Mitarashi Residence, Konoha
"Kimimaro, due to your Shikotsumyaku, your physique is perfectly suited for training in the Eight Gates. You won't need to worry about bone damage at all. However, remember—no matter what happens, you must never open the Eighth Gate, the Gate of Death. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." Kimimaro answered earnestly.
"Good." Kai nodded, not overly concerned. As long as he gave an order, Kimimaro would execute it unconditionally.
Next, Kai turned his attention to Haku, who stood nearby. "Haku, you've already mastered various Ice Release secret techniques quite well. Now your development of Ice Release should focus more on domain control—for example, rapidly dropping the temperature below freezing within a certain radius around you, or like Kimimaro's Dance of the Seedling Fern, transforming an entire area into an ice crystal domain."
"Yes, sir." Haku nodded thoughtfully, clearly gaining insight.
Just then, Kai suddenly felt a pang of unease in his heart. He formed a summoning seal, and a palm-sized slug appeared in his hand. Before Kai could even ask, a familiar roar erupted from the slug:
"Kai Mitarashi, you bastard! If you don't get your ass over here right now, I'm going to die! Deal with it yourself!"
The slug then looked up at Kai and added: "Kai-kun, Lady Tsunade seems to be in quite a predicament." With a poof, it transformed into smoke and vanished.
"Tsunade-nee?" Kai frowned, instantly expanding his Kagura Mind's Eye to its maximum range. The entire Land of Fire fell within Kai's sensory perception.
He immediately detected Tsunade's chakra signature, and Kai disappeared without hesitation.
Tanzaku Town
Upon hearing Tsunade's thunderous shout, everyone on the battlefield froze. The mere mention of a single name was enough to intimidate Kage-level powerhouses—in the entire ninja world, only Kai possessed such influence.
"No... that can't be possible. Just shouting at a summoning beast—could that man really hear it?"
Terror crept across Kisame Hoshigaki's shark-like features. Whether it was the Third Shinobi World War or Kai's battle against Madara Uchiha in Kirigakure, Kisame had witnessed it all firsthand. He'd rather die than face such a terrifying existence as Kai.
Itachi's expression remained calm, though his gaze grew more solemn as he spoke: "It's quite possible. Slugs are very mysterious summoning creatures. It's said that all slugs are split bodies of a single entity, so..."
Itachi didn't finish, but Kisame could understand the implication:
The strongest in the ninja world! Kai Mitarashi! Would very likely descend upon this battlefield at any moment!
"Hey, what's there to fear? You think that Kai Mitarashi can actually kill me, Hidan-sama?!" Hidan hefted his blood-red triple-bladed scythe, speaking with complete arrogance, showing not a trace of fear in his eyes.
His immortal body had given Hidan boundless confidence—confidence that no one in the ninja world could kill him! Even if they defeated him, so what? As long as he obtained their blood, they'd be the ones dead the next moment!
At that moment, a playful voice suddenly rang out: "Are you saying I can't kill you?"
A tall figure appeared on the battlefield. Ignoring the four Akatsuki members, Kai looked toward Tsunade and smiled: "Tsunade-nee, it's been so long. Did you miss me?"
Tsunade rushed forward and landed a punch on Kai's head, her anger evident though unable to hide the longing in her eyes as she roared: "You bastard! Where have you been all these years?!"
Kai looked somewhat embarrassed. Disappearing for five or six years without even saying goodbye—no matter how strong he was, it would inevitably make Tsunade worry. He said sheepishly: "Well, Tsunade-nee, it was an accident!"
"Hmph!" Tsunade snorted coldly, knowing this wasn't the time for such discussions. "Just hurry up and deal with all of them."
"Alright, Tsunade-nee." Kai replied casually.
Nearby, Jiraiya swallowed hard, staring in amazement: "Tsunade, this is your secret weapon?"
"That's right!" Tsunade declared matter-of-factly, adding: "How about it? I wasn't wrong, was I? He can deal with them directly."
Jiraiya nodded unconsciously, his expression dazed! In the entire ninja world, only Tsunade could use Kai as a "secret weapon"...
"Hey, you're Kai Mitarashi? The strongest in the ninja world?" Hidan looked at Kai with complete arrogance.
"Yes, that's me." Kai answered.
"You don't look like anything special! Too bad you can't kill me, Hidan-sama. What a pity, hahaha." Hidan laughed maniacally.
"Is that so?" Kai smiled as he spoke: "Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant your wish!"
The golden tomoe Tenseigan appeared in his right eye. Kai raised his left hand, fingers spread wide, as a gravitational force lifted Hidan into the air.
Hidan's movements became frantic as he wildly swung his blood-red scythe, shouting: "Hey! Put me down right now, or I'll kill you!"
Ignoring Hidan completely, Kai suddenly clenched his raised left hand into a fist!
Hidan's voice cut off abruptly!
Where Hidan had been floating, there was now a mass of blood-red flesh! Even the blood-red scythe in Hidan's hand couldn't escape, melting into the grotesque mass!
"Finally, some peace and quiet." Kai said calmly.
He then released the binding gravitational force, and the entire mass of flesh fell to the ground, dissolving into a pool of blood. Clearly, Hidan was as dead as dead could be.
As for his so-called immortal body? Kai could only scoff at it. In Kai's view, Hidan's supposed immortality was merely the result of some special technique that enhanced cellular activity, strength, and immunity by several hundred times.
Immortal body! Even Kai, who had already elevated his perfect Sage Body bloodline to Six Paths level, wouldn't dare boast of such a thing, let alone someone like Hidan who was merely Kage-level.
Though they had long known Kai was terrifying, neither Kakuzu nor Kisame had expected him to eliminate Hidan with just a single encounter. Their gazes toward Kai now held nothing but deep, profound fear.
"Who's next?"
Kai's calm voice, like a death countdown, reached their ears.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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