Kapitel 73: The Man Who Fought the First Hokage

Shintaro and Kurenai returned to the city after eradicating the Evil God Cult and led the mayor and townspeople back to the Evil God Cult's cave.

The townspeople were shocked by the bloody scene of corpses scattered on the ground.

When Shintaro and the townspeople arrived at the deepest cave, the townspeople were initially terrified. However, upon learning that these were the kidnapped sacrifices of the Evil God Cult, they rushed in frantically, searching for their family members and friends.

Seeing this, the mayor sighed deeply, then knelt down facing Shintaro and Kurenai.

The two quickly helped the old man up.

The mayor said, "If it weren't for the two of you, I fear no one would have found the rotting remains here."

"We don't yet know the names of our two benefactors. Could you tell us?"

Shintaro and Kurenai answered honestly.

Unexpectedly, the mayor showed a surprised expression, "I didn't expect the benefactors to be the famous geniuses of Konoha."

Calling them famous was certainly the mayor's praise.

However, Shintaro had indeed gained fame in the ninja world, especially since the embarrassing incident of Sunagakure Village and Pakura had spread.

Because the Land of Hot Water is a friendly neighbor to Konoha, Shintaro's reputation might have spread here earlier.

To express his gratitude to the two, the mayor asked them to stay after returning to the city to face the impact.

First, a grand banquet was held to express gratitude for destroying the heretical cult.

Later, Shintaro and Kurenai were invited to stay and enjoy a three-day trip to the hot spring town for free.

Finally, the two left the Land of Hot Water with farewells.

Shintaro and Kurenai set off on their journey back to Konoha but were stopped by an uninvited guest shortly after entering the Land of Fire.

Shintaro had sensed this person's aura outside the banquet. At that time, he was merely curious how such a strong person could be in a small place like the Hot Spring Town.

Unexpectedly, this strong man was targeting the two of them, or Shintaro himself.

The other man had black hair, wore a gray turban and a black mask similar to Kakashi's. His eyes were red with green pupils, which looked very sinister, and the forehead protector on his forehead indicated he was a rogue ninja from Takigakure Village.

"S-rank, he is the S-rank rogue ninja Kakuzu."

Rogue ninjas from various countries would be wanted by the entire ninja world, and there weren't many S-rank rogue ninjas in the whole ninja world, so they had a certain impression of their opponents. After seeing the man's appearance clearly, Shintaro said to Kurenai, "He must be targeting me. Kurenai, you can't help me if you stay here. Quickly find reinforcements while I hold him off."

In fact, he just didn't want Kurenai to stay here and increase risk. However, there was a ninja fortress in Konoha at the border of the Land of Fire, so he wasn't lying to her.

Kurenai knew her strength was far inferior to Shintaro's, so she immediately ran toward the border after hearing this.

Kakuzu did not take action to stop Kurenai; he was confident he could kill Shintaro before reinforcements arrived.

"Ten million ryo, this is the bounty set by Sunagakure Village."

Kakuzu spoke and revealed his purpose.

"So you're here for the bounty, are you a bounty hunter?" Shintaro seemed unfazed.

"Exactly, I've seen many geniuses like you in the past few decades. Most of them are dead, and you're no exception."

Kakuzu was confident the other party would die.

Shintaro chuckled and asked, "You speak so anciently, as if you're half-dead. How old are you?"

Kakuzu chuckled and said, "It's natural for juniors in Konoha not to know me. If you ask about my age, I can only tell you that I once fought the First Hokage."

He seemed to wait for Shintaro to show his surprise and then amuse himself with it.

However, Shintaro's expression remained calm.

Kakuzu was slightly surprised and said, "Aren't you surprised? I fought the First Hokage and survived. Don't you know the strength of the First Hokage?"

Shintaro smiled faintly and said, "I'm not surprised. I know the First Hokage was very strong, but maybe you just saw him on the battlefield and boasted about it."

Kakuzu's eyes sharpened, "Hmph, you're courting death!"

Shintaro also concealed his smile and said coldly, "You're the one."

"After living for so long, it's time to die."

"[Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue]."

Shintaro used Blue to immediately pull Kakuzu toward him, and punched with his right hand, which was condensed with immense Cursed Energy and chakra.

*BANG*

A powerful punch struck Kakuzu's chest.

An ordinary person would be dead, but Kakuzu was a seasoned veteran who had been in the ninja world for decades. He instantly formed a hand seal and used Earth Element to cover his entire body with a black hardening effect.

He was knocked away and sucked back in an instant. Another punch sent him flying far.

However, two consecutive punches directly knocked him to the brink of death.

He vomited blood, his internal organs shook violently, and his stomach churned.

Shintaro wanted to repeat the trick, but Kakuzu suppressed the urge to vomit and used his foot to solidly absorb himself to the ground by condensing chakra.

"It seems your life hasn't been in vain."

Seeing him quickly find a way to deal with it, Shintaro sighed and acknowledged his opponent's experience.

Kakuzu's eyes no longer showed the previous disdain and pride but were replaced by shock.

"What kind of power is this? Why do you have it?"

"Damn, the intelligence from the bounty only mentioned you were a Jonin, but there was no information about this…"

He was shocked and confused, and even the greed in his heart somewhat diminished.

Shintaro didn't answer this question, but said, "Your strength isn't as good as the Third Hokage's, how did you survive the First Hokage?"

Suddenly, Kakuzu's back cracked open, and many black tendrils protruded from him, then two masked monsters condensed from the black tendrils appeared behind him.

The mouths of the two masked monsters each condensed a large amount of Fire Element and Wind Element.

"How strong I am... you can experience it yourself..."

"[Katon: Zukokku]"

"[Fūton: Atsugai]"

The Fire Element masked monster released a highly compressed fireball, which instantly expanded in the air and became a sea of fire.

The sea of fire combined with a wind explosion formed by the high-pressure wind ball released by the Wind Element masked monster.

Strong winds and a sea of fire swept through, destroying the ground, flowers, plants, and trees in front of them.

But Shintaro merely stretched out his hand to counter.

Kakuzu thought he had succeeded, but when the firelight dissipated, the other party stood intact in the vast open space scorched by the sea of fire.

He couldn't comprehend it but was extremely shocked.

Kakuzu took several steps back in shock and retrieved the tentacle monsters behind him, feeling his life was threatened.

Shintaro's Six Eyes flickered, and he saw Kakuzu using a secret technique to modify his own blood vessels to steal hearts from others for his own use.

At this moment, Kakuzu utilized the other party to analyze intelligence and take action again.

His right arm quickly extended, and black tentacles protruded again. The masked monsters with the three elements of wind, fire, and lightning gathered in front.

The three types of chakra mixed into one, and finally, a terrifying chakra cannon was fired simultaneously.

The thick chakra cannon directly pierced through the air, and even the ground below was eroded by the hot airwaves generated by the move.

When the dust and smoke cleared, the trail on the ground was a hundred meters long and three to four meters wide, and the entire affected area was scorched.

However, Shintaro remained unharmed.

Kakuzu was in despair.

"Simple and crude tricks like yours might harm others... You're still too young to deal with me."

Shintaro, who hadn't lived as long as Kakuzu in two lifetimes, commented sharply.

Kakuzu extended all the tendrils from his body, writhing and twisting to protect his body, while also readying himself to flee.

Although his strength wasn't very superior, the fact that he could survive in the crisis-ridden ninja world for decades showed he still had skills.

Unfortunately, Kakuzu's luck was bad this time.

"[Black Flash]"

Shintaro used Blue to pull himself toward Kakuzu, and in an instant, he was in front. His fist was filled with Cursed Energy and he punched.

When the punch and Cursed Energy exploded one after another in a delay of 0.000001 seconds, space would distort, and Cursed Energy would emit a black light, which was the [Black Flash].

The power of [Black Flash] was two and a half times the normal force.

The conditions to trigger [Black Flash] are too harsh, so no one can deliberately use [Black Flash]. However, there is a significant difference in the core abilities of Cursed Techniques between those who can use [Black Flash] and those who cannot.

And Shintaro is now like the sky and the clouds.

The black tendrils released by Kakuzu's body defense were all destroyed, and his fist struck his chest. [Black Flash] spread throughout his body, and then the masks inside Kakuzu's body exploded one by one.

Only one heart with the earth element remained intact.

Shintaro took his heart and crushed it.

"I don't know if Kakashi's new ninjutsu has been developed. It should be easy to use to deal with Earth Element."

He muttered to himself, but Kakuzu, who had fallen to the ground, could no longer hear any sound.

The person who fought against the First Hokage has died.