Kakuzu had lived for over ninety years. He was as shrewd as they came, and there was little he hadn't seen.
Back when he fought the First, Hashirama Senju, he had fled in disgrace, but at least he had escaped in one piece.
Yet now, as he watched the boy before him who wouldn't even spare him a proper glance, waves of cold dread rose from deep within him.
He could clearly sense that Hidan's faint signs of life had been completely cut off by the thick layer of earth underground.
"This brat's Wood Release is even more uncanny than Hashirama Senju's was back then."
Kakuzu gritted his teeth, his stitch-covered face twitching violently beneath his mask.
His prized Earth Grudge Fear could normally mow down even several Elite Jonin as easily as harvesting wheat.
But now, the black-thread tendrils he had separated from his body were all tightly entangled in those seemingly casual pieces of wood, unable to advance or retreat.
"Am I really going to fall to some brat I've never even heard of?"
Kakuzu let out a low, defiant growl.
He grabbed his Akatsuki cloak with both hands and tore it open, exposing a body that had long since ceased to look human.
Countless fine black threads stitched that body together, with five masks embedded in his chest, shoulders, and back.
Aside from the heart he had detonated earlier to cover Hidan, he still had four vigorously beating spare hearts left in his body.
Not only that, he also separated out his body's own heart, turning it into a black monster with bull horns.
Five masked monsters in all, bearing chakra of five different natures-wind, fire, lightning, water, and earth-bared their fangs and claws amid the Temple ruins.
"Brat! Don't get too cocky!"
Kakuzu's hoarse voice emerged