“I’ve had enough of all this chasing and you fuckers haven’t even given me your names”

“As if anyone would ever wanna get along with a psycho like you.”

We can't retreat any longer. 

We have to make our stand here and try to impair his mobility so we can keep running.

Anko stays in front of Hidan acting as the main frontline defender while the rest of us fan out in a half-moon centered on Hidan.

Sakura makes another shadow clone and brings out Slutra but that’s about the extent her chakra reserves for today. 

We can’t use another mist jutsu from Hinata, in the mist only Hinata would be able to see a flung weapon.

I considered using another shadow clone but instead focused on saving my chakra for hormones.

Adrenaline, also known as the fight or flight hormone, the ideal combat hormone.

I started doping myself with adrenaline harder than I’ve ever done before. The added adrenaline has my heart racing three times faster than before.

We haven’t exchanged the first move yet I’m already breathing hard and ready for what’s to come.

I also hit the rest of the team with a small adrenaline rush as well, we’re going to need it.

“Oi Oi! You guys are so boring. Fine, let’s get this show on the road so we can have fun in the end.”

Hidan rushes forward and throws his triple-bladed scythe toward Anko. Anko blocks it with her kunai but the force of the impact pushes her back a couple of meters.

Me and Hinata rush towards Hidan’s flanks but he pulls back his scythe through the chain attached to its butt, swinging it in an arc towards me.

The edges are aimed right at me and I have to step back to avoid it. Hinata reaches Hidan and hits him on his right left arm with an open palm strike using her clan's Gentle Fist Technique.

“Oi, what is this? The little rose has a thorn.”

Hinata tries to hit him once more but Hidan tanks the hit and kicks Hinata back, hard.

Hinata is sent flying 5 meters backward and lands on the ground coughing. Hidan seems unhampered by the tenketsu points Hinata must have blocked.

All the while the scythe continued swinging and, after doing a 200º arc since it was thrown, it's now heading to a fallen Hinata.

Sakura moves to stop the scythe, but her kunai and chakra hardening it prove insufficient as the kunai breaks and the edges of the scythe dig over an inch into her arm.

Hidan smiles at the sight of blood as I approach him from behind.

He expected me to go for his organs but I don’t make that mistake and instead go for his neck.

Anko also rushes to meet Hidan at the same time as me and aims her kunai at his eye.

Hidan moves his head deftly and dodges Anko’s kunai while using his arm to block my kunai, sending his blood everywhere.

My kunai gets stuck in his arm and I have to let it go so as not to get pulled out of balance. 

I follow the momentum of his retreating arm and angle a kick to his chest.

Anko tries to stab Hidan once more but he uses his left hand to block the kunai. It pierces all the way through the palm of his hand and he grabs Anko’s hand at the end of the kunai.

“Ahh!!! that hurt like hell, I’ll make sure to pay you back.”

My kick hits Hidan’s chest but he bears it and barely stumbles back, making no sign of losing any breath… does this zombie even breathe in the first place?

I'm too close and Hidan swings his arm, hitting me in my chest and pushing me away into the ground. He feels like an unmovable wall, none of our kicks and punches seem to have any effect.

Hidan pulls Anko by her hand, leaving her with nowhere to run as he raises his leg and hits her chest with his knee. He repeats this motion a few more times with all of us helpless to stop it, and Anko groaning in pain.

Sakura’s shadow clone controlled by Slutra lands a clean hit on Hidan’s back with little visible effect.

“Ohh not a bad hit there.”

Hidan throws the leg that’s been hitting Anko backward and hits Slutra with a full-force kick. She’s sent flying 10 meters and her clone gets undone on landing.

Anko finally gets her bearings and using her free hand grabs a knife from inside her cloak as Hidan was looking over his shoulder at Slutra.

Hidan hears a sound and swings his locked arm open, pushing Anko away.

Too far from his head now Anko swings the knife and tries to cut off Hidan’s hand instead.

The knife slides off his wrist unable to cut it, but as Hidan pulls back and releases Anko’s hand one of his fingers gets in the way and is chopped off.

“Damn, this bitch is a pain!”

Free from his hold Anko leaves her kunai stabbed in his hand and starts readying a jutsu.

I move away from the line of fire recognizing the technique.

“Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique”

Anko releases the flame almost point blank at Hidan but he charges through the fire and punches Anko in the face, sending her falling to the ground.

Hidan takes his time with all of us separated and uses the blood falling from his punctured hand and missing finger to draw the circle for his sick ritual.

It’s a circle with an upside-down triangle inside it. I had warned the girls of what would happen next.

My greatest concern goes to Sakura who got stabbed earlier with the scythe.

Me, Sakura and Hinata charge at Hidan once more before he can start flailing his weapon again or pull it back to drink Sakura's blood.

Seeing us charge Hidan whips his scythe back, sending it flying toward him as we reach him first.

Sakura reaches Hidan first and gets a couple of punches in.

Once more Hidan makes no attempt to block the punches and instead kicks back at Sakura, throwing her aside. 

Hinata reaches Hidan and tries to grab onto his leg to stop his movement but he puts all his weight onto that leg, tripping Hinata. 

Hidan’s scythe is reaching us and I pull in closer trying to stop him from following up with a move on Hinata.

I move towards the scythe and grab onto its handle as Hidan yanks the chain harder.

I get pulled toward Hidan but manage to turn the scythe around, swinging it a full 180º so it aims at Hidan's waist. Two of the blades dig into Hidan’s waist but the outermost one sticks outside and Hidan turns his body to the sides causing that last blade to finish a full rotation and cut into my arm, leaving a shallow wound as my balance was ruined.

As I rolled on the ground to stand back up Hidan dipped his fingers in my blood and tastes it. His skin turns black, now even harder than before.

“Many Hidden Shadow Snake Hands Jutsu”

Anko uses a jutsu to summon dozens of snakes from her arms, holding onto Hidan’s limbs as tight as she can. They bite into his flesh but the pain and poisons have no effect.

"More Snakes, you're starting to resemble that pale fre

Hidan struggles against the snakes and crushes a couple but I take the chance and grab onto his neck from behind, finally able to block his nerves and stop him completely.

His body composition is very weird. I block his senses and blockade his brain signals from ordering his muscles and body to move but I can’t feel any of his lower signals such as his heartbeat and breathing, yet they are still there but I know stopping them is worthless.

His chakra is immense and I feel it struggling to corrode my blocking.

“RUN! I’ll block set up the blockade got long as I can before following”

“We can’t just leave you, it's too dangerous” Sakura pleads.

Anko bites her lips.

“GO! ... I’ll see you soon Yami!” Anko orders.

“Yeah, I’ll see you soon. Take care…”

 

Beaten and bruised the 3 girls run away. I take solace that only Anko understood for now…

I wasn’t making it out of here-