Under Nagato's will, the power of the Akatsuki, which had been growing rapidly in the darkness, immediately sprang into action.
Two days later, Simu and Hidan, clad in the Akatsuki's black cloaks with red cloud patterns, appeared in the rain near a stronghold belonging to the Hidden Rain Village.
While the mission was for Simu and Hidan to intercept and kill enemies coming from the Land of Wind, they weren't restricted to dealing only with Hidden Sand ninjas. Because manpower was limited, Simu and Hidan had to travel from the Akatsuki base all the way to the border of the Land of Rain and the Land of Wind, dismantling Hidden Rain outposts along the way.
According to intelligence provided by White Zetsu, Simu's target—Hanzo's summoning beast, the salamander Ibuse—was being raised in this particular marsh.
As a summoning beast, the massive salamander could not possibly be kept within the Hidden Rain Village itself. Only when Hanzo needed to fight would he summon it. Normally, it was left to roam freely in this marsh filled with toxic gas. The so-called stronghold was merely established to guard the salamander and provide it with periodic feedings.
"The weather in the Land of Rain is truly annoying."
Hidan stood on a high ground. The rain pelted his body, outlining his silhouette. It must be said that the quality of the Akatsuki uniforms was excellent; the rain could not penetrate the coats to soak the bodies of Hidan and Simu.
Simu pushed up the glasses hidden beneath his hood. An insect landed on his hand, bringing him intelligence regarding the stronghold.
"Stop complaining. My body has completely adapted to the toxic gas of this marsh. It's about time to begin."
Indeed, the reason Simu and Hidan had been lurking here was to give Simu enough time to analyze and adapt to the toxins. Of course, the gas exhaled by the salamander might be even stronger. To counter this, Simu had specifically upgraded his body, adding an oxygen-filled air sac inside. This was enough for him to fight for over twenty minutes without inhaling any outside oxygen.
As for Hidan? This guy possessed an Immortal Body; even toxic gas had no effect on him. Even if something did happen, Lord Jashin would not let his favorite believer be ignored.
Hearing Simu's words, Hidan immediately perked up. He used both hands to slick back his rain-soaked silver hair and excitedly licked his lips.
"This time, can I kill them all?"
Simu nodded. "The ones outside are all yours. I'm going to deal with the big guy."
"Just what I wanted!"
After saying that, Hidan didn't even bother to hide. He charged directly toward the stronghold.
For Hidan, every bit of progress Simu made was a new transformation for himself. Without exaggeration, Hidan was the primary beneficiary of Simu's upgrades. Whenever Simu researched something new, he would install it on Hidan to see if it was suitable. Since this guy had an Immortal Body, there was no need to worry about killing him during the process.
Consequently, after Simu upgraded to Level 4, he gave Hidan a brand-new upgrade. Two clusters of red flames suddenly appeared on Hidan's back; these were the Ukaku that Simu had specifically evolved for him. After all, Hidan had no innate desire for flight, so it was nearly impossible for him to differentiate Ukaku kakuhou using RC cells on his own. Simu had to put in extra effort to custom-make them.
This Ukaku could significantly increase the user's speed and provide short-term flight capabilities. Just like the current Hidan.
With the deployment of the Ukaku, his body rapidly became light. With a powerful leap, he soared into the sky like a bird. During his descent, the Koukaku on his shoulders quickly gathered along his skin to form a sharp Three-bladed blood scythe in his hand.
"Enemy attack!"
The Hidden Rain stronghold was naturally equipped with sensory ninjas. They detected Hidan almost instantly and issued a warning. They fired a kunai at the rapidly descending Hidan.
Hidan fell at high speed. Hidan was hit by the kunai. Hidan crashed heavily into the ground.
The ninja who had just shouted the warning saw the kunai embedded in Hidan's forehead and slowly tilted his head in confusion. He had only attacked casually to interfere with the enemy's descent; he hadn't expected to kill him instantly. Could it be that he was actually a hidden sharpshooter or a genius ninja of the Hidden Rain Village?
While his mind wandered, he drew his ninja sword and approached Hidan. Suddenly, Hidan snapped his eyes open and swung his scythe at him. The ninja was startled and instinctively thrust his sword forward, successfully piercing Hidan's heart.
Hidan spat out blood and said weakly, "I'm dead." Then he revealed a smile. "Just kidding."
A flashing crimson shadow instantly cut the enemy in half at the waist. By the time the other ninjas rushed over to support, they saw only a freak with a sword through his chest and their comrade sliced in two.
Hidan looked at the five Hidden Rain ninjas who had arrived, slicked back his hair with a bloody palm, and drew the Jashin symbol—a circle with an inverted triangle—on his chest. He said calmly, "Praise Lord Jashin."
Hearing the name of Jashin, the five ninjas showed looks of horror and stood ready.
Ignoring Hidan's cat-and-mouse battle, Simu used his Ukaku to fly over the stronghold, heading directly into the thick toxic mist of the marsh. Under the long-term erosion of these toxins, the trees in this marsh had long since lost their life; rotting branches floated atop piles of sludge.
Simu condensed chakra at the soles of his feet, walking across the mud as if it were level ground. As for the surrounding gas, his body had already analyzed and adapted to it; the oxygen stored in the air sac could be saved for the battle against the salamander.
The sounds of battle outside had clearly disturbed the salamander. This capable assistant of Hanzo was currently emerging irritably from the foul-smelling mud. It looked toward the stronghold, emitting a displeased gurgle from deep within its throat.
With the reports from his insects, Simu easily found the salamander's hiding place.
"So this is Mr. Hanzo's favorite summoning beast..."
Simu emerged from the dense toxic mist, observing the massive creature that looked like an oversized giant salamander. Its head and back were brown, its belly was white, and there were small toad-like bumps on its skin. It actually looked a bit cute.
Seeing the man in black appear, the salamander clearly showed its displeasure. It immediately slapped the marsh heavily with its palm. A massive wave of mud instantly surged toward Simu!