Not far away, Kakashi paused mid-step.
He was meant to be covering Kazuki from the shadows.
When he saw Nara Kazuki summon a Shadow Clone and begin questioning locals all over the village, Kakashi immediately understood his strategy. A good plan in theory—but in his view, a bit reckless.
After all, it was as blatant as waving a flag that said: "A Leaf Shinobi is here."
But if Kazuki could eliminate all the targets in one stroke... then it wouldn't be recklessness. It'd be a feat.
Still, Kakashi hadn't expected Kazuki to bypass the other shinobi entirely—and go straight for the kid. That was disappointing. From his perspective, it looked like Kazuki had lost his mind. Going after a child like that? It risked violating shinobi regulations.
Then the fireball came.
A Great Fireball Technique so massive it blew apart the entire house.
All the cultists inside dropped like dead leaves in the wind. But the boy—Hidan—didn't die.
"...Just as I thought," Kazuki narrowed his eyes.
He'd been right. Hidan had already acquired his immortality, though the method remained a mystery.
Even before the flames fully dispersed, Hidan came bursting through them, eyes radiating both devotion and agony.
"So... true zealots resist Whispering effects better?" Kazuki frowned. He had no intention of engaging Hidan in close combat.
Hidan's abilities were bizarre—dangerous only if you didn't know what you were dealing with. His power to kill someone through a blood ritual, once he'd obtained a sample of their blood, was absurd.
It wasn't just Leaf; no shinobi from any Hidden Village had ever demonstrated such a technique. So unless you had prior intel on Hidan, fighting him was a fast track to disaster.
That's what killed Sarutobi Asuma. Lack of intel.
But Shikamaru, armed with information, had managed to trap and bury Hidan alive.
So in truth, Hidan's raw combat power wasn't impressive. He needed Kakuzu backing him up to hold his own in battle.
Kazuki stepped back. The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the ground. His own stretched unnaturally forward, then twisted and lashed outward.
Shadow Possession Jutsu.
In an instant, Hidan froze in place—completely immobilized.
He looked awful: skin charred black from the fire, like a slab of overbaked meat just off an industrial steamer.
"You... what did you do to me?" Hidan gasped.
Though he couldn't die, his combat experience was clearly lacking. He had no idea he'd just been caught in a Nara clan secret technique.
"Time's running out~" Kazuki said with a half-smile.
You claim to follow a wicked god?
Then surely, you're used to being seen by such a thing.
Kazuki began to dance.
A ritualistic, alien choreography. Hidan couldn't make sense of it. But thanks to the effects of the Shadow Possession Jutsu, his own body twisted to mimic it.
Chunks of his carbonized flesh began flaking off, curling away from bone.
"What the hell is this...?" Kakashi, watching from the rooftop, was baffled. "Why is he... making him dance during a fight?"
He shifted his gaze toward the far end of the village—where another battle had broken out. Even in broad daylight, the blazing light of a Great Fireball was clearly visible.
Kazuki's clone had been found. The enemy shinobi were engaging.
But before Kakashi could analyze further, a sudden chill pierced his spine.
Something had seen him.
The sensation was just like that time... during a past mission... fleeting and incomprehensible.
He turned his head sharply—then saw it.
Hidan's joints were all dislocated, bent in unnatural directions. He was screaming in pain, yet somehow kneeling in reverent prostration, worshipping something invisible.
Every joint twisted backwards. His neck had spun a full 180 degrees.
And yet—he was still alive.
"How the hell is this guy not dead?" Kakashi muttered, half-stunned, half-thrilled. "This has to be a massive secret."
If they could capture Hidan and bring him back, Kazuki's mission wouldn't just be complete—it would be a major breakthrough. Immortality was absurd in the shinobi world.
Resurrection? Practically unheard of.
But before Kakashi could approach, something happened.
His vision—went black.
Total darkness. Like a curtain had dropped over the world.
Confused, Kakashi's first instinct was to suspect a genjutsu. But he could still hear the sound of his own movements.
This wasn't illusion.
Something else... other.
And then the feeling came.
Time itself... paused.
When he came to, Kakashi saw Kazuki standing still in the clearing, lost in thought. In front of him, where Hidan had been kneeling moments earlier, there was nothing.
A few scattered black remnants remained. Charred, flaky—skin? Carbonized tissue?
"...It's done," Kazuki muttered, staring at the dark residue with a strange expression.
Kazuki had no idea what to make of it.
The moment he'd completed the Ritual Dance, something had seen him.
It had only glanced at him once—but that was enough. His skull had erupted with searing pain. A voice had murmured something incomprehensible into his mind.
Then, out of Kazuki's own shadow, something impossible had stretched forth—dragging Hidan into the dark.
All that was left... was this ash.
It wasn't until minutes later that Kazuki deciphered the meaning behind the words whispered into his skull.
But he could only understand one of them.
The rest... trying to comprehend them caused splitting migraines and phantasmic hallucinations.
"Huh. I guess... the sacrifice worked? But it doesn't seem like I got much out of it..." Kazuki scratched his head, puzzled.
[Your offering has earned the gaze of the Crawling Shadow.]
[It has granted you a reward.]
[You have gained 666 freely allocatable proficiency points.]