Everything turned into streaks of light, pulling downward at a dizzying speed.
Ren Uchiha could only watch as Mangetsu landed a perfect combo, leaving him with zero room to counter. Just as Shennong had said—once your intel is compromised, you become a fish on the chopping block.
Ren had planned to use his Sharingan to steal the Thunder Swords and summon Kirin for a mutual-death strike. The plan was beautiful. The execution? Not so much. He had underestimated Mangetsu's fundamentals. When the Mist Prodigy stopped relying on stealth and focused on direct combat, he became a berserker. Between the relentless Hōzuki Style twin-sword slashes and the occasional liquefied fist popping out of nowhere to slap him, Ren was utterly overwhelmed.
I miscalculated, Ren thought. As Mangetsu drove the Samehada into his abdomen, Ren coughed up a spray of blood. He was hurled downward as the ten-meter water monster slammed its massive fists after him.
BOOM!
But there was no crushing impact. Instead of being turned into a meat pie, Ren felt himself pass through a swamp-like layer of mud before falling into a vertical tunnel coated in lava-hot solution. Looking up, he saw Mei Terumī through the hole, weaving a Snake seal.
She actually gave him a playful wink.
Mei slammed her palms down. Earth Style: Mud River! The earth surged, sealing the hole and disguising the pit as if it were just a crater from Mangetsu's punch. The light vanished. Ren was swallowed by the dark.
Inside the Underground Cavern...
Blood pools stretched as far as the eye could see, and a forest of skeletons lined the hollow wind tunnels. Torches illuminated a horrific sight: hundreds, maybe thousands of crosses stood over the blood pools. On each one was a figure tortured beyond recognition. It looked like a medieval graveyard, or perhaps a massive facility for drying beef jerky—except the meat was human.
SPLASH!
Ren fell through the ceiling and plummeted into a pool of blood. He floated to the surface, spitting out red liquid. The Samehada strike had drained every drop of his chakra. His forbidden regeneration had closed his stomach wound in mid-air, but the impact of the fall had shattered his ribs.
"This is not the time for self-admiration," a resentful voice called out from above him. "But boss... could you stop feeling your abs for a second and save me?"
Ren froze. He looked up to see Hidan nailed to a cross, his face covered in the "tomato sauce" Ren had splashed during his landing. Hidan was tied up like a sacrificial pig, looking less like a holy son and more like a slab of drying pork belly.
"Fancy meeting you here," Ren muttered.
"Yeah, real fancy," Hidan groaned. "I jumped off a cliff, closed my eyes, and woke up here. It's been half a day, and there's nothing but people screaming. It's creeping me out!"
Ren rolled his eyes. This kid literally fell into the boss room and skipped all the mini-bosses. Talk about being a "Chosen One." Ren used his broken sword to cut Hidan's ropes. The blade, having parried the Thunder Swords dozens of times, finally snapped in half.
"Boss, the nails too. Pull 'em out," Hidan begged.
Ren looked at the only exit, guarded by dozens of Jashin elite. "Hidan, there's only one way out. You have five minutes to learn how to walk on water and trees, climb that hole, and then dig through six to ten meters of solid earth with your bare hands."
Hidan stared at him, dumbfounded. "I'm Hidan, not Superman! Did you even have a rescue plan?!"
Ren turned away, looking like a serious official. "Kid, I barely survived getting here. I didn't have time for a plan. Use your imagination."
While Hidan was distracted by the hole in the ceiling, Ren moved. He shoved the broken sword hilt into Hidan's mouth and yanked a nail out of his palm.
"MMMMGGHHH!!" Hidan's eyes nearly popped out. Before he could scream, Ren grabbed the second nail.
Suddenly, a massive, powerful hand clamped onto Ren's wrist from behind.
"Stop," an indifferent voice commanded.
Ren didn't even look back. He spat the sword hilt out and stabbed backward. But the attacker deflected the blow with ease. "Is this your way of saying hello?"
Ren tried a backflip kick, reaching for his ninja tools, but his body seized in pain. The stranger caught his leg and slammed him into the blood pool. "Falling from that height without chakra protection and then trying to fight... I don't know if you're arrogant or just stupid."
Ren coughed up more blood as he finally saw his captor. The man was nearly two meters tall, wearing the hooded black robes of a Jashin priest. He looked like a mountain of muscle. He dragged Ren to a nearby cross and...
CLANG! CLANG!
Two iron nails were driven through Ren's palms, shattering the bone and pinning him to the wood. The Bishop tied him up with a butcher's knot, looking at his masterpiece with a terrifying, ecstatic grin.
"I'll accept your greeting," the Bishop whispered, his eyes gleaming with madness. "Since the stage is set, witness it with me—the ultimate ritual of Jashin's descent!"
"The Bleeding of a Deity!"