Chapter 116 (Patreon)

Staring at the enormous crater blasted into the Earth Release-reinforced ground, Kushina, Roy, and even the Nine-Tails were left speechless.

They had known the technique would be powerful, but none of them had expected anything like this.

“If the same amount of chakra were used, this technique would be even stronger than a Tailed Beast Ball.”

The Nine-Tails bared its teeth as it surveyed the destruction.

When it came to using chakra efficiently, the Tailed Beasts were clearly inferior to humans.

A Tailed Beast Ball could erase an entire shinobi village, making it far more destructive than the crater before them, which was only a few dozen meters deep. However, it also consumed dozens—perhaps even hundreds—of times more chakra than Kushina’s new technique.

“Kushina, until you learn Sage Mode or master Tailed Beast Mode, you’re forbidden from using this technique again.”

Roy’s expression was unusually stern as he supported Kushina’s trembling body. She had been completely drained of strength.

The technique itself had not consumed much of her chakra. Most of it had been spent reinforcing her defenses. Even then, Roy had still been forced to cast Bakudō #81: Dankū to help block the shock wave. Without it, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

After this accident, Roy no longer dared to let Kushina develop new techniques so recklessly. Her Sage Mode training would also have to begin as soon as possible.

Once she mastered it, she would at least be able to launch any techniques she developed in the future from a safe distance, rather than risk being caught in her own attack.

Meanwhile, Chiyuki was progressing rapidly with the secret techniques of Ice Release.

With her chakra control improving by the day, it would have been stranger if her progress had been slow. Although she still lacked actual combat experience, her destructive power was already comparable to that of an average jōnin.

Yakushi Nonō was in a similar position.

The fact that she had been able to learn medical ninjutsu in the first place proved that her chakra control was already superior to that of an average shinobi. As her spiritual energy continued to grow, she also succeeded in mastering many of the advanced medical ninjutsu Tsunade had left behind.

With Kushina’s help, Nonō had even grasped the fundamentals of the Yin Seal. Her next step was to learn the Strength of a Hundred Technique and chakra-enhanced strength, using Tsunade’s abilities as her template.

Speaking of Tsunade, Kushina had written to her several times and invited her to return, only to be refused each time.

Tsunade had originally left Konoha because of the deaths of her younger brother and the man she loved, as well as her disappointment in Hiruzen Sarutobi and the village’s other leaders.

Now that Konoha was flourishing under Kushina’s leadership, Tsunade felt there was even less reason for her to return.

Her repeated refusals left Kushina dejected for quite some time.

With Konoha displaying its strength while extending goodwill to the other villages, the peace should have lasted for a while.

Unfortunately, some people could not bear to see Konoha remain peaceful.

To seize the Hokage’s seat, Danzō had begun laying the groundwork for a grand, carefully staged return.

Even after defecting, he had remained in contact with Orochimaru. Following more than a year of preparation, Danzō had not only transplanted a three-tomoe Sharingan into himself, but had also secretly taken control of Takigakure, a village that possessed a Tailed Beast.

Once everything was in place, he ordered his subordinates to stir up trouble throughout the shinobi world.

His goal was to drag Konoha into another war. Ideally, Kushina would die in battle, leaving the position of Hokage vacant.

Then, with two Tailed Beasts under his control, Danzō would appear at Konoha’s darkest hour, save the village from destruction, and take the Hokage’s seat as a matter of course.

His ambitions were grand.

Reality, however, was far less accommodating.

Danzō had dispatched several subordinates to the Land of Rain, intending to cooperate with Hanzō as he had in the past. Not one of them returned.

Instead, Danzō’s own whereabouts were exposed.

“Fire Style: Searing Migraine!”

Danzō narrowed his single visible eye at the bounty hunter standing before him.

“Water Style: Water Wall!”

His two closest subordinates joined forces to block the incoming sea of flames.

“A missing-nin from Takigakure? You must be Kakuzu.”

After secretly taking control of Takigakure, Danzō had naturally investigated the village’s history. He knew that many years ago, one man had slaughtered Takigakure’s elders and stolen the village’s forbidden technique—Earth Grudge Fear.

Ever since learning about that technique, Danzō had coveted it. He had no intention of turning his own body into a stitched monstrosity, but he could certainly give the technique to his most trusted subordinates.

The only problem was that he had never been able to locate Kakuzu.

Yet now, immediately after his hiding place was exposed, the man who appeared before him was the very person he had been searching for.

“Danzō Shimura. Konoha has placed a bounty of one hundred and thirty million ryō on your head.”

Faced with such a valuable target, Kakuzu could not keep the eagerness from his voice.

“Hmph. You think a mere missing-nin can claim my head?” Danzō sneered. “You will be the one leaving Earth Grudge Fear behind.”

As he spoke, Kakuzu sensed something crawling across his body.

Insects.

“An Aburame?”

Kakuzu’s expression did not change. Without warning, he detached one arm, extending it into the dense forest on a mass of black threads.

Moments later, the hand returned with a man clutched by the throat.

Danzō’s expression remained unchanged from beginning to end, as though the person Kakuzu had dragged out were not one of his own subordinates.

Kakuzu was not surprised. Since he had come to kill Danzō, he had naturally gathered detailed information about the man beforehand.

Apart from himself, Danzō regarded every subordinate as nothing more than a tool—one that could be discarded whenever it ceased to be useful.

However, just as Kakuzu tightened his grip to crush the man’s throat, he sensed that something was wrong.

“An insect clone?”

The Aburame Tatsuma in his grasp suddenly dissolved into a cloud of kikaichū. The insects crawled over Kakuzu’s arm before swarming across his entire body.

“Wind Style: Pressure Damage!”

The violent blast scattered the insects in an instant. Kakuzu prepared to charge straight through Danzō’s defenses, kill him, and collect the bounty—only to discover that his body would not move.

“The Nara Clan’s Shadow Possession...”

Noticing the shadow connected to his own, Kakuzu felt the absurd urge to march straight into Konoha and demand an explanation.

It was absurd enough that Danzō had defected from Konoha. How had he managed to bring shinobi from the village’s secret-technique clans with him? Just what had Konoha been doing?

“You should still have all five hearts,” Danzō said coldly. “Destroy four of them. Leave one intact to keep him alive. That will be enough for us to extract Earth Grudge Fear.”

“Impossible! How do you know so much about Earth Grudge Fear?” Kakuzu’s eyes widened in shock.

Everyone who knew the details of the technique should have died by his hand. Even the current shinobi of Takigakure only knew that Earth Grudge Fear existed. They could not possibly know how it worked.

“There is no reason to explain that to you,” Danzō replied. “You will be dead soon enough.”

But just as several attacks were about to strike the immobilized Kakuzu, a severed arm burst from the ground beneath the Nara shinobi’s feet.

Black threads trailed behind the arm, twisted around a still-beating heart.

The hand snapped around the Nara shinobi’s throat and crushed it with a sudden burst of strength.

The moment the Shadow Possession was released, Kakuzu hardened his body. The incoming attacks struck him head-on, yet failed to leave so much as a scratch.

He hid it underground before the battle even began?

Danzō understood the situation at once. Even he could not help admiring Kakuzu’s caution. The man was indeed a seasoned veteran—one who had survived after being sent to assassinate the First Hokage.

Even so, Danzō remained unconcerned.

Kakuzu was not the only one with a hidden trump card.

“Impossible... When did you—?”

Kakuzu stared at the blade protruding from his chest. He turned his head with great difficulty, unable to understand how anyone had approached without entering his senses.

“I used my insects to interfere with your perception.”

Aburame Tatsuma withdrew his blade and stepped out of the darkness, taking his place in front of Danzō to protect his master.