After listening to the monk's introduction, Kakuzu quickly pieced together his identity.
"You were cruelly imprisoned in this dark and suffocating room by the people of Sunagakure, treated as nothing more than a weapon of war. And yet, you're still willing to speak on their behalf?"
The monk, Bunpuku, clasped his hands together and recited a prayer.
"Benefactor, if we can truly treat each other with sincerity, then not just between people, but even between humans and animals, understanding can be achieved."
Hearing this, Kakuzu chuckled coldly. Naive!
"Two Shinobi World Wars haven't taught you anything? Mutual understanding is often nothing more than a delusion," Kakuzu sneered.
Still, he wasn't entirely dismissive. Anyone of note in the shinobi world carried their own convictions, and he had no intention of correcting anyone's perspective. Even so, Bunpuku's words weren't entirely wrong—endless slaughter led nowhere.
"To let the matter between me and Sunagakure end here, two conditions must be met." Kakuzu raised two fingers.
"First, summon Shukaku. Let me fight him. Second, bring me the head of the temple's head monk."
Bunpuku's response to Kakuzu's conditions was clear: impossible.
"Benefactor, releasing Shukaku is no trivial matter. Even if you kill me, I cannot agree."
"Is that so?" Kakuzu's lips curled into a mocking smile.
"Then die."
The instant those words fell, Bunpuku's pupils quivered. Kakuzu's figure vanished and reappeared before him in a flash, his speed almost incomprehensible. Kakuzu's iron-hardened left fist struck like lightning.
"Urgh…"
A sealing ninja fell lifelessly to the ground, his chest punctured clean through by the blow. Sparks of lightning danced across Kakuzu's right hand.
The intertwined streaks of lightning shot from his hand.
Boom!
The ground erupted, dirt and debris scattering in all directions. Several sealing ninjas fell lifelessly to the ground in mere moments.
In the blink of an eye, seven or eight Sunagakure shinobi lay dead before Bunpuku's eyes. Stunned and horrified, Bunpuku realized he couldn't let this massacre continue.
Kakuzu glanced sideways at Bunpuku, who had collapsed to the ground. The monk appeared to have fallen asleep right where he sat.
Ah, so this is how Shukaku gets released.
As Bunpuku drifted into slumber, his body began to undergo drastic changes. Half of his body was enveloped in a yellowish skin streaked with blue patterns. His eye transformed into a golden iris with a black, cross-shaped pupil, resembling a kunai-shuriken hybrid.
"Hehehehehe…"
Shukaku's laugh was as sharp and exaggerated as ever. Beneath the comical exterior, however, lurked a merciless killing machine.
"That old monk always wanted me to explore the hearts of humans, thinking it would rid me of my desire to kill. For that, he planned to seal me away forever. Who would've thought it'd take you to let me out?" Shukaku sneered. "So, stranger, what do you want for your reward? Shall I tear you to pieces, or crush you into dust? Hehehehe…"
Kakuzu responded with a single, powerful kick to Shukaku's half-formed face, sending him flying.
"Stop wasting time. Come out properly and don't make me wait."
"Damn it!!"
Shukaku, knocked sprawling, roared in fury. Rising back to his feet, he quickly began forming hand seals.
"Feigning Sleep Technique!"
Shukaku's form rapidly expanded, consuming Bunpuku's body entirely. Ten meters. Twenty meters. Thirty meters… Shukaku's height soon reached fifty meters, towering over the surrounding structures.
At the very center of Shukaku's massive head, Bunpuku remained unconscious. Kakuzu knew the monk's sleep was temporary—once he woke, Shukaku would be sealed again. That was the nature of the Feigning Sleep Technique: a temporary release of the tailed beast's full form.
Shukaku's power, however, depended on the host's physical endurance. When Shukaku fought Naruto, Gaara was still a child, and the Feigning Sleep Technique didn't even allow for a Tailed Beast Bomb. But Bunpuku was an adult, his body fully capable of withstanding the strain. Judging by Shukaku's towering form, his current power was likely at 80% of his full strength.
Drunk on newfound freedom, Shukaku went berserk.
Now fully unleashed, the enormous beast shattered the prison walls with a single swipe of his claws and smashed through the temple's roof with his head.
"Wahoo!!"
Shukaku celebrated his freedom with a triumphant roar before turning his sharp, yellow eyes to Kakuzu—the man who had kicked him earlier.
High above, the surviving Sunagakure ninjas and Sakumo Hatake stood ready, their retreat leaving Kakuzu as the only one facing Shukaku directly.
"Hehehehe… A puny human like you dared to disrespect me? Today, I'll make sure you don't even have a grave!"
"Hmph."
Kakuzu chuckled dryly, not even bothering to feign interest.
"'Puny human'? 'No grave'? Did you say the same thing to Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama back in the day?"
"What!?"
Shukaku's smug expression faltered. Memories long buried resurfaced, and his fury only grew.
This human dared to bring up his most humiliating moments! Back then, Senju Hashirama had crushed him with a single wooden hand, leaving him utterly defeated.
Shukaku roared in rage, his immense chakra flaring violently.
Kakuzu now dared to say such a thing.
"How dare you!!!" Shukaku's sharp voice roared, filled with fury. "You bastard! I'm going to kill you myself! That way, no one will ever find out!!!"
Fueled by rage, Shukaku clasped his massive hands together, performing a series of seals.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Countless sand projectiles, each as sharp and lethal as bullets, hurtled toward Kakuzu at incredible speed.
Kakuzu didn't dodge, nor did he attempt to evade. Instead, his body darkened as he activated his Earth Release: Earth Spear technique. Crossing his arms in front of him, he braced himself against the onslaught.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of impacts rang out like a symphony of explosions. Smoke and dust erupted, blanketing the area in a thick cloud that obscured everything.
With a casual wave of his hand, Shukaku summoned a small Wind Release technique, effortlessly dispersing the dust and revealing the scene beneath.
He wanted to see Kakuzu lying on the ground, riddled with holes like a sieve.
But to his mild disappointment, Kakuzu remained standing tall.
It was clear that Kakuzu's defense had withstood the attack. It wasn't enough to bring him down. But simply enduring wasn't enough to truly triumph.
Shukaku almost wanted to point a finger at Kakuzu and mock him. After all, Kakuzu's supposedly hardened body, enhanced by the Earth Release: Earth Spear, wasn't entirely unscathed.
The attack had cracked through the blackened armor of his technique. Even the arms he had raised to shield himself were riddled with countless tiny holes from the sand projectiles.
A faint, stinging pain gnawed at Kakuzu's nerves, an irritation he couldn't entirely ignore. Slowly, he lifted his head, his gaze meeting Shukaku's.
He remembered what he had once said to Kakashi in the original story:
"As long as I harden my body, no physical attack can harm me."
Now, Kakuzu couldn't help but admit that his original claim had been pure bravado.
A defense immune to all physical attacks? That would be the definition of an absolute defense. But in the shinobi world, even those who boasted absolute defenses—Gaara's sand or the Hyuga clan's Rotation, for example—had been proven wrong time and again.
Perhaps the truth was this: there was no such thing as absolute defense, only relative defense. If your opponent couldn't break your defense, then, to them, it was absolute.
But no defense was truly invincible.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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