Jashin's Disciple

A few minutes of close-quarters combat had been too much pressure. After all, once Hidan got hold of his blood, he would definitely die.

Shikamaru had no choice but to use Shadow Possession Jutsu again, restraining Hidan.

But he was now supporting himself on the ground with one hand, his breathing visibly growing heavier—sweat streamed from his temples, dripped down his jaw, and soaked his collar. His shadow still bit around Hidan's ankle, but its grip was weaker than before. The shadow's edges trembled slightly, like a rubber band stretched to its limit and about to snap.

Hidan lay prone on the ground, his wrists and ankles bound by shadows, but the smile at the corner of his mouth returned. "Running out of chakra, huh, kid?"

Shikamaru did not answer. His fingers trembled slightly, and the shadow binding Hidan's ankle loosened another fraction. Visible ripples began spreading through the entire jutsu's structure. Hidan felt the force around his ankle slacken.

With a violent struggle, the recoil sent Shikamaru flying backward. His back slammed into a tree trunk, and he slid down, gasping for breath. He could not even lift the hand needed to form seals. The shadows dispersed completely.

Hidan climbed to his feet and flexed the wrists and ankles that had been bound for too long. He looked down at his palm, then at Shikamaru sprawled beneath the tree roots. The curve of his smile widened.

"Look at you. You went through all that trouble to drag me here, and now you can't even move."

He walked toward Shikamaru, unhurried, every step carrying the relaxed air of a cat toying with a mouse.

"Honestly, you're much more interesting than that fatty and your teacher. That teacher—what was his name again? Asuma? Right, Asuma. He looked pretty interesting lying on the ground too."

Shikamaru leaned against the trunk, his chest rising and falling, saying nothing. His hand hung at his side, fingers seemingly still trying to form seals, but they shook too badly to complete the motion. "Don't... don't mock Asuma-sensei!"

Hidan reached him, crouched down, drew his scythe, and slashed.

Shikamaru leaned back slightly, then fell over. When he turned his head back, a line of blood had already appeared across his face.

"I'll take your blood."

Hidan wiped the blood from Shikamaru's cheek with a fingertip and licked it. Then he stood, took two steps back, and drew a circle on the ground with his toe—concentric rings, triangular symbols at three points, identical to every ritual circle he had drawn before.

Even as he drew the array, he did not forget to glance at Shikamaru. "Don't worry. It'll be quick."

Yunju stood at the edge of the clearing, watching the scene. The muscles in his back had already tensed, chakra gathering in his palm, ready for Turbidity Release's domain to unfold at any moment.

But Shikamaru lifted his eyelid. Just once—not turning his head, not waving his hand, merely the slightest shift of his gaze. Don't move. Then his eyes lowered again, as though nothing had happened.

Yunju's hand stopped. He forced that chakra back into his body.

Hidan had already taken his position in the center of the ritual circle. He took a long nail from the tool pouch at his waist. Its tip flashed in the sunlight. Then he raised it, aimed at his own left chest, and drove it down with all his strength—through skin, muscle, ribs, and straight into his heart.

"Ugh—!" A muffled groan escaped Hidan. But his expression was not one of pain. It was pleasure, satisfaction, as if he had completed some sacred ritual.

At that exact instant, Shikamaru's body jolted violently.

Hidan's mouth split into a grin. He watched Shikamaru's body topple to one side and lie motionless beneath the tree roots. He pulled out the nail. Within two or three seconds, the wound healed rapidly, leaving only a hole in his clothes and a ring of bloodstains over his chest.

"It's over."

Hidan wiped the blood off the nail, put it away, then turned to look at Yunju at the edge of the clearing. "Your companion's pretty smart, but too weak. Now then, time to deal with you, little ninjutsu firecracker."

Yunju did not respond. He stared in Shikamaru's direction, his fingers still resting on his ninja tool pouch, unmoving. Because he had seen it—when Shikamaru toppled over, his right index finger had drawn a tiny hook in the dirt, so small it was nearly invisible.

Hidan kept talking. "You're the one who ran away from Orochimaru's place too, aren't you? I heard Kakuzu mention it. He said Orochimaru raised a bunch of trash, but I didn't expect there'd be one who could fight." He tilted his head, examining Yunju. "Someone capable who came from Orochimaru's place, huh? And you even ended up in Konoha."

Shikamaru's finger moved once against the ground. Yunju withdrew his gaze from him and fixed it on Hidan's face again, his tone so calm that it did not sound like he was speaking of anything urgent. "Are you done?"

Hidan froze for a moment. In that instant, Shikamaru sprang up from the ground, his entire body like a spring released after being compressed to its limit. His hands had already completed their seals. Shadows surged up from the ground, biting around Hidan's ankles once more, locking, tightening, fixing him in place.

"You—?!" Hidan looked down at the shadow around his ankles, thicker and tighter than before. Not a trace of his former composure remained. His gaze snapped toward the center of the ritual circle.

The array was still there. The ritual had been completed. The curse should have taken effect. Why could Shikamaru still move?

Instinctively, he glanced at Shikamaru's cheek. The wound was still there, and the bloodstain had already congealed, but something was off about its surface color. It had dried already?

Shikamaru crouched on the ground, and at last a faint curve formed at the corner of his mouth.

"Why do you think I let you cut me in that exact spot? Why do you think I lay beneath that tree without moving?"

Hidan's expression changed completely.

"The blood on your wound wasn't yours?!"

"It was Kakuzu's blood..."

Shikamaru raised his right hand. His fingertips still retained the faint chill of the glass bottle's mouth.

"You cursed me, right? In essence, you traded your own heart for mine. Too bad the blood you took just now wasn't mine."

Hidan's pupils contracted sharply. His gaze shot toward the distant battlefield. Though he could not see what was happening there, no one understood the strangeness of Hidan's ability better than Hidan himself. Kakuzu was probably suffering right about now.

From the direction of Kakuzu's battlefield came a muffled thud from inside his body. His second heart shattered.

Kakuzu's body stiffened for a moment. Then he looked down at his chest. Black threads poured from the damaged chamber, stitching at the shattered heart for a while, but they could not mend the one that had been completely destroyed.

He had no idea what had happened. It was also the first time he showed panic during a battle.

Kakuzu had already successfully captured Choji and Ino, but that moment of distraction let Jiraiya seize the opportunity to land a heavy blow with Rasengan.

Deep within Nara Forest, Hidan finally began to panic.

"Kakuzu's blood... when did you—"

"When Kakashi Hatake-sensei pierced his chest." Shikamaru stood up, both hands still held in the seal position. The shadow connecting to Hidan's feet did not budge.

"Why do you think I let you cut me? Why do you think I happened to fall beneath that tree? Every step was calculated. Your curse, your ritual, your immortality—every last bit of it was within the scope of this plan."

Shikamaru drew a line through the air with his finger. The explosive tags buried deep beneath the soil activated. Shadow tendrils carrying chakra threads reached underground, pulling dozens of explosive tags together at once.

The ground beneath Hidan's feet began to tremble slightly. Shikamaru's other hand pulled a kunai from his ninja tool pouch and hurled it into the ground. The kunai landed not far from Hidan's feet. A marked tag was engraved on it, and the instant it touched the ground, it activated the prearranged trigger mechanism. The soil beneath Hidan's feet split apart.

Hidan lost his balance and fell with the broken rocks and dirt into a deep pit. It was over three meters deep, its bottom covered with densely packed explosive tags. Every one of them was linked by chakra threads, forming an explosive matrix with no blind spots.

Hidan hit the bottom of the pit and looked up at the patch of sky closing above him. He only managed to curse out half a sentence. "You little—"

"Seal."

Yunju had long been prepared. Mud Release: Sinking Domain closed in simultaneously from both sides of the pit entrance. Gray-black mud surged from the ground, covering the pit's opening in the first layer. Then came Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall. Heavy rock walls stacked layer upon layer above the mud, sealing the entire pit tight as a coffin.

A muffled boom came from the bottom of the pit—the explosive tags had detonated. The tremor was dull, as though it had risen from deep beneath the earth.

The soil did not crack, and the rock layers sealing the opening remained completely intact. But the temperature inside the pit rose rapidly. The air was compressed, scorched, and exhausted. Then the sound stopped.

Shikamaru stood at the edge of the seal, looking down at the layered rock walls and mud beneath his feet for a long time in silence. His breathing gradually steadied, and he released the hand seal. Yunju stood beside him for a while before saying, "He won't come back out."

Shikamaru nodded, then shrugged.

"Yeah, he really was a pain, but..."

"It's over."

The two nodded. Yunju supported Shikamaru, and step by step, they headed once more toward Kakuzu's battlefield.