After drawing the diagram for the sacrificial ritual, Hidan carried all the people he had killed onto it. Among the bodies were both the elderly and children. He formed hand seals and shouted, "May Lord Jashin enjoy these offerings!"
A plume of black smoke slowly appeared above the pile of corpses. It grew thicker and thicker, eventually forming a blurry silhouette. As it let out a series of "Kekekeke" laughs, the corpses shriveled at a visible pace.
Meanwhile, Naruto had already reached a spot not far from the village entrance when Hidan began the ritual. Seeing no one at the entrance, he activated his sensory abilities. The moment he sensed the bodies piled up inside, Hidan shouting like a lunatic about Lord Jashin beside them, and Kakuzu sitting on a rooftop, anger surged through him. He immediately rushed toward the center of the village.
He knew Hidan gained immortality by offering sacrifices to Jashin. Naruto had assumed Hidan only sacrificed the ninjas he fought, but he hadn't expected him to target civilians as well. Among the bodies, Naruto saw not only elderly people and children, but even a heavily pregnant woman. He had originally planned to recruit Hidan, hoping to use his immortality for some experiments.
Since Naruto was the one sensing all this, the two people and the fox in the Sealing Space could see it too. When they saw the pregnant woman and the children, Kushina cursed Hidan as a beast. Minato said nothing, but his cold expression and clenched fists made it clear that he was furious too.
Minato and Kushina had both killed before, especially the former. During the Third Shinobi World War, he had earned the title of Yellow Flash by slaying enemy ninjas. On the battlefield, Minato had struck such fear into the other villages that, to this day, he was the only person who had caused them to issue an order allowing their ninjas to abandon their missions and flee if they encountered Konoha's Yellow Flash.
But that was only on the battlefield. In everyday life, Minato was a very gentle person; otherwise, he wouldn't have earned the title Little Sun.
By the time Naruto reached the center of the village, the so-called Jashin had finished absorbing all the blood and disappeared, leaving only a field of dried corpses and Hidan laughing maniacally beside them.
When Hidan saw Naruto run in, he laughed and said, "Oh? I missed one! Lord Jashin loves the blood of children best!"
Naruto didn't answer. He simply pulled out a wooden kunai and threw it at Hidan's right hand, the one holding the scythe. At the same time, Spirit Energy gathered rapidly in the meridians of his legs.
Seeing Naruto throw a wooden kunai at him—and miss—Hidan didn't even dodge. He stood there laughing wildly. "Hahaha! Kid, what I love most is watching people struggle before they die, because—"
Before he could finish, Hidan saw Naruto disappear from his view. A moment later, a sharp pain hit his right ribs and shoulder.
As the kunai flew past Hidan's right hand, Naruto formed the Serpent hand seal with one hand and used the Flying Thunder God to appear beside him. He grabbed Hidan's right hand—the one holding the bloodstained scythe—and yanked hard, kicking him in the right ribs at the same time.
The sound of breaking bones rang out. Hidan's right hand was torn from his body, and a gaping hole opened in his right side. Naruto's kick could have reduced him to fragments, but Naruto suddenly thought of something and held back most of his strength.
He took the scythe from Hidan's right hand and tossed the hand onto the ground. Then Naruto used Spirit Energy Body Infusion, forming a film of Spirit Energy over his skin. As Spirit Energy surged out of his core and flowed through his body, his physical strength increased to a degree.
He stomped on Hidan's right hand, breaking it in two, then bent the scythe with all his might. Unable to withstand Naruto's strength, it snapped with a crack and shattered into several pieces.
Kakuzu, who had been sitting on the rooftop, finally reacted. He rushed over, grabbed Hidan, and dragged him backward as he quickly used Earth Grudge Fear. Countless black threads poured out of the joints all over his body.
Furious that Naruto had destroyed his right hand and weapon, Hidan roared at him from where Kakuzu had dragged him. "Kid, I'm going to kill you! I'll sacrifice you to Lord Jashin! I swear!" Hidan was immortal, and even severed body parts could be reattached and grow back. But the part of his arm Naruto had crushed beneath his foot had turned to mush, and Hidan didn't know whether it could recover.
"Calm down, Hidan. If I'm not mistaken, that kid just used the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique," Kakuzu said.
Naruto wasn't surprised that Kakuzu had recognized the Flying Thunder God. Kakuzu had lived in the same era as the First, Hashirama Senju, and had participated in the first three Shinobi World Wars. During the Third Shinobi World War, Minato had used the Flying Thunder God to carve through the enemy villages' defenses. After the war, the survivors would naturally have been interested in the technique and hoped to find a way to counter it.
"Neither of you is getting away. You're both staying here today," Naruto said coldly.
Hearing Naruto say he would keep them there, Kakuzu continued, "Kid, you may know the Flying Thunder God, but you haven't mastered it completely, have you? Before you used it just now, I saw you form a hand seal. And you used that kunai to teleport, didn't you?"
Naruto didn't deny it. He had mastered the Flying Thunder God, but he still had some way to go before he could use it without hand seals. Since Tobirama Senju had developed the Flying Thunder God, only six people had learned it, including him, Minato, and Minato's three guards. Minato alone had managed to use it without hand seals. Even its creator, Tobirama Senju, needed to form them.
When Naruto didn't respond, Kakuzu continued, "Kid, what's your name? You seem pretty strong. How about joining our organization? I once tried to assassinate your First, and there are several others in our organization as strong as me. Our leader in particular is a being known as a god!"
Hearing Kakuzu say this, Naruto couldn't help bursting into laughter. Although he didn't think much of Hashirama Senju, he still mocked Kakuzu. "Strong? You threw a shuriken from dozens of miles away, then retreated. You call that an assassination attempt? Are you trying to kill me laughing?"
Naruto's words hit Kakuzu where it hurt. Back then, he hadn't yet gained Earth Grudge Fear, and his strength was only that of an elite jonin. When he tried to assassinate Hashirama Senju, he had thrown just one shuriken before Hashirama pinned him to the ground. Kakuzu had begged desperately for his life, and Hashirama had let him go out of pity.
Hearing Naruto bring up his shuriken attack on Hashirama again, Kakuzu was reminded of that nightmare. If this kid knew about it, then he couldn't be allowed to remain alive. Kakuzu stopped wasting words. His joints came apart, connected by black threads, and the threads stretched until his Akatsuki cloak tore open, revealing four masks on his back.
This was Kakuzu's long-range attack mode, designed to counter the Flying Thunder God Technique. Naruto had torn off Hidan's hand in an instant and kicked in all the ribs on his right side, showing that the kid had excellent Taijutsu and considerable strength. The long-range attack mode would keep Naruto from getting close.
Naruto had kept his sensory abilities active ever since entering the village. When Kakuzu's cloak tore, he clearly saw the four masks on his back. Earth Grudge Fear was a treasure of Takigakure, and it came with a secret technique that let its user devour other people's hearts and gain their abilities. It also allowed the user to survive otherwise fatal injuries. Each mask was a heart, which meant that, including his own, Kakuzu had five lives.
Naruto hadn't had many chances to fight for real, so he wasn't sure how strong he was. Now he finally had one. Kakuzu, with his five lives, was the perfect test subject.
Seeing Kakuzu take his stance, Naruto didn't waste any more words. He took a smoke bomb from his bag and threw it in front of himself. With a bang, it exploded, and the spreading smoke blocked Kakuzu's view.
Suddenly, several kunai shot out of the smoke toward Kakuzu with a sharp whistle.
"Childish," Kakuzu said. Black threads whipped through the air and knocked the kunai off to either side. Then he focused his attention on the smoke, failing to notice that the kunai he had sent flying had turned into Naruto's forms as soon as they hit the ground. They immediately ran around him.
After throwing the smoke bomb, Naruto had used Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to create five Shadow Clones. He transformed four of them into kunai and threw them at Kakuzu. Kakuzu had seen him use the Flying Thunder God just moments earlier, so Naruto couldn't use it to get close to him now.
Once the clones were in position, they quickly formed Rasengan the size of a human head. The Shadow Clones in the smoke charged out, and when they neared Kakuzu's range, they hurled the Rasengan in their hands before disappearing.
The reason Rasengan dissipated when it left the palm was that the chaotic chakra could no longer maintain its flow. Naruto's Rasengan was made of Spirit Energy, and after practicing how to split it apart for some time, he had gained much better control over it. He had also added a layer of Spirit Energy around the Rasengan. When the thrown Rasengan reached its target, the impact tore through the layer of Spirit Energy, unleashing the violent energy within and making it explode.
Feeling the waves of energy radiating from the Rasengan all around him, Kakuzu realized something was wrong. Earth Grudge Fear gathered beneath him and quickly launched him into the air.