Chapter 68

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Shikamaru was initially surprised, but gave a sharp nod. Naruto was his Team captain, and he had given his orders. "You heard him. Let's get to it!"

"Roger that!"

Tessai started off the fight, jumping and spinning in the air once, before landing and moving his bo staff in a large swipe that sent a large gust of wind towards the creatures. The creatures simply took to the air, letting the swipe go beneath them. Even Kakuzu just jumped over it, but Naruto was right in his face when he landed, engaging in a fierce taijutsu fight.

Dai just grinned. "So they can fly. Doesn't mean it will slow us down."

He charged his legs with chakra and jumped in the air, giving a vicious slice of his sword in the direction of the creatures. They may be capable of flight, but their close-range maneuvering was sluggish at best. An arc of fire escaped his sword, in the direction of the merged creature. It managed to catch in its upper area, but it simply reattached itself.

"Looks like this will be a challenge."

Shikamaru had to admit that bringing Naruto along had greatly worked in their favor. His plan had gone awry so fast that it was a whiplash. He had no idea that Kakuzu would prove to be a bigger pain in the ass than Hidan. The plan he had initially thought of might have worked, but he had severely underestimated Hidan's partner.

There was no window for him to lure Hidan away. Kakuzu's monsters had kept them on their toes while Naruto just grabbed Hidan and blurred away.

Less than five minutes later he returned, announcing that he blew Hidan into pieces. Shikamaru was torn on how to feel about that. He had been devastated by the death of his sensei, and it was that despair that drove him to cook up the meticulous plan to dispatch the two ninjas. To have his vengeance taken from him hadn't felt right at all. He wanted to yell at the blonde, he wanted to be one to bring justice to Asuma.

But then shit hit the fan, when Kakuzu revealed his abilities. His team didn't have the power or tactics to catch them again. If it hadn't been for Naruto, his team would have surely died a while ago. The blonde was doing the lion's share of the fighting, killing Hidan, an S-rank nin in a record time and returning to engage Kakuzu head-on.

Shikamaru now understood what it meant to be in the S-class. They were in a league of their own. And Naruto was a league all by himself.

It was the second time Naruto made him realize just how far ahead his friend was. The gap between them was so large that Shikamaru doubted he would ever be able to catch up.

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On the other hand, Naruto was giving everything to the fight. Kakuzu's taijutsu was strong, but his style was suited to the earth element, sturdy and strong. His attacks were linear, allowing Naruto to block and dodge them with some amount of ease.

Naruto jumped to put some space between him and Kakuzu and threw his kunai at the man. But Kakuzu simply tilted his head to let the kunai pass by.

They're so predictable.

The moment the kunai was beside Kakuzu's head, Naruto flashed. He reappeared right by Kakuzu's head, and landed a vicious roundhouse to the side of his face. Kakuzu was sent flying, crashing into a tree with a grunt. He shook his head and leaped up to his feet, just in time to see a wind fist put a hole through him and the bark behind. The Kakuzu then melted into a puddle of water.

Naruto turned around where he sensed the nin's chakra and moved.

Naruto was in his guard with a flash step, his punch packing enough force to send Kakuzu into the bark of the tree behind him. But Kakuzu recovered, and once again started their dance, this time vertically.

Naruto blocked a punch from the man before deflecting the other hand, his right leg going towards Kakuzu's knee. But at the last moment, he changed direction and landed the kick against the side of the left knee. Kakuzu gave a grunt at the momentary pain, stumbling back a little. That gave Naruto the perfect opportunity to land a running side kick that launched Kakuzu up in the air, flying alongside the bark until he reached the top.

The nin recovered and landed on his feet, just as Naruto reached the top. As soon as he landed, he was on the defense. Kakuzu executed a reverse roundhouse, using the momentum from it to throw a hook at his face. Naruto deflected it with his right hand, leaving Kakuzu's side open. The lack of protection on Kakuzu worked in Naruto's favor, as he landed a fist right into the man's ribs.

There was an audile crack of bone breaking, but Kakuzu was no stranger to broken bones. He shrugged off the attack and continued fighting. Naruto leaned back to avoid a kick, then executed an aerial cartwheel to dodge the swipe to his legs. He used the momentum to grab Kakuzu and literally throw him in the air. Just when Kakuzu was in the air, Naruto executed one of his Hiraishin techniques.

Hiraishin: Tengoku chumon! (Flying thunder god: Heaven sequence)

He threw a bunch of kunai in the air flashed away. He appeared and grabbed the first, making a slash on Kakuzu's body. He disappeared and appeared, grabbing the second and making a slash with it. He made a total of eight slashes in just three seconds, before delivering a brutal axe kick to Kakuzu's back, sending him crashing to the earth.

But Kakuzu just substituted himself with a broken piece of wood, breaking his fall. Naruto easily landed on his feet, and turned around to see Kakuzu running up to him, unfazed by the wounds on his body. He instantly activated the seal he had slapped on him during one of the slashes.

Kakuzu froze mid-stride, remarkably not falling to the ground. Even as he spoke, Naruto heard the struggle in his voice. "What…..did you do?"

"You don't really think that my entire fighting style is based on the Hiraishin, do you?"

He quickly snuck a glance to the other end of the field. The fox twins were doing a fine job of keeping the monsters distracted. Kakuzu seemed to be able to mentally command them, because the monsters abandoned fighting them and rushed towards them. But his team and the foxes managed to divert them away. Chouji was proving himself useful, frequently rolling into their path to keep them occupied. The twins used their combos to keep the monsters from flying their way.

"Looks like things are fine on the other end." Naruto turned to Kakuzu. "Time for you to die."

Kakuzu's tone was venomous. "If you think that cutting my head off will kill me, you would be grievously wrong."

Naruto paused in his stride. "That won't work? Then I guess, we do this the painful way."

He threw several of his special kunai at Kakuzu, and just as the last one was about to hit Kakuzu, he teleported to it and gave a kick powerful enough to launch him into an arc. He summoned a shadow clone, which teleported to the kunai surrounding Kakuzu and made several slashes on him, adding to the injuries Naruto gave him earlier. The last slash was a stab right into the heart; the clone caught Kakuzu in the back and teleported him back to Naruto, who had a football-sized Rasengan in his hand spinning at high speed, which he promptly smashed into Kakuzu's stomach, launching him back painfully.

Hiraishin: Ten Satsujin chumon! (Flying thunder god: Heavenly murder sequence)

That Rasengan could obliterate rocks with ease. I'll be surprised if his guts aren't liquid by the time he comes to a stop.

Kakuzu made brutal contact with the bark of a tree, hard enough that cracks resembling a spider's web formed in it. He then slumped to the ground, dead. Naruto walked up to him and removed his kunai from the body. This was the second time he killed Kakuzu. The Hiraishin technique he just executed could kill anyone, because no one had the reflexes to react in time to the constant slashing. Before you knew it, you were stabbed in the heart.

He checked the pulse to confirm and lo, he was dead.

Damn complicated technique. Mastering it was a pain in the ass. At least I managed to give it a decent name. It might not make much sense, but it certainly is better than "Space-time hurricane flash sequential steps: style zero." Makes me wonder what Tou-san was thinking…..or drinking.

His senses alerted him to two rapidly approaching chakra signatures. He turned to see Kakuzu's monsters rapidly approaching, no doubt wanting to put a heart into the dead man and revive him.

The only way to kill him is to destroy his hearts.

"GUYS! STAY BACK!"

His shout halted the Team that was in pursuit of the monsters. He quickly summoned a shadow clone, and both sped through signs.

Katon: Karyuu Endan! (Fire style: Fire wall attack)

Fuuton: Daitoppa! (Wind style: Great breakthrough)

The fire jutsu was already an A-rank jutsu, but combined with another A-rank jutsu of a supporting element gave it the strength to rival, or even surpass Kakuzu's Zukokku. The extremely large wall of flames sped through the air at incredible speeds, right at the monsters. It kind of surprised him that the merged monster fought his jutsu head on, with its own fire-wind combo. It was literally fighting fire with fire.

What's the point? I can keep this up fo- oh.

Naruto quickly cut off his flames and flashed away, just as lightning struck the place where he was standing. He appeared right beside the foxes, who slightly jumped but didn't go for their weapons. "Apologies, Naruto-sama. They got past us."

"It's alright. I doubt you would have kept them at bay any longer."

They watched grimly as the mass of the lightning mask plunged right into Kakuzu. The merged monster stood guard to make sure that none of them came near Kakuzu. Soon enough, the mass disappeared entirely into Kakuzu, and the mask cracked.

The nin stood up, and he was angry. No scratch that, he was furious. The effect was enhanced by his red sclera, giving him the appearance of a madman. The point where the Rasengan had made contact was visible in the shape of a grotesque spiral. But that didn't seem to deter the nin in the slightest. Naruto figured he was using the tendrils as some kind of support to help him move. That, or he was just that durable.

The foxes growled aggressively as they once again took their stances. "What kind of twisted madness is this?"

"I agree ni-san. If Naruto-sama stabbed him in the heart, he shouldn't be able to rise again."

"Those masks carry spare hearts in them. Kakuzu simply absorbed the heart in the lightning mask and connected it to his chakra circulatory system, effectively bringing himself back to life," Naruto gave the short version to the brothers.

But it didn't stop there. As soon as Kakuzu was on his feet, the merged monster swiftly moved and plunged into him, just like the previous mask had done. Only this time, the entire mass of tendrils wasn't absorbed into him. The stitches at his shoulders, elbows, and wrists broke, showing tendrils flowing beneath. The mass of the merged monster was visible in the back. The tendrils were all over the place behind him, jutting out in all the directions and almost forming something of a cover behind him. Weirdly enough, they didn't seem to be subjected to gravity, for they were just floating as hair does inside water. They even came out of his mouth!

In the end, Kakuzu looked less of a human and more of a freak.

Despite the rage in his eyes, Kakuzu's voice remained level. "Two of my hearts gone…..it's been a long time since that happened."

Naruto was just wondering how the hell he was speaking with all those tendrils coming out of his mouth.

"You won't get away this time…I promise."

Just as Naruto got into a stance, thin tendrils suddenly emerged from the ground and wrapped around them, effectively immobilizing everyone. Even Tessai and Dai were unable to move, despite their physical strength. Kakuzu stretched them tight, ripping the hidden parts from the ground.

Naruto tested the strength of the tendrils and had to admit, even his enhanced strength was not capable of snapping them.

"Uzumaki Naruto…..I know you won't die from this, given your healing powers. As for the rest of you….too bad."

The fire and the air mask suddenly emerged from the mass of the tendrils, above Kakuzu's shoulders. "Now….DIE!"

Their mouths suddenly opened, fire and wind swirling around respectively, no doubt to unleash a combo that would kill everyone except him. He would just get third-degree burns, but they were still damn painful.

Like hell would I let that work!

He called on his powerful chakra, changing its nature to wind within an instant. The sharp burst of wind cut all the tendrils binding him, cutting him loose just in time to see the attack launched at them.

Snake-horse-rat-ram:-

Hiraishin: Dorai! (Flying thunder god: Guiding thunder)

He thrust his arm that was holding the kunai in reverse grip forward, a barrier of seals appearing as if written on the air itself. The attack crashed into the barrier, and seemed to get sucked inside within moments. That was the improvement Naruto had done to his father's formula. His father's version took way too long for the attack to get absorbed into the void of the jutsu. Naruto improved it by altering the original, his own seal, to make it a negative suction formula. Instead of forcefully pushing something into the void, it would simply get sucked in and thrown out on the other side. It reduced both time and the chakra spent.

Naruto grit his teeth as he tried to keep his arm steady. Catching an explosion was a lot harder than capturing physical mass, because the former was very unstable and had no shape. It was just energy.

The explosion completely gone, Naruto flicked his kunai, sending the explosion right onto its creator. Kakuzu wasn't aware, but Naruto's clone had marked him right after he stabbed him. That was the real beauty of using the Hiraishin: his enemies never knew when they got marked.

The man had no time to curse before he became ground zero for his own attack. Naruto hastily built an earth wall to shield him and his team from the brunt. It wouldn't surprise him if the man survived. Kakuzu was literally a zombie.

The attack also cut the tendrils holding them, allowing them to move once more. "Naruto…."

He made a shushing motion with his hand. "You can fanboy later Chouji. Everyone fall back!"

They all jumped back, putting a decent amount of distance between them and Kakuzu. He didn't want to get close right now. For all he knew, Kakuzu had survived and was waiting for him in the smoke.

"Naruto!"

His head snapped to the side to see Team 7, with both Kakashi and Yamato, running up to them. He tsked with irritation. "Took you long enough."

The four of them came to stand beside them. Kakashi's eye flickered to the foxes. "Your summons, I take it?"

"Yes, I needed some help."

"Naruto, are you alright?!"

The question came from Sakura, with Haruto following right behind. Naruto eyed himself- aside from a few tears in his clothes, he was completely fine. "I'm fine."

Yamato stepped forward, looking dead serious. "Naruto, what's the situation and the enemy's power?"

Naruto held up a hand, still looking forward. The smoke had dispersed, and Kakuzu was still standing. He didn't seem that injured for someone who got caught in the middle of an explosion quite literally. No doubt, he must've used his iron-skin technique to ward off most of the damage. The most visible damage was that the amount of tendrils visible now were significantly less than the amount present before the attack.

"Two Akatsuki enemies. One dead, the other is right over there. He has five hearts, two of which I destroyed. Currently he possesses three, one inside his own body and the others inside those masks you see. In order to kill him, all the hearts must be destroyed. That's the gist of it," Naruto succinctly answered.

It was a testament to how much used Team 7 was to Naruto's weird, but short explanations that no one batted an eye. They simply fell in line, Haruto and Sakura behind him with Shikamaru's Team, and Kakashi and Yamato beside him. Naruto dismissed his summons after their backup arrived. The fight was drawing to a close anyway.

Kakuzu was seething, and Naruto was sure that he would be spitting fire right now if it weren't for those tendrils. He had to commend the man though; his anger was through the roof, but his voice remained level. "I underestimated you yet again, Uzumaki Naruto. I wasn't aware that you were capable of teleporting attacks themselves with your Hiraishin. If that attack hit me, then it means you have marked me already."

"I did tell you before. Don't think you are the only shinobi with an ace up their sleeves."

"Quite right. But don't think that will work again."

Naruto smirked. "That depends. Are you gonna fire a jutsu like that again?"

Kakuzu's silence meant Naruto was right. Kakuzu had no idea how many times Naruto could teleport his attacks. He might have survived this one, but he won't if Naruto kept catching his attacks and teleporting them onto him. At the same time, Naruto couldn't afford to get close lest he get caught by those tendrils.

In other words, Kakuzu couldn't use his jutsu to attack or Naruto sends it back to him. He also couldn't get close or he gets hit with a Rasengan like before. Even his tendrils were weak against that jutsu. And Naruto couldn't get close to Kakuzu because of his tendrils. Both of them arrived at the same conclusion.

It's time to switch to long-range combat.

"You know," Naruto began, catching everyone's attention, "you probably don't realize, but merging yourself back with your hearts was a mistake."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Now that all the hearts are in one place," Naruto's lips shifted to show a vicious grin, "I can take you out in just one shot."

To say they were shocked was an understatement. All of his allies were looking at him with wide eyes full of disbelief. They had seen Kakuzu's power, felt it up close, and Naruto was essentially proclaiming that he had enough power to take Kakuzu out in one hit?!

Even Kakashi, who usually kept his eye closed after opening the sharingan, had both of his eyes open. Just what kind of power was Naruto packing?

Kakuzu gave no visible reaction, but inside he was rattled. During his fight with the blonde, he had come to realize that the blonde was no ordinary opponent. He was strong enough to withstand his blows, fast enough to move out of every attack's way, and smart enough to figure out his Earth Grudge Fear alongside that Shikamaru brat. Not just that, but he had enough chakra to fire jutsu as large as his own, and keep going. Kakuzu had no idea at all just how versatile the Hiraishin was, and once caught in the attack, there was no escape until he was dead. That Rasengan of his, that he recognized from the days when the Yondaime Hokage was alive, packed an overwhelming punch. And now he was saying that he had something more powerful than that, something that was essentially a one-hit kill against him?

So this is the power of the Kyuubi no jinchuriki…..I don't know whether he's bluffing or not, but I should switch to long-range just to be safe.

Naruto sensed the build-up of a large amount of chakra and narrowed his eyes. Even Kakashi and Yamato tensed as they too sensed the build-up. Then all of a sudden, Kakuzu began spitting out waves of tendrils. The mass of the threads on his back almost tripled, expanding exponentially. His arms, which were detached before, reattached themselves and sewed up. Kakuzu's head was barely visible in all the tendrils.

"He's not just changing shape. He's drawing up a huge amount of chakra!"

Naruto agreed. "Given the expansion of those threads, it would be nigh impossible to fight with him in close-range anymore."

Naruto lifted his hand, palm facing upwards. What he was about to do was what he trained for the better part of three years. "Stand back guys. It's about to get a little windy."

A head-sized Rasengan materialized into his palm within an instant. Now came the tricky part. He had given this jutsu his sweat and blood, countless hours of training with shadow clones and blood clones. It was bitter work, but the results were worth it.

As soon as the Rasengan was self-sustaining, he changed his chakra nature to wind and began to add to the Rasengan very carefully. Failure was disastrous, and he had no intention of experiencing it again.

The hairs on the backs of the Konoha nin began to rise when they heard a loud whistle begin to build up from the Rasengan. Kakashi was the first to figure out what Naruto had managed to accomplish. "Naruto, you….!"

Naruto turned his head back just enough to show a smirk on his face. The pitch of the whistle kept growing louder until it was no longer a whistle, but a powerful screech caused by extremely sharp air, compressed into a form. White spinning blades became visible, as the Rasengan spun faster. The size of the blades increased until it looked like Naruto was holding a giant, spinning shuriken of compressed wind, with the Rasengan at its core. The overall size was big enough to encompass him completely.

No one had to be a sensor to feel just how much chakra Naruto had packed into the jutsu, and just how dense and powerful it was.

Naruto had to shout over the screech of the wind to be heard by Kakuzu. "YOU SEE THIS KAKUZU? THIS IS WHAT'S GOING TO KILL YOU…IN ONE SHOT! CAN YOU GUESS ITS NAME?!"

Kakuzu had no answer, because he was busy sweating bullets. I have to avoid that…thing, at all costs. Or I'm finished.

Naruto grinned as he added the final component to the jutsu, a thin layer of pure chakra covering the jutsu to stabilize it. It also served as protection for his own hand. "I'LL TELL YOU ANYWAYS! I CALL IT…FUUTON: RASENSHURIKEN!"

Holding the jutsu over his head, Naruto formed a half ram sign and summoned five shadow clones. Showing a grin with all teeth, he challenged the nuke-nin. "Stop me if you can."

With that, all the clones and the prime began running straight towards Kakuzu. The nuke-nin however, was taking no chances and took to the air. That threw everyone for a loop, even Naruto. He stopped mid-run, suddenly cautious. Kakuzu was coming to him via air, so there was no need to go to him anymore.

Kakuzu on the other hand, had a different strategy in mind.

In flight, I can ignore the clones on the ground behind me. If I just eliminate that technique, there's nothing to worry about.

Halting, he sent the entirety of his threads straight towards Naruto, with the intention of stabbing him. Naruto braced himself, and thrust the hand with the Rasenshuriken forward, giving the impression that he was going to cut all the threads with the spinning blades of wind.

To the spectators, the threads crashed straight into him, kicking up a cloud of dust. "NARUTO!"

Almost everyone shouted and once the dust dispersed, they stared in horror at Naruto lying on the ground, pierced in various places by the threads and bleeding horribly. His face was contorted in pain as he angrily glared up at Kakuzu.

Kakuzu's shoulders dropped slightly in relief. For a minute I almost thought he would throw it at me.

Then 'Naruto' poofed into smoke. That brought him back to high alert.

WHAT?!

He then felt something collide with his back, and then all he felt was pain. Unbearable agony rippling through his entire being, ripping himself apart from inside out. The force behind the jutsu's collision sent him crashing into the ground.

What happened?!

The Konoha nin were completely astounded. Naruto seemed to have switched with his clones at the last second, leaving a decoy in his place. Once he was behind him, the blonde didn't close in to score a direct hit. Kakashi was sure that he was going to lose his sharingan if he kept his eyes popped out like he was doing now, but he couldn't help himself.

Naruto had thrown the technique, and everyone watched with rapt attention as it collided straight into Kakuzu, sending him crashing to the ground. As soon as he crashed, a giant vortex of wind came into existence. It was spinning so violently that the area was immediately covered in dust.

"The shockwave is coming!"

Yamato warned everyone and quickly erected an earth-style barrier to protect them. The shockwave smashed into the barrier, but the wall held. Kakashi spotted Naruto standing overhead on a branch, no doubt admiring his work. And he had every right to, Kakashi reasoned with himself. Naruto had succeeded where the greatest Hokage of all time had failed. Sensei just hadn't been able to figure out how to add his wind nature to the Rasengan. If he had lived, he might have. But Naruto managed to complete his father's technique, and it was brilliant.

To amplify the Rasengan's attack power to such a degree…..

Kakashi had no doubt that if Naruto fought him unrestrained, he would die.

After several seconds, which was a feat in and of itself, the vortex dissipated. Kakashi jumped over the wall, and his eyes widened at the size of the crater that had formed. His sharingan flickered towards Kakuzu and also caught the numerous, incredibly small blades that were still tearing into him. In a flash he understood. The Rasenshuriken's appearance gave the impression that it could cause destructive damage to any object, the real damage was happening on a much smaller scale.

The number of attacks was surreal. Even my sharingan couldn't keep up.

Naruto was grinning so wide that his cheeks were starting to hurt. He watched as his jutsu completely tore Kakuzu apart, both on the outside and on the inside. The Rasenshuriken shredded all the threads emerging from Kakuzu, and Naruto was sure that the man's chakra network was nothing more than shreds right now. The creation of this jutsu was his proudest moment. And he never forgot that if it weren't for his father, the Rasenshuriken might never have been born.

After the blast died, all the Konoha nin jumped over the wall and marveled at the damage the jutsu had caused. Never before had they seen such a destructive power, it just seemed too unreal for anyone to have it.

"I-Incredible…"

"Amazing….."

"Holy shit!"

Naruto heard all the exclamations and grinned to himself. As controlled as he tended to be, even he was prone to showing off sometimes. He watched as Kakuzu finally fell to the ground, and made his way towards him.

The man was barely able to move. Naruto knew the damage caused by the Rasenshuriken firsthand. He lightly kicked Kakuzu in the head. "Oi, you dead?"

Kakuzu's voice was laced with struggle and pain. "Damn…..you…."

Naruto just released a sigh. With the fight over, the adrenaline was dropping down and making him feel tired. "Any last words?"

"How…..How did I…lose to a bunch of kids?!"

Naruto shook his head. "Your reason to fight was weaker than mine. To you, capturing me was just a job. But I am fighting to survive against your organization. I can't afford to be weak."

He took out a kunai and spun it by the ring. "It's time to go home and collect your bounty."