In an abandoned dead-end alley in the Land of Rain, rain still drizzled from the sky. Several corpses lay sprawled outside the alley, and the entire passage looked as if it had been bombed by aircraft.
The concrete walls on both sides had largely collapsed, while the ground was covered in yard-wide craters. Traces of a fierce battle were everywhere. Any experienced ninja present would have been astonished by the intensity and destructive force of the fight. Only a clash between at least two Kage Level experts could have caused this much devastation!
At the very end of the alley lay two corpses. The one farther in held a broken chain sickle and wore a breathing apparatus. His Hidden Rain forehead protector had been knocked aside, and his gray-white hair lay in a tangled mess across the ground. His upper-body ninja armor was badly damaged, and his still-muscular body was covered in bone-deep wounds—some carved by Wind Release, some burned by Fire Release, and others charred black by Lightning Release. It was a truly miserable death! Looking at his face, it was none other than the demigod of the Shinobi World, the great leader of Hidden Rain—Hanzo of the Salamander!
Not far from Hanzo lay another corpse. This one was rather strange. It wore an Oboro Hidden Village forehead protector, slashed deeply across the front, clearly marking him as a rogue ninja. A black mask covered his face, concealing his features. His glowing green pupils had dilated, long devoid of life. Below the neck, he looked like a rag doll viciously torn apart by a naughty child. His torso and limbs had scattered around the area, connected only by black threads.
After a while, a black dog slowly walked in from the mouth of the alley. On closer inspection, it was not a dog at all, but a black monster wearing a mask and crawling on all fours! The creature glanced around before heading straight for the shattered corpse, prying open its chest and burrowing inside!
A while later, the torso seemed to twitch. The black threads writhed like snakes, slowly reconnecting the limbs and head as though they had eyes. Before long, they formed a "whole person" again!
"Phew—" The "corpse" let out a long breath and slowly sat up.
"This time, I took a huge loss." Kakuzu looked at the shattered masks on his body and counted them painfully with his fingers.
"One... two... three... four. Four of them were destroyed! Bastard!" Kakuzu angrily kicked Hanzo of the Salamander's corpse.
Then something even stranger happened. Kakuzu's kick landed right on the corpse's kidney, seeming to rupture something inside. With a pfft!, purple gas gradually seeped out through several openings in the body.
"Damn!" Kakuzu performed several crisp backward flips and quickly retreated far away.
"Why was that old bastard so twisted? He actually hid poison sacs inside his body!"
Hanzo of the Salamander's corpse naturally could not answer him. The purple gas continued to pour out and spread. A passing rat was swallowed by the violet mist and, in less than a second, collapsed dead with its head tilted to one side. The poison was clearly extremely potent! Seeing this, Kakuzu immediately backed away several more steps.
"This place isn't safe. I'd better get out of here first." Kakuzu did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately fled.
As he raced across rooftops and walls, Kakuzu could not help blaming himself for being too impulsive. Why had he accepted such a mission? Fortunately, he had kept one Earth-nature Earth Grudge Fear in reserve. Otherwise, he truly would have died here this time. This mission had cost him four Earth Grudge Fears—Wind, Fire, Lightning, and Water.
More importantly, he had not replenished his hearts. He had originally planned to use Hanzo of the Salamander's heart to make up the numbers, but that old monster was poisonous from head to toe. It was completely unusable! He would still have to find four more hearts afterward. Who knew when he would manage to gather them all?
"Damn it, this costs extra!" The more Kakuzu thought about it, the angrier he became, and he spat the words through gritted teeth.
"Good!" Keiko dodged the sickle Hidan hurled at him, then flicked his wrist and threw two kunai back. Hidan remained calm, neither dodging nor blocking the incoming kunai. He merely gave the steel cable in his hand a slight shake. The rippling "waves" it created knocked both kunai away. Without stopping, Hidan yanked hard on the flying sickle with his right hand, using the sickle blade embedded in the ground as a pivot and launching himself into a flying kick at Keiko.
Keiko nodded inwardly. This kid's taijutsu was already quite impressive. He immediately charged forward. Just as Hidan's foot was about to strike Keiko in the chest, Keiko suddenly changed moves. Like a spinning top, he executed a beautiful 180-degree aerial cartwheel, and the two switched positions as they crossed paths. When they came to a stop, Keiko was already holding a kunai against the back of Hidan's head.
"Not bad! Not bad at all. Where did you learn that move? It's creative!" Keiko praised Hidan's footwork lavishly. At that moment, Hidan held a short spear in a reverse grip, its tip pressed directly against Keiko's lower abdomen!
"Teacher Dai taught me. He said that no matter what, I should always hold back a little strength to guard against accidents and wait for an opportunity to counterattack."
"Mm, very good, very good. In terms of taijutsu alone, you've already reached Chunin level."
"Thank you for the praise, Master!" Hidan put away his short spear and slowly reeled in his flying sickle.
Poof! After a puff of white smoke, the Keiko in front of him vanished. It had been a Shadow Clone.
"Big Brother Hidan is amazing! You even defeated my godfather!" Keiko walked over from nearby, carrying Sasori of the Red Sands in his arms. Sasori of the Red Sands looked extremely excited, holding both little hands high in the air and refusing to lower them for a long while.
Hidan smiled and took Sasori of the Red Sands from him.
"Not at all. I'm still far behind Master."
"You really are doing well. I improved this sickle style from the second-strike technique of the chain sickle used by Hanzo of the Salamander, the demigod of the Shinobi World. It emphasizes broad, sweeping attacks and tricky angles. You've already captured some of its essence. By the way, how is your Clone Technique training going?"
"Well..." Hidan scratched his head with an embarrassed smile. Aside from taijutsu, he was rather weak in every other subject.
"Clone Technique? I can do it! I can!" Sasori of the Red Sands struggled free from Hidan's grasp and eagerly formed hand seals as if showing off. With a poof, he created an identical clone.
Keiko was slightly surprised. As expected of Sunagakure's genius ninja. He approvingly rubbed Sasori's little head, then continued speaking to Hidan.
"As a ninja, your means of attack should still be diverse. There are taijutsu-only ninja, but if you face an opponent of the same level, having only one form of attack can easily put you at a disadvantage. How about this? I'll teach you the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique directly."
"Yes, Master!"
"I want to learn too! I want to learn too!"
"No problem. Listen carefully. This is a B-rank ninjutsu developed by the Second Hokage, Tobirama. It uses chakra to create tangible clones. The hand seals are very simple, but the key lies in balancing the chakra distribution. Look..."
"Lord Kazekage! An urgent report from Amegakure!" Pakura interrupted Keiko's lesson, holding a document.
"Looks like we can only learn while traveling." Keiko said helplessly after reading the intelligence report.
"Fortunately, winter break is about to start, so it won't interfere with your studies. Pakura, arrange a temporary bodyguard identity for Hidan and have him come with us to the Land of Rain. We'll study on the road. Go pack your luggage." Keiko said to Hidan.
"The Land of Rain? What happened? Is something wrong?" Hidan looked utterly confused.
"Your idol, Hanzo of the Salamander, was assassinated. We need to go pay our respects. Oh, right, Pakura, notify Elder Chiyo to settle the bill."
"Ah?" Hidan was completely dumbfounded. Since when had he gained an idol?
"What about me? What about me? I still want to learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
"You?" Keiko crouched down and pinched Sasori of the Red Sands's little cheek.
"You should learn Puppet Technique from your grandmother first. I'll teach you Shadow Clone when your godfather comes back!"
Before you continue