Grind is My Ninja Way

"A pawn, huh... What a nuisance!" Seimei muttered, extending his right hand and gripping the bounty ninja's neck in front of him. With a slight exertion of force, a "crack" sound was heard.

The bounty ninja's head tilted to the side, and he completely lost his life.

Thump~

Seimei released his hand, letting the corpse fall to the ground, while pondering the information he had just obtained from the ninja's mind.

It turned out that it wasn't that they didn't want to take action against the Takumi Village leader, but rather that they weren't confident in capturing him alive.

Indeed, there was a mission related to him on the black market, but it wasn't to kill him, but to capture him alive.

With the strength of these people, if they cooperated, they would have a chance of killing the Takumi Village leader.

But in that case, they wouldn't receive the bounty.

So, in order not to waste their efforts and to get a share of the reward, they sold this information to the black market.

And according to this person's memory, the black market seemed to have already hired reliable personnel to take over this mission.

However, they didn't know who specifically took the mission.

But, according to the information, the person would arrive no later than tonight.

Previously, these people had mistaken him for the person who took over the mission. It was only after he didn't talk to them that they realized they had made a mistake.

Subsequently, they discovered the fact that the Takumi Village leader had been killed by him, so they hurriedly chased after him.

Of course, this was also deliberately done by him.

Otherwise, with his speed, if he fled at full speed, these people wouldn't be able to catch up at all.

However, now it seemed that he had miscalculated a bit.

There might be someone behind these people, and it was a skilled individual who could capture a ninja of the Takumi Village leader's level alive.

If that was the case, it would be a bit troublesome.

Thinking of the marks left by the other party along the way, Seimei felt a bit of a headache.

Now, he was in a dilemma whether to waste some time erasing these traces or not.

Just as Seimei was entangle about whether to waste some time erasing these traces, an unfamiliar aura suddenly entered his perception range.

"This aura... doesn't seem quite like a living person!"

Seimei murmured, already drawing the long katana in his hand, and stopped to look at the burning forest ahead.

A moment later, a figure passed through the flames and silently arrived in front of him.

The figure was wrapped in a black robe, had a pair of green eyes, wore a mask, and had the Takigakure headband on their head, but with a scratch on it.

With such an aura and attire, even though Seimei had never seen this person before, he recognized them at this moment.

"Kakuzu?"

That's right, the person was none other than Kakuzu, one of the infamous immortal duo from the later Akatsuki organization.

He was originally an elite Jonin from Takigakure, who received a mission from the village's higher-ups to assassinate the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.

Unfortunately, due to his lack of strength, he was easily suppressed and severely injured by Hashirama Senju. In the end, it was only because Hashirama didn't care that he managed to escape with his life.

However, after he went through all the hardships to return to the village, what awaited him was the charge of mission failure and severe punishment.

Unwilling to accept this, Kakuzu directly chose to break out of prison and took away Takigakure's most precious secret technique creation - the Earth Grudge Fear!

The so-called Earth Grudge Fear was actually a kind of black tentacle similar to blood vessels.

It had the characteristics of being alive, not only able to suture flesh but also be used in conjunction with many secret techniques, such as the 'Secret Technique: Heart Extraction'!

By using this technique, Kakuzu could forcibly extract the opponent's heart and Chakra nature, then suture them with his own body, thereby inheriting the target's Chakra nature.

Now, through his Sharingan observation, Seimei could clearly see that there were five Chakra gathering points in the opponent's body, clearly five hearts.

It was precisely by relying on this technique that Kakuzu possessed five Chakra natures and had a Chakra reserve far exceeding that of ordinary people.

And while he was observing the opponent, the opponent was also observing him.

Especially when he called out the opponent's name, the opponent looked even more carefully.

After a moment, Kakuzu said: "You know me?"

Hearing this, Seimei wanted to say: I not only know you, but I also know your past and future life!

Unfortunately, these words definitely couldn't be spoken.

However, what he didn't expect was that the person hired by the black market this time turned out to be him.

As a ninja who had lived from the Warring States Period to the present, Kakuzu had experienced countless battles, and his combat experience was unimaginably rich.

Under such circumstances, in a head-on clash of combat skills, Seimei definitely couldn't win.

However, he wasn't too afraid either.

Not to mention that the opponent's information was already completely understood by him, just the existence of the Mangekyo Sharingan alone gave him enough confidence to face him.

Although he most likely wouldn't use it, 'having a sword but not using it' and 'having no sword to use' were two completely different concepts.

Seeing that Seimei didn't answer his question for a long time, Kakuzu suddenly said: "Ghost Sword Seimei, bounty of seventeen million Ryo."

'You remember that clearly!'

Seimei complained inwardly.

Then he heard Kakuzu continue: "The target of my mission was killed by you, right?"

Without waiting for Seimei to answer, he glanced at the corpse under Seimei's feet and said: "Your strength is not bad. Then use your life to compensate for my loss!"

With that, he instantly appeared in front of Seimei with a 'Body Flicker Technique' and threw a punch.

The opponent's sudden change of face and the speed of his attack caught him off guard.

Fortunately, Seimei had been on guard since the opponent appeared, coupled with the Sharingan's powerful insight, so he reacted in time.

He slightly tilted his head, narrowly avoiding the attack.

Not only that, but he also took the opportunity to counterattack.

Whoosh~

A flash of blade.

Seimei made a diagonal slash, his long katana passing through the opponent's armpit and cutting straight upwards.

If this hit landed, with the sharpness of the Kusanagi Sword, it could at least take one of the opponent's arms.

However, at the critical moment, Kakuzu retracted his fist, his hands formed seals, and he performed the B-rank ninjutsu - Earth Release: Earth Spear!

Instantly, his entire skin turned black, its hardness comparable to diamond.

Clang~

Seimei's long katana struck his body, producing a crisp sound of metal clashing.

Kakuzu remained expressionless throughout, his right arm fiercely clamping down, attempting to trap Seimei's long katana.

At the same time, his left fist swung out, aiming straight for Seimei's face.

However, Seimei's reaction was not to be underestimated. Almost the moment Kakuzu made his move, he withdrew his long katana and took a step back.

Boom~

Kakuzu's powerful punch missed. Seimei didn't hesitate and immediately swung his long katana, slashing towards the opponent's neck.

To enhance its lethality, he also infused Wind Release Chakra into the katana, coating the blade with a thin layer of wind blades.

(End of Chapter)