Smart Hidan, S-Rank Forbidden Jutsu!

Half a day later.

Land of Hot Water, the site where Uchiha Ci had fought.

A youth with black short hair, dressed in a black tight combat suit beneath a Konoha jonin vest, leapt down.

This person was Uchiha Fugaku.

When he saw the scene within the village, he could not help but feel shocked.

The village that had once stood here was gone. In its place stood a giant volcano, shattered into ruins.

It looked as though someone had wielded a forty-meter-long greatsword and hacked wildly at the place until it ended up like this.

Scalding underground boiling water continuously bubbled forth, forming a small river at the crater that wound its way downhill.

"Great Elder, what exactly did they encounter?" Fugaku frowned slightly. Standing atop the volcano, he picked up a pinch of sand and stone powder from the ground and opened his Sharingan.

"With devastation like this, there are only two possibilities."

"Either Elder Setsuna finally awakened that forbidden power at the very last moment."

"Or... he used that forbidden jutsu."

Fugaku's tone sank as his Sharingan swiftly swept across the ruins.

"Hmm?"

His brows suddenly furrowed as he spotted a relatively intact circular area exposed along the boiling water riverbed.

It was filled with shuriken and kunai, with exploding tags that had already lost their sheen scattered across the ground.

Gullies crisscrossed the area, while pits achieved through taijutsu exchanges densely covered the ground.

"There was someone else fighting here. This level of Silk Manipulation Shuriken Jutsu... Kiyochiro? No, he doesn't have that ability. Then it must have been Uchiha Ci."

"Uchiha Ci."

"Given this tragic post-war situation, one could imagine just how intense the actual battle had been."

"Was he really just a genin?"

Fugaku could not help but doubt it. Even Shisui, the Uchiha Clan's greatest genius, without the accumulation that came with age, could not possibly have reached this level at this point in time, could he?

"No matter which method he used, for the Great Elder to unleash such power, he must have done so while driven by intense emotions."

"Then what was he trying to do?"

Frowning deeply, he narrowed his eyes and studied the path carved by the giant sword, calculating.

At last, his gaze settled on a section of volcanic cliff face with an obvious missing chunk.

"They may still be alive..."

"At the very least, Uchiha Ci is very likely still alive!"

Uchiha Fugaku took a deep breath, and the words Shisui had once said to him surfaced in his mind:

'Uchiha Ci will definitely become a bridge between the clan and the village, Senior Fugaku!'

And now, Great Elder Uchiha Setsuna, the leader of the Hawk Faction, had burned away his life to carve out a path of survival for this child.

Uchiha Ci—

Just what kind of charm did he possess, to make the Hawk Faction and Dove Faction, two factions as irreconcilable as fire and water, go this far for him?

"Find him!" Uchiha Fugaku exhaled deeply.

"We must find him!"

"This may be the final information Elder Setsuna left behind."

"And... his final will!"

Land of Hot Water, Inside an abandoned village near Yuren City, the capital of the Land of Hot Water.

Uchiha Ci opened his eyes.

What greeted him was an unfamiliar ceiling, on the verge of collapse and covered in cracks.

"Yo, you're awake?"

The Gray Pompadour Kid sat by the bed, chewing on a pork chop as he glanced over at him from the corner of his eye.

"Where am I?" Uchiha Ci could not help but feel confused.

His last memory was of still being inside the volcano, getting knocked out in a sneak attack by that bastard old man Uchiha Setsuna, then smashing the back of his head and passing out.

And damn it, this wasn't even the first time!

Uchiha Ci gritted his teeth inwardly. He still remembered wanting to help set up alert traps before combat erupted.

Back then, this old man had slapped him across the forehead and knocked him out, too.

Damn it, didn't he know that slapping a child like that could turn his head square?

"Yesterday, groundwater erupted from somewhere and formed a Hot Spring River."

"This Master found you floating on the river and fished you out."

"Tsk tsk, you're a ninja, aren't you?" The gray-haired, slicked-back Child spun his stool around, propped one foot on the bed, clasped Both Hands behind his head, and raised a brow.

The Sharingan in Uchiha Ci's eyes flashed and vanished.

Through the Sharingan's unique vision, he could tell that this arrogant Brat did not possess much Chakra at all—he did not even have enough to qualify as a genin.

He frowned slightly. "You knew I was a ninja, yet you still dared to save me?"

"Aren't you afraid I'll carve you up with one slash?"

Yet the slick-haired Brat answered with complete calm.

"Your body is covered in wounds of all sizes, but This Master looked you over and didn't find a single wound on your back."

"Someone who doesn't run away..."

"In a place like the Land of Hot Water, he's probably considered a good person."

Uchiha Ci's smile immediately froze.

The first time in his life he had been handed a good-guy card, and it had come from a snot-nosed Brat with his Nostrils pointed at the sky.

It made him want to jam two fingers into the little bastard's nostrils and give him a vicious over-the-shoulder throw.

But the other party had saved him, even if he had not particularly wanted to be saved.

In the end, as a good person, Uchiha Ci could only sigh. Having received Nine-Year Compulsory Education, he could not bring himself to Backstab his Benefactor.

The road to Insurance Fraud was arduous and long!

What a pain!

"Hey, let This Master introduce himself. This Master's name is Hidan." The slick-haired Brat grinned and pointed his thumb at himself.

"You can call This Master Brother Duan."

"And you?"

Uchiha Ci answered concisely, "Genin. Ci."

But Soon, he realized something and looked at the Brat before him with a stunned expression.

"Wait, what did you say?"

"Your name is... Hidan?"

"What kind of look is that? Of course This Master is called Hidan." Hidan scoffed and casually pointed his thumb at himself.

"The future Savior of the Land of Hot Water, the Mizukage! That's This Master!"

"This Master will put an end to the Land of Hot Water's chaos, drive every Great Nation Ninja off this land, and become the next 'Demigod' of the ninja world!"

"This is This Master's Ninjutsu Path!"

"Wait, Hidan, aren't you supposed to be a complete idiot?" Uchiha Ci stared at the Brat in horror, so Astonished that he nearly activated his Sharingan to see whether this Hidan was the genuine article.

After all, Hidan was a future member of the Akatsuki, a devout follower of the Evil God Cult, one half of the Immortal Duo, and possessed the terrifying ability known as First Kill.

He had defeated the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, killed Jirōbō of the Guardian Ninja Twelve and Asuma, and boasted an illustrious record along with formidable strength!

He was arrogant, bold, long-winded, and conceited, with a brain that did not work quite right.

That was Hidan.

Other than the part about his brain not working properly, this little Hidan matched every one of those traits.

But—

A smart Hidan???

What the fuck kind of Hidan was this?

Uchiha Ci immediately recalled the old shit-flinging debates he had had with a group of Fire Fans, where he had proposed that if Hidan had a brain, then one could derive: Summoning Mosquito Hidan, Sanitary Pad Hidan, Blood Donation Car Hidan.

A Hidan with a brain was so absurd that absurdity's mother had opened the door for absurdity—

It was absurd all the way home!

On par with Rice-Snatching Minato, Healthy Itachi, and Informant Jiraiya.

Uchiha Ci blinked blankly, and his pupils began to quake.

"What's with you? Why are you insulting This Master?" Hidan frowned, and the look in his eyes as he watched Uchiha Ci gradually changed.

"Oh~! This Master gets it now!"

"Sure enough, you were intimidated by This Master's name, so you started babbling nonsense."

"So that's it. This is the so-called intimidation of a Kage described in books."

"Not bad. This Master forgives you."

Hidan burst into laughter, pulled out a scroll, and tossed it to Uchiha Ci.

"This floated over with you, but This Master couldn't open it. It should be yours."

"Take it. This Master is going to call the Doctor to have a look at your brain."

Uchiha Ci had no time to dwell on Hidan's absurd remark about having his brain examined.

After taking the scroll, Uchiha Ci immediately noticed the Uchiha Clan Crest on it.

Weighing it in his hand, Uchiha Ci discovered that he seemed to share a close connection with the scroll.

It seemed he could open it.

So, Uchiha Ci carefully unfurled the scroll.

When he saw its contents, his pupils suddenly contracted.

Because

the large words before his eyes were unmistakably:

<Uchiha Style · Secret Transmission S-Rank Forbidden Jutsu Sword Ougi>

Sun Halo Dance!

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