"When are you going to give me that third heart you promised me?"

After finishing the discussion about the cooperation between their two villages, Kakuzu could no longer hold back his question.

Though he now had dual kekkei genkai that he could use, he still only had two hearts.

In a world as dangerous as the shinobi world, that simply wasn't enough.

In the past, he had been a bounty hunter, wandering from place to place. His movements were unpredictable, and his strength was more than sufficient to keep him safe.

But now, he was the financial administrator of Amegakure—no, of the entire Land of Rain.

Over the past few years, his bounty on the Bounty Station had only grown higher.

Kakuzu had begun to sense danger creeping ever closer. He had no choice but to take his own safety more seriously.

"Come with me," Kagetsu said calmly, leading Kakuzu and his companion to the Technology Development Department.

In a laboratory that belonged solely to him, Kagetsu pointed to a row of shelves in the corner of the room.

On the shelves sat several transparent jars, each filled with a faintly green-tinted liquid.

Floating within the liquid, one by one, were hearts—each of them twitching gently, as if they were still alive under the watchful eyes of any observer.

For a moment, Kakuzu was at a loss for words.

"These are... kekkei genkai hearts?" he asked stiffly, turning his head to look at Kagetsu.

There were at least dozens of them, all lined up in perfect rows.

Kakuzu couldn't speak for others, but for him, the sight struck a powerful chord—one of awe, and deep greed.

This was the equivalent of dozens of lives.

Ever since Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear had been tampered with by Kagetsu without permission, its appetite had become extremely picky.

It was like someone who had once tasted the most exquisite delicacy and could no longer stomach ordinary food—flat-out refusing to consume anything else.

It was a stubbornness that completely disregarded the life and death of its host.

At this point, Kakuzu wasn't even sure if Earth Grudge Fear had developed a rudimentary self-awareness.

If it weren't for the fact that Kagetsu had never set any strict limits on heart replacements—and even kindly provided him with new hearts whenever he lost one—Kakuzu would've walked away a long time ago.

The only condition Kagetsu had was that he protect their "money-making machine," Konan.

That was Kagetsu's sore spot, and Kakuzu had no choice but to comply.

Now, the reason he was still running errands for Amegakure… was a feeling he couldn't even explain himself.

After all, all he was supposed to do was protect Konan. Managing money, overseeing village finances—those weren't part of the original deal.

Although, he had to admit—he did come here for the money at first.

"There are labels," Kagetsu gestured for Kakuzu to step forward and make his pick.

Kakuzu stood in front of the cabinet, eyes scanning the jars from top to bottom.

Each jar had a label indicating the heart's elemental affinity.

The two hearts already beating in his chest pounded harder at the sight, and his breathing grew heavier.

Aside from his existing Steel Release and Lava Release kekkei genkai hearts, Kakuzu spotted several more hearts with rare elemental properties.

Blaze Release heart.

Explosion Release heart.

Lava Release heart.

Wood Release heart. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novelꞁire.net

And not just one—multiple hearts were arranged neatly on the shelves.

In the end, Kakuzu's eyes locked onto a jar labeled Wood Release Heart. Inside, the heart within it trembled faintly. His green eyes burned with desire.

"You can even create something like this?" Kakuzu turned around, pointing at the heart with surprise as he looked at Kagetsu.

He had heard that Wood Release had reappeared among the shinobi of Konoha, but a heart was a heart—and a Kekkei Genkai was a Kekkei Genkai.

Could it be… these Wood Release hearts were dug out from dead shinobi who had awakened this ability?

Had any Wood Release users from Konoha died recently?

His thoughts were a mess.

He hadn't expected to see something like this here.

He even suspected that Kagetsu had placed the heart there on purpose, just to let him see it.

After all, who could resist the allure of the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai?

Especially someone like him—who once attempted to assassinate the First Hokage and personally witnessed the man's overwhelming strength.

To someone like Kakuzu, who had an obsession with collecting hearts, this heart was like a priceless treasure to a devoted collector.

Take it.

I must take it.

A voice began echoing louder and louder in his mind, chanting like a hypnotic mantra.

The dam of reason within him began to crumble under the pressure.

"Strictly speaking, I didn't create it," Kagetsu glanced at him and replied calmly. "I only made some improvements to preserve it."

"You didn't make it?" Kakuzu raised a brow, sensing a certain… freedom in that statement.

"It's a product of Lady Tsunade's cloning experiments," Kagetsu explained softly, as if he hadn't noticed the flicker of madness that had briefly passed through Kakuzu's expression.

"These are a few Wood Release hearts that were flawed but never destroyed."

"To be precise, it's a heart with a Yang attribute," Kagetsu explained calmly.

"It only gained the power of Wood Release after I modified it later. But don't expect it to have the same strength as the First Hokage's."

"Compared to the Wood Release itself, its true value lies in enhancing the body's physical constitution and self-healing ability. It can also amplify the user's chakra reserves."

"Overall, it's a powerful supportive-type Kekkei Genkai heart."

"I'll take it!" Kakuzu declared without hesitation.

"Do you even have money?" Kagetsu asked, glancing at Kakuzu's serious face, then shifting his gaze to Nagato, who looked a little uneasy.

"Amegakure is Amegakure. I'm me," Kakuzu replied righteously.

"I've always kept public funds and personal accounts strictly separate. Amegakure might be close to bankruptcy, but what does that have to do with me?"

Kagetsu raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Inside Kakuzu's body, his Earth Grudge Fear threads also seemed to sense the presence of a new Kekkei Genkai heart.

Fueled by his excitement, they began to stir restlessly.

"Actually, Kakuzu-san is okay. Amegakure borrowed quite a bit of money from him too..." Nagato said awkwardly, scratching his head as he glanced at Kagetsu.

"I have no objections," Kagetsu replied. "All the hearts on display here are available for sale."

After all, he originally modified these Kekkei Genkai hearts with the intention of making use of discarded resources.

Showing them to Kakuzu was no different from a merchant laying out goods for a buyer to choose from.

Dark, black tendrils—like veins—shot out from under Kakuzu's cracked skin, writhing and twisting in midair.

They wove together into a sharp, spear-like point that pierced straight through the body of the jar.

Inside, the chaotic black threads unraveled, spreading out to surround the trembling heart that lay within.

In just a few short breaths, Kakuzu had connected the new heart with his body.

The threads recoiled and retracted back into him.

As the new Kekkei Genkai heart settled into place, something began to squirm beneath the fabric of Kakuzu's cloak, as if a lump had formed on his back—rising, then slowly sinking back down.

From his open palm, a small sapling sprouted—slender and fragile.

Kakuzu's eyes glimmered faintly. He could already feel it—his body was undergoing some kind of transformation.

Every part of him was getting stronger.

Most of all, his chakra reserves.

The Wood Release heart was slowly but surely becoming the new core of his chakra.

****

Please support me on my ko-fi account and read upto 15 early chapters,

https://ko-fi.com/pirateking24/tiers