"Withdraw the preamble. Today's luck is already bad enough."
Kakuzu's voice was cold, murderous intent leaking through every syllable. His hands slowly rose, preparing to strike. Just as the attack was about to commence, Ryoma spoke.
"You like money?"
Kakuzu paused mid-movement, lowering his arms slightly.
"…That's right."
"If you leave Akatsuki and work for me, you'll earn far more."
Hearing this, Kakuzu let out a low, amused grunt.
"Oh? Trying to dig up someone else's backbone, are we?"
But he shook his head soon after.
"Unfortunately, I've grown used to freedom. I'm not suited for joining a 'unit.' Besides… I do have a sense of contract. I've no plans to change employers for now."
The silence grew heavy. Killing intent settled through the forest like a suffocating mist.
In the next instant, Kakuzu's arms shot forward like twin cannons, aiming straight for Ryoma and Sasori.
"Earth Release: Earth Spear!"
Kakuzu's arms instantly darkened, skin turning as hard as forged steel. With a single casual swing, immense force burst from his limbs, slicing the air and causing explosive shockwaves.
Under this technique, Kakuzu's offensive and defensive power reached their peak—capable of smashing through fortified walls, and even resisting multiple detonation tags.
But the moment Ryoma's palm struck his forearm, Kakuzu's "city-wall" defense crumbled.
Both arms snapped cleanly, torn off and sent flying.
Kakuzu's pupils contracted sharply. He no longer dared hold anything back.
His body convulsed, ripping apart his Akatsuki cloak. Stitch marks tore open, revealing a grotesque patchwork of flesh.
A mass of black tendrils surged from the seams. Hundreds of threads shot toward his severed limbs and reattached them instantly. Then, eight enormous tendrils erupted from his back like writhing octopus limbs.
His shoulders bulged, forming protrusions topped with strange masks woven from black thread.
At the same time, two masked, thread-covered monsters detached themselves from his body and leapt forward.
This—the true form of the Earth Grudge Fear technique.
Kakuzu was eighty-seven years old (ninety-one in his first appearance), yet his body remained unnaturally youthful. All due to the forbidden jutsu that allowed him to steal hearts, inheriting their elemental affinities—prolonging his life indefinitely.
Including his original heart, Kakuzu now possessed five hearts, each capable of wielding one of the Five Nature Transformations.
Only by destroying all five could he be killed.
One of the masked monsters immediately lunged at Sasori, while Kakuzu and the other charged straight toward Ryoma.
Since Ryoma was clearly the greater threat, Kakuzu decided to remove Sasori from the battlefield first.
The Water-style mask pursued Sasori, forcing him farther away.
Sasori felt irritated—this temporary human body lacked built-in weapons, and his puppet army had been destroyed earlier by Ryoma. His current strength wasn't even a tenth of normal. He could only fend off the masked creature through taijutsu and scattered ninja tools.
Meanwhile, on the main battlefield—
The moment Sasori was driven back, the Lightning-style mask had already reached Ryoma.
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
Several sharp lightning lances shot from the mask's gaping maw. The compressed thunder spears tore through stone as they flew, cutting a path straight toward Ryoma like arrows loosed from a divine bow.
Ryoma casually swatted them aside.
The spears shattered into harmless streams of electricity, like flies brushed away by a lazy hand.
Kakuzu's frown deepened.
He sprang above Ryoma, and the white mask on his shoulder split open.
"Fire Release: Searing Migraine!"
A blazing inferno descended, engulfing Ryoma in a sea of flames.
Before the fire dimmed, the second mask opened its mouth.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
High-pressure spheres of slicing wind shot out one after another, the whirlwind fueling the flames. Fire fed wind—wind fueled fire.
The two combined into a devastating Fire-Wind Release: Scorching Typhoon.
The roaring inferno swallowed the battlefield whole.
After completing the rapid sequence, Kakuzu retreated several meters, pulling back partially burned black threads. He stared into the conflagration with tightened focus.
With a tug of his hand, the Lightning-style mask monster returned to his body, merging with the threads. A new mask appeared behind him as he prepared for the next strike.
The next moment, Kakuzu shifted his focus—an extra field of vision opening through his detached heart-beast. He glanced toward Sasori, who was struggling to fend off the Water-style mask monster. A trace of contempt flashed through Kakuzu's mind.
"This guy is far too weak. He's not a threat to me."
Kakuzu's will stirred.
"Water Release: Water Curtain Tent!"
The monster's jaws opened wide, unleashing a high-pressure water cannon that pierced straight through Sasori's temporary body. Sasori collapsed to the ground, motionless. Kakuzu didn't even spare him a second look and immediately recalled the Water-style mask monster back into his body.
From his attack on Ryoma to defeating Sasori, barely ten seconds had passed.
Just then, he sensed movement from Ryoma's direction.
From within the roaring sea of flames, Ryoma stepped out, his body wrapped in a faint, shimmering layer of white light that effortlessly repelled the surrounding fire.
Kakuzu stared, shock creasing his stitched features.
Other than Hashirama Senju, Ryoma was the only shinobi who had ever shocked him this deeply.
"I didn't expect… that besides the First Hokage, someone else could make my blood boil like this!"
Hands clasping together, Kakuzu charged toward Ryoma, a primal thrill rising in his chest. The battle-hunger he thought long dead had been reignited.
Behind him, the three remaining masks opened their mouths simultaneously.
"Final Shot!"
Wind, Fire, and Lightning heart-beasts all converged into Kakuzu's right arm, forming a massive concentration of nature-transformed chakra.
The next instant, a devastating Chakra Cannon erupted from Kakuzu's arm, ripping through the air with annihilating force.
Ryoma responded by simply raising a fist.
It was an ordinary straight punch—no elaborate technique, no flourish—yet it carried the overwhelming force of a deity. Natural energy surged through his body as casually as breathing.
His fist released a pure shockwave of chakra.
Before the punch even connected, the pressure alone shattered the Chakra Cannon and tore straight through it.
Kakuzu's eyes widened in horror.
The shockwave continued forward, smashing into him—
and his entire body was erased in an instant.
Head, limbs, torso, all four mask beasts, and the writhing mass of black threads—
all disintegrated into nothing.
The irresistible shockwave plowed ahead, carving a deep trench several kilometers long into the earth, ending with an explosive roar that shook the entire region.
The impact naturally drew the attention of countless shinobi within Amegakure.
Inside a bustling restaurant, a man devouring pork chops paused as the ground trembled violently.
"Oi… what the hell was that?"
He had slick gray hair brushed back, lilac eyes full of arrogance, and a perpetual sneer twisting his features. The scratched forehead protector, necklace of bones, and Akatsuki cloak made him stand out instantly.
It was Kakuzu's partner—
Hidan, the immortal zealot.
While Kakuzu handled the assassination job, Hidan spent his time eating and drinking around Amegakure's food district.
Feeling the massive chakra surge in the distance, Hidan immediately thought of Kakuzu. He grabbed his blood-stained Triple-Bladed Scythe and sprinted out of the restaurant toward the source of the destruction.