Warning: As you've probably noticed in manga chapter 325, Hidan swears a lot. As a result, this chapter contains more bad language than the previous ones.
Chapter 5: True Believer
Hidan shifted the weight of his scythe on his back and sighed tiredly. He was still an hour or two away from his destination, and carrying his weapon was beginning to strain his shoulders. He had been thrilled to receive it—it marked him, after all, as a full member of the Jashin sect—but right now all he could think about was how much he'd like to set it down and rest for a while.
At sixteen, Hidan had finished his study at the temple at a younger age than anyone else, or so his teacher had told him. He had presented Hidan with the scythe and with a pendant that bore the Jashin symbol, performed the ritual that would imbue them with power, and sent Hidan on his way. The greatest gift a graduate of the temple received, however, was neither the weapon nor the symbolic pendant. It was something that human beings had sought after for millennia—the promise of eternal life.
To Hidan, the enormity of this gift hadn't really hit home yet. He was only sixteen, after all, and at that age, death was such a distant prospect that it hardly seemed worth thinking about. To be honest, he hadn't really paid attention to all the stuff his teacher said about immortality. He'd smiled and nodded, but was more interested in his rapidly growing combat strength. The ability to inflict one's own wounds on an enemy simply by tasting his blood, the immunity to pain, the fluid motions of the scythe on its rope—those were the results of his training that Hidan truly valued.
Why the hell does the sect's chosen weapon have to be so damn heavy? Seriously, they could have picked, like, a kunai. But nooooooooo, I had to join the sect that makes its members carry around a huge-ass scythe.
Hidan was jolted out of his mental complaining by the sensation of several nearby chakra signatures. Four shinobi, about ANBU level. They were arranged in a semicircle, and were apparently trying to surround him. Heh, it looks like I at least get to have a good fight. I hope they're skilled enough to be worthy of the ceremony. He noted that the shinobi had succeeded in surrounding him, and guessed that one of them would soon reveal himself. As it turned out, his guess was right.
A short, stocky, red-haired man stepped out of the trees on Hidan's right. His ANBU mask, which was shaped like a fox, bore the symbol of the Hidden Rain—Hidan's home village.
Hidan greeted the man with his usual tact and charm. "Who are you, and why the fuck are you bothering me?"
The fox ANBU removed his short sword from its sheath on his back. "I am a hunter-nin from the Hidden Rain. Matsushita Hidan, you are a missing-nin and a criminal. Two years ago, you killed your teammates and sensei and fled the Hidden Village of Rain. I do not intend to let that crime go unpunished."
"I don't care what you intend to do. I'm tired, so I'm not in a really good mood right now. Get your fat ass out of my way before I kill you."
The fox ANBU crouched in a fighting stance and raised his sword. "Kill me? On the contrary, you're the one who's going to die." At that moment, three blurs emerged from the trees and launched themselves at Hidan. Oh, please. Like I couldn't see that coming. Hidan grasped the handle of his scythe and swung it around in a wide arc, forcing the three other ANBU to jump back in order to avoid being cut in half. One, a female, wore a hawk mask. The other two, both male, wore the masks of a bear and a wolf, respectively. All three had their swords out. The woman in the hawk mask formed a flurry of seals and declared, "Jungle's Grip Technique!" Vines flew out of the woods behind Hidan, trying to bind his limbs in place. Hidan leapt into the air and executed a backflip, swinging his scythe as he did so. The weapon's three blades sliced through the vines with ease. As he fell back towards the ground, Hidan formed a few seals of his own. When he landed, he pressed one palm against the ground. "Gaping Mouth of the Underworld Technique!" Beneath the hawk ANBU's feet, the ground softened, becoming liquid. The woman struggled to free herself, and Hidan detected the flare of chakra as she opened the first of the eight gates. Still, the quicksand he had created relentlessly sucked her down.
"Arimoto-san!" The bear ANBU cried out in alarm, and both he and the wolf ANBU rushed towards their comrade. "Like I'd let you do that," Hidan scoffed, and ran through another set of seals. "You bastards really have no talent at all. You should just die. Levitation Technique!" Suddenly, in the area around the two oncoming ANBU, gravity ceased to exist. The two men floated up into the air, tumbling helplessly. They flailed their arms and legs, but without anything to brace against, they couldn't even orient themselves in an upright position. Watching them spin slowly, Hidan laughed. Glancing to his left, he saw that the quicksand had covered the top of the hawk ANBU's head, so he released the jutsu and turned his attention back to the bear and wolf ANBU. With a bored expression on his face, he swung his scythe through the air, cleanly slicing both men apart. Turning to face the fox ANBU, Hidan said, "Well, you're the only one left. I certainly hope you have more skill than those three dumbasses. They weren't even good enough to be made part of my ritual. This is just a fucking waste of my time."
A wave of killing intent washed over Hidan as the fox ANBU gripped his sword more tightly. "They were good people. I will avenge their deaths." He swung his sword at Hidan, who parried with his scythe. And then, suddenly, he was gone.
Hidan turned just in time to parry another thrust from the fox ANBU's sword. Then the man was gone again, and Hidan didn't find him in time to avoid a roundhouse kick to the head. Pain flared through his skull, awakening the bloodlust that had made him a perfect devotee of Jashin. Sonofabitch! How is he moving so fast?
His confusion must have been evident on his face, because the fox ANBU said, "I have an advanced bloodline that allows me to move ten times faster than an ordinary human. You can't keep up with me."
Hidan glared. "We'll see about that." For the next few minutes, the two men went back and forth with a lightning-fast flurry of blows. Hidan only barely managed to parry or dodge the fox ANBU's attacks, and with each strike he could feel the weight of his scythe slowing him down a little more. Finally, he felt an arm wrap around him from behind, and the cold steel of the ANBU's sword pressed against his throat.
"This," whispered the ANBU in a tone of quiet rage, "is what happens when you abandon your village and kill the ninja of the Hidden Rain." Then he pulled the blade of his sword down across Hidan's throat.
Hidan dropped to his knees, and the fox ANBU strode away across the clearing. But something was odd. Hidan's throat hurt, but it was a dull ache, not the sharp, overwhelming pain he would have expected. Even more importantly, he didn't feel like he was dying. His vision wasn't wavering, his life wasn't flashing before his eyes, his limbs weren't going numb. There wasn't even all that much blood. Hidan raised a hand to his throat—and felt the flesh knitting itself back together under his fingers. His teacher's words about eternal life came back to him. "You will never die, no matter what happens to you," the man had said. Hidan had understood that he would never die from illness or old age, but he had not expected invulnerability to injury as well. This…this is what my teacher meant when he spoke about immortality. He didn't mean just immunity from natural death…he meant immunity from any sort of death at all. Of course, injuries incurred during the ritual healed instantly, but apparently any injury was now meaningless for him.
The enormity of this gift suddenly hit Hidan like a ton of bricks. He could defeat any opponent, destroy any foe. His body would remain young and perfect forever, and no blade or jutsu would ever scar it. And he had no reason to fear death of any kind. All the things that haunted the nightmares of every other person—injury, disease, the ravages of age—those things would never touch him. He was immortal.
He wanted to throw back his head and laugh with pure joy. He only restrained himself because such a sound would alert the departing fox ANBU to his continued existence. Silently, Hidan gripped the rope attached to his scythe and flung it towards the other man. The rope wrapped around him, and Hidan stood and pulled the ANBU back towards him in one fluid movement. He raised the scythe above the other man's head. Entangled in the rope, the ANBU had no way to form seals or break free. His wide eyes were fixated on Hidan's unmarked throat, and his face was pale with fear. "What…what are you?" he managed to whisper.
A grin slowly spread across Hidan's face. "A true believer," he responded…and brought the scythe down.
A/N: So, here's Hidan in all his evil, sadistic badassness (is that even a word?). Next up: everyone's favorite plant-human hybrid, Zetsu.