?"
Kakuzu looked at Fugaku with a deep voice.
Thanks to Earth Grudge Fear, he had five hearts and five lives.
Many tricky opponents fell into the trap of assuming he was dead after "killing" him, only to be ambushed and counter-killed.
But Fugaku was different—he saw through it and didn't fall for the deception.
"Unfortunately for you, I know quite a bit about Earth Grudge Fear," Fugaku said coldly.
If he had succeeded in ambushing and destroying one of Kakuzu's hearts, the fight ahead would have been much easier.
But Kakuzu was very alert and abandoned the act of playing dead as soon as he sensed something was wrong, thwarting the surprise attack.
"No wonder…"
Kakuzu's hoarse voice was filled with realization.
Fugaku knew about Earth Grudge Fear's quirks—no wonder he couldn't fool him.
Why Fugaku knew such a rare forbidden jutsu was likely because someone in his clan had once dealt with it and recorded relevant knowledge.
Earth Grudge Fear was not Kakuzu's original creation; others had used it before him.
"It's a pity. An S-rank bounty only nets thirty million."
Regret tinged his thoughts.
Now that he had tried to assassinate Fugaku, even if he gave up, Fugaku would never let it go.
From a distance, neither would back down.
So the only option left was to kill Fugaku.
With a sudden swing of his Akatsuki cloak, Kakuzu revealed his muscular torso beneath a patched black vest.
Snap, snap, snap!
Four eerie masks embedded in his back detached with the sound of snapping ropes.
It was as if four monsters were crawling out of his body.
Ultimately, one mask was broken and collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
But the other three emitted terrifying auras.
Each one's power level exceeded that of an elite jonin.