It'll Cost You More!

In an abandoned dead-end alley in the Land of Rain, rain still drizzled down from the sky. Several corpses lay scattered outside the alley, and the entire passage looked as though it had been bombed by aircraft.

The concrete walls on both sides had mostly collapsed, while the ground was riddled with deep pits a meter wide. Traces of fierce combat were everywhere. Any seasoned ninja present would have been shocked by the intensity and destructive power of the battle. It would take at least two Kage Level experts clashing to cause this much devastation!

At the deepest end of the alley lay two corpses. The one farther in held a shattered chain sickle and wore a breathing apparatus. Its Hidden Rain forehead protector had been knocked aside, and long gray-white hair lay strewn messily across the ground. The ninja body armor on its upper body was severely damaged, while the still-muscular frame was covered in wounds deep enough to expose bone—some sliced by Wind Release, some burned by Fire Release, and some blackened by Lightning Release. It had died a truly horrific death! Looking at its face, it was unmistakably Hanzo of the Salamander, the demigod of the ninja world and the great Rain Shadow!

Not far from Hanzo lay another corpse. This one was rather strange. It wore an Oboro Hidden Village forehead protector, marked by a deep slash—clearly a rogue ninja. A black mask covered its face, obscuring its features. Its pair of glowing green eyes had dilated pupils and had long since lost their light. Below the neck, it looked like a rag doll viciously torn apart by a brat. Its torso and limbs were scattered all around, connected by black threads.

After a while, a black dog slowly entered from the mouth of the alley. Looking closely, it was not a dog at all, but a black monster wearing a mask and crawling on all fours! The creature looked around, then headed straight for the shattered corpse, pried open its chest, and crawled inside!

After some time, the torso seemed to twitch. The black threads moved like writhing snakes, slowly linking the limbs and head together as if they had eyes. Before long, they formed a "complete person"!

"Haa..." The "corpse" slowly exhaled a long breath and actually sat up bit by bit.

"I took a huge loss this time." Kakuzu looked at the shattered masks on his body and counted them painfully on his fingers.

"One... two... three... four. Four of them were destroyed! Damn it!" Kakuzu furiously kicked Hanzo of the Salamander's corpse.

Something even stranger happened. Kakuzu's kick struck the corpse right in the kidney area, seemingly bursting something inside. With a pfft!, purple gas gradually seeped from several wounds in the corpse.

"Damn!" Kakuzu performed several nimble backflips and quickly retreated far away.

"Why was that old bastard such a freak? He actually hid poison sacs inside his body!"

Hanzo of the Salamander's corpse naturally did not answer him. The purple gas continued to pour out and spread. A passing rat was swallowed by the purple mist and, in less than a second, tilted its head and collapsed dead. The poison was clearly extremely potent! Seeing this, Kakuzu immediately backed away several more steps.

"This place isn't safe to stay in. I'd better get out of here first." Kakuzu did not hesitate at all and immediately leaped away.

As he ran along the walls and rooftops, Kakuzu could not help blaming himself for being too impulsive. Why had he accepted a mission like this? Fortunately, he had kept one Earth-nature Earth Grudge Fear, or he really would have died here this time. This mission had cost him four Earth Grudge Fears of "wind," "fire," "lightning," and "water."

More importantly, he had not replenished his hearts. He had originally wanted to use Hanzo of the Salamander's heart to make up the numbers, but that old bastard's entire body was poisonous, making it completely unusable! He still had to find four more hearts afterward. Who knew when he would be able to gather them all?

"Damn it, this is going to cost more!" The more Kakuzu thought about it, the angrier he became, and he spoke through gritted teeth.

"Nice!" Jing Hang flashed aside to dodge the sickle Hidan threw at him, then flicked two kunai backhandedly toward him. Hidan responded calmly. He neither dodged nor evaded the incoming kunai, merely giving the steel cable in his hand a slight shake. The resulting "wave" knocked both kunai aside. Hidan did not stop there. He violently pulled the flying sickle with his right hand, using the sickle blade embedded in the ground as a pivot, and launched a flying kick at Jing Hang.

Jing Hang nodded inwardly. This kid's taijutsu was already quite impressive. He immediately moved forward to meet him. Just as Hidan's kick was about to strike Jing Hang's chest, Jing Hang suddenly changed moves. His body spun like a top as he completed a beautiful 180-degree aerial cartwheel. In that instant of crossing paths, they switched positions. When they both came to a stop, Jing Hang was already holding a kunai to the back of Hidan's head.

"Not bad! Not bad! Where did you learn that move? Very creative!" Jing Hang showered Hidan's footwork with praise. At that moment, Hidan was holding a short spear in a reverse grip, its tip pressed directly against Jing Hang's lower abdomen!

"Teacher Dai taught me. He said that no matter what, you should always hold back a bit of strength to guard against accidents and wait for a chance 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 the short spear and slowly reeled in his flying sickle.

Poof! After a cloud of white smoke, Jing Hang vanished. It had turned out to be a Shadow Clone.

"Hidan, you're amazing! You even defeated Godfather!" Jing Hang walked over from a distance while carrying Sasori of the Red Sand. Sasori of the Red Sand looked extremely excited, raising both little hands and refusing to lower them for a long time.

Hidan smiled and took Sasori of the Red Sand from him.

"Not really. Compared to Master, I'm still far behind."

"Indeed, not bad. I improved this sickle style of yours based on the second strike of Hanzo of the Salamander's chain sickle technique. It emphasizes broad, powerful movements and tricky angles. You've already grasped some of its essence. By the way, how is your clone technique practice going?"

"Um..." Hidan gave an embarrassed laugh and scratched his head. Aside from taijutsu, he was relatively weak in all other subjects.

"Clone Technique? I can do it! I can do it!" Sasori of the Red Sand struggled free of Hidan's hold and formed hand seals as though showing off. With a poof, he created an identical clone.

Jing Hang was a little surprised. As expected of Sunagakure's genius ninja. He approvingly rubbed Sasori's little head, then continued speaking to Hidan.

"As a ninja, your offensive methods still need to be varied. It's not that there are no ninjas who specialize purely in taijutsu, but when facing opponents of the same level, having only one means 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 technique 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 is maintaining a balanced chakra distribution. Look..."

"Lord Kazekage! An urgent report from Hidden Rain Village!" Pakura interrupted Jing Hang's lesson while holding a document.

"Looks like we can only learn while we travel." Jing Hang said helplessly after reading the intelligence report.

"Fortunately, winter break is about to begin, so it won't interfere with your studies. Pakura, arrange a temporary guard identity for Hidan and have him accompany us to the Land of Rain. We'll study on the road. Go pack your luggage." Jing Hang 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 offer our condolences. Oh, right, Pakura, notify Elder Chiyo to settle the bill."

"Ah!" Hidan looked completely dumbfounded. When had he gained an idol?

"What about me? What about me? I still want to learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

"You?" Jing Hang crouched down and pinched Sasori's little cheek.

"You should first learn puppet techniques from your grandmother. As for Shadow Clones, Godfather will teach you when he gets back!"