Earth Grudge Fear

This technique is a secret kinjutsu of Takigakure. It transforms the user's body into something similar to that of a rag-doll's, which is held together by hundreds of thick black threads. Kakuzu was able to manipulate these threads for many purposes. He was capable of sewing up any injuries that he or others might suffer, most commonly by reattaching body parts. However, it appeared that this ability was somewhat limited, as he warned Hidan not to move his head too much after he had sewed it back on, saying that it might fall off again. He could detach parts of his limbs and then manipulate them, to the point that he could even send them underground and then reattach them when he was done with them.

The most significant aspect of these threads were that they granted Kakuzu a form of immortality, although he declined to think of it that way. In addition to sewing up his injuries, he could use the threads to tear into a victim's body, steal their still functioning organs, and integrate them into his own body, thus extending his life. Kakuzu usually used this method to steal hearts from powerful shinobi, and was able to store up to four spare hearts in his body at any given time, meaning that all hearts must stop functioning in order for Kakuzu to die. He can also put one of those hearts into his limbs and have them move individually, as seen when he used his hand to remove a shadow-enhanced trench knife that prevented the rest of his body from moving.

These hearts Kakuzu had taken from others were stored in various animal masks that were sewn onto his back, granting him vast amounts of chakra and numerous elemental affinities. He could detach these masks and have them take on a body of their own, composed entirely of threads. These masks were capable of attacking separately, unleashing devastating blasts of elemental chakra.

These threads could also compact together to form a spider-like body around Kakuzu, allowing him to fuse the attacks of his masks together in order to increase his attacking power.

Masks
Kakuzu's animal masks, which resembled those of ANBU, contained his spare hearts. If he took use of the heart for himself, the corresponding mask would shatter upon the creature's reentry into Kakuzu's body.


 * Earth mask: This heart had an earth-affinity, and took on the shape of a demonic, beaked bipedal. It allowed Kakuzu to use Earth Release: Earth Spear. In the anime, even though this mask was destroyed, Kakuzu was still able to use the Earth Spear technique, though it only hardened his arm.
 * Fire mask: This heart had a fire-affinity, and took on the shape of a demonic tiger. It could use Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work. This mask could also unite with the Wind mask to launch a fire-wind dual strike that was near unstoppable.
 * Lightning mask: This heart had a lightning-affinity, and took on the shape of some sort of deformed bipedal. It could use Lightning Release: False Darkness.
 * Wind mask: This heart had a wind-affinity, and took on a strange four-legged body with thin wings. It could use Wind Release: Pressure Damage. It could unite with the Fire mask to launch a fire-wind dual strike that was near unstoppable.

Trivia

 * Like the rest of Kakuzu's techniques, the name of this techniques comes from the mecha anime . The name Jiongu was taken from the Gundam MSN-02, a mecha that can detach its arms for ranged attacks, while still attached to the main body with wires. The name was altered slightly and given kanji to create the name of this technique.