Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 299 Ape Demon

"What's with that incredulous look on your face...? You're so surprised that I'm still alive?"

As if to make a mocking gesture, Kakuzu stood up and shrugged.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared intently at his opponent, his mind racing as he rapidly matched Kakuzu's abilities with his gaze.

In terms of knowledge reserves, Hiruzen Sarutobi possesses a considerable amount of knowledge reserves.

"But you are really amazing... No wonder you bear the name of the Shadow. You are not comparable to any of my previous opponents."

As a seasoned veteran, he knows what to say and what not to say.

He wouldn't be stupid enough to say something as obviously pointless as destroying a heart, just to make the other person make that connection.

In ninja battles, intelligence plays a significant role.

"Who exactly are you?"

Since the opponent's abilities were still unknown, Hiruzen Sarutobi probed, intending to start with the opponent's name.

With such strength, one should not be an unknown figure.

"If this is a tactic to probe for information, isn't it a bit too obvious?" Kakuzu saw through it at a glance, his words full of sarcasm.

Despite his trick being exposed, Hiruzen Sarutobi was not discouraged and continued to patiently analyze the intelligence.

His physical skills are superb.

He appeared calm and composed in his behavior.

Meanwhile, the enemy seems to be proficient in both Earth Release and Lightning Release techniques. Earth Release, in particular, has the ability to harden the body, making it very troublesome.

Whether physical techniques and ninjutsu are ineffective against it remains to be determined.

The hands can also detach from the body, move extremely fast, and be manipulated freely.

Judging from this information alone, the enemy's strength is already at the Kage level.

Damn it, where did such a powerful opponent come from?

Hiruzen Sarutobi cursed inwardly.

Considering that the enemies appeared during the alliance process, he easily associated them with Iwagakure and Kirigakure.

Is he going to follow in his teacher's footsteps...?

Thinking of this, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a pang of compassion.

However, this feeling was fleeting, and Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly put these miscellaneous thoughts aside and focused on dealing with the enemy in front of him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi bit his finger, squatted down, and pressed down with one palm, causing mysterious characters to spread outwards.

With a bang, the smoke dissipated, revealing a burly, humanoid creature.

It has round eyes, long ears, a hairy face, a thunder god's mouth, a pointed snout and shrunken cheeks, and a body like a monkey that eats pine cones. It wears a leaf headband, a head of fluffy, radiating white hair, and a tiger skin coat.

Summoning Technique: Ape Demon

"They're finally out...?"

Kakuzu's expression turned serious. When he received the mission to intercept Hiruzen Sarutobi, he thoroughly researched the situation.

The ape demon is the subject of this in-depth analysis.

Although it is a spirit beast, it cannot be judged in the same way as ordinary spirit beasts.

It has a humanoid body, superb physical skills, and an indestructible body. These are just its superficial abilities. In addition, it has two great skills: one is to transform into a weapon, and the other is to be able to form hand seals.

This one summoning beast alone is strong enough to rival a Kage-level ninja.

After being summoned, the ape demon scanned its surroundings and roughly understood the situation: "Hiruzen, it seems you've encountered quite a bit of trouble."

"yes……"

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed, not denying it.

The ape demon stared intently at Kakuzu, lest the other make any rash moves: "Who is this guy?"

"I don't know, but one thing is certain: this guy is very strong," Sarutobi Hitoshi commented, before informing the other party of his abilities.

The ape demon nodded in understanding.

"It's on."

The ape demon swayed and rushed out.

With his indestructible body, he is best suited for the job of probing the enemy.

Before figuring out the enemy's abilities, Hiruzen Sarutobi was in no hurry to attack alongside Enma.

The ape demon leaped forward and launched the first attack with its leg techniques.

The attack suddenly occurred, and Kakuzu sidestepped to avoid it.

Sarutobi missed his footing and crashed into the ground, creating a large crater.

Kakuzu glanced sideways, a hint of caution flashing across his eyes.

Its speed and strength are both top-notch.

The ape demon rose and attacked, swinging its fist.

Kakuzu hardened his arms, raised his right arm, and pressed it against the opponent's hand joint to prevent him from exerting force. At the same time, his hardened right hand stabbed towards Enma's heart with a shovel-like palm strike.

"Bang."

As if stuck in a steel plate, the shovel could not go any further.

Kakuzu felt a chill.

so hard!

Indeed, the claim of an indestructible body is not just empty talk...

With his chest pierced, the ape demon glared fiercely, roared like thunder, clenched his fist into a hammer, and swung his arm to smash his head.

Kakuzu's head exploded, and the immense power of the ape demon slammed him into the ground.

Not yet satisfied with his strike, the Monkey King raised his arm, bent his elbow, and fell to the ground, using the momentum to smash into Kakuzu's abdomen.

Immediately afterwards, he quickly got up, swung his thick arms, and started punching wildly. His fists were like collapsing mountains, as powerful as a storm, shattering the ground and filling the air with white mist.

After unleashing this combo, the Monkey Demon grabbed Kakuzu's head and ripped it in two, discarding it like trash.

Looking at Kakuzu being torn apart by his bare hands, Hiruzen Sarutobi opened his mouth and said, "It seems like I went a bit too far."

The ape demon said warily, "Don't be so righteous, Hiruzen. This guy has given me a very strange feeling since the beginning."

As if in a deliberate response, Kakuzu, whose head had been ripped off, replied.

Wh-what!

Even with his head severed, he's still alive...

Kakuzu's inhumanity terrified Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Kakuzu's two halves of his body stretched out with black lines.

The ape demon was startled. Out of vigilance, it took a step back and watched with a solemn expression as its body, which had been severed in two, was reconnected by black lines and restored to its original state.

Kakuzu looked at the Monkey King and exclaimed, "What a terrifying monkey..."

"Hiruzen, what exactly is this guy's ability?"

Standing before Hiruzen Sarutobi, Enma gazed ahead and asked Hiruzen Sarutobi behind him a question.

"I'm sorry, please test it for me."

Only by understanding the enemy's abilities can Hiruzen Sarutobi devise a countermeasure; otherwise, he will simply waste his chakra.

"I see."

The ape demon plucked a hair from its head, clapped its hands together, rubbed them, and blew on the raised palm. The hair scattered and transformed in mid-air into an identical clone of the ape demon, standing beside it.

Ninpo Fa·Outlaw Clone.

This is the Ape Demon's unique shadow clone, which lasts longer than ordinary shadow clones.

One ape demon was enough for Kakuzu, let alone so many. Kakuzu began to unleash his true power.

As the hand seals were completed, Kakuzu's body split apart, and four clumps of black matter emerged from them, forming human figures that stood beside him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes turned serious as he composed himself and said, "What a strange ninjutsu."

The ape demon chimed in, "Now is not the time to be surprised by the enemy."

During the conversation, the black creature in front of them suddenly let out a painful groan, turned into a pool of black water, and its mask shattered in half.

This is a heart that was just destroyed by Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Seeing this, the ape demon subconsciously thought that the other party was about to attack, so it quickly got into a defensive stance. However, after a while, nothing happened, which left it somewhat confused.

"What's wrong with this?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared intently, remaining silent.

As if deliberately interrupting his thoughts, Kakuzu formed hand seals, commanding the two creatures to open their mouths, where massive amounts of fire and wind chakra converged.

"Fire Release: Head Carving!"

Wind Release: Pressure Damage

This is a combination ninjutsu that combines Fire Release and Wind Release.

Like a surging, overwhelming wave in the ocean, the sea of ​​fire has spread outwards, instantly raising the temperature of the surrounding air wherever it passes, and the snow on the ground is directly evaporated by the high temperature flames.

He even knows Wind Release and Fire Release!

The towering flames illuminated Hiruzen Sarutobi's face, making it feel hot.

Seeing Kakuzu unleash a brand new ninjutsu, Kakuzu was quite surprised. Without thinking twice, he used a wide-range water ninjutsu to attack. The water he spewed from his mouth formed a turbulent, thick wall of water in front of him, successfully intercepting the sea of ​​fire.

The collision of the sea of ​​fire and the wall of water produced dense steam that permeated the surroundings.

The black creature with a fire-attribute heart twisted its neck, making a cracking sound, and shot out fireballs from its mouthparts, attacking the ape demon shadow clone through the air.

Fireballs are much less powerful than a sea of ​​fire, but they are faster.

The fireballs crashed to the ground, creating deep craters and preventing the ape demon clones from engaging in close combat.

Meanwhile, the other black creatures representing the heart attribute were not in a hurry either, unleashing wind and water attributes to bombard these shadow clones.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not rush to attack Kakuzu, but calmly analyzed Kakuzu's abilities.

Judging from the attacks these masked creatures just made, they can only use one type of chakra attack.

Moreover, each monster corresponds to a chakra attribute, and combined with the original body, this coincidental number easily leads Hiruzen Sarutobi to make some connections.

The enemy before us is likely skilled in the ninjutsu of the Five Great Escape Techniques.

With this in mind, Hiruzen Sarutobi gained a clearer understanding of Kakuzu's strength.

If Kakuzu was able to use Earth Release ninjutsu when facing the Monkey King, then the one that died earlier must have represented Lightning Release.

Suddenly, as if he had just remembered something, Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes widened abruptly...

(End of this chapter)