The Akatsuki is a worldwide known evil faction from the Naruto franchise. Their motive was to capture all the tailed beasts. Capturing a tailed beast is no matter of joke, so they recruited the best rogue shinobi who had unique abilities and were strong enough to fulfill the goal. One of the members of the Akatsuki was Kakuzu.
Kakuzu was the oldest member of the Akatsuki and had faced the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and managed to escape with his life. But people often disrespect him and call him weak. Even though he faced the Hashirama Senju, he lost against a teenager named Naruto Uzumaki. While many have questioned Kakuzu’s abilities, it does not need to be said that he is indeed one of the strongest shinobi to ever live.
Kakuzu’s Intellect and Battle Prowess Is Second To None
After losing the fight against Naruto Uzumaki, fans have often disrespected him and considered him one of the weaker members of the Akatsuki. But they are utterly mistaken. He possessed five hearts, with each having the ability to control one element. It gave him access to all five elements of ninjutsu. His analyzing skills are top-tier, and a proper attack is enough to kill a shinobi, including members of the Akatsuki.
Apart from that, he has experienced three Great Ninja Wars and is versatile enough to change his chakra mid-fight. Due to his five hearts, he has a massive amount of chakra and can take powerful attacks head-on. No other members of the evil faction could take on Naruto’s newfound special technique, Rasen-Shuriken, Chidori, and pretty hard blows, yet still be alive. Rasen-Shuriken attacks on the cellular level had a massive effect on Kakuzu, making him unable to move.
He was still alive at that point. There are next to no shinobi who were alive to survive after getting hit by the Rasen-Shuriken. But he was alive even though it took out two of his hearts at once. On the other hand, there is no mention of him facing the God of Shinobi in a one-on-one battle, whom he claimed to have faced previously. Kakuzu had faced him along with his assassination team, who were sent to execute Hashirama Senju.
Hashirama is incomparable to a mere team of assassins. Even in his reincarnated form, he was strong enough to pin down the Ten Tails. There was no way he took Kakuzu’s team with every jutsu in his arsenal. If he had done that, the fight would be over before it even started. Even though Kakuzu is a tank, he is no match for the God of Shinobi. It is still to his credit that he managed to escape.
Kakuzu Is One Of Naruto’s Fiercest Opponents
Naruto Uzumaki joined his friends late but had a massive impact on the result of the fight. Shikamaru and Hidan took their fight to a separate place, while Kakuzu had to face Kakashi Hatake, Choji, Ino, and Sakura. Naruto had been training for several days before he finally mastered his most potent ninjutsu.
The technique was so strong that it harmed him, and at one point, he was not allowed to use it again. It was only due to this particular jutsu that Kakuzu was defeated. Otherwise, he had the upper hand and could have replenished his destroyed hearts with the ones present on the battlefield.
The oldest Akatsuki member is way overpowered compared to the shinobi group he faced in his last battle. He even analyzed Rasen-Shuriken’s destructive force and switched to fighting from a distance. But ultimately, it had no effect since Naruto outsmarted him. Overall, he was never weak, and the fandom should put respect to his name since he was the only shinobi to face three Hokage.
