Chapter 098: So Powerful It Inspires Despair

He could not keep fighting like this any longer.

Kakuzu was terrified out of his wits now. One thought filled his mind and nothing else: get away, and get away from this dreadful place as fast as possible.

This brat was simply too strange, too unnatural.

If this dragged on, he would truly lose his life here.

Back when he had faced the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and that earth-shaking Wood Release that had once dominated the shinobi world, he had not been this frightened.

After all, no matter how powerful Hashirama Senju was, he still fought in a way that belonged to a ninja.

His strength was the kind Kakuzu could at least comprehend. In other words, although Hashirama was monstrously strong, beyond anything human, Kakuzu could still make sense of his style through his wealth of battle experience and life experience, and even predict his patterns of action.

But this brat before him was entirely different.

The weapon in his hands did not seem to be a conventional ninja tool, yet it possessed power far more fearsome than any ninja tool.

He looked like a reckless brute who fought only with tools and taijutsu, but in truth he also wielded mysterious and profound ninjutsu.

Kakuzu had, of course, heard of the famed Flying Thunder God Technique.

He could not even begin to imagine just how terrifying this jinchuriki brat would become with such an aggressive, audacious use of Flying Thunder God, combined with those immensely powerful tools and that superb taijutsu.

What was more, up to this point the boy had not even unleashed the full power of a jinchuriki, nor had he used the tailed-beast cloak.

Kakuzu did not even dare guess whether the other still concealed some even more dreadful ninjutsu.

He had no way of predicting what this brat would do next.

A single moment of carelessness, and he might truly be beaten to death here.

This jinchuriki was likely the strongest he had ever seen in his life.

"Damn it, Kakuzu! Move! Use your brain!" Inside, he let out an enraged roar as he watched Naruto close in step by step.

"Act! Think of a way out of this battlefield!"

His bloodshot eyes darted around in panic, desperately searching for even the slightest chance of survival in this perilous situation.

Then, all at once, his gaze locked onto Hinata in the distance, and his eyes lit up.

Until now Naruto had been standing between him and Hinata, but the moment Naruto used the Flying Thunder God Technique to appear behind him, the situation reversed in an instant. Now it was Kakuzu who stood between Naruto and Hinata.

"This is it!" Kakuzu rejoiced inwardly.

Without hesitation, he formed seals at high speed with both hands and hurled a large-scale ninjutsu at Hinata.

At this point, he no longer dared to hope for capturing Naruto, that troublesome jinchuriki, or for seizing Hinata to complete the mission.

The only thing he could do now was strike at where Naruto had to defend, drawing his attention away and buying himself a sliver of hope for escape.

Yet while he focused entirely on unleashing his ninjutsu, he failed to notice the mocking expression on Naruto's face.

As water and fire merged together into a terrifying force wrapped in scorching steam and surged violently toward Hinata, a silhouette suddenly appeared in front of her without warning.

The next instant, a massive shield glowing with a violet-blue light materialized abruptly before Hinata, like a towering fortress wall, and firmly blocked the lethal strike.

When the glow of the shield gradually faded, Kakuzu finally saw the figure standing in front of Hinata. At that moment, he felt as though ice water had been injected into his veins, and the blood in his whole body turned to frost.

It was Sasuke, staring coldly at him with his strange and profound Mangekyo Sharingan wide open.

Sasuke had appeared before Hinata with no warning and no trace precisely because he had activated the power of the Divine Suspension Sword, freezing time for that instant.

As for that enormous shield, Kakuzu recognized it at a glance without any explanation from Sasuke.

It was Susanoo, the formidable ninjutsu granted by the Mangekyo Sharingan.

The dreadful scene of the arrogant Uchiha Madara using this technique immediately surfaced in Kakuzu's mind.

"What the hell kind of place is this Leaf Village? Why are these brats each one more monstrous than the last?"

Kakuzu cried out in despair within his heart.

"Still worried about other places, are you?" Naruto said as he slowly drew back the bowstring, the arrowhead aimed straight at Kakuzu.

The very instant Kakuzu's failed attack shook his resolve, Naruto seized the opening with uncanny precision. He loosed an arrow at once, and Kakuzu, relying on years of battle instinct, narrowly evaded the deadly shot.

Naruto then discarded the longbow in his hand without hesitation. His body shot forward like a released arrow, cutting a fierce path of wind as he charged Kakuzu head-on.

While sprinting at top speed, he rapidly condensed a blue-glowing Rasengan in his palm and slammed it into Kakuzu's chest with irresistible momentum.

Seeing this, Kakuzu hastily raised an arm to block, panicked and flustered. With a deafening boom, the Rasengan's tremendous force struck like a raging tide, instantly driving him backward again and again.

The ground beneath his feet was gouged into a deep trench, and the dust around him was blasted into the air in a storm.

Naruto naturally would not miss such a chance to press the advantage. His hands moved swiftly through seals, and he split into several shadow clones.

In perfect coordination, the clones each formed Rasengans and attacked Kakuzu from different directions, surrounding him from all sides. Though Kakuzu used every trick he had to resist, under such relentless, wave-like assaults he could only be driven back step by step.

After this thrilling and harrowing battle, Kakuzu's breathing grew ragged. He knew in his heart that success today was no longer possible.

He cast one last unwilling glance at Hinata, then clenched his teeth, resolutely sacrificing two precious hearts to unleash a final desperate strike.

Seizing the brief opening when Naruto's guard faltered, he used every ounce of strength he had left to flee the battlefield in a miserable retreat.

With a blur of motion, he turned and bolted into the forest without looking back.

Within the forest's dark shadows, his figure vanished like a ghost, leaving only the shattered remnants of the battlefield behind.

"Naru-to!" Hinata cried out, her voice trembling with the joy of surviving the ordeal.

Then, like a startled bird, she flung herself into Naruto's arms.

Now that the enemy had finally left, the taut string of nerves that had been stretched to breaking at last slackened. Only then did fear surge up in Hinata's heart like a tide.

Naruto drew her close and gently, rhythmically patted the trembling girl's back, trying to soothe her frightened and uneasy emotions in this way.

He did this rarely, but it was the method he knew best for calming a panicked companion.

"Is it really all right to let that man go like that?" Sasuke asked as he walked over with a furrowed brow, sounding somewhat doubtful.

Naruto waved it off.

"It doesn't matter. Let him go."

He narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "When I fought him hand to hand just now, I quietly planted a spirit-mech tracker on him. Unless he happens to know spirit-mech energy himself, there's no way he'll notice it."

"He may not necessarily lead us straight to the Akatsuki's hideout, but at the very least he can take us to one of his safe houses, or to the client who ordered Hinata's capture."

"And even if we can't find either of those, it won't matter. As long as we can find this man again, we can follow the trail to the intermediary behind the mission and eventually uncover the full scope of their conspiracy."

"At the very least, we need to know why they wanted to abduct Hinata."