Although a little surprised, Kakuzu didn't have the time to waste with Sora. He had money to earn.
He immediately spoke. "Since you've heard of my reputation, I'll be merciful enough to let you know why you're about to die!"
As he spoke, the look in Kakuzu's eyes grew greedier, like he was staring at a pile of cash.
"You may still be a child, but your bounty is a full hundred million! That's the same as a Kage from the Five Great Shinobi Villages!"
After finishing, Kakuzu looked at Sora with great interest, wanting to see how he would react to the news.
Just a little kid, knowing he's about to die—he'd probably cry his heart out, right?
But what he didn't expect was Sora's completely unfazed reaction, which instead left him slightly stunned.
"Same as a Kage from the Five Great Villages? That's not bad at all."
Smacking his lips, Sora knew he'd be facing trouble in the future.
The Kage were powerful and famous. No one dared mess with them.
But he was different—a six-year-old kid. In the eyes of people like Kakuzu, he was a juicy target.
Still, he wasn't worried about the immediate danger. He understood Kakuzu's abilities all too well.
Even though he only had Jōnin-level strength, it was enough to drive Kakuzu away.
"You wouldn't leave even if I told you to. Then come at me!"
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
As he spoke, Sora's hands moved in a blur, forming forty-four hand seals with lightning speed.
Suddenly, a water dragon over ten meters long surged forth, its crystal-clear body shimmering with danger.
This move caught Kakuzu completely off guard. He hadn't expected a mere child to possess such powerful strength—and such decisiveness.
This Water Dragon Bullet was beyond Jōnin-level. Either the boy had an immense amount of chakra or his control over the jutsu was extraordinary.
It was just like how the same jutsu looked completely different in the hands of an average ninja compared to someone like Uchiha Madara.
But there was no time to keep thinking about it—because the massive beast was already hurtling toward him mercilessly.
"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
"Earth Style: Earth Wall!"
"Earth Style: Earth Rampart!"
In the blink of an eye, Kakuzu unleashed three defensive jutsu in quick succession. If he had more time, he would've used more.
Rumble...!
At that moment, the water dragon crashed into the Water Formation Wall, shattering it in less than a second.
However, the originally massive dragon had now shrunk significantly, down to about ten meters.
Rumble...!
Without hesitation, the dragon then smashed into the Earth Wall with a fierce blow.
Looking at the wall, Sora curled his lip and muttered, "No dog head? Lame."
The next moment, with a poof, another Sora appeared in the same spot—but this one looked vacant and expressionless.
The real Sora had quietly slipped into the forest nearby.
Seeing the water dragon crash into the Earth Wall and kick up a cloud of dust, Sora confirmed that Kakuzu wouldn't be able to track him.
After breaking through the Earth Wall, the dragon had shrunk further to about five meters. It slammed into the Earth Rampart, making a small crater before finally dissipating.
The Sora standing in place stared blankly ahead, as if wondering whether Kakuzu had already died.
In the next instant, a shadow emerged behind him—countless black tendrils pierced straight into his body.
At the same time, Kakuzu's unpleasant voice rang out. "Hahaha! Kid, you've got decent power, but you lack experience!"
When the smoke cleared, Kakuzu was still standing in place, but one of the four masks on his back was missing.
Just before, while the dust had been swirling, he'd separated the Earth-style mask after using Earth Wall and Earth Rampart.
Silently, he had used that mask to move underground and launch a surprise attack from behind.
But in the next moment, the situation flipped—what had been pierced like a sieve suddenly turned into a puff of smoke and vanished.
Boom...!
The instant the smoke appeared, a massive explosion erupted beneath the Earth mask—a barrage of over a thousand explosive tags went off in rapid succession.
When the explosions subsided, Kakuzu's Earth-style mask was gone.
"Aaah—how dare you destroy one of my hearts! I'll take yours as compensation!"
Furious at being toyed with, Kakuzu trembled with rage.
Each of those hearts had been carefully selected—they weren't trash he could easily replace.
"Tailed Beast Bomb!"
But the next second, his voice was cut off—deep in the forest behind him, a crimson energy sphere streaked toward him.
The moment he saw it, Kakuzu's eyes widened in terror. He'd lived nearly a hundred years—he'd seen this before.
Although not as large as the ones he'd seen before, the small sphere was clearly a Tailed Beast Bomb!
Unfortunately, he no longer had time to weave hand signs. In his panic, the Lightning-style mask dropped from his back and transformed into a bolt of lightning that fled the scene.
Boom...!
Moments later, the Tailed Beast Bomb smashed down hard.
Like a thunderclap in broad daylight, the impact echoed far and wide, leaving behind a crater over ten meters wide and several meters deep.
In this deserted place, who knew how long it would take before anyone discovered this crater?
Over five hundred meters away from the explosion site, a cluster of black threads slowly slithered out of the ground, gradually reshaping into Kakuzu's form.
Once out, he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily as he muttered, "That brat is terrifying... No wonder his bounty is on par with the Kage. He destroyed four of my hearts…"
His face still bore a lingering look of fear as he reached to touch the mask slots on his back.
But now, there were none left.
"I'll have to replenish my hearts as soon as possible. I'm giving up on this bounty for now. Maybe I'll try again later."
With that goal in mind, Kakuzu turned toward the nearest populated area in search of new hearts.
While Kakuzu was still recovering from the shock, the true culprit—Sora—was already far away, heading toward the next city.
He had never expected to kill Kakuzu. Kakuzu was a legitimate Kage-level threat, while he himself was only a Jōnin.
If it hadn't been for the imbalance in intel, he wouldn't have lasted ten minutes against Kakuzu.
The fact that he'd managed to trick him this time was already an incredible feat.
So the moment he launched the Tailed Beast Bomb, he didn't look back—he just ran.
After all, he had no idea whether it would truly hurt Kakuzu. In the original timeline, Kakuzu had even captured a Tailed Beast.
Truthfully, Kakuzu did have ways to survive a Tailed Beast Bomb, but he had underestimated Sora—so he ended up in this sorry state.
But for now, none of that mattered to Sora.
He hummed a tune no one could recognize and skipped along toward the next town.