"Roar!"
Blastoise let out a low roar.
Hidan laughed coldly, "Stop struggling. There's no escaping this fate."
With a twisted grin, he plunged his kunai into himself multiple times.
"Damn it!"
Naruto gritted his teeth in anger.
In fact, when Hidan used the scythe to attack Blastoise, Naruto had already noticed it at the first moment through his Observation Haki, and it was easy for him to help Blastoise block the attack.
But Naruto didn't take any action.
Since Blastoise hadn't admitted defeat or asked for help, Naruto chose to let it fight its own battle.
Seeing Blastoise injured hurt Naruto deeply, but he admired its determination. Suppressing his urge to obliterate Hidan, Naruto continued to observe, but his fists were clenched tightly.
Now, as Hidan attempted to finish Blastoise with his curse technique by self-inflicted injuries, Naruto could no longer hold back.
From the beginning, Naruto had the perfect counter to ensure Blastoise wouldn't die… Rapid Healing.
However, just as Naruto prepared to activate it, the clear sky above them suddenly darkened with thick clouds. Moments later, a gentle drizzle began to fall.
Rain, in a snow-covered land like the Land of Iron, was anything but ordinary.
Naruto quickly opened his system panel and his eyes widened in shock, 'Oh shit!'
On the system panel, he saw that Blastoise actually had activated a move called Rain Dance.
True to its name, the move summoned rainfall. What Naruto thought was merely a roar of frustration turned out to be a calculated tactical maneuver by Blastoise.
Seeing the rain, Naruto let out a sigh of relief. He knew now that Hidan had lost this fight!
If Hidan had relied on Taijutsu or another Ninjutsu from the start, he might have managed to take down Blastoise despite the difficulty.
Unfortunately, Hidan was too arrogant and actually wanted to torture Blastoise to death in such a disgusting way, so that he was also covered with wounds.
What Hidan failed to consider was Blastoise's hidden ability… Rain Dish.
In a rainy environment, Blastoise could regenerate health with every attack.
Using League of Legend analogy, Hidan had equipped a Thornmail, but Blastoise countered with a Bloodthirster. The longer the battle dragged on, Blastoise's health would remain stable, while Hidan's injuries would only worsen.
And that's precisely what happened.
Blastoise is not stupid. After discovering that Hidan can transfer the damage he received, it does not choose to attack with water cannons, but switched to physical combat. With Hidan already severely injured and unable to retaliate effectively, Blastoise used controlled strikes to maximize its healing while minimizing its own damage.
Hidan's tactic, which was designed to torment Blastoise, had ironically turned into Blastoise's weapon of choice for punishing him.
Not only that, as the relentless blows from Blastoise continued, Hidan was gradually knocked out of his ritual circle.
Once outside the circle, the curse's reflective damage ceased.
Blastoise noticed immediately and let out a triumphant roar. Without hesitation, it raised its twin water cannons and unleashed a barrage of high-pressure streams directly at Hidan.
Seeing this turn of events, Naruto couldn't help but chuckled.
Though Hidan was gravely injured, Naruto knew from experience how resilient he was. After all, it had taken Naruto over an hour of relentless effort to subdue him in the past. Hidan's endurance was nothing short of legendary.
Even with Blastoise's attacks, no matter how long it kept going, it wouldn't be able to kill Hidan.
Since the game was limited to just one hour, Naruto decided to let Blastoise vent its frustrations and enjoy the satisfaction of defeating its opponent.
Shifting his focus away from Hidan and Blastoise, Naruto turned his attention to Kisame, with a playful smirk on his face, "Now, it's your turn."
"No, no, Naruto-kun, please be reasonable! I didn't say a word of insult."
Kisame stammered, trembling slightly.
Under normal circumstances, he and Hidan would team up to distract Naruto, or at least endure a beating to buy time for Itachi and Kakuzu to destroy Naruto's snow fort. Even if they got beaten up, they would share the burden.
But now, with Hidan having insulted Blastoise and underestimated it, only to be beaten wildly, Kisame was left to face Naruto alone.
Kisame also strongly suspected that Naruto was in a foul mood due to Blastoise being injured. Facing Naruto now would be nothing short of suicidal, something Kisame had no intention of doing.
He couldn't help but curse Hidan in his heart for being an idiot!
"Relax, I'm not holding a grudge against you because of Blastoise." Naruto said, his smirk widening into a mischievous grin, "But the fact that your Team B and Team C ganged up on my Team A? I think we need to settle that score."
Naruto's expression was sinister, his tone playful yet menacing.
It was true that he had proposed a special reward for the winner, but had he really prepared something equivalent to the severe punishment for the losers?
The answer is no.
The reward was a ploy to attract the attention of Teams B and C. Without it, he knew that both teams would have avoided him entirely, leaving Team A without a chance to participate in the game.
"Naruto-kun, I swear on everything, I've never betrayed you! It was all Team C's idea. I'll switch sides right now and team up with you to eliminate Team C. Then we'll give the victory to your Team A. How about that?"
Though the game was part of their evaluation, Kisame knew there was no way he could win. He'd rather avoid a pointless beating from Naruto.
However, just as he finished speaking, two figures swiftly returned… it was Itachi and Kakuzu.
Itachi said indifferently, "You've lost, Naruto-kun!"
"What?"
Naruto blinked, somewhat baffled. He really didn't understand what Itachi meant.
'How could I lose when my snow fort was guarded by the shadow clones?'
"If you don't believe us, come back and see for yourself." Kakuzu said.
"Fine, let's go."
Naruto replied, then teleported himself, Itachi, Kakuzu, and Kisame back to the location of his snow fort using Flying Thunder God Technique.
When they arrived, the snow fort stood there intact, without any signs of damage.
"Damn it, you tricked me!"
Naruto realized quickly, but it was already too late.
At some point, Itachi's black pupils had transformed into his Mangekyo Sharingan, which now spun rapidly.
"Amaterasu!"
Whoosh!
The pitch-black flames instantly covered the entire snow fort.
With the enhancement from Weapon Blessing, Itachi did not feel any burden even when casting Amaterasu.
The snow fort, which was made of simple ice and snow, melted in mere moments under the intense flames of Amaterasu, leaving no time for repairs.
"Now, you've lost," Itachi stated, his tone as indifferent as ever.
"Damn it!"
Naruto was so angry that he didn't know what to say for a moment.
It was clearly him who had given Itachi special treatment, including continuous Weapon Blessing, but he didn't expect Itachi to repay him by using a dirty trick to destroy his snow fort.
But since it was just a game, Naruto couldn't truly get angry. After a long pause, he grumbled, "Goddamnit!"
"Thank you for the compliment, Naruto-kun," Itachi said stoically, as if taking Naruto's frustration as praise.
The fact that Itachi had outmaneuvered Naruto showed that he had succeeded in exceeding Naruto's expectations.
However, in the next moment, Kakuzu sneered, "Itachi, your team has lost. My clone has already destroyed all of Team B's snow forts. Victory belongs to Team C."
Since it was Itachi who melted Naruto's snow fort, even if Naruto was angry, he would only vent his anger on Itachi.
Kakuzu knew this, which is why he secretly send a shadow clone when he first went to the Team B's area, and now he destroyed the Team B's snow forts.
This was the true meaning of 'The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind'.