Ryōsuke looked at Hidan, who was shouting and making a scene on the ground.
He spoke directly to Haku and Zabuza.
"Both of you stay back. I'm going to incinerate this guy until nothing but ash remains."
A malicious look crossed Hidan's face when he heard this.
"Bastard, do it if you can!"
"My body is truly immortal."
He was a devout follower of Lord Jashin and had received his blessing.
He had tried to offer himself as a sacrifice to Lord Jashin countless times before, but it had never worked.
He truly possessed an immortal body.
Ryōsuke remarked with interest.
"Interesting. If you really are immortal, I would be quite interested in studying you."
"So, let me test it for myself."
Haku and Zabuza both moved away as instructed.
Ryōsuke then began his move, clapping his hands together.
"Fire Style: Fire Column!"
With his strength having grown, he no longer needed to weave hand signs for the Fire Style techniques he knew best; he could simply convert his chakra into flames.
He could even control the flames he produced.
Since these flames were created from his own chakra, as long as his control was precise enough, he could naturally manipulate them. Ryōsuke currently possessed exactly that kind of control.
From the intersection of Ryōsuke's palms, a pillar of intensely hot fire erupted, roasting Hidan where he lay.
Hidan immediately let out painful wails and angry shouts.
"It hurts! It hurts so much!"
"A guy like you can't kill me!"
"I'll definitely get my revenge on you!"
Watching from a distance, Zabuza felt his heart skip a beat.
To survive being roasted by the God King's Fire Style and still shout about revenge—that immortal body was truly staggering.
Hearing the madman's words, Ryōsuke felt a surge of irritation.
"Even at the end of the line, you're thinking about revenge? You won't have the chance."
"No chance? What the hell are you talking about? Your fire can't kill me."
Even while enduring immense pain, Hidan maintained a crazed smile.
Ryōsuke looked at the still-stubborn Hidan.
He extinguished the flames.
The air was thick with the scent of roasted Hidan, but the man's eyes were still vibrant; he was clearly alive.
To ensure this threat was completely neutralized, Ryōsuke decided to use that technique.
If the current power of his Fire Style could roast him, then increasing the intensity would surely turn him to ash.
He had already contemplated this matter before.
He wanted to unleash a more powerful Fire Style.
One way was to increase the amount of chakra used to create a larger flame; the other was to manifest higher-quality fire.
A flame with a higher temperature, capable of burning everything to nothing.
The former just required more chakra to make the jutsu physically larger, but to raise the temperature, he needed not only more chakra but also extreme control to compress a higher concentration of chakra into flames.
By improving the quality of the fire, the power of a Fireball Jutsu or any directly formed flames would be drastically increased.
And to tap into even more chakra...
That meant using the forbidden technique, the Eight Inner Gates.
He directly opened the long-unseen Fifth Gate: The Gate of Closing.
Instantly, a powerful aura erupted from his entire body.
An atmospheric shockwave rippled outward with Ryōsuke at the center.
Green steam began to rise from his skin.
Ryōsuke now had a significantly larger pool of chakra at his disposal.
He had theorized this long ago: the Eight Inner Gates removed the body's natural chakra limiters.
While it greatly enhanced taijutsu, it also massively increased the available chakra.
Any ninjutsu performed under these conditions would naturally be devastatingly powerful.
He extended his palm, focusing his chakra into his right hand to transform it into a ball of fire.
As he funneled more chakra into it, the flame shifted from orange to white, possessing a density that ordinary fire couldn't match.
Even Hidan, who had been shouting until now, showed fear in his eyes for the first time.
"Hey, what the hell is this guy trying to do?"
He could sense the terrifying energy condensed within that white flame.
Ryōsuke smiled.
"What do you think I'm doing?"
After speaking, he approached Hidan.
He then thrust the flame directly toward Hidan's head.
He intended to incinerate the man completely.
To save himself from having to hear those constant shouts.
Faced with the terrifying flame, Hidan struggled desperately to lift himself and escape.
But with his heart already destroyed, he couldn't move much at all. How could he possibly dodge?
He made direct contact with the white flame.
He instantly let out a scream far more horrified than his previous ones.
As the fire bored into him, it instantly turned every part it touched into ash.
Not a single drop of blood could even seep out.
That was enough to prove how high the temperature of the fire was.
Soon, Hidan couldn't even scream anymore, as his head was gone.
Ryōsuke continued to hold the flame, burning away the rest of Hidan's body parts.
This time, truly nothing but ash remained. Ryōsuke felt somewhat satisfied.
'He should not be able to come back to life after this, right?'
From a distance, Zabuza was not only amazed by the God King's invincible fire—which could even nullify a supposedly immortal ability—but also stunned by his taijutsu.
He was shocked that the God King was using a physical technique that emitted green steam.
Wasn't that the Eight Inner Gates used by the man from Konoha named Might Duy?
After opening all eight gates, he had supposedly killed four members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist by himself.
'Terrifying.'
'To think the God King also knows this move.'
'Now that the God King has opened the Eight Inner Gates—though not all eight—the power he displays feels overwhelmingly immense. Is this another part of his hidden strength?'
'It is not just those Mangekyō Sharingan; his taijutsu is also terrifying.'
Ryōsuke looked at the pile of ash Hidan had left behind.
'I am not actually certain if the man named Hidan is truly dead after being reduced to this.'
'After all, the man was under the curse of Jashin, which touches upon the domain of gods.'
'Whether gods exist in this world... at least in the story up to the point of my arrival, none had appeared.'
'But that does not mean they do not exist.'
'A "Jashin" who could grant Hidan such horrifying powers was surely an incredibly powerful individual, possibly even someone from another dimension.'