"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
One fireball after another burst from the Hancock clone's mouth. She did not need hand seals at all. She fired them out continuously, one after another, like a moving artillery platform.
Faced with the relentless barrage of fireballs, Kakuzu kept dodging. Even though this was not the first time he had seen the Hancock clone cast Fire Release ninjutsu without hand seals, he was still deeply impressed.
More and more, Kakuzu wanted the Hancock clone's heart.
If he could obtain the power to cast techniques instantly like this, it would mean he could unleash combined ninjutsu without delay.
If that happened, his strength would rise drastically.
He might even become the strongest person beneath Pain.
It was not impossible that he could surpass even Pain.
With the Hancock clone joining the fight, the battle temporarily reached a stalemate. Since she did not need hand seals, one Fire Release technique flowed seamlessly into the next.
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique."
A straight line of flame pierced through the body of one of the Earth Grudge Fear creatures. After fighting for so long, the clone had finally found an opening.
After using the technique, the clone began breathing heavily.
She had unleashed too many ninjutsu in one burst. Only a tenth of her chakra remained.
She needed time to recover.
Among all the clones, the Hancock clone had fought the most battles recently and consumed the most chakra.
She had already estimated it.
When only one-tenth of her chakra remained, it would take around five minutes for it to recover completely.
Kakuzu had lost one Earth Grudge Fear creature, which meant he had effectively lost another heart.
His mood turned ugly.
And worst of all, he still had not managed to kill a single person.
"Combined Ninjutsu: Searing Migraine."
"Combined Ninjutsu: Lightning Water Dragon Bullet."
At last, Kakuzu revealed his full strength, unleashing one combined ninjutsu after another.
Although he had lost his earth-attribute heart and could no longer use some combinations, he was still terrifying.
He had possessed Earth Grudge Fear for decades and had spent decades cultivating the five elemental releases.
There was no way the number of combined ninjutsu he knew would be small.
Under the bombardment of those combined techniques, even with the Hancock clone's support, the defenders could only delay things slightly.
One ninja after another collapsed into pools of blood.
Soon, of the original fourteen ninja, only four remained standing.
For true powerhouses in the ninja world, once they got serious, slaughtering ordinary jonin was as easy as butchering dogs.
Of course, part of the reason things had turned out so badly was because Sarutobi Makoto and the others had been affected by Desire of Beauty.
They had become insanely fanatical, but in battle they could not coordinate at all.
Otherwise, they would not have died so quickly.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Reinforcements had arrived.
Two squads, eight people in total.
Kakuzu's face darkened even further, because during the struggle he had lost yet another heart.
The main reason was the Hancock clone's ability to cast techniques instantly.
Her timing in battle coordination had been excellent.
If it had only been Sarutobi Makoto and the others, destroying Kakuzu's hearts would have been far beyond them.
"Twelve people… thirteen if I include the Witch Hancock."
After comparing both sides, Kakuzu decided to retreat.
If the battle continued, the enemy would receive more reinforcements, while he would receive none for the time being.
Any ninja sent to the border for support would not be weak.
Konoha still had plenty of secret technique clans.
After weighing everything carefully, Kakuzu withdrew.
Fifteen million was not enough to make him lose his mind.
As long as he stayed alive, he could always earn more money.
In theory, as long as he kept replacing hearts, he could live forever and endure as long as heaven and earth themselves.
"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work!"
A vast sea of flames poured from Kakuzu's mouth.
The moment he released it, his main body turned and fled, leaving one Earth Grudge Fear creature behind to cover his retreat.
Of the eight ninja who had just arrived, four immediately formed hand seals at high speed.
Four walls of water rose into existence.
Only with four ninja working together to cast Water Formation Wall did they manage to block Kakuzu's Fire Release.
Kakuzu really was formidable.
After all, not everyone had Madara Uchiha's level of mastery over Fire Release, where a single fire technique required dozens of ninja using Water Release together just to stop it.
"What's going on here? Enemy attack? Is it the Hidden Cloud Village?"
Nara Gyou asked grimly.
He felt the situation had become troublesome.
Judging from the enemy's mastery of Fire Release alone, that person far surpassed ordinary jonin.
And if one looked at the results of the battle, it was even more alarming.
In less than fifteen minutes, eight elite Konoha ninja had been reduced to two survivors, with another four corpses nearby that seemed to belong to allies.
After seeing so many comrades die, Sarutobi Makoto calmed down slightly.
Even so, he remained hopelessly infatuated with the Hancock clone.
He spoke up at once.
"We need to kill that creature first."
With the Ino-Shika-Cho combination present, along with the Hancock clone acting as a mobile artillery platform, everyone joined forces and destroyed the remaining Earth Grudge Fear creature.
Not everyone stationed at the border belonged to ANBU or Root.
There were also jonin and chunin who served outside those organizations.
There were no genin here.
If Kakashi Hatake had not been occupied with looking after Naruto Uzumaki, someone with Kakashi Hatake's strength would certainly have been sent here, and his status would not have been low.
Once the Earth Grudge Fear creature was dealt with, Sarutobi Makoto explained the situation to Nara Gyou.
Of course, he added a little artistic embellishment in certain places and slightly exaggerated the Hancock clone's contribution.
Nara Gyou felt somewhat speechless.
He did not sense anything wrong, because most of what Sarutobi Makoto said was actually true.
Sarutobi Makoto really had been questioning the Hancock clone when Kakuzu attacked.
What Sarutobi Makoto did not say, however, was that he and the others had loudly sworn to protect the Hancock clone.
Under normal circumstances, if Kakuzu had only promised to capture the Hancock clone and spare the rest, Sarutobi Makoto and the others should have stood aside.
Ninja avoided unnecessary battles whenever possible.
Otherwise, with combat happening so frequently, the Five Great Ninja Villages would never have been able to maintain such large numbers of ninja.
Even after so many teammates had died, and even after he himself had nearly been killed, Sarutobi Makoto still wanted to protect the Hancock clone.
That was the horror of Tomie's charm.
In the original Tomie stories, even if only her head remained, she could still enchant people.
The Hancock clone was still perfectly whole, so her charm was naturally even more overwhelming.
And even if Sarutobi Makoto wavered for a moment, the clone only needed to amplify his desires slightly for him to sink right back in.
"By the way, do any of you know anything about that man's background?"
Nara Gyou asked sternly.
In his eyes, hostilities had already been established.
They needed to know the enemy's information and prepare as soon as possible.
Sarutobi Makoto and the wandering ninja Hattori Unji immediately poured out everything they knew about Kakuzu.
He possessed a special power that allowed him to seize other people's hearts.
He had five hearts, each representing a different chakra attribute.
In other words, he was proficient in all five elemental releases.
His combined ninjutsu were extremely powerful.
He was even suspected to have once fought Hashirama Senju.
They also described the course of their battle against him.
Some of that information had been given to Hattori Unji earlier by the Hancock clone.
Otherwise, without knowing anything about Kakuzu, the wandering ninja would have died even faster.
Nara Gyou felt a headache coming on.
Aside from Lord Jiraiya, Sarutobi Makoto's squad was one of the stronger groups among them.
Yet even they had suffered such heavy losses.
That made the situation extremely troublesome.
Once Kakuzu replenished his hearts, things would become much worse for them.
"Maybe we should strike first. Kakuzu's strength has been greatly reduced right now. This might be our chance to eliminate him."
Nara Gyou had already begun entertaining the idea of killing Kakuzu.
In his opinion, Kakuzu had not yet reached the kind of level where he could not be defeated.
How laughable.
If not for the Hancock clone's assistance, Sarutobi Makoto and the others would all have been dead before Nara Gyou's group even arrived.
And Kakuzu would not have paid such a heavy price either.
At most, he might have lost one heart.
In fact, he might not even have lost that much.
He could replenish hearts during battle.
The only reason things had turned out this way was because every single time Kakuzu tried to replenish a heart, the Hancock clone had interrupted him at exactly the right moment.