Yugito stared in utter astonishment at Kakuzu as he dragged himself back up from the ground.
"Impossible! You..." Yugito stammered, her voice laced with disbelief.
The tactile sensation from her attack moments ago had been clear and unmistakable. She had definitively landed a true blow. It wasn't a Substitution Jutsu, nor was it an illusion; she had indisputably ripped his torso wide open.
Why isn't this guy dead?
Then, right before Yugito's bewildered eyes, a dense mass of Earth Grudge Fear black threads sprouted from Kakuzu's raw wounds, rapidly weaving and stitching the flesh back together. Kakuzu rolled his neck with a dull pop, acting as though it were nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
"Are youngsters these days always so terribly ill-mannered?" Kakuzu muttered, brushing dust off his shredded garments. "If it weren't for the fact that I possess an immortal body, I might have actually been killed just now."
"An immortal body?!" Yugito's expression shifted, her gaze narrowing.
Had the man made such a claim before they clashed, she would have dismissed it as empty, arrogant boasting. But now, having witnessed him sustain a wound that should have been universally fatal, only to stand completely intact with barely a scratch to show for it, Yugito felt a profound chill of shock settle over her.
"You really are a freak," Jūzō remarked, casting a sidelong glance at Kakuzu.
"You ungrateful bastard, what did you just say?" Kakuzu snapped, glaring viciously at Jūzō. "This old man literally just saved your life!"
"Like I needed saving? You underestimate me way too much, old man," Jūzō countered without a shred of courtesy.
It was true. Kakuzu's sudden kick had ostensibly kept Jūzō from being ripped apart, but given a shinobi of Jūzō's caliber, it was highly improbable that he would be instantly taken down in a single blow. Everyone who made it this far had a few trump cards up their sleeve.
"You unappreciative brat!" Kakuzu's temper flared instantly. A tangle of Earth Grudge Fear threads erupted from the seams of his wrists, lashing out violently toward Jūzō.
Jūzō was just as stubborn. Without wasting words, he swung the Executioner's Blade with a heavy grunt, cleanly severing Kakuzu's black threads in mid-air. Within a fraction of a second, the two partners began clashing, their weapons clanging furiously against one another.
On the other side of the plaza, Yugito stood completely dumbfounded.
What kind of absurd circus is this?
Rumors across the shinobi world claimed that the operatives of the Yorozuya were unhinged, volatile madmen. She had never given those stories much credit before, assuming it was merely propaganda meant to demonize them. After all, the Yorozuya had operated at the absolute apex of the underground for years without being eradicated, which proved they possessed elite competence, how could they possibly be lunatics?
But right now, she had to admit the rumors were entirely accurate. These people were absolute psychopaths.
She had recognized their individual identities by now: the legendary mercenary duo that had terrorized the nations for years, the mysterious Kakuzu and the former rogue Mist ninja of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Biwa Jūzō! These two were exceptionally powerful, possessing a rap sheet so bloody it defied count. Their infamous creed was simple: Provide a sufficient bounty, and we will slaughter a god for you.
She had naturally assumed they were a highly synchronized team built on flawless tactical intuition and deep fraternal bonds. Yet here they were, in the presence of an apex enemy, casually trying to murder each other.
What kind of tactical play is this? Are you two literally mocking me?!
However, in the exact microsecond Yugito hesitated, a sharp, calculating gleam flashed simultaneously through the eyes of both Kakuzu and Jūzō. As their weapons locked in mid-air, their free hands snapped together.
This time, they weren't pitting their strength against one another. Instead, they executed a highly unorthodox maneuver.
A tandem hand sign!
Using only one hand each, Kakuzu's left and Jūzō's right, their fingers blurred with blistering speed, executing a shared sequence of hand signs in absolute secrecy. Because it was performed within the blind spot of their weapon lock, Yugito failed to perceive the deception entirely.
The moment the final sign locked into place, the two men whipped around in perfect synchronization. Opening their mouths simultaneously, they unleashed a catastrophic torrent of fire directly at Yugito.
"Fire Release: Twin Dragon Fire Technique!" Kakuzu and Jūzō roared in unison.
Two massive fire dragons erupted from their maws, surging from the left and right to completely seal off Yugito's avenues of escape.
This was precisely why they had engaged in such theatrical, deceptive infighting. First, it provided total concealment; no ordinary observer would suspect a tandem hand sign during a lethal brawl. Second, a singular synchronized sign allowed both operatives to manifest independent techniques simultaneously, doubling the destructive payload while perfectly pocketing the target.
By the time Yugito realized the deception, the twin torrents of draconic flame were already crashing into her face!
"Bastards!!!" Yugito snarled.
It was a failure born of her youth and lack of raw battlefield experience. Kakuzu and Jūzō had engineered this play specifically targeting that vulnerability; had they been facing a veteran like the Fourth Raikage, they would never have attempted such an obvious ruse. A battle-hardened warrior wouldn't care about internal dissent, nor would they let astonishment freeze their focus.
Having successfully sprung their trap, Kakuzu and Jūzō ceased their assault instantly. Without an ounce of hesitation or any intention to press their advantage, they broke into a dead sprint, tearing directly through Kumogakure's shattered main gates.
Engage Nii Yugito?
Our objective isn't the Tailed Beast. Why the hell would we care about her?
Trading blows with Yugito within the perimeter of the Cloud was the height of tactical idiocy. It wasn't a matter of fearing her strength, neither Kakuzu nor Jūzō harbored an ounce of fear toward her. But despite Jūzō's usual reckless demeanor, both men understood that a prolonged engagement here was a losing proposition. Time was Yugito's greatest ally. Their earlier combination of wind, oil, and fire hadn't eradicated the gate guards; it had merely thrown them into temporary disarray.
This was Kumogakure's home turf. If they allowed Yugito to pin them down, the next arrival would undoubtedly be the Raikage himself, or worse, the Raikage alongside his perfect tag-team partner. If that happened, escape would become a literal impossibility.
As for trying to coordinate a flawless, instant assassination on Yugito? Neither Kakuzu nor Jūzō even entertained the thought. While they didn't fear her, she was a Perfect Jinchūriki; taking her down wasn't something that could be achieved in a handful of seconds.
Therefore, the moment their strike landed, the two mercenaries chose the most logical option: they ran.
A violent eruption of Tailed Beast chakra burst from the center of the inferno, solidifying into a dense, protective cloak of raw energy. Immediately after, the roaring twin streams of fire slammed directly into Yugito from both sides.
However, the explosive combustion failed to inflict any meaningful damage upon her. Kakuzu and Jūzō were unaware of a fundamental aspect of her power—Matatabi, the Two-Tails, was a spectacular beast of pure, spiritual fire!
A shadow ripped out from the heart of the flames, shrouded in ghostly, spectral blue blaze. Yugito's physical appearance had warped drastically into a terrifying form.
Version 1 Tailed Beast Mode!
Enveloped in a dense, boiling shroud of crimson and blue chakra, she looked like an apex predator.
"Don't you dare run!" Yugito hissed, giving chase instantly.
Her velocity was astronomical. Suffused with the primal might of the Two-Tails, her raw speed within the Cloud domain was surpassed only by the Fourth Raikage himself.
And what tier of speed did the Fourth Raikage command?
He was one of the exceptional few capable of physically contesting the Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato. Though Minato utilized the Flying Raijin Technique, a literal space-time teleportation jutsu, the Raikage utilized his Lightning Release technique to match that instantaneous displacement through sheer, unadulterated physical reflex. While Minato remained marginally faster, the Raikage's speed was nothing short of monstrous.
For Yugito to be ranked second only to him gave a clear indication of her terrifying acceleration.
Fortunately, both Kakuzu and Jūzō had trained in their respective variations of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode for several years now, allowing them to maintain a blistering pace. Yet despite their efforts, the distance between them and their pursuer was steadily evaporating.
"Dammit, is this woman completely unhinged?!" Jūzō cursed loudly as they ran. "Kumogakure is literally burning to the ground behind her, and instead of managing the crisis, she's chasing us down like a maniac!"
"Our presence makes us the primary perpetrators," Kakuzu replied, his voice deadpan as he kept his eyes locked on the horizon. "Naturally, she wants our heads."
"Hey, this isn't sustainable. She's going to catch up to us at this rate," Jūzō stated flatly. "You possess an immortal body anyway. Why don't you stay behind and cover our tracks while I press forward?"
"Idiot! What does my immortality have to do with this?" Kakuzu fired back with a snarl. "If someone needs to anchor the rear, you do it! I'll make sure to burn some ceremonial paper money for your soul once I cross the border!"
"You bastard! Do you harbor a single shred of comradery?!" Jūzō bellowed.
"Do you?!" Kakuzu countered sharply.
"You bet your ass I do!" Jūzō roared.
The moment the words left his mouth, his hands blurred into a rapid sequence of hand signs.
"Keep moving. This old bastard is anchoring the line. Dammit... thanks for looking out for me all these years!" Jūzō's eyes burned with a flash of absolute resolve.
If they allowed Yugito to pursue them like this, even without a direct engagement, being constantly tracked was a fatal hazard. It meant that as long as they remained within the borders of the Land of Lightning, they would inevitably face fresh blockades and ambush forces. The secondary pursuit squads would easily follow the massive trail of Tailed Beast chakra Yugito was leaving behind.
Given enough time, neither of them would escape.
Would Yugito fail to leave a tracking trail? It was impossible. Unless she was a complete fool, she would actively mark their coordinates for the main village forces.
Therefore, they had to break her line of sight, sever her tracking vector, and find a window to drop off the grid entirely, blending into the vast geography of the Land of Lightning until the heat died down.
The instant Jūzō finished speaking, his heels dug into the earth, arresting his forward momentum. Pivoting smoothly, he whipped around to face the oncoming blue blaze of the Two-Tails Jinchūriki. His hand signs locked into place on the final crest, and he roared:
"Water Release: Super Exploding Water Shockwave!"
A massive, terraforming volume of water erupted from his maw, instantly materializing into a vast, deep lake that submerged several hundred meters of the surrounding terrain under a crushing current.
Even with her Tailed Beast cloak, Yugito was caught off guard by the sheer volume of the sudden deluge, forced to kill her momentum to avoid being swept away by the crushing hydraulic force.
Jūzō slid smoothly across the churning water surface, lowering his center of gravity. He reached back, gripping the hilt of the Executioner's Blade as his eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
He was truly throwing his life on the line to anchor the rear.
Jūzō was a complex man. The fundamental reason he had abandoned Kirigakure in the first place was simple: the environment of the Village of the Bloody Mist disgusted him. A culture that viewed comrades as completely disposable assets, routinely ordering shinobi to execute their own partners, was entirely antithetical to his nature. At his core, Jūzō was a man of intense passion, deeply bound by honor and loyalty. After enduring that suffocating environment for too long alongside the internal backstabbing of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, he chose defection.
Upon joining the Yorozuya, he had found a strange sense of liberation. While his partnership with Kakuzu had begun with mutual animosity, the years spent surviving side-by-side had forged a profound, unspoken bond between them.
Faced with a scenario where one must stay behind to guarantee the other's survival, Jūzō chose to be the shield without a single heartbeat of hesitation. He was entirely at peace with the choice; this was his definition of loyalty.
It was the exact same core trait that, in another timeline, would drive him to step directly into the path of a Tailed Beast Bomb to shield Itachi from the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, wielding nothing but a shattered Executioner's Blade, dying without a single regret.
In truth, the moment Kakuzu had instinctively barked back with "Do you?!", regret had already pierced his chest. Because he knew, better than anyone, that Jūzō absolutely did.
Kakuzu was a creature driven entirely by cold, fiscal pragmatism. Before his partnership with Jūzō, every single shinobi assigned to team up with him, save for Diarmuid, whose overwhelming power made him impossible to kill, had been systematically murdered by Kakuzu himself whenever they tested his patience. That was his standard operating procedure.
Logically, with Jūzō offering to sacrifice himself to hold the line, Kakuzu should have taken the opportunity to flee. The scroll containing the Heavenly Transfer Technique was securely in his possession. The mission was accomplished; there was no reason to look back.
And yet...
A look of deep, helpless irritation crossed Kakuzu's features. His sprinting form ground to a violent halt. He whipped around, cursing at the top of his lungs:
"Get the hell out of here, you brainless ape! You don't possess the qualifications to anchor a line for me!"
As his roar echoed, a scroll flew from his hand, slicing through the air toward Jūzō.
Jūzō's reflexes kicked in, his hand snapping out to catch the object. It was the scroll of the Heavenly Transfer Technique.
"Are you certain about this?" Jūzō asked flatly, his eyes locking onto his partner.
"This old man possesses an immortal body, you idiot. Go!" Kakuzu growled.
A small, genuine smile finally broke across Jūzō's face. "Don't you dare die out here."
Without another word, Jūzō spun on his heel and sprinted into the distance, his departure completely clean and efficient.
Had Kakuzu not understood the depths of Jūzō's character so perfectly, he might have suspected that the swordsman had just played him for a fool.