The forest swallowed sound the deeper we ran, trees stacking like walls of dark green around us.
Ahead, a shadow kept flickering between the branches — fast, panicked, bleeding.
Every few seconds he glanced back, teal eyes flashing through the mask.
And the fear in them wasn't subtle.
Yeah, run faster. See if that magically regrows your heart.
Leaves whipped around him as he accelerated, the air itself whining from the speed.
"Damn it," the boy cursed under his breath, blood dripping freely down his chest. "That guy… he's a monster."
He didn't bother stopping to treat the wound — not that he could. My punch had obliterated one of his hearts, and the edges of the injury were still leaking.
Even bleeding like a stuck boar, he kept going.
Because he knew the truth:
If he slowed down even once, I'd be in front of him.
And then he'd be dead for real.
The Fugitive of Taki
His name was Kakuzu.
A jōnin-level shinobi from the newly formed Takigakure — a village born by copying Konoha's idea of unifying ninjas under one banner.
Except… unlike Konoha, Taki was tiny.
Cut off by waterfalls, boxed in by four countries, and barely noticed by the major nations.
But Kakuzu wasn't just any Taki shinobi.
He'd been a prodigy.
A rising jōnin.
Someone the elders should've protected.
Instead, he failed a mission, dragged himself home half-dead…
…and the village branded him worthless.
Punished him.
Scapegoated him.
And pushed him into the kind of despair only betrayal can create.
So he stole Taki's greatest forbidden technique — the one that let him steal hearts — and tore the heart straight out of the superior who sentenced him.
Then he ran.
Now, only half-fused with the technique, his body wasn't fully restructured yet.
He could survive fatal wounds… but not comfortably.
And while fleeing Taki's hunters, he'd stumbled upon Konoha's Anbu patrols.
He'd killed Kagenami Akito to steal his heart, hoping to strengthen himself.
But instead of another victim…
He met me.
And Kakuzu's life had spiraled straight into hell.
The Chase
He vaulted off a boulder, chakra crackling around his feet.
"One blow," he muttered bitterly. "Just one. Who the hell is that Konoha brat?!"
He'd collected four hearts so far — and meant to take a fifth.
Instead, he'd lost one.
"Dammit…" He grit his teeth. "If I stop, I die."
I felt him preparing to turn.
Perfect.
Chakra rippled behind him.
"Wind Release — Wind Slicer!"
Three spinning blades of compressed air carved through the treeline like invisible guillotines.
Kakuzu's eyes widened.
"Already?!"
He twisted aside, barely evading the wind blades as they split tree trunks clean through. His sandals skidded across the dirt as he stumbled to a halt and spun around.
Behind him, I stepped out of the forest with my Anbu circling him like wolves.
I tilted my head.
"You ran pretty far for a little mouse."
Kakuzu's rage spiked.
"How dare you—"
"Hah! Watch your mouth around Hokage-sama!"
Steel hissed free as the Anbu drew their blades.
Kakuzu froze.
"Hokage…? Hokage-sama…?"
His gaze locked onto my face — young, calm, utterly unbothered.
"You're… Amamiya Raizen?!"
His voice cracked.
Not with awe.
With terror.
My name had been echoing across the continent for years now.
The strongest shinobi since the Sage of Six Paths.
The First Hokage.
The man who ended the Warring States.
To Kakuzu, I was the nightmare that haunted every jōnin's bedtime stories.
And now I was standing in front of him.
"What the hell is the First Hokage doing in Taki no Kuni?!" Kakuzu thought frantically, backing up until his heels scraped dirt.
Exactly.
You thought you were mugging some random Konoha Anbu for spare hearts?
Bad news, my guy.
Anbu vs. Kakuzu
"Kill."
My squad leader snapped the command, and nine Anbu vanished at once.
Kakuzu leapt backward, weaving through the blows, his stitches ripping and re-forming as blades slashed across him.
Steel sank into his chest once — directly where a human heart should be.
He didn't die.
He didn't even slow down.
He counterattacked fiercely, forcing the Anbu into a circling retreat.
Still, he was being overwhelmed. His half-fused body couldn't handle this many opponents at once.
I watched from a tree branch, arms crossed.
"Green eyes, masked face, won't die if you take his heart…" I murmured.
The pattern clicked.
"That's Kakuzu."
So the timeline didn't erase him after all — it just… rerouted his tragedy.
Interesting.
Below me, the battle turned bloody fast.
Kakuzu's body was riddled with new cuts, stitching and un-stitching with every movement.
If this continued, my newly fledged Kakuzu was going to get shredded by Anbu blades.
Which would be a waste.
Because a man like him…
He had potential.
The kind that could bend the world in a different direction.
I cracked my neck once.
"Alright," I sighed.
"Time for the First Hokage to step in."