Chapter 79: Your Life Is Mine; Now Get Out!
From beneath the spiraling spatial ripples, a figure wearing a spiral mask stepped out. Orochimaru's expression hardened. This guy… spatial ninjutsu? When did he get here? Has he been lurking all this time? Kakuzu was also a bit confused. A guy who seemed like a teammate suddenly appeared to ambush Uchiha Akira. Was this a good thing?
"Haha! Prepare to die, brat!" Obito, filled with intense killing intent, thrust a short blade directly at Uchiha Akira's seemingly unguarded back. The timing was absolutely perfect. It was the precise moment Akira had exhausted his Chakra and repelled Manda, and his body was at its weakest, his mind most relaxed. Obito was confident that no one could dodge this attack. But clearly, Uchiha Akira was an exception.
Firstly, Akira had long been wary of Obito, and secondly, Akira's weak appearance was merely an act. Just as Obito was about to strike, Akira's tottering body suddenly erupted with a blinding blue-white electric light.
Zzzzt—!
Wild lightning formed a crackling, flowing armor around Akira's body. His figure, at the same instant, transformed into an electric afterimage too fast for the naked eye to follow, shifting sideways. Obito's short blade pierced through the dissipating afterimage without resistance. The attack missed.
"Finally, willing to crawl out of your rat hole?" Uchiha Akira's figure reformed 10 meters away. At this moment, there was no trace of weakness on his handsome face; instead, it was filled with mockery towards Obito.
Obito, who had been secretly observing from the very beginning, finally couldn't hold back. Everything was within his calculations. Obito slowly retracted his short blade. "Uchiha Akira… You shouldn't exist in this world."
Orochimaru extended his long tongue, teasingly. "Hehehe… another interesting fellow has appeared. This is… getting more and more exciting."
Kakuzu glanced at Obito, who was wearing a mask, and Orochimaru beside him. Three against one. No matter how much of a monster this brat was, he was surely going to die. The advantage is mine. Kakuzu let out a strange laugh. "Brat, it's three against one now. How will you win? Wouldn't it be better to just stand there and wait to die?"
At this moment, the 3 of them tacitly formed a temporary alliance. Their common goal was to kill Uchiha Akira.
"Then come at me all at once," Akira said, crossing his arms and looking at the three. "It'll save me the trouble of finding you one by one."
The moment his words fell, the ground beneath his feet exploded. His entire being transformed into a surging bolt of lightning, proactively launching an attack.
"You seek death!" Kakuzu roared. "Fire Release: Searing Migraine!" "Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
Fire and storm merged once again, transforming into a roaring sea of flames that blocked Akira's advance. At the same time, Orochimaru rapidly performed hand signs. "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Dozens of colorful venomous snakes darted out from shadows in all directions, enveloping the lightning. Wind blades, tearing through everything, howled towards Akira!
Obito's body, meanwhile, began to twist strangely. Kamui. He intended to completely absorb this troublesome fellow into the other dimension.
This time, Uchiha Akira's speed was even faster than before. The lightning streaked across the sky in an incredibly complex zigzag, narrowly bypassing the core of the firestorm. Akira didn't even glance at the incoming venomous snakes. The Wind Release was also easily dodged by him with a quick back-and-forth movement. And facing Obito's eye technique, which could distort space, Akira merely gave it a sidelong glance. The Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes suddenly spun faster. A vast amount of ocular power quietly clashed with Kamui's strength in mid-air.
Obito's body paused.
In a confrontation between masters, an instant is enough to decide life or death. It was this instant of delay. Uchiha Akira's figure had already broken through all blockades and appeared before Kakuzu. His target, from the very beginning, was incredibly clear: first, cripple this most annoying mobile artillery platform.
"What?!" Kakuzu's pupils contracted sharply. He had no time to react, only able to instinctively push his Earth Spear hardening to the extreme.
Chidori—!
Uchiha Akira's right hand condensed a blinding blue-white electric light. He ignored the attacks pursuing him from behind, not dodging, and his hand, wrapped in furious lightning, fiercely pierced through Kakuzu's chest.
Rip—!
The hard Earth Spear was as fragile as rotten wood before Chidori's extreme penetrating power. The wind-attribute heart mask, which had just been providing power to its owner, was instantly torn to shreds in the violent lightning.
"Ugh ah—!" Kakuzu let out a pained scream, his entire body sent flying backward by the immense force. However, Uchiha Akira's back also took hits from the other two. But he didn't bother with them at all.
A flash of lightning beneath his feet, and he once again caught up to the retreating Kakuzu. A Lightning Fire Spiraling Sphere formed in his hand. He slammed one in each hand into Kakuzu.
Splat!
Kakuzu's water-attribute heart was shattered again. "No—!" Kakuzu's face showed an expression of despair. This lunatic. Uchiha Akira actually completely ignored the attacks of the other two, determined to kill him first.
Akira's figure, for the third time, closed in on Kakuzu. His hand was already pressed against Kakuzu's last heart, which was his true life core. From Akira's palm, the mournful cry of Chidori resounded again, the blue-white electric light incredibly violent.
However, Uchiha Akira stopped. He halted an inch from Kakuzu's chest, no longer advancing. Kakuzu felt the breath of death so close, and all the blood in his body seemed to freeze. He didn't understand. Why?
Akira looked at Kakuzu's face, filled with fear and confusion, and the killing intent in his eyes receded. It would be too much of a waste to kill this living vault. For managing money, Kakuzu was indeed a good talent. Later, when he became Hokage, he could completely recruit Kakuzu to be his Minister of Finance.
"Remember, your life now belongs to me, Uchiha Akira! When the time comes, I will come for you. Now, scram." Uchiha Akira's voice carried an undeniable command. "Before I change my mind."
Kakuzu froze. "I… Alright…" Kakuzu painstakingly uttered two words. The instinct for survival finally overwhelmed everything else. He didn't hesitate for a moment, using his last ounce of strength, scrambling and crawling, frantically fleeing into the darkness. With only one heart left, if he didn't run now, he would truly lose his life.