The Undying Duo

After finishing the array required for the sacrificial ritual, Hidan moved all the people he had killed onto the markings. Among his victims were both the elderly and children. He then formed hand seals and shouted, "Lord Jashin, please enjoy these offerings!"

A black mist slowly emerged above the pile of corpses, gradually thickening until it formed a vague silhouette. As the figure emitted a "hehehe" cackle, the bodies began to wither at a speed visible to the naked eye.

On the other side, Naruto had arrived near the village entrance just as Hidan began the ritual. Seeing no one at the gate, he activated his sensory abilities. When he saw the pile of corpses inside, Hidan acting like a lunatic while calling out to Lord Jashin, and Kakuzu sitting on a rooftop, a surge of rage rushed straight to Naruto's head. He immediately charged toward the center of the village.

He knew Hidan gained his immortality through sacrifices to Lord Jashin, but he had assumed the man only sacrificed the ninjas he fought. He never expected Hidan to spare not even the civilians. Among the pile of bodies, Naruto saw not only the elderly and children but even a pregnant woman with a large belly. He had originally intended to recruit Hidan, wanting to use his immortality for certain experiments.

Because Naruto perceived all of this, the two people and one fox inside the Sealing Space saw it as well. Upon seeing the pregnant woman and the children, Kushina cursed them as beasts. While Minato said nothing, his icy expression and clenched fists made it clear that he, too, was furious.

Although both Minato and Kushina had killed before—especially the former, who earned the title Yellow Flash by slaughtering enemy ninjas during the Third Great Ninja War—Minato on the battlefield had struck terror into other villages. To this day, Minato is the only one to have forced other villages to issue an order: "If you encounter the Konoha Yellow Flash during a mission, you are permitted to abandon the mission and flee to save your life."

Yet, that was only on the battlefield. In daily life, Minato was a very gentle person; otherwise, he would not have earned the nickname Little Sun.

By the time Naruto rushed to the center of the village, the so-called Lord Jashin had finished absorbing all the blood and vanished, leaving behind only a pile of mummified corpses and Hidan, who stood nearby laughing maniacally.

Seeing Naruto run in, Hidan laughed wildly and said, "Oh? There was one left over! Lord Jashin loves the blood of children the most!"

Hearing this, Naruto said nothing. He simply pulled out a wooden Kunai and threw it toward Hidan's right hand, which held the scythe, while Spirit Energy Body Infusion rapidly gathered in the meridians of his legs.

Seeing Naruto throw a wooden Kunai—and a poorly aimed one at that—Hidan didn't even dodge. He stood in place, cackling, "Hahaha, brat, what I love most is watching people struggle before they die, because..."

Before he could finish, Hidan saw that the Naruto who had been in his field of vision had vanished. Then, he felt a sharp, piercing pain in his right ribs and shoulder.

Just as the Kunai flew past Hidan's right side, Naruto formed a single Rat seal and used the Flying Thunder God. He instantly appeared at Hidan's right, grabbed the arm holding the bloody scythe, yanked it hard, and kicked Hidan's right ribs.

With the sound of snapping bones, Hidan's right arm was severed from his body, and a large hole appeared in his right ribcage. Naruto's kick could have easily shattered Hidan into pieces, but he suddenly thought of something else and held back most of his strength.

After taking the scythe from Hidan's right hand and tossing it to the ground, Naruto activated his Spirit Energy Body Infusion. A light membrane composed of spirit energy formed on his skin, and as the energy surged from his vortex into his entire body, his physical strength was significantly enhanced.

He stomped Hidan's severed right arm into two pieces, then pried it apart with force. The scythe in his hand could not withstand Naruto's strength and shattered into several fragments with a loud crack.

At this moment, Kakuzu, who had been sitting on the roof, reacted. He quickly moved over to drag Hidan back and immediately unleashed Earth Grudge Fear, causing dense black threads to erupt from every joint in his body.

Dragged to the rear by Kakuzu, Hidan saw his right arm and weapon destroyed and roared at Naruto in a frenzy: "Brat, I will kill you! I will sacrifice you to Lord Jashin, I swear it!!!" Although Hidan possessed an immortal body and severed limbs could be stitched back together to regrow, the area where Naruto had stomped his arm had been reduced to pulp, and Hidan did not know if he could recover from that.

"Calm down, Hidan. If I'm not mistaken, that brat just used the Fourth Hokage of Konoha's Flying Thunder God!" Kakuzu spoke up.

Naruto was not surprised that Kakuzu recognized the Flying Thunder God. Kakuzu was a contemporary of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and had participated in all three Great Ninja Wars. During the Third War, Minato had used the Flying Thunder God to tear through the defensive lines of various villages. After the war, the survivors were certainly interested in the technique, hoping to research ways to counter it.

"Neither of you is getting away! You're both staying here today," Naruto said coldly to the pair.

Hearing Naruto's declaration, Kakuzu continued, "Brat, although you know the Flying Thunder God, you haven't fully mastered it yet, have you? I saw you form a Rat seal before you used it just now, and you teleported using that Kunai."

Naruto did not refute this. Although he had mastered the Flying Thunder God, he was still some distance away from being able to use it without seals. Since Tobirama Senju developed the technique, only six people had learned it, including Minato and his three guards. Only Minato had managed to use it without seals; even its creator, Tobirama Senju, required seals to activate it.

Seeing Naruto remain silent, Kakuzu continued, "Brat, what is your name? I see you have decent strength. How about joining our organization? I once assassinated your First Hokage. There are several others in the organization as strong as I am, especially our leader—a being known as a god!"

Hearing this, Naruto couldn't help but burst into laughter. Although he held no affection for Hashirama Senju, he mocked, "Strong? You call throwing a shuriken from dozens of miles away and then retreating an assassination? Are you trying to laugh me to death?"

Naruto's words hit a sore spot for Kakuzu. At the time, he hadn't possessed Earth Grudge Fear, and his strength was only at the Jonin level. When he tried to assassinate Hashirama Senju, he had barely thrown one shuriken before being pinned to the ground. Once pinned, Kakuzu had begged frantically for mercy, and Hashirama Senju had only let him go because he found him pathetic.

Hearing Naruto bring up his shuriken attack on Hashirama Senju again, Kakuzu recalled that nightmarish memory. Since this brat knew about it, he could not be allowed to remain in this world. Without further ado, his joints detached, connected only by black threads. His Akatsuki cloak was torn apart by the threads, revealing four masks on his back.

This was Kakuzu's long-range combat mode, a precaution against the Flying Thunder God. Naruto had torn off Hidan's arm in an instant and shattered his ribs with a single kick, proving that the brat's taijutsu was formidable and his strength immense. He used this mode specifically to prevent Naruto from getting close.

Naruto had kept his sensory abilities active since entering. After Kakuzu's clothes were torn, he clearly saw the four masks on Kakuzu's back. Earth Grudge Fear was a treasure of Takigakure, paired with a secret technique that allowed the user to devour others' hearts and gain their abilities. Beyond that, it provided a "death-substitution" effect; each mask represented one heart. In other words, including his own, Kakuzu had five lives.

Because he hadn't had many opportunities for real combat, Naruto wasn't entirely sure of the extent of his own strength. Now, he finally had a chance; Kakuzu, with his five lives, was an excellent test subject.

Seeing Kakuzu take his stance, Naruto stopped talking. He pulled a smoke bomb from his pack and threw it in front of him. With a "bang," the bomb exploded, and the spreading smoke obscured Kakuzu's vision.

Suddenly, several Kunai flew toward Kakuzu with the sound of the Void Piercer.

Seeing this, Kakuzu couldn't help but mutter, "Naive brat." He then whipped his black threads around, batting the Kunai to the left and right. He kept his attention focused on the smoke, but he failed to notice that the Kunai he had knocked away had transformed into Naruto's clones upon hitting the ground, and they were quickly running around him.

After using the smoke bomb, Naruto had used the Shadow Clone technique to create five clones. He turned four of them into Kunai and threw them at Kakuzu. Kakuzu had seen him use the Flying Thunder God, so approaching him with it again would be impossible.

Once the clones were in position, they quickly condensed Rasengan the size of human heads. The shadow clones in the smoke also charged out. As they reached the edge of Kakuzu's attack range, the clones threw their Rasengan and then dissipated.

The reason the Rasengan dissipated after leaving the palm was that the chaotic chakra could no longer maintain its flow trajectory once it left the hand. The Rasengan Naruto was using now was condensed from spirit energy. Since he had been practicing splitting spirit energy, his control had improved significantly. Furthermore, he had added a membrane of spirit energy to the surface of the Rasengan. When the thrown Rasengan reached the target, the collision caused the violent spirit energy inside to tear through the membrane and explode.

Sensing the fluctuations radiating from the Rasengan all around him, Kakuzu cursed under his breath. He quickly gathered his black threads beneath him and launched himself into the air.