"G-go… go…"
After forcing out those broken words, Asuma finally ran out of strength and collapsed to the ground.
"Asuma…"
Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji's hoarse, heart-rending screams were drowned together with Hidan's manic laughter.
"Ahahahaha… for Jashin-sama…"
"What a wonderful feeling. It hurts, it hurts. Ah…"
After savoring the pain for a brief moment, Hidan yanked the long spike out of his own heart and slowly turned his gaze to the three in front of him.
"Hey. You wanna join Jashinism?"
"Damn it!" Shikamaru scrambled up and shouted at his teammates, "Run, now!!!"
But Ino had already been scared out of her mind by Asuma's defeat.
She dropped hard onto the ground and just sat there, frozen.
And Hidan's target was Ino.
The whistle of his scythe was right there, at point-blank range.
In Ino's pupils, there was only that approaching arc of blood-red blade light, closing in fast.
I can't dodge.
The thought washed through her like ice water.
Her legs felt nailed to the ground.
She couldn't move. She couldn't move at all.
Asuma's falling body replayed again and again in her head.
The blood, the screams, that lunatic's wild laughter…
"Ino!"
Shikamaru's roar kept coming from farther away, threaded with fear and despair.
Choji was charging toward her with everything he had.
But he was too slow.
Too slow.
He wouldn't make it.
No one would.
I'm going to die.
Ino shut her eyes.
Then…
Clang!
A deafening crash of metal on metal rattled her eardrums.
Ino froze.
She snapped her eyes open.
A tall figure stood in front of her.
A dark-gold robe snapped violently in the wind.
A long, lean arm was braced across the front.
Five fingers spread, steady and sure, and with bare hands…
He caught that blood-red scythe that could tear through steel.
The blade edge was only a hair's breadth from his palm.
But it could not advance even an inch.
"What?"
The grin on Hidan's face locked up.
He stared, eyes wide, at the person in front of him.
At the hand that had caught his full-power strike.
How was that possible?
"You…"
Shikamaru's shout cut off mid-syllable.
He stood there with his mouth open, staring at the figure that had appeared out of nowhere, mind blank.
That was…
The Kazekage?
"It's you…"
Ino murmured, her pupils slowly focusing.
That handsome profile. That straight, unyielding back. That suffocating pressure that made it hard to breathe…
It was the man in the office who had made her heart skip a beat.
"Get back!"
Shikamaru finally snapped out of it and yelled until his throat tore.
"This guy can't be killed! Asuma-sensei went down because…"
He did not finish, but the meaning was clear enough.
He can't be killed.
If he gets close, you die.
Teizawa didn't turn around.
He only tilted his head slightly, giving Shikamaru a sideways glance.
There was no panic in that look.
Only a calm that said, plainly:
I know.
Shikamaru froze.
"For Jashin-sama!"
Hidan's crazed roar smashed into the silence.
That lunatic yanked his scythe back, spun his body, and chopped at Teizawa again!
A blood-red arc tore through the air, heavy with death.
Teizawa still didn't dodge.
He raised a hand.
Clang!
Bare-handed again.
This time, he pinched the scythe's blade between two fingers, and it didn't move at all.
Hidan's face twisted into something monstrous.
He tried to wrench the weapon free. It wouldn't budge.
He pulled harder. Still nothing.
Those two fingers were like iron.
They clamped down on his weapon so tightly that he could neither advance nor retreat.
"You… what kind of monster are you?!"
Hidan screamed.
"Monster?"
Teizawa spoke softly, voice not loud, yet it carried into every ear.
"You want to talk to me about monsters?"
His fingers tightened slightly.
Crack!
The scythe blade snapped clean off.
Hidan's eyes bulged as he stared at the half-weapon left in his hand.
He stood there like he'd been struck by lightning, frozen in place.
His scythe…
Got crushed off by bare hands?!
"At this distance…"
Teizawa released his grip and let the broken half of the blade fall, clinking sharply on the ground.
If you looked closely, you would see Teizawa's hands were already wrapped in layer after layer of satetsu (iron sand).
It was basically a suit of satetsu (iron sand) armor over his hands.
That was why Hidan's scythe had failed.
Teizawa looked at Hidan, his gaze as flat as if he were watching a clown perform.
"You took Asuma's blood, right?"
Hidan's pupils shrank.
"Next, you'll use that blood to draw your circle, then stand inside it, hurt yourself, and sync the damage to your target…"
Teizawa recited it word for word, like he was reading from a textbook.
"Right?"
All the color drained from Hidan's face.
"Y-you… how do you know?!"
For the first time, his voice shook.
That was his secret. His strongest core.
The foundation of everything he was.
How could this man know?
Teizawa didn't answer.
He simply lifted his hand slightly.
Pitch-black satetsu (iron sand) poured out from his sleeve, writhing through the air like a living thing.
It slowly condensed into countless tiny spikes.
They hovered around Hidan.
"An unkillable body?"
Teizawa repeated the phrase quietly, the smile at his mouth deepening.
"Then I'll make you…"
He paused, and his eyes went cold.
"Unable to move. Forever."
Hidan's heart clenched.
The next second…
Countless satetsu (iron sand) spikes shot down like a storm!
"Ahhh!"
A shriek tore through the ruins.
Shikamaru stood there with his mouth open, staring blankly at the scene.
The unkillable monster who had crushed Asuma-sensei…
Was now pinned to the ground, his limbs pierced through by countless black spikes, unable to move.
He thrashed, he howled, he cursed…
But the satetsu (iron sand) didn't budge.
Like the strongest cage in the world, it locked him down completely.
"Th-this…"
Choji murmured, eyes going wide despite himself.
Ino stood behind Teizawa.
Staring at that back, tears slid down her face before she even realized it.
Not from fear.
From…
Relief.
She'd been saved.
Teizawa turned to look at her.
On that handsome face, there was no emotion at all.
Only a calm that made people feel safe.
"It's fine now," he said.
Ino stared at him, lips trembling.
She couldn't get a single word out.
Farther off, Shikamaru finally came back to himself.
He looked at that back, at the S-rank missing-nin nailed to the ground, at all of it…
And there was only one thought in his head.
This man…
How strong is he, really?
An S-rank missing-nin who could beat Asuma-sensei…
Had been dealt with by him in the span of a heartbeat.
Teizawa didn't react to Shikamaru's stare.
There were still three battles waiting for him to collect.
But for now…
He glanced down at Hidan, who was still struggling and screaming, his voice already hoarse.
He would finish cleaning up this one first.
(End of Chapter)
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