Kakuzu

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Kakuzu (角都)
Alias(es)	Long, his identity as Amegakure’s leader; Senju Kakuzu and Six Paths Kakuzu, self-styled names reflecting his ambitions 120 144 153
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Takigakure, formerly; Bounty Guild; Amegakure under the identity of Long; collaborator with Uchiha Madara and Zetsu 112 114 131 144
Occupation/Role	Rogue ninja, bounty hunter, and disguised village leader 112 144
Status	Alive; rescued by Zetsu after ten years of captivity in Konoha 183
First Appearance	Ambush begins in Chapter 111; identified as Kakuzu in Chapter 112 111 112

Power Progression

Kakuzu’s growth depends on stolen hearts and bodily modification rather than advancement through named realms.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Multi-heart Earth Grudge Fear user	112	Demonstrates survival after decapitation and bisection, alongside elemental techniques supplied by his hearts, including Ice Style.
Heart supply rebuilt	113	Escapes Sakumo with one surviving heart, then kills nearby rogue ninja to rebuild his supply to five. Their poor quality leaves him dissatisfied.
Iwagakure jōnin heart acquired	113	Extracts an Earth-attribute heart from an Iwagakure jōnin while pursuing him underground.
Madara-supplied heart upgrade	114	Absorbs Earth-, Water-, and Fire-attribute hearts from three White Zetsu. His resulting five-heart set includes three Earth hearts, substantially increasing his power and underground travel speed.
Wind-attribute heart acquired	115	Takes Ma Feng’s heart, adding Wind Release to his available abilities.
Wood Style awakened	119	First manifests Wood Style by combining Earth and Water Release with the special vitality in his upgraded hearts.
Wood Style activation understood	120	After producing only sludge during a failed attempt, identifies the missing life-force component and successfully uses Adamantine Wood.
White Zetsu modification	146	Further modification increases his strength and Wood Style proficiency; he uses Deep Forest Emergence to absorb chakra from Manda.
Lost heart replaced	152	Replaces a heart lost during the preceding conflict and regains his strength before attempting to return to Amegakure.

Background / History

Warring States survivor

Kakuzu lived through the Warring States period and witnessed the strength of Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara. He repeatedly boasts that he “assassinated” the First Hokage and escaped unharmed, but the actual incident consisted of throwing a kunai at Hashirama from eight hundred meters away—not killing him 112 113 114.

Bounty hunt against Hatake Sakumo

Kakuzu attacks the Konoha delegation returning from Sunagakure to collect Hatake Sakumo’s fifty-million-ryō bounty. His unusual body initially catches the delegation off guard, but Sakumo identifies his heart masks as vulnerable targets 111 112.

The ensuing battle costs Kakuzu four hearts, including his prized Ice Style heart. He escapes by sending a Fire-heart decoy along the surface while his surviving Earth heart travels underground. After replenishing his supply, he pursues an Iwagakure jōnin into a cavern and unexpectedly encounters Madara 113.

Madara’s lure

Madara spares Kakuzu and orders him to draw the Fourth Hokage, Li Yi, to the cavern. To make the task possible, he supplies three exceptionally powerful hearts. Kakuzu accepts without knowing that Madara has cursed them to permit control over him 114 118.

Kakuzu begins killing ninja near Konoha’s gates, including Ma Feng and his Sunagakure escort. His increased strength forces Sakumo’s first tracking team to retreat, though a larger Anbu force subsequently corners him 115 116 117.

Might Duy and Kato Taka intervene during the confrontation. Duy’s kicks injure Kakuzu, while Taka’s repeated One Thousand Years of Death attacks humiliate him. Kakuzu discovers Wood Style during the fighting, then flees toward the Land of Rain after Taka’s Jashin technique destroys another heart 119 120.

Li Yi joins the pursuit, which brings him to Madara near the border between the Land of Fields and the Land of Rain. Watching their battle exposes the gulf between Kakuzu’s newly acquired Wood Style and Madara’s mastery 121 122 125.

False death and the identity of Long

As Madara’s battle approaches its end, Kakuzu heads toward a cave after being told that more hearts are available there. He encounters Zetsu and agrees to cooperate with Madara’s plans, hoping eventually to attain power comparable to the Sage of Six Paths 130 131.

Black Zetsu helps him stage his death. Kakuzu separates his body, hides within a perception-blocking substance, and sends out a five-heart duplicate. Li Yi destroys the duplicate and seals its remains, mistakenly believing the real Kakuzu is dead 131.

Following Black Zetsu’s suggestion, Kakuzu changes his face and becomes Amegakure’s leader under the name Long. He enjoys having an entire village earn money for him and initially agrees to help Sakumo, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya locate Jiraiya’s disciples rather than risk offending Konoha 144.

Conflict with the Konoha trio

When Zetsu intervenes to protect Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan, Kakuzu abandons his disguise and attacks the visiting Konoha ninja. His improved Wood Style allows him to deploy forests, a Wood Dragon, and a gigantic Wood Golem, but Sakumo and Orochimaru destroy two of his hearts 145 146 147 148.

Jiraiya’s successful Sage Mode turns the battle against him and destroys the golem. Kakuzu escapes through Wood Clones, then returns to ambush the trio after Jiraiya deactivates Sage Mode. He repeatedly withdraws whenever Jiraiya re-enters that state, pursuing a war of attrition instead of a direct confrontation 149 150.

Capture and imprisonment

After replacing a lost heart, Kakuzu learns that Li Yi is in Amegakure. He reluctantly follows Zetsu’s advice to investigate through a Wood Clone while keeping his real body concealed 151 152.

Li Yi feigns departure, waits for Kakuzu to emerge, and intercepts him outside the village. Kakuzu’s clones, forest techniques, and Wood Golem fail to stop him; a Flying Thunder God-assisted Rasengan incapacitates Kakuzu. Li Yi then discovers the Yin-Yang Release substance concealed in his chest 153.

Under questioning, Kakuzu reveals the plan to gather the Tailed Beasts, summon the Ten-Tails, and become its jinchūriki. Li Yi delivers him to Orochimaru for study. Zetsu eventually rescues him after ten years, leaving Kakuzu furious that his ally may have deliberately prolonged his suffering 154 183.

Appearance

• Green eyes are his most consistently described identifying feature 112 154.
• Black threads emerge from his neck, limbs, and torso, reconnecting severed body parts and extending his reach 112 115.
• Heart masks emerge from behind his body and release elemental ninjutsu 112 117.
• As Long, he changes his face sufficiently to meet Sakumo without being recognized 144.

Personality

Kakuzu is intensely money-driven. He selects targets by their bounties, stores valuable corpses for later collection, and values village leadership largely because it lets other people generate income for him 112 116 144 152.

Power upgrades repeatedly inflate his confidence. After receiving Madara’s hearts, he briefly considers testing himself against Madara; after awakening Wood Style, he imagines ruling the ninja world. He later copies Madara’s techniques, poses, and intimidating rhetoric 114 119 120 148.

His boasting coexists with a strong survival instinct. He recognizes the danger posed by Madara and Li Yi, retreats when outmatched, and becomes increasingly willing to use clones, ambushes, and attrition. He explicitly considers staying alive more important than retaining his village or wealth 114 149 150 152.

Kakuzu also holds persistent grudges. He repeatedly targets Sakumo, becomes fixated on killing Kato Taka after being humiliated, and resents Zetsu’s secrecy and delayed rescue 120 144 154 183.

Abilities & Skills

Earth Grudge Fear

A forbidden Takigakure technique that manipulates internal black threads to steal hearts, absorb their chakra natures, extend the user’s life, and increase his strength. Its effectiveness depends on the quality of the hearts acquired 113 114.

• Body reconstruction: Reattaches his head and reconnects a bisected torso; can separate his hearts before a strike and reform afterward 112 147.
• Heart extraction: Tears out victims’ hearts with threads or an extended, detached arm 113 115.
• Extended attacks: Sends black threads through the ground to attack nearby enemies 112.
• Independent movement: Separates hearts for escape or uses a heart-bearing decoy to divert pursuit 113 131.
• Critical weakness: Destroying the masks destroys their corresponding hearts. Attacks against his ordinary body are less decisive if the hearts remain intact 112 114 147.

Elemental Ninjutsu

His stolen hearts supply multiple chakra natures, enabling coordinated attacks without additional allies 112 117.

• Earth Release: Uses underground travel, Earth Clones, walls, domes, dragons, swamps, terrain elevation, and extensive spear attacks. Earth Spear can also harden his body against taijutsu 113 115 116 117 118 119.
• Water Release: Uses Water Prison, Great Waterfall, and a circling water dragon that helps guard against Sakumo’s approach 112 118 147.
• Fire Release: Produces large fireballs, fire dragons, and broad seas of flame 115 116 118 147.
• Wind Release: Disperses mist and amplifies Fire Release into a fire tornado or a large descending fire attack 117.
• Ice Style: His stolen Kekkei Genkai heart creates spreading frost and ice spikes. Sakumo destroys this heart during their first battle 112 113.
• Combined defense: Coats an earthen dome with flowing water to counter Sakumo’s Lightning Release-infused blade 116.
• Underground escape limitation: Lightning discharged through the ground can interrupt his Earth Release movement and force him to surface 113 117.

Wood Style

Kakuzu’s Wood Style originates from the Hashirama-cell-based Earth and Water hearts supplied by Madara. Successful activation requires their special life force as well as both chakra natures 118 120.

• Defensive constructs: Uses Adamantine Wood, timber walls, and the fanged Wood Shield Technique 120 146.
• Deep Forest Emergence: Produces a rapidly expanding forest and absorbs chakra from Manda 146 153.
• Wood Dragon: Creates a large dragon capable of trapping opponents and resisting ordinary combined fire attacks 147.
• Deep Forest Bloom: Creates enormous trees that release poisonous pollen 148.
• Wood Golem: Shelters inside the golem’s head and attacks through its limbs; can add extra arms to increase its offensive reach 148 149.
• Wood Clones: Uses duplicates to test attacks and escape. During one encounter, even Jiraiya’s Sage Mode perception cannot distinguish the real Kakuzu among them 149.
• Limits: He does not demonstrate Sage Mode or Six Paths power. Jiraiya’s Sage Art destroys his golem, while Li Yi’s Fire Fist burns through his forest 147 149 153.

Vitality and Resistance

His altered body and Hashirama-cell-derived power make him difficult to exhaust or disable 118 150.

• Survives Duy’s powerful kick without the crippling damage an ordinary body would suffer 119.
• Remains functional after exposure to Madara’s poisonous pollen, unlike Sakumo’s team 125.
• Recovers chakra rapidly enough to pursue opponents after extensive use of large-scale ninjutsu 150.

Concealment and Deception

Kakuzu relies on disguises, substitutes, and Zetsu-provided concealment rather than a demonstrated sensory specialty 117 131 144.

• Perception-blocking substance: A black Yin-Yang Release substance concealed in his chest hides him from Li Yi’s senses; it is supplied by Zetsu, not created through Kakuzu’s own mastery 131 153.
• Disguise: Maintains the identity of Long while governing Amegakure 144.
• Sensory weakness: During the Anbu encirclement, he realizes that lacking sensory techniques leaves him vulnerable to coordinated ambushes 117.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Kunai — Used for close-range attacks and attempts to interrupt Jiraiya’s Sage Mode preparation 112 150.
• Smoke bomb — Covers his initial escape from Sakumo’s team 113.
• Sealing Scroll — Stores valuable Konoha ninja corpses until he can collect their bounties 116.

Relationships

• Hatake Sakumo — Recurring enemy and bounty target. Sakumo discovers his heart-mask weakness; Kakuzu repeatedly seeks revenge and wants his heart 112 113 144.
• Uchiha Madara — Temporary patron and manipulator. Supplies upgraded hearts in exchange for luring Li Yi, while secretly retaining a means of controlling Kakuzu 114 118.
• Zetsu — Ally who arranges his false death, concealed identity, and perception-blocking protection. Kakuzu increasingly distrusts Zetsu for withholding information and delaying his rescue 131 144 154 183.
• Li Yi — Principal pursuer and eventual captor. Kakuzu fears his strength but still hopes to surpass him through greater power 152 153 154.
• Orochimaru — Battlefield opponent who later receives Kakuzu as an experimental subject after his capture 147 154.
• Jiraiya — Opponent whose Sage Mode forces Kakuzu to retreat. Kakuzu initially considers stealing his heart to acquire access to Sage Mode 147 149 150.
• Might Duy — Underestimated opponent whose powerful kicks injure him and interrupt his attacks 119 120.
• Kato Taka — Enemy whose unconventional attacks humiliate Kakuzu; his Jashin technique destroys one of Kakuzu’s hearts 119 120.

Notable Quotes

“Hatake Sakumo, elite jonin of Konoha, with a bounty of fifty million ryo. I'll be taking your head!” 112

“Kid, I, Kakuzu, am willing to call your swordsmanship the strongest!” 147

“We're going to gather all the Tailed Beasts, summon the Ten-Tails, and become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, like the Sage of Six Paths.” 154