"Pika Pika!"
Inside the cave, Pikachu held a lightning blade in each hand, let out a loud shout, and drew arcs of light.
The two blades crossed and intersected, the attacks continuous and relentless.
It had already mastered the Starburst Stream technique quite well.
Not far away, Kimimaro was studying the Earth Grudge Fear.
Pikachu took a few breaths, then looked excitedly at Kimimaro.
"Good dance, keep practicing."
Kimimaro, without raising his head, sensed Pikachu's gaze and offered encouragement.
Pikachu became even more motivated to train.
On the experimental table, Kimimaro had already dissected the Earth Grudge Fear and was studying its structure with his Byakugan activated.
"This Earth Grudge Fear has the exact same structure as blood vessels, but its life force is far beyond what blood vessels can compare to."
The astonishing life force allowed Earth Grudge Fear to gather five hearts in one body and use them for the main body.
It not only increased the host's combat power but also extended their lifespan.
As long as the heart was replaced, new life force could be obtained.
In theory, this had achieved immortality.
The only cost was becoming monstrous.
To place hearts into the body, naturally, enough openings needed to be made.
Therefore, Kakuzu's body became a stitched monster, his upper body covered in scars sewn together by black tentacles condensed from Earth Grudge Fear.
This was the price of learning Earth Grudge Fear.
Soon, Kimimaro had figured out most of the principles behind Earth Grudge Fear.
Simply put, Earth Grudge Fear was a secret technique, a technique to transform blood vessels into black tentacles.
The special circulation of chakra allowed Kakuzu to produce black tentacles endlessly.
This was quite similar to Kimimaro's Shikotsumyaku.
One was blood vessels, the other bones, neither very normal.
But Kimimaro was good-looking, while Kakuzu was quite sinister.
"It's a decent secret technique, just used in a rather eerie way."
The same technique could be used differently by different people.
Without becoming a stitched monster, the increased life force from Earth Grudge Fear was still quite appealing to Kimimaro.
"Speaking of which, the stitching ability of Earth Grudge Fear is somewhat similar to the stitching of threads. Perhaps I can use thread stitching to unravel the secrets of Earth Grudge Fear, then merge the two and turn them into what I want."
With this thought, Kimimaro prepared to take action.
Although Earth Grudge Fear was a secret technique, with his Byakugan and powerful medical skills, as long as he studied it long enough, unraveling its secrets wasn't impossible.
Of course, perfectly replicating it would be difficult and time-consuming, but he didn't need to replicate it perfectly, just unravel the parts he needed.
As for having Kakuzu teach him, that wasn't realistic.
If Kakuzu knew Kimimaro had the ability to crack his secret technique, he probably wouldn't agree to let him study it.
If he could merge Earth Grudge Fear and thread stitching, Kimimaro believed it would greatly aid his pursuit of immortality.
New research began.
Unconsciously, Kimimaro had already spent several months in the Akatsuki organization.
During this time, the Akatsuki hadn't held another meeting.
So he either went on bounty missions with Kakuzu or trained and conducted research, leading a fulfilling life.
In the forest, Pikachu slashed at Kimimaro with a Starburst Stream.
"Good one!"
Kimimaro's eyes lit up, his right bone sword flicked out, intercepting the sword lights.
Although Pikachu's dual blades were fast, they were all deflected by his bone sword.
The clashing sounds between the blades and the sword were endless, sparks flying everywhere.
Kakuzu, watching from the side, had a hint of surprise in his eyes.
The battle ended.
Pikachu showed exhaustion.
"Little guy, your dual-wielding has become quite impressive."
Kimimaro gave his evaluation.
Receiving his approval, Pikachu smiled cutely and sheathed its lightning blades back into the scabbards on its back.
At this moment, Pikachu was wearing the Akatsuki's black robe with red clouds, and the scabbards on its back were custom-made for its lightning blades.
It no longer looked like a pet but more like a summoned beast.
"Kid, where did you find this summoned beast? Its training talent is remarkable."
Kakuzu asked curiously.
He had seen summoned beasts before, but none that could master swordsmanship to this extent in such a short time.
"Picked it up on the road."
Kimimaro naturally couldn't explain Pikachu's origin, as it wasn't a creature from this world.
"Then you're really lucky."
Kakuzu believed him.
Just then, Kimimaro suddenly became alert.
"What's wrong?"
After spending this time together, Kakuzu knew Kimimaro possessed astonishing perception abilities.
Seeing him suddenly become serious, he must have discovered something.
"Someone is heading towards us, very fast, with strong chakra, not inferior to ours."
Kakuzu frowned and whispered, "Could it be an enemy of yours seeking revenge?"
"Why mine?"
"Because I have no enemies, I've killed them all."
"..."
Kimimaro was momentarily speechless.
"They're here!"
At that moment, countless pieces of white paper descended from the sky, landing in front of Kakuzu and Kimimaro, quickly condensing into a woman with blue-purple hair and a cold expression.
"It's you!"
The White Tiger of Akatsuki, Konan.
Kakuzu recognized her immediately.
And Kimimaro wasn't unfamiliar with her either.
He had seen Konan's paper clone during the Akatsuki joining meeting.
But that was just an illusion, not showing her true appearance, this was the first time seeing her in person.
"Kakuzu, Kimimaro, there's a new mission for you."
Konan didn't waste any words and directly announced her purpose.
"A new mission? What is it?"
"A murderer has appeared in the Land of Hot Water, seemingly possessing the miraculous ability of immortality. Pain wants us to go check it out. If he truly has great power, we can recruit him into the Akatsuki."
Kimimaro's eyes lit up.
The Land of Hot Water? Immortality?
Wasn't that Hidan?
Had his whereabouts finally been discovered by the Akatsuki?
Great.
Kimimaro's interest in Hidan was immense.
Meeting Hidan meant he had a chance to study the secrets of immortality.
"Immortality? Seems like a troublesome guy."
Kakuzu didn't know what Kimimaro was thinking, but hearing about immortality, he was also very interested.
As someone also possessing immortality, he wondered whose ability was stronger.
The strong were always interested in their own kind.
"Follow me. I've already found his location."
Without another word, Konan led the two and set off.
This was Konan, efficient and decisive.
From this, one could imagine her unleashing six hundred billion explosive tags.
(End of chapter)