"Who's there? Get out here."
Kakuzu, who had been fleeing while thinking about where to steal another ninja's heart, suddenly stopped and prepared to strike at any moment.
Without Earth Grudge Fear, Kakuzu was still among the stronger jonin, but he could no longer contend with a Kage. Having lost three hearts, his strength had dropped sharply, forcing him to act with caution.
"So in just a few days, you've ended up in such a miserable state."
Orochimaru stepped out from the shadows.
He had not deliberately set up an ambush for Kakuzu. He had simply happened to run into Kakuzu fleeing in haste, and his curiosity had made him follow for a while.
The moment Kakuzu saw Orochimaru, his expression darkened.
At full strength, he would not have feared Orochimaru.
But now, he only had two hearts left.
Orochimaru let out a sinister chuckle.
"If I remember correctly, the power you possess now comes from stealing other people's hearts. It's either a peculiar bloodline limit or some kind of special secret technique. I've always been quite interested in that power."
The moment he finished speaking, Orochimaru attacked.
Back when he was still in the Akatsuki, aside from coveting the Rinnegan, Kakuzu's abilities had also interested him. Unfortunately, Kakuzu was no weakling, and with Pain's warning hanging over him, Orochimaru had been forced to let the matter go.
Who would have thought such a perfect chance would present itself now?
Orochimaru had already developed Living Corpse Reincarnation, and he knew very well that the technique was incomplete.
But he could not tolerate feeling his body slowly age, which was why he had targeted Itachi Uchiha in the first place.
Although he had lost to Itachi Uchiha, Orochimaru had never given up.
He had been planning to find a suitable vessel and use Living Corpse Reincarnation again.
But now, the injured Kakuzu had given him a new opportunity.
Perhaps he would not need to rely on Living Corpse Reincarnation so soon after all.
Before long, Kakuzu was defeated.
Orochimaru killed him and quickly read through the memories in his mind.
"So that's how it is. This too is a form of immortality. Who would have thought that village possessed such a secret technique? If it did not require such a specific medium, Takigakure might have become the sixth great ninja village through this technique alone."
Orochimaru began cultivating the Earth Grudge Fear secret technique.
From Kakuzu's corpse, he extracted the crucial object required to practice it.
With Orochimaru's monstrous talent, he mastered the technique in very little time.
"So aside from achieving immortality by constantly replacing hearts, this secret technique also strengthens the user's affinity with Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, and Lightning chakra."
That revelation genuinely shocked Orochimaru.
When he had read Kakuzu's memories earlier, he had only skimmed through a portion of them, which was why he had not realized this at first.
Now that he understood it, he felt contempt for Kakuzu.
At the same time, excitement surged within him.
Orochimaru was already a genius to begin with. He had mastered ninjutsu from all five chakra natures long ago, though later he focused more on snakes and forbidden techniques because he knew that ordinary five-element ninjutsu had limits.
But now things were different.
His already extraordinary chakra affinity had been enhanced even further.
As a result, a bold idea began to form in Orochimaru's mind.
If he succeeded, then Itachi Uchiha would amount to nothing.
Other than Pain, there would be no one left in the entire ninja world capable of making him wary.
In the days that followed, Orochimaru began stealing the hearts of other ninja.
For the first time in a long while, he felt the vigor of youth once more.
Of course, Orochimaru was not some shallow fool who would abandon Living Corpse Reincarnation and his other forbidden research simply because he had obtained Earth Grudge Fear.
Orochimaru's dream was to master every ninjutsu in existence.
The reason he sought immortality in the first place was because human life and energy were limited.
Only immortality could grant him endless time to learn countless techniques.
Meanwhile, during these same days, the Hancock clone set up more traps and got additional Sarutobi clan and Shimura clan ninja killed.
Although Kakuzu was dead, there were still plenty of ways to get them killed along the border.
Naturally, she also learned the Fire Release techniques controlled by the Sarutobi clan and the Wind Release techniques controlled by the Shimura clan.
Inside the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression was extremely grim.
Although Konoha and Kumogakure had reached a temporary ceasefire, the losses suffered by the Sarutobi clan, the Shimura clan, and the Mitokado clan were far too severe.
The Utatane clan was in somewhat better shape.
About half of their ninja were medical ninja, so they had far less contact with the Hancock clone and suffered lighter losses.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sharply sensed that something was wrong.
With Jiraiya stationed there, how could their losses be even worse than on the Iwagakure front?
When his gaze landed on Kakuzu's name in the report, he sneered at the line stating that Kakuzu was suspected of having fought Hashirama Senju.
Compared to the current generation of Konoha ninja, Hiruzen Sarutobi understood far better just how terrifying Hashirama Senju had truly been.
Take Itachi Uchiha, for example.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was deeply wary of him.
But in front of Madara Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha was nowhere near enough.
And Madara Uchiha had always been defeated by Hashirama Senju.
"I can only wait for Jiraiya to return and hear his report."
Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a long sigh.
One of his nephews had died in this battle, and it had been one of the more promising ones.
As Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi could bear such losses.
Danzo Shimura, who controlled Root, could bear them as well.
The two of them felt some heartache, but the damage was still within what they could accept.
Mitokado Homura, however, was a different story.
His family had lost nearly half of its high-level combat power, along with quite a few chunin-level ninja.
Their overall strength had dropped by roughly one-third.
If the Sarutobi clan and the Shimura clan had not also suffered heavy losses, Mitokado Homura might have suspected that Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura had joined forces to set him up.
Even so, he raged helplessly for a long time.
Because of the information blackout, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others still knew nothing about the Hancock clone's special abilities.
The reason was simple.
The moment the Hancock clone activated Desire of Beauty, the Konoha ninja on the border became completely infatuated with her.
The clone did not even need to say a word.
They automatically covered for her.
Uchiha Fujie, who had been in the middle of training, suddenly stopped and looked toward the Hokage Tower and Root headquarters.
This was only the beginning.
With Danzo Shimura's intelligence feeding him information, the members of those four clans would be in danger unless they stopped leaving the village for missions entirely.
The best part of this plan was that even Danzo Shimura himself had no idea the intelligence had leaked from his side.
As a result, the Konoha F4 would start suspecting one another.
"I didn't expect Kakuzu to be killed by Orochimaru. This just got interesting."
Konoha still did not know that Kakuzu was dead.
But the clones knew.
And if the clones knew, then Uchiha Fujie naturally knew as well.
"For now, revenge will still focus mainly on the Konoha F4. Obito Uchiha can wait. The best revenge against him is not physical harm, but the destruction of his spirit. Rin can be used for that."
At that thought, Uchiha Fujie sent a new order to the Aizen clone.
The next step could not be accomplished by the Hancock clone alone.
She had the strength to do it, but she was not the best fit for the role.
Her primary function was charm and manipulation.
Raw force would be left to others.
In the Land of Rice Fields, the Aizen clone smiled faintly.
So it's finally my turn?
Still, it didn't matter.
Even if he left this place, he could still control the Land of Rice Fields indirectly.
At this point, the Konoha forces had mostly returned to the village, leaving only two squads behind on the border.
And among those two squads, there were no members of the Sarutobi clan, the Shimura clan, or the other target clans.
"So the next target is him?"
"If he dies, there's no way Hiruzen Sarutobi won't feel the pain."
The Aizen clone set out toward the Land of Fire.
Meanwhile, the Hancock clone headed toward the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, where the fighting had not yet ended.