A little earlier in time.
Just before Shinji encountered the fake Hidan, Hidan and Tobi had already experienced similar situations separately.
Tobi is naturally suspicious and finds it hard to trust anyone.
So, after Shinji and Hidan appeared, he immediately activated the sensing ability of his mark.
However, unfortunately, the fake Hidan doesn't have this function.
So Tobi didn't bother to speak and simply blew both of them away.
Hidan's experience was quite rough, mainly because he's not very clever.
He didn't even realize that the mark had sensing abilities at first, being played around by the fake Shinji.
It was only after a final blow pierced his heart that he finally reacted.
And then he successfully turned the tables and killed the fake Shinji.
It should have ended there.
But under the deliberate guidance of the opponent, Hidan then started rambling about nonsense, exposing his own invincibility.
Of course, he's really just an idiot — he never remembered anything about the mark, so he didn't accidentally reveal this crucial information.
This also successfully confused the enemy, leading Shinji to be fooled by him.
...
"Shinji, I finally found you, that's great."
"Yeah, that's great."
Shinji immediately swung his blade and cut 'Tobi' in half.
"Stop! Are you real or fake? When was the first time we met?"
"April 1st, April Fools' Day."
With a vertical slash of his great sword, he split 'Hidan' into two.
"Hidan is in danger, hurry and follow me!"
"Got it!"
Shinji directly grabbed 'Tobi's' head and pressed it to the ground, crushing it.
Thus, he kept walking and killing along the way. Shinji couldn't even count how many 'Hidan's' and 'Tobi's' he had taken down.
Clearly, this method was no longer effective after the first time.
But surprisingly, the other's stubbornness was beyond expectations.
After walking dozens more steps, a 'Tobi' approached him from the front.
Shinji moved his wrist, then continued forward with killing intent, ready to chop off the opponent's head at any moment.
Getting closer—very close!
In the blink of an eye, their distance was less than a meter, and Shinji's great sword seemed to lift slightly.
But at this moment, both of them stopped.
"Senior Shinji?"
"It's me."
Just this simple exchange, almost like a childish game.
But both of them believed what the other said and confirmed each other's identities.
Shinji slung his great sword back onto his shoulder, and Tobi seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, starting to chatter nonstop.
"Great, I finally found you, Senior Shinji."
"It's really scary here. If it weren't for you and Senior Hidan, I would definitely have died here."
"Senior Shinji..."
In this ghostly place, hearing Tobi's chatter again surprisingly didn't irritate Shinji—in fact, it felt quite familiar.
The enemy hiding on the mountaintop, inside the shell, was about to explode with rage after 'seeing' this!
"Why? Why is this happening?!"
"What's the fatal flaw of my [Gray Mist Clown]? It's been so long, I can now perfectly imitate it, so why am I still being seen through at a glance?"
"Why don't they suspect each other, kill each other?!"
"On what basis do these damn humans confirm each other's identities? If I can find that out, they're dead for sure. But what exactly is it, what is it?"
After a burst of helpless fury, the mountaintop returned to calm again.
He decided not to obsess over the two who had already successfully merged, and instead focused on the 'easy-to-deceive' Hidan and that terrifying woman.
"I can still do this, hahaha."
...
"Die! Die! Die! Die!"
"Everyone, die for me!"
If Shinji and Tobi relied on the marks to distinguish real from fake, then the Hidan who forgot about that was simply reckless, rushing forward blindly.
Hidan's thinking was very simple: no matter who or what he encountered, he'd just keep killing.
Anyway, those he could easily cut down definitely weren't the real Shinji or Tobi.
His idea was quite unique, yet also very logical.
This was exactly Hidan's way of thinking.
So, after the fake Shinji and Tobi appeared, he would often rush over and kill them before they could even say a complete sentence.
The enemy on the mountaintop originally planned to have Hidan kill the other two.
But once he realized they had a way to confirm each other's identities, he knew that plan wouldn't work, so he gave up.
But even in this impulsive mode, Hidan could still make use of it once in a while.
Another figure emerged from the fog. Without hesitation, Hidan swung his bloody sickle and attacked.
However, this time he didn't get a good deal — not only did his attack miss, but he was also swept away by a stream of water.
"Huh?"
The person also frowned slightly, noticing something was wrong.
"Bastard, you think changing into a woman will be useful? Die for me!"
Hidan charged again with murderous intent.
Mei Terumī, about to speak, was cut off by the bloody sickle that struck her head, and her face turned cold. She swung her water whip fiercely, engaging Hidan in battle.
At this moment, Hidan was at his lowest IQ, completely ignoring who the opponent was, growing more and more excited as he fought, his smile turning more twisted.
Mei Terumī, from the moment she entered until now, had been holding back a lot of anger, with nowhere to vent.
Now, someone had just bumped into her, giving her no chance to speak, so she simply stopped explaining.
The water whip tightly entangled the opponent's weapon, pulling it aside, while her other hand quickly formed a seal.
"Suiton: Water Prison Technique!"
A highly water-rich water ball shot straight at Hidan's face.
As for the size—about the size of a normal meteorite.
Boom!
Hidan's vision went black, as if he had been hit hard, flying backward, dropping his weapon in the process.
Landing on the ground, the water ball quickly expanded outward, destroying countless trees.
When Hidan staggered up again, Mei Terumī's second jutsu was also ready.
"Suiton: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
Using the remaining water from before, a huge water dragon instantly formed and charged forward fiercely.
Boom!
Hidan shook his head, still not steady, and just as he looked up, he saw a gigantic dragon head appear in front of him.
"Whoa!"
He widened his eyes, was struck again, and his body made a cracking sound as bones seemed to break.
"Phew..."
At this moment, Mei Terumī let out a breath, as if she had finally vented some of her fury.
Then she remembered that the big slicked-back hair guy was probably Akabane's group.
"Forget it, who cares? Anyway, he started it."
Although she said this, Mei Terumī still prepared to go check if the other was dead. If not, she'd give another shot!
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