Hidan didn't tell anyone what he saw that night. He had half convinced himself it had all been a dream. In any case, he understood that sometimes you just couldn't save people. Atsumi often came home from the hospital crying because a patient had died. Maybe it was the fact that the girl had been so young that bothered Hidan. And the fact that he never saw any of the strangers who went up the tower come down again.

But Ryukmaru was a true friend, and the boys continued to practice their jutsu together. Hidan still liked to go to the Kuros' place, but he didn't spend the night often anymore for fear of seeing the same thing.

"Hey, Ryukmaru," he said one day. "You know those people your parents help?" Ryukmaru nodded slowly. "What if I helped too?"

Ryukmaru coughed on his pork bun. "No, you can't do that."

"Why not?" Hidan pressed. "I help my mom in the hospital all the time. I'm the best medical nin in the village. Why shouldn't I help?"

"Because you can't," said Ryukmaru. "It's not the kind of thing we do, alright?"

"What is it?" Hidan pressed. "Why can't you tell me? I told you everything about me. Why don't I get to know about you?"

"Because, it's not me. It's complicated," said Ryukmaru. "It's a clan secret. I can't tell you clan secrets."

Aka and Hayato-sensei had arrived to take them to the Hidden Leaf for the chunin exams, so Hidan dropped it, but his blood was boiling because he was pretty sure that something you couldn't tell your friend was something that wasn't good.


"HIRO!" Atsumi cried. "Hiro, come quick, oh god."

Hiro followed Atsumi's crying to Hidan's room. She was sitting on the ground among a pile of bloody sheets. "Good god!" Hiro exclaimed. "Atsumi, what happened?"

"I don't know!" she sobbed. "I was just changing Hidan's bedding, and I couldn't find any replacement sheets. They've just been disappearing, and then I saw a red cloth sticking out from under the bed, and I found all of this!"

"What...what are you saying?" Hiro asked. "Is that blood?"

"All of his sheets are bloody!" Atsumi exclaimed. "Hiro, do you know anything about this? Is this all his? Is he hurt?"

"Why, we just went to the hot springs yesterday. Boy looked perfectly healthy, not so much as a paper cut on him," said Hiro.

"Then whose blood is this?" asked Atsumi. "What is he hiding?"


"We've seen that rock before," said Hidan.

"Oh, shut up," said Aka. "Every damn rock looks the same."

"Not that one. It's half grey, half white. We've gone in a circle," said Hidan.

"Ryukmaru!" Aka exclaimed. "You're taking us in circles!"

Ryukmaru stopped and looked at the rock, then looked around at the trees and vines around them. "Fuck," he said.

"Damn!" Aka said. "I should be team leader! My clan knows how to navigate forests! All your clan knows is how to be weird as fuck! That's it, I'm taking over!" She stormed out ahead of Ryukmaru, but he held out his scythe to block her.

"Hold, Aka," said Ryukmaru. "We're in a genjutsu."

"A genjutsu? Well, that's just fantastic. Leave it to you to lead us into a fucking genjutsu!" Aka shrieked.

"Release," said Hidan. The scenery warped, though they were still in a forest. Shuriken rained down on them, and they scattered into the trees.

The team was from the Hidden Leaf, two boys and a girl. "Good job, Kurenai," said the lead boy.

Aka readied her dart gun. "I can knock them all out," she said.

A shuriken flew toward her, and Ryukmaru blocked it with his scythe. "We need to distract that one with the scar," said Ryukmaru. "He's trouble. Hidan, let's go."

They took off towards the boy who was flinging shuriken. Aka successfully paralyzed Kurenai, who fell out of the branch to the ground, but Aka missed the lead boy, who attacked her with chakra blades. Aka was not as skilled in close combat, but she drew her katana and brought the battle to the forest floor.

Ryukmaru was slashing at the shuriken boy, who kept retreating. The boy shouted, "Asuma! Protect Kurenai! Oh, shit!" Ryukmaru slashed his arm, and Hidan kicked him out of the tree.

"Raido!" Asuma cried, and when he turned around, Aka had taken to the trees.

"Damn it, Asuma, keep on that girl!" shouted Raido.

Ryukmaru and Hidan landed, and Ryukmaru made his hand sign. "For Jashin!" he declared, and Raido was trapped.

"Shiiiit," said Asuma. "What the hell kind of jutsu is this?"

"Don't surrender!" Raido declared. "Look for the girl!"

"Chakra Drain Jutsu!" Ryukmaru said.

Asuma looked at Raido, and Kurenai, and then at the trees. Hidan had his katana drawn.

"Asuma, the one with the cloak has the scroll!" Kurenai said hoarsely.

Asuma nodded. He sent chakra to his blades, and he rushed towards Ryukmaru.

"I've got him!" Aka shouted from the trees.

But Hidan didn't think twice. He ran between Asuma and Ryukmaru. The blade sliced him across his face and down through his chest.

"HIDAN!" Aka yelled, jumping out of her hiding. "I had him, fuck, what the hell!"

Blood splattered across Asuma's face. "DAMN!" Asuma cursed.

"Asuma!" Kurenai cried. "What did you do?!"

"I didn't mean to...shit...the kid just jumped in front of me," Asuma said trembling. Hidan had collapsed, blood still pouring out his body like a fountain.

Ryukmaru released his jutsu. "Oh, Jashin! Hidan, you fool!"

"I can do medical ninjutsu!" Kurenai hollered.

"Right," said Aka, finding the antidote to the paralysis serum.

"Oh god oh god oh god," said Asuma, turning green and vomiting. "I didn't mean to, I swear!"

"It's okay," said Ryukmaru, kneeling beside his friend. "Hidan, my friend. It's going to be okay."

"Damn," said Raido. "We're so sorry, guys."

Kurenai came out of her paralysis, but she hesitated when she saw all the blood. "I don't think...," she started.

"It's okay," said Ryukmaru. "If we can't save him...Hidan? Can you hear me?" Hidan started to laugh. The genin looked at each other in shock. "Hidan?" Ryukmaru repeated.

Hidan started to push himself off the ground. They turned their heads away, not having the stomach to see his mangled face and torso. Hidan tore off his ripped shirt and raised his katana to Asuma's throat.

"You'll have to do much more than that to hurt me," Hidan muttered. His face was covered in blood, but it didn't have a scratch on it. "So, are we going to do this all night, or are you going to surrender your scroll now?"


"That was too easy," said Aka.

"We still gotta keep our guard up," said Ryukmaru. "With both scrolls, we're a target for everyone now."

"Well, no more of those Hidden Leaf shits are gonna mess with us, I can tell you," said Aka. "We scared the piss out of them!"

"Hidan scared the piss out of me," said Ryukmaru. "I had no idea you could heal yourself that deep."

Hidan popped a food pill in his mouth. "I practice every night."

"So you slice yourself up every night? That's morbid," said Aka.

"It's kinda fun, though," said Hidan, "to cheat death."

"You can't cheat death," said Ryukmaru. "Death is the great equalizer. It'll come to everyone, even you, Hidan."

Hidan just shrugged.

"Ugh," said Aka. "Let's change the subject. How'd I get stuck on a team with you two? Hey, I hear a river. I could use a dip."

"Aka, this isn't a resort vacation, it's the fucking chunin exams," said Ryukmaru.

"I just want to put my feet in! You guys are such buzzkills!" Aka whined. "I'm going to the river. Follow me or don't." She rushed ahead.

"Damn it, woman," Ryukmaru cursed. "Come on, Hidan."

They followed Aka. When they came to the river, Aka was standing still and pale. On the short was a bloody corpse of a doe, and next to it, a bleating baby deer.

"Poor baby," Aka whispered.

"Looks like there was a battle here. That doe was collateral damage," said Ryukmaru. "And there are bound to be more battles along this river, since it's out in the open. We've gotta get out of here."

Hidan picked up a leafy stick and held it out to the baby. "Come on," he said. "Come on and eat."

"He's too young. He wants milk," said Ryukmaru. Ryukmaru raised his scythe and slashed the baby across the throat. With a soft cry, the baby fell. Aka shrieked.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!" Hidan shouted. "It was just a baby!"

"It was gonna starve, or get eaten by something else," said Ryukmaru. "Both bad ways to go. I did it a favor."

"HOW IS KILLING IT DOING IT A FAVOR?!"

"Damn it, Ryukmaru," Aka said. "Can you...for just once...can you not?"

Ryukmaru ignored Aka and said, "It was suffering. Your way would just prolong the inevitable and prolong its suffering. I ended its suffering. That's my way, the way of Jashin."

"The fuck does that mean?!" Hidan exclaimed.

"Don't get him started," said Aka. "I'm so over this already! Let's go to the tower." She left, and Ryukmaru followed.

"WAIT!" Hidan cried, chasing Ryukmaru. "What is that? What gives you the right to decide when to end a life? Only the Universe can decide that."

"The Universe is...," Ryukmaru started. "Look, Hidan, we can talk about this later, alright? We've gotta focus on this exam."

"Wait," said Hidan. "If I didn't heal myself back there, were you going to...?"

"Yes," said Ryukmaru, without skipping a beat.

"And that girl?"

"Huh? No, the girl was just paralyzed."

"No," said Hidan, "not the one from the Leaf. The one at your house that night. The one your dad brought home. She wasn't that much older than us. Did your dad...?"

"My Mom and Dad both," said Ryukmaru. "Any more questions?"

"No," said Hidan bitterly. "I understand very well now. Thank you."