"HAAAH!!!"
A deafening roar erupted from Kakuzu's throat, his bloodshot eyes filled with relentless determination. He couldn't afford to falter—he had to see this through to the end. It was all or nothing.
Slowly, Kakuzu bent his knees, his entire body trembling under an immense force. With gritted teeth, he pushed himself up again, struggling against his own limits, waging an all-out battle against fate.
Watching from behind the glass, Ni had a different perspective. What she saw wasn't Kakuzu's unyielding determination—it was his agony. Every person had a threshold for pain, and once that limit was breached, only death awaited.
Ni grew anxious. She swiftly reached out her pale hand but refrained from breaking the glass door. She understood that this was the most crucial moment for Kakuzu. Opening the door now would only make things worse.
Her slender fingers brushed against her waist, where she always carried her weapon—a three-meter-long whip. Despite being a ninja, Ni was never particularly skilled with kunai or blades. As a member of the Spirit Beast Clan, she had been handling summoning creatures and wild beasts since childhood. The best tool for taming them was, of course, a whip.
Wherever her whip landed, screams inevitably followed.
Whoosh!
"Ugh—AAAHHH!!!"
Hiruko's hands clamped desperately around the whip tightening around his neck, his face turning a deep shade of red. He hadn't done anything, yet this woman had suddenly attacked him.
Ni parted her crimson lips and provided the answer herself.
"This is the answer you gave to Lord Kakuzu!"
She was furious. If anything happened to Kakuzu today, Hiruko would accompany him in death.
Choking, Hiruko raised his hands in surrender, prompting Ni to finally loosen her grip slightly. He coughed violently, his red-tinged face gradually regaining its color. Finally able to speak, he gasped out,
"Cough… cough… The experimental data—I-I have verified it twenty-one times. Kakuzu-sama even checked it himself several times. There's no way—no way there's an error! Absolutely impossible!"
As he spoke those last words, Hiruko, who had been weak and subdued moments ago, suddenly seemed possessed. His eyes reddened, and he shouted with fervor,
"The experiment is flawless! It cannot be wrong!!!"
His voice cracked with desperation.
Once, he had been a shinobi of Konohagakure. But in the realm of ninjutsu, Konoha had dismissed him as worthless. He was so weak that he wasn't even qualified to step onto the battlefield. His research in forbidden techniques was also scorned—no one acknowledged him.
Meanwhile, his former comrades, like Jiraiya, had risen to fame as part of the Legendary Three. Yet he remained an obscure nobody.
Until he met Kakuzu.
Kakuzu had recognized his desire to become stronger. He had even patted Hiruko's shoulder and told him,
"Your research is far more valuable to this world than any strength."
Yes—far more valuable.
The world would never lack powerful shinobi. But those devoted to science, those who sought the truth, were rare. That made them invaluable.
Kakuzu wasn't just feeding him empty words. It was the truth.
Hiruko took two steps back. His face, once flushed from suffocation, now turned slightly pale. He crouched down, gripping his hair with both hands.
"It can't be… It can't be… Kakuzu-sama will be fine! He has to be fine! Because he's the only one who acknowledged me!!!"
Seeing Hiruko's dazed and frantic expression, Ni's anger softened. She no longer pressed him for answers and instead shifted her anxious gaze back to Kakuzu.
The experiment Kakuzu was undergoing was, in essence, a tailed beast fusion.
During the Second Shinobi World War, he had obtained samples from the One-Tail and the Five-Tails. However, he had yet to find a suitable host for the One-Tail, as it had yet to fully earn his acknowledgment. Thus, he decided to first fuse with the Five-Tails, Kokuō.
But there was a significant challenge.
The Three-Tails was naturally aligned with Water Release, and the One-Tail with Wind Release. The Five-Tails, however, lacked a particularly dominant chakra attribute. No matter which host he sealed it into, it would be an imperfect match.
Kokuō's defining feature was the massive horn on its head—capable of leveling a mountain with a single strike. If he could integrate that devastating power into his own body, wouldn't that be ideal?
It was a simple thought, but once it took root in Kakuzu's mind, it ignited his deep-seated curiosity.
Humans weren't born with wings, yet they had found a way to soar through the skies. Just because something didn't exist naturally didn't mean it was impossible—it simply hadn't been discovered yet.
Especially in the shinobi world, where anything was possible.
And so, Kakuzu and Hiruko began their experiment.
While testing the fusion process, Kakuzu also used Earth Grudge Fear to gradually integrate Steel Release and Explosion Release into his arsenal. This accelerated his progress significantly.
In the end, he chose to fuse Kokuō's horn into his right arm—merging it with his own flesh and blood.
It sounded absurd.
But Kakuzu knew it could work. In the future, someone else would successfully achieve a similar fusion: Kabuto Yakushi.
He had combined Orochimaru's DNA with his own, evolving into a completely new being.
The theory behind the fusion was solid. Now, all that remained was for Kakuzu to endure the process.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock...
The clock on the wall moved forward, second by second. At the same time, the changes in Kakuzu's body became more pronounced. Gradually, he closed his eyes.
Rather than endure the pain, it was better to adapt—to feel it, accept it. Just like when he first fused with Hashirama's cells, which took him three whole days and nights and nearly cost him half his life.
Thinking of this, Kakuzu felt a strange sense of calm.
In the depths of his consciousness, he seemed to see a different world.
"That summoning beast…?"
He wasn't entirely sure if what he was seeing was real.
It was completely snow-white, its fur soft and smooth. Five tails swayed gently behind it, giving it an almost adorable appearance. Its mouth was well-formed, lacking the underbite it would later develop.
"Heh… so Kokuō looked like this when he was young?"
The deepest genetic memories of the Tailed Beasts surfaced in his mind.
Kakuzu had never imagined that Kokuō had been so cute as a child. There was no trace of the wide-mouthed, fierce appearance it had now.
At the same time, he understood one thing—if he could glimpse the past through genetic memory, that meant he had passed the test. The genes from Kokuō's horns had successfully integrated into his body.
Of course, integration didn't mean complete fusion. There was still the issue of genetic rejection. He had discussed this with Hiruko many times before. For most people, merging with Tailed Beast genes would lead to an inevitable death—unless they had a unique physique like the Gold and Silver Brothers.
Kakuzu didn't possess a Sage of Six Paths-level physique.
However, he had something in his body that naturally countered the Tailed Beasts.
Hashirama's cells.
Slowly, Kakuzu opened his eyes and took a moment to assess his physical state.
"As expected of Hashirama's cells… they naturally suppress the Tailed Beasts."
He could feel the chakra flow within his body had become much smoother, though it was still far from a natural balance.
He knew the reason why. The concentration of Hashirama's cells in his body had been diluted roughly seventyfold.
It seemed he needed to strengthen them further.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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