Filled with rage, Hidan saw Suigetsu Hozuki close at hand and immediately straightened his body.
With a berserk fighting style that completely ignored defense, he raised his massive, bloody triple-bladed scythe and slashed horizontally straight at Suigetsu Hozuki.
A ferocious smile hung on his lips.
Absolute confidence in his own immortal body made him completely abandon all defense.
Meanwhile, right opposite him...
...Suigetsu Hozuki was also grinning, baring a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth, making no attempt to dodge or evade as the scythe came straight at him.
As a descendant of the Hozuki Clan, he possessed absolute confidence in his unique physical makeup.
Thus, two freaks who had absolute confidence in their special constitutions simultaneously chose the most primitive form of mutual slashing without any preliminary probing.
Splat.
Hidan's scythe swept through, instantly cutting Suigetsu Hozuki in half at the waist as water splashed everywhere.
At the same time, Suigetsu Hozuki's Executioner's Blade thrust straight out, its broad blade piercing through Hidan's abdomen without resistance and emerging from his back.
"What?!"
The wild laughter on Hidan's face instantly stiffened.
He watched with wide eyes as Suigetsu Hozuki, despite being cut in half at the waist, acted as if nothing had happened, not shedding a single drop of blood as his wound turned into flowing water and instantly reattached.
Pfft—!
Immediately afterward, a sharp pain struck, and Hidan violently spat out a mouthful of blood, staring in disbelief at the massive blade impaling his stomach.
"Why... are you fine?"
"Because I'm made of water, you idiot!"
Suigetsu Hozuki looked mockingly at Hidan, who was coughing up blood.
He gripped the hilt with both hands and viciously gave it a sharp twist.
"As for you, you didn't die even after being impaled straight through."
"Could it be that you have an immortal body, too?"
"Uwaaaaaagh!"
The excruciating pain of his internal organs being churned by that giant blade made Hidan let out a scream like a slaughtered pig, his entire body curling up like a boiled shrimp.
"Tch, so weak."
"Seeing how arrogant you were, I thought you were some kind of taijutsu expert."
Suigetsu Hozuki's gaze turned cold, the muscles in his arms bulging as he exerted sudden force on the hilt.
Bang!
The tremendous force directly flung Hidan—who was still impaled on the blade—away like trash, sending him crashing heavily into a distant wall and leaving a crater.
"Stay right there like a good little boy."
Before Hidan could get up, Suigetsu Hozuki used the Body Flicker Technique to appear right beside him, forming hand seals in a blur.
"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"
A massive spherical water prison formed instantly, encasing Hidan inside.
Hidan struggled desperately in the water, but could only choke out a string of bubbles, completely losing his ability to fight.
"Trash."
Hearing Hidan's screams echo from the distance, a trace of gloom flashed across Kakuzu's eyes.
Since his partner couldn't be relied upon, he had no choice but to do it himself.
The black cloak on his back suddenly burst apart as a massive wave of black Earth Grudge Fear threads surged out in all directions like a tide, quickly locking onto Zabuza's position inside the dense fog.
"Found you."
"Gene Lock: First Stage, Open!"
Zabuza stood bare-chested, his upper body rock-solid, as his gaze turned sharp as a razor and a beast-like aura erupted from him.
Facing the oncoming deluge of threads...
...he advanced instead of retreating, the chakra-metal blade in his hand sweeping out an arc of dazzling white light.
Swish, swish, swish!
Those incomparably tough Earth Grudge Fear threads were instantly severed before this special weapon infused with chakra.
"Chakra metal?"
Kakuzu's Wind Release mask monster had just blown away the surrounding thick fog when it spotted that exaggeratedly large blade infused with chakra metal.
Kakuzu's eyes lit up, his expression of greed intensifying.
"To actually give such a high-grade weapon to trash like this..."
"...this Mutual Aid Society really is filthy rich."
At the exact instant he was distracted...
...Zabuza broke through the blockade of threads and used the Body Flicker Technique to charge right up to Kakuzu's main body.
"Die!"
The massive blade, flashing with blinding white light, cleaved down from above.
Clang!!
The deafening screech of clashing metal echoed through the air.
Zabuza stumbled back a few steps, feeling the webs of his hands go numb from the impact.
He saw that Kakuzu's blocking arm had turned a bizarre, dark brown hue—harder than most metals.
This was the hardening effect of Earth Release: Earth Spear.
"Physical attacks are useless against me."
Kakuzu sneered, blatantly lying.
In reality, his palms throbbed with sharp pain from the shockwave, and he knew he couldn't take many more hits like that.
Realizing that close combat placed him at a disadvantage, Kakuzu immediately commanded the remaining mask monsters behind him to detach.
The Earth-attribute heart remaining on Kakuzu's main body focused entirely on defense, while the four mask monsters—Wind, Fire, Lightning, and Water—instantly opened their gaping maws as chakra gathered at a frantic pace.
"Fire Release: Searing Migraine!"
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"
An overwhelming barrage of combination ninjutsu descended like a natural disaster, completely enveloping Zabuza.
"This level of power..."
Zabuza's gaze hardened as the muscles across his entire body expanded once again, fine beads of blood seeping out from the surface of his skin.
"Gene Lock: Second Stage, Open!"
With a low roar, his control over every muscle and nerve reached its absolute peak.
Amidst the dense barrage of ninjutsu, he assumed bizarre, humanly impossible postures to dodge three incoming attacks one after another by a hair's breadth.
When dodging was impossible, he swung his blade head-on to meet them.
Slash!
His chakra-infused blade cut straight through the incoming Wind Release technique, cleaving it in two as his body darted through the dust and smoke like a ghost.
Zabuza displayed astonishing combat prowess, suppressing Kakuzu's Earth Release in close quarters and cutting through Wind Release with his blade.
Yet Kakuzu was, after all, an old monster who had lived for over ninety years.
Utilizing the numerical advantage of his threads and four mask monsters, he continuously maintained his distance and quickly regained the upper hand.
Cuts began to accumulate on Zabuza's body, and his stamina drained rapidly under the immense strain of the Second Stage Gene Lock, his breathing growing heavy.
"Good taijutsu."
"Good weapon."
Standing atop the Lightning-attribute mask monster, Kakuzu sneered down at him, his threads having already silently blocked every single one of Zabuza's escape routes.
"But soon, that blade—and your heart—will belong to me."
He raised his hand as the Lightning-attribute mask monster finished charging, aiming a dazzling bolt of lightning straight at Zabuza.
However, before the monster could unleash its ninjutsu...
Whoosh!
...a golden arrow shot from a high-rise building a hundred meters away, piercing straight through the charging Lightning mask monster.
The mask monster exploded into fragments instantly.
"Target hit."
Perched atop the high tower, Kidōmaru stood in the second stage of his Curse Mark, a cruel smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
"What?!"
Kakuzu was thoroughly shocked.
He had never expected a small, remote country to harbor so many experts.
Before he could even react, the others, who were already prepared, launched a simultaneous ambush.
"Earth Release Barrier: Earth Dungeon Hall of Self-Incarceration!"
A burly figure slammed his hands into the ground, causing a massive earth dome to rise instantly and trap two of Kakuzu's mask entities inside.
Just as the entities tried to break through the barrier...
...three giant Wrath Ghosts, clad head-to-toe in heavy armor and exuding a manic aura, were summoned forth.
Roaring fiercely, they charged the two mask entities, relying on sheer brute force and heavy armor to tear them completely to shreds.
Meanwhile, Kakuzu's sole remaining Water-attribute mask monster attempted to reinforce its main body.
But a bizarre mist of blood and chakra instantly enveloped it.
Sakon and Ukon were in their cell-fusion state under the Second Stage of the Gene Lock.
Within a single second, the mask entity was completely devoured by the duo.
Out of Kakuzu's five hearts, four were destroyed in an instant.
Kakuzu's main body went pale with shock, his mind shaken to its core.
The moment Kakuzu faltered, Zabuza seized the opening.
The explosive power of the Second Stage Gene Lock allowed him to cross dozens of meters in the blink of an eye, appearing before Kakuzu as if teleporting.
"Go to hell!!"
Zabuza's eyes burned blood-red, his killing intent boiling over.
The chakra blade in his hand erupted with blinding white light as he prepared to cleave through Kakuzu's neck.
The blow was devastatingly heavy, easily capable of cutting through solid steel.
Right at that moment...
"Stop, you bastard!"
Tayuya, who was commanding from a high vantage point, panicked completely and screamed at the top of her lungs, abandoning all composure.
"A live one is worth 5,000 points!"
"A dead one is only worth 500!!!"
Those words seemed to carry magical power.
Relying on the terrifying precision of the Second Stage Gene Lock, Zabuza forcibly deflected the fatal blow in mid-air.
The blade flipped, and its blunt spine slammed violently into Kakuzu's neck.
Bang!
Even Kakuzu's prized hardening technique was shattered by the raw brute force of the blow.
Kakuzu was sent flying, crashing heavily onto the ground, completely incapacitated.
"Phew..."
Zabuza panted heavily, wiping cold sweat from his forehead as he looked at Tayuya with lingering fear.
"Thanks for the heads-up..."
"...I almost lost 4,500 points."
The others in the area gathered around.
Looking down at the incapacitated Kakuzu, there was not a shred of reverence for a legendary shinobi in their eyes—only the look of people staring at a walking pile of points.
Suigetsu Hozuki dragged the massive water prison over, with Hidan still spitting bubbles inside.
"Hey, Senior."
Suigetsu pointed at the immortal freak inside the prison with an expectant look.
"How many points do you think this thing is worth?"
"Can we sell him to that freak, Orochimaru?"