Ryuzetsu led a group of spirits towards the enemy base. Not far away from her, followed by roughly the same number of spirits, moved Moroi that was tasked with a similar role. Their goal was simple, to distract the enemy and get rid of their subordinates while Kakuzu dispatched the main head of the base. Normally, traps that the enemy set up would delay their advance and give the enemy time to react properly, but the initial explosions had mostly got rid of them. They had pretty much brute-forced their way into the compound.
The building had a massive hallway that led into the different rooms, none of which contained anyone within. The place was empty, raising a concern about what the enemy had been scheming.
Not long after infiltrating the enemy base, Ryuzetsu sensed several presences approaching. She signaled Moroi to be ready and prepared the spirits to immediately take action, which mostly consisted of various jutsus ready to be fired after one another at a moment's notice.
Based on their chakra signatures, the enemy was no ordinary force. Seven signatures, all surpassing the aura of an average jonin. This would be a troublesome threat to deal with just by herself and spirits, if possible at all.
As the enemy drew near them, suddenly one of the approaching aura greatly accelerated its pace, charging towards the figure not far off from her. The figure next to her suddenly riled up its chakra, followed by an intense vibration in the air and something slamming into the monolith nearby. However, whatever the creature was, it suddenly stood up and jumped backwards.
While Ryuzetsu knew that the enemy possessed some sort of jutsu that allowed creation of chimeras, it didn't make the sight in front of her eyes less abnormal. It had the overall appearance of a giant dragonfly, but its face was anything but that of an insect's. Rather, it had the head of a snake, but it still maintained its compound eyes. Something that without, it would have a far harder time controlling its impressive speed. However, a pair of its four wings were gone now, held by the figure it tried to attack just a moment ago.
The figure was none other than Kakuzu, or more specifically his clone to provide much needed manpower. Though, the upcoming confrontation with the enemy might cause the clone to disappear at any moment. In case the opponent turned out stronger than expected, dividing chakra between himself and the clone could lead to his defeat. Because of that, he had warned both Moroi and Ryuzetsu to not depend on his assistance too much, especially in later parts of the battle.
Before the clone engaged the dragonfly, the rest of the enemy group had approached them. Three of whom, Moroi could easily recognize. Among the three that he had been chasing few days ago, one of the men glared at him with an unmistakable hatred. The rest of the group however were not humans. The weird combination of a gorilla and a scorpion was immediately recognizable among the group. It radiated an intense aura that overshadowed others. It made the clone instantly ignore the wary insect in their back and signaled Ryuzetsu to deal with it before it could regain its lost wing, which thanks to its supernatural healing factor, was already rapidly growing back.
A moment later, the gorilla scorpion hybrid charged at the clone. Kakuzu immediately reinforced his right palm with Diamond Morph and caught the chimera's strike. This thing was strong. Strong enough that most jounin would stand little to no chance against it. The situation would be different if the chimera was fighting his actual body, but the clone was in a peculiar situation. Taking a direct hit or two from this thing might be enough to dispel him, while it wasn’t the only enemy he had to face.
Meanwhile, remaining forces collided with each other. Ryuzetsu had managed to entangle the giant dragonfly with her threads and was about to finish it off. The trapped chimera chose to sacrifice its legs rather than stay at her mercy and now was barely maneuvering in the air with remaining wings.
Moroi had been confronted by long-chinned shinobi he had fought before. He seemed to be raring for the revenge. But with dozens of spirits at his disposal, other two were forced to assist him as well. Two remaining chimeras were ripping apart Ryuzetsu's spirits with a rapid speed. However, it wasn't unexpected as the low-grade spirits lacked the power to do any real damage to them without detonating themselves. In this close vicinity, however, friendly fire and threat of building collapsing posed a problem. They had to make distance between them and walls for that to happen.
Kakuzu judged that getting rid of the chimera in front of him was top priority. Moroi and Ryuzetsu were strong enough to stand their ground as long as he got rid of the strongest member of the enemy squad. Rest of them would be a challenging opponent for his two subordinates, but he had assessed their abilities enough to know what they could and couldn’t do. But when it came to the gorilla chimera, both of them together might not be able to take it down.
To make sure nothing went wrong, he sent the information to the original body through the small spirit attached to him. The spirits acted as chakra receivers, delivering a signal that could be used to construct a coded message that was this world’s equivalent of the Morse code.
He forced the creature to keep the attention on him while a half dozen spirits with an earth affinity tried to constrict it. As expected, the beast didn't fall for such a simple diversion. Not even its back was defenseless. It swung its tail behind, the stinger piercing three of the spirits in half. Though, while the beast boasted supernatural strength and senses, the same couldn't be said for its intelligence. The spirits' masks remained unbroken, meaning they were far from being incapacitated. Countless threads spewed forth from them, encasing the chimera's tail and spreading towards its legs.
The chimera noticed its predicament and realizing that such a simple error in judgement was leading to its demise, cut off its tail without hesitation. It wasn't concerned about disfiguring itself. All it cared was killing the man in front of him. It was consumed by lust for the blood, not releasing what it was fighting was merely a clone.
Kakuzu grinned at the beast's display of ruthlessness towards itself. He would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed. It was a strong creature. And such a strong creature should have strong heart as well, no?
