Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 177 Kakuzu is a True Man

"Hidden Mist?"

"hehe!"

Looking at the thick fog around him, where visibility was less than a meter, Li Yao shook his head, a hint of mockery appearing on his lips.

This kind of concealment technique that blocks visual perception is completely useless against his chakra sensing ability.

Using the dense fog as cover, Kakuzu employed a silent killing technique, his footsteps moving silently towards Li Yao from below, attempting to attack Li Yao through the black lines of the Earth Grudge and seize his heart.

All of this was exposed to Li Yao's chakra perception ability.

Li Yao suddenly felt a little bored.

The fighting spirit that had just been aroused vanished without a trace in an instant.

In terms of ninjutsu, chakra reserves, sensory abilities, and taijutsu reflexes, he surpasses Kakuzu in every aspect.

Faced with absolute strength, all combat experience, combat skills, and tactical coordination are meaningless; Li Yao saw through them all.

What kind of battle is this?

It was just a one-sided beating.

"It's boring."

"Let's investigate how the Earth Grudge Fear technique steals other people's hearts."

With a thought, Li Yao cast the Perception Deprivation Technique.

In the thick fog, Kakuzu arrived below Li Yao, preparing to unleash a tentacle attack, only to find that he had lost control of his body, including the black lines within him, with only his five hearts still beating.

"Wind Release: Tide Erosion Technique!"

A strong wind gathered around Li Yao and then spread out in all directions, like ripples on water, instantly dispersing the thick fog within a radius of five kilometers.

Below, Kakuzu had already fallen to the ground, his eyes fixed on Li Yao falling from the sky above, but in reality, he could see nothing, his consciousness bound within his own consciousness space.

On either side of his body, two hearts wrapped in black lines were beating thump-thump-thump.

Having lost control of the black threads, the heart, detached from its body, could no longer maintain the form of the black monster and reverted to its state of being entangled in black threads.

"Illusion?"

"No, it's not an illusion!"

With his consciousness trapped and his body unresponsive, Kakuzu was alarmed but quickly realized that he was not under the influence of a genjutsu, but rather a ninjutsu similar to a paralysis technique, except that this ninjutsu had deprived him of control over his body and the black lines.

Kakuzu could still sense the presence of his heart, but no matter how he tried to control his heart to attack his body, his body remained motionless. The black tendrils wrapped around his heart would only wriggle instinctively, uncontrollable by his heart.

Li Yao landed next to Kakuzu and squatted down, picking up a beating heart wrapped in black threads from the ground.

Upon physical contact, Li Yao sensed the unique changes in the nature and form of the chakra within the black lines.

Li Yao tried to condense the same amount of chakra, but no black lines appeared in his hand.

"Flesh and blood... just as I expected!"

Li Yao smiled slightly. The black lines were not formed from chakra, but from a special kind of earth-grimity chakra fused with flesh and blood. Therefore, they still had some characteristics of flesh and blood, such as nerve conduction.

Because of this, Li Yao was able to use the Perception Deprivation Technique to strip Kakuzu of his heart's control over the black lines, rendering him a vegetable.

In a sense, even the horn isn't human anymore.

Instead, it became some kind of alternative chakra creature.

After the entire body is transformed into black lines of flesh and blood, vital organs such as the brain will no longer be vital organs; the heart will become the only Achilles' heel.

In Li Yao's perception, Kakuzu's heart was very special, resembling a brain, with dense nerve networks covering it, and a large amount of chakra was mainly stored here.

His soul also mainly resides here.

To obtain the complete Earth Grudge Secret Technique, Li Yao needs a spirit to possess Jiao Du and access his memories through his soul.

"Bang!"

Just to be on the safe side, Li Yao created a shadow clone before using the Spirit Transformation Technique to create a spirit body that possessed Kakuzu.

"This is... a spiritification technique!"

The moment Li Yao's spirit possessed him, the well-informed Kakuzu sensed it in his consciousness space, but that was all he could do; he was powerless to stop Li Yao's spirit from invading.

After a spirit possesses an enemy using the Spirit Transformation technique, it can not only directly attack the opponent's soul or seize control of the enemy's body, but also use soul penetration to explore the enemy's memories.

At this moment, the memory spirit, in a ethereal form, seeps into Kakuzu's soul and begins to explore Kakuzu's memories.

Soon, Kakuzu's memories return to the beginning of everything.

Three years after the First Hokage pacified the chaotic world and established Konoha, the title of God of Shinobi was known throughout the ninja world.

Kakuzu, the youngest and strongest in Takigakure, with the highest prestige and the most likely candidate to become the second Takigakure, suddenly receives a secret mission from the village's higher-ups.

"Go and kill the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju!"

"Huh? Me?"

When Kakuzu received the mission, his mind went blank for a moment. He was the strongest of the younger generation in Takigakure, but his strength was only that of a Jonin. To ask him to kill the First Hokage, who could treat tailed beasts like pets, Kakuzu was speechless.

Later, a high-ranking member of the village said that this was a test for the second Takigakure. If he didn't even have the courage to fight the God of Shinobi, how could he possibly lead Takigakure to become a great nation?

At that time, those who regarded Takifumi Films as their dream and the village as their home could not withstand this kind of provocation.

So he resolutely embarked on the path of assassinating the god of ninjas.

In reality, when it comes to assassination, there's little difference between assassination and open assassination when facing someone as overpowered as Hashirama.

Perhaps he saw Kakuzu's passion for the village, perhaps Kakuzu was only targeting him, or perhaps Hashirama longed for peace.

In short, he did not kill Kakuzu who came to kill him. Instead, he did not use Wood Release, but only used Taijutsu to play with Kakuzu, making Kakuzu realize that the mission had failed and automatically retreat after doing his best for the mission.

Kakuzu, upon returning to Takigakure, believed that Kakuzu's all-out battle and survival against the God of Shinobi not only proved his courage but also demonstrated his strength, making him qualified to lead Takigakure to greatness.

In the end... the so-called mission was just an excuse.

The village's higher-ups gave Kakuzu an impossible mission—to kill the First Hokage—with the intention of causing him to fail, giving them an excuse to suppress him and promote their own people to power.

No matter which village, those who enjoy power and become politicians have dirty hearts.

The establishment of the ninja village gave rise to the first generation of politicians with dirty minds, who believed that personal rights were above the interests of the village.

Kakuzu's reputation has become an obstacle on their path to power and must be eliminated.

Of course, they didn't intend to kill Kakuzu; they just wanted to damage his reputation.

As a result, Kakuzu was like a sunny boy who was suddenly corrupted by darkness. Faced with the accusations and insults from the village's higher-ups, and the villagers who revealed their ugly faces under the guidance of the higher-ups' public opinion, Kakuzu completely lost his sense of identity with the village.

So, under cover of darkness one night, he sneaked into the secret chamber in the village where forbidden techniques were kept and stole the scroll of the Earth Grudge Technique.

Kakuzu's talent is truly exceptional; none of the villagers qualified to learn the Earth Grudge Technique have mastered it.

However, he learned the Earth Grudge in just a few minutes, transforming his entire body into the black lines of the Earth Grudge.

Afterwards, Kakuzu assassinated all the village's high-ranking officials, took their hearts, and defected from Takigakure.

Having read this far, Li Yao exited the game.

"Kakuzu is a real man; at least he's not the kind of man who would throw a kunai from 800 meters away and run away."

Li Yao can testify that Kakuzu really did fight the First Hokage. Although the First Hokage wasn't serious and was just playing around, it wasn't the fight where he just threw a kunai and ran away, as some online sources claim.

(End of this chapter)