Hidan radiated killing intent, his eyes full of malicious glee. With a twisted grin, he snarled,
"You're a cheeky little brat, aren't you? Then let me show you what true despair and terror really feel like!"
Whoosh!
Kirito tightened his grip on his Zanpakutō and charged forward without hesitation, initiating a head-on clash.
"A katana? What is this, some decorative toy for noble lords to show off with?"
Hidan sneered as he saw the blade in Kirito's hand. With a swing of his foot, he kicked his massive triple-bladed scythe off the ground and charged to meet the blow.
Clang!
Crash!
Steel met steel in a violent clash.
Hidan's combat style was wild and unrestrained, his massive scythe swung with strange, unpredictable arcs, full offense and no defense. And that was no accident.
With a truly immortal body, Hidan had no need for defense. Even critical injuries meant nothing to him. His only goal in battle was one: draw blood.
That was all he needed to trigger his dark jutsu.
His weapon, the triple-bladed scythe, wasn't built for killing. It was designed to cause wounds, to maximize surface damage, not to deliver clean kills. As long as he could scrape or cut his opponent, even slightly, he could activate his curse ritual.
He had slain countless elite ninja with this reckless "kill three hundred, injure three thousand" method.
But Kirito was clearly not falling for it.
His eyes locked on Hidan's weapon, avoiding all contact. Even the slightest scratch was not allowed.
Each time Hidan left an opening, Kirito ignored the bait. He knew too well, if he even let that scythe graze him, it'd be over.
What a cunning, despicable opponent.
If he hadn't known Hidan's abilities in advance, he'd have likely already lost.
So… you want to use that giant scythe to draw my blood, huh?
Then I'll just seal away your damn weapon from the start.
Kirito twisted his blade, catching the scythe's edge in a tight lock.
Then, with a steady breath, a chilling frost surged from within his body.
"Sode no Shirayuki."
The Zanpakutō, pure white from hilt to tip, shimmered with cold light.
"Huh?!"
Hidan's hands went numb. A wave of biting cold shot through his scythe's handle and into his bones.
He shuddered involuntarily. Before his eyes, a thick layer of frost rapidly crept over his weapon. The razor edges of his scythe, entirely encased in ice.
"W-What?!"
His expression changed drastically.
His most reliable tool, now frozen solid. If he couldn't draw blood, his ritual jutsu was useless!
"As I suspected…"
Kakuzu's eyes narrowed as he stared hard at Kirito.
"This kid… he clearly knows Hidan's abilities. And this isn't ordinary ice, he deliberately formed it into smooth, rounded surfaces with no edges or points."
"No sharp area at all… he's eliminated even the chance of a glancing cut."
In ninja battles, intel was everything. Knowing your enemy's techniques often meant the difference between victory and death.
"You bastard!"
Hidan, now desperate, pulled a sharp steel spike from his sleeve and lunged for Kirito. He didn't aim for a fatal blow, he just needed any wound.
If he could land even a scratch, victory was his.
"Hmph."
But Kirito wasn't backing down.
Instead, he charged straight into it.
Steel glinted.
SLASH!
In one clean motion, Kirito severed Hidan's entire left arm at the shoulder, blood spraying like a fountain.
"GAAAAAH!!"
Hidan howled in pain.
But at the same time, his steel spike slid across Kirito's shoulder.
It didn't pierce flesh, but it scraped the skin.
And for Hidan, a scratch was all he needed.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Though wounded, Hidan reeled back laughing madly, face twisted in triumph.
"You're dead! You're so dead, you little bastard! You dare cut down a servant of Jashin-sama? I'll curse you to a death worse than hell!"
He ignored his fallen limb entirely. For him, a lost arm was just a broken part. Kakuzu's threads could stitch it back together later.
With his curse activated, Hidan's "immortal body" could endure anything. Even being torn limb from limb wouldn't kill him.
Kirito, however, didn't even flinch.
He calmly walked over to the severed arm.
Then, with a flick of his blade,
SHHHK, CRACK!
The severed arm instantly froze, then shattered into a cloud of red ice dust.
"YOU!!"
Hidan's grin collapsed.
He watched, stunned, as his severed arm disintegrated before his eyes. Not even Kakuzu's threads could piece together dust.
Fury boiling over, he clenched his teeth.
This little bastard… I'll make him beg for death.
But just then, Kakuzu suddenly shouted:
"IDIOT! Look more carefully!"
"Huh? What are you yapping about, Kakuzu? It's just a damn arm, I'll get another one later! First, let me-"
He licked the steel spike in preparation for the curse activation.
But stopped.
His tongue… tasted wrong.
There was no iron-rich tang of blood.
"…What?"
He looked down, confused.
There was no blood on the spike.
He turned toward Kirito's shoulder,
And saw it.
A shallow cut, yes, but the wound was completely sealed in frost, with red ice trapped beneath the surface.
The moment the cut formed, it had frozen shut.
No blood had escaped.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU F***ING PLAYED ME?!"
<><>---------------------------------------
45 Advanced Chapters on p(a)treon
p(a)treon.com/Aaltairr
200 P.S = 1 Extra Chapters