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Ch. 161: The Undead Duo: Joining
🕑 Added 2024-11-11 21:42:01 +0000 UTCIf there is any sound in this world that is the most terrifying, it must be the sound of one's own skull slowly breaking.
Kakuzu heard exactly that kind of sound. Because his skin had been hardened by the Iron Skin technique, the sound of his skin cracking was disturbingly similar to that of a skull shattering.
He couldn't judge how much of his defenses had been penetrated by the tentacle above his head, but he knew that if this continued, his skull would eventually be opened up, and his brain would be sucked out, leaving him like an empty coconut shell.
Although his Earth Grudge Fear technique granted him five hearts—essentially five lives—he still only had one head. If it was gone, there wouldn't be any replacement for that.
Realizing this, Kakuzu's fear surged. His only thought was to throw off the tentacle wrapped around his head.
However, due to using the Iron Skin, his movements were heavily restricted, and he couldn't run away. His only option was to use ninjutsu to eliminate the tentacles.
With that in mind, he quickly unlocked the restraints on his back and transformed into the Earth Grudge Fear mode. His cloak bulged, and four black figures burst out from behind him, standing at his rear.
These four figures were entirely composed of dense black threads, and each one wore a white mask on its head.
In this mode, these four black figures could use four different types of ninjutsu.
With his one and only head under threat, Kakuzu didn't hesitate to use his trump card.
"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"
He had absorbed the hearts of people with four different chakra natures in addition to his own earth nature, giving him access to all five chakra natures. According to the principles of chakra nature affinities, his Iron Skin, weak against lightning.
Thus, Kakuzu deduced that Hidan's tentacle might have been lightning-based. Since wind countered lightning, he chose to use wind release to suppress the black tentacle's nature.
However, what he didn't expect was that the high-pressure wind hit the black tentacle without causing even the slightest reaction. It didn't even scratch the surface.
"What!"
"Lightning Style: False Darkness!"
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"
"Water Style: Water Wall!"
In a panic, he abandoned any thoughts of nature affinities and threw every ninjutsu he had at the black tentacle.
The four black figures in mid-air unleashed fire, water, lightning, and wind, creating a chaotic battlefield. Yet despite the onslaught, the black tentacle remained completely unharmed.
"Useless! Useless!"
"The lord's tentacles are not something your petty ninjutsu can destroy! Just give up and become a sacrifice to him!"
On the other end of the tentacle, Hidan was shaking his body, laughing maniacally, while the tentacle extending from his head trembled slightly.
"Have you figured it out yet?" Konan, standing on a branch watching the battle, asked Itachi.
"He licked Kakuzu's blood. That's likely his sacrificial ninjutsu."
"That black tentacle must be something he summoned. Its ability seems to be breaking open the opponent's head and sucking out their brains."
"But the problem is the nature of that tentacle is unclear. Kakuzu's ninjutsu isn't having any effect on it."
Konan glanced at Itachi's eyes and asked, "Can't even your Sharingan see through that tentacle?"
"Sorry, it can't."
Even though Itachi couldn't see through what the tentacle was, it stirred a vague sense of familiarity within him. It was similar to the tentacle that bound him in his nightmares—the one that haunted his dreams almost every night.
The two tentacles were nearly identical.
Except the one in his dreams bound his body, while this one directly extracted brains. The method was different, but the resemblance was uncanny.
While Konan and Itachi were still watching from the tree, Kakuzu was on the verge of collapse.
Crack, crack.
"Ah!"
Hearing the sound growing closer to his brain, his mind was nearing its limit.
Konan, seeing this, quickly turned to Itachi. "Looks like he can't hold out any longer. Think of a way to separate them quickly."
"Although his ninjutsu is sacrificial, it looks more like a possession-type summoning jutsu. If we can kill the user, the technique might be undone."
"But he's immortal." Kakuzu's screams were getting more desperate, and it wouldn't be surprising if his defenses gave out any second.
Itachi took a deep breath and said, "I'll try using a genjutsu to knock him out."
He had considered this earlier, but after the backlash he suffered from using Tsukuyomi on Kojiro, he had been hesitant to use genjutsu carelessly, especially against someone involved with a cult or an evil god.
But the situation was dire, and he had no other choice.
He leaped down from the tree, landing beside the cultist.
Hidan was watching Kakuzu's desperate struggle with great interest. When he noticed Itachi suddenly appear, he waved dismissively and said impatiently, "You'll be sacrificed to the lord later. Go away, go away!"
Itachi ignored. "Hey."
Instinctively, Hidan looked at him, accidentally locking eyes with Itachi's Sharingan.
Suddenly, he felt his mind becoming foggy, and with a thud, he collapsed, unconscious.
---
When Hidan woke up, he found himself tied up tightly.
"Hey, why not just kill him?"
"Akatsuki is short on manpower right now. I intend to have him join us as a member."
"This brat…"
Kakuzu and Konan were arguing when Itachi noticed Hidan had awakened and warned them, "He's awake."
Konan immediately explained her plan to invite Hidan to join Akatsuki, but Hidan quickly rejected the idea.
"Are you kidding me? I don't care about your Akatsuki."
"My mission is to lead my brothers in spreading our teachings to the world!"
Hearing this, Kakuzu immediately tried to stir the pot, "See, I told you, we should kill him."
"If you can kill me, go ahead and try!" Despite being tied up, Hidan remained defiant, glaring at Kakuzu with hostility.
"Try? Fine, I will!" Kakuzu, still furious from his earlier torment, wasn't backing down either.
"Come at me then!"
Watching the escalating confrontation, Konan was at a loss, unsure how to continue persuading Hidan to join the Akatsuki.
At that moment, Itachi, usually reserved, stepped forward and asked, "Hey, are you a believer of the evil god?"
The mention of his god instantly revitalized Hidan, and he proudly nodded, "Of course! He is the most powerful, ultimate god in this world."
Itachi nodded as if in agreement but then added, "But I know someone who worships a god even stronger than yours."
"What!"
Hidan's eyes flared with rage, far more intense than during his argument with Kakuzu.
"Impossible! No god is stronger than the King in Yellow. That's absolutely impossible!"
"I'm warning you, your genjutsu might be impressive, but don't you dare insult the lord. If you do—"
Before Hidan could finish, Itachi interrupted him with two simple words.
"Cthulhu."
"The god that person worships is called Cthulhu."
As soon as Itachi mentioned Cthulhu, something about Hidan's aura changed dramatically, as if he had become a different person entirely.
Although he and Kakuzu had been at each other's throats earlier—Hidan's strange tentacle jutsu nearly killing Kakuzu—he had never before shown such a serious and focused demeanor.
Because of his immortality, Hidan had always adopted a playful, indifferent attitude toward both his own life and the lives of others. He never took anything too seriously, and his immature mindset contributed to this.
But now, his aura had shifted from that of a fanatical zealot who constantly spoke of his god, to someone brimming with cold, murderous intent toward a true mortal enemy.
Sitting on the ground, Hidan buried his head for a while before speaking in a low voice: "Where is he?"
"What?"
The moment Itachi responded, Hidan shot him a glare, raising his voice, "The one who worships Cthulhu! Where is he?"
"I'm going to kill him."
"I'll kill him!"
"No! I'll sacrifice him to the King in Yellow!"
"Tell me where that person is!"
Moments ago, Hidan had been silent, but now he was frantically muttering 'kill him' over and over, leaving Itachi confused.
Why did Hidan hate Kojiro so much? Could they have known each other in the past? But Kojiro was from Kiri, far from the Land of Hot Water where Hidan was from. And given the large age gap between them, there shouldn't have been much overlap.
Was it purely because of their different beliefs? But weren't all evil gods, by nature, evil?
If the difference was based on belief, then their situations were quite similar: both were followers of dark, evil gods. Even Itachi couldn't make sense of the full situation, so he asked: "Why do you want to kill him?"
Hidan, unbothered by the question, answered straightforwardly, "He worships the King in Yellow's enemy!"
"He is the brother and mortal enemy of the King in Yellow!"
"The enemy of the lord is my enemy!"
"Anyone who believes in the enemy of the lord is my enemy!"
"I must punish him!"
After Hidan's explanation, Itachi understood a bit more. Orochimaru's mention of the Great Old Ones had indicated that they weren't a united front—there were rivalries among them.
The god Hidan worshipped—the King in Yellow—was apparently one of these Great Old Ones, and his relationship with Cthulhu worshipped by Kojiro was one of both brotherhood and enmity.
Though this relationship seemed contradictory, he could understand. If the Black Pharaoh and Aku-Shin Kage hadn't appeared on the night of the Uchiha massacre, Itachi would have been the one to kill his parents. That would have made Sasuke both his brother and his mortal enemy.
This enmity between gods extended to their followers, with the disciples of one god seeing the followers of the rival god as mortal enemies. If Hidan thought this way, then did Kojiro as well?
As Itachi pondered this connection, nearby Konan and Kakuzu looked completely lost. "What evil gods? What enemies? What are you talking about?" Kakuzu, despite trying to act wise, didn't understand.
"This has nothing to do with you!" Hidan snapped back.
"You little brat..."
Konan looked at Itachi, noticing that he seemed to understand something, and asked, "What's going on?"
Itachi gave a simplified explanation: "During a mission to the Land of Gods with Jūzō, I encountered someone claiming to be a follower of an evil god. And our prisoner has a grudge with him."
Konan, uninterested in who worshiped which evil god, instead saw this as an opportunity to recruit Hidan into the Akatsuki. "Do you think you could use this information to persuade him to join Akatsuki?"
"I can try."
While they discussed quietly, Hidan, already growing impatient, yelled, "Hey! What are you whispering about over there?"
"Hurry up and tell me who that person is! I need to punish him!"
With their conversation concluded, Itachi approached Hidan.
"You keep saying you want to punish him, but I don't think you can beat him. How do you plan to punish him?"
"What? You think I can't beat him? Impossible!"
Hidan was incredulous. Itachi continued, "Your strength comes from your immortality and that strange tentacle jutsu."
"Sacrifice! It's a sacrificial ritual!" Hidan corrected him sharply.
"Whatever it is. But you couldn't even defeat my genjutsu. How do you think you can defeat him?"
"Not only did he defeat my genjutsu, but he also instantly killed one of my comrades with a single blow in a hand-to-hand fight."
"If you go against him with your current strength, you'll be walking to your death."
"Even if you can't die, what if he cuts you into pieces and buries them all over? You'd be completely powerless, wouldn't you?"
Itachi wasn't exaggerating. He had indeed lost to Kojiro in a mental duel within Tsukuyomi, and Jūzō had nearly been killed in one strike.
While Hidan's summoned tentacle was strange, his actual combat ability wasn't very strong. If he faced Kojiro in his transformed state, Itachi believed Kojiro would have a much higher chance of victory.
And he wasn't alone either.
"By the way, how many people are in your brotherhood?"
Hidan, caught off guard by the question and not particularly bright, answered honestly. "Fewer than thirty."
Upon hearing this, Itachi deliberately smiled, as if he had just heard a hilarious joke.
"What are you laughing at? What's so funny?"
"Sorry, I just found it amusing because the difference in numbers is so large."
"What? How many followers does that person's god have?" Hidan asked, still unconvinced.
Itachi pretended to think for a moment and replied, "It's not that many. If you include civilians and Deep Ones, maybe just a few thousand."
"Don't worry, it won't exceed a hundred thousand."
The sheer difference in numbers left Hidan, Kakuzu, and Konan deeply shocked. A few thousand—or even tens of thousands—was the population of a small nation.
"Damn it! How does his evil god have so many followers?"
Though Hidan's tone was still defiant, his expression showed a hint of defeat.
"Now you see, with your current strength, you're not ready to challenge him."
At that moment, Konan interjected at just the right time: "So you should join Akatsuki."
"That person killed our comrade before. We want revenge too, but we aren't strong enough yet."
"But if you join us, along with your brotherhood, we'll have a better chance of challenging them."
"However, we need to build up our strength first."
Hidan was tempted by Konan's words. "Okay, fine, but just so you know, even if I join, I'm not going to stop spreading my religion or making sacrifices."
"Of course."
Internally, Konan was pleased. This guy was easy to manipulate.
At her command, Kakuzu reluctantly untied Hidan.
Hidan stood up, stretched his limbs, and pulled out a necklace from under his collar, clutching the pendant in his hand and bringing it to his mouth.
"What are you doing?" Kakuzu asked.
"I'm going to report to the lord about joining Akatsuki. I need to see if he approves."
Konan, slightly annoyed, said, "You already agreed to join."
"I agreed, but he needs to approve!" Hidan shouted at her, then continued whispering to the yellow pendant in his hand.
Through the gap between his fingers, Itachi saw that the pendant had the same symbol Hidan had drawn with blood on the ground earlier.
After a while, Hidan finally tucked the necklace back under his collar.
"Alright, he has approved!"
"Let's go!"
Itachi glanced curiously at the necklace swinging under Hidan's collar but didn't think much of it. That thing couldn't actually communicate with a god, right? If it did, he would be curious to hear what a god's voice sounded like.
