In a dark, spacious cave the space suddenly distorted, and a projection of the certain figure appeared atop a giant statue’s hand. The Gedo Mazo, the demonic statue of the outer path had been summoned by Pain beforehand to commence with biju extraction. Two other projections, as well as three physical bodies stood, alongside Pain, each occupying different digits of the giant statue’s hand.

On the ground below, lay an unconscious body of the four tail’s jinchuriki.

There was no introduction. All the official members had gathered for the meeting.

“Deidara’s dead.” Black Zetsu simply announced the change in the organization’s structure.

“At least he went out with a bang.” White Zetsu followed up.

“Yes, but it has cost us another member.” Kisame said. “And I always thought he was one of the stronger ones. Who did him in anyway?”

“Sasuke.” Black Zetsu responded. “However, it appears he too has died as well.”

“So Deidara took him with him, huh...” A mocking grin etched across Kisame’s face. “At least he didn’t run back with his tail between his legs... unlike certain someone we know.”

Ah man... here we go again.

He wasn’t planning to let the failure of the mission go.

“Kisame... I will kill if you don’t shut up.”

“Ah, why so defensive?” Kisame pointed his sword at the jinchuriki. “I was just joking. But I can’t help it. Hidan’s dead, and we don’t even know how. I’d love to see how that zombie’s last moments. Yet, I couldn’t even watch the firework show our mouthy fella made, isn’t that a shame?”

“Direct those complaints to Zetsu. I’m not responsible for your entertainment.”

White Zetsu shrugged.

“Well excuse me. I can’t exactly teleport my ass wherever I like.”

“We’re wasting time.” Pain said dismissively. “We have underestimated our opponent. I’ll be dealing with the nine tail’s jinchuriki myself.”

“What about the eight tails?” Kisame asked.

With Roshi being captured, only two out of the nine bijuu were left outside Akatsuki’s grasp.

“We’ve attracted too much attention right now. We’ll keep low until the time is right. And We’ll strike the eight and nine tail’s jinchuriki at the same time. For now, though, we should start the extraction process.”

The process would last for several days. Even more now that Deidara and Hidan were dead. I hoped my men would be find something more substantial until then.

I looked down at the jinchuriki that would soon die from the bijuu extraction.

“I’ll be taking the corpse afterwards.”

“Do as you wish.” Pain nodded as he performed hand seals for the sealing technique.

Gedo Mazo’s mouth opened up, and nine blue phantom dragons poured out.

“Hmm... I feel like we’re forgetting about something.” Kisame muttered.

“Oh yeah.” White Zetsu said. “Deidara went kaboom without any regard for his partner. There’s no tobi anymore.”

---

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

The origin of Earth Grudge Fear wasn’t a brutal heart-stealing jutsu that it had been developed into.

At first, the creator simply intended it as a method to quickly patch up wounds with organic threads in the times of war. It wasn’t as efficient as other conventional medical techniques, but in the heart of a battlefield, when properly healing your allies was often not an option, it proved to be a highly valuable asset.

As the creator kept developing the jutsu, he discovered more applications to it. It was soon made clear that wound stitching was the tip of an iceberg compared to the potential the technique could hold. The organic threads made it possible to transplant different organs – including the heart. Not to mention the jutsu had more than just a medical use as the organic threads could effectively be used in combat.

Kakuzu further developed the jutsu after coming into possession of it. He made it more efficient, lethal and flexible.

That said, despite its lethality, it was fundamentally a medical jutsu that dealt with and modified the human body. And unless handled properly, the jutsu would fail – and the heart would be wasted. Not something I could afford right now.

In the end, I was simply being extra cautious. All the information needed was already in my head, and the body itself was already used to wielding chakra like second nature. It didn’t take much effort to control the tentacle-threads that made up most of my body.

As I walked into a small lab, I grabbed the sealing scroll from my waist and unfurled it on the table. The corpse of Roshi appeared from the seal. The man died moment the bijuu left his body. I was on a timer.

Heart transplant was a time-intensive procedure. Harvesting the heart and beginning the transplant process had to happen within a few hours for the heart to be functional. Any longer than that, the heart begins to deteriorate as its cell begin to take damage from the lack of oxygen. At least, that’s how it worked in my previous world.

Chakra changed things a little. Though the timer still existed, it was a day or two rather than just a few hours. And after I connected it to my body, it would no longer need oxygen. It would purely function on chakra. Like the rest of my body.

With a simple pulse of chakra, threads shot out of my arm and embedded into Roshi’s chest. My arm pierced his ribcage and grasped the heart within. Connecting the threads to the heart, I poured my chakra into the organ.

While I could be done with this step within seconds, I decided not to rush it. Slowly, I flooded the heart with chakra and observed the changes going through the organ. After judging that the preparations were sufficient, I ripped out the organ.

As the still beating heart lay in my palm, I opened up my chest by retracting the threads keeping the tissue in place and inserted the replacement. The threads within my body wrapped around the organ and formed a stronger connection with it, slowly making it attuned to my chakra. After with, I directed the implanted heart towards my back where one of the four masks were attached.

Each of the masks were designed for one of the five elemental affinities that a heart possessed aside from Kakuzu’s main one - earth. On the back side, the masks were imprinted with a seal to bind the heart to it. And while making them wasn't that much of a challenge, Material and the seal used determined the quality of the mask which in turn determined how much of the heart’s potential could be drawn out.

Roshi’s main affinity was earth, therefore it had to take place of my main one.

That said, there was one simple problem. In order to bring the body back from death during the fight against Konoha shinobi, the lightning affinity heart had taken place where one with earth affinity should be, which in turn reduced its efficiency.

The mask itself was destroyed in the process, so this would require a little more skill.

I gradually disconnected threads holding the lightning heart and transferred them to the new one with the earth affinity.

The moment the integration process was complete, a massive volume of chakra flooded my system. I could feel the potency of my chakra increasing up a notch alongside my chakra pool. I felt my life-force becoming larger as well.

It was a thrilling sensation that filled me with energy, but I wasn’t done yet.

I grabbed another storage scroll and summoned an item from it. It was a mask depicting the face of a strange creature with horns and a yellow nose - identical to one that held the lighting heart.

Using the threads, I attached the mask to my back and bound the lightning affinity heart to it. It was accompanied by another surge of power, although much smaller in scale.

“Come in.”

At my words, two individuals dressed in medical protective equipment entered the room. I nodded at the corpse and the two moved.

The two handled the body before putting it into the statis chamber. Something that had cost me a quite bit of a fortune. But I suspected that I would use it more than just once.

The green fluid filled up the chamber after the two closed it, making Roshi’s heartless corpse float inside. I was sure that a talented kekkei genkai user like him would be useful even after his death. There was also a bounty on his head as well, but… I resisted the urge to make some quick cash. It wasn’t worth it.

That said, I knew of certain people with a bounty on their heads. And some bodies that no one would care if gone missing would be useful for conducting experiments with the Earth Grudge fear.

Basically, I had some cultist to pay a visit to.