Chapter – 532 Helplessness and Impossibility

The presence of Orochimaru alone made everyone feel desperate, and suddenly, Kakuzu, a member of the Akatsuki Organization also appeared out of nowhere, which made several people in the underground refugee really terrified.

Sasuke, Naruto as well as the other two Hyuga children Hinata and Neji were even more frightened, it was as if they would die the very next second.

In the previous battle against the Asura Path, the four children experienced the taste of death, so now they understand that the real battles between shinobi are real life and death battles; not the ninja games they have been used to playing in their families with their siblings and friends.

Therefore, whether it is arrogant and pretentious Sasuke or naughty and carefree Naruto, both of them are extremely nervous at this moment.

The timid Hinata on the other hand had already clutched the edge of Neji's clothes tightly and buried her head low, not daring to lift her head in fear, only Neji, who was a bit precocious and had a sense of responsibility of protecting Hinata dared to grit his teeth and barely managed to take on a Gentle fist combat posture trying to put up resistance against Orochimaru and Kakazu… it's just that his inner nervousness and fear were clearly apparent from the trembling of his hands.

Of course, Orochimaru and Kakazu didn't care about the emotions and psychology of the four children, at this time they were observing each other and calculating their course of action, Orochimaru had turned his head and clearly looked in the direction of the uninvited guest on the opposite side, upon recognizing the identity of the other party, his face sank and he asked with a bitter expression, "What are you doing here Kakuzu?"

Akatsuki Organization has many shinobi against whom Orochimaru dared not be careless, but Kakuzu is obviously not among them, therefore, in the face of Kakuzu, Orochimaru is not at all worried.

Although Orochimaru is not afraid of Kakazu, he still understands that whether it is defeating Kakuzu or killing him will inevitably take some time and effort, which is not something Orochimaru is interested in wasting while knowing full well that Konoha's support could come any time.

Kakuzu who walked out of the cover of smoke and dust was a little surprised upon noticing Orochimaru's presence in the Konoha Refugee shelter, but he wasn't intimidated in the slightest. As an old monster who has been living since the era of the God of Shinobi Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, Kakuzu doesn't care about Orochimaru in the slightest who is basically a junior to him.

Of course, not caring about Orochimaru doesn't mean that he will swallow this breath, and while walking towards the group of children shivering behind Hyuga Yui, Shizune, and Uchiha Izumi, he warned Orochimaru with a cold tone, "Orochimaru, today I am not interested in killing you, so you'd better not hinder me!"

Kakuzu's reason for sneaking into the Konoha refugee is only one, and that is to kidnap the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi as per Nagato's instructions.

Threatened by Kakazu, Orochimaru licked his lips coldly, and with a sly smile, he too started walking towards the group of shivering children behind Shizune, Hyuga Yui, and Uchiha Izumi.

Seeing two powerful enemies approaching from two sides, Shizune, Yui, and Izumi looked at each other and nodded with a determined expressions… The action clearly meant that no matter what, they must NOT allow Orochimaru and Kakuzu to get their hands on the four children.

Of course, in their hearts, all three know and understand very well that they can't do much against either of Orochimaru and Kakazu; especially given their injuries and chakra exhaustion, but irrespective of the great disparity in strength and the end result, they have to do what they have to do as Konoha Shinobi.

And while Shizune, Yui, and Izumi were prepared for a dead-end battle, Orochimaru and Kakuzu were also looking at each other as they approached the group of shivering children.

From each other's behaviour, both Orochimaru and Kakuzu judged that the other party's goal is also one of the children in this passage. Because all four children present in the passage are gathered together in the dark corner under the protection of three Konoha Kunoichi, it is difficult for either of them to analyze which of the four children is the other party's target.

In case the goals of both the parties coincide, a conflict between the two would be inevitable, and even if the targets of both of them are different, the possibility that the other party would intentionally interfere with their target also remains, so both Orochimaru and Kakuzu are already in a state of conflict and unwilling to back down.

Seeing that analysis or intimidation wasn't working, and understanding that the situation can't continue as is given that Konoha reinforcements might arrive any second, Kakuzu stopped and said to Orochimaru in a deep voice, "Orochimaru, do you have to force me to kill you?"

Orochimaru obviously didn't care about Kakuzu's threat and said, "No one can stop me from what I want to do, and obtaining what I want… Hokage can't stop me, Konoha can't stop me, Akatsuki can't stop me, and you Kakazu, certainly are not capable enough of stopping me!"

Kakuzu's sighed upon hearing Orochimaru's declaration, then slowly raised his hands towards Orochimaru.

Orochimaru wasn't to be outdone, he too raised his right hand and pointed towards Kakuzu.

As the war intention between Kakuzu and Orochimaru intensified, the atmosphere in the dark passage became more and more murderous, and the smell of gunpowder was already in the air.

Tuk tuk tuk tuk tuk

And just when a battle between Kakuzu and Orochimaru was about to start, suddenly there were several rushes of footsteps in the passage. Just listening to the sound of the approaching footsteps, it can be determined that at least a dozen people are coming over.

The Akatsuki Organization consists of S-Class rogue Shinobi who were elites from their respective villages, usually, they would travel in a three-man team, two-man cells, and sometimes even alone, so these more than a dozen people coming over can not be members of the Akatsuki Organization… nor can they be Orochimaru's subordinates, although the possibility of them being members of Amatsukami still remains, everyone knows and believes that these more than a dozen people are more than likely to be Konoha shinobi coming over to check the situation at the refugee.

Orochimaru and Kakuzu can think of it, so Shizune, Hyuga Yui, and Uchiha Izumi can certainly think of it, and knowing that more than a dozen Shinobis are coming towards them, Shizune immediately shouted, "Everyone, there are enemies here…! We need reinforcements to deal with Orochimaru and Kakuzu!"

There are several reasons why Shizune hastily shouted regardless of the consequences of this action of hers, one is to alert Konoha Shinobi about the presence of Orochimaru and Kakuzu in the refugee so that the Konoha Shinobi remain extremely vigilant and prepare themselves for the upcoming conflict, and the second reason is to make Orochimaru and Kakuzu panic and flustered so as to have a better chance of subduing the two of them.

Of course, whether Shizune's intentions will be completed or not as per her expectation is another matter altogether, but the moment Shizune's voice fell, it acted as a spark in a gunpowder barrel, and both Orochimaru and Kakuzu took action at the same time.

'Ninpou: Many Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!'

Orochimaru used his signature Jutsu towards Kakuzu, and at the same time rushed towards the three Kunoichi and the four children.

'Fire Style: Intelligent Hard Work!'

Faced with many hidden shadow snake hands approaching him, the well-experienced Kakuzu immediately weaved hand signs and used a Fire Style Jutsu to roast all the snakes coming towards him into charcoal.

Although the snakes shot by Orochimaru were easily resolved by Kakuzu, Orochimaru wasn't sad or disappointed, rather, he smirked evilly because this action of Kakuzu already put him in a disadvantaged situation as he was delayed by a single step and a few moments, which is already very crucial in the battle of shinobi of their level.

Orochimaru who had already jumped towards the four children swiftly knocked down the three Kunoichi who wanted to stop him, then focused his attention on the four children.

Orochimaru's goal is Uchiha Sasuke, but Uzumaki Naruto is standing in front of Sasuke with the intention of protecting him, along with Hyuga Hinata and Hyuga Neji beside him, and because Kakuzu is already coming towards here at an extremely fast speed, so Orochimaru had no other choice but to sweep all the four children of their feet.

Instantly, several snakes were again shot out of the cuff of Orochimaru's Kimono and quickly wrapped around the bodies of the four children.

With all four children in his captivity, Orochimaru retreated backwards and glanced at Kakuzu with a provocative look.

In the current situation, Orochimaru has not only captured his target Uchiha Sasuke; but also captured several hostages, including Kakuzu's target, which is probably the blond-haired kid; therefore, Orochimaru understands that he is in an advantageous position and he is willing to play with Kakuzu for a little while, knowing full well that Kakuzu's actions against him are greatly limited, and Konoha reinforcements are already on their way…

To be honest, if it is up to him, Orochimaru really intends to disrupt the actions of the Akatsuki Organization as long as it is within the limits of his abilities and he doesn't have to pay any significant price. And now that the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi; Uzumaki Naruto; the target of the Akatsuki Organization is in his hands, so, Orochimaru obviously does not intend to hand him over to Kakuzu so easily.

It's just that sometimes Orochimaru tends to overestimate himself and underestimate the enemy; as such he forgot that Kakuzu is also an old monster with combat experience of more than five to six decades; how can he be outdone by Orochimaru so easily?

So, even before Orochimaru had the chance of posing his conditions to Kakuzu, the scene quickly changed.

Crack Crack

The ground under the feet of the four children cracked, and a black thread monster emerged out of the ground. The black thread monster fired several rock bullets towards the snakes entangling the bodies of the four children; as a result, killing those snakes within a single breath then stretched out hundreds of black threads towards them in order to capture the four children.

At the same time, Kakuzu did not forget to shoot several Wind Bullets towards Orochimaru so as to prevent him from hindering the capture of the four children.

Seeing his snakes killed by Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Monster in a single breath; the four children about to be captured, and several wind bullets coming towards him, at the same time, Orochimaru took a cold breath, but he was unwilling to show weakness and immediately dodged the trajectory of the wind bullets at the same time did not forget to stretch out his own hands to grab the children with the intention of bringing them towards himself.

Kakuzu did the same and he too stretched out his hands to grab a few children with the intention of bringing them towards himself.

For a while, a tug of war between Orochimaru and Kakuzu started, and the four children became helpless sheep being juggled around by the two ferocious beasts.

Knowing full well that the situation can't continue this way, Orochimaru started to specifically target Uchiha Sasuke, so that at least his objective of coming to the refugee is completed.

But because Naruto is worried about Sasuke's safety, so he repeatedly stands in front of Sasuke; as a result, he became Orochimaru's target along with Sasuke.

Seeing Naruto in distress, Hinata who had always been timid suddenly found courage out of nowhere; and unexpectedly stepped forward and used a Gentle Palm Strike to meet Orochimaru's attack in order to protect Naruto.

It's just that Kakuzu's hand was also coming towards Naruto, so Hinata who had suddenly come in between the two was affected and her attack diverted. The attack that was supposed to block Orochimaru's hands from coming towards Naruto blocked Orochimaru's hands from coming towards Sasuke, at the same time, she was also about to be captured by Kakuzu.

And seeing Hinata in distress and about to be captured by Kakuzu, Neji as an elder brother took the charge and interfered, as a result, he came within range of Kakuzu's attack.

And seeing all the other three kids his age summoning up the courage to fight against such dangerous enemies, Sasuke's high self-esteem as a genius Uchiha did not allow him to back down; he gritted his teeth and took action by weaving hand seals of Fire Style Jutsu.

Kakuzu and Orochimaru were initially afraid that high-level moves might result in the collapse of the passage which might result in the death of their targets, so all their actions were very restrained; and within the limits of preventing any accidents.

These limited actions of Orochimaru and Kakuzu allowed the four children to interfere with their intentions; of course; the four children couldn't stop either Kakuzu or Orochimaru but their actions caused small hindrances for the two.

And these small hindrances caused by the four children caused a very big change, as a result, the plans of both Orochimaru and Kakuzu were completely disrupted; or to be more exact, although both Orochimaru and Kakuzu caught two kids each, the children they captured were wrong.

Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Hinata were caught by Orochimaru whose target was Uchiha Sasuke, meanwhile, Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Neji were caught by Kakuzu whose target was actually the blonde-haired kid named Uzumaki Naruto.

Finding that their actual targets have fallen into the hands of the other party, the faces of both Orochimaru and Kakuzu changed; they were embarrassed and thought of exchanging the hostages.

But the sound of incoming footsteps was already very close, and both Orochimaru and Kakuzu understood that Konoha's reinforcements will arrive here in less than 10 seconds.

Whether it is Orochimaru or Kakuzu, both of them know that the battle on the ground is over because of the unexpected intervention of Homusubi of the Amatsukami. So, they also understand that if they keep entangling with each other in this manner, let alone capturing their targets, even the option of safe escape would become impossible.

So, after weighing it a little, both of them sighed in helplessness and decided to retreat with the kids they have in their hands.

Orochimaru who had captured Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Hinata disappeared into a poof of white smoke, while Kakuzu who had captured Uchiha Sasuke, and Hyuga Neji sank under the ground, as a result disappearing from the underground passage.

And just as both of them left, the reinforcements led by Sarutobi Asuma and Might Guy arrived.

Finding several corpses lying on the ground, and finding no enemy in the vicinity; Asuma quickly deployed the subordinates to perform a carpet search to check the presence of the enemy, and ordered the medical class to help treat the injured ones, meanwhile, he, himself came towards the injured, but conscious Shizune and quickly asked, "What's the matter? I heard your shout… who was the enemy, and where is he?"

Shizune who has witnessed everything; but couldn't do anything sighed; and explained, "The enemies were Orochimaru and Kakuzu of the Akatsuki organization. They not only managed to kidnap Uzumaki Naruto but also took away the second child of the Patriarch of the Uchiha Clan, along with the heiress of the Hyuga Clan, and another child from the Hyuga Clan…!"

Asuma and Guy's expressions changed as soon as the two realized the severity of the situation; then regardless of their injuries, both of them took three subordinates each and immediately chased in two directions.

As for whether they can bring back the four children? Shizune didn't really think it was possible…

Shizune knows that Orochimaru used the Reverse Summoning Jutsu to retreat, finding him is next to impossible for anyone, other than probably Anko, whose life and death are unknown; while Kakuzu who had retreated would definitely meet up with other members of the Akatsuki Organization, so rescuing Sasuke and Neji in the presence of so many Akatsuki members is also impossible.

.

.

Read up to Chapter - 787 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n Page: p-atreon.com/Milta_translations