Chapter 128: Zombie Team and the Eyes of Death (3)

"What a surprise. I didn't expect them to arrive so quickly. You have my compliments for being so efficient" Even with difficulty, Toru rectified his posture and looked at Shikamaru.

Somehow it was nostalgic to see him after three years. The same thing happened to him when he saw Asuma. However, Toru decided not to think about the past. Again that would be a waste of time, plus right now he is trapped by Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu [Jutsu: Shadow Possession]. So to keep thinking will end in something very tragic.

Still, it was a matter of time before Hidan and Kakuzu would get out of that place. He might as well use Senjutsu and break Shikamaru's jutsu, but he decided against it. It was boring that way, plus Toru had some respect for Shikamaru. So killing him just like that would ruin what little honor he had left.

"We are ninja of Konoha. Our orders are to capture or even kill the three Akatsuki members who entered the Fire Country." Asuma raised his guard wielding the dagger and looked at Toru. "We thought to attack them one at a time, but I see that your strength, as well as your identity, is still unknown to us. This was our mistake."

Toru nodded his head. He kept his usual expressionless face and sighed. "I see. That's an interesting tidbit of information. I'll write it down in my notebook of things I don't care about" Toru said making a hand gesture that resembled writing in a notebook.

Shikamaru clicked his tongue and clenched his hands to not let go of the Kagemane. He did not imagine that this person could easily resist his ninjutsu. So now everything became quite complicated. Plus the other two Akatsuki guys were nowhere to be seen.

"Your companions, where are they?" Asuma looked at Toru with sharp eyes. However, I only receive a slight sigh from that person.

Toru looked behind Asuma "They took too long."

"Did you!" sensing someone's murderous intentions, Asuma turned around and blocked the strike of a three-bladed scythe with his chakra dagger, then immediately jumped up and retreated together with his team. However, when he stood in front of Shikamaru, another person attacked with a power-filled kick, which hit Asuma in the stomach sending him into a tree.

"What impatient bastards can't they wait for Jashin-sama to judge them?" swinging the scythe, Hidan glared at Toru. "And you, asshole. How the fuck do you let yourself get caught by such a pathetic jutsu?"

"I didn't realize..." Toru certainly didn't expect that among the people who attacked him was Shikamaru, so he couldn't have predicted that he would use the Kagemane on him.

Toru's answer made Hidan smile in pleasure. He felt good to save Toru from this predicament. Though obviously Toru is still trapped in Shikamaru's jutsu, so he wasn't saved from anyone, but Hidan thought of it that way.

"Now you owe me one. You'll know the true power of Jashin-sama right now" Standing next to Kakuzu, Hidan smiled. "Hey, Kakuzu. I don't want you to intervene in this. I can kill all these bitches by myself. Same goes for you, asshole."

Being called that way, Toru sighed and nodded his head. "If you need help just ask and I'll come save you" He said looking at Hidan through his hat, who responded by chuckling.

"I'm never going to ask for your help. Not even if I'm really dying, not that I need it either" He looked at Toru and smiled arrogantly" But I'm immortal, so that's not going to happen."

Ignoring what Hidan said, Kakuzu walked a bit away until he reached Toru. He grabbed him by the scarf and tried to pull him, but he didn't move. He was still stuck to the ground because of Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu.

"I can move a little, but not free myself from this jutsu... Huh?" Toru and Kakuzu looked at Hidan, who took care of this by going after Shikamaru the moment he swung his three-bladed scythe.

Asuma appeared to defend him as did Izumo and Kotetsu, who swung weapons, but this only made Hidan laugh as he let himself get stabbed.

"That hurts, motherfuckers! But..." With a grin, he raised his scythe to deliver a blow, so Asuma and the other two shinobi had to back away.

This gave way to Hidan being able to attack Shikamaru, who had to dodge the scythe attack if he didn't want to die.

With that, Toru was freed. "Are you sure you don't want help?" Toru looked at Hidan, who was having fun while dodging the blows of the Konoha shinobi.

"Save your arrogance for later. I'm going to kill you all and you'll make a fine sacrifice for Jashin-sama."

Kakuzu sighed. "Don't damage the corpse of the guy with the fire scarf. He'll probably sell for 5 million more than that monk."

Hearing this, Asuma narrowed his eyes. They were now facing the three Akatsuki members. He didn't know what to do about it, as they were now almost on the same level.

On the other hand, Shikamaru had a strange feeling in his body. It was a shiver that ran through his whole body.

'He has the Konoha emblem crossed out on the red scarf badge...' That red scarf came to his memory, the scarf of that boy who betrayed his village and went with Orochimaru like a dog looking for his bone.

He wasn't sure, it was almost impossible. That couldn't be that boy. Still, why did he feel this sense of danger just by seeing him? That had an answer.

'He was able to move even while under my jutsu... he's not normal. He is extremely dangerous. I must think of something, I must do it for the sake of this team' The gears in Shikamaru's mind began to turn, thinking of the multiple possibilities and scenarios that would generate this fight.

Unless Kakuzu and Toru didn't jump in to help Hidan, they could find a way to kill him, or at least immobilize him while they took care of the rest.

But this was difficult, too difficult. His mind was blank, there was no idea coming, as there was still the odd worry about that Akatsuki member in the hat and scarf.

Besides, Kotetsu and Izumo stabbed Hidan in vital spots, but he didn't die. He also called himself "Immortal", so this just gets to a stranger and more troubling.

After that everyone backed off and Hidan painted a strange circle on the ground with his own blood.

'He's going to use that so fast?' Toru shook his head. 'Shikamaru's going to find you out real quick.'

From what Toru remembered of Shikamaru, this guy was an expert strategist on the level of an adult being a 12 year old, so underestimating him was stupid. Well, Toru couldn't blame Hidan either, he doesn't know anything about Shikamaru let alone Konoha in general.

"Don't trust or you're going to get killed" Kakuzu held up his briefcase with money and backed up to where Toru was, who at that moment sat up in the air as if something invisible was holding him.

Hidan felt offended at this clarification from Kakuzu. "Are you still with that shit? If someone could kill me, you know I'd run away, but no one can. Not even the bastard behind you could."

Hearing this and acting innocent, Toru, with an expressionless face under his hat looked at Kakuzu. "Am I a bastard, Kakuzu-san?"

At the same time, as these three started talking to each other as if nothing was going on, Asuma clenched his fists and, without taking his eyes off the enemy, said, "I'll go ahead. When the enemy is distracted, you immobilize him with the Kagenui, Shikamaru. In a few seconds I'll cut off his head and he'll stop messing around."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and looked at Asuma. "Are you sure about that? It's not like you to risk so much."

Slowly, Asuma looked at Shikamaru with a frown. "Don't you understand? We went all out from the start, but they're a hell of a lot stronger than me. And the most dangerous one is just sitting there, doing nothing..."

It was at this moment that Shikamaru understood everything. Asuma was nervous. This wasn't child's play, it never was. They are risking their lives right now. They must not get distracted, because if they do, it will all end in blood and death.

"Kotetsu, Izumo... protect Shikamaru."

"Understood" x2

Kotetsu sighed a little nervously. "We might as well retreat and strategize..." However, Izumo looked at him and tightened his grip on the hilt of the katana.

"I don't think they'll let us go anyway."

It was obvious. If they all run away with their tails between their legs, Hidan will follow them relentlessly, as he is not going to want to lose the sacrifices for his god. Besides, if the entire team flees, not only will they be in danger, but the entire village will be caught up in this.

So the most sensible thing to do is to find a way to kill them all without dying in the attempt.

"Well, well. Now..." Touching his wounds, Hidan swung the scythe and looked at Asuma. "God will punish those who do not understand the pain of others."

At this, Asuma braced himself. Now he is going to entrust his life to Shikamaru and Shikamaru will have to help him. Everything is at stake and Toru watches silently.

At first he thought that Asuma was going to die quickly, but that's not going to happen...

"Calm down, Shikamaru. With you protecting me, I won't have to sacrifice myself" He raised his guard.

Shikamaru concentrated and then....

Clang! Click!

Both metal weapons clashed and a rapid exchange of blows began.

One after another, sparks of clashing metal appeared.

Hidan was smiling excitedly while Asuma tried to remain calm, however...

"Shit!"

Hidan's scythe touched Asuma's cheek and a small drop of blood splattered.

Seeing this, Toru and Kakuzu looked at each other.

'Asuma... you're already dead...'

The moment the blood touched the scythe, Hidan stepped back while laughing. Asuma reacted instantly and used a fire jutsu to burn him to the bone.

The dust rose up, however....

"¡¿?!" Asuma's hand tightened and he felt a lot of pain, as if his own jutsu had burned him. He squinted his eyes to focus on Hidan, but he saw something he wasn't expecting....

...

Hidan looked up, they were now standing over the circle of blood.

"Now do you understand the pain of others?" The dust settled and everyone looked in confusion at Hidan, whose skin color had changed to a black color with white markings that resembled a skeleton.

Toru leaned back in his wind chair and took to watching this. "Today death makes its appearance" He could feel it, in the air, on the ground, in the blood pouring down Asuma's cheek. Death now wants to claim his prize.

The team of Konoha shinobi, quite confused, prepared to prepare another hasty plan, as everything went to shit, but they don't know it.

"You fell for my curse. The sacrifice will now begin" Combing his hair, Hidan looked at Asuma with a smile. "Haa! Together we will go through sublime suffering!"

Kakuzu nodded his head. "35 million more to the briefcase."

On the other hand, Toru tried to analyze everything that is about to happen. He still doesn't know much about Hidan's abilities, so watching this was going to be interesting.

"Hahaha! Everything is ready! Get ready because this is going to hurt like hell!"

With that completed, Hidan pulled out a large metal stake from his robe and Asuma ran in that direction while holding his combat knife.

However, at that moment, Hidan drove the stake into his leg and Asuma fell to the ground.

'Asuma is already dead, but I'd still like to see more. Hidan will probably try to play with Asuma a bit and then kill him, so this will take a while. Besides, it looks like Kakuzu-san is already a bit impatient' Leaving the wind chair, Toru moved a little closer to analyze better.

The battle after this went a bit fast, as Hidan spat some insults mocking Asuma, but it seemed that he decided to kill him right away, as he aimed himself with the spear in the direction of the heart ready to kill Asuma, but Shikamaru stopped him with the Kagenui.

'It's already started, uh... Hidan, you're in trouble' Toru saw Shikamaru adopt that position he uses when he thinks. That was the most obvious thing for him, Shikamaru right now is analyzing all the features of the scene to find out Hidan's trick.

And, as expected, he found out and made Hidan get out of the circle using the Kagenui to control him. This made Hidan angry and started to insult everyone, but Asuma rushed in and cut off his head.

"At last... one down..." Asuma sighed in relief. Now that they had killed one of the three, there were only two left, the ones that seemed to be stronger though.

...

Seeing Hidan's head on the ground, Toru walked over and crouched down. He took a kunai and stung his face.

"Ouch! What are you doing, you idiot?!"

"I think Kakuzu-san warned you earlier, didn't he?"

"Fuck you! This happened because you let it happen!"

"But you told me that you didn't need my help and that you were never going to ask me for help, even if you were really dying. Your comment lacks logic, isn't it, Kakuzu-san?"

Kakuzu nodded his head. Hidan was an idiot not to ask for help and now he was headless again. His body had stopped moving and was now lying on the ground separated from his head. This was obviously a signal for Toru and Kakuzu to intervene in this fight and end it all once and for all.

So, after stinging Hidan's face with a kunai, Toru grabbed him by the hair and approached the decapitated body.

"Ow! That hurts, you bastard. Ahhh! You're going to tear my hair out!"

"Don't complain. I'm going to glue your head to your body again."

Approaching the body, Toru placed Hidan's head near the body's neck and used medical ninjutsu to speed up the regeneration. In a single second, Hidan's body returned to normal almost completely.

The medical ninjutsu used by Toru is that of a beginner, quite mediocre, but Hidan's regeneration was accelerated by using any kind of healing ninjutsu, so that is why he could heal so fast.

At the same time, Shikamaru and Asuma clenched their fists tightly and watched Hidan get up from the ground again.

'Monsters...' They thought at the same time.

'Akatsuki is full of what could be considered a bunch of monsters with different personalities. They are all shinobi with great power, so it's normal that from a 'normal' shinobi's point of view someone like Hidan or Kakuzu would be monsters.

However, Asuma hit the ground hard and looked at Shikamaru as if he was telling him "The time has come."

Then, at that moment, Izumo and Kotetsu summoned strange monstrous-looking organic swords. Asuma got up and lunged at Toru, who kicked Hidan, sending him flying at Izumo and Kotetsu.

Kakuzu took it upon himself to go with Hidan, while Toru fights Asuma.

Asuma tried to go all out despite his injured leg. He moved pretty fast, but it wasn't enough. Toru dodged it quite well and very easily.

In a single second, Izumo and Kotetsu were pinned down by Kakuzu's threaded arms, Toru had Asuma trying to hit him, and Shikamaru had Hidan under the Kagenui.

'Damn, my chakra is running out, I can't take it anymore!"

Shikamaru dropped his hands and Hidan grinned madly. He spun to where Toru was and threw the scythe at him to cut him down.

Toru knew what was happening instantly, so he moved and the scythe passed by him. This gave Hidan the opportunity to return to the circle, so he drew the scythe to cut Asuma's head off, but Asuma dodged it, however....

"Ugh..."

Kneeling on the ground, Asuma saw Hidan, who was standing on the circle, while having the scythe buried in his stomach.

Seeing this, Toru only sighed and shook his head. 'It's over'

"Stop!

"Assuma!" Shikamaru ran as fast as he could to where his master was, but he fell down due to how weak he was and then....

Asuma fell to the ground...