"Kid, I'll admit you've got guts. But is it true courage born of skill, or are you just a calf unafraid of the tiger?"
The sword-wielding Elder's voice carried a razor's edge as he lunged at Hidan. His eerie blade gleamed with a chilling, spectral light.
"Clang!"
Hidan caught the strike with his Bloodstained Crescent Scythe, his face darkening as he thought coldly, Didn't expect an old fossil to still have this much stamina. Impressive.
"Old man, shouldn't you be back home bouncing your grandkids on your knee? Enjoy your twilight years, stop wandering around making a fool of yourself, disgracing the elderly every single day!"
His poisonous tongue rattled on, but their blades never slowed. Each clash rang out sharp and violent, sparks scattering between them.
The Elder's face twisted with fury. How could such a brat have such a vile mouth? Didn't anyone teach him manners as a child?
"Tempest Kick Sky Splitter!"
The Elder clashed blades with Hidan, then used the recoil to leap skyward. His right leg lashed out, unleashing a silver-white arc that split the air, a massive slash wave tearing down toward Hidan.
"Good! That's what I wanted!" Hidan sneered. "Scythe Technique Blood Shield!"
The crimson barrier flared again, darker and thicker than before, dripping with a scent so sharp it was almost like real blood.
"That stench…"
The long-bearded Elder frowned, sniffing the air. "Do you smell it? The blood is getting stronger."
"Yeah. Ever since he appeared, the reek of death has been thickening. This one's hands are stained with more blood than we thought." The bald Elder with the mustache, though still pale, spoke with keen eyes.
"Hmph! So what if he is Liu Yun? It makes no difference." The scar-faced Elder snarled. "Today, I'll invoke justice and strike down this villain. The Five Elders have been made fools of long enough!"
The curly-haired Elder said nothing. His expression, however, suggested he found the words hypocritical. Spare me. The Five Elders have slaughtered more souls than he ever could.
"Three Thousand Six Hundred Reaper Tornadoes!"
The sword-bearing Elder swung again, birthing another monstrous cyclone that ripped across the battlefield.
The ruins of Mary Geoise, already flattened to rubble, were shredded further. Stones, dust, even the very soil itself were dragged into the storm, leaving the earth gouged out several meters deep wherever the winds passed.
"Damn it, old man, are you serious? Do you know anything other than this same boring trick? I've had enough of you!" Hidan shouted in irritation.
"Brat, stop running your mouth. If you can survive this, then talk!" The Elder's face remained calm, his cursed blade spinning ceaselessly. The storm roared louder, as if it meant to tear a hole in the heavens themselves.
"Crap, crap, crap!"
Hidan clutched his head, eyes wide in mock terror as the tornado bore down on him.
"Alright, alright! I give up! Can't you just let this one go?" He pressed his palms together, face full of feigned desperation.
"Too late for regrets now!" The Elder sneered, savoring his triumph. To defeat "Liu Yun" was a feat worth boasting of.
"Hey, don't push it! Ever heard of mercy? If I go down, you won't walk away unscathed either!" Hidan ranted, voice shrill with false panic.
His threat rolled off the Elder like water on stone. Empty words before death meant nothing.
"It's over," the long-bearded Elder murmured, watching Hidan flail. Doubt flickered in his heart. Could this really not be Liu Yun? If it were, how could one Elder alone push him this far?
Suspicion began to grow among the Elders.
"Fine then! If you won't show restraint, don't blame me for what comes next!"
Hidan's expression flipped in an instant. Gone was the begging coward his eyes now glinted with madness and glee.
"Something's wrong!"
From the sidelines, the other Elders saw the shift clearly. The scarred Elder shouted, "Watch out!"
But his voice was swallowed by the howling cyclone.
Closer and closer.
With a crazed grin, Hidan slung his scythe across his back and spread his arms wide, as though to embrace the storm itself.
Has he lost his mind? Does he want a glorious death, crushed by the winds?
"Ninja Art Substitution Jutsu!"
The cyclone consumed everything, dust and rubble rising in choking clouds. No one could see what happened in the eye of the storm. But in that instant, Hidan's fingers twitched with practiced precision.
As a veteran from the shinobi world, his mastery over the Three Basic Jutsu was absolute, executed without hesitation.
"Ahhh!"
A scream split the maelstrom, so piercing it drowned even the roar of the winds.
"Did… did we get him?"
Marines watching from afar exhaled in relief. Surely that shriek meant the intruder had been ripped apart.
One corner of the tornado burned red, dyed with blood.
The Elder hovering above slowed his blade, the monstrous storm collapsing soon after. Dust settled over the scarred landscape, leaving behind a trench gouged deep into the ground.
"Where is he?" the scarred Elder demanded.
"Should be nothing left but scraps," muttered the long-bearded Elder, uncertain. He knew firsthand the power of that technique. Nothing caught in it could possibly survive.
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