Tit for Tat

With the preparations for the Five Kage Summit in full swing, Aoba had already returned to the Land of Falls.

However, the plan was not going very smoothly.

The Land of Falls was filled with waterfalls everywhere. The enormous waterfalls prevented invasions from other countries while also concealing the existence of Takigakure.

To avoid alerting the enemy, Zabuza and Haku had remained extremely cautious. They had only confirmed that Takigakure was hidden behind a certain waterfall, giving it the feel of Flower Fruit Mountain's Water Curtain Cave.

Although Takigakure had already fallen into decline, back when Kakuzu had not yet defected, its strength had definitely been extraordinary.

That could be seen from the distribution of the tailed beasts. Sunagakure had been unwilling to take two tailed beasts and had proposed exchanging one for resources and money. As a result, the Seven-Tails had ended up going to Takigakure.

If Takigakure had been weak, Hashirama would never have given a tailed beast to such a feeble power back then.

Afterward, Takigakure had become so overconfident that it had actually sent Kakuzu to assassinate the First Hokage. Who knew what had kicked their brains for them to make such a foolish decision? It had also laid the groundwork for their eventual decline.

The Secret Technique: Earth Grudge Fear, regarded by the village as a treasure, had been taken by Kakuzu. Every senior official in the village had been killed by Kakuzu, who had taken their hearts.

From then on, Takigakure had never recovered, retaining only the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki and the Hero Water, whose side effects were devastating.

Aoba had always suspected that the senior officials of Takigakure at the time might have known how to consume the Hero Water correctly. Perhaps its secret was hidden within the Secret Technique: Earth Grudge Fear.

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