Total annihilation!

As Hidan laughed wildly, two of the four Chunin bodyguards beside Gato immediately charged forward.

To them, their opponent's behavior showed a complete lack of respect.

After all, if even Okamoto could defeat this enemy, how could they possibly fail?!

But no one noticed that the moment the battle began, Okamoto had already scrambled out, practically crawling in his haste to escape.

These two monsters were far beyond anything mere Chunin could handle!

Sorry, Father-in-law. I'll take good care of your daughter from now on, so please... die here with Gato!

Shinji noticed what the man was doing, but he paid it no mind. His target was right in front of him, after all.

"Water Release: Water Whip!"

"Wind Release: Gale Slash!"

The Water Whip bound Hidan first, but incredibly, he tore free through sheer brute strength!

Of course, that might also have had something to do with his opponent being so lousy...

Hidan could actually have tanked the Gale Slash coming down at his head, but this time he didn't. Instead, he calmly sidestepped it, then closed in and began pummeling his opponent at close range!

The daily Taijutsu training of the past few months, along with the grueling practice after his crushing defeat at Shinji's hands, all bore fruit at this moment!

Thud, thud, thud!

Heavy, swift punches rained down on his opponent. In mere seconds, the man collapsed at Gato's feet like a tattered sack.

Even without a weapon, Hidan could beat plenty of people to death with his fists!

Shinji wasn't sitting idle either. Two blood bags burst open in midair.

Under his control, all the blood separated into beads that floated before him.

Then, in the next instant, countless beads of blood shot outward!

In the blink of an eye, several bodyguards standing in front of Gato were riddled with holes, including the other two Chunin!

Faced with an AOE attack like that, Hidan got worked up before anyone else did!

Didn't we agree you'd leave them to me?!

How did you kill them all the moment I turned around?

No, I have to prove I'm Lord Jashin's most faithful follower!

And so the sole remaining Chunin, the one who used Water Release, suffered horribly. Hidan grabbed his head and smashed it to pieces!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Beads of blood flew everywhere, yet somehow all avoided Hidan's position.

Soon, nearly everyone in the room was dead. Those outside who heard the commotion and tried to come in as reinforcements died the moment they entered.

Still unsatisfied and worried Shinji would keep stealing his sacrifices, Hidan simply grabbed two huge watermelon machetes and charged outside to continue the slaughter.

Anyone who didn't know better would have thought Huaqiang had possessed him!

After clearing out every enemy in the room, Shinji recalled the remaining blood and idly played with it in his hand, shaping it into all sorts of forms. This was another way he usually trained.

"Come out. My attack should have avoided your hiding place."

Bang!

A large hole suddenly burst open in the solid wooden desk.

A disheveled Gato immediately crawled out from beneath it, still looking terrified, and hurriedly shouted, "D-don't kill me! Whoever hired you to kill me, I can pay you double... no, five times... ten times the fee!"

When Shinji didn't answer, Gato continued trying to tempt him. "If you're willing to help me wipe out the Mira Peng Family, I'll share the Land of Waves with you! Then we'll be the true uncrowned kings of the Land of Waves. Power, status, wealth, women-we'll have it all!"

Shinji tilted his head slightly, as though considering the offer, but a second later, he made his decision.

Swish!

An eerie, blood-red blade swept straight across Gato's neck.

His head rolled...

The head rolled to Shinji's feet, its eyes still wide in death. The lingering gaze seemed to question him: why?

"Sorry. Your offer sounds tempting, but it's actually worthless to me. Besides, I promised someone I'd bring your head back."

Hide away in a tiny place like the Land of Waves and play king?

Back when he had nothing to his name, he might have seriously considered it.

But now that he knew what kind of world this was, and had a golden finger on his side, of course he would pursue a more exciting life!

Years later, when he was invincible, perhaps he would get to see even more extraordinary sights!

Of course, it was far too early to talk about that now.

After listening closely to the sounds of fighting outside and a certain someone's deranged laughter, Shinji decided to wait until Hidan had dealt with everyone outside before heading out.

He was only doing this to let Hidan vent to his heart's content, definitely not because he couldn't be bothered and wanted to slack off!

Yep, definitely not!

After some time, their surroundings finally fell silent, replaced by a thick, lingering stench of blood.

"That should be about it."

Picking up Gato's head, Shinji headed outside.

Severed limbs and splattered blood littered the way. An ordinary person walking in and seeing this would probably have fainted on the spot.

Outside, the ground was covered with even more bodies!

Hidan had single-handedly slaughtered every armed man Gato had stationed here to protect himself.

Squirt!

Clang!

Standing amid the bodies, Hidan grimaced and sucked in sharp breaths as he pulled an assortment of weapons out of his body and tossed them aside.

Combined with the blood covering him and his smooth head, now devoid of hair or eyebrows...

One word summed him up: savage!

"Feeling better now?" Shinji asked without so much as lifting his eyelids.

At the moment, Hidan looked like he had entered that state of blissful clarity after doing the deed. He looked thoroughly satisfied, but also rather drained...

"Too weak. I need better sacrifices to offer Lord Jashin."

"And... I've realized that more straightforward weapons suit me better. Neither Kunai nor the Black Spear does enough damage."

Shinji immediately raised an eyebrow. "So what kind of weapon do you want to use?"

Honestly, there were probably only a handful of weapons in the entire Naruto world that could rival the Bloody Triple-Bladed Scythe in sheer badass looks!

Had Hidan already come up with that idea?

"This!"

"..."

"I never realized machetes like these were so handy. One swing, and you can hack someone's whole head apart!"

Looking at the two watermelon machetes Hidan picked up from the ground, Shinji fell silent.

Then he began picturing Hidan holding two watermelon machetes and hacking his way from the eastern end of Konoha all the way to the western end...

This was the wrong damn aesthetic!

"Uh, I think you should give a little more thought to how you can draw an enemy's blood as simply and conveniently as possible," Shinji gently advised.

"Why? If I hack someone to death with one swing, what do I need their blood for?!" Hidan demanded, eyes wide!

"Later on... sigh, forget it."

Shinji closed his eyes in helpless anguish. Forget it. Do whatever the hell you want!