Southwest Land of Waterfalls.
Kakuzu had long since shed his Akatsuki uniform. Dressed as a Rogue Ninja, he fled desperately toward the border of the Land of Fire.
He could not stop himself from cursing.
"Have these people lost their minds?! I'm just a Rogue Ninja passing through! Why won't they leave me alone?!"
"Cough, cough!"
As he spoke, Kakuzu rolled sideways into the roadside grass. Clutching his Chest, he coughed up a pool of thick blood.
His eyes filled with murderous rage.
Who knew what had suddenly happened to the Shinobi World? He had merely been turning in a job at a Bounty Station, as usual.
Then a group of people in bone-white masks had barged in, announcing that they were taking over every Bounty Station in the Land of Waterfalls...
Anyone who resisted or tried to flee was killed without a word!
He had thought his formidable strength, honed over years of roaming the Shinobi World, would let him escape easily. But he had been wrong.
One short fellow with a pointed forehead and a vicious, brutal streak had nearly driven him into a corner all on his own, never mind the white-masked ones!
Incredibly powerful Taijutsu!
Terrifying strength!
A Three-Tomoe Sharingan!
And Shikotsumyaku, a Kekkei Genkai that produced bone as sharp as blades!
Yes!
That fellow was not even an Uchiha, yet he wielded the Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan, with perfect ease!
What the hell was he?!
Worse still, his mastery of every elemental Ninjutsu could match Kakuzu's, if not surpass it!
Most absurd of all was his Fire Release. It had actually overpowered Kakuzu's Searing Migraine—something Kakuzu had never encountered in decades as a ninja.
And who was he?
Kakuzu was a powerful ninja from the same era as Hashirama Senju, one who had