Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 237: Stalemate

Kakuzu moved quickly. Seizing the opportunity when the large amount of steam generated by the collision of Fire and Water Release obscured their vision, he immediately rushed forward, attempting to get close to Ishiro.

Kakuzu had also analyzed Ishiro's intelligence before coming and knew that Ishiro was a long-range ninjutsu-output-type ninja, with close combat being his weakness.

Although Kakuzu himself could also be considered a long-range ninja, his close-combat strength was not weak, at least not as specialized as Ishiro's.

As Kakuzu approached, he extended his hand towards Ishiro's original position, and then a fist connected to a dozen black tendrils shot directly towards Ishiro.

Earth Grudge Fear was indeed a marvelous thing. This method of instantaneous long-range attack was no worse than an instant-cast ninjutsu.

However, Ishiro also had some understanding of Earth Grudge Fear, so he took countermeasures the moment his vision was blocked.

Using the same Porcelain Release that required no hand seals, he quickly gathered a defensive line of mud in front of himself.

Mud was not known for its defense, so it did not block Kakuzu's punch. Kakuzu's fist had been hardened with Earth Release, and it effortlessly pierced through the mud defensive line.

However, by this time, Ishiro's main body and his clone had long since left their original positions, while his three disciples had moved far away from the battlefield the moment Ishiro launched his ninjutsu.

To prevent any accidents from happening to his three disciples, Ishiro had also created an Earth Clone to watch over them.

The fist connected to the Earth Grudge Fear easily penetrated the mud, but unexpectedly, this was precisely Ishiro's goal. While Kakuzu's fist was still stationary, a large amount of mud immediately wrapped around the Earth Grudge Fear tendrils.

At the same time, at the feet of Kakuzu's main body, the kunai that had been blocked by the Earth Grudge Fear earlier all turned back into mud and once again entangled Kakuzu.

Kakuzu hadn't expected that Ishiro's kunai rain could be reused after being blocked. In a moment of carelessness, he entered the mud's encirclement.

This was the advantage of Ishiro having protected his own intelligence relatively well. If Kakuzu had known more about Porcelain Release, he certainly wouldn't have run headfirst into this not-so-small trap like this.

However, Kakuzu was no pushover. Seeing that it was too late to cast a ninjutsu, he immediately released a large amount of Earth Grudge Fear tendrils again, forming a dynamic defensive line outside his body, directly blocking the mud.

At the same time, the fist that was attacking Ishiro also retracted.

However, because his vision was obstructed and his attention was drawn to the large amount of mud around him, Kakuzu didn't notice that the retracting fist still had a lot of mud attached to it.

By the time Kakuzu realized something was wrong, it was too late. The moment this portion of mud returned to his main body with his hand, it shot up his arm and into his torso.

Although he didn't understand what this mud would do, Kakuzu knew he couldn't just let it run rampant and do nothing.

Thus, Kakuzu formed a large amount of Earth Grudge Fear tendrils inside his body. These tendrils, carrying the mud, directly penetrated Kakuzu's skin and came out of his body.

Faced with this self-harming countermeasure, the mud had nowhere to hide and was completely expelled from his body by Kakuzu.

However, just as he expelled the mud and was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Kakuzu suddenly looked up towards the front. Judging by his eyes, Kakuzu seemed to have sensed danger.

Just as Kakuzu was about to make a move, a thick rock spear pierced through the Earth Grudge Fear's defense and accurately stabbed into his heart.

"Impossible!?" Kakuzu let out a cry of pain. But at this moment, no matter how hard it was to believe, it was too late. Kakuzu instinctively controlled the Earth Grudge Fear to quickly replace a heart.

At this time, several dozen meters directly in front of Kakuzu, on the other side of a mass of Earth Grudge Fear tendrils and a large amount of mud, Ishiro's main body finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Of course, all of this had been calculated by Ishiro from the very beginning. Ishiro took advantage of the fact that Kakuzu's vision was blocked while he himself had the S-rank ninjutsu, Mind's Eye, to execute a tactic similar to exploiting an information gap.

And the biggest calculation in this series of operations by Ishiro was the mud that entered Kakuzu's body.

In fact, with Ishiro's development of the porcelain mud, for Kakuzu who possessed an immortal body, the small amount of mud that entered his body was fundamentally ineffective. Moreover, with a large amount of Earth Grudge Fear in the way, Ishiro's control over this mud was greatly reduced.

But Kakuzu didn't know this. To expel this mud from his body, not only did Kakuzu divert a large amount of his attention, failing to notice that Ishiro was preparing a powerful offensive move, but he also dispelled the Earth Release: Hardening technique on his main body.

It was precisely at that instant when Kakuzu's hardening technique dissipated that Ishiro launched his attack.

The move Ishiro attacked with was still Porcelain Release, but it was cast by his main body. Because at this time, with vision obstructed, only the main body's Mind's Eye could accurately locate Kakuzu's heart.

The Porcelain Release condensed by Ishiro's main body, plus the acceleration from the still-immature S-rank ninjutsu Shinra Tensei, resulted in this rock spear directly penetrating the Earth Grudge Fear's obstruction and finally accurately hitting Kakuzu's earth-element heart.

Kakuzu's long-range attacks had the coordination of multiple elements, which was a headache for Ishiro. But what made Ishiro most vigilant was the earth-element heart that had been taken out by Kakashi's sneak attack at the very beginning of the original story.

Because as a fellow long-range ninja, Ishiro knew that a ninja who could use a hardening technique very skillfully didn't even need to use other defensive ninjutsu against many attacks.

If he couldn't break this earth-element heart first, Ishiro would have to face a Kage-level with no weaknesses in either close or long-range combat. In that case, Ishiro would have to consider retreating right now.

Now it was good. With Kakuzu's earth-element heart gone, Ishiro could go all out.

It's a long story, but after one of Kakuzu's hearts was destroyed, neither side was idle. Kakuzu rapidly completed the heart replacement, while Ishiro launched a new round of attacks.

"Earth Release: Mountain Earth Jutsu." This was the first time this A-rank Earth Release ninjutsu, which Ishiro had yearned for in his early days, was used in actual combat.

In fact, Ishiro had only learned this ninjutsu not long ago, and it still had as many as 32 hand seals. Under normal circumstances, there would be no opportunity to use it.

But the current situation was different. To prevent Ishiro's mud from getting close, Kakuzu had surrounded himself with Earth Grudge Fear. Now, not only was Kakuzu's vision obstructed, but he also spent some time replacing his heart and adjusting his tactics. This was what allowed Ishiro to successfully cast it.

Although the Mountain Earth Jutsu was slow to cast, it was indeed suitable for use at this time.

Ishiro didn't know if Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear Wild Dance could be considered an absolute defense, but in any case, Ishiro had no good way to break through it. He had just landed a single-target attack by taking advantage of Kakuzu's distraction. Now, wanting to repeat that result was impossible. Through his Mind's Eye, Ishiro noticed that Kakuzu was now prepared to dodge within the Earth Grudge Fear at any time.

It was just that Kakuzu hadn't expected that after Ishiro had just landed a heavy blow, he didn't come forward to check the results but instead directly charged up a big move, as if he had known all along that he wouldn't die even if his heart was pierced.

Soon, two hemispherical earth masses, each with a diameter of about twenty meters, rose rapidly from both sides of Kakuzu, in a posture that looked like they were about to crush him into a meat patty.

Kakuzu had just reduced the density of his Earth Grudge Fear because he had discovered that Ishiro seemed to have a special means to judge the enemy's situation without relying on his eyes, while he himself needed to observe through the gaps in the Earth Grudge Fear.

As a result, he happened to see the two hemispherical earth masses rising from both sides.

This was no small shock. Kakuzu no longer cared about the mud still rushing in from the periphery of the Earth Grudge Fear. He jumped directly, and at the same time, a large number of Earth Grudge Fear tendrils, like pipes, propped him up.

In the end, by a hair's breadth, Kakuzu dodged the attack of the Mountain Earth Jutsu. Only a large number of Earth Grudge Fear tendrils were caught by it.

Ishiro would not let Kakuzu adjust his tactics. Before Kakuzu could stabilize his figure, the Mud Clone had already formed a large amount of mud again and was rushing towards him.

But at this time, Kakuzu's mentality had changed. He already understood that his initial tactics had put him at a disadvantage. He clearly had his masked beasts but didn't use them, instead being harassed into a sorry state by Ishiro's single clone. If his attention hadn't been drawn by the mud created by Ishiro's clone, how would he have lost a heart?

Having come to his senses, Kakuzu, while creating distance from the mud, separated his remaining four hearts. Apart from one water-element heart that remained in his body, the other three hearts left Kakuzu's main body. Kakuzu was creating a four-on-two situation.

Seeing this, Ishiro smiled faintly. This was the moment he had been waiting for. Ishiro abandoned Kakuzu's main body and rushed directly towards one of the masked beasts.

The Mud Clone synchronized with Ishiro, also quickly shifting its target, focusing its attack on that masked beast.

Because Kakuzu wanted to occupy an advantageous attack position, the three masked beasts were some distance from the main body after separating. Among them, the fire and wind element masked beasts might have been preparing to use a combination ninjutsu, so they didn't separate, but the lightning-element masked beast was left alone.

The masked beasts were not lacking in agility. With Kakashi's strength, he couldn't handle them for a while. Ishiro naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to think he could take one down with taijutsu.

But Ishiro also had a unique skill. The Mud Clone controlled a large number of kunai to rain down on the lone lightning-element masked beast, while Ishiro's main body used the Light/Heavy Rock Jutsu to fly straight towards this beast, attempting to close the distance between them.

Seeing this, Kakuzu instinctively felt something was wrong. He didn't understand what Ishiro was trying to do. The intelligence clearly stated that Ishiro was not good at close combat. But after the previous exchange, Kakuzu no longer felt that Ishiro would do something foolish.

So Kakuzu was very cautious this time and did not let Ishiro have his way. While controlling the two wind and fire masked beasts that were together to cast a combination ninjutsu on Ishiro's main body, he also controlled the lightning-element masked beast to move away from Ishiro's main body.

Ishiro frowned, "Why has Kakuzu suddenly become so timid?"

He couldn't help it. Kakuzu had become wary, and it seemed it wouldn't be easy to rely on that lightning-element masked beast. Fortunately, Ishiro was flying in the air at this time and easily dodged the combination ninjutsu with a few turns.

Seeing this, Kakuzu also frowned. A ninja who could fly was always troublesome. Before coming to kill Ishiro, Kakuzu's expected tactic was a sneak attack, using thunderous methods to kill Ishiro before he could take to the air.

It was just that Kakuzu hadn't expected that Ishiro's Mind's Eye would detect him in advance, and that Ishiro also had memories of the original story, recognizing his identity at first glance and then taking decisive action.

So Kakuzu quickly changed his strategy: first, deal with Ishiro's Mud Clone. The intelligence recorded that Ishiro's chakra amount was not large, so he couldn't create too many clones.

Soon, another wave of wind and fire combination ninjutsu formed, but this time Kakuzu's target was Ishiro's Mud Clone.

Ishiro cursed inwardly. The Mud Clone's flexibility was far inferior to the main body's. Being able to manipulate mud for interference was already not easy; wanting to dodge or defend against a combination ninjutsu was simply impossible.

Helplessly, Ishiro signaled the Mud Clone to ignore the combination attack and directly manipulate the mud to attack the lightning-element masked beast.

Kakuzu naturally noticed this as well, but he decided to take a gamble. He bet that Ishiro couldn't destroy his lightning-element beast before he destroyed Ishiro's Mud Clone.

So the target of the combination ninjutsu did not change. Kakuzu's main body cast a Wind Release to support the lightning-element masked beast.

Unfortunately, Ishiro was extremely agile in the air. The continuous Wind Release that had harassed Kakashi in the original story had no effect on Ishiro. Ishiro didn't need to drastically adjust his path of advance like he did to dodge the previous large-area combination ninjutsu. Ishiro only needed to make slight adjustments to his route while closing in on the lightning beast at full speed to easily complete the evasion.

Finally, before the wind and fire combination ninjutsu hit his Mud Clone, Ishiro successfully closed in on Kakuzu's lightning-element masked beast.

At this moment, this masked beast actually stopped dodging and instead opened its mouth, preparing to cast a Lightning Release jutsu.

However, how could Ishiro let it have its way? Reaching out a hand, he activated the S-rank ninjutsu Bansho Ten'in (Universal Pull), directly pulling this lightweight masked beast over.

The masked beast was completely unprepared for this move by Ishiro and was hit without any suspense. Not only was the Lightning Release it was gathering in its mouth unable to be cast, but under Ishiro's pull, it was accurately brought before a wave of porcelain kunai attacks.

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