Chapter 376: Jiraiya vs. Kisame Hoshigaki
Hidan crashed to his knees in the thick mud, his chest heaving violently as he gagged.
"Pain, pain, pain... damn old geezer!"
He spat a mouthful of muddy water from the corner of his lips. When he looked up, his eyes were blown wide, swimming with a manic, bloodshot rage. His hand shot out, violently snatching the heavy handle of the Sanzukigama that lay half-buried in the muck beside him.
"I'm going to chop you into pieces!"
Hidan roared, his boots kicking up a massive spray of dirty water as he launched himself forward.
Kakuzu stood perfectly still, his posture relaxed. He knew Hidan far too well. The zealot's fighting style was infuriatingly simple—either trading fatal injuries to secure a curse, or charging forward with mindless, screaming aggression.
Kakuzu's hands blurred through a sequence of signs with mechanical precision.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
A thick, heavy rampart of solid rock erupted from the muddy ground, rising instantly to block Hidan's direct path.
Hidan did not even break his stride. He swung the massive triple-bladed scythe with every ounce of his savage momentum.
"You think this pathetic wall can stop me?"
The heavy blades slammed into the stone. The earthen wall instantly shattered under the sheer brute force of the Sanzukigama, sending jagged debris and dust exploding outward.
But the moment the dust cleared, Kakuzu was nowhere to be seen.
Only a few pitch-black, wire-like threads slithered along the wet ground. The instant Hidan's swing followed through—when his old strength was spent and his muscles had yet to coil for a new strike—the threads lashed out like striking vipers.
Hidan felt a vice-like grip snap around his ankle.
It was the black threads of the Earth Grudge Fear. The forbidden technique was not only unnaturally durable, but it served as a perfect conductor for Chakra.
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
A blinding spear of jagged lightning traveled instantly up the black threads. The high-voltage current slammed into Hidan, spreading violently through his entire nervous system.
"Ugh, ahhhhhh!"
Hidan screamed, his body locking up as he convulsed wildly. The muscles in his hands spasmed, forcing him to drop the heavy scythe into the mud.
"Your immortality is certainly troublesome," Kakuzu's voice drifted from the shadows, flat and analytical. "But it is only troublesome. Immortality without a brain is nothing more than a living target."
Even with his body paralyzed and smoking from the electrical discharge, Hidan's jaw forced itself open.
"Bast... bastard! If you dare, fight me... head-on!"
"Head-on?"
Kakuzu sneered. The thick fabric of his cloak suddenly ripped apart at the back, the sound of tearing cloth accompanied by the sickening squelch of shifting flesh. Four grotesque, masked monsters woven entirely from black threads tore themselves free from his spine.
"I am fighting you head-on right now."
The mask bearing the affinity for wind opened its hollow jaws.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
A highly compressed sphere of roaring, high-pressure wind blasted forward, tearing a trench through the mud.
A split second later, the fire-affinity mask followed suit.
"Fire Release: Searing Migraine!"
Wind fueled the flames. The already devastating fireball caught the slipstream of the pressurized gale, instantly expanding into a monstrous, roaring storm of white-hot fire. The inferno completely engulfed the paralyzed Hidan, turning the immediate area into a blinding furnace.
When the roaring flames finally died down and the thick smoke cleared, the ground was unrecognizable.
Hidan lay at the bottom of a massive, glassed crater. His iconic red-cloud black cloak had been incinerated, leaving only a few charred rags clinging to his blackened, smoking flesh.
This level of destruction was only survivable because he was Hidan. Had it been anyone else, they would have been reduced to a scattering of gray ash on the wind.
"Cough, cough... cough..."
Hidan hacked up several mouthfuls of thick, boiling black blood. Yet, incredibly, his terrifying, charred face twisted into a wide, ecstatic smile.
"It hurts so much... it truly hurts..." He gasped, his eyes rolling back in twisted pleasure. "This kind of pain... it's absolutely wonderful... Kakuzu... you can't kill me..."
Kakuzu walked slowly to the edge of the smoking pit, looking down at his former partner with dead, calculating eyes.
"I know I cannot kill you." Kakuzu raised his hands. "Therefore, I did not intend to kill you."
Kakuzu violently clasped his hands together.
Swish, swish, swish.
Countless black Earth Grudge Fear threads erupted from his forearms, writhing like a nest of angry centipedes.
"Since I cannot kill you, I will simply disassemble you."
Kakuzu's voice carried the mechanical coldness of a butcher evaluating a carcass.
Puncture! Puncture!
The sharp tips of the black threads shot forward, accurately driving themselves deep into the joints of Hidan's limbs. They dug into cartilage and bone, then frantically wrapped around the limbs, tightening like industrial cables.
"Bastard! Let go of me! What are you trying to do?"
A sickening tear echoed from the crater.
Hidan's right arm was violently ripped from its socket. Blood sprayed across the scorched earth, but the black threads instantly swarmed the severed limb. Acting as the world's most brutal sutures, they folded the detached arm backward and bound it tightly against Hidan's torso.
Next came the left arm. Then both legs. Flesh tore, bones popped, and Hidan's screams of rage echoed through the rain.
In just one short minute, the brutal procedure was complete.
Hidan, the arrogant and reckless zealot of the Immortal Duo, had been bound by Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear into a tight, grotesque cocoon of black threads. Only his head remained exposed, and he was still screaming.
"Kakuzu! I'm going to kill you! I absolutely will kill you! I am immortal! I am the messenger of Jashin!"
Kakuzu squatted down at the edge of the pit. His expression remained entirely blank as he reached out and lightly patted Hidan's ash-covered cheek.
"Save your strength. Your Jashin cannot save you." Kakuzu stood back up, adjusting his cuffs. "In this world, the only thing that can save people is money. And you are now merely my spoils of war."
Kakuzu crooked a single finger. A thick bundle of threads shoved itself directly into Hidan's open mouth, forcefully gagging him and blocking the rest of his curses. The immortal zealot was left thrashing uselessly, producing only muffled, furious grunts.
With his former partner neutralized, Kakuzu reached down, hoisted the heavy cocoon over his shoulder, and tossed Hidan aside like a sack of grain. He then turned his attention to the item of true importance, carefully picking up his heavy money chest.
"The old friends have all been taken care of," Kakuzu muttered to himself, brushing a speck of ash from the wooden chest. "Hokage-sama's mission is considered complete."
Far on the other side of the battlefield, the atmosphere was entirely different.
Jiraiya's situation was rapidly deteriorating.
Although the Toad Sage had successfully blocked Kisame's opening wave of Water Release, the surrounding environment was a nightmare. Rain poured from the sky, deep puddles flooded the ruins, and water sources were everywhere. For Kisame Hoshigaki, fighting here was like a shark swimming in the open ocean.
Kisame stood casually on the surface of the turbulent water, the massive, bandage-wrapped bulk of Samehada resting on his shoulder. A ferocious, jagged grin stretched across his blue-tinted face.
"As expected of Jiraiya, one of the legendary Sannin." Kisame chuckled, a low, grating sound. "He didn't even die from that."
Kisame licked his sharp teeth. The Samehada in his grip squirmed restlessly, its scales shifting under the bandages as if it had already caught the scent of Jiraiya's massive Chakra reserves.
Beside the Monster of the Hidden Mist, Biwa Juzo maintained a grim, unreadable expression.
"Do not be careless, Kisame," Juzo warned, his grip tightening on the handle of his massive blade. "This guy is one of the Sannin for a reason."
Jiraiya stood atop the jagged ruins of a collapsed stone tower. The heavy rain plastered his clothes to his body, and his long white hair whipped wildly in the howling wind.
"Hoo..."
Jiraiya exhaled a long, slow breath, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed the flooded terrain below.
"It seems I'll have to get serious too."
Jiraiya bit down hard on his thumb, drawing blood. He smeared it across his palm and his hands blurred through a rapid sequence of signs. He slammed his palm against the stone beneath his feet.
"Summoning Technique!"
A massive explosion of white smoke erupted over the ruins.
A colossal teal toad wearing a happi coat and carrying two massive katana on its back materialized out of thin air. It plummeted downward, crashing heavily into the flooded courtyard and sending a tidal wave of muddy water surging in all directions.
It was Gamahiro.
"Jiraiya, are the enemies this time very troublesome?" Gamahiro asked, his deep, resonant voice vibrating through the rain. The giant toad smoothly drew his twin swords, his slit eyes locking warily onto the two Akatsuki members.
"Ah, they are quite troublesome," Jiraiya replied, leaping down from the tower to land squarely on Gamahiro's broad head.
Kisame looked up at the towering amphibian and scoffed, his grin widening.
"A Summoning Beast? In front of me, a large size just makes for a better target."
Kisame violently slapped the surface of the water with both hands.
"Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique!"
The flooded ruins instantly boiled. The massive volume of water surged upward, condensing into countless, razor-finned sharks. They broke the surface in a frenzy of white foam, opening their massive, watery jaws as they swarmed densely toward Gamahiro.
"Gamahiro! Jump up!" Jiraiya roared.
Gamahiro's powerful hind legs coiled and snapped outward with explosive force. The giant toad launched his massive bulk high into the stormy sky, narrowly avoiding the first wave of snapping jaws.
But the water sharks moved as if they possessed a mind of their own. They altered their trajectory mid-air, surging upward in a relentless, homing pursuit of the airborne toad.
Jiraiya inhaled deeply, his chest expanding as he molded his Chakra.
"Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"
Gamahiro spat a massive torrent of highly flammable toad oil, and Jiraiya immediately ignited it with a blast of intense fire. The oil fueled the flames, instantly transforming the sky into a roaring sea of fire that crashed down to vaporize the pursuing water sharks.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—
Water and fire collided violently in mid-air. The extreme temperature shift instantly boiled the rain, blanketing the entire battlefield in a thick, blinding white mist.
But just as the steam peaked, a dark silhouette pierced through the whiteout. Moving like a ghost, Biwa Juzo appeared directly above Gamahiro.
Juzo raised the massive Kubikiribocho high above his head, his cold eyes filled with lethal intent. He brought the Executioner's Blade slashing down with enough kinetic force to cleave a mountain in two.
Suspended in mid-air with absolutely no foothold, Gamahiro could only cross his twin katana in a desperate block.
CLANG!
The deafening shriek of clashing metal tore through the mist. The sheer weight and momentum of Juzo's downward slash struck Gamahiro's guard with devastating force. The giant toad lost his balance entirely, plummeting heavily back toward the flooded ruins.
And on the turbulent water surface below, Kisame was already waiting, his hands forming a new set of signs.
'Damn it!' Jiraiya cursed inwardly, his boots gripping Gamahiro's skin to keep from falling.
The coordination between these two Akatsuki members was terrifyingly precise. One dominated the long-range elemental warfare, while the other capitalized on every blind spot with crushing close-quarters strikes. They were giving him absolutely no room to breathe.
'It looks like if I want to quickly take down these two guys, I'll have to use that move.'
Jiraiya's eyes hardened with absolute resolve. He raised his arms and violently clasped his hands together.
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