Kakashi Falls into Danger!

No matter what anyone said, Kakuzu was an old ninja who had lived for decades. However confident he might be, he still had the caution he ought to have. It was true that he had not anticipated Kakashi's Reverse Four-Symbols Seal, and he had not dodged it either.

But that had only been one of his hearts. Long before, on the way here, he had already split himself apart. Aside from the most important heart he had secretly stored away, he still had four on him now.

In other words, four lives. Generally speaking, no matter who his opponent was, Kakuzu would usually deploy one or two hearts, while the rest stayed behind as another contingency.

Originally, Kakuzu's combat habits had not been this cautious. Even when he developed the method of storing hearts in separate locations, all he had done was keep one heart stored separately.

He would not have been like he was now, subconsciously holding several cards back in every battle.

In truth, this still had quite a lot to do with the "butterfly" that was Shiro. Back when Shiro and Orochimaru had teamed up to fight the Immortal Duo, the tremendous combat power the two displayed had made Kakuzu realize something deeply.

Even in this era, there were no shortage of people who could kill him. Two brats fresh out of the gate had been able to force him to that point. That had made Kakuzu start thinking.

In the end, he changed the way he fought. The tiny bit of pride he had originally felt from improving the already powerful Earth Grudge Fear vanished without a trace in an instant.

So what if he was immortal? Being left in a weakened state with only one heart every time was no way to properly make money.