Cold sweat beaded on Kakashi's forehead as he watched the monstrous Kakuzu and his four differently shaped clones, along with Hidan beside them, carrying the Grim Reaper's scythe and chattering endlessly about his lord. His heart kept sinking.
Kakashi knew exactly what these two could do. Hidan was immortal, and although his taijutsu was terrible-he did little more than run around swinging his huge scythe-he possessed an extremely troublesome ability. As long as he obtained an enemy's blood, he could cast a curse that inflicted every injury he suffered on that enemy with perfect accuracy.
On its own, that ability was of limited use, but combined with Hidan's immortality, it became a devastating trump card.
That meant anyone fighting him had to remain utterly vigilant and avoid getting hurt. If Hidan obtained their blood, they would die a gruesome death.
But Hidan's partner, Kakuzu, was the one who truly gave Kakashi a headache.
However troublesome Hidan's ability was, he was still relatively easy to deal with because he was an idiot.
Kakuzu, however, was a veteran who had been active in the shinobi world since the First's time. Having mastered Takigakure's secret technique, Earth Grudge Fear, he could freely steal other people's hearts. Not only did this let him use ninjutsu of every chakra nature, but it also gave him five hearts and, in a sense, immortality.
Kakuzu might have been nearly ninety, but his taijutsu could still overwhelm Kakashi, a young man in his prime.
Seeing that Kakashi did not dare attack, Kakuzu casually glanced over everyone present and said:
"Six Konoha genin, but only one Konoha jōnin. Konoha usually assigns one jōnin to three genin, so another jōnin must be missing. I wonder whether they're hiding somewhere or simply haven't arrived yet.
"Hidan, stay alert. I don't want