"Tch, still a little short…"
Shinji rose from the rubble, shaking his head with a hint of dissatisfaction.
The executioner blade looked sharp beyond belief, but that was only an illusion. It could easily slice through ordinary people, yet against opponents with strong defensive abilities, it quickly ran into the awkward situation of being unable to cut.
In the original story, it had broken twice, both tis understandable—once while trying to endure the Tailed Beast Bomb, the second ti when it was smashed directly by the Raikage's punch.
No wonder it was called the "broken blade."
Breaking easily was basically part of its curse.
Even now, though Shinji had transford it into a cursed tool and strengthened it further, its base material hadn't improved much.
In other words, what couldn't be cut before still couldn't be cut, and what was destined to break would still break.
Otherwise, that last slash wouldn't have given Kakuzu the chance to counterattack.
Of course, the "Shadow Strike" was a small-area divine technique, so Shinji couldn't just give up the executioner blade.
He could only consider, perhaps, making an even stronger, sharper weapon—ideally one that could specifically counter curses. But that was just a passing thought. Such a weapon wasn't easy to find, especially one with the potential to evolve into a cursed tool.
Honestly, he still didn't quite understand the exact conditions for that.
Before Shinji could dwell on it further, the irate Kakuzu made his next move.
Apart from the destroyed water-elent heart and the earth-elent heart within his own body, the other three hearts transford into mask monsters and instantly gathered in Kakuzu's remaining left hand!
The mask monsters' mouths glowed with blue light as they activated wind, fire, and lightning chakra.
Seeing this, Shinji didn't dare take chances. He imdiately began moving at high speed, refusing to be locked down by Kakuzu's ultimate attack, while closing the distance toward him.
While ordinary physical attacks couldn't pierce Kakuzu's earth-style defenses, close combat remained one of his weaknesses—at least, compared to his mastery of the five-elent ninjutsu, his hand-to-hand combat was relatively "ordinary."
Shinji's plan was simple: he couldn't let Kakuzu freely transform into a ninjutsu artillery platform and bombard him.
By forcing Kakuzu into the style of combat he was least comfortable with, Shinji could neutralize much of his formidable skills.
Kakuzu raised his arm, his face dark but composed. Although he couldn't lock onto the target yet, he didn't believe his opponent could maintain this high-speed movent indefinitely.
Once Shinji slowed down, that devastating chakra cannon would send him flying!
So Kakuzu simply held back, maintaining his charged state.
Now both of them understood each other's intentions, and the battlefield seed locked in a tense stalemate.
Suddenly, Shinji's steps faltered slightly—but Kakuzu didn't take the bait, keeping his gaze sharp and controlled.
Sure enough, Shinji's pause was a feint. He quickly resud his high-speed movent.
After two more test maneuvers, Kakuzu still didn't budge.
On the fourth pause, Shinji turned his head and charged directly at Kakuzu, seemingly indifferent to the massive chakra concentrated in his hand.
Kakuzu's eyelid twitched. He targeted him imdiately but held back from releasing an attack, wary of a potential feint.
But watching the shrinking distance between them, he realized he couldn't wait any longer.
If he didn't attack now, the one trapped in the passive position would be him!
"Die, kid!"
Earth Grudge Fear · Final Shot!
A near-maximum chakra cannon fired!
Instantly, Shinji's eyes flashed with a terrifying blue light.
The distance was too close, and the speed of the chakra blast was incredible!
Although Shinji had ntally rehearsed this mont, he wasn't entirely confident it would succeed.
With complete control over his body, he leapt sideways at top speed, raised the executioner blade in front of him at a slight angle, and activated Crimson Blood Technique · Blood Crystal Prison for protection…
This sequence of responses was executed almost simultaneously with the release of Kakuzu's ultimate shot.
The next instant, the overwhelming chakra cannon slamd into the executioner blade.
Boom!
Crack…
Thanks to the angle, Shinji was only grazed. The blast threw him across the ground, and the executioner blade split into two.
The Blood Crystal Prison absorbed the brunt of the impact, leaving him with only minor scrapes upon landing.
Shinji barely registered it. As soon as he touched down, he imdiately raised his head.
His reckless charge had a purpose.
Because Kakuzu's line of sight was blocked, he hadn't noticed that Shinji's attack trajectory included not just him, but also Konan!
The devastating chakra cannon shot straight toward the unsuspecting Konan!
Boom!!!
The earth shook violently. A row of battered, tiworn houses was obliterated in an instant.
When the dust settled, the battlefield lay in ruins.
At the center of the explosion hovered a figure with wings, the lower half of her body gone, her face cold and deadly!
If she hadn't transford her body into countless paper fragnts using the Paper Dance Technique, she might not even have been found in one piece.
Konan's face was icy. Anger and frustration filled her heart.
"Kakuzu, I need an explanation."
"I underestimated him. That kid deliberately chose the attack trajectory—it wasn't a coincidence."
Kakuzu's expression darkened. Not just because of Konan's sharp words, but because he'd been outsmarted.
Fortunately, Konan's survival skill had saved her life. Otherwise, even with five hearts, it wouldn't have been enough to withstand that man's attack.
Pain… Pain was probably the second scariest person Kakuzu had ever seen, after the godlike ninja, Hashirama Senju.
And he'd nearly killed the man's closest ally…
"Unforgivable!"
Furious, Kakuzu raised his remaining left arm. The three mask monsters imdiately began charging.
With his massive chakra reserves, he could maintain such powerful ninjutsu consecutively.
Konan glared coldly at him as well…
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