Southwestern coast of the Land of Waves.
Loose mud and rocks broke off the seaside cliff and tumbled into the ocean, turning the already dark waters around the island even murkier.
The seawater that had been boiled moments ago had finally cooled. Damp steam blanketed the sky, and a blazing golden sun tore through the clouds. Sunlight refracted through the heavy moisture, scattering into rainbow colors.
High above.
Turbine wind wings hammered violently, fighting gravity. Konome Taketori, still clad in wind and thunder armor, sank through the air with a heavy drop, one hand gripping a heart wrapped in black hairlike tendrils as she descended.
Boom!
The ground cratered again. Shattered stone burst outward in tremors.
The newly built harbor plaza of the Land of Waves was a ruin.
Where she had been standing, the earth had collapsed into a massive pit. Flames had baked the ground into crystal. The mist tide stone bricks laid across the surface had been ripped up and pulverized by shockwaves.
As for the Black Mist gang locked in coffins, and Gato's men as well, they had been scared to death by her pressure alone. Flying debris punched through their bodies. Waste mixed with red, white, and gray matter oozed from the cracks between the bricks.
Around the crater, the land had split into layered fractures. Spiderweb cracks more than a foot wide stretched for kilometers.
Looks like old Tazuna's getting more work again.
Konome scratched her head lightly. This was exactly why she disliked exercising.
If she walked with a "proper lady's steps," and supported herself with Earth Release, she could manage.
But once she started moving fast, her absurd hundred ton weight, combined with the kinetic force of rapid footwork, meant every stomp sent out a quake. And that quake translated directly into destroyed buildings and economic pain for an entire city.
It might look like she only wrecked a harbor here, but over in the residential districts, the Land of Waves probably just experienced a small earthquake.
Pop. Pop.
A purple light like flame ignited around her five fingers as she pressed down on the heart. The Earth Grudge Fear heart shuddered as if electrocuted.
As the scalding steam dispersed, five clear finger marks were seared into the blood red skin webbed with veins. The tendrils that had clung to her arm finally lost their strength.
Crack.
Life filled Yang Release chakra sprouted and bloomed. Water and Earth combined. Brown yellow wood grew layer by layer into a box, and fresh green leaves shaped a lid, adding a strange vitality.
It was Konome's first time using Wood Release. She found it oddly fascinating, poking at the drooping flower buds until she was satisfied, then placing Kakuzu's heart inside.
The proudest thing in that man's life was that he once tried to assassinate the First Hokage.
So using the First Hokage's Wood Release to make him a coffin box counted as a proper burial.
Bang!
Smoke and dust exploded outward.
She sealed the wooden box into the curse mark engraved on her arm, then pulled out clothes, shoes, and socks from the same seal. After scanning the area, she flicked out a wind blade, finishing off the remaining Black Mist survivors one by one.
Only then did she release the wind thunder armor and slip into a loose kimono.
Not counting storage type seals that had no combat value, she had carved four jutsu into her body.
First was a technique that suppressed detection from sensory jutsu like the Byakugan, and also protected her allies from being harmed by her terrifying pressure and overheated breath.
Second was her ultra long range offense, the super S rank elemental technique that could freely slice anything around her, the wind water floating turret cannons.
Third was a multi purpose Water and Earth composite support technique. It could raise a tsunami, harden the earth, and fix water in place so she could walk normally.
And the final technique was the wind thunder armor she had used to erase Kakuzu in an instant.
Built on the Lightning Release chakra mode, reinforced with the more powerful Black Lightning secret art, and fused with the Gentle Fist, Wind Release Rotation, and other secret techniques, it formed her War God Armor, Wind Thunder Mode.
To prevent Wind Release from accidentally severing the Lightning Release armor, she had used over ten thousand seals to construct it completely.
Originally, she wanted to gain true flight through Wind Release.
But her sheer weight made that impossible. At best, she could hover. And her speed in the air was painfully slow.
So she gave up on the fantasy of soaring through the sky, and instead pushed Wind Thunder speed to the extreme.
Lightning armor already gave her speed beyond normal reflex limits. And the "wings" on her back were not wings at all, but a cluster of countless turbine thrusters.
Her speed surpassed even a supersonic fighter jet from her past life.
Once that mode activated, lightning crawled between her cells, and wind threads erupted from pores and chakra points. Anything that tried to approach her would first be pierced by Lightning Release, then shredded into dust by Wind Release.
The strongest armor, capable of pulverizing all things.
But because wind and lightning were too violent, the moment she activated it, everything on her body would be destroyed. Even with Black Lightning obscuring key areas, she hated using the technique. She was still thinking of ways to refine it.
After fixing her clothes and making sure nothing was exposed, Konome finally had the time to focus on Kakashi and the others.
In her view, Hidan was not a threat at all.
On the ocean he could not draw the blood ritual array. His "immortality" had already been exposed. And Hidan was up against a Team 7 that was far stronger than in canon. By now he should have been dealt with.
That was what she thought.
So Konome opened her Byakugan and looked toward the sea, only to find no one near the shoreline.
Hm?
Her brow lifted.
The chakra she poured into her Byakugan intensified, and in an instant, five bright chakra signatures appeared in her vision.
"Naruto!"
Sasuke's eyes were blood red. Two tomoe spun furiously, almost linking into one.
When Naruto suddenly vomited blood and toppled into the ocean, memories of five years together flooded Sasuke's mind.
Training. School. Sparring.
And that once a year all night celebration shared by five lonely people.
No blood ties. Different temperaments.
Yet Sasuke had already come to see him as a brother.
Sizzle.
Lightning chakra stimulated Sasuke's legs, and his skin split under the savage current, blood blooming through charred flesh. He plunged into the sea with a heavy splash and kicked hard, swimming toward the sinking figure.
Underwater, the world became unnaturally quiet.
His scorched legs burned and itched as seawater seeped in. Jagged rocks and strange purple algae swayed like flowing ribbons along the seabed.
Bubbles rose.
Naruto's eyes were shut tight. He looked as if he were suffering. Dark red blood leaked from his mouth and diffused with the current.
Sasuke gritted his teeth and swam faster.
Up close, he saw it clearly.
A horrifying bloodstain on Naruto's right chest.
Naruto's breathing was ragged. He was choking on water. Sasuke hooked him onto his back, kicked with his charred legs, and forced them upward.
Splash!
They burst out of the ocean.
"Hah… hah…"
Soaked hair clung to Sasuke's forehead as he gasped, laying Naruto onto the water's surface.
The usually lively Naruto was unconscious now. A deep crimson cavity tore into his chest, blood pouring out. Sasuke could even see the heart beating inside.
And in the unique vision of the Sharingan…
Sunlike chakra raged at the heart. Three green points of light at the head and collarbones connected and released power, while an evil red force flowed from the lower abdomen.
Three energies fought to repair the wound.
In the blink of an eye, the bleeding stopped.
Those three green points…
In a near death state, he opened the Third Gate of the Eight Gates?
And what was that red chakra, so filled with malice?
A spark of joy flashed in Sasuke's eyes. The third tomoe that had almost formed quietly halted.
As Naruto's skin rapidly regrew, Sasuke tried to stand.
His legs trembled. No movement came.
Damn it.
He had used Lightning Release too violently. Not only had it burned his skin, it had numbed the nerves in his legs into paralysis.
But it did not matter.
Naruto's wound was healing. His breathing had steadied.
Sitting there on the water's surface, unable to stand, Sasuke showed a rare smile.
"Cough… cough…"
Naruto suddenly coughed up a mouthful of murky seawater. His ocean blue eyes opened, full of confusion. He looked at the calm sea, then at Sasuke's charred legs, his gaze wavering.
"You just…"
"No need to thank me," Sasuke waved him off, quickly wiping away the smile and returning to his usual cold arrogance.
"I only…"
"You were the one who knocked me over, right?"
Naruto, already fully recovered, sprang up and pointed at Sasuke, who could only kneel there with useless legs.
Sasuke's expression shifted from forced coolness into stunned disbelief.
"It wasn't…"
"How wasn't it? Look at your legs, they're totally fried. I was wondering why my back suddenly hurt and then everything went black. It was you. Your Lightning Release control sucks and you crashed into me."
Naruto's brain worked at full speed and somehow produced a complete theory of events.
"Your Lightning Release is sloppy. Use it less."
Sasuke's Sharingan began to spin again from pure rage.
He swore to the heavens that if his legs were working, he would kick this ungrateful idiot straight into the sea.
"Alright, alright. I'll carry you to Konome so she can heal you."
"Don't."
Sasuke grew even angrier. He turned his face away and stared toward the bridge pier, where two dark silhouettes stood.
He remembered it clearly.
The instant Kakashi pierced Hidan, Naruto vomited blood and collapsed.
There had to be a link.
Sasuke's mind snapped back to Hidan's body turning black and white after Naruto attacked him.
That bastard probably had some kind of damage reflection ability that required solid ground.
Sasuke's eyes widened.
Konome had told them Hidan was immortal. The only way to temporarily stop him was to sever the head.
If Hidan truly had reflection, Naruto might still be in danger.
"No. We have to tell Kakashi sensei."
Sasuke's legs shook, but he could not stand.
"So what's the info anyway?"
Naruto still believed Sasuke had simply rammed him into unconsciousness, staring with a blank, clueless expression.
Sasuke sighed.
Looking at Naruto's chest, already so clean that even the blood had been washed away by seawater, he could only let out a long breath.
Maybe idiots really do have idiot luck.
Beneath the Hero's Bridge.
On a massive stone pier, an eerie array was drawn in blood. Hidan stood on it and let Raikiri punch through his chest, his face twisted in madness.
"Cough cough, hahaha! You killed your own teammate, you idiot!"
Kakashi's pupils shrank. He whipped his head around.
Naruto, running at full speed, suddenly toppled and sank into the sea.
"W… why…"
Kakashi stood there, lost. The sight dragged up an old, painful memory.
"Idiot. My body is linked to your teammate. Whatever damage I take, he takes too. Of course he dies the same way."
"You killed him yourself. Hahahaha!"
Hidan's eyes bulged with bloodshot glee as he hammered at Kakashi's mind.
His ability was already exposed. He was never getting another clean kill.
So what did it matter if Kakashi knew?
Right now, he only wanted to watch that pain on Kakashi's face.
"I see," Kakashi said.
The confusion and anguish in his eyes vanished, replaced by calm.
He slowly withdrew his arm from Hidan's chest.
Hidan stared at him, stunned, and then gagged as the motion dragged his own ruptured flesh.
This man killed a companion and felt nothing?
Hidan had seen all kinds of shinobi.
Some broke down crying. Some choked on guilt and hatred. Even the worst at least exploded in rage.
But this man was calm.
"Surprised?" Kakashi asked lightly.
Behind his mask, he even sounded like he was smiling.
"I didn't pierce your heart. You might not feel pain because Lightning Release numbed your nerves, but my Raikiri slipped past the outside of your heart."
"Lungs, heart, none of it is damaged. I only cut flesh and a couple blood vessels."
"My teammate won't die."
"Idiot."
Kakashi finished with those last two words, still smiling.
Hidan's expression twisted visibly into fury, hatred, and humiliation.
"That's impossible. How could you know…"
He roared, face contorting.
Without arms, even though he had activated Death Possession Blood, he could not even kill himself.
And as an expert in this field, he knew better than anyone.
Biting your tongue to commit suicide was an old myth.
Once his ability was revealed, he had no hope of turning this around.
"Your ability is indeed disgusting," Kakashi said, his gaze sharpening.
"At first, I didn't notice the connection between the array under your feet and the changes in your body."
Konome's intel had misled him. When he saw Hidan performing those bizarre motions on the pier, Kakashi panicked and tried to stop him.
His instinct had been simple.
Cut the head in half with the fastest move he had.
He had almost done it.
But then…
Above the pier where they stood, a thin, eerie layer of mist on the bridge's side slowly dispersed.
From it stepped out a tall, broad shouldered man with no eyebrows and a vicious face.
"Thanks," Kakashi said, gratitude filling his eyes.
That was Momochi Zabuza.
"What the hell, when did you hide there?" Hidan screamed, eyes red and on the verge of hysteria.
"I've always been here," Zabuza replied coldly.
He nodded once to Kakashi, and his body began to blur.
He was only a Mist Clone.
From the moment Tazuna left the Land of Waves, Zabuza had been lurking beneath the bridge, monitoring every move Gato, Kurotsuchi Raiga, and the others made.
He had happened to see Hidan run over and draw the blood array right under his nose.
But after such long surveillance, he had almost no chakra left. Even if he saw the ritual being drawn, he could not stop it.
Luckily, Kakashi had the Sharingan.
Even at high speed, he could read the hand signals Zabuza formed through the mist, warning him not to strike.
Otherwise, that blond kid would have been beheaded with one swing.
"It's over, Hidan."
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