"That Uchiha brat is really strong..." Kakuzu leaped through the dense forest, relying on the tiny bit of chakra left in his body.
'No, this speed is too slow...' He realized he'd be caught sooner or later if he kept running like this. Immediately, he summoned his three Earth Grudge monsters, ordering them to scatter in different directions.
A fierce look flashed in his eyes. He plunged one hand straight through his chest, grabbing his own heart.
Then he squeezed and crushed it.
Kakuzu's breathing stopped instantly, and his body slowly fell.
He was dead.
But! Not completely dead!
Because he still had remaining hearts in the three Earth Grudge monsters.
Kakuzu believed that brat would definitely give chase. As long as the Uchiha brat saw his dead body, he would surely think he was completely dead and leave.
In that case, the Earth Grudge monsters he had sent away would return, install a heart, and resurrect him!
This was Kakuzu's plan!
In his view, the opponent couldn't possibly know his technique. Therefore! The probability of success was one hundred percent!
'Plan success!'
...
Kakuzu slowly opened his eyes, regaining consciousness.
He felt his heart beating steadily and rejoiced.
'The plan worked!'
"Awake?" A voice like a nightmare came from in front of him.
Kakuzu sat up abruptly. Sure enough, the masked Uchiha brat was sitting on a large rock in front of him, watching him with a bored expression, chin resting on his hand.
"You!"
Kakuzu instantly tried to stand up and use chakra to perform a jutsu.
"I'd advise you to save your energy..." Lexon looked at him indifferently. "Don't you know exactly how much chakra you have left..."
Kakuzu froze at Lexon's words. He checked and found that he really only had a tiny bit of chakra left, not much different from when he fled.
"I destroyed your other two hearts. As for the last Wind Style one, I let it wear itself out until it only had a tiny bit of chakra left before stuffing it back into you," Lexon explained.
Kakuzu checked again and indeed found only one wind-nature heart left in his body. His expression darkened, and he asked Lexon, "How do you know everything about my technique... and since you knew, why didn't you kill me?"
He was bewildered. Why did the other party know his separated Earth Grudge monsters had his hearts? Why did he know they could revive him? And finally, why was he still alive...
"I just know, that's all," Lexon said flatly.
"Then why haven't you killed me?"
"Ah... you want to die? Then I'll kill you," Lexon said, as if just realizing. He stood up and approached Kakuzu.
"Huh?" Kakuzu was a bit stunned. Seeing Lexon approaching, he hurriedly said, "I don't think I want to die!"
"I don't care what you think, I care what I think." Lexon didn't stop.
"Huh?" At this moment, Kakuzu finally experienced what his former partners, whom he had casually disposed of, must have felt.
'It's just... speechless... utterly speechless.'
Lexon continued to approach. Kakuzu had already closed his eyes, watching his life flash before him, lamenting his fate.
Lexon walked right up to Kakuzu, clapped a hand on his shoulder, and smiled slightly. "Just kidding."
Kakuzu's eyes snapped open. He growled, his face dark, "You're humiliating me!"
"Do you feel that 'a samurai can be killed, but not insulted'?" Lexon kept smiling at him.
"I don't feel that way." Hearing this, Kakuzu turned his head and looked away.
Lexon shrugged.
[Sign-in successful]
[Secret Technique: Earth Grudge Fear: Allows the body to be completely transformed into black tentacles. The black tentacles in the body can be controlled with chakra and can be used for long-distance attacks. The black tentacles can also be used to stitch the body.
The black tentacles can be used to steal the hearts of others and integrate them into one's own body, acquiring the chakra nature associated with the heart. Hearts can also be separated to build Earth Grudge monsters, which can release ninjutsu of the heart's associated nature.]
He got Earth Grudge Fear, but Lexon was just planning to hide it away as a collectible, so he didn't really care.
"Why did you capture me?" Kakuzu, seeing Lexon remain silent for a long time, couldn't help but turn back and ask.
"Weren't you the one who attacked me first?" Lexon put on a surprised expression.
Kakuzu's face twitched. His current situation was indeed his own fault. But he pressed on, "So you didn't mean to capture me... Can I go now?"
"No."
"..."
"How can I let you go free after you're the one who started the trouble?" Lexon sat back down on the large rock.
"Then what do you want?" Kakuzu was confused.
"I'm still thinking about it," Lexon replied.
'To be honest, he didn't know what use capturing Kakuzu was. He just did it on a whim...'
'He doesn't have anything I want anymore. Should I just kill him?'
Lexon thought.
'Ah, wait... he does.'
He suddenly remembered there was something he wanted from Kakuzu.
'That is... money.'
'Isn't Kakuzu Akatsuki's treasurer? And he loves money... He must have a lot saved up...'
Although Lexon didn't have much desire for this world's money, he couldn't think of any other use for Kakuzu at the moment.
"Ransom your life with your money... What do you think?" Lexon said to Kakuzu.
Kakuzu was silent for a moment, then said, "How much?"
Lexon also fell silent. He had no real concept of this world's currency, having been living on Uchiha welfare all this time.
"Your entire fortune?" Lexon tested.
"Impossible!!!" Kakuzu's reaction was intense, much more intense than when Lexon had threatened to kill him.
'You really are obsessed with money...' Lexon thought, watching his reaction.
'By the way, where did your money go after you died in the original story? Konan's six hundred billion explosive tags?'
'If that's true, wouldn't you jump right out of your coffin?'
'Ah... he actually was reanimated in the Fourth Great Ninja War.'
'Never mind then.'
"Then two-thirds?" Lexon continued.
"Impossible!!!"
"One-half?"
"Impossible!!"
"One-third?"
"Impossible!"
"Then just go die..."
"Wait! One-third it is!" Kakuzu finally agreed to hand over one-third of his fortune to ransom his life.
Kakuzu, having managed to survive this long, still wanted to keep surviving.
"Then..."
Just as Lexon was about to speak, a warning suddenly flashed in his mind. The hair on his body stood on end.
It was his [Intuition], which hadn't activated in a long time!
He looked in the direction of the premonition.
From under the dark shadows of the trees, a person slowly walked out.
He wore a black cloak embroidered with red clouds, had orange hair, and his ears and nose were pierced with black rods. His pupils were filled with concentric circles.
Tendo Pain!
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]