Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 261 After fighting for so long, it turned out to be a shadow clone.

Although he didn't understand what this skeletal thing called Chuck was, his years as a ninja told him that it was best to stay away from it as soon as possible.

Kakuzu retreated, creating distance, while manipulating four alien creatures to surround Madara Uchiha, each standing in a different direction—east, west, south, and north—each performing its own task.

Although it was a bit of a pity, he knew very well that the heart of the man in front of him who called himself Uchiha was not something he could covet.

The Earth Grudge has a rather harsh condition for taking the heart: the target must be alive when taking it.

Kakuzu quickly forms hand seals.

Fire Release: Head Carving

Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet.

Thunder escape · False darkness.

Wind Release: Pressure Damage.

Four different elements were spat out from the mouths of the four alien creatures, vowing to kill the enemies in front of them to pieces.

With a deafening roar, countless sand and stones were swept up, instantly destroying the treetops nearby. Thick smoke billowed from the spot where the Uchiha were located, obscuring the view for a moment.

How is it?

Kakuzu narrowed his inhuman eyes. An ordinary ninja would have been blasted into dust by that combination of ninjutsu, but after a brief exchange with Madara Uchiha, he no longer dared to have such a hope.

Kakuzu held the idea that he would be better off at least suffering some harm, but in reality, even this humble wish was not granted to him.

The thick, billowing smoke gradually thinned, faded, and dissipated, and then visibility began to improve.

but……

This is the beginning of despair.

Standing before him was a colossal phantom, like a giant, with piercing eyes.

When faced with this enormous shadow, humans are reminded of fears ingrained in their very being, much like the innate human fear of hairy, eight-legged spiders.

This is not merely because spiders themselves are ugly, but also because of the fear left by humans being bitten since ancient times, a fear ingrained in their genes, which serves as a warning to their offspring to keep their distance and avoid injury.

As the smoke dissipated, the giant shadow revealed its true form: a pointed head, a blue face with fangs, a forked chin, and a translucent blue body—the color of the ocean.

Standing before it, one can't help but feel a profound sense of fear, as deep as the vast ocean.

If you look closely, you can see skeletal-like things inside the blue giant's body. It seems that this is what blocked the earth spear that used earth magic earlier.

"What on earth is this thing...?"

Kakuzu looked at Uchiha Madara, who was half a blue giant, and asked.

"Susanoo..."

Madara Uchiha spoke slowly.

"W-what...?"

At that moment, Kakuzu noticed that the hole in his mask had turned into a bright red eye with intricate patterns, and a look of shock appeared on his face.

Most of the people who have seen Susanoo have died. Most of the people who were born in small villages have heard of Susanoo, but have never seen him.

Eye technique?

Red eyes... Could it be the Sharingan?

No, the Sharingan's eyes don't have these tomoe patterns. The Sharingan is a dojutsu composed of three tomoe, which is common knowledge.

Kakuzu denied this guess in his heart.

But then he seemed to remember something and exclaimed in surprise, "The Mangekyou Sharingan..."

Madara Uchiha's voice carried a hint of praise: "After all, you're a ninja from the same era as me, so it's normal that you would recognize these eyes."

Kakuzu lowered his head slightly and remained silent.

In his era, the two strongest ninjas were undoubtedly Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

Hashirama Senju relied on Wood Release, while Madara Uchiha relied on the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Seeing this giant, Kakuzu finally understood why Madara Uchiha was able to join forces with Hashirama Senju to end the war.

"To be honest, I'm getting a little tired of it..."

Uchiha Madara said lightly.

This attitude, treating him like an ant, greatly displeased Kakuzu. His face darkened, and his gaze turned icy: "You mean you can kill me at any time?"

Madara Uchiha crossed his arms and said in a relaxed tone, "I'm just stating my feelings... but if you don't show some real skill, I might have to consider killing you."

"asshole."

Kakuzu clapped his hands together, powerful and deep, forming a hand seal called the Si Mudra. He mobilized the chakra within his body, and the four strange creatures nearby responded in kind, their bodies transforming into pillar-shaped, pitch-black objects that twisted and turned wildly as they returned to his body.

"Ah~~"

With this low growl, Kakuzu's eyes turned bloodshot, his pupils filled with blood vessels. Then, ominous black lines flowed out from his mouth, eyes, ears, and nose—what people commonly call the seven orifices. These black lines continued to flow out, converging and merging.

Secret Technique: Earth Grudge Fear - Nyarlathotep Technique.

Kakuzu was already superhuman enough, but after using this technique, he became even more superhuman to outsiders.

The entire being was enveloped in earthly grievances. Except for its limbs, which were of human size, the rest of its body had no human characteristics. Its original face was replaced by a swollen and ugly tentacle, and its body exuded an evil aura.

This technique requires all five types of hearts to be present; if even one is missing, it cannot be used.

"How ugly..."

Uchiha narrowed his eyes and commented, "However, his strength is surprisingly impressive."

In this state, Kakuzu's speed and power will be increased.

The horn, its entire body shrouded in earthly resentment, formed a hand seal and slammed its hand on the ground, causing a rumbling sound as the ground rose up to form a giant rock spider.

"Earth Release: Earth Spider Technique".

Kakuzu's body entered the Tsuchigumo's body, and as if something had been activated, the Tsuchigumo's eyes shone with a fierce red light.

Madara Uchiha, through his Mangekyou Sharingan, saw black lines covering the Earth Grudge Fear inside the Earth Spider's body.

coming……

Sensing the flow of chakra within the Tsuchigumo, Madara Uchiha instantly assessed the situation.

The earth spider raised its head, opened its jaws, and spit out black threads as dense as rain, which shot out, forming a huge web that spread down.

These black lines are not spider silk, but are made entirely of Earth Grudges, and these Earth Grudges are more resilient and sticky than usual.

Madara Uchiha manipulated Susanoo to pull and found that even Susanoo at this stage was by no means easy to break by pulling directly.

The web worked, so the earth spider pressed on, frantically spinning silk in an attempt to wrap the blue giant up like a dumpling.

Madara Uchiha did not intend to sit idly by and wait for his death; he would find it quite boring if he were completely entangled in these spider silks.

To untangle these spider webs, we may need to use a higher-level Susanoo, which would create an overwhelming situation.

"You're quite capable..."

Speaking in a tone as if a teacher were commenting on a student's homework, Madara Uchiha calmly said, "But, it's not enough."

Susanoo crossed his arms, and blue flames erupted from the area between his fists and tiger's mouth, gathering and condensing into two twisted snake swords, intending to cleave through the spider web covering his body.

The earth spider shot out its silk, which wrapped around the blue giant's arms, preventing the blue giant from moving further.

Madara Uchiha crossed his arms, glanced upwards, snorted coldly, as if he didn't care much, and then lowered his head.

The blue giant has four arms. Two of them are bound, but the two behind him can still exert force. Blue flames surge and form two winding snake swords. He grasps them with his hands, crosses his arms, and slashes out two sword energies, swimming straight toward his target like a shark fin emerging from the water.

The blue sword energy swept vertically at great speed. The earth spider's massive body revealed its weakness, making it difficult to dodge. It spat out a large amount of soil, which instantly formed a thick earthen wall upon landing.

The sword energy pierced through the wall, creating a gash, but that was all it did; it quickly dissipated and caused no real damage.

It seems they successfully withstood the attack.

Just as Kakuzu breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly saw through the slash that the blue giant pulled out a series of blue magatama with one hand.

Magatama of Yasaka!

One of the techniques associated with Susanoo.

The blue giant raised his arm and swung it forcefully. The magatama spun like a wheel and hurtled through the air.

"Boom boom boom..."

The earth spider couldn't dodge in time and was smashed with several large holes, exposing its black lines, demonstrating its formidable penetrating power.

Is this the legendary Susanoo?

Not only is its defense amazing, but its strength is also terrifying!

Kakuzu manipulated the Tsuchigumo to distance himself from Susanoo, calmly analyzing the blue giant's balanced offense and defense. It was clearly unrealistic to try to break through Susanoo's defenses using normal methods.

No matter how powerful a ninjutsu is, it will always have a weakness.

Since external damage is impossible, it is natural to associate it with damage from within.

With a clear idea in mind, he then had two options presented to him.

First, he went directly into the interior of Susanoo to fight the man.

Second, you can still go directly inside, but the difference is whether you can drag and drop directly from inside.

However, to accomplish the above actions, it is necessary to verify the assumption that Susanoo is hollow inside and that there is no obstruction from the inside out.

Just as he was thinking about how to verify this hypothesis, Madara Uchiha took action, quickly forming hand seals and unleashing a huge ball of flame.

Kakuzu quickly responded, manipulating the Earth Spider to unleash a powerful Water Release technique to counter it.

Water and fire are incompatible, producing a large amount of water mist.

Madara Uchiha's actions just now provided Kakuzu with a perfect example.

So that's how it is. It seems that the structure of Susanoo is indeed as he imagined.

Having grasped the principles of Susanoo, Kakuzu quickly devised a battle plan based on his extensive combat experience.

You only get one chance, so you must treat it with utmost care.

The Earth Spider gathers chakra in its mouth and exhales it in one breath, forming a tsunami-like attack with layers upon layers.

Water Escape·Explosive Water Shockwave.

Faced with the sweeping attack, Madara Uchiha remained unmoved, not even bothering to use ninjutsu, letting Susanoo be washed by the seawater. He was confident that such water-style attacks alone could not effectively damage Susanoo.

As he had imagined, the turbulent seawater did not result in any effective damage to Susanoo.

At this moment, Tsuchigumo pounced forward, and Susanoo immediately met it, raising its winding snake sword to slash. Tsuchigumo barely managed to block the attack, but before it could react, another slash came down. This time, Tsuchigumo could not stop it and was cleaved in two, revealing its inner core filled with the black lines of the Earth Grudge.

The black lines of the Earth Grudge writhed wildly like living things, wrapping around Susanoo's entire body.

"Muda, muda, all your messy stuff can't break through Susanoo's defenses at all..."

As soon as Madara Uchiha finished speaking, he suddenly felt a hand appear under his feet, forcefully dragging and throwing him away.

On the other side, Kakuzu had been waiting for a long time. Seizing the opportunity, he activated the Body Flicker Technique, and the tentacles on his hardened head pierced through Madara Uchiha's chest, going in and out.

Success!

Kakuzu raised his head, eager to hear the man's last words with a joyful heart.

"Not bad at all, you actually managed to defeat my fire clone..."

What, what clone?

The man's last words were quite different from what Kakuzu had imagined.

Upon hearing this, Kakuzu couldn't help but recall the time he faced Hashirama Senju.

As if the scene had been recreated, this time the opponent he fought so hard to defeat was actually a shadow clone.

(End of this chapter)