Kakuzu, Hidan, and Deidara—dead, just like that?
Sasori could hardly believe it. Was this old hag really that ferocious?
Matron flashed a wicked grin. Truth be told, those three were a handful, but their secrets had been laid bare, their intel leaked to the bone. They had no tricks left to play.
Hidan was the first to fall. His fighting style was too specialized, too predictable—easy to counter. To cast Death Possession Blood, he needed to ingest his enemy's blood, but only after a drawn-out ritual.
Blood's not exactly a buffet. What if it's poisoned?
Matron let Hidan hit her on purpose. The fool didn't hesitate, swiping a finger along the blade to taste the rancid, putrid liquid that oozed out.
Honestly, Matron was almost speechless. Did he really think that was blood?
Poor Hidan. Such a brave little idiot.
He set up his cursed altar, a circle with an inner triangle, his face alight with fanatical zeal. Dropping the sickle, he stood at the center, practically daring the world to take a swing.
A faint, occult connection flickered to life between Matron and Hidan.
Deidara and Kakuzu paused their attacks, eager to watch the show. Matron's lips curled into a sly smile as she studied Hidan's movements, but no matter how closely she looked, she sensed no trace of any "Jashin."
What was this god Hidan worshipped?
Come to think of it, Hidan never once named his deity—just rambled about pain and suffering.
"Death Possession Blood!" Hidan's skin blackened, skeletal patterns blooming across his body. Matron felt their connection intensify, a mystical tether tightening.
"Become a sacrifice for Jashin-sama!" Hidan pulled a collapsible spike from nowhere and drove it through his heart, twisting it for good measure. His heart was surely pulp.
At the same moment, an identical wound tore open on Matron's chest, matching Hidan's in size and shape. But instead of blood, a thick, black sludge oozed out, laced with tiny, hair-like needles.
"You're still alive? Does Jashin reject you as a sacrifice?!" Hidan's face twisted in disbelief and frustration, his eyes locked on Matron's chest.
"Your staring's starting to piss me off," Matron snapped, her voice icy. She glanced down, casually stitching the wound with needle and thread, treating her body like a ragdoll rather than a mortal form pierced through the heart.
"What are you, you old hag?" Hidan's voice trembled with unease. Panicked, he stabbed himself a few more times, but the wounds no longer mirrored onto Matron.
"I'm dying to know," Matron said, licking her lips with a mocking glint in her eyes. Her voice turned eerie, almost playful.
"Why would your god give you such a power? Hurt yourself to hurt your enemy."
Hidan roared, his body shaking with rage. He hefted his sickle and charged, slashing wildly at Matron. The failure of his sacred ritual was a crushing blow to a zealot like him.
Matron brushed a hand over her chest; the wound had already healed. She blocked Hidan's attack with ease, her smile dripping with menace.
"You love pain so much, but to me, your brand of suffering is amateur hour. Physical pain? Child's play. Don't you want to taste the ultimate agony—the kind that breaks your mind and soul?"
...
Hidan froze, caught off guard. Thanks to his immortality, he didn't shy away from banter mid-battle.
"Ultimate agony? Ha! I've tried every torture trick in the book. Nobody knows pain better than me!"
Matron's grin widened, her eyes glinting with malice.
"Oh, have you now? Ever heard of the Ultimate Insult? They say it inflicts eternal, soul-crushing pain on men. If you're curious, I can arrange it. Plenty in our legion would love to… assist."
Hidan's eyes flickered with a hint of intrigue, but Kakuzu, who'd been covering him, bellowed,
"Don't fall for it, you idiot! She's playing you!"
"Who're you calling an idiot?!" Hidan snapped, whipping his head toward Kakuzu.
In that split second of distraction, Matron seized her chance. A deranged cackle echoed as she unleashed a swarm of hair-thin needles, each one striking Hidan's body with pinpoint precision.
"Chatting in the middle of a fight? With an immortal body like yours, you're practically begging to die. Not that you don't deserve it," Matron sneered.
The needles slithered through Hidan's veins, controlled by Matron's will. They tore through his nervous system, sparing his vital organs—she knew he couldn't die. Instead, she aimed to paralyze.
Hidan collapsed, still alive but immobile. Given enough time, he'd recover.
Matron wasn't about to give him that time.
"Damn it, I can't move!" Hidan growled, his voice thick with humiliated fury.
Kakuzu lunged to retrieve him, but Matron was faster. With a flick of her wrist, she decapitated Hidan, then yanked out his tongue to silence his whining.
Black threads from the ground whisked Hidan's body away. His severed head, left behind, rolled its eyes furiously, glaring at Matron with venom. Occasionally, it darted a desperate look at Kakuzu, as if pleading for rescue.
Rescue wasn't happening. The legion's soldiers, following Matron's orders, had already tossed Hidan's body into a vat of high-temperature acid to dissolve it. Let's see him regenerate from that.
Matron's thick-soled shoe nudged Hidan's head. She loomed over him, her voice dripping with scorn.
"Your Jashin's not coming to save you. Instead of worshipping some useless deity, why not pledge yourself to…" She paused, her tone shifting slyly, "…the Ōtsutsuki Clan? Now that's a divine bloodline!"
Hidan's eyes burned with defiance, as if to say,
"You can destroy my body, but my faith in Jashin-sama is unbreakable!"
...
Matron ignored him. Kakuzu and Deidara launched a fresh assault, shaken by Hidan's utter defeat. They weren't taking any chances now.
Kakuzu was manageable—tough, but grounded, within reach. Deidara, though, kept his distance, bombarding from the skies. After his stint under Ōnoki's house arrest, he'd learned to play it safer, less reckless than before.
As the battle reached a stalemate, a sweet, melodic voice suddenly drifted into Deidara's ears.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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