Kakuzu

**Kakuzu**is an S-rank rouge ninja from the Hidden Waterfall Village and a member of the Akatsuki was partnered with Hidan.

## Physical Appearance

Kakuzu was a tan-skinned and tall man, easily standing as the second tallest member of Akatsuki. Noticeably, despite his advanced age, he still appears as a man well within his prime, retaining a very muscular build. He wore a white hood and a black mask, with his eyes being the only visible part of his face. Underneath, his mouth was stitched together at the edges (giving him a glasgow smile) and he had long dark brown hair. His eyes have an unusual colouring: green irides, no pupils and red sclerae. His clothing included the traditional Akatsuki cloak and the forehead protector of his home village with a scratch in the middle which symbolised that he was no longer loyal to it. He also wore brown nail polish and his dark green Akatsuki ring with the kanji for "north" was placed on his left middle finger. His entire body was covered with various stitches and predominantly appeared to be sewn together. This was a result of the unique technique that he possessed - the Earth Grudge.

## Personality

Kakuzu was a greedy and miserly individual, arranging goals in terms of the highest profit he could gain from them, and was often unwilling to involve himself in something if there was nothing to gain from it, as well as claiming that he tended to forget opponents who were not worth any money after he was done with them. 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 Zangei, 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 well, 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 blasphaemous 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. Despite their mutual dislike of each other, their teamwork was almost flawless, because they complemented each other's abilities extremely well. Also, Kakuzu seems to care to an extent about Hidan, as he picked up and gave back his partner's forehead protector after he lost it during his fight with Asuma, a feat that made Hidan admit that Kakuzu is not as hostile as he appeared to be.

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 also 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 organisation when enraged, as he attempted to kill Naruto, in spite of Akatsuki's need to capture all the jinchuriki alive.

Kakuzu held a violent hatred for his village, as despite his loyalty and willingness to risk life and limb on a dangerous mission, his failure was repaid with uncharacteristically harsh punishment. He responded in kind by brutally betraying the Hidden Waterfall committing jailbreak, taking knowledge of their most valuable kinjutsu and killing all of the elders before departing.

Despite his greed and his temper, Kakuzu was shown to be very dutiful to the Akatsuki. When Nagato, known as Pain at the time, told them to return to a hideout to seal the Two-Tails, Kakuzu immediately returned without asking for more time to retrieve Asuma's body and cash it in for money.

## Powers and Abilities

### Ninjutsu Prowess

* Ninjutsu Master
	+ Nature Transformation