A Trip Down A Tree

Kakuzu stood up slowly, then popped his back. "Ok, the first step will be easy. Make someone else make a hidden village so we can make ours."

Ryeta sank deeper into his chair, facepalming. "Please tell me how in the Elemental Nations you want to make that happen. Ah, but only if the plan is reasonable."

Kakuzu, interrupted again, pouted a bit, which was a bit unsightly considering the threads that were wriggling around his lips to keep his jaw in place gave a demonic visage, but then got a bit more serious again. "Easy. First will be a village in the Land of Earth. They've already had talks of one. All we have to do is attack a bunch of clans around the country, and they'll form one on their own to combat us. Then, we go straight to the daimyo after that, and voila, we have the right to a hidden village. Of course, we will need to talk to the clans here in the Land Of Waterfalls, as if they refuse, there isn't much we can do about it."

Ryeta went to chop Kakuzu's head for what he considered another bad idea, but Kakuzu continued while dodging the blow. "Like I said, this will be a fairly easy and reasonable plan. We just send in a couple of Rank 5s to each clan in the Land of Earth, then leave clues that point to other clans, like bits of cotton here and there for the Tirax Clan and the like. The strongest shinobi in the village are all good at hiding and sneaking, as all of them started as assassins except or you and Groundhog."

The village chief considered it for a few minutes, but as he opened his mouth, the door busted open as an old man fell in. ""Hisaru/Old Man?"" He stood back up with the help of a cane.

"Boys, my time is coming much faster than expected. I need you to do something for me, Kakuzu Kawakami. Follow me." He turned around, then jumped off the tree. Kakuzu turned to the chief, bowed, then followed him. The elderly teacher who had just jumped began making hand signs, then pulled himself to the tree with chakra as it cracked, then as he hit it with his palm, it opened up to reveal a large number of seals, around 60 different protective ones.

Kakuzu looked at all of them in shock, as a cursory glance told him each of these could take a few hours to decipher, meaning a nonstop week of work to get whatever was inside, or breaking the tree, but defensive seals were placed to prevent the from happening, too.

However, the seals deactivated as Hisaru reached inside the cubby, and he pulled out a reddish block, covered in mysterious symbols. "Now, touch this, then pour in any water chakra you might have."

At this point, Kakuzu's brain had caught up with his body, and therefore he did as his teacher asked. While doing so, he looked up at the old man, and nudged him. "What happened to you? Your body was supposed to last a while longer." Hisaru laughed, looking down at his protege.

Hisaru POV:

I still don't know for sure what it was that made it happen. Not why I'm fading fast. That was because I overused my chakra when I rushed to see him after I heard he was awake, and I feel that I have no purpose any more, as I've grown too weak to teach or fight for long. What I mean is why I took such a fancy to this boy. He is the only person I've ever considered worthy of a Power of the Ancients, even if it is one of the weaker ones, the requirements are stringent.

Every time someone uses this artifact, words appear before their eyes, and information in their brains, though they can only use it once. I wonder what he is seeing. Mine told me I would find only one who would be deserving, and that seems to be a correct statement, as well as how to use one Toxic Release jutsu, but these supposedly have different effects depending on who uses them, according to my master anyway. I hope he gets something good.

I've seriously come to view this boy as my own son. I haven't seen my biological son in years; I wonder, how is... he... doin...g...?"

General POV:

Kakuzu had been putting all of focus into the words that were flowing through him. He would be the last holder of the artifact, he would one day need to go further than what he knows, and that there a total of three jutsu of the Toxic Release useful for him, though he could make others if he so desired. Lastly came a warning. "Don't try to hold the souls of all, or all will bow before him."

'Well, I have no clue what that means, but ok.' When he opened his eyes, Hisaru was a few meters from the ground, while Kakuzu was still 3/4 of the way up.

"Wh-Master?" The worried boy accidently overloaded his legs with chakra, before flying down at an unbelievable speed. "Susanoo!" More chakra was used, as a skeletal rib cage, now with a black arms connected to its green body, encased Kakuzu, and the arms stretched to their limit in the intent to grab the dying Principal.

BOOOOOM!

Inside a small Susanoo with its rib cage and one arm in use, Kakuzu was standing, looking to where Hisaru had hit the ground just before the former could grab him. Without chakra, a few hundred meters' fall could still kill a ninja, especially an unconscious one. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the case in this scenario.

Kakuzu wasn't given a chance to mourn or even fully see his teacher's body past the cloud of dust that rose after the chakra construct hit the ground, as he past out from the pain of the chakra burns on his legs and overusing chakra. He had used a lot of his now limited chakra on the Toxic Release artifact, which then mysteriously disappeared, being sucked into itself.

He woke up, once more in a hospital bed, though this time without the threat of death. He slowly sat up, looking at the ceiling, before laughing quietly, mockingly even, at himself. 'Even after last time, I didn't believe David. No, me. Now I understand why it's necessary to balance work and life. I'm sorry. How much time with you did I miss out on when I was too busy training and doing missions, master. I failed you, even though you were damn near to being my father. But I refuse to make the same mistake again. Thank you for this realization.'

He stood slowly, testing his legs, but then fell back down onto the bed as they were too mangled from the jump to work properly. 'Somebody ought to hurry up and invent medical ninjutsu.'

Unable to stand, Kakuzu laid back down, and for the first time in a long time, just willingly went to sleep without meditating or practicing a jutsu in his head, alone with the shadows and thoughts.