As Hidan retreated explosively, he swung the Triple-Bladed Scythe in a frenzy. Every strike passed straight through his opponent's body, failing to deal any damage at all.
Yet he kept attacking anyway—without the slightest intention of stopping.
In a state of extre focus, his eyes were locked firmly onto his opponent.
Any change in Saibote's body, no matter how subtle, he intended to see through it all!
Just as there was no such thing as an unsolvable ninjutsu in the ninja world, he likewise refused to believe that his opponent had no weakness.
Suddenly—clang!—a sharp sound rang out, and a bloodthirsty grin instantly spread across his face.
"Found it—your flaw!"
The seemingly aimless swings of the Triple-Bladed Scythe suddenly converged on a single spot.
Wrapped within the yellow sand was a fully materialized snake sword!
Under Hidan's heavy strike, the snake sword was nearly knocked flying. Alard, Saibote imdiately dispelled Sand Legion, reverting to his sand-transformation state. Both he and the snake sword turned to sand together, narrowly avoiding Hidan's follow-up attacks and managing to escape.
Hidan didn't chase right away. That burst of offense had drained him as well, and he was now panting heavily.
After taking a couple of breaths, he finally steadied his breathing.
Hidan let out a savage grin.
"The conditions for turning into sand and for that move where you drain people into dried corpses… they should be exactly opposite, right?"
"And the key—"
"—is that twisted, crooked blade."
"Even if you don't admit it, I've already seen through it."
"When you and that snake sword turn into sand, it looks like all attacks beco useless against you. But that's also when you're at your weakest—almost completely limited to passive defense."
"And if you want to use that move that drains soone dry, you must materialize that snake sword."
"In other words, if I want to defeat you, all I need to do is seize the mont you attack and focus everything on that snake sword!"
---
Holy shit!
Before Saibote could even say anything, Shinji—who was hiding and playing dead—was already completely stunned by what he'd just seen!
Was this really still his dog, the one that only knew how to wreck houses and bite people?!
How the hell did his IQ suddenly jump this much?!
In truth, it wasn't that Hidan had suddenly beco smarter. It was simply that in that state of extre focus, his entire brain was running at full capacity, all of it devoted to figuring out how to defeat his enemy.
With fewer background "programs" hogging mory, all his processing power was concentrated on a single point—so naturally, his thinking seed faster and sharper.
Under normal circumstances, Hidan would rather lie on the ground eating a mouthful of sand than catch details like these, let alone analyze them so incisively.
Shinji grew interested and continued watching.
He saw Saibote, standing not far from Hidan, fall silent for a mont before asking in confusion,
"Since you've already discovered my weakness, wouldn't it be better to catch off guard during the fight? Why say it out loud and make wary of it?"
Why?
Of course—because he wasn't sure!
After all, those conclusions were only deductions Hidan had made based on the information from their brief exchange.
First, he wasn't completely certain whether he was right or not.
Second, if he guessed wrong, the consequences would be terrifying.
So rather than gamble on that opening, he chose to probe his opponent's reaction instead.
Judging from the current situation, it seed he'd made the right bet.
Although Saibote had actively learned many of humanity's strengths and habits, he still didn't understand much about the deception, scheming, and mind gas humans played with each other.
He was directly bluffed into revealing extrely valuable information.
Noticing this, Hidan imdiately let out a disdainful laugh.
"Because the outco was already decided. I want you to lose—completely convinced."
"You will never be a match for us humans."
Saibote's expression instantly turned grave.
In truth, there were many things he didn't particularly care about—his fallen subordinates included.
To him, achieving that goal would require many helpers and forces.
That was why he had gone to rescue those so-called 'kindred' who were little more than cannon fodder in human hands.
But there was one thing he had always cared deeply about.
He firmly believed that one day in the future, cursed spirits would replace humans and take control of this world.
Hidan's contemptuous words made him deeply irritated—and utterly unable to accept them!
He even felt, for no reason at all, as though he had been reduced a notch below the other.
Saibote was furious, and he spoke coldly:
"Truly convinced? Fine. Then I'll make you truly convinced."
"My na is Saibote. Rember it, human."
"Next, you will experience the boundless despair of the desert."
With a wave of the snake sword in his hand, over a hundred crescent-moon-shaped sand blades shot forward at once, darting through the air like dancing sand spirits.
"Sand Curse Transformation · Sandstorm Dance!"
Hidan swung the Triple-Bladed Scythe, smashing apart the sand blades filling the sky, while charging forward through them, forcing his way ahead to close the distance once more.
In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen gaping, blood-soaked wounds were carved into his body.
But under the state of Death Possession by Blood, his physical abilities weren't just enhanced across the board—his regenerative power had increased by more than double.
So long as he didn't lose an arm or a leg, everything else could be classified as re "surface wounds."
Seeing this, Saibote lightly tapped the snake sword again.
"Sand Curse Transformation · Walker of Despair!"
Suddenly, along the path of Hidan's advance, countless human hands ford from sand burst out of the ground.
They frantically grasped at every living thing around them, trying to drag all life down into the yellow sands to be buried.
It was as if travelers who had died of thirst and exposure in the desert had suddenly returned to the living world.
Hidan wasn't afraid of getting hurt—what he feared were things like this, things that could restrain him endlessly.
After smashing them apart, even more sand hands imdiately reached for him again.
Annoying as hell!
And to make things even worse, his opponent raised the snake sword once more.
"Sand Curse Transformation · Quicksand!"
The snake sword simply stabbed downward into empty air, its tip pointing at the ground—and the yellow sand beneath Hidan's feet imdiately began sinking rapidly, like an hourglass.
And sinking just as fast… was Hidan's heart.
Once Saibote stopped fixating on close combat and returned to long-range attacks, in this endless desert, it beca incredibly difficult for Hidan to even approach him again.
"Don't worry. I won't kill you so easily," Saibote said calmly.
"I'll make you truly convinced—then let you die in this sea of yellow sand, carrying endless despair."
"Sand Curse Transformation · Sandstorm Dance!"
With another swing of the snake sword, hundreds of crescent-shaped sand blades shot forth once again.
At this mont, sand hands crawled all over Hidan's body, while the quicksand beneath his feet locked him firmly in place.
Even though Hidan struggled with all his might and raised the Triple-Bladed Scythe to block in front of him, the very next mont, dozens of jets of blood still erupted from his body.
"Are you convinced?"
Saibote asked from afar.
"Haha… convinced my ass!"
That was Hidan's answer.
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