Chapter 113: The Hunter Becomes the Prey
Losing two hearts in rapid succession sent a jolt of genuine panic through Kakuzu. Damn it, these Konoha ninja are relentless! His initial plan to exploit his bizarre physiology for a quick kill had failed spectacularly when the Hatake brat escaped his trap. Now, he was on the defensive.
As he debated a tactical retreat, the glint of Hatake Sakumo's White Fang was already upon him again. Kakuzu gasped and tried to sink into the earth, but the chakra blade was faster, piercing straight through his Ice Release mask.
CRACK.
The mask shattered. Kakuzu felt a pang of genuine loss that was almost like grief. That heart had belonged to a rare Kekkei Genkai user, one of his most powerful assets, now destroyed by this white-haired fiend.
With three hearts gone, he was down to his last two: one of Earth nature and one of Fire. Using them against this coordinated team would be suicide—like throwing meat to a pack of dogs. Survival was paramount. He would retreat, acquire new, powerful hearts, and return for vengeance.
He sank into the ground, intending to tunnel away.
Above, Hatake Sakumo placed a hand on the soil, a cold smirk on his lips. "Thinking of running? Dream on." He plunged his short sword into the earth, releasing a torrent of Lightning Release chakra.
Underground, Kakuzu convulsed. The lightning coursing through the soil disrupted his Earth Release technique, paralyzing him. If he didn't surface, he would be entombed alive. Forced upward, he had barely broken the surface when a volley of kunai shot toward him.
He ignored them—piercing his stitched body was meaningless as long as his core hearts were safe. But he knew the White Fang's next strike would be the real threat. He flung a smoke bomb at his feet, and a thick cloud billowed out, obscuring everything.
Sakumo frowned. "Wind Style!" he commanded.
One of his ANBU complied instantly, a gust of wind clearing the smoke to reveal Kakuzu sprinting away for all he was worth.
"After him!" Sakumo ordered, giving chase immediately. This man had killed one of his squad and dared to put a price on his head. Letting him escape would be an indelible stain on the honor of Konoha's White Fang.
But it was a ruse. Underground, Kakuzu's Earth Nature heart was burrowing away at high speed. The figure on the surface was merely his Fire Nature heart, a sacrificial pawn to draw their fire.
After Sakumo destroyed the fleeing "Kakuzu," his expression turned grim. He remembered the remaining mask. A diversion. He had been tricked. Without a sensory ninja in his team, the real Kakuzu was long gone, vanished into the earth.
There was nothing to do but seal the remains of the Fire Nature heart for analysis and return to the village to report the mission's partial failure. They had succeeded in delivering the ultimatum to Suna, only to be ambushed by a rogue ninja on the return trip, resulting in a casualty. For Hatake Sakumo, a man who had never truly failed a mission, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
Kakuzu, he vowed, I will remember you. Once I am healed, the hunt is on.
Meanwhile, Kakuzu, now down to a single heart, felt terrifyingly vulnerable. His first priority was to replenish his stock. The rogue ninjas and minor clan members in the surrounding lands soon found themselves prey, hunted by a desperate and ruthless foe.
After barely managing to collect five new hearts, Kakuzu scowled. They were weak, from mediocre shinobi. His power was directly tied to the quality of the hearts he possessed. To hunt the truly strong, he needed to already be strong. The Earth Grudge Fear was a profoundly powerful kinjutsu, but few, including Kakuzu himself, had ever truly mastered its full potential. Its core mechanic—using chakra to manipulate the black threads and assimilate the hearts and chakra natures of others—required the user to be powerful enough to claim those hearts in the first place.
If he could somehow take the heart of a being like Akatsurugi... the thought was both intoxicating and ludicrous. In reality, appearing before the Blaze God would be a swift lesson in what it meant to face a true deity of fire.
"Nowhere to run," Kakuzu's voice echoed calmly in a dark cave, startling an Iwagakure jōnin who had believed himself safe. The Rock ninja immediately performed an Earth Release technique, attempting to flee through the stone.
Kakuzu sneered. A proper jōnin from a major village? He wouldn't let this one go, even if its Earth nature duplicated one he already had. He was in no position to be picky. He sank into the ground and gave chase.
The two played a frantic game of cat and mouse through the subterranean rock until the Iwa ninja burst into a larger, hidden cavern, hoping to lose his pursuer. Kakuzu emerged right behind him. Before the man could even cry out, a web of black threads shot out, piercing his chest and snatching his heart with brutal efficiency.
Only then did Kakuzu have a moment to register his surroundings. As he looked around, his blood ran cold.
A man with waist-length hair and archaic, battle-worn armor stood watching him, his expression utterly devoid of warmth.
"Shit... shit!" Kakuzu couldn't stop the curse from escaping his lips.
"Uchiha... Uchiha Madara!" A sickening dread washed over him, cold sweat beading on his stitched skin. As a shinobi from the Warring States Period, he had seen Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara in their prime. He knew, firsthand, the magnitude of their power. It was why he so frequently boasted of "assassinating" the First—it was the only way to feel significant in the shadow of such gods.
He swallowed hard, his mind racing through escape scenarios, each more hopeless than the last.
"An interesting ability," Uchiha Madara's voice was low, yet it filled the cavern with an oppressive, dominating weight. "The Earth Grudge Fear. I've heard of it."
Kakuzu's last shred of hope evaporated. If Madara knew the technique, he knew its weaknesses. Escape was impossible.
"Are you frightened?" Madara asked, a flicker of amusement in his chilling gaze.
Kakuzu could only offer a bitter, strained smile. Frightened? How could I not be? You are Uchiha Madara. I am not some foolish young upstart who doesn't know your legend.
"To think I would lay eyes upon Lord Madara once more," Kakuzu said, forcing a semblance of calm into his voice. "It seems my death will not be an obscure one."
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