"Hmm?" Kakuzu keenly noticed Hyuga Ao's intentions.
"Trying to run?" To Kakuzu, who valued money above his life, eight million that should have been his had slipped away. There was no way he could let Hyuga Ao escape again.
"Smack." The instant Rotation ended, two Earth Grudge Fears crawled out of the ground. Hyuga Ao hopped backward and threw down a smoke bomb.
"Boom!" The smoke exploded, and two figures fled in opposite directions. Kakuzu separated his fastest Wind and Lightning masks to give chase, while his main body remained in front of the smoke.
After years of combat, Kakuzu's instincts told him that something was wrong. His Fire Release mask appeared, and a fireball emerged before dropping to the ground and setting everything ahead ablaze in an instant.
"Boom!" Hyuga Ao dispelled her transformation and flipped backward.
"Heh heh." Kakuzu smiled smugly and said in a deep voice, "Seeing you reminds me of the first Konoha ninja I ever fought—the First Hokage."
A dark line appeared across Hyuga Ao's forehead. She said helplessly, "Could you stop bragging about fighting the First Hokage? Could you even beat one of his Wood Clones?"
"Oh, right." An idea came to Hyuga Ao.
"Hey, did you know?"
"The First Hokage was a man who loved keeping a diary."
"Konoha abridged the First Hokage's diary and used it as material to let everyone learn about the life of the wise First Hokage."
Hyuga Ao smiled teasingly.
"And as it happens, I remember that there was a passage like this in the First Hokage's diary."
"Day XX, sunny. A Taki ninja ambushed me by the roadside, but the moment I released my aura, that person was suppressed and rendered unable to move."
"I thought, 'This person is so weak. How dare he come assassinate me?