Naruto: Starting from the time when the Six Paths of Pain was Kira Yoshikage

While Yoshikage Kira was training in Ripple and traveling to Egypt with the DIO team, Nagato wasn't idle either.

Kakuzu, who hadn't walked far from the underground bounty office in the Land of Earth, looked warily at the person blocking his path.

"Who is it?"

The first thing Kakuzu did upon seeing Pain was not prepare for battle, but instinctively clutch the banknotes he had just exchanged from the bounty shop.

The most striking thing about him is that he's obsessed with money.

Pain ignored this and went straight to the point in a detached tone, saying, "Kakuzu, the S-rank rogue ninja from Takigakure... I've come to invite you to join my organization—Akatsuki."

"Not interested."

Kakuzu refused without even listening to him finish speaking.

Since being betrayed by his most beloved village, Kakuzu's heart had long since died with the passing of the Takigakure village's leaders. In his worldview, only money remained, because only money would not betray him.

Having grown accustomed to being a lone wolf, he was unwilling to join any other organization.

It's practically preventing him from making money.

Nagato was not surprised by Kakuzu's answer.

His answer was exactly the same as Scorpion's before.

Every S-rank rogue ninja is an unruly individual; how could they be so easily persuaded?

The simplest method is to beat them up first, subdue them, and then recruit them.

However, the necessary procedures still need to be followed. Wouldn't it be better if we could join directly without fighting?

"Some things are not something you can control just because you want them to."

Pain once again uttered the same words he had said to Sasori: "I am Pain, the leader of Akatsuki, and also your future boss. You'd better remember that."

"Hmph..." Kakuzu snorted coldly at Pain's impolite words. He first placed the box full of money under a big tree, then stared at Pain with his small eyes that emitted a faint green light.

To be honest, Kakuzu didn't want to fight Pain, not because he sensed Pain's strength.

Rather, it was because he couldn't find any information about Pain's bounty in his mind.

This means the opponent is an unknown ninja, and unknown ninjas don't have bounties, which means there's no reward for killing them.

Not getting paid means losing money.

Making a loss is the thing Kakuzu hates most.

"However, since we've come all this way just to die..."

Kakuzu's eyes shifted to Pain's left chest.

Since it's a losing proposition, I might as well accept the other party's heart as an apology for disturbing me. This heart has already been used for a while and needs to be replaced.

Kakuzu is a contemporary of the First Hokage, yet he looks like an ordinary middle-aged man. He prolongs his life by constantly replacing his heart, and taking the hearts of powerful young people is his second greatest interest, besides money.

He began forming hand seals with incredible speed: "Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

As Kakuzu finished his hand seals, countless bolts of lightning appeared in the sky, weaving together a huge blue net that descended upon Pain's Tenshin Path. Each arc of lightning within this net could easily split mountains and shatter rocks, possessing extremely high destructive power.

This is one of Kakuzu's most proficient ninjutsu.

This 91-year-old veteran S-rank rogue ninja, who has stood the test of time for countless years, possesses an abundance of combat experience.

The number of bounty hunters who died at his hands was more than the number of rogue ninjas that some major ninja villages' ANBU had wiped out since their inception.

Immediately afterwards, a black-masked monster suddenly appeared on his back, and the monster opened its mouth and spat out something.

"Fire Release: Head Carving!"

A terrifying sea of ​​fire, like a tsunami, swept towards Pain.

The sky was filled with thunder, the ground with fire, and Kakuzu blocked all of Pain's escape routes from the very beginning.

Lightning + Fire: This simple combination of ninjutsu is Kakuzu's favorite technique. It is simple, brutal, and has considerable destructive power. Many famous ninjas have died by this combination.

In Kakuzu's view, the only way for the enemy to break through is from the front...

Kakuzu's hands turned black at a speed visible to the naked eye. This was the third ninjutsu he had prepared for Pain: Earth Release: Earth Spear.

He used Earth Release ninjutsu to harden his skin, entering a state of perfect offense and defense, so that even the most powerful explosive tags could not harm him in the slightest.

Kakuzu plans to strike at Pain's heart when Pain breaks through the encirclement.

The secret technique "Earth Grudge Fear" that he stole from Takigakure greatly enhances his body, making it far more resilient than that of ordinary ninjas. The five masks on his back also allow him to easily perform five different escaping techniques simultaneously.

In the world of ninjas, most ordinary ninjas can only specialize in one type of ninjutsu. Only a few ninjas can perform two or more types of ninjutsu, and these people are all called genius ninjas.

And, excluding later scenarios where gods clash, only the Third Hokage of Konoha has been able to simultaneously unleash all five elemental ninjutsu.

He was thus revered as the "Doctor of Ninjutsu".

This shows just how powerful Kakuzu is; he has almost maxed out the ninja stat!

Kakuzu's ability to dominate the bounty hunter world for so long is not without reason; his formidable strength is the foundation of his confidence.

Despite the overwhelming onslaught of lightning and fire ninjutsu, Pain showed no intention of fleeing.

He simply raised one hand slightly.

As the saying goes, "One trick is all you need to succeed in the world."

The lightning net, along with the sea of ​​fire, seemed to be held still by an invisible force.

In an instant, the thunder stopped and the fire went out.

To Kakuzu's astonished and incredulous gaze, his proud and powerful combination ninjutsu was instantly torn to shreds and vanished into nothingness.

Even Kakuzu himself was affected by this invisible force, and was bounced away like a baseball hit by a baseball bat. Fortunately, he had strengthened himself with earth-style ninjutsu beforehand, otherwise this blow could have brought him to the brink of death.

When Kakuzu laboriously crawled out of the huge human-shaped crater, his clothes had long since turned into shreds, revealing a body full of stitches, resembling Frankenstein's monster. Even with the defense of Earth Release ninjutsu and the enhancement of "Earth Grudge Fear," his body was already quite damaged in various places.

The power that Pain just displayed was beyond Kakuzu's comprehension; he had never seen such power in his decades-long ninja career.

Even Hashirama Senju, the god of ninjas, never possessed it.

To be honest, Shinra Tensei is an unsolvable problem for ninjas who honestly form hand seals.

As the saying goes, "one force can overcome all methods," which is simple, direct, and very useful.

Nagato, in particular, was in much better condition than in the original storyline, thanks to the constant power supplied by Yamcha (Tendo) and Yoshikage Kira (Animal Path). He was also able to mobilize more power.

The strength of Shinra Tensei is directly linked to the user's physical condition; the better the physical condition, the greater the power it can unleash.

Pain's emotionless, indifferent voice rang out behind Kakuzu, like a death knell's final whisper.

"I'll say it again, join Xiao."

"Otherwise... you'll die."

Kakuzu, who was once regarded as a monster, finally realized what a true monster was at this moment.

Before Pain, he was as weak as the ordinary ninjas he had faced before.

At this moment, just as at that moment.

"Don't try anything funny; you have no secrets from those eyes."

At this moment, Kakuzu finally saw Pain's eyes clearly. His pupils contracted sharply, or rather, no one could see those eyes for the first time without being shocked.

That's the Rinnegan, which only the Sage of Six Paths possessed!

but...

"I refuse!"

Kakuzu refused again without hesitation and slowly closed his eyes, as if he was prepared to be killed.

"I'd rather die than have no money."