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First, let's clarify one thing. What Kagaya had agreed to help Jiraiya with... was only the single matter of suppressing the Nine-Tails.
Beyond that, Kagaya hadn't agreed to anything else. In fact, he couldn't possibly have agreed to anything else.
Although Jiraiya had indeed done Haku and Karin a small favor... it was only a small one. Kagaya would repay it accordingly, but he wouldn't go overboard.
The principle of "repaying a drop of kindness with a gushing spring" didn't really apply between Kagaya and Jiraiya.
After all, considering the disparity in strength between Kagaya and Jiraiya, any casual assistance from Kagaya was already enough to provide Jiraiya with tremendous help.
Therefore, Kagaya would only help with the matter he had agreed to, free of charge.
Anything else... would definitely come with a price.
"Damn it... he actually chased us all the way here. Since when did this guy become so petty?!"
Kakuzu's expression changed drastically. He stared at Kagaya with terror, completely caught off guard by his appearance. This man's arrival could easily shatter the balance of this entire battle.
The moment he saw Kagaya appear, the first thing that came to Kakuzu's mind was that Kagaya had become enraged by Hidan's earlier provocation and had come chasing after them directly.
"If I ever get the chance... I'm definitely sewing that bastard Hidan's mouth shut!"
Kakuzu retreated two steps, his face dark and grim. He was already beginning to contemplate retreat.
Sakura spoke with a face full of delight. "Lord Jiraiya! Why are you here? And... who's that person beside you?"
Because it had been such a long time since she had last seen Kagaya, Sakura could no longer recognize him.
Naruto's eyes widened. He stared at Kagaya without saying a word, yet silently adopted a defensive posture, as if facing a formidable enemy.
Chiyo was somewhat stunned. She had never met Kagaya and didn't know who he was. But she did know Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, is it? And... that technique just now... hm. To think there's still someone who could learn the Flash's technique... it truly surprised this old body. But... it shouldn't have been you who used it, right, Jiraiya? After all, that shocked expression of yours also proves that technique wasn't yours. In that case, it must have been that young man beside you. Let me think... some great hero of the Leaf? No... he's not wearing a forehead protector. Not from the Leaf? Well, now that's interesting."
Chiyo furrowed her brow as she looked at Kagaya. She had absolutely no impression of this person. Judging from Jiraiya's and Naruto's attitudes, she guessed this person was no simple figure. Yet, Chiyo couldn't sense anything from him at all.
She had initially assumed he might be some hidden trump card of the Leaf Village. But the fact that he wasn't wearing a forehead protector proved that, at the very least, he wasn't from the Leaf.
Of course, it was also possible that he was like Jiraiya—a Leaf shinobi who simply didn't wear the Leaf forehead protector. Whether that was the case, however, was impossible to know.
In any case, with Kagaya's arrival, the battle had once again ground to a halt.
Kagaya turned his head and glanced at Kakashi, extending his chakra senses for a moment.
Mm. Looks like he's not dead. But he'll probably be bedridden for a while.
With Kakashi's current injuries, death wasn't a concern. But after taking a Rasengan and then a kick from Kagaya, he would definitely need to spend some time in the Leaf Village's hospital once he returned.
Then, Kagaya turned his head to look at Jiraiya.
"Seems I arrived a bit early. He hasn't gone berserk yet, after all."
Jiraiya spoke with a face full of pure innocence. "How is that my fault?"
The implication was clear: Kagaya's speed had simply been too fast. In no time at all, he had used the Flying Thunder God to arrive at the scene.
Kagaya shrugged and bent down to pick up the kunai on the ground.
That was the kunai he had used to perform the Flying Thunder God just now. At this moment, its surface was already covered in cracks, caused by the sheer speed.
The simplest way to travel using the Flying Thunder God was to hurl a marked kunai forward, then teleport to the kunai's location using the Flying Thunder God.
The advantage of this method of movement was that, since the thing actually moving was the kunai, one could completely ignore the burden that excessive speed placed on the body.
All the strain caused by moving too fast was borne by the kunai. Therefore, the harder and sturdier the kunai, the higher the upper limit of movement speed.
The kunai in Kagaya's hand had become covered in cracks precisely because the speed had been far too great for the kunai itself to withstand the pressure of the journey.
Crunch!
With a slight squeeze, the kunai in Kagaya's hand shattered into pieces and fell to the ground.
But that didn't matter. After all, this trip had been partly intended as a test of his absolute maximum speed when traveling via the Flying Thunder God. And the conclusion had been proven: for long-distance travel, the Flying Thunder God held an overwhelming advantage over the Body Flicker Technique.
Dusting off his hands, Kagaya spoke to Jiraiya with a grin.
"I've taken care of one Akatsuki member for you. How are you going to repay me?"
Jiraiya sighed. "No... that was something you did on your own. I never asked you to."
Kagaya shook his head. "I don't do unnecessary things. How about this: I've dealt with one Akatsuki member for you... so, correspondingly, let me also deal with some members on your side?"
As his words fell, the atmosphere instantly turned frigid.
Jiraiya stepped back, staring fixedly at Kagaya. "That joke... isn't funny."
Kagaya tilted his head. "I'm not joking."
Kagaya's earlier kick to send Hidan flying had been purely to save Kakashi's life. If Hidan had merely been torturing Kakashi, Kagaya might not have intervened. But if Kakashi's life was in danger... Kagaya would still step in to save him. After all, they had once been teacher and student.
However, the price of saving Kakashi was that Hidan might very well be directly dealt with by Kagaya, causing the difficulty of the battle for Naruto and the others to plummet.
Kagaya absolutely did not want to see that happen. Because, no matter what, Naruto and Sasuke had to grow quickly. Those two were Kagaya's insurance for dealing with Kaguya in the future. It guaranteed that even if Kagaya screwed up, these two Children of Destiny could step in and seal Kaguya.
When dealing with a madwoman like Kaguya who wanted to annihilate all of humanity, Kagaya felt that having multiple layers of insurance was quite important.
Under such circumstances, battles that were too easy wouldn't help Naruto grow. Therefore, even if there was no difficulty, Kagaya had to manufacture some.
This was also one of the reasons Kagaya had been so ruthless toward Sasuke earlier: he had to force Sasuke to grow rapidly.
Taking a step back—if Sasuke had already been ruthlessly hammered... there was no reason Naruto should be the exception, right?
If a hammering was due, then a hammering he would get.
Without any reaction time, without the slightest warning, Naruto's entire body was sent flying. Only the violent, searing pain in his abdomen indicated that Naruto had been struck.
At the same time, Sakura was also blasted into the stone wall without any forewarning.
All of this had occurred in just a single instant. To everyone else's eyes, Kagaya had remained standing in the exact same spot the entire time. They had no idea when he had made his move.
"There. Now it's fair."
A demonic smile surfaced on Kagaya's face.
"Th-this..."
Kakuzu was utterly baffled by the sudden turn of events. What was going on? Hadn't Uchiha Kagaya come here because of Hidan? Why was he attacking the Leaf shinobi now?
Although Uchiha Kagaya apparently had a bad relationship with the Leaf... hadn't he appeared together with Jiraiya? Shouldn't he be on the Leaf's side?
On the other side, Chiyo's pupils constricted sharply. What concerned her most was that she had completely failed to see Kagaya's movements just now. Even her sensory perception had only been able to vaguely detect that Kagaya had moved at all.
WHAT IS GOING ON?!!
What was with this freakish, inexplicable speed?
Who the hell was he?!!
Chiyo retrieved a scroll from behind her back and began guarding against Kagaya. Even though her experience told her that against that kind of speed... no amount of guarding would make any difference.
Jiraiya looked at Kagaya with deep unease. He wanted nothing more than to avoid a conflict with Kagaya—that would definitely be the worst possible outcome. Yet, he couldn't figure out what Kagaya's intentions were right now. Kagaya had clearly attacked Naruto and Sakura, but in Jiraiya's perception, neither of them had suffered serious injuries. It was obvious that Kagaya had deliberately held back.
But what was the point of holding back? Since he had already attacked... why hold back?
Jiraiya couldn't understand, and this prevented him from judging Kagaya's intentions at the first opportunity.
"AAAAARGH! You bastard! Who kicked me?! Are you asking to die?!"
Hidan struggled to his feet from beneath the pile of rubble.
Just now, when Kagaya had delivered that kick, both Hidan and Kakashi had simultaneously suffered damage. But while Kakashi had passed out, Hidan had not.
This was only natural. Hidan's constitution and abilities destined that he would often feel lethal, life-ending pain from his own body. Over time, Hidan had developed an extraordinary tolerance for pain.
Despite this guy constantly crying "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"—in truth, no one present could match his pain tolerance. The man practically trained his endurance using fatal injuries on a regular basis. Ordinary people simply couldn't compare.
Thus, Kakashi had been knocked unconscious by the sheer agony, while Hidan had gotten back up, screaming.
Kagaya looked at Hidan's twisted, mangled upper body and the gaping, hollow cavity in his chest, and clicked his tongue.
"You know... don't you find yourself disgusting? And another thing—I know you're immortal, but with that much blood pouring from your chest, how can you still move? Does your immortality come with some kind of superhuman blood-production ability? That's far too contrary to common sense. With that amount of blood loss... even if you couldn't die, your entire body should've shut down by now. No... forget it. My mistake. Trying to find logic in an abomination like your immortality... was a foolish endeavor from the start."
At this moment, half of Hidan's body was completely drenched in the blood gushing from his chest. It was horrifying beyond words.
Watching Hidan still able to move in such a state, Kagaya felt, for the very first time, a small shred of admiration for that cult Hidan belonged to. Setting everything else aside... that immortality was truly incredible. Immortal meant immortal. Heart gone? Still kicking. Lost that much blood? Still up and moving. Truly incredible.
Hidan stared at Kagaya for two full seconds, then burst into laughter.
"Hey, hey... am I seeing things? Uchiha Kagaya... you actually came looking for me yourself? Do you really want to be offered to Lord Jashin that badly?"
Kagaya raised his hand. "Your immortality... I must admit, it's truly impressive. Completely defies all logic. I don't understand the principle behind it, but that doesn't matter. For now... let me test just how far that immortality of yours can go."
Hidan bared his teeth in a wide, savage grin. "If you can do it, then come and try! Bwahaha—eh?!"
Before Hidan could even finish his words, his entire field of vision began spinning violently.
No... it wasn't the space spinning. It was Hidan's head spinning. His head had been sliced clean off by Kagaya!
Thud!
Hidan's head dropped to the ground. Then, after another two-second pause, a horrifying sight unfolded: Hidan opened his mouth and roared curses.
"HEY, HEY, HEY! You damn Uchiha! Is that all you've got?! Kill me! KILL ME!"
Chiyo's eyes flew wide open. Old as she was, this was the first time she had ever witnessed such a freakish, unnatural scene. His head had been cut clean off... and he could still nonchalantly open his mouth and curse?
"My, my... this old body thought it had seen enough unimaginable things and could no longer be easily shaken. But this so-called Akatsuki... truly astonishes me. To survive even after losing one's head... do monsters like this really exist?"
Even Jiraiya wore an expression of utter disbelief. The scene before him violated all common sense. His head had fallen to the ground... and he could still casually curse like that?
Was this for real?
Kagaya quickly retreated a fair distance to avoid being splattered with blood.
"Although I've long known about your ability... this is indeed the first time I've personally witnessed a shinobi who's still alive after having his head cut off. And besides... you talk far too much. How about I cut off your mouth as well? Would you still be able to talk then?"
A kunai flew out and stabbed directly into Hidan's mouth, piercing through to the back of his skull and pinning his head to the ground.
"Forget it. I don't know how to go about cutting off a mouth. Pinning your mouth shut directly is much more convenient."
"Mmmpf! Mmmph! Mm-mm-mmph mmmph mmph!"
Hidan's severed head seemed to be trying to say something. But with his mouth pierced through by the kunai, he could no longer produce any intelligible human speech.
Kakuzu watched coldly from a distance, never once lifting a finger to help. He had never truly crossed hands with Kagaya, but he had absolutely no desire to. He was different from Hidan. Hidan was a true immortal—even if torn limb from limb, he would still be alive. Kakuzu, simply put, merely had a few extra "life bars."
Five hearts in total. If all of them were destroyed... Kakuzu would truly die.
Thus, Hidan possessed a genuine immortal body, while Kakuzu only possessed a false one.
Hidan could afford not to fear death. Kakuzu could not.
Kagaya looked at Hidan before him and, for the moment, couldn't think of any good way to deal with him. How exactly was one supposed to handle such a freakish ability? The simplest method was to follow the original story and bury him alive. But Kagaya couldn't be bothered to dig a hole specifically for that. Hidan wasn't a threat to him. There was no need to go out of his way to dig a hole and bury this person alive.
"Forget it. Leave it like this for now."
After some thought, Kagaya decided to leave Hidan here for now and see how Naruto and the others would handle him afterward.
With a Body Flicker Technique, he appeared beside Jiraiya.
"Since I've arrived too early... let's take our leave for now."
With that, Kagaya vanished along with Jiraiya.
From beginning to end, Kagaya never touched Kakuzu. That was a whetstone he had left for Naruto and the others.
At the very least, the Nine-Tails within Naruto had to be forced out. If Kakuzu couldn't do it... then Kagaya might even have to step in personally.
Naruto had to be made to feel that "he was still far too weak right now," and thereby be spurred to grow.
Closing his eyes, Kagaya sensed his own eyes for a moment and let out a soft sigh.
Although he had an inexplicable feeling that his eyes were undergoing some kind of transformation... he truly didn't know whether Madara's method was indeed the way to evolve the Rinnegan. If it failed... then dealing with Kaguya would have to be left to Naruto and Sasuke.