On the outskirts of Konoha Shinobi Village.
Beneath a patch of giant hogweed.
A tall outsider stood there.
At 185 centimeters, he was unusually tall for the shinobi world. A black mask covered his face, and huge blisters had swollen up on both his arms.
He came from Takigakure, and his name was Kakuzu.
While sneaking around, he had slashed through a giant hogweed planted on the outskirts of Konoha Shinobi Village with his kunai.
Sap from the giant hogweed's stalk had splashed onto Kakuzu's arms.
Within half an hour, red spots of varying sizes had appeared on his body. They hadn't felt like anything at the time, so Kakuzu hadn't paid them any mind.
Then, two days later, those red spots rose up.
The little red spots began turning into enormous blisters, one after another, and the pain they caused Kakuzu kept getting worse.
He needed treatment, fast.
Kakuzu was very cautious. His mission was to assassinate the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. Unfortunately, despite lurking there for several days, he hadn't found a single opening. Konoha Shinobi Village was heavily guarded and full of powerful shinobi. Kakuzu had no way to approach his target.
Most places inside and outside Konoha Shinobi Village were patrolled. Only this grove of umbel flowers on the outskirts remained untouched.
Kakuzu had thought this was the safest place, which was why he had hidden here.
Reality, however, proved that he had been far too naive.
These strange, beautiful white umbel flowers were terrifying.
They were disgustingly awful!
No fucking wonder people and animals alike stayed away from these flowers. They were clearly some kind of "hell plant."
Kakuzu couldn't stomach running away without even attempting his mission.
So he decided to sneak into Konoha before the villagers woke up and throw a few explosive