"Ahhhh!"
Hidan's screams echoed endlessly, but Naruto showed no signs of stopping.
This time, Naruto was determined to beat the trash talk right out of Hidan. If he didn't leave a lasting impression, Hidan would undoubtedly spout his nonsense again in the future. Naruto decided the only solution was to traumatize him.
To achieve this, Naruto deliberately refrained from opening all eight gates. Instead, he used the sixth gate to slowly wear Hidan down. This way, Hidan would endure the pain without losing consciousness.
The cycle repeated, with Naruto beating Hidan from outside the tower back into his room. It took a full hour of pummeling before Hidan's eyes rolled back, and he finally passed out.
At this point, Naruto couldn't help but notice that Akatsuki members shared a common trait: they were all absurdly durable.
"See? I lasted an hour and three minutes against Naruto last time. Three minutes more than this guy."
Kisame muttered under his breath.
Itachi responded dryly, "Yes, yes, you're the toughest one of all."
"Of course! And I didn't even pass out after being beaten. I was still standing strong."
Kisame said proudly.
Having committed himself to following Naruto, Kisame decided he couldn't afford to slack off. In his mind, there will be more and more powerful people around Naruto. So to prove his worth, Kisame decided to specialize in something unique… his resilience.
Since durability was his best trait now, Kisame resolved to take it to the next level. He aimed to withstand Naruto's attacks for two hours, then three hours, and eventually achieve an unbreakable body that could never be defeated.
'I will become the King of Durability!' (Taikyu ou ni ore wa naru)
Kisame thought to himself with determination.
Meanwhile, back in Hidan's room.
A system prompt sounded in Naruto's mind, prompting him to spit on the ground before finally stopping his assault.
Climbing through the gaping hole in the wall, Naruto made his way to Pain.
The loud commotion had already drawn everyone's attention. However, knowing that Hidan was an indestructible cockroach, none of the other members had interfered.
But even so, Naruto decided it was best to proactively explain the situation to Pain. Showing respect to the superior was crucial to maintaining harmony and avoiding unnecessary conflict.
"Leader, you instructed me to bring Hidan along. When I explained the mission to him, he refused to comply and resorted to trash talk. I had no choice but to discipline him." Naruto explained.
Hearing this, Pain nodded slightly, "I've already told you, Naruto-kun, there's no need to report your actions to me. If someone disrespects the chain of command, they deserve to be punished. Since there's no issue, Konan, let's go."
As Pain and Konan left, Naruto's lips curled into a small smile.
'Sure enough, showing respect to the superior ensured there would be no complaints.'
After a moment's thought, Naruto turned to look at Kisame.
Feeling Naruto's gaze, Kisame instinctively shuddered, "Naruto-kun, why are you looking at me like that? I've always respected you!"
"I need to talk to you about something. Let's head to your room." Naruto explained.
"Whew!"
Kisame couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He thought Naruto wasn't satisfied after beating Hidan, but fortunately, they were just going to talk.
Leading the way, Kisame brought Naruto to his room.
Opening the door, Kisame said, "Naruto-kun, I don't stay here often, so I haven't tidied up in a while. Please don't mind the mess."
Cough, cough!
The moment Naruto stepped inside, the musty smell, which is identical to the odor from the empty room yesterday, made him cough uncontrollably.
"Don't mind? I do mind. Find some time to clean this place up. I'll come back later."
Naruto covered his mouth and nose, then left and went to look for Itachi.
As expected, Itachi's room was also filled with a musty smell.
'No wonder Kisame and Itachi had suggested staying at an inn when we first arrived at Amegakure. They must have known the base was uninhabitable.'
Before Naruto could complain, Itachi spoke first, "Naruto-kun, it rains constantly in Amegakure. If a place isn't lived in regularly, this is bound to happen. Let's just avoid staying here."
"So that's the reason."
After hearing Itachi's explanation, Naruto swallowed his complaints. Since it was an environmental issue, he couldn't really blame Kisame and Itachi.
Still, it was a shame.
Naruto had planned to sign in at Kisame's and Itachi's rooms after completing his sign-ins at Kakuzu's and Hidan's.
Unfortunately, circumstances didn't allow it.
"Let's go grab some food. We'll head out in the afternoon."
Naruto said, pulling Kisame and Itachi along to a nearby restaurant.
During the meal, Naruto opened his system panel and clicked on the first reward notification.
[It was detected that the host stayed in Kakuzu's residence for one hour. Sign-in was successful. Reward: Earth Grudge Fear - Stitching!]
'Earth Grudge Fear?'
Hearing these three words, Naruto's expression shifted with excitement.
Earth Grudge Fear was Kakuzu's signature secret technique, making this reward an absolute jackpot… or so he thought.
'What what did 'stitching' mean?'
Naruto hurriedly opened the system panel.
[Earth Grudge Fear - Stitching: Allows the user to perform physical stitching on themselves or teammates. Kakuzu used this technique to patch up injuries for Hidan and Deidara.]
"Uh…"
When Naruto saw the skill introduction, he was dumbfounded.
'After getting all worked up, it turned out to be this kind of useless ability?'
Even though he might look like a delicate little princess, Naruto was a proud man to his core. There was no way he'd stoop to do needlework… especially not stitching flesh!
This really left Naruto speechless.
[Friendly Reminder: Host only has access to Earth Grudge Fear: Stitching and cannot use other abilities of the Earth Grudge Fear.]
'Friendly Reminder?'
The system's message was like a bucket of cold water, dousing Naruto's enthusiasm.
The Earth Grudge Fear was a stolen secret technique, one that allowed Kakuzu to manipulate black tendrils generated by Chakra for attacks and transformations. It could be used for close or long-range combat, or even to counter enemies by summoning tendrils from underground.
In simple terms, with the Earth Grudge Fear, Naruto should have been able to create weapon-like tendrils from Chakra and manipulate them in countless ways.
But instead, all he got was a glorified sewing kit.
Frustrated, Naruto closed the skill description and opened the second reward notification, this one from Hidan's room.
At this point, Naruto had no expectations left, 'If the system wanted to mess with me, it would probably give me another useless skill… or worse, something like forced membership in the Jashin cult.'
If that happened, Naruto was sure he'd lose his mind.
But no matter what he speculated, as soon as he clicked the reward, the system prompt sounded in his head.
[It is detected that the host has stayed in Hidan's residence for one hour. Sign-in successful. Reward: Immortality!]
"Wha…?"
Naruto shot up from his seat, almost flipping the table.
"N-No way. Immortality?"
Naruto stammered in disbelief.
This was the exact reward he'd been hoping to get from Hidan.
'System, you are so good to me!'
Naruto was so excited that he even forgot about the matter of obtaining needlework technique.
Only now did he realize the system's good intentions.
'This was a classic case of raising expectations by lowering them first... a masterful setup for a grand payoff!