Grind is My Ninja Way

Screech~~~

A harsh scraping sound rang out.

Seimei's long katana sliced across Kakuzu's throat, leaving a faint white mark.

Seeing this, Seimei frowned slightly and thought to himself, "Too bad!"

He hadn't developed Lightning Release Chakra. Otherwise, with Lightning Release's advantage over Earth Release, it would definitely have a better effect than Wind Release.

As a result, he couldn't even break through the opponent's defense.

Fortunately, maintaining this level of ninjutsu consumed a tremendous amount of Chakra. Even Kakuzu couldn't sustain it indefinitely.

With this in mind, Seimei went all out, wielding the long katana in his hand with great force, launching consecutive attacks on Kakuzu.

For a time, Kakuzu was unable to retaliate and could only passively defend.

Despite this, his expression remained unchanged, only staring at Seimei with his eerie green eyes.

Seeing this, Seimei didn't hold back either. The hypnotic effect of the Sharingan was activated, and Kakuzu's expression couldn't help but become dazed for a moment.

Seimei seized the opportunity and thrust his katana, aiming directly for the opponent's eyes.

Although 'Earth Release: Earth Spear' could make the body as hard as iron, some vulnerable parts of the human body were difficult to defend.

For example, the eyes, even with 'Earth Release: Earth Spear' activated, if they were truly pierced, it would be a one-hit kill.

Sensing the danger, Kakuzu snapped out of his daze. A cold glint flashed, and almost instinctively, he raised his right hand to block in front of him.

Clang~

Seimei's long katana pierced his palm, forcing him to retreat several steps and crash into a tree behind him. Many leaves were shaken off, but he wasn't injured.

At this moment, Kakuzu had already seen the situation clearly. He immediately closed his five fingers, intending to grab Seimei's long katana in his palm.

But Seimei's reaction was incredibly fast!

Almost at the same moment he made his move, Seimei had already withdrawn the long katana and slashed horizontally, aiming straight for his carotid artery.

Even though Kakuzu had the 'Earth Release: Earth Spear' defense and didn't fear the threat of the blade, if this powerful slash landed, it would still cause him pain.

Not only that, but defending against such an attack would also consume more Chakra.

Therefore, to conserve Chakra and reduce pain, he quickly ducked, avoiding Seimei's slash.

However, while he dodged, the tree behind him suffered.

Seimei's long katana was infused with Wind Release Chakra. It could easily pierce through even stone, let alone a tree!

When his blade landed on the trunk, it was like a hot knife through butter. Almost without encountering any resistance, the tree fell.

Crash~

The tree trunk fell, and Seimei quickly retreated, creating distance.

However, unlike him, Kakuzu actually endured the damage, only dodging within a small area and not leaving the area where the tree was falling.

Although this caused him to consume some more Chakra, it also gave him a chance to counterattack.

'Fire Release: Searing Migraine~'

Suddenly, a fierce flame appeared, instantly burning the branches and leaves along its path to ashes, and rushed towards Seimei.

Although Seimei didn't see the opponent forming hand seals at the first moment due to the obstruction of the tree's branches and leaves, he still reacted when the flames rushed towards him.

He swiftly formed the five seals 'Tiger - Snake - Rat - Snake - Tiger' with his hands, and a water wall abruptly appeared, blocking the flames' attack.

That's right, this was the ninjutsu - Water Release: Water Wall!

After more than a week of practice, his 'Water Release: Water Wall' had already improved from lv1 (119/200) to lv3 (294/1000).

That was why he could cast it in time and block Kakuzu's Fire Release attack.

The water wall and the flames met, making a sizzling sound, and a large amount of water vapor rose, making the surroundings misty.

Seimei didn't pay much attention to this.

Such water vapor came and went quickly, and wouldn't affect his Sharingan.

However, he soon realized something was wrong.

It was because even though the flames and the water wall had disappeared, the white mist around them didn't decrease but instead increased, reducing visibility even further.

Seimei carefully sensed it and immediately detected the presence of Water Release Chakra in the mist.

Obviously, Kakuzu had taken the opportunity to cast the ninjutsu - Water Release: Hiding in Mist Technique!

Although in his memories from his past life, the opponent hadn't used this technique, as an old guy who had lived for decades, it wasn't strange for him to have learned such a widely spread ninjutsu.

Perhaps, not just this ninjutsu, but other unknown ninjutsu, he might have learned quite a few.

In that case, playing mind games with him definitely wouldn't work. He had to break the situation with absolute power.

With this thought, Seimei formed hand seals, mobilized a large amount of Chakra, and performed the ninjutsu - Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!

Instantly, the world changed color, and a violent wind tornado appeared, tearing the surrounding mist to shreds in an instant.

When the storm stopped, the surroundings were in a mess.

At the same time, it also became empty.

Seimei's gaze swept around, but he didn't see Kakuzu's figure.

Just then, two hands suddenly emerged from the ground, grabbing at his ankles.

Without any hesitation, Seimei slashed downwards with the long katana in his hand, instantly severing these two arms.

However, the next moment, from the severed arms that flew up, a large number of black tentacles, resembling blood vessels, surged out.

These tentacles waved randomly in the air, seemingly searching for something.

Then, countless black tentacles emerged from the ground, intertwining with those black tentacles in mid-air.

Then, they quickly fused, eventually becoming one.

Even though he was mentally prepared, when Seimei saw this scene, he couldn't help but feel his scalp tingle.

He made a few leaps, intending to distance himself from these tentacles.

However, Kakuzu was relentless. After reattaching his hands, he immediately controlled both palms to grab at him from a distance.

Seimei didn't hesitate and immediately formed hand seals, performing the ninjutsu - Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!

Boom~

A huge fireball appeared and smashed directly towards those two palms.

However, those two palms were unexpectedly agile, making a turn and dodging Seimei's attack.

Seimei retreated again, changing his hand seals mid-way, and performed the ninjutsu - Wind Release: Wind Blade!

Whoosh~

A transparent wind blade flew out, passing through those two palms at an extremely fast speed.

Swoosh~

A sound like tearing cloth rang out.

Those two palms were directly sliced in half by the wind blade.

With the powerful insight of the Sharingan, Seimei could see that at the moment the wind blade approached, they had already made movements to dodge.

But in the end, they were still a step slower than the wind blade.

However, this was also normal.

'Wind Release: Wind Blade' was originally a ninjutsu known for its attack speed, coupled with his Sharingan's prediction, hitting the opponent was not surprising.

However, the subsequent changes in those two palms surprised him.

(End of Chapter)