Chapter 168: Curiosity Toward a "God"
"Is this really the time to be asking that?"
Mizuki didn't even bother answering Hidan's question. Trying to reason with someone like him was like playing music to a cow. The best way to deal with Hidan was to dismember him completely and leave no chance of trouble.
Clashing with both Hidan and Kakuzu wasn't a reckless act—it was a calculated choice based on the battlefield's conditions—but the sheer pressure it brought was inevitable. Death Controlling Possessed Blood, that freakish technique… if you didn't know about it, fine. But if you did know, facing Hidan became utterly nightmarish. Winning against him meant one thing: you had to not get hit at all.
And avoiding even a single scratch against an S-rank rogue ninja like Hidan? Nearly impossible. Even Mizuki, who had more than one life-saving trump card up his sleeve, knew full well that not getting injured was a tall order. Only a handful of people could pull that off against a top-tier ninja's trump card.
"You're underestimating me, aren't you?" Hidan barked, furious at being constantly targeted. "Don't think you can bully me just because you're strong…"
"Bully you? Compared to your gloomy partner, you're definitely the easier one to deal with." For a shinobi, information was life—and for someone like Hidan, whose entire strength lay in a mysterious ritual technique, once his secret was exposed, it was only a matter of time before someone figured out how to neutralize him.
"Oh yeah?" Hidan laughed angrily, swinging his blood-drenched triple-bladed scythe. "Don't think killing that puppet bastard Sasori means you'll get me too! I'll make you witness Lord Jashin's wrath!"
"Jashin, huh? I am quite curious…" Mizuki muttered with genuine interest. Anything in the shinobi world that claimed divine power, or had 'god' in its name, was something Mizuki paid close attention to.
"But," Mizuki continued calmly, "my curiosity probably isn't what you're hoping for. I'd rather go and meet this so-called god myself—to see just how divine he really is."
"You heretical bastard!" Hidan shrieked, incensed, pointing his scythe at Mizuki. "You'll never make it to the Pure Land after death!"
"The Pure Land? That's rich coming from a cultist like you," Mizuki scoffed. Without pausing his offense, he summoned another giant hand of natural energy and sent it stretching toward Hidan.
"But you're not wrong. Someone like me might never see the Pure Land after death… not that it's any of your concern."
He spoke the words with a strange trace of sorrow—but not regret. Mizuki had made his choice long ago: to live fully in this life, no matter the cost after death. In a world where even death offered no peace, the only thing worth clinging to was a life lived without regrets.
Hidan panted as he narrowly dodged another strike from Mizuki's energy hand. "I have no idea what you're babbling about… but it sure doesn't sound like you're some righteous hero."
"A hero?" Mizuki laughed coldly. "I don't need some freak like you—who barely qualifies as human—judging what I am."
The continued pursuit with the energy hand was starting to wear Mizuki out. Recklessly channeling natural energy like this wasn't sustainable. Each usage drained his chakra significantly, but more than that, the mental fatigue was taking its toll.
Sure, close-quarters combat might use up less chakra, but Mizuki's only real advantages were brute strength and decent reflexes. Trying to overpower an S-rank rogue like Hidan with pure taijutsu? He'd rather leave that to Might Guy with Eight Gates. One mistake, one slash from that cursed scythe, and it would be all over. After taking out Sasori, Mizuki wasn't keen on getting dragged into another battle to the death. He didn't have the stamina for that.
As the fight dragged on into a stalemate, Mizuki had to admit he'd miscalculated. Using the Tailed Beast's aggression to distract his enemies had worked, sure—but in all this chaos, the advantage in numbers meant nothing. The battlefield was too fractured. A drawn-out fight only benefited Hidan and Kakuzu.
Hidan's immortality meant he could strike at anyone, anytime, with a killing blow. It put Mizuki's side under immense pressure. And Kakuzu—while he still hadn't released those strange elemental heart-beasts of his—was a tough opponent all the same. Mizuki didn't know why Kakuzu hadn't used them yet. If he did, their side might no longer be outnumbered… but it would also expose his own weakness. Mizuki guessed that someone like Kakuzu, who had lived for so long, was simply being cautious.
"This can't go on. I have to drive them off soon. Shukaku is still out there… and he'll need to be handled eventually."
As Mizuki brooded over his next move, Kakuzu—another "immortal monster"—charged again. Just as Mizuki was hammering Hidan like a fly, the two enemies flanked him once more.
Seeing Kakuzu's heavy punch coming, Mizuki dared not underestimate it. Though he scoffed at rumors that it was on par with Tsunade's legendary strength, he had to admit: Kakuzu's strikes did pack a punch. Not quite as strong as Tsunade's—or even Mizuki's own—but nothing to take lightly.
At the same time, Hidan seized the opportunity. He hurled his scythe, guiding it with the retractable wire attached to its hilt, controlling its direction with sharp twists and flicks.
Faced with this two-pronged assault, Mizuki didn't dare let his guard down. He raised his chakra shield to block Hidan's spinning scythe, then pulled back his fist, preparing to slug it out with Kakuzu head-on.
But at the last second, Kakuzu's arm detached—his dark tendrils of Earth Grudge Fear writhed to life. The disembodied arm snaked around Mizuki's guard and slammed into his chest.
"Ugh!" Mizuki grunted as the blow sent him flying several meters.
"Damn… forgot about that move. This guy's a real expert with those tentacle tricks…"
Though the blow wasn't too severe, Mizuki flipped up quickly, retreating a few steps as he dodged Kakuzu's follow-up and sidestepped another scythe throw from Hidan.
The encounter made one thing painfully clear: fighting enemies of this level really was best done with overwhelming numbers and group tactics. Single combat? Two-on-one? That was best left to people like Jiraiya. Mizuki knew he still had a long way to go.
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