Naruto: Azure Awakening

Ch 118 - Shin vs Kakuzu

The Takigakure shinobi moved with sharp intent, his hands weaving signs almost too quickly to follow. Lightning surged through the air, warping the space around him as it gathered into a concentrated strike. A moment later, it shot forward, roaring across the clearing straight toward Shin.

Shin thought, narrowing his eyes. It wasn’t a complicated technique. He’d seen variations of it before, but the force behind it was something else. The amount of chakra packed into that single attack was overwhelming.

That gave Shin a sliver of comfort. Having the same elemental affinity didn’t make him immune, but it would dull the impact, maybe enough to keep him on his feet.

Still, that wasn’t the real problem.

Mizuki lay behind him, injured and exposed.

His feet stayed planted. Every instinct screamed at him to dodge, but he had no choice.

He shifted his stance, lowering his center of gravity and drawing in chakra as the lightning closed the distance. There was no room for error. Not with his student’s life on the line.

As the lightning attack closed in, Shin pulled the Kiba blades from his storage seal and used them to deflect the attack. He redirected some of the incoming lightning, using it to empower his own counterattack. Shin didn’t just try to scatter the Takigakure nin’s attack - he attempted to turn it against him.

Shin thought, shivering slightly as the lightning electrified his body, causing him to shudder .

The Takigakure nin’s eyes narrowed as he effortlessly dodged Shin’s counterattack. He licked his lower lip, his voice indifferent despite his earlier excitement. “This guy has a thirty-million Ryo bounty. We have one more target now.”

“You’re too obsessed with money, Kakuzu,” the Kusagakure nin smirked. “Our new bosses haven’t authorized this hunt, and you’ve already decided on a new target.” He laughed, clearly unbothered, enjoying the chance to taunt Kakuzu, who showed no reaction.

“I’ve told you this before, and I’ll say it one last time: just because we’ve been assigned together doesn’t mean you’re my equal. You do what I tell you to do,” Kakuzu said coldly, his tone sending a shiver down even Shin’s spine.

Shin thought, watching the Kusagakure nin growl but not openly rebuke Kakuzu. Shin decided to try diplomacy again. Even if it failed, it would buy him some time.

“You’re mistaken. There’s no way I have a bounty on my head,” Shin called out, raising his voice just enough for both enemies to hear him clearly. But as the words left his mouth, he realized something.

“You’re confusing me with the previous wielder of the Kiba Blades, aren’t you?” he added. “One of the Seven Swordsmen. I’m just a shinobi from a remote village.”

He kept his tone casual, watching for a reaction, especially from Kakuzu. Shin already knew the man was the real threat here.

But before Kakuzu responded, it was Mizuki who stirred. She’d regained enough clarity to hear and process what was happening.

she wondered, her eyes narrowing faintly. ‘

She shifted slightly, trying to sense how much chakra she had left.

The thought barely formed before Shin’s presence appeared behind her.

“Kid, I’m never mistaken,” Kakuzu said, his voice flat and certain, cutting through the air like a cold breeze. He paused, his eyes narrowing as Shin’s clone emerged beside Mizuki.

“Idiot. Don’t let the girl escape, or I’ll kill you myself,” he ordered the Kusagakure shinobi. The man nodded and moved to obey without hesitation or protest.

“I need that Scorch Release user alive,” Kakuzu muttered, his eyes gleaming faintly with greed.

But by then, Mizuki was already gone.

Shin had grabbed her and vanished in a flash, reappearing at a safe distance deep within the treeline. With her secured, his shoulders relaxed slightly.

He rolled his neck once, the bones cracking in a quiet rhythm. Then he turned his attention back to Kakuzu.

“I don’t know who you are, or why we’re fighting…” Lightning began to dance across the twin blades in his hands, the energy humming louder with each breath he took. “...but I never turn down a good fight.”

The Kiba blades tore through the air in a wide, cutting arc, aimed straight for Kakuzu’s neck.

But the strike met nothing but wind.

Kakuzu had already leapt back, narrowly avoiding the edge of the blow. His feet slid across the damp forest floor, eyes narrowing in annoyance as he sized up his opponent.

Kakuzu thought, already analyzing Shin’s fighting style. Despite his youthful appearance, Kakuzu was over 80 years old, thus very few shinobi could rival his battle experience.

He quickly formed hand signs, sending a barrage of earth spears toward Shin, catching him off guard. The spears weren’t particularly large or fast, but their sheer number was overwhelming.

Shin thought, dodging the attacks with swift, precise movements, further enhanced by the lightning cloak covering his body.

Shin reminded himself, slipping past the last spear with a quick pivot. But before he could go on the offensive, Kakuzu closed the gap, charging forward to deny him any chance to regain momentum.

A left jab came first. Shin dodged, but the right hook followed too fast. It connected cleanly, forcing him back several steps, boots scraping across the forest floor.

Shin thought, glancing at his arm. The pain was sharp, but there wasn’t time to check for fractures as Kakuzu was already coming again.

This time, Shin leapt back, creating just enough distance to think. He didn’t wait long. The moment he touched down, he launched himself forward again, blades humming with lightning.

But this time, he changed tactics.

His strikes came fast, controlled, but lacked the raw force of before. He wasn't trying to overpower - he was testing reactions, reading rhythm.

He appeared on Kakuzu’s right, slicing for the shoulder. The Kiba blade sparked as it met a kunai, but by then, Shin was already on the other side, coming down from above in a sharp arc aimed for Kakuzu’s head.

The blades sliced through the air, missing the target.

Kakuzu had moved.

Kakuzu thought, irritation appearing behind his eyes. ‘

He swung his leg strangely, from a distance.

Shin’s brows pulled together. ‘ The kick was far too wide, too far to land.

Then his eyes widened.

Kakuzu’s leg detached mid-swing, extending outward in a wide arc. Thick, dark threads, like metallic wires, stretched between the limb and his body, reeling the leg toward Shin at a blistering speed.

Shin barely had a moment to react. The attack was coming fast, unnatural in movement like the body itself had stopped playing by the rules.

Shin thought, his instincts kicking in before analysis could catch up. He didn’t know the full extent of the attack, but when facing an opponent this unpredictable, it was safest to assume the worst.

He sprang backward, putting as much distance between them as possible. The extended limb sliced past where he'd stood a heartbeat before. Shin landed in a low stance, skidding several paces across the forest floor, the force of the movement kicking up dirt and leaves.

But before he could regain full balance, his eyes caught something that made him freeze.

Kakuzu’s body was leaning forward, and his back, still hidden beneath his cloak, was bulging unnaturally. The fabric twisted and stretched until it finally gave way, shredding apart as three dark, grotesque masses erupted from beneath it.

Shin’s breath hitched.

What emerged barely resembled anything human. The figures had limbs. Faces. Masks twisted into fixed, inhuman expressions. One of them stood on four legs. The other two hovered upright, swaying ever so slightly as if tasting the air.

Shin stared, his expression of unbelief. ‘

He had never seen anything like it. No legend, no mission report, no whispered tale in the underground mentioned a jutsu or… a body like this.

His usual strategy would’ve been simple: close the distance and overwhelm his opponent with speed and precision.

But something in his chest was screaming at him to stop.

His gaze darted back to Kakuzu, whose exposed body was now fully visible. He was stitched together - literally. Threads, black and metallic, slithered and flexed through his skin like living things.

The realization settled in hard.

There was no time to dwell on the thought.

One of the masked creatures twitched violently, the one standing on two, its face marked by strange red patterns. Its body trembled for a moment, then a torrent of fire exploded from its mouth, surging toward Shin like a wave of searing light.

Shin analyzed the situation as he flickered to the side to avoid the flames. But the other creature, its mask adorned with blue markings, was already moving, sending a huge wave of water crashing toward him. Shin managed to dodge this attack as well.

The ground, previously scorched by the fire attack, hissed as the water drenched everything, turning the earth into mud and extinguishing the remaining flames. But the onslaught wasn’t over. Shin, who had barely avoided the water attack, now faced a streak of lightning shot by the creature with a silvery mask.

Shin knew that the water would conduct the electricity, electrocuting him in the process.

Luckily, they were fighting in a forest, giving Shin the option to use the towering trees as an escape route. He leaped toward one of the trees, but Kakuzu didn’t let up. He immediately followed, trying to intercept Shin mid-air. However, before he could reach him, Shin’s clone attacked, charging at Kakuzu with a lightning-coated hand. The clone had been hiding all this time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

The attack grazed Kakuzu’s shoulder but didn’t cause serious damage. In response, he extended his arm, piercing the clone’s back and dispelling it.

Kakuzu analyzed, shifting his focus back to Shin. His unnatural green eyes, devoid of pupils, scanned his opponent intently. Kakuzu was about to attack again when he sensed a massive surge of chakra not far from their location.

Kakuzu wondered, his eyes narrowing, but he quickly dismissed the idea as Shin’s reaction confirmed the source of the chakra.

“Is this your leader, kid?” Kakuzu asked smirking. He did not see anyone from Takimura as a real threat, but Mizukage was a completely different beast.

Shin was confused at first, but then it hit him. Considering the state of Kakuzu’s body, it wouldn’t be surprising if he had stopped aging altogether.

Shin didn’t bother answering Kakuzu. His priority now was to keep Kakuzu occupied and prevent him from escaping until Maki arrived. So, he charged.

Shin thought, realizing that the reinforcements would be arriving shortly. By now, he had more or less analyzed Kakuzu’s fighting style.

Shin charged at Kakuzu, flickering toward him. When he reappeared, there were two Shins, he had created a shadow clone. One of them immediately lunged at Kakuzu, aiming a kunai at his chest, while the other Shin charged at the creature with the silvery mask.

The creature leaped backward with surprising speed, unnatural for its bulky body and large size, but the distance it covered wasn’t enough to escape Shin. Lightning crackled around him as he closed the gap in an instant, appearing right in front of the creature. Shin swung the Kiba blades, driving them deep into the creature’s massive body.

Shin thought, pushing his chakra into the Kiba blades. Lightning surged uncontrollably around the blades, cutting through the creature. But the creature didn’t collapse or show any signs of real damage.

Shin wondered, scanning for possible weak spots. The only thing that stood out was the mask. He couldn’t finish the thought as his senses screamed of incoming danger. But it was too late - Kakuzu was already too close.