"Whoosh!"
A pitch-black bolt of lightning shot up, and Uchiha Madara, holding his scythe, sliced towards Kakuzu's neck without mercy.
Seeing that his lowly demeanor hadn't earned him any pity from this Shura of the ninja world, Kakuzu naturally wouldn't just wait to die.
After all, Kakuzu was a strong fighter who had survived countless battles. Facing a renowned powerhouse like Uchiha Madara, he hadn't let his guard down for a moment.
He didn't want to die!
Even less did he want Uchiha Madara to steal his Jiongu!
"Earth Style: Earth Spear!"
Facing the sudden assault from Uchiha Madara, Kakuzu slightly shifted his gaze. His chakra surged, and half of his body instantly turned into rock. He raised his arm to block the incoming scythe.
"Clang!"
With a resounding clang, Kakuzu's Earth Spear technique blocked Madara's probing attack.
Kakuzu rejoiced inwardly, mistakenly believing that Uchiha Madara was old and frail, no longer possessing the might of his past as the Shura of the ninja world.
Moreover, times had changed, and he was no longer the ordinary Jonin with nothing to his name.
With five lives, what was there to fear?
His courage surged.
Kakuzu shed his previous timidity and launched an attack against Uchiha Madara.
"Jiongu: Tentacle Punch!"
His right forearm joint twitched, and countless black tentacles instantly separated from his forearm, along with a section of his wrist, forming a fist. It shot out like a cannonball, slamming towards Uchiha Madara's chest.
"Interesting!"
Madara's Sharingan flickered, and he praised with what sounded like mockery in his voice. He nimbly twisted his body, narrowly dodging Kakuzu's attack.
Seeing that Uchiha Madara hadn't directly met his punch, Kakuzu's confidence grew.
The masks representing his water and lightning element hearts on his back writhed and instantly transferred to his chest via Jiongu.
The water-element mask opened its mouth, and without any hand seals from Kakuzu, violent water streams gushed out.
"Water Style: Water Curtain!"
Water Curtain was a B-rank water ninjutsu. While its power was slightly weaker than the B-rank Water Dragon Bullet, its method of using a water cannon for long-range, large-area attacks was more practical.
And this was merely the prelude to Kakuzu's assault.
"Lightning Style: False Darkness!"
Just as Uchiha Madara dodged the water cannon, he heard a slight crackle from the lightning-patterned mask on Kakuzu's chest.
The boiling lightning chakra instantly converged into a great spear of lightning, radiating a dazzling lightning glow. It carried with it the burnt smell of air being dissociated and shot towards him.
"First, suppress with Water Style, creating a large conductive area, then use Lightning Style's transformation to conduct through the water surface, paralyzing the opponent while simultaneously launching an attack with Lightning Style's piercing nature..."
Uchiha Madara felt a slight tingling and itchiness on his skin stimulated by the lightning chakra. His mind raced, and he instantly understood Kakuzu's objective.
"To use ninjutsu attacks that cooperate with each other's elements without the main body forming hand seals?"
"Jiongu secret technique..."
"I'm becoming even more interested!"
A cold smile flashed in Madara's eyes. He raised one hand to his chest, intending to use Fire Style to forcibly shatter the lightning spear emanating from the mask.
"How could I let you block it so easily!"
Kakuzu's eyes flashed with ferocity as he watched Uchiha Madara's movement. The cluster of tentacles he had controlled and thrown to the ground earlier suddenly burrowed out from the ground beneath Uchiha Madara, instantly entangling his limbs.
"The Shura of the ninja world from back then..."
"Is nothing more than this!"
Kakuzu sneered disdainfully at Uchiha Madara, who wore an expression of surprise, and raised his right hand forcefully.
The four masks on his chest and back simultaneously opened their mouths and spat out countless tentacles, which coiled and wrapped around Kakuzu's right arm.
The tentacles writhed rapidly, forming four thick cannon barrels around Kakuzu's right arm. Aiming at Uchiha Madara, who was unable to move, they unleashed the strongest attack in his human form.
"Secret Technique: Jiongu - Final Barrage!"
The large cannon barrels simultaneously lit up with white light. A dazzling beam of light, a convergence of wind, fire, water, and lightning chakra, unleashed a terrifying aura that tore through everything, blasting towards Uchiha Madara.
"It seems I can't keep playing with you any longer!"
"Susanoo!"
Uchiha Madara gazed at the magnificent chakra cannon fired from Kakuzu's right arm and murmured softly. The pupils in his eyes surged, and blue chakra instantly rose around him.
The Jiongu tentacles that had tightly bound Madara's limbs melted away like snow in the morning sun.
The composite chakra beam, which seemed capable of destroying everything, crashed into the blue skeleton that suddenly appeared outside Madara's body.
The beam was immensely powerful, but upon striking the seemingly fragile blue skeleton, it only produced a hissing and humming sound of chakra dissolving into each other.
By the time the light dissipated, the initial form of Susanoo had not sustained any damage.
"So then..."
"How will you break through this divine power's defense?"
Uchiha Madara stood beneath the half-body Susanoo, looking indifferently at Kakuzu, who stood dumbfounded opposite him, and asked arrogantly.
Looking at the terrifyingly powerful physical chakra giant, Kakuzu instantly recalled the power Uchiha Madara possessed in his prime, capable of rivaling the First Hokage Hashirama Senju's Wood Style.
The Uchiha clan's strongest ability, known as the power of the gods, which guaranteed death upon sight—Susanoo.
"Susanoo..."
"Run!"
Other than running, Kakuzu had no other thought in his mind at this moment.
"Crack!"
With a light sound, Kakuzu's fire and wind masks overlapped on his chest. A powerful chakra fluctuation instantly arose.
"Wind Style: Dust Devourer!"
"Fire Style: Headhunter!"
"Composite Ninjutsu: Flame Wind Rippers!"
Wind aiding fire, fire borrowing wind's might.
Instantly, the battlefield between Kakuzu and Susanoo was covered in flames.
Taking advantage of the flames obscuring Uchiha Madara's vision, Kakuzu turned and fled without looking back.
"Quite decisive!"
"No wonder you've lived so long in the ninja world."
Uchiha Madara, looking through the sea of flames at Kakuzu fleeing into the distance, snorted disdainfully.
"However..."
"Too naive!"
His ocular power surged again, and the initial form of Susanoo outside his body advanced directly to its second form.
The blue chakra giant raised its right arm slightly. The long sword it held instantly manifested fourteen large magatama connected end to end.
After a moment of thought, Uchiha Madara scattered most of the magatama, leaving only four. He then controlled Susanoo to swing its arm, and the four magatama transformed into a string of light, instantly streaking behind Kakuzu.
"Boom..."
A deafening explosion, accompanied by four consecutive sounds of masks shattering, Kakuzu cried out in pain and fell into the dust.
A look of disdain flashed in Uchiha Madara's eyes. He instantly appeared beside Kakuzu and kicked the seemingly dead Kakuzu on the ground, flipping him over.
"Only one heart left, the main body's?"
"Hand over Jiongu!"