Chapter 29 — Cursed Tool Conversion
Shinji threw with all his strength, tossing Haku straight toward Zabuza.
At the same time, a blood-red cord shot out, snapping precisely around the Executioner's Blade handle midair and yanking it back to him.
The instant the blade landed in his hand, the system notification sounded right on cue.
[Special weapon detected in the current world. Consuming 5,000 Cursed Soul Points will allow Cursed Tool Conversion.]
[Insufficient Cursed Soul Points. Conversion unavailable.]
Shinji felt like he was on a roller coaster—his emotions rising and plunging in an instant!
Who would've thought the system even had a Cursed Tool Conversion function?!
But this was way too expensive!
So far, he had only accumulated 1,500 Cursed Soul Points total. He'd been planning to save up a bit more and go for a ten-pull to test his luck.
And now this—another use for Cursed Soul Points revealed. How was he supposed to plan for the future like this?!
Ten-pull first, or convert a cursed tool first?
…Oh. He couldn't afford either.
Never mind then.
Shinji immediately took the Executioner's Blade and retreated from the battlefield, using his actions to clearly show that he had no intention of getting involved.
Since Hidan didn't want him interfering, Shinji was more than happy to stay out of it.
More importantly, without the Executioner's Blade, Zabuza's intimidation factor dropped by at least two levels.
On top of that, both fighters were in terrible condition. Against someone with an immortal body who didn't fear trading injuries for injuries, Hidan now held a massive advantage.
If Hidan still couldn't win under these conditions, Shinji was fully prepared to toss him into the sea to feed the sharks.
With the nuisance gone, Zabuza gently laid Haku down, then clenched a kunai between his teeth while pulling two swords from the pile of corpses on the ground.
Even Zoro next door would've applauded that technique!
Hidan, meanwhile, picked up his "watermelon knife" again. In close combat, the black spear wasn't actually that useful—it was far less convenient than a blade.
In just a short while, the many wounds on Hidan's body began to heal.
Of course, the arm that had been severed earlier was still missing.
His ability was strong self-healing, not ultra-fast regeneration—don't get it twisted!
When the two locked eyes, both brimming with killing intent, they moved at the same time, charging straight at each other.
Kill!
Clang! Clang! Clatter!
The sound of weapons violently colliding echoed through the air.
Slash!
Stab!
The sound of blades tearing into flesh.
Pshhk!
Followed by the sound of blood spraying everywhere.
On the surface, Zabuza—attacking wildly with three weapons at once—seemed to have the upper hand.
In just a brief exchange, he carved one wound after another into Hidan's body.
But in reality, for someone with an immortal body like Hidan, such injuries were completely negligible. They didn't hinder his movements in the slightest.
Even paying three times the price to exchange for a single wound on the enemy was absolutely worth it!
Zabuza naturally noticed something was off.
Under normal circumstances, he should've immediately broken away from this injury-for-injury fighting style and gone for a decisive kill.
But the problem was that his severe wounds and massive blood loss had already caused intense dizziness—his vision was starting to blur.
If this dragged on any longer, he might collapse even without Hidan lifting a finger.
At this point, he was forcing himself onward with nothing but sheer willpower!
So he couldn't retreat. And he couldn't afford to wait.
The only option was to kill the enemy in front of him as fast as possible—only then would he have a chance to take Haku and leave.
Thus, step by step, he began luring Hidan toward a specific direction.
Splash!
Familiar water splashed upward.
The puddle suddenly transformed into a water clone—everything felt eerily familiar!
"The same trick? You think I'll fall for it twice?!" Hidan snarled, slashing backward and cutting it apart, clearly prepared this time.
But what he didn't expect was that Zabuza suddenly discarded the sword in his left hand and began forming seals with one hand.
Water Release: Water Prison Technique!
In the next instant, the water clone that had been cut apart transformed directly into a massive sphere of water, trapping Hidan inside before he could dodge.
Hidan was sealed!
Seeing this, Zabuza tossed away the remaining sword as well. With one hand maintaining the Water Prison Technique, he summoned another water clone with the other.
The moment it appeared, the clone picked up a sword from the ground and swung with all its might at the Hidan trapped within the water prison.
But at that exact moment, a glowing explosive tag drifted within the water prison exploded!
Boom!
The explosion swallowed both figures in thick smoke.
The reason Hidan carried explosive tags on him was actually Shinji.
Shinji often spouted bizarre ideas, including the concept of a "human bomb."
At the time, Hidan thought it was utterly ridiculous. What if he couldn't put himself back together afterward? What if he lost some vital parts?!
But thinking about it later, he realized it might be useful in certain situations to break a stalemate. So he secretly stashed a few explosive tags on himself—just in case.
Who knew they'd actually come in handy.
"Cough… cough…"
Hidan, blasted away by the explosion, looked a bit disheveled, with several burn marks on his body.
Thankfully, he'd only detonated a single tag—otherwise, he might've been blown to pieces.
Pshk!
A kunai pierced straight through Hidan's chest!
It was Zabuza, using the smoke from the explosion to execute the Silent Killing Technique!
However, the explosion had clearly affected him as well. His final strike trembled slightly, missing the heart by a few centimeters.
The next instant, Zabuza's pupils suddenly shrank.
Blood surged up his throat, and he spat mouthful after mouthful of it.
Looking down, an identical wound had appeared in his own chest, soaked in blood!
It turned out that while Zabuza used the smoke to launch Silent Killing, Hidan had also taken advantage of the moment to return to the ritual circle!
The ritual—had been activated once again!
This time, Zabuza failed to notice that crucial detail.
Even that beast-like intuition of his seemed dulled by excessive blood loss.
It was over…
His vision tilted upward as Zabuza fell backward onto the ground.
Thud!
Hidan grabbed the kunai embedded in his chest, about to twist it and shred his own heart, when he sensed someone lunging from behind.
He sidestepped lightly, and the figure staggered past him, before eventually collapsing onto Zabuza's body.
"Zabuza-sama… I truly wish I could go to the same place as you…"
With those words, Haku closed his eyes.
Hidan frowned and walked over to check, discovering that both of them had already lost their heartbeats.
With the target dead, the ritual naturally ended.
He pulled out the kunai, tossed it aside, and lay down flat on the ground.
Clearly, this heart-pounding battle had left him deeply satisfied.
Yet no one noticed that the senbon in Haku's hand, coated in some mysterious liquid, had already disappeared.