"Lady Guren…"
"Go get some sleep," Guren said, waving the others away. "I'll stay here. Nothing will happen. Besides, when Lord Yagyū Souma returns, he won't like too many people crowding around."
She knew Souma's background.
Even though he hadn't concealed his identity, that was likely his own calculation. As a subordinate, however, she had to consider the implications of his status.
Besides—
Hidan was just a corpse now.
There was hardly any need to guard him. If someone strong enough to intercept him showed up, extra guards wouldn't help anyway.
Guren sat quietly to the side, refining her chakra.
During this period, she had been continuously injecting excess chakra into the curse mark, accumulating it. Although she hadn't used it yet, she could clearly feel it growing stronger.
If she activated it now, she estimated she could maintain it for a few seconds.
She was calculating this in her mind when she suddenly heard faint footsteps.
The newcomer deliberately concealed their chakra.
She didn't jump to conclusions and stood up cautiously.
"Who's there?"
"It's me."
The door opened, and Yagyū Souma stepped inside.
Guren glanced at him, then at the small Nine-Tails squatting on his shoulder, and finally relaxed.
"Lord Yagyū Souma, you're back."
"Body… my body… let me…"
Hidan croaked weakly.
Reality proved Souma's earlier judgment correct.
Even though Hidan was immortal and could survive with his head separated from his body, remaining detached for too long still consumed energy. Without replenishment, he would gradually fall into dormancy—or decay.
However—
What surprised Souma was that once the head drew close to the body, a chakra connection reestablished between them, restoring some of Hidan's vitality.
Fascinating.
Souma's eyes lit up.
This guy was extremely worth studying.
If he could figure it out, it might even push Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred Seal further.
"Lord Yagyū Souma, who is he…?"
Guren asked in astonishment.
She hadn't noticed before—Souma was carrying a talking head in his other hand.
Looking closely…
This seemed to be the owner of the dismembered body from earlier—just transformed into this bizarre state.
An enemy?
"Bastard! Let me go! Let me go back to my body!"
Hidan shouted furiously.
Souma's expression didn't change.
Turning to Guren, he said,
"Prepare a nutrient solution and a cultivation tank. You should still have some here."
"Yes. Lord Orochimaru left some behind," Guren nodded.
"Bring one."
"???"
Hidan stared at Souma in disbelief, then roared,
"You dare treat a follower of Jashin like this?! You'll be punished by Lord Jashin!"
"Who's going to punish me?"
Souma sneered.
"You—or that so-called god?"
"Of course me! Hahahaha! I'm immortal! Even if you grind my body to dust, I'll crawl out of the ground and bite you to death!"
At this point, Hidan no longer felt fear.
Perhaps he knew Souma wouldn't spare him anyway—if so, he'd rather be destroyed outright.
Unfortunately—
"Heh. Such a crude provocation."
The Nine-Tails snorted from the side.
"Brat, that kind of talk wouldn't fool even me. You think it'll trick him?"
Hidan's scheme was practically written on his face.
The Nine-Tails would feel insulted not mocking him.
"Damn fox! What did you say?!"
"Please. Trash like you should stop thinking altogether,"
the Nine-Tails said disdainfully.
"Trying to get your teammate to earth-style rescue you? How stupid."
Hidan flushed with anger.
Because that was exactly what he was thinking.
"Enough. Shut up."
Souma grabbed a cloth and stuffed it directly into Hidan's mouth.
One Nine-Tails was already noisy enough.
Add Hidan on top of that, and his head was about to explode.
Hidan glared furiously, but there was nothing he could do.
Souma focused on reassembling Hidan's body, carefully studying the secrets behind it.
His conclusion—
This was extremely difficult to replicate.
He couldn't imagine how the Jashin cult had achieved this. Hidan's body and chakra were far beyond normal human limits—almost comparable to Kisame.
Whether it was mutation or drug-based cultivation was unclear.
Still—
It wasn't a complete dead end.
Just as Souma suspected, Hidan's so-called immortality relied on Jashin's chakra, allowing his body to maintain extraordinary vitality and regeneration.
Fatal injuries were meaningless to him.
Without proper intelligence, even someone like Kakashi would fall for it.
Asuma had paid the price for lacking information.
Souma continued experimenting.
Guren watched from the side.
She was deeply curious about this "immortal" man.
After observing for a while, she couldn't help but sigh.
"If Lord Orochimaru were still alive… this would be the perfect body."
"Mmmph—!"
The moment Hidan heard Orochimaru's name, he started struggling again.
Unfortunately—
Guren simply wrapped him up in a cloth bag, further muffling any sound.
Souma glanced over and said,
"It's useless. His ability is built on faith in Jashin. Without that, it weakens drastically—or disappears."
"There's really such a condition?"
Guren asked.
She didn't doubt Souma's judgment.
In terms of ninjutsu research, she increasingly felt he was even more reliable than Orochimaru—at least when it came to safety.
Orochimaru never cared about safety. He just grabbed test subjects. If they died, that meant it wasn't safe.
Simple. Brutal. Brain-dead.
Thinking of that—
Guren realized her wording was inappropriate and quickly apologized.
"Lord Yagyū Souma, I didn't mean—"
"It's fine," Souma said calmly.
"I'm not petty. You've only just joined me—thinking that way is normal."
He finished reassembling the body and formed hand seals.
A summoning array appeared.
A swarm of kikaichū crawled out.
After some time apart, the medical insects had clearly grown stronger—especially their leader. Its size wasn't dramatic, but Souma could sense the dense senjutsu chakra inside it.
What he didn't expect—
The next second, the medical kikaichū spoke.
"Lord… have… instructions?"
The words were halting and childish, but unmistakably human speech.
Souma was genuinely surprised.
"You command them," he said.
"Heal the damaged sections. I've already reassembled the body—just reconnect everything."
"Yes."
The response was simple.
A second later, the kikaichū sprang into action.
Guren was stunned.
She had seen kikaichū before—but one this large, and capable of speech?
Incredible.
Then she watched as the insects released medical chakra, using techniques similar to medical ninjutsu to reconnect Hidan's body seamlessly.
Her eyes widened.
Unprecedented.
Just what kind of research had this man conducted back in Konoha?
At that moment, Hidan's head began struggling violently inside the bag, clearly sensing the restoration.
"Lord Yagyū Souma, is it really okay to heal him?"
Guren asked.
"There's no problem."
Souma never planned to keep Hidan in Sound Village long-term.
The most suitable place for Hidan's body was the Forest of Death in Konoha.
As for his head—
That belonged in the Intelligence Division.
A head with extreme vitality.
Souma could already imagine Yamanaka Inoichi's shock—and delight—upon seeing it.
As for transportation—
Reverse summoning.
While the kikaichū worked, Souma had a clone send a Flying Thunder God message, coordinating with the Insect King to use reverse summoning later to bring everything back.
This trip had yielded massive gains.
It was time to return.
"Watch this place," he told Guren.
"Yes."
Souma then headed toward Jūgo's quarters.
The chakra signatures of Karin, Jūgo, and the kikaichū felt… strange.
When he arrived—
Karin immediately tried to stand, but Souma stopped her.
After hearing the situation, he understood.
The kikaichū had absorbed too much of Jūgo's chakra and reached an evolutionary threshold—but Jūgo's chakra was too violent, making them aggressive as well.
"Lord Yagyū Souma, what should we do?"
Karin asked, following beside him.
Jūgo looked anxious.
"Will they die?"
"This one won't."
Souma sensed their condition and pointed at one—the original insect.
"The others?"
"The remaining three are uncertain. This one's vitality is increasing—it has passed the most dangerous phase and is now stabilizing."
He paused, then continued.
"Kikaichū have extremely strong adaptability. Once it finishes evolving, you won't need to worry about it dying from absorbing your chakra."
"Really?"
Jūgo's face lit up.
He had grown accustomed to having kikaichū by his side.
They couldn't completely suppress his violent urges, but they helped him recover quickly afterward.
With them around, he felt… half normal.
"Yes. I told you I'd solve your problem."
"The insects only treat the symptoms. If you want to truly solve the berserk issue, you must try to control this power."
"Control it?"
Jūgo hesitated, then admitted honestly.
"I've tried. It's impossible."
"That's because you don't understand it."
Souma took out a notebook, opened it to the page on senjutsu chakra, and handed it to him.
Jūgo read carefully.
As he did, his expression cycled through confusion, realization, shock, and doubt—so dramatically that Karin was completely baffled.
What on earth was written there?
She was curious—but didn't dare peek. Instead, she quietly stepped outside to stand guard.
A few minutes later—
Jūgo scratched his head.
"So… my constitution is a kind of Sage Body?"
"You could say that," Souma replied.
"If you learn to control this power, it will become extremely strong—strong enough to protect the people you want to protect."
Jūgo thought for several seconds.
Then he said firmly,
"Lord Yagyū Souma, I'll do my best!"
This was the first time he addressed Souma with such respect.
"Also—Kimimaro isn't dead."
"His body…?"
"I'll try to save him."
"Thank you. Truly, thank you!"
Jūgo bowed deeply.
If possible—
He didn't want to see Kimimaro die.
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