Time once more started reversing.
And Kazuo opened his eyes once again after his suicide.
Looking around, Kazuo found himself back to one minute before the death he had seen with his new future vision.
'It's midnight.' Kazuo suddenly realized, it had completely slipped his mind, after he had gained strength that his life wasn't as in danger as before, he had almost forgotten.
His time loop starts from when he was first awake in the current day.
'Fuck, that mean's im still poisoned.' Kazuo thought to himself before he quickly gave a new set of orders to his men.
The seconds were ticking and he needed to do something and quickly if he didn't want a meaningless death again.
"Yajiro, Azuma, you two head forward to the town, there's someone tracking us, Kisuke and I will deal with it," Kazuo ordered instantly, his expression had already turned into a deep frown before he motioned to Kisuke with his head and used the body flicker around six times, that was enough to gain a big enough distance with the other two.
As soon as he gained that distance, Kazuo stopped.
Kisuke who was much slower arrived three seconds later and stopped right next to him.
"Who's after us captain?" He questioned, his tone of voice clearly showing how he was already on guard.
"Kakuzu, we're most likely going to die however before I can even try to survive him, I need that antidote, you fucker." Kazuo said as turned toward Kisuke, the surroundings around them immediately became completely white, it almost looked as if they had been teleported into an area of complete nothingness with only light and the two of them existing.
"You found out?" Kisuke questioned as his expression immediately changed.
If before he looked as if he was on guard and slightly nervous, now he had a completely blank emotionless look on his face.
"What's with Danzo and killing me? I don't think I've ever wronged the man." Kazuo muttered as he quickly used the shunshin to appear next to Kisuke, before the man could even react, Kazuo slammed a dozen papers on his throat.
The papers were imbued with yin chakra that immediately attached itself to Kisuke's chakra system and headed for his brain in less than a fraction of a second.
Meanwhile, the papers themselves changed shape and made a collar of sorts around Kisuke's neck.
"Give me the antidote," Kazuo said as he stood in front of Kisuke who was slowly being choked as well as being drained mentally by Kauzo.
"There is no antidote, I have completed my mission," Kisuke said before he made a hand seal.
It was a hand seal that Kazuo knew very well.
'This guy is using my own tricks against me.' Kazuo thought as he saw Kisuke explode.
The Kazuo that had been standing in front of him merely scattered into a pile of paper sheets.
The real Kazuo dispelled the illusion, showing himself to be sitting on a pile of rocks with one foot over the other whilst holding his head with his fist.
"This is annoying. How can I deal with a poison that I don't know about whilst surviving Kakuzu at the same time? Kakuzu is actually on a lower priority, isn't that funny." Kazuo muttered to himself before releasing a long-winded sigh.
'I either need to create a mental manipulation technique or I need to somehow make an antidote or something that will allow me to last until I reach the hidden leaf.' Kazuo thought to himself however no matter what he couldn't think of any way to achieve the second option.
'I have no idea about medical ninjutsu whilst I at least have a mastered yin chakra nature for the first option.' Kazuo thought before releasing another slow sigh and getting up from his seated position and looking towards the other side of the small clearing that Kisuke had created from his explosion.
There the man stood once more, this time face to face with the real Kazuo and not a clone.
"Kakuzu of the village hidden in the waterfall village correct? Kazuo questioned as he dusted his pants.
"You know of me?" Kakuzu questioned, his voice showing that his interest had been piqued.
"You're quite the famous bounty hunter, however, I do wish to make a deal with you," Kazuo said as he started walking toward the man.
Kakuzu simply watched as Kazuo got closer and closer to him without making any moves.
'Is he confident in himself or is he just foolish?' Kakuzu thought as he saw Kazuo finally stop, merely a few meters away from him.
"What deal?"
"I wish to buy your protection for double the price of the bounty in my head," Kazuo said as he looked at the man directly in his greenish-red eyes.
"Why should I make a deal when I can just take the pile of money that's guaranteed right in front of me."
Kazuo merely gave a slight smile before summoning something in his hands.
Kakuzu immediately got on guard, his posture changing to a taijutsu stance whilst the bulges on his back started wriggling, looking as if they were about to escape his body at once.
When the slight smoke cleared from Kazuo's hand, it revealed a kunai.
A very special kunai.
A three-pronged one with a sealing jutsu attached to its handle.
"Because I don't want to use this and I'm sure you don't want to bring him here either," Kazuo said as he continued to look at the man in the eyes.
For a few moments, silence engulfed the clearing once more.
'Of course, it's a fake however, can you even notice that? If you can't are you willing to gamble on killing me before Minato shows up?' Kazuo thought to himself as he almost chuckled out loud as he continued to stare Kakuzu down.
"Why wouldn't you want to? Unless it's a fake." Kakuzu questioned as he took a slight step forward.
"It would make me fail my promotion mission to a jonin, which would lead to the Hyuga clan not adopting me as one of their own. That's too big of a loss for me." Kazuo replied as he stood his ground.
Kakuzu didn't respond for a moment before releasing a gruff sound and then asking.
"How will you pay me?"
'I got you bitch.' Kazuo thought as the corners of his lips tilted slightly upwards.
_________________________________________________________________________
Here's the chapter, Tomorrow will be the release of my Tensura Fanfic, around 3-5 chapters to start, hope y'all can check that out if Tensura interests you.
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NarutoAuthor