Chapter 310 Trouble
"A vanguard? What a trouble!"

Qing Ming murmured, stretched out his right hand, grabbed the neck of the bounty ninja in front of him, then applied a little force, and heard a "click".

The bounty ninja's head tilted to the side, and he was completely lifeless.

bang~
Qing Ming let go of the other person's hand and let the other person's body fall to the ground, but in his heart he was thinking about the information he had just obtained from the other person's mind.

It turned out that it was not that they did not want to attack the leader of the Artisan Ninja Village, but that they were not sure of capturing him alive.

Yes, there are indeed tasks related to the other party in the black market, but they are not about killing, but about capturing them alive.

With the strength of these people, if they cooperate with each other, they are confident that they can kill the leader of the Artisan Ninja Village.

But then they wouldn't get the bounty.

Therefore, in order not to waste their efforts and to get a taste of the good stuff, they sold the information to the black market.

And according to this person's memory, the black market seemed to have hired reliable personnel to take over this task.

However, they had no idea who would take on the task.

However, according to intelligence, the other party will arrive by tonight at the latest.

Before, these people thought he was the person who would take over the task. It was not until he stopped talking to the other party that they realized they had recognized the wrong person.

Afterwards, they discovered that the leader of the Artisan Ninja Village had been killed by him, so they hurriedly chased after him.

Of course, this was also intentional on his part.

Otherwise, with his speed, if he ran at full speed, these people would never be able to catch up with him.

However, it now seems that he miscalculated.

There may be someone behind these people, and that person may be a master who can capture a ninja of the level of the chief of the Artisan Ninja Village alive.

If that's the case, it will be a bit troublesome.

Qing Ming felt a headache when he thought of the marks the other party left along the way.

Now, he is in a dilemma as to whether to clean up these marks or not. He is really stuck in a dilemma.

Just as Qing Ming was struggling over whether to waste some time erasing these traces, a strange breath suddenly entered his range of perception.

"This aura doesn't sound like a living person!"

Qingming murmured, with a long sword already drawn in his hand, and stopped to look at the dense forest in front of him that was crackling and burning.

A moment later, a figure passed through the flames and came in front of him silently.

He was wrapped in a black robe, had a pair of emerald green eyes, wore a mask, and had a Takigakure Village forehead protector on his head, but there was a scratch on it.

With such aura and such attire, even though Qingming had never seen the other person before, he recognized him at this moment.

"Kakuzu?"

That’s right, the person who came was none other than Kakuzu, one of the famous immortal duo in the Akatsuki organization of later generations.

He was originally an elite jonin of the Takigakure Village, and was sent by the village's top brass to assassinate the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju.

Unfortunately, due to his lack of strength, he was easily suppressed and seriously injured by Hashirama Senju. In the end, he escaped with his life because Hashirama Senju didn't care.

However, when he returned to the village after going through untold hardships, what awaited him was the charge of mission failure and severe punishment.

Kakuzu, unwilling to give up, chose to escape from prison and took away the most precious mystical creation of Takigakure Village - the Earth Grudge!

The so-called earth resentment is actually a kind of black tentacle similar to blood vessels.

It has the characteristics of being alive. Not only can it sew up the body, but it can also be used with many secret techniques, such as the 'Secret Technique·Heart Capture'!
By performing this technique, Kakuzu can forcibly extract the heart and chakra properties of his opponent, and then sew them back to his own flesh, thereby inheriting the target's chakra properties.

Now, through the observation of the Sharingan, Qingming can clearly see that there are five chakra gathering points in the opponent's body, which are obviously five hearts. It is also through this technique that Kakuzu possesses five chakra attributes and has a chakra amount far beyond that of ordinary people.

And while he was observing the other person, the other person was also observing him.

Especially when he called out the other person's name, the other person looked more carefully.

After a moment, Kakuzu asked, "Do you know me?"

Hearing this, Qing Ming wanted to say: I not only know you, I also know your past and present lives!

Unfortunately, these words cannot be said out loud.

However, what he didn't expect was that the people hired by the black market this time would be the other party.

As a ninja who has lived from the Warring States Period to the present, Kakuzu has experienced countless battles. His combat experience is so rich that Qingming dare not imagine it.

In this situation, Qing Ming would definitely lose if it came down to fighting skills.

However, he was not too afraid.

Not to mention that he already knew the opponent's information clearly, the existence of the Mangekyō Sharingan alone gave him enough confidence to face the opponent.

Although he most likely won't use it, 'having a sword but not using it' and 'having no sword available' are two completely different concepts.

Seeing that Qingming had not answered his question, Kakuzu suddenly said, "Ghost Sword Qingming, the bounty is 17 million taels."

"You remember this clearly!"

Qingming secretly complained in his heart.

Then, Kakuzu continued, "You are the one who killed my target, right?"

Without waiting for Qingming to answer, he glanced at the corpse under Qingming's feet and said, "Your strength is not bad, so use your life to compensate for my loss!"

After saying that, he used the "Body Instant Technique" to come directly in front of Qingming and then threw a punch.

The other party changed his attitude so quickly that he was caught off guard.

Fortunately, Qingming had been on guard since the other party appeared, and with the powerful insight of the Sharingan, he reacted in time.

He tilted his head slightly and avoided the attack by a hair's breadth.

Not only that, he also took the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

huh~
The light of the knife flashed.

Qing Ming made a sideways move, and the long knife in his hand passed through the opponent's armpit and cut straight up.

If this strike hit the target, with the sharpness of Kusanagi's sword, it would at least take away the opponent's arm.

However, at the critical moment, Kakuzu retracted his fist, completed hand seals with both hands, and performed a B-level ninjutsu - Earth Style: Earth Spear!
In an instant, his skin turned black and was as hard as diamond.

Hey~
Qingming's long sword chopped on his body, making a crisp sound of metal clashing.

Kakuzu kept a blank expression on his face the entire time, and he clamped his right arm down hard, trying to clamp Qingming's long sword.

At the same time, he swung out with his left fist, attacking Qingming in the face.

However, Qingming's reaction was also not to be underestimated. Almost the moment he moved, he drew back his sword and took a step back.

Boom~
Kakuzu's powerful punch missed, and Qingming swung the long sword in his hand without any hesitation, chopping at the opponent's neck.

In order to increase the lethality, he also injected wind chakra into the long sword, covering the surface of the blade with a thin layer of wind blade.

(End of this chapter)