Kakuzu (Akatsuki)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Background~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br>When he was still a loyal elite ninja to Takigakure, Kakuzu took on a mission to assassinate Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage. This mission, however, ended in failure due to the might of Hashirama's Wood Release jutsu. Despite the insurmountable danger faced in the mission, what awaited his return to his village was the stigma and harsh punishment associated with the failure of his objective. In response to this treatment, a wrong levied against a shinobi who had put life and limb on the line for his village, Kakuzu came to hold a violent hatred to his village as he escaped from imprisonment. In his flight from the village, Kakuzu killed the village elders, took their hearts, and fled with knowledge of the village's most prized forbidden techniques. He eventually joined Akatsuki, and was given a number of partners, most of whom he killed, due to his short temper. This is why he has eventually partnered with Hidan, whom he could not kill. Pain stated that his reason for joining Akatsuki was "resources".<img src="http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs46/f/2009/251/6/f/Kakuzu_Demotive_by_NIGHTSTORM77.jpg" border="0" /> <!--spoiler--></span></div> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Appearance~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br>Kakuzu was a tall, muscular man, second in height in Akatsuki (after Kisame Hoshigaki). He wore a white hood and a black mask on his face with his eyes being the only visible part. Underneath, his mouth was stitched together at the edges, and his hair was long and untidy. His eyes have an unusual coloring: green pupils and red scleras. His clothing included the traditional Akatsuki cloak and the forehead protector of his home village with a scratch in the middle which symbolized that he was no longer loyal to it. He also had dark green nail polish and his Akatsuki ring with the kanji for North (北, hoku) was placed on his left middle finger. His entire body was covered with stitches and appeared to be sewed together. This was a result of the unique jutsu that he possessed - Earth Grudge Fear. On his back were four masks each resembling those of ANBU where he stored his additional hearts. <img src="http://grape-bomb.net/lj/kakuzu.jpg" border="0" /><!--spoiler--></span></div> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Personality~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br>Kakuzu was a greedy, miserly individual, arranging goals in terms of the highest profit he could gain from them, and was often unwilling to involve himself in something unless there was something to gain. He even remarked that money is the only dependable thing in the world. Due to this end, he referred to himself as the "Treasurer of Akatsuki". Given his friendly relationship with Ginji, his bounty officer, it would seem he collected bounties rather frequently to earn cash, and did so (or at least tried) during his missions on several occasions. The frequent side-tasks and devotion to money were both major points of contention between Hidan and Kakuzu. He also seemed to respect an opponent who thinks, as shown with his reaction to Kakashi's counters to Kakuzu's masks, and Shikamaru's quick analysis of Hidan's curse, even mentioning Shikamaru would have been a good bounty in the future. Out of all the Akatsuki members, Hidan and Kakuzu displayed the most animosity towards each other, since neither of them were very fond of each other's interests. The two often traded barbs with one another, Kakuzu's usually having better timing than Hidan's. Hidan had shown great annoyance with Kakuzu's greed and occasional habit of doing or saying blasphemous things, such as attacking a temple and killing the head monk for the bounty on the monk's head. Kakuzu, in turn, disliked Hidan's religion, believing the rituals associated with it to be a waste of time. Kakuzu was also rather impatient with Hidan's drawn-out speeches and battle style. The only reason that Kakuzu put up with Hidan was because he couldn't get rid of him. Due to his violent temper, Kakuzu often killed anyone close by when enraged. Hidan, therefore, was the perfect partner for Kakuzu, because of Hidan's inability to die. Kakuzu's somewhat indiscriminate attack style also made Hidan an ideal partner, since Kakuzu didn't need to worry about catching his partner in the crossfire. Despite his obsessive personality and violent rages, Kakuzu was much more cautious than his partner, and was not as arrogant, never mindlessly rushing into battle like Hidan. Kakuzu frequently warned Hidan not to let his guard down, and then teased Hidan when he inevitably did. Kakuzu apparently seemed quite willing to follow orders. When ordered to retreat by the Akatsuki leader, Kakuzu complied immediately (while Hidan attempted to argue), despite the rather large bounty he could have received by taking Asuma. He seemed to forget the greater goals of the organization when enraged, as he attempted to kill Naruto, in spite of Akatsuki's need to capture all the Tailed Beasts alive.<img src="http://quizilla.teennick.com/user_images/T/TH/THE/THEAKATSUKILOVEME/1240540247_5280_full.jpeg" border="0" /><!--spoiler--></span></div> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Abilities~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br>Kakuzu was a very powerful ninja, as every opponent he had been seen fighting had been defeated with little effort. He had extremely high taijutsu prowess (due to his raw power and swiftness), vast supply of ninjutsu techniques of multiple elements (due to his unique jutsu Earth Grudge Fear and near a century worth of experience) and a highly analytical mind. Those traits allowed him to fight several high-level opponents while generally controlling the pace of the fight. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Intelligence~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kakuzu was shown to be a keen analyst, which was somewhat attributable to his age. He is highly observant, easily noticing that Shikamaru was taking his time to formulate a plan to counter Hidan's technique, after the former caught his partner in his Shadow Imitation Technique. He was able to quickly discern the purpose of Shikamaru's various shadow attacks, and devised ways to counter them almost instantaneously during the battle. An example for that is when Shikamaru trapped him and Hidan in his Shadow Imitation Shuriken Technique, Kakuzu detached his right arm, hid it underground and with its help, was able to remove the trench knife, thus successfully breaking free from the technique. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Taijutsu~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kakuzu has demonstrated great raw speed, able to close great distances in the blink of an eye and disappear from unfocused eyes. His raw strength was great enough to catch one of Chōji's enlarged punches with a single hand and punch down an iron gate, as well as lifting and choking two people simultaneously. This was further supplemented by his already adept taijutsu skills, shown when, during his fight with Kakashi (who was quite skilled in taijutsu himself) he mixed his hardening and extending abilities with his taijutsu. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Body Structure~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All of Kakuzu's abilities revolved around his unique body structure, which was composed of hundreds of thick, dark grey threads woven throughout his flesh called Earth Grudge Fear, holding his body together like the stitches of a rag-doll. This allowed him to separate his body parts at will, to perform long-range physical attacks, and sew up almost any injury he suffered, making him very difficult to defeat. The threads could also be used to repair the bodies of others, as seen when he reattached Deidara's arms, although Hidan's inability to die after being dismembered caused him to be Kakuzu's most frequent patient. Because of his unique body structure, Kakuzu is a highly enduring man, able to take a direct strike from Kakashi's Lightning Cutter without it hindering his performance. His threads could even compact together to form a giant octopus-like form around his body. Kakuzu's threads granted him a degree of immortality (though he declined to think of it that way). The threads could pierce the flesh and bodies of others, allowing him to remove their organs and integrate them into his own body, thereby extending his life. He commonly removed hearts in this fashion, keeping a total of five at any time, and requiring that he be killed at least five times in a battle before he truly died.<img src="http://www.narutoscene.com/pictures/kakuzu-03252009.jpg" border="0" /><!--spoiler--></span></div> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~Five Elements~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br>The hearts captured from other ninja granted Kakuzu numerous elemental affinities, along with a vast supply of chakra. The raw power of each element Kakuzu demonstrated even made Kakashi, who is also capable of multiple elements, stiff with awe. The individual hearts could be released from his body and wrapped in a vast blanket of threads, forcing a heart into a limb before being detached or forming a monstrous body with a mask as its face. These masks could move and attack independently, unleashing powerful blasts of elemental chakra from their mouths. Earth mask (Light blue): It is unknown what animal this mask was, as it was destroyed before it could be seen, but the heart had an earth-affinity. It allowed Kakuzu to use Earth Release: Earth Spear. Tiger-like mask (Red): This heart had a fire-affinity, and it took on the shape of a demonic tiger. It could use Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work. This mask could also unite with the Eagle-mask to launch a fire-wind dual strike, that was near unstoppable. Bull-like mask (Yellow): This heart had a lightning-affinity, and it took on the shape of some sort of deformed biped with broad shoulders. It could use Lightning Release: False Darkness. Eagle-like mask (Blue): This heart had a wind-affinity, and it took on a strange, four-legged body, with thin wings. It could use Wind Release: Pressure Damage. It could unite with the Tiger-mask to launch a fire-wind dual strike, that was near unstoppable. Its power, even alone, easily sliced down several trees. Water: In the anime, using the fifth heart he always kept stored in his body, Kakuzu could use water-based jutsu. Kakuzu used Water Encampment Wall when Shikamaru threw an exploding tag at him, and also a Water Clone.<img src="http://shannaro.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/kakuzu_hearts.jpg" border="0" /><!--spoiler--></span></div>