"What nonsense is this? I, the proud Third Hokage of Konoha, recognized as the Ninjutsu Professor throughout the shinobi world, and known as the heroic figure of battle—how did I end up being called 'Little Kakuzu'?"
The Third Hokage was furious.
After the passing of his teacher, Tobirama, he had been entrusted with the role of the village's Third Hokage in a time of crisis.
During his tenure, he worked tirelessly, enduring hardships. Not only did he withstand the attacks from enemy villages during the Second and Third Shinobi Wars, but he also earned a distinguished reputation.
With mastery over the five basic nature transformations, he might not have reached perfection, but he was certainly highly skilled.
Yet, just because Kakuzu's fighting style was somewhat similar to his, he was now being referred to as "Little Kakuzu"?
The Third Hokage couldn't accept it.
"Old man, whether you accept it or not doesn't matter. By age, Kakuzu is definitely older than you," the Fifth Hokage, Jiraiya, laughed from the side.
It was rare for him to see the Third Hokage this annoyed.
"Jiraiya is right," Orochimaru chimed in. "Kakuzu was once sent by the Hidden Waterfall Village to assassinate the First Hokage. That means he was at least sixteen back then, and at that time, old man, you were probably just a few years old."
With Jiraiya and Orochimaru each adding their comments, the Third Hokage's face turned red.
"You... ungrateful students...! I don't care! When we finally face the Akatsuki in battle, I'll make sure to personally kill Kakuzu. That will prove I'm not 'Little Kakuzu.'"
"Old man, calm down. You should consider how old you are. You can't afford to push yourself too hard," Jiraiya advised.
He and Orochimaru were just teasing their teacher. They didn't actually want him to fight Kakuzu.
Kakuzu had the Earth Grudge Fear technique. Even at his advanced age, he could still maintain peak combat strength.
But the Third Hokage was just a regular human, nearing seventy, with only about seventy to eighty percent of his former peak strength left.
If a battle did break out between them, neither Jiraiya nor Orochimaru had high hopes for the Third Hokage.
Even if the Third Hokage knew everything about Kakuzu, it wouldn't help much. He would still need the strength to pierce through Kakuzu's hearts.
Jiraiya and Orochimaru estimated that if the Third Hokage managed to take out two of Kakuzu's hearts by surprise, that would already be impressive. Any more would be out of reach.
"Jiraiya, so now you're using my own words against me, huh?"
"Well, you were the one who said it in the first place."
"Don't worry. I'm not stupid. When the time comes, you two can take out Kakuzu's other four hearts, leaving him with just one. I refuse to believe I can't take down a one-hearted Kakuzu."
Hearing this, both Jiraiya and Orochimaru thought to themselves, How shameless, but they also breathed a sigh of relief.
Kakuzu with only one heart wouldn't be a problem.
Kakuzu's strength lay entirely in his Earth Grudge Fear technique.
With each heart he lost, his power would weaken significantly.
By the time he was down to just one heart, his strength would likely be about half of what it was at his peak.
A Kakuzu like that wouldn't pose much of a threat to the Third Hokage.
"Old man, you better work hard to stay alive. Don't end up dying of old age before the battle even starts."
"What nonsense are you talking about? I can live for at least another ten years."
"Haha, that's even better."
[Kakuzu's firepower from the turrets was overwhelming, suppressing Konoha's side to the point they couldn't lift their heads.]
[It wasn't until Shikamaru's strategy caused Kakuzu to suffer from the combined damage of a water and lightning-based attack that Choji and Ino were saved.]
[At this point, the battle entered the second phase.]
[The Zombie Duo was scattered by the recovering team led by Old Kakashi.]
[Hidan and Shikamaru ended up facing off one-on-one.]
"One-on-one?"
Seeing on the screen that Shikamaru was using his Shadow Imitation Technique to drag Hidan away from the battlefield, Asuma raised an eyebrow and began to worry about Shikamaru.
"That brat... Why did he go for a one-on-one against Hidan? Wouldn't it be better if he, Choji, and Ino joined forces to take on Hidan while Kakashi held off Kakuzu? A real battle isn't about some reckless bravery."
Asuma was indeed worried.
In his view, Shikamaru on the screen had let the desire for revenge cloud his judgment, just like Sasuke Uchiha in the past, always doing foolish things.
After all, Hidan was an official member of the Akatsuki, an S-rank rogue ninja in the ninja world.
Could Shikamaru really handle such an enemy?
Seeing Asuma's worried expression, Kurenai tried to comfort him. "Didn't you say Shikamaru is really smart? So don't worry, he must have his own plan."
"Let's hope so."
In Tobirama's office, Torifu Akimichi watched as Shikamaru and Hidan moved aside to face off one-on-one. He couldn't help but think that this young man from the Nara clan really had guts, which was quite unlike the usual Nara clan behavior.
"I heard from the people in that timeline that this kid is going to be the next head of the Nara clan."
"Really?" Mitokado Homura glanced over and chuckled. "To be chosen as the Nara clan head, he must not be ordinary. I'm suddenly interested in how he's going to deal with that immortal monster. I wonder if the screen will show it."
"Probably not. This segment is focused on Kakuzu, so if we want to see that fight, we'll likely have to wait until they cover Hidan or Shikamaru."
"True."
[As Hidan and Shikamaru left, Kakuzu began reminiscing with Kakashi about the time he fought the First Hokage one-on-one.]
[Considering Kakuzu didn't have his Earth Grudge Fear technique back then, failing to assassinate Hashirama in the early days was quite understandable.]
[When Hashirama's earth-shattering power gets fully displayed five hundred episodes later, the difference is enormous, far beyond what anyone could have anticipated.]
[Thus, there's a joke about Kakuzu attempting to ambush Hashirama with a shuriken from 800 miles away.]
"Pfft~ Ambush with a shuriken from 800 miles away?"
Fifth Hokage Jiraiya, who was drinking water, spat it out on the spot.
Next to him, Uzumaki Naruto, who didn't dodge in time, was instantly drenched.
"Pervy Sage, what are you doing?"
"Ah, cough, cough~ Sorry, Naruto. Here, take this paper and wipe yourself off."
Naruto reluctantly took the paper from Jiraiya's hand, full of resentment, and began to dry the places where he got wet.
"There's no way Kakuzu actually did that, right? Throwing a shuriken from 800 miles away is way too exaggerated. But if it were 800 meters, it might not be impossible."
Thinking about the First Hokage's overwhelming power, and judging from the strength Kakuzu showed on the screen, the Third Hokage couldn't imagine any scenario where Kakuzu could have survived a direct confrontation.
And that was even with the Earth Grudge Fear technique. Without it, Kakuzu would have had no chance of escaping alive.
"Old man, I know you don't like Kakuzu, but there's no need to slander him like that."
"Do you have a better explanation?"
Fifth Hokage Jiraiya thought for a moment and said, "Is it possible that the First Hokage went easy on him and deliberately let him escape?"
"Now that you mention it, with the First Hokage's personality, that's something he would do."
"Exactly. So, you could say that Kakuzu was actually quite lucky. His assassination target was the kind and merciful First Hokage. If he had targeted the wise (cunning), cold (emotionless) Second Hokage... well, the grass on his grave would have been cut down over and over by now."
Third Hokage: "Jiraiya, you're done for. You actually dared to call Lord Tobirama cunning and heartless. I'm going to report this to him."
Fifth Hokage Jiraiya: "No, I didn't. You're making it up. Stop saying nonsense."
Σ(⊙▽⊙"a
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