Respect

"Earned your respect?" Narrowing his eyes, Jun smiled. "And what use will it have once you're dead?"

"Tch... You sure like to run your mouth." With strands of hair coming out of his mouth, Kakuzu got in a fighting stance. "I'll take my time killing you. Those eyes of yours might just land me some profit."

Unbothered by Kakuzu's provocation, Jun quickly performed hand-seals as his lungs expanded.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Jun breathed out a massive fireball that hollowed the ground as it stampeded towards Kakuzu.

Jumping in the air, the criminal dodged it as one of his masks crawled from his back to his chest, opening its mouth.

Noticing this, Jun threw a slew of Shuriken his way, which Kakuzu made no effort to dodge, letting himself get lacerated as the mask formed a ball of concentrated fire.

Before he could release it, Jun pulled on thin air as the Shuriken all twisted around Kakuzu, trapping him mid-air with wires.

"Ngh!" With his arms strapped to his body, Kakuzu furrowed his brows. Because of the wires, his mask's jutsu was disrupted.

"As if I'd let you..."

Speaking with a cold tone, Kakuzu's entire body became dark brown as he flexed his muscles, snapping the wires with ease. [1]

Still in the air, he pulled his fist backward, separating it from his body with hair before whipping it towards Jun at full power.

Noticing the incoming attack, Jun slightly bent his knees and flickered away.

The fist landed on the ground, shattering it and causing the surrounding area to tremble.

Reappearing on a nearby branch, Jun purposefully made eye-contact with Kakuzu.

"...!" Mistakenly staring into the Uchiha's eyes, Kakuzu's body became paralyzed as he plummeted to the ground.

Using this opportunity, Jun once again covered his right hand with purple lightning.

"Yari!"

Intercepting the falling Kakuzu, Jun stabbed right into his frontal mask, destroying it and removing yet another heart in the process.

"Grah!" Because of the piercing pain, Kakuzu regained his ability to move. Throwing out and extending his other hand, he latched onto Jun's ankle mid-flight.

"Got you!"

'Sh*t...!" Jun was unable to do anything as the hand gripping his ankle became dark brown, swinging him to the ground with tremendous momentum.

Kakuzu and Jun both plummeted to the ground, but the latter was forcefully slammed against it, causing a crater to form and a huge dust cloud to rise.

"..."

'Three hearts...' Struggling to get back up, Kakuzu held his chest in pain. 'That kid was way too strong... but it's over now.'

Walking up to the crater, he expected to find a bloodied, messed up corpse, but was shocked at the reality in front of his eyes.

As the dust settled, Jun's figure became visible. He slowly rose from the dent on the ground, his skin completely brown in color. Seeing this, Kakuzu took a step back, unable to believe it.

"That's my jutsu...! When did you learn it!?" Furious, Kakuzu roared in disbelief. Because Jun had used his earth pike technique at the last second, he had sustained zero damage from the impact.

Releasing the jutsu, Jun's skin turned back to normal as his red eyes glowed. Looking up at Kakuzu, a third tomoe spun around his pupils.

"You copied my Jutsu in such a small amount of time!?" Kakuzu was in disbelief. He had heard of the Sharingan's abilities, but he didn't know one could use them this effectively in battle.

Out of all the Uchiha he had faced over the decades, not a single one even came close. it was too fast.

'Thankfully, my eyes evolved to three-tomoe back there... Without that jutsu, I could've been in trouble...'

Dusting himself off, Jun smiled maniacally as his blood started to vigorously boil. 'This thrill... This sensation... It's what I was craving!'

Letting his killer intent permeate the entire area, Jun roared.

"Kakuzu! Let's dance!"

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[1] The technique Kakuzu used is called 'Domu', Or earth pike. The user flows earth-natured chakra through all or parts of their body, causing it to become noticeably darker, all while increasing their defensive power to become as hard as diamond.

As such, this allows the user to easily be able to withstand most attacks with little to no damage, except for Lightning Release ninjutsu. Furthermore, the destructive power of physical attacks is increased, making this a great all-purpose technique.

For those who're wondering how Jun could use it immediately since the Sharingan can only copy --when it comes to natural transformations-- Jutsu who's natures the user can already use, This is Madara. He knows earth style better than some high-level earth style users.

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Glossary:

Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu = Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

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Special thanks to Frozoka Swaggins, God Erebos, and Daniil!

Don't forget to drop some stones!

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