Kakuzu

Near Pure Evil
Full Name	Kakuzu
Alias	Kakuzu-san
Origin	Naruto
Allies	Hidan
Powers / Skills	Earth Grudge Fear High intelligence Nigh-immortality Superhuman speed Superhuman strength Taijutsu Five Nature Transformations
Goals	Help Hidan kill Asuma (succeeded until he crossed the line). Help Hidan to kill Naruto and his friends. Make a lot of money (both failed).
Moral Event Horizon	Killing all the elders of his villages and taking their hearts after betraying his village. Killing numerous monks, including Chiriku, along with Hidan.
Kill Count	Likely hundreds
Crimes	Mass murder Mutilation Treason Terrorism
Type of Villain	Greedy Mercenary

“	Even Hell runs on money. I'd be just fine.	„
	~ Kakuzu to Hidan.

“	It's only fitting that I take your heart to replace the one you've destroyed!	„
	~ Kakuzu to Kakashi.

Kakuzu is a major antagonist in the Naruto anime and manga series. He was a member of the Akatsuki and was considered the Zombie duo along with his partner, Hidan. He had the powers of the five main nature transformations and lived a long life by taking people's hearts and integrating them into his body.

In Japanese, he is voiced by the late Takaya Hashi. And in English, he is voiced by Fred Tatasciore (who also voices Gato in the same series, Lord Dominator's armor form in Wander Over Yonder, The Mawgu in Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island, Futoshi Shimano in Yakuza 0 Director's Cut and Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Warden Kuril in Mass Effect 2, CLU 2 in TRON: Uprising, Carnage in Ultimate Spider-Man, Red Hulk in Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Diego Gomez in Resident Evil: Vendetta, Shao Khan in Mortal Kombat Legends and Dr. Ludvig Maxis in Call of Duty: Zombies), while Paul St. Peter voices him in episode 135.

His Evil Ranking

What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?

• Betrayed his own village after being punished for failing to assassinate the First Hokage. He then killed the village elders, took their hearts, then ran away and became a criminal.
  • That said, the village elders were also disproportionate in punishing him for his failure, making his reaction somewhat understandable, however gruesome.
• He took the still-beating hearts from shinobis to extend his own lifespan and arsenal.
• When he joined the Akatsuki, he has already killed his partners four times due to his short temper and would use their hearts for his own power.
• Captured Yugito Nii along with Hidan and gave her to Zetsu to extract her tailed beast, killing her in the process.
• Before going against Chiriku and monks, he said that if he kills a monk, he will go to Hell, but still decided to do it. This proves that he had moral agency and knew the difference between right and wrong.
• Murdered Chiriku and several monks along with Hidan.
• During his fight against Team 10 and Kakashi, Kakuzu attempted to kill everyone who opposed him and tried to steal Kakashi's heart after he stabbed him.
• When he was resurrected during the Fourth Great Ninja War, he was still as bad compared to when he was alive by killing multiple shinobi and stealing their hearts. He was shown grinning while killing shinobi in the Fourth Ninja War to take their hearts to get their powers.

What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?

• He is slightly tragic due to how he was punished for failing to assassinate the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, who was known as the God of Shinobi and one of the most powerful ninjas in the world. He showed nothing but loyalty to the Hidden Waterfall Village during the mission, but was disproportionately punished for failing the mission despite the extreme danger involved in it. However, this is a minor preventation because it doesn't justify his crimes commited after abandoning his village.
• He fails the in-story standard, since multiple Akatsuki members have committed mass murder.

Trivia

• He is one of the three members of the Akatsuki to be Near Pure Evil, along with Hidan and Black Zetsu.

External Links

• Kakuzu on the Villains Wiki
• Kakuzu on the Naruto Wiki