As Tobirama prepared for his withdrawal, he sensed a new presence. He immediately turned back and slashed with his blade.
Kenji, who had just appeared, did not expect Tobirama to attack him. But his body moved on its own and he grabbed the blade with his hand. The blade made a scraping sound as it halted in Kenji's hands.
Tobirama looked shocked at his attack being blocked. It wouldn't have shocked him much if the target had dodged it or even parried it. But he blocked it with his hands. Tobirama immediately jumped backwards.
Kinkaku and Ginkaku also noticed the new person. But they didn't seem to know him. For them, Tobirama was the main target. If they could kill Tobirama, they could take care of the man later.
But Tobirama was surprised to see the person who had blocked his attack.
"Kibutsuji, aren't you Muzan Kibutsuji? How did you get here?" Tobirama asked with a surprised face.
Before Kenji could even answer, Kinkaku and Ginkaku rushed towards Tobirama.
But as the brothers charged forward, their momentum carried them past Tobirama, who had retreated further. Their attention suddenly shifted to the pale stranger who had so effortlessly caught a blade that could cut through steel.
Kenji stood there, His pallid face was half-covered by an oilskin hat, but his eyes glinted with cruel amusement as he calmly surveyed the brothers charging at him.
Kinkaku and Ginkaku, still throbbing with adrenaline and Nine-Tails chakra, shared a quick glance. Their blood-tinged laughter died as they recognized the newcomer's frightening aura. Without warning, Kinkaku snarled and launched himself at Kenji with a towering roar. Six nine-tails chakra tails flared behind him, each whipping violently through the air. In one fluid motion, Kinkaku accelerated in a blur, his muscles coiled with Nine-Tails power. He threw a haymaker punch enhanced by the Nine-Tails cloak, aiming straight for Kenji's head.
Kenji did not flinch. As Kinkaku's fist barreled toward him, his features shifted subtly – his flesh melted and reformed so that the attack passed harmlessly through empty air. In the next instant, Kenji's arm whipped around into the space where Kinkaku's shoulder had been, manifesting a long, sinewy whip of flesh tipped with a serrated mouth full of razor teeth. The nightmarish limb snapped forward and clamped onto Kinkaku's bicep. Kinkaku grunted in surprise and pain as the flesh-whip's teeth tore into his chakra-enhanced arm, blood hissing on Kenji's inhuman teeth. Still clutching the whip in agony, Kinkaku spun and kicked backward, freeing himself from the grasp, but Kenji's move was faster.
Without hesitation, Kenji let out a low, inhuman chuckle and thrust both hands forward. In a single, fluid motion, he expelled a rolling shockwave of demonic chakra from his body. The invisible blast hit both brothers square in the chest. They barely had time to react as their lungs convulsed and their nine-tails chakra cloaks flickered with pain. Kinkaku's legs buckled; his vision blurred as the shockwave seared through his nervous system. Ginkaku, standing back ready with his Bashōsen fan, doubled over coughing, the wind knocked out of him. Kenji's terrifying strength was undeniable.
Gathering themselves instantly, the brothers roared back into action. Ginkaku swept the Bashōsen in a wide arc and shouted, "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" A torrent of roaring gale-force wind billowed toward Kenji, laced with glimmers of lightning and fire drawn from the legendary fan. The force of the elemental storm was enough to level a building, but Kenji simply smirked. As the fan-wind collided with him, his body shimmered and split into a cloud of writhing black mist. The attack passed harmlessly through the disintegrated air, leaving the demon completely unfazed. Slowly, the mist coalesced behind Kinkaku's shoulder.
Before Kinkaku could react, Kenji's solid form reappeared in mid-air. He had used his Biokinesis to leap and dodge with inhuman speed. Now hovering behind the six-tailed shinobi, Kenji's pale hand dashed out in a blur, elongated claws raking toward Kinkaku's throat. Reacting on instinct, Kinkaku twisted and threw up an arm to guard, but the claw still sliced across his neck, scoring a deep gash. Blood spurted, and Kinkaku howled, stumbling away. Kenji's claw caught him under the jaw and yanked him forward, lifting him off his feet. A trio of grotesque flesh-whips erupted from Kenji's back and wrapped around Kinkaku's torso and legs, lifting him helplessly into the air.
Ginkaku charged in to help, shoving aside a graft of black blood brambles that erupted from Kenji's skin and snaked along the ground like barbed wire. The bristles cut into Ginkaku's ankles, nearly tripping him, but he sprinted forward regardless. Ginkaku dove at Kinkaku, shouting, "Shichiseiken!" and swung his great sword in a wide arc to sever the demonic limbs. The Seven-Star Sword lopped off one of the bloody whips with a sickening crunch, but another lash wrapped around Kinkaku's arm, pinning it. In that split-second, Kenji twisted Kinkaku by the pinned arm so brutally that the larger man screamed as half his body was flung backward.
Staggering free, Kinkaku landed hard on the shattered earth, coughing up a mouthful of blood. His transformation under Kurama's chakra flared even higher now – six tails swirling furiously, emanating pure feral rage. "You devil!" he spat. Kinkaku pressed a palm to the ground and suddenly thrust all six tails behind him. With a guttural cry, he unleashed a massive Tailed Beast Bomb. The sphere of spiraling nine-tails chakra rocketed through the air, colliding against Kenji's chest.
Kenji's grin widened. As the fiery globe slammed into him, his body warped grotesquely – flesh peeled away like oil from water. The bomb exploded, but Kenji was gone. In its wake was only a small crater and a wisp of black smoke curling from the ground. Both brothers had braced for impact, but their jaws dropped in astonishment: Kenji's body was intact, crouching a dozen meters behind them, completely unharmed. "Are you disappointed?" he taunted, stepping calmly through the swirling mist. He extended his arm, and six more bloody tendrils sprouted from his forearm like crimson vines. The barbs dripped viscous inky blood. "You'll have to do better than that."
Ginkaku recovered first. He spun the Bashōsen fans in front of himself, flames licking the edges. "Don't get cocky!" he barked. He battered Kenji with a torrent of combined Fire and Wind Release techniques: fireballs and lightning bolts hurtled from the fan's blades in all directions. Kenji's eyes narrowed at the pyrotechnics. As fire and lightning struck him, his skin briefly smoked – yet beneath the scorching flames he only smiled wider. Kenji's skin glimmered like oil on water. With a casual sweep of his hand, he extended a curve of bramble-whip, and several of Ginkaku's fireballs impacted on the razor-sharp barbs. The barbs healed immediately.
Kenji leaped into the sky with supernatural agility, evading the incoming barrage. High above, he hovered as Ginkaku's final lightning arcs crackled uselessly around him. With a piercing shout, Kenji dove down like a spear. In mid-air, he twisted his form into a long, razor-edged stream of flesh, a living spear. The aerodynamic transformation let Kenji slash toward Ginkaku in a blink. Ginkaku was still grounded, eyes tracking the falling demon; for a heartbeat, he looked calm – then Kenji's flesh-spear ripped through him.
The wind left Ginkaku's lungs. He opened his mouth to cry out, but Kenji's transformed body had split wide. In place of the spearhead was a monstrous, yawning maw lined with serrated teeth. It snapped shut around Ginkaku's torso like an executioner's guillotine. Kenji let out a terrible chuckle as Ginkaku's screams abruptly ceased, his back paralyzed by pain. Kenji impaled Ginkaku on two of the fleshy blades. The swords bit deep: one pierced through Ginkaku's right shoulder, the other through his left thigh, holding him pinned at a grotesque angle in the air. Blood and chakra dripped down from those stab wounds.
For a moment, even Kenji looked surprised at the immensity of his strike. But then, calmly, he reshaped his flesh-spear back into limbs and dropped to the ground beside his captive. "Was that your plan?" he asked Ginkaku mockingly. Even as Ginkaku writhed in pain, clutching at the wounds, his eyes blazed. Words did not need to be exchanged – Ginkaku's life hung in the balance.
Kinkaku sprang to his feet. "Curse you!" he raged, charging Kenji from behind Ginkaku. He surged forward with lightning speed, his chakra cloak flaring madly. Where his fist hit the demon should have been nothing but air, but Kenji reformed at the last second with extraordinary reflexes. Kenji's shoulder caught Kinkaku's punch instead, absorbing the impact. Kinkaku followed up with a flurry of punches, but Kenji was like liquid iron – each blow simply flowed off his skin.
With those same bladed tendrils, Kenji snared Kinkaku's arm mid-punch. The larger shinobi snarled and twisted free, bringing a roundhouse kick into Kenji's midsection. Kenji grunted and actually stumbled for the first time, doubling over. Black ichor oozed from his mouth where Kinkaku's kick had connected. A savage grin spread across Kinkaku's face. He darted forward and tackled Kenji to the ground, pinning him under furious blows.
Kinkaku drove a fist into Kenji's belly. He expected the demon to crumple under his onslaught, but Kenji's abdomen was like rubber. The fist sank in, but no internal organs were pierced – Kenji's flesh wrapped around it and healed instantly. Kenji let out a strangled cry of real pain as Kinkaku struck again and again. Yet each hit just left bruises on Kenji's body, which vanished instantly. Kinkaku then seized Kenji's shoulders, lifting and slamming him bone-chillingly hard into the ground like a ragdoll. He could feel Kenji's armor-like flesh splintering under the force, but even after impact, Kenji writhed.
Gasping for breath, Kinkaku pounded at Kenji's head. Again, Kenji's head jolted as if planted in quicksand – Kinkaku swung an uppercut as fast as he could, meeting solid flesh. Suddenly Kenji's face dissolved into the earth, only to reemerge a half-meter away. In Kinkaku's attempt to follow with a kick, Kenji vanished entirely, only to reappear behind Kinkaku. Kenji's arms shot forward and clasped around Kinkaku's neck in a crushing grip.
Blood splattered as Kenji's skin peeled at the rings of the grip to reveal barbed wire-like vines beneath. Kinkaku clutched desperately at the vine-brambles, but they only tightened. His chakra flared as he attempted to burn out of it, but Kenji's regenerative tissue shrugged off chakra attacks with ease. With a wicked grin, Kenji flexed one arm sharply. A sudden crunching snapped through the air. Kinkaku's right arm bent unnaturally backward, held on only by shredded muscle and glowing veins. He screamed, eyes bulging, as Kenji ruthlessly wrung Kinkaku's forearm like a rag.
Kinkaku used his free arm to smash a palm into Kenji's belly – an attempt to break the hold. Kenji only laughed, his face crawling with snapping worms of flesh. Wrenching forcefully, Kenji tore Kinkaku's right arm clean off at the elbow. There was a spray of emerald chakra and blood. Kinkaku's eyes widened in shock and pain. He fell to a knee, clutching his bloody stump and howling. The Nine-Tails chakra cloak around him flickered and waned; enraged as he was, his body was gravely wounded.
Seeing his brother crippled, Ginkaku struggled on the ground. Kenji turned his gaze on Ginkaku. A cruel, silent moment passed. Then, in a blink, Kenji lunged at Ginkaku. Ginkaku tried to fan-blast a wall of water around himself – Water Release: Water Formation Wall! But Kenji's speed was uncanny. He phased forward as if the elements meant nothing, passing through the watery barrier as easily as a shadow.
Before Ginkaku could blink again, Kenji's body erupted with even more flesh-whips. One twisted around Ginkaku's legs, another around his torso, and two more lashed up to grab him under the arms. Each point of contact from the living whips bit deep. Ginkaku's face twisted in agony as he was lifted off his feet, powerless to fight. A fifth whip darted toward the Benihisago gourd he still held, shredding it to splinters. Green smoke wafted uselessly from the ruined gourd. The demon had no soul to capture, and now Ginkaku's weapon lay destroyed.
"Mercy," Ginkaku croaked as Kenji cradled him, a look of utter defeat on his face. Kenji paused, his eyes studying Ginkaku.
"You fought well," Kenji said quietly, his voice losing its mocking tone.
With deliberate slowness, Kenji released his hold on Ginkaku, letting him drop to the ground with a heavy thud. The flesh-whips retracted into his body, and he stepped back. "Consider this my mercy," he said, his pale features expressionless.
Kinkaku looked up through his pain, confusion mingling with his fury. "Why...?" he gasped.
Kenji's lips curved into a cold smile. "Because killing you now would be... unsatisfying. You've been humbled. That is enough." He turned his gaze to Ginkaku, who was struggling to sit up despite his wounds. "Remember this moment. Remember that your lives are mine to take, and I choose not to."
The two brothers lay broken and bloodied, their Nine-Tails chakra cloaks completely extinguished. Their legendary weapons lay destroyed around them. Kenji surveyed them with cold indifference.
From the shadows behind, Tobirama Senju – the Second Hokage – had watched the whole battle. He stepped forward slowly, wariness in his eyes. Tobirama kept his blade ready, but Kenji only shook his head. "The battle is done, Tobirama," Kenji said quietly. "I will be taking them with me."