Red Nara

In the forest, a few dozen kilometers away from the massacre, the ground beneath the roots of a large oak tree suddenly stirred, and a man crawled out into the light. The pathetic rags of his clothes made it possible to see the numerous stitches on his body, the number of which was increasing by the second - black tourniquets crawling out from under the shinobi's skin were skillfully and neatly pulling the edges of the wounds.

A normal chakra user wouldn't have lasted a couple seconds with such injuries, but the ancient shinobi felt almost no pain even with a severed arm and leg on his right side, not to mention less serious wounds.

- 'Mizu no Seirei... No, Ryo Nara, I will remember your name,' the nukenin muttered, clenching his surviving fist, 'and the next time we meet, when your bounty is up, I will be ready and will not underestimate even so young a shinobi.'

Watching the harnesses crawl out of the stumps and intertwine to form their missing limbs, Kakuzu couldn't remember a time when he had been so severely coddled in the last couple decades. Even his encounter with one of Iwagakure no Sato's jinchuriki three years ago had cost him only two masks to escape without trouble, and here some brat had destroyed four and nearly killed him with his demon giant of chains, so similar to the crowning techniques of the strongest Uchiha. If not in color, then certainly in size.

Carefully rising to his feet, the nukenin crunched his neck a couple of times and leapt to the nearest tree and began to leap quickly through the branches, helping himself to the harnesses and leaving no trace behind. He had to get as far away from the scene of the fight as possible and towards the uninhabited areas - in a few hours the place would be overrun with Konoha shinobi and Kakuzu didn't want to be caught in such a weakened state.

Especially not when the sensor's heart had been destroyed. It was going to be months of searching for suitable victims to restore the masks and return to the peak of his abilities, but until then, he would have to be very careful.

I've got more interesting stuff on patreon (+ 200 chapter)

patreon.com/Chill76