Staring at the Konoha Root ninja opposite him, Kakuzu was a bit confused.
'Why are Konoha's Root members fighting among themselves?'
'The one who was clearly a subordinate just killed his captain? Huh?'
"You're a Konoha ninja, right?" Kakuzu asked.
"Sort of," Lexon replied.
'He's really a Konoha ninja? Not an undercover agent from another village?'
'Forget it, doesn't matter.'
'Kill him.' Kakuzu thought indifferently.
"Earth Grudge Fear."
The sutures on one of Kakuzu's arms split open again, and the arm, carrying countless black threads, assaulted Lexon.
'Why is everyone in the ninja world so aggressive? They start fighting after just two sentences?'
Lexon's chest heaved. The Flame Breathing technique circulated, and intense flames escaped the corners of his mouth. An azure Nichirin sword materialized in his hand.
"Flame Breathing, First Form: Unknowing Fire."
Violent flames exploded with a sonic boom. His figure, leaving a trail of fire, suddenly passed through the attack of black threads. He instantly flashed in front of Kakuzu, swinging his Nichirin sword in an upward diagonal slash wreathed in flames.
'This speed...'
Kakuzu was momentarily stunned.
'Not just an ordinary person. What's his identity under that mask?'
'Uses a sword, and a Fire Style that doesn't require hand seals...'
'No one I know fits that description.'
But Kakuzu, a veteran of countless battles, had even witnessed instantaneous techniques like the Flying Thunder God Jutsu. Lexon's current speed was naturally within his ability to react.
"Earth Style: Earth Spear."
Kakuzu's other arm suddenly turned a deep black and raised halfway to block the path of the oncoming Nichirin sword.
When Lexon's flame-wreathed Nichirin sword struck down, it only produced a "Zheng!" sound of metal striking metal.
'It won't cut through.'
Lexon realized this hardened defense was a bit too powerful.
"Water Style: Water Encampment Wall!"
Kakuzu's hand-seal speed was completely incomparable to Kaku's. The seals were completed in an instant.
A fierce stream of water shot from Kakuzu's mouth, blasting toward Lexon like a water cannon.
Water Style countered Fire Style to some extent. Kakuzu assumed Lexon was a fire-attribute ninja, so he deliberately chose a jutsu that would counter him.
In reality, no matter what type of ninja Lexon was, Kakuzu's ninjutsu could handle it, because he could steal others' hearts and chakra natures using "Secret Technique: Earth Grudge Fear."
That was why he now had five hearts in his body and possessed all five basic chakra natures.
"Water Breathing, Third Form: Water Wheel."
The moment his blade was blocked, Lexon switched breathing techniques. The surging flames instantly turned into flowing water. He rotated his body diagonally upward, slashing at the incoming Water Encampment Wall.
Instantly, Kakuzu's Water Encampment Wall was cut in two by Lexon's diagonal, spinning slash.
Seeing his opponent's response, Kakuzu couldn't help but ponder.
'He has water-attribute chakra too... But why doesn't this guy use hand seals for his jutsu? And what is this 'breathing' he mentioned?'
"Lightning Style: False Darkness!" The instant the water was split, Kakuzu leaped backward, gathered lightning-attribute chakra in mid-air, and unleashed crackling lightning from both hands, forming a piercing lightning spear that blasted toward Lexon.
But just as the lightning spear was about to pierce Lexon, his body tilted, perilously avoiding the lightning attack.
However, the moment Lexon dodged, the corners of Kakuzu's mouth curled up slightly in a smile. He thought to himself: 'Got him.'
The dodged lightning spear stabbed directly into the water that Lexon had just split. The electricity instantly conducted through the water. Lexon's blade clearly hadn't been pulled away from the water, so the Nichirin sword acted as a conductor, electrocuting Lexon directly.
In an instant, Lexon was assaulted by lightning, his body flashing with electricity.
"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"
Kakuzu followed up immediately, forming seals and spitting out a powerful shockwave of condensed wind, which rapidly landed on Lexon.
"Bang!"
A cloud of dust and smoke exploded on contact.
As the smoke gradually dissipated, Kakuzu stared intently at the scene within.
'Is he dead?'
"As I thought, fighting like this won't work..."
A calm voice came from behind him. Kakuzu was suddenly alarmed.
'When?'
He turned around and discovered that many strange, pale white long markings had suddenly appeared on the other's face.
"Then let's see if this works."
Kakuzu heard the other man say.
'It seems these strange, pale white markings can increase his strength.'
Kakuzu thought, his vigilance increasing slightly. He took off his straw hat, tossed aside the black cloak with red clouds, revealing his lightest combat state.
'Oh? Getting serious, are we...'
Lexon held his Nichirin sword, smiling warmly.
"Mist Breathing..."
The Mist Breathing technique circulated, and a dense fog rapidly spread outward from the blade of the Nichirin sword.
Seeing the spreading mist, Kakuzu felt a sense of foreboding.
'I can't let this mist touch me.'
He retreated rapidly.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
He mobilized his wind-attribute chakra, his cheeks puffed up, and he blew out a gust of air. The next moment, the air turned into a violent gale, like a surging storm, blowing toward the fog, trying to force it back and disperse it.
The gale had an effect; the fog's spreading speed slowed. Before Kakuzu could breathe a sigh of relief, a figure suddenly burst out from the already-formed fog.
"Mist Breathing, Third Form: Great Mist Spray."
Lexon held his Nichirin sword in a reverse grip, pointing it backward. Intensely compressed mist burst from the tip, turning into an extremely powerful thrust. This propelled Lexon toward Kakuzu at high speed.
The moment before closing in, his body flipped and spun in mid-air. The mist dissipating from the blade's tip instantly transformed into clear, flowing water.
"Water Breathing, Tenth Form: Constant Flux."
With every rotation of his body, every revolution of his blade, the range of the water expanded, slashing down toward Kakuzu.
But before the blade tip could touch Kakuzu's body, a monster formed of black threads—with a large body, humanoid shape, and wearing a blue mask—emerged from Kakuzu's body.
It forcefully blocked the slash.
But the power of this slash was clearly immense. The black-threaded monster was directly split apart, its mask shattered.
Thanks to the monster's block, Kakuzu was able to put some distance between himself and Lexon.
The next moment, three more monsters made of black threads emerged from his body. They had different forms and wore different colored masks. They stood with Kakuzu, watching Lexon quietly.
These were the monsters created by Kakuzu's "Secret Technique: Earth Grudge Fear." Each monster represented one of Kakuzu's hearts, and each controlled a different chakra nature. Even if Kakuzu's main body was killed, as long as one of them returned to his body, Kakuzu could be resurrected.
"Since you destroyed one of my hearts, I'll use yours to fill the gap for Water Style..." Kakuzu said, his face dark.
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"
The mouth on one of the Earth Grudge monsters' masks opened. Without any hand seals, it directly mobilized chakra and spewed out a tsunami of intense fire. It surged toward Lexon with the power to burn everything, flooding the area.
The intensity of the ninjutsu used by the monsters created by Earth Grudge Fear seemed to be on a completely different level from the jutsu Kakuzu himself had used just now!
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]