"Kakuzu, hello."
Kakuzu, returned through the Impure World Reincarnation, stared at Pain Yahiko's face with his dark, murky green eyes!
How could he possibly forget... that terrifying being who had suddenly taken his life with strange, unfathomable abilities in the forest of the Land of Rice?!
"You're that man who suddenly appeared back then!!! Didn't you already kill me?!!!"
Pain Yahiko said, "Kakuzu, you really are dead. This is the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu!!"
"Impure World Reincarnation!? The forbidden jutsu developed by the Second Hokage that can revive the dead?"
Kakuzu lowered his head and looked at his cracked palms, then instinctively raised a hand to touch his chest.
"Indeed, I can't feel a heartbeat in this body. How laughable. After a lifetime of roaming the world, Kakuzu actually ended up like this."
Lowering his hand, he had already accepted the reality of being revived by the Impure World Reincarnation. His gaze shifted toward the man whose presence seemed faint beside Pain Yahiko.
He said in a deep voice, "Then you must be the caster of this Impure World Reincarnation! Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin, whose head is worth fifty million ryo on the ninja bounty register!!!"
Orochimaru smiled and replied in a hoarse voice, "Hehe, that's right. It's quite an honor to have my name remembered by a veteran who fought in the same era as Lord Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage~!"
Kakuzu said darkly, "Hmph, times really have changed. Someone like you has actually fallen to the point of becoming another person's assistant."
His gaze returned to Pain Yahiko's face.
"Then can you tell me now?! Who exactly are you?! Someone who could kill me in a single encounter and subdue one of the legendary Sannin, Orochimaru! You can't possibly be some nobody! Who are you?!"
Pain