Battle With Kakuzu (2)

A/N: Double Release (2/2). Flying pig has been fed btw. Our target is to reach 400 powerstones by Sunday for a double release next week Monday. This story's continuation depends on your support—so don't forget to give the story powerstones! New Goal: 400 Powerstones! 

Viewing Goro as a child who wasn't capable of being a threat, Kakuzu sent the lightning mask to take him on and engaged in combat with Asuma.

Hardening his skin once more, Kakuzu aimed a kick at Asuma's head, but Asuma easily blocked the attack and countered with a quick punch. The punch was light and fast, giving Asuma time to deliver a strong uppercut.

The tendrils in Kakuzu's head stretched out, allowing his head to fly up and mitigate the impact of the punch. Like a spring, Kakuzu's head shot back down, slamming into Asuma's nose and breaking it.

"He's restricted my oxygen intake," Asuma thought, guarding against an incoming punch to his torso.

Meanwhile, Goro pretended to struggle with the lightning mask, allowing it to slap him around, but always evading fatal attacks and blocking the minor ones.

Kakuzu, now pushing Asuma back, darted his eyes at the battle between the mask and Goro. "The kid is keeping up well, but not for long," Kakuzu mumbled.

The lightning mask pulled back and charged a lightning beam, ready to fire.

Asuma feared for Goro, but was reminded of his own predicament when Kakuzu landed a side kick to his stomach, sending him crashing into a tree.

The beam the lightning mask had charged up came hurtling toward Goro.

"Goro!" Asuma roared, his heart in his throat.

Beneath his mask, Kakuzu grinned. To him, nothing could give him more joy than money, and in front of him was a multi-million-dollar bounty.

Certain that the boy had died from the attack, Kakuzu didn't bother to look Goro's way—a fatal mistake.

'This is it!'

"Gallant Sphere!" Goro shouted, a large spinning concentration of chakra hovering above his right palm.

Hearing the distorted noise of the Rasengan, Kakuzu jerked his neck back, flinging his head up to see what was above him.

Kakuzu's inhuman reflexes weren't enough to save him from the Rasengan. He could feel the Rasengan incinerate his eyelashes as it smashed into his face, flattening his body. Simultaneously, another clone Goro had created destroyed the lightning mask with a fireball.

"He was able to create a jutsu of that size in an instant... He tricked me..." Kakuzu thought, dying without being able to say his last words.

'And now my strength is somewhat exposed... But it was worth it.'

Goro crouched by Kakuzu's corpse at an angle where Asuma wouldn't be able to see what he was doing and cut off the ear.

[Copy Beginning... Estimated Copy Time: 5 hours.]

'Five hours? That's a big jump. I mean, it's true Kakuzu is someone who wouldn't have trouble with Zabuza, but even so... I wonder how long it'll take for the Hokage...'

Snapping back to reality, Goro ran over to Asuma and sat next to him against the tree. "Sensei, are you o—" Goro's question was cut off by Asuma.

"Goro, who taught you that?" Asuma asked, a tinge of suspicion in his voice.

'I knew he'd ask me this, but I've been labeled a genius, so I get a lot of leeway.'

"I invented it," Goro said, looking Asuma dead in the eyes.

Asuma's expression shifted from serious to relaxed. "You mean to tell me you were able to perform the Rasengan, a Rank A jutsu, without any prior knowledge of it? Are you even a student if you're capable of feats even your master isn't?" Asuma laughed out loud.

Taking on a sincere tone, Asuma continued, "Thanks for saving me. Initially, I believed you wouldn't even amount to a Chunin, but to be so talented at your age, the sky's the limit."

'Ouch. My test scores were really that bad in the past, eh? But isn't that a weird thing to say out loud? Usually, you'd keep that sort of information to yourself—or at least I would.'

Getting up and patting the dust off his pants, Asuma stood and said, "It's time for us to swap shifts with those slackers. I'll be calling for reinforcements and taking the corpse. You make sure to wake up those brats," he added, pulling out a crushed cigarette, lighting it, and flickering away.

Creating a clone, Goro handed over the ear and flickered back to the bandit hideout where he had initially been.

'Now that things are cleared up on my side, I need to cut the ear off the Cloud ninja's corpse and free those hostages.'

Having returned to the site where he had killed the rogue ninja, Goro noticed that the corpse was no longer there. Jumping down from the tree, Goro spotted the grass patch stained with dried blood, but there wasn't a body.

Analyzing his surroundings further, he noticed a trail of dried blood. Following the trail, Goro was led back to the bandit's shed where the hostages had been held. Swinging open the door, Goro was amazed to see that not a single hostage remained.

'What's going on? Where are the hostages? And it seems both corpses have been taken as well... The trail disappears in this shed too. This could only be the work of skilled ninja...'

Fearing being caught, Goro left the site and returned to the hotel.

'Anbu from our village, maybe? I don't know... If they cleaned everything up and freed the hostages, then there's no use getting stuck on it. If ninja from our village handled the scene, I'll eventually find out.'

Knocking on Shikamaru and Choji's room, Goro waited for the door to open. The door creaked and slowly opened, revealing Shikamaru, who was rubbing his eyes.

"Don't tell me our shift has already begun? It feels like we've only slept for two hours," Shikamaru yawned, his eyes barely open.

Scratching his neck, Goro answered, "I mean, you have five minutes left, but other than that, it's time for your shift."

Rubbing his eyes, Shikamaru responded groggily, "What a drag…"

Moving on, Goro knocked on Ino's door but didn't get a response. Figuring she was asleep and couldn't hear him, Goro knocked louder. Still not getting a response, Goro decided to pull out the spare key given to him by Asuma and open the door.

'Oh…'

Ino was in the shower, singing to herself. Not intending to deprive her of her privacy, Goro quickly exited her room and returned to his own.

'They wouldn't believe the things we went through on our shift. It was a huge gain for me, but now the Akatsuki will definitely investigate. Well, after I copy Kakuzu's skills, I won't be an easy target either...'

Reminder: Our target is to reach 400 powerstones by Sunday for a double release next week Monday. This story's continuation depends on your support—so don't forget to give the story powerstones! New Goal: 400 Powerstones!