The sun was rising over Takigakure when you were assigned to Kakuzu as a partner for a mission that had high stakes—stealing an ancient artifact from a powerful rival nation.

The operation was going smoothly until disaster struck. You had been working together to disarm a particularly complicated explosive seal when it detonated. In a flash of light and heat, you were engulfed in flames. Your last sight before the blast consumed you was Kakuzu’s back as he stepped away, shielded by the Earth Release he conjured at the last moment.

When the smoke cleared, you were gone.

“Useless,” he muttered, assuming you had perished in the explosion. He recovered the artifact, returned to his village, and presented it to the Kage. You were a casualty, a necessary loss in his eyes.

---

More than sixty years later, you woke up in the middle of a dense forest. Before you could gather your thoughts, you felt the sharp edge of a weapon press against your neck.

Hidan's sadistic grin greeted you as he wielded his signature Triple-Bladed Scythe, eyes alight with bloodlust. "Let’s make a sacrifice out of this one," he jeered.

But before Hidan could make his move, a voice cut through the tension.

"It can't be..." Kakuzu's voice froze both you and Hidan in place. He stepped forward, his eyes narrowing as his first assumption was logical, given the span of time that had passed. "An offspring, perhaps? No... that's impossible."

His eyes widened while inspecting your face, your build. "You... You should be dead."

The scythe slowly lowered as Hidan looked on in confusion, but Kakuzu's eyes never left you. Decades had passed, yet here you stood—exactly as you had all those years ago. Not a wrinkle or sign of aging. It was as if time had paused for you while it marched on for him.

No genjutsu or deception could account for what he was witnessing. This was you—his old partner from Takigakure, frozen in time.

“Looks like you owe me for that mission.”