Chapter 350   - Ch350. Temari And Gaara Vs Hidan

Temari marveled at how easily Sasori riled up the lanky scythe wielder. It was a mixture of ignoring his presence as if he was totally unimportant while trash-talking him alongside his partner. She surmised these two hadn't been working together for long since the calmer one seemed to be utterly unaware of how irritated his partner became when he started calling him annoying.

The result?

The scythe wielder was rushing at Sasori with murder in his eyes, totally disregarding his surroundings.

It would have been a sin not to make use of his distraction.

Plus... she was aware Sasori wanted her to take on the scythe wielder. His small talk with the calmer one told her that much. At first, she thought he was being awfully chatty but when he started giving subtle hints of what he wanted her to do, the reason became obvious.

Temari quickly swung her battle fan, channeling her chakra through it and using an advanced Wind manipulation to form and send at the guy a barely visible wind construct that was occasionally showing its shape via shimmering when it was not blending into the surrounding. Much like with her basic wind slashes, she didn't need to invoke the name of her Jutsu which only added the stealth effect.

The scythe wielder only noticed it when it was far too late. Her wind construct took a firm hold of him and carried him away, further into the forest.

"Let's go." She turned towards Gaara, getting an acknowledging nod in return. She could take the guy on by herself but she didn't want to undermine Sasori's authority. Unfortunately, this was not a time to show off for Rei. Moreover, if she so blatantly disobeyed orders and left Gaara behind, it wouldn't make her look good anyway.

Before they could start running after the unwillingly relocated Hidan, Rei decided to give them a small bit of advice.

"Don't let yourself be cut by him." He started, stopping Temari and Gaara in their tracks, "If you let him get a hold of your blood, make sure to prevent him from forming his ritualistic circle. And if you let him get your blood and make the circle, then you will have to prevent him from stabbing himself in a fatal place for it would kill you. Just make sure to gently remove him from the ritualistic circle before destroying it with Earth Jutsu or something." He quickly summed it up, knowing they didn't have the time for a lengthy explanation.

Hearing him, both Temari and Gaara seriously nodded, understanding that Rei's warning is not just because he is bored, and disappeared in a burst of speed, rushing towards Hidan.

They found him half a kilometer further in the forest, cursing like a sailor as the multiple cuts on his body caused by Temari's Jutsu were significantly restricting his movement.

Temari frowned at that. 'The Wind Snake should have carried him at least a kilometer away and shred him to pieces. His body must be incredibly strong if his struggle managed to drain the chakra reserves in the Jutsu so fast.' She glanced at Gaara who, judging by how his eyebrows furrowed, clearly also understood this too.

'Ranged, it is.' Their eyes met and the plan of engagement was instantly formed.

Separating, the two siblings ran in opposite directions to get into a position where they could better support each other with ranged attacks without needlessly endangering each other.

Hidan finally noticed them and his expression twisted into a scowl, "That hurt you bitch!" He screamed at Temari. "It almost made me aroused! You are quite good girly. So much pain. Ah~, so good!" His eyes briefly rolled back as a stupid grin stretched on his lips.

It was gone as quick as it arrived though and Hidan abruptly focused on Temari with sharp focus, "A pity I gotta kill ya. Maybe we could have some fun before I sacrifice you, what do ya say?" He proposed.

"No, thanks." Temari sneered in reply, her disgust apparent from her expression. She would rather die than let this creep touch her.

"Ah, whatever. Not like I need your permission. In fact, it is better that you will resist! I will just cut off your limbs and then take you. It will be glorious!" Hidan exclaimed and spun his scythe around his body, bending his knees in preparation for a mad dash straight at Temari... and leaped.

His speed was nothing to scoff at but the distance between him and Temari was considerable so both she and Gaara had enough time to counter him.

Hidan was already halfway through the distance towards his target when he suddenly felt something tightly wrap around his right leg, pulling him back. It almost caused him to trip as he was mid-dash. Only thanks to his trained reflexes did he manage to put his left foot forward, stabilizing his balance.

His dash, however, was interrupted.

Hidan looked down and saw a small tendril of sand wrapped around his right ankle, causing him to snarl as his eyes found Gaara who was now positioned straight behind him.

"You dare to stand in the way of Jashin-sama!? I will gut you, you heretical swine!" He hysterically screamed as he turned around, preparing to throw his scythe at Gaara...

A colossal amount of pressurized wind smashed into his back, causing his feet to leave the ground as it propelled him forward and broke his spine in several places.

'Heh, turning your back at me.' Temari thought with a sadistic smirk.

Hidan was uncontrollably barreling through the air, straight towards Gaara. Unfortunately for him, Gaara wasn't about to let him come closer and used the tendril of sand still binding his ankle to jerkily stop him. This made his body come to an abrupt halt and smash into the ground face-first with a bone-shattering crunch as a crater was created under him.

Frankly, it was a bit disappointing. The man was clearly physically strong and fast enough to pose a threat even to the strongest people in Sunagakure but his modus operandi was basically just run, hack, and slash, rinse and repeat. It wasn't hard to outsmart him.

Gaara and Temari thought it was over and started to slowly approach Hidan's body. Gaara was closer so he naturally arrived first...

Only for Hidan to spring up, his body somehow healed from the injuries they inflicted upon him and his eyes gleaming with madness as he brandished his scythe at the surprised Gaara who was now in his range. Hidan's scythe rushed through the air, straight at Gaara's right shoulder.

The scythe was getting closer and closer and Hidan's smile was widening and gaining more blood-lusting appearance by the second. As the blade of his scythe was about to bite into the soft flesh of his victim, his world for some reason turned black.

'That was close. I was careless.' Gaara thought in displeasure, watching as a massive amount of sand erupted from underneath him, engulfing Hidan, stopping his attack, and washing him away like a tsunami.

Even Temari had to jump upward and use her battle fan to float in the air as the veritable ocean of sand flooded a good part of the forest, breaking and flattening trees.

Temari flew towards Gaara who was standing on a floating platform made of sand, "You should be more careful." She gently admonished. Despite his power, her brother was not very experienced. She liked to coddle him which might or might not have resulted in him not getting any 'dangerous' missions since he became a genin. His combat experience amounted to occasional sparring with her or Lady Pakura.

"You are right." Gaara impassively nodded as they landed on the ground. "I didn't expect him to be capable of healing. Your Jutsu clearly snapped his spine so I thought that was it."

"Let's make sure he is incapacitated for real this time, shall we?" Temari grinned and affectionately ruffled Gaara's hair, making him frown at her in embarrassment.

"Yeah..." He mumbled, knowing that trying to make her stop was futile.

It was then that Hidan erupted from the sand close to them... but Temari already expected that. Anyone who could survive her pressurized wind would have no problem surviving Gaara's sand tsunami. Especially since he didn't harden it.

The second Hidan jumped from the sand, he was impacted with yet another Wind Jutsu resembling a tornado. It was a very brutal and powerful one. Hidan's body was suspended in the air, unable to escape as wave after wave of sharpened swirling wind landed on him like a cutting whiplash. Chunks of his body were continuously being cut off, flying all over the place due to the strong winds. A faint crimson mist started to form around him from all the blood that was brutally slashed out of his body and Hidan could only scream as his body was being dismantled.

Temari manipulated the winds with her chakra, causing the pieces of Hidan to fly all over the sandy ocean created by Gaara, making sure they are not too close to each other.

Understanding what his sister wanted, Gaara started to bury these body parts deep underground, making them sink into his sand as if it was hungry quicksand.

It didn't take long for almost all of Hidan to be completely cut apart and be buried all over the place. It was brutal, bloody, ruthless... and efficient.

Temari refused to give Hidan an opportunity to showcase his strength. It was better to dispatch him before he found out how to counter their ranged attacks.

"We are done here. He won't be shrugging off that." Temari said, doubting their opponent could get out of this even if he could heal fatal injuries.

"Ah, just one little assurance, then." Gaara said in his usual monotone and knelt down on one knee, slamming his palm into the sand, "Grand Sand Burial!" An underground shockwave spread through the ocean of sand, pressurizing and compressing it, crushing anything inside of it.

Temari chuckled, nodding her approval before she turned around, intending to return to Rei and Tsunade, only to stumble.

Gaara quickly caught her, worry apparent on his face.

"Ah... This last one was my special S-rank Jutsu. Don't worry. I just slightly overexerted myself. Nothing a good night's sleep can't fix." She reassured him. 'Maybe I can ask Rei for a massage, hehe...'

...

Temari and Gaara returned in almost no time. Rei and Tsunade were quite impressed with how easily they dispatched Hidan. Naturally, they observed the fight and the strategy the siblings used was commendable. A pincer attack by two range-oriented fighters was extremely effective against close-quarters combatants.

Especially the stupid ones.

As they came closer, Temari approached Tsunade. "Any use for this?" She asked as she dangled Hidan's severed head in front of her, holding it by his hair.

"What do you think I would need that for?" Tsunade lifted her eyebrow at the girl, amused at the hateful and somewhat aroused look of the still alive Hidan, and suspected the man would be barking one vulgarity after another while moaning if his tongue was not cut off.

"Well, Lady Pakura always says you are interested in dubious medical experiments and I think a guy capable of surviving having his head cut off would fall into that category." Temari nonchalantly shrugged.

Tsunade gave Hidan's head a deep look for a moment before she shook her head, "Nah. Not interested."

"Oh, well." Temari nodded and was about to throw Hidan's head away, intending to let Gaara bury it as the rest of his body but Rei interjected.

"Give it here." He said, taking out a scroll from his pocket.

His interest in the severed head surprised even Tsunade and he suddenly found himself under the scrutiny of five pairs of eyes. "Burying him fully is unsafe. Someone," Rei's eyes flickered towards the spot from where Zetsu was watching them, making Tsunade's eyes gain an understanding glint, "could easily dig him out and put him back together. I am taking the head with us." He explained with a small innocent smile, utterly ignoring how ruthless he sounded to Hidan.

In fact, the jashinist would have shivered in pleasure at such brutality if he still had his body. These people... judging by their ruthlessness and brutality, they definitely must have been Jashinists in their past lives!

---

Author Note:

So... yeah, you might notice that Hidan went down VERY easily.

Honestly, I have a hard time imagining Hidan being capable of putting up a fight against even Shippuden Temari. The Temari in my story is definitely a lot stronger so it is only natural that he got dismantled like a kid fighting an adult.

I mean... every Akatsuki member has techniques and smarts to get around in any kind of situation except Hidan. I always thought Hidan would be next to useless against a bonafide ranged fighter who knows what he or she is doing and won't let him get close.

Plus, it is not obvious from the story but Hidan at this stage is a newbie in Akatsuki.. He is not yet at the level he was when he fought Asuma, so there is that. (And I also didn't really want to stretch this fight to multiple chapters)