The bright light gradually faded, revealing a massive crater in the center of the battlefield.
In the depths of the crater, Danzo stood with his tantou, its blade piercing through Kakuzu's chest.
Crimson blood flowed incessantly from Kakuzu's torso, while the blade itself was imbued with a dense Wind Release chakra.
The surrounding air flickered between light and dark, as if even space itself was being affected.
This was the S-rank Wind Release jutsu that Danzo had created himself—
The Wind Blade.
"Submit, or die."
Danzo slowly withdrew the tantou from the corpse, turned, and looked at the three remaining monsters.
A terrifying aura swept out from him.
Thanks to the Earth Grudge Fear, Kakuzu had five hearts, each represented by a mask of a different element.
At this moment, Danzo had already destroyed the lightning and earth masks.
But as long as the masks did not all disappear, Kakuzu would not truly die.
Even if his body suffered heavy damage, as long as the external 'hearts' returned to his body, he could continue to survive.
Faced with the choice Danzo had given them, the three mask monsters looked at each other and ultimately made their decision.
Their massive bodies all knelt on the ground, showing submission to Danzo.
Seeing this, a satisfied expression finally appeared on Danzo's face.
He dissipated the Wind Release chakra on the tantou in his hand, spun it around, and slowly sheathed it at his waist.
A gentle breeze brushed his black hair, giving him a somewhat gloomy aura.
"Return."
Danzo's voice was like a command, and the three mask monsters immediately moved, rushing to Kakuzu's side at the fastest speed.
Then, they dispersed into countless black lines, re-entering Kakuzu's body along the suture lines.
The three masks also reappeared on his chest.
With the hearts back in place, Kakuzu's body finally opened its eyes.
The first thing he saw was Danzo's piercing gaze.
Danzo's face was calm, showing no signs of anticipation or obsession.
It seemed that for him, subduing Kakuzu was just something he did on a whim.
But it was precisely this attitude that made Kakuzu feel insignificant once again.
The last time he had felt this way was when facing the God of Shinobi.
Back then, Hashirama Senju's single glance was enough to scare him off.
As for Danzo, he had comprehensively crushed Kakuzu from jutsu to taijutsu.
It even made Kakuzu start to doubt whether Danzo had any weaknesses at all?
He could absorb and seal long-range attacks.
He could summon Susanoo for close combat.
He could use ultra-wide-range sensory jutsu to preemptively detect ambushes.
How was he supposed to fight?
Kakuzu felt that all his proud abilities were useless in front of Danzo.
And the reality was indeed like that.
Without a doubt, Kakuzu was strong in every aspect and had almost no weaknesses.
But the problem was that his abilities were too evenly distributed.
None of them were powerful enough to play a decisive role.
That was why he was comprehensively suppressed by Danzo.
"Your hearts have made their choice, so what about you?"
Danzo asked in a hoarse voice.
Although his tone was flat, Kakuzu had no doubt about Danzo's ruthlessness.
He was certain that if he uttered a single word of refusal, he would immediately face a fatal attack.
In response, Kakuzu could only let out a wry smile.
"I can join Root, but I will only take orders from you, the Darkness of the Shinobi.
"And give me a time limit."
Kakuzu put forward his conditions.
For him, who possessed the Earth Grudge Fear, time was not a significant factor.
Even ten, twenty, or even thirty years was just a small span for Kakuzu, who had a long life.
As long as he could survive, he would eventually regain his freedom.
Naturally, Danzo was happy to accept.
"Fine, I just need twenty years from you."
With that, Danzo took a mask out of his pocket and tossed it into Kakuzu's hand.
"From now on, your codename is Ox. You belong to the Earthly Branch Squad of Root and report directly to me."
Kakuzu, with Kage-level strength, was undoubtedly a suitable candidate for the Earthly Branch Squad.
In this way, Danzo's Earthly Branch Squad was now up to five members.
Kakuzu, of course, had no objections to Danzo's arrangement.
The current situation was stronger than any individual, and even if he had objections, they seemed useless.
"As for the two masks I destroyed, you can pick from among those guys first.
"When there is a suitable candidate, I will try to arrange it for you."
Danzo lifted his chin to indicate.
The scene on the other side had already come to an end.
Although it was just a clone, the underground hunters who had already been scared out of their wits had no will to resist.
Not to mention that outside the encirclement, there were Minato, the Fourth Hokage, and Shisui, known as the Body Flicker, waiting.
They were truly trapped with no way out!
So, when Danzo returned to the valley with Kakuzu, a large group of hunters had already been tied up by Danzo's clone using Wood Release.
Not only that, but on the branches created by Wood Release, there were also hundreds of withered corpses hanging.
These were all those whose chakra had been drained by Wood Release...
Seeing Danzo and Kakuzu with the ox-headed mask, Shisui finally stopped his work.
"Sensei,
the battlefield has been mostly cleaned up.
A total of 216 prisoners and 406 bodies."
This is an astonishing number.
Although most of them are minor, opportunistic wandering ninja who want to take advantage of the chaos.
But such a quantity is already enough to be astonishing.
It can be said without hesitation that if they were organized into a unit, they would be enough to flatten all countries except the Five Great Nations.
Of course, the Land of Rain is an exception.
This also indirectly proves how great the temptation of killing Danzo is for them!
Not only can they get a huge bounty, but more importantly, they can become famous overnight and become an important figure in the underground money exchange!
It can be said that they can gain both fame and fortune.
Unfortunately, huge benefits often come with risks that match them.
And this risk is obviously beyond their imagination.
Looking at the corpses all over the ground, Danzo asked his new subordinate beside him:
"If I'm not mistaken, you should be very familiar with the bounty list of the underground money exchange?"
Kakuzu was taken aback.
More than familiar?
I even know that the one currently at the top of the list is your head!
However, such a rebellious remark is something Kakuzu would never dare to say to his new boss.
So he just nodded and said:
"As long as it's on the bounty list, I recognize it."
Kakuzu spoke with great confidence.
Because that was the fact. Driven by his fanatical pursuit of money, he had been hunting various targets for decades.
Bounty hunters, though they live by hunting down targets and collecting bounties, inevitably make enemies in the process. It's not uncommon for them to end up as targets themselves, with their own bounties placed on their heads.
Thus, Danzo believed these corpses could bring considerable revenue to Root.
Upon hearing this, Kakuzu, behind the Ox mask, his eyes lit up.
He had no other hobbies; his greatest passion in life was exchanging bounties.
Even though he was not short of money, he remained enthusiastic about this work. Otherwise, in the original timeline, he wouldn't have diligently worked for the Akatsuki organization for so long, diligently creating achievements.
So, with Danzo's permission, he immediately began to carefully identify the valuable targets among the pile of corpses.
Soon, one by one, 'big shots' were picked out by him.
Their bounties ranged from five million to twenty million.
For example, the leader of the Gravedigger Mercenary Group had a bounty of fourteen million ryo, which was a significant gain even for Root.
As for those with bounties below five million? Sorry, they were not worthy of the Immortal Hunter's attention.
After selecting the 'valuable' corpses, Kakuzu, wearing the Ox mask, moved towards the prisoner area. This time, his goal was to pick suitable prey.
Since he had just lost two hearts, it was a good opportunity to replenish them. To prevent the captives from being too noisy, Danzo directly used Wood Release to seal their mouths.
Thus, Kakuzu's entire process was very smooth and quiet. After comparing the information in his hand and selecting the appropriate targets, he swiftly reached out and pierced through a prisoner's chest, forcibly extracting their heart.
Then, numerous black lines wrapped around it, creating a new elemental mask.
This terrifying scene caused all the prisoners' faces to turn pale. However, bound by Wood Release, they couldn't move and could only watch in horror as the events unfolded before their eyes.
After Kakuzu successfully absorbed two hearts and replenished his masks, Shisui asked Danzo, "Sensei, what should we do with the rest of these guys?"
Upon hearing Shisui address Danzo as 'Sensei,' the captured hunters' eyes widened in realization. It was as if they were saying—
Damn it!
So he is Danzo's disciple. No wonder he is so sinister!
To be honest, if it weren't for Shisui leading the charge, these hunters might not have been so easily subdued. Unfortunately, they realized this too late.
Hearing Shisui's question, Danzo glanced at the hunters and said, "Have the village send someone over to take them. They can be 'recycled' back at the village."
Danzo casually decided their fate. Shisui nodded, and his gaze towards the prisoners became extremely cold, as if he were looking at the dead.
Because in Root, the term 'recycled' often meant that their end would be as sacrifices in some experiment.
_
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