The Immortal Duo Is Formed!

Kakuzu looked at Hidan, who had been instantly killed and was lying motionless on the ground, and sneered. "What? That's it?"

He turned to Uchiha Ye and said regretfully, "Sorry about that. You came all this way for nothing."

He thought Hidan was dead.

But!

"Damn it, that hurts!"

Hidan suddenly climbed back to his feet from the pool of blood, shouting angrily, "I hereby pass God's Judgment on you!"

As he yelled, he dipped his foot in the blood on the ground and drew a circle with a triangle inside it. "The battle—"

Before he could finish, Kakuzu's highly penetrating fist shot out again and pierced his chest from a distance.

Naturally, this heavy blow made Hidan even angrier. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed the black tendril and yanked it out of his wound, taking some of Kakuzu's blood with it. "Get ready for the show of a lifetime, you bastard!"

"From here on, this is my stage. Everything about you will be in my hands!"

He smirked triumphantly. "The ritual begins!"

As he spoke, he licked Kakuzu's blood from his hand and swallowed it. His body instantly turned black, white stripes appearing over his bones, making him look just like the God of Death.

Everyone except Uchiha Ye looked on in astonishment. "What is this...?"

A spike suddenly sprang from Hidan's hand. While everyone watched in shock and confusion, he thrust it straight into his lower abdomen.

"Squish!"

Though Hidan had pierced his own abdomen, blood appeared on Kakuzu's body in the exact same place. Kakuzu doubled over in pain, letting out a cry.

"Hahaha! You see how powerful I am now, you bastard!"

Seeing the disbelief in Kakuzu's eyes and the shock on everyone else's faces filled Hidan with delight. "Keep feeling the pain!"

Stab, stab, stab!

He repeatedly pierced his own limbs, hands, and feet, as if he couldn't feel any pain.

Kakuzu, on the other hand, kept grunting as his corresponding body parts suffered blow after blow.

At last, he lost the ability to stand and collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily.

"Heh, you should be grateful to me, old-timer."

"If I'd pierced my own heart the first time, you'd be dead by now!"

Seeing Kakuzu lying in a pool of blood, Hidan stopped the ritual, feeling quite pleased with himself.

"So this is the ability of a Jashin Cult follower—Jashin's Curse? What a deranged technique!"

Sasori was shocked as well. "All it takes is an enemy's blood to kill them instantly. What a terrifying ability. No wonder Ye was so wary of him."

For ninjas like them, who only had one life, this ability was truly horrifying.

"So the ritual requires the enemy's blood and that cursed circle?"

Uchiha Itachi suppressed his shock and analyzed the situation calmly. "Then would this ability be useless if Hidan weren't inside the circle?"

He thought he might test it if he got the chance.

Konan couldn't help marveling at what she saw. "It's the perfect weapon against Jinchuriki!"

An immortal body combined with an ability that could defeat an enemy in one strike—what could be better for dealing with Jinchuriki?

No matter how powerful a Jinchuriki was, they still only had one life!

She couldn't help looking at Uchiha Ye, unease creeping into her heart. "How did he know about Hidan's ability the first time they fought? Could he have the power to see the future?"

(Akatsuki members shared the details of their missions upon returning, so Konan knew that Uchiha Ye had seemed to know Hidan's trump card in advance.)

She felt that Uchiha Ye was a complete mystery!

His strange Lava Release ability, which had nothing to do with the Uchiha, was already remarkable enough.

Despite his young age, he was incredibly powerful and mature in his dealings with others.

Now he seemed to know everything about the ninja world.

When he first heard the name Akatsuki, he hadn't been surprised at all.

It was as if he had already known about Akatsuki.

And now, facing Hidan for the first time, he even knew about his trump card.

Wasn't that something only a person who could see the future could do?

"I've seen it all now!"

At that moment, something suddenly stirred inside Kakuzu. Tendrils pushed through his skin and stitched his body back together from within.

Before long, he had stood back up. His strength completely restored, he looked at the smug Hidan and narrowed his eyes. "Good. I like you as a partner. Especially that immortal body of yours!"

It seemed he'd be able to unleash his ninjutsu without holding back, with no need to worry about his partner being too fragile.

"Heh heh, old-timer, I look forward to working with you."

Seeing that Kakuzu had accepted him, and noticing the approval in everyone's eyes, Hidan spoke smugly.

"You can count on it!"

A glint flashed in Kakuzu's impassive eyes.

"And with that, the Immortal Duo was formed!"

Watching Kakuzu and Hidan acknowledge each other, Uchiha Ye couldn't help thinking about it with a hint of mischief.

"Now all that's left is to wait for word from Orochimaru."

Orochimaru had defected, but they still didn't know exactly where he was staying. There was no way they could rush off to hunt him down.

They would have to wait for Zetsu, the organization's intelligence expert, to send word.

"I should use this chance to get stronger."

Amegakure was a great place for him to train.

It had rivers, lakes, and seas!

All of them would help him develop his Devil Fruit Ability and toughen his body!

Meanwhile!

Somewhere in the Land of Fields, Orochimaru licked his lips. "I wonder who Akatsuki will send after me?"

A face with deep creases around the mouth appeared in his mind. His expression immediately turned wary. "Uchiha Itachi is quite a troublesome fellow!"

Thinking of Uchiha Itachi naturally brought another person to mind.

"Uchiha Ye... He's no ordinary man either!"

His gaze sharpened. "Even if Sasori of the Red Sands hadn't shown up that day, I'd have had to be prepared to pay a price to take him down!"

"And before the Uchiha Clan Downfall Night, he managed to hide himself so well that nobody saw through him. When it comes to guile, he's even more terrifying than Uchiha Itachi. Once he grows up, he'll surely become a great power in his own right!"

Orochimaru licked his lips and grinned. "At last, the stagnant waters of the ninja world are beginning to stir!"

Of course, knowing that both Uchiha men were dangerous, and that genjutsu was one of the Uchiha clan's greatest strengths, Orochimaru felt he needed to improve his own skills in that area.

Next time they met, he couldn't let Uchiha Ye take him down with genjutsu again!

That would be too embarrassing!

Amegakure!

"My Devil Fruit Ability is already at the point where it's difficult to make any major progress!"

Beneath a waterfall, Uchiha Ye sat cross-legged on a boulder, his body flowing with scorching red magma. Taking advantage of the water's suppressive effect on the lava, he kept raising its temperature.

For him, temperature meant destructive power!

"And right now, the only other areas where I can improve my strength are precise control over my power and the development of my genjutsu!"

The more precisely he controlled his power, the more concentrated his lava attacks would be, and the more terrifying their destructive force.

At the same time, his reflexes and speed would improve in harmony.