The cool air within the cave settled the weird hotness Naruto had been feeling. Focussing on the hunt, on a possible kill, made it more bearable and made Naruto feel more like himself.

There were clear indications around the cave's entrance that they were in the right place. For some reason, Hidan and Kazuku had left their garbage and belongings in plain sight, scattered along the cave as they went inside, but they themselves were deep within the cave. There was even lighting in the form of extinguished torches along the cave wall, all on the right side.

The group left the torches unlit, not wanting to draw unwanted attention to them should Hidan or Kazuku move around. Naruto had the least trouble navigating in the dark, feeling as free as he did underneath the rays of the sun. It was a little darker than the department because the torches weren't lit, but his eyes adjusted easily to it.

Naruto led the group through twists and turns complicated enough to worry even Shikamaru when it came to finding their way out again, but non of them dared break the silence to voice their worries.

After another five minutes of walking in almost complete darkness, there was light some distance away. The warm yellow glow seemed almost inviting if it wasn't for the smell that went along with it. It was a smell of death. Decay over a long period of time. Bugs were skittering across the ground, crunching underneath their feet from time to time. Every time the crunch echoed away from them, the group winced, hoping the echo didn't reach their targets.

Before they reached their destination Naruto suddenly came to a halt. Another idea popped into his mind. He turned around with an evil looking grin, the red gleam of his eye burning in the darkness. "Sorry." He whispered and then disappeared from sight, leaving the others standing in darkness without knowing which way to turn or where Naruto had disappeared to. Even the light that had shone so close by just moments ago dimmed and died out, leaving the group without any point of orientation.

Naruto made the rest of the trip alone, leaving the rest of the team under a weak Genjutsu to disorientate them. He felt compelled to at least try to end this hunt alone. His urge to comply to his feelings was too strong and he didn't want anyone else involved. Something was going to happen. Something severe, and the last thing he wanted was for his team mates to witness his inevitable meltdown. Besides that and more importantly, this was his hunt. It was going to be his kill. He didn't want to share any of that. He couldn't.

Licking his lips greedily, he crouched so low it looked like he was walking on all fours, low near the ground. The smell just intensified with each step he got closer, almost strong enough to overwhelm his sense of smell, but he picked up the scent of his targets easily out between the other scents. He could hear them now too, sneering at each other and shifting footsteps. He could feel the restlessness of their wait in the air, settling in him as well and leaving him quivering with excitement.

There weren't a lot of hiding spots in the cave. It opened up quite extensively, but it was big and open, no cover. The glow was just from a single torch mounted on the far end of the wall, casting shadows towards Naruto and providing him with the only type of cover he could get. Magnified by the distance the shadows showed a dance in the flickering light against the wall, masking Naruto's movement by blending in to the natural movement of the shadows.

Hidan and Kazuku stood arguing in the back of the cave, facing each other. Despite the cave's structure, their voices didn't echo far. Even at the other side of the room Naruto had trouble making out the words, but it didn't matter. They were prey. He was so near...

The source of the smell of death and decay was obvious now, multiple dismembered bodies littered the ground, forming a pile of rot and gore. The bodies were festering with Carrion beetles and flies, making Naruro wonder how the hell his prey was able to stand being enclosed with it, let alone live here for several weeks.

Naruto noticed red circles with triangles in them drawn on the ground, dried blood, and avoided stepping in them.

Using the shadows on the wall to cover his own, he worked his way ever closer. His heart was pounding in his throat at the idea of him succeeding and pounded faster at the idea of failing, getting caught and having to fight for his life, but as long as he wasn't spotted, as long as he maintained the element of surprise, he would have the upper hand. The adrenaline only drove him to go further, to get closer and await the perfect moment to strike.

"We've been here too fucking long! Even the damned locals avoid the roads because people keep disappearing. There is no fucking way we can stay here much longer without being found!" Hidan hissed in a low voice. Naruro smirked, they had no idea how right Hidan was.

"It is not my fault people disappeared. That was your doing. I told you it would get too much attention, but no, your ridiculously useless rituals needed to be done." Kazuku said. Compared to Hidan, Kazuku sounded controlled and even.

"You know why!" Hidan growled out.

"Yes, how could I not? You never shut up about your precious Yashin. All I asked was that you kept a few hearts intact, but you insist on destroying them with your worthless rituals." Kazuzku threw back.

"There is more to life than just fucking money, Kazuku! Something worthwhile can give more than just money!" Hidan retorted. Naruto grinned as he stood hidden in the shadows listening to the fight and enjoying the fact he had gotten so close. His prey was distracted and open, leaving him free to slowly creep up on them.

He was close enough now. Close enough to pierce either of their hearts before the other would even notice. The problem was, he now needed to make a decision. Take down one will mean fight the other, so which one felt like the least threatening? Hidan, probably, so he was going to go for Kazuku first.

Silently, he drew his Katana. He still wasn't very practiced with it, but a stab didn't require a monumental amount of skill.

The move was swift and hit its target perfectly, stabbing Kazuku from the back, straight through the heart. Naruto stood smirking behind him and pulled back the Katana, waiting for Kazuku to drop dead. His smirk fell fast when Kazuku didn't. Instead, Kazuku turned around in anger and immediately launched an attack at Naruto. "What the Hell!" Naruto yelled. "Why aren't you dead? Or bleeding?" Naruto was almost angry. What kind of monster didn't bleed? Or die when stabbed through the heart?

"Konoha nin? What are you doing here?" Kazuku asked, as he turned around while taking a swing at Naruto. Naruto easily avoided the swing, jumping back a few meters. He sneered at Kazuku. "What's the use if you don't bleed? This is no fun!" He pouted. He was actually feeling disappointed and just wanted to sulk. Maybe he should have gone for Hidan?

"Finally, someone who fucking understands!" Hidan yelled back with the same type of disgruntlement.

Naruto didn't get the time to think too much about it as Kazuku attacked him right away, quickly followed by a scythe attack from Hidan. It didn't take much for Hidan to take the lead in the fight, leaving Kazuku some time to recover from his pierced heart.

Hidan's attacks were fast and made unpredictable by the use of the extending chain of his scythe. For a few moments, Naruto was just avoiding getting hit, and avoiding ending up in the pile of rotting corpses as he did so. It was a little hard to see openings in Hidan's attacks, but Naruto still managed to retaliate on some occasions, blocking the scythe with his Katana.

It didn't take long for Kazuku to also jump into the frey, attacking in the openings left by Hidan and effectively running Naruto down quickly. Both were yet to leave an injury, but at the rate the fight was going, Naruto was going to be in trouble.

At the same time, he hadn't been this exhilarated in a long time. He was actually fighting seriously and he was having trouble with it! But even he had to admit he underestimated his chances, too swept up in his need to hunt, following his instincts, and now he was hunted instead of hunter...

Naruto did notice something very interesting about his opponents, though. Kazuku had a new heart beating in his chest and Hidan was getting visibly more and more angry and frustrated with each hit that didn't manage to draw blood. It were tell-tale signs for weaknesses, but knowing the weaknesses wasn't enough to act on them. Ahh, even Naruto himself realised he had been stupid with this all...

He was still the first to draw actual blood. A quick twist and turn to stay out of Kazuku's reach resulted in landing in a perfect position to land a blow with his Katana on Hidan, and Naruto didn't miss his chance. His cut started at Hidan's right hip, slashing it upwards all the way to his left shoulder, leaving a cut deep enough to disembowel a regular person. Instead of screaming out and crumbling to the floor, Hidan just started laughing loudly and maniacally. It seemed like he savoured the pain, ending in an evil grin that could rival Naruto's from time to time.

Kazuku, noticing his partner's increasing deranged state, opted for a tactical retreat and slunk back to the very back of the cave. To keep out of the way of Hidan and not endanger himself in the process. He knew Hidan had a tendency to forget his allies, just as much as he himself did when he went berserk. Granted, Hidan didn't get out of his way and Hidan's immortality has prevented Kazuku from killing him on several occasions, but that didn't mean Kazuku wanted to get caught between Hidan and his target.

Hidan started lashing out at almost twice the speed as before, pushing Naruto once again into just dodging and reflecting blows, hoping for small openings to retaliate.

In the end, fatigue settled in and Naruto's reaction were becoming slower, while Hidan seemed unbothered by the gaping wound and the dragging of the battle. The scythe nicked Naruto's neck. A shallow cut, but enough to bleed a little. "Yes! Yashin will get His sacrifice! I will start my ritual and I will end you!" Hidan cried out, his eyes bulging, a smirk on his lips and a greedy look in his eyes.

Hidan started drawing one of those circles that were littering the cave ground with blood. He kept smirking as he licked Naruto's blood off the scythe. His skin turned black with white skeleton-like markings and he kept holding eye contact with Naruto. Just before Hidan finished his drawing, Naruto smirked at him as well, matching the madness in Hidan's eyes with his own. Eye contact with a Genjutsu user is not the most advisable thing to do...

Hidan froze in his place. His mind was overtaken with his biggest fears. He saw himself dying, in so many ways in such a short time and each death felt terrifyingly real, but the real terror didn't come from the visions in which he died. It came in those in which he lived. Quartered and buried in seperate places, left to starve for an eternity in an empty cell, pierced through all his joints, leaving him immobilised. The images flashed so fast he barely had the time to digest it all, but they all came down to the same. Restriction, starvation, isolation in various degrees of severity and in each case he was made to endure the endlessly slow torture for the rest of his hopelessly eternal life, unrelenting and unending.

Naruto took a few steps back to breath. The chase had worn him out to some degree. Luckily he still healed really fast and the shallow cut in his neck was already disappearing. With Hidan occupied for at least a short while, he turned his attention towards Kazuku.

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