Kakuzu: Heart's Journey I: The Heart of Flame
This is a story inspired by Akatsuki210's "The First Heart". Like many others, I feel Kakuzu's story wasn't expanded on enough and I thought I'd give my take on his tale. Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any character or reference from it. All credit and rights go to Masashi Kishimoto.
Chapter 1
By the time the Second Hokage began his reign over the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Kakuzu Kuriyama's life was in shambles. He and his father Shiraishi Kuriyama, both from the Hidden Waterfall Village, failed an assassination of the First Hokage. It nearly cost Kakuzu his life, and it cost his father's life to save him. He returned to the village and was shunned because of his failure. Enraged by this, Kakuzu stole the secret Jiongu Immortality technique-which allows the user to prolong their life by stealing the still beating hearts of their enemies-from his village. Kakuzu killed his village's leaders by stealing their hearts and fled, leaving his shame behind him and embracing a darker side of himself.
Now at full maturity, Kakuzu began his search for hearts that could sustain his immortality and give him more power to crush anyone in his way. He planned to gain the hearts of ninja that had mastered chakra elements; one each of Fire, Lightning, Wind, and Earth. He was already born with a Water nature, so that was one down. He knew that the Uchiha clan of the Hidden Leaf usually had a fire chakra affinity. How fitting, he thought, for the next heart to be torn from the body of a Leaf ninja. So, he planned to infiltrate the Hidden Leaf and steal a powerful heart. The only problem was that the Leaf's defense forces were sizeable, and an Uchiha would not go down without a good fight, so he would need a team of highly skilled outlaw ninja like himself to help him.
Kakuzu infiltrated one of the prisons in the Hidden Rock village, easily and stealthily taking out the guards with his chakra-infused threads. No one even saw him as he unlocked all the cell doors from a distance. Kakuzu figured that the prisoners he didn't use for this mission he would capture and bring back to the prison to make a profit later. During the chaos of the prison break, Kakuzu pulled two of the strongest-looking prisoners out and took them to a safe location outside the prison. He held the two men up with his tendrils and sensed who was the most powerful of the two. The man on the left had much higher chakra levels than the one on the right, so Kakuzu quickly ended the weaker one's life. The other man didn't seem phased at all by this, not displaying much emotion at all.
"You, what is your name?" Kakuzu said in his darkly resonating voice.
"I am called Jinshin," he replied dryly.
"What are your abilities?" Kakuzu demanded.
"I have the bloodline limit Ishikarada," Jinshin stated.
Kakuzu's green eyes widened at this statement. He had heard of this bloodline limit, known only to run in the Onuko clan of the Hidden Stone village, a smaller village than the Hidden Rock. It was a very powerful technique that transformed the user's body into stone for defense. If I didn't need him for this, this man would be a perfect candidate for my Earth heart. Maybe another time. "Alright, Jinshin, I need your help infiltrating the Hidden Leaf village. We're targeting a member of the Uchiha clan, it won't be easy but your talents will help immensely."
"Sure." Jinshin replied.
Kakuzu started to worry a little; Jinshin was as cold as he was, perhaps even more so. Kakuzu couldn't read this man at all, like he was empty of all emotion.
"Should we get going then?" Jinshin asked.
"Yes. First, we will add another member to our squad from the Hidden Grass village. Then we head for the Leaf." Kakuzu informed him.
"Right, lead the way," Jinshin replied. As they journeyed to the Grass country, Kakuzu couldn't help but wonder who this man was, and why he was so obedient without question. He didn't seem very old, maybe in his thirties, but his eyes were so cold and empty that it seems like he's seen more than his share of pain in his lifetime. It's no matter, Kakuzu thought, reminding himself, I have to stay focused on my ultimate goals. This man is just a pawn in my greater journey to immortality.