Shigeo Aburame had no idea what kind of wild thoughts Sasuke was imagining.
After driving away two unrelated parties, Shigeo returned to Hidan. He first confiscated the bloody three-bladed scythe and then pulled out a sturdy rope.
Although the earlier tragedy was merely an illusion cast by Sasuke, it served as a wake-up call for Shigeo.
*"I need to be more cautious in the future. Never give the enemy the slightest opportunity."*
With that thought, he folded the rope in half, tied three knots, and looped it around Hidan's neck. He quickly secured a precise and traditional *tortoise shell binding*.
Once the binding was complete, Shigeo hung Hidan face-down from a nearby tree branch.
"Mmm! Mmm!"
Hidan, immobilized by the paralysis jutsu, couldn't resist or speak since his mouth was gagged. All he could do was let out muffled whimpers.
Shigeo, clearly annoyed, slapped him. "Stop whining. You're supposed to be a murderous demon from the Land of Hot Water. Don't disgrace your Jashin faith. Chin up—I need a clean cut!"
"Mmm! Mmm!"
Hidan whimpered even louder.
This time, Shigeo didn't bother to respond. He pulled out a kunai and, with a sharp thrust, stabbed it into Hidan's neck.
"Ugh… Mmm!"
Hidan's eyes widened as veins popped out on his face.
Moments later, blood spurted from the wound, pooling beneath him.
"Hiss... Hey now, let's not waste it!"
Shigeo gasped in mock concern and quickly released dozens of blood-feeding insects to synthesize.
Although the insects fed on Hidan's blood, they didn't inherit his "immortality" or "curse" abilities. The amount of chakra they returned didn't even increase.
However, they did gain resistance to ninjutsu.
This resistance greatly reduced the damage caused by elemental techniques like fire, wind, water, lightning, and earth.
When the resistance transferred back to Shigeo, it enhanced his own resilience to these attacks. It was a rather niche perk.
*"Still, it's better than nothing,"* Shigeo thought. While he wouldn't willingly stand still and take hits, every little advantage mattered.
Driven by the motto, *"You can never have too many skills,"* Shigeo released hundreds more blood-feeding insects to synthesize with Hidan's blood.
As the resistant insects increased, Shigeo was pleasantly surprised to discover that the resistances stacked!
Theoretically, with enough resistant insects, his body could achieve complete immunity to ninjutsu.
*"Fire Release? Nice and warm. Wind Release? A gentle breeze."*
"This is the ultimate defense attribute!" Shigeo beamed with excitement and worked even harder on the synthesis.
Unfortunately, after synthesizing over 500 resistant insects, he had to stop.
Hidan had run out of blood.
*Sigh… Just when I was getting into it!*
He sighed and patted Hidan's pale face.
"Hey, Hidan. Make more blood. I'm running low. Aren't you immortal? Come on, I know you can do it. Hang in there!"
"..."
Hidan didn't respond. Silent tears rolled down his cheeks, reflecting his inner despair.
Seeing this, Shigeo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
*"Immortality sustains the body's functions, but it's not limitless. It doesn't follow the law of energy conservation. Maybe I need a different approach."*
With this in mind, Shigeo removed the gag from Hidan's mouth and stuffed in some dried rations. Then he used a stick to push it deeper down.
"Mmm!"
Hidan groaned as his face turned red.
Moments later, blood began flowing from his neck wound again.
"It worked!"
Shigeo exclaimed with joy and resumed the synthesis process.
After a few dozen more resistant insects were synthesized, Hidan's complexion turned pale again, and his blood stopped flowing.
Undeterred, Shigeo repeated the process. He stuffed more rations into Hidan's mouth, pushed it down, and waited for him to generate more blood. Then, he continued synthesizing resistant insects.
Eventually, he ran out of his own rations. Even the supplies on the two fallen Takigakure ninjas nearby were completely scavenged.
Just as he was pondering his next move, a massive wild boar charged out of the woods, snorting loudly.
Shigeo's face lit up with excitement.
"Perfect timing!"
With a leap, he landed on the boar's head and delivered a powerful punch.
*Bam!*
*Thud!*
The boar collapsed, blood trickling from its snout, dead as could be.
Shigeo wasted no time. He grabbed the bloody three-bladed scythe and began slicing the boar's meat, stuffing it—hair and all—into Hidan's mouth.
The pungent, raw flavor made Hidan retch violently.
"Blegh..."
"Swallow it!"
Shigeo quickly jabbed with a stick, forcing the partially vomited meat back down.
"Ugh..."
Hidan's eyes rolled back, but blood began spurting from his neck again.
Shigeo resumed his synthesis with renewed enthusiasm.
This time, he was more efficient. Whenever Hidan's bleeding slowed, he fed him more boar meat and ensured it stayed down.
The synthesis process sped up considerably, but the boar meat ran out just as quickly. Soon, only a pile of bloody bones and a heap of foul-smelling intestines remained.
"Well... Waste not, want not..."
Pinching his nose, Shigeo grabbed the intestines and started feeding them to Hidan.
"Don't bite too hard! They might burst!"
"Blegh..."
"Stop wasting it! Keep eating!"
"Blegh… Mmm!"
...
When the boar was completely consumed, Hidan slumped lifelessly, drooling profusely. His blank stare said it all—he was utterly broken.
"Looks like he can't handle meat anymore," Shigeo mused, stroking his chin. Then, with a snap of his fingers, he brightened.
"I know! Time for veggies!"
He grabbed the scythe and began harvesting grass from the nearby clearing.
Seeing this, Hidan's already pale face grew even whiter, and his gaze filled with terror.
"No... No... Please, no..."
"Stop whining. Eat up. It'll cleanse your palate!"
"Mmm!"
After several bundles of grass, Hidan produced another few liters of blood, contributing greatly to Shigeo's synthesis work.
Hidan felt like a cow, eating grass and churning out milk—or in this case, blood.
Unaware of Hidan's misery, Shigeo focused entirely on synthesizing resistant insects and gathering food supplies.
When the grass was gone, he switched to hay, then grass roots, tree bark, and leaves. Whatever he could find, he fed to Hidan.
His hard work paid off. With tens of thousands of resistant insects synthesized, Shigeo's ninjutsu immunity skyrocketed.
As long as the opponent's ninjutsu wasn't S-rank, he could shrug it off unscathed.
Yet Shigeo wasn't satisfied.
"All the regular blood-feeding insects have been synthesized. Now it's time for the Uchiha insects, blood fairy insects, and wood release insects. Let's go!"
Motivating himself, he turned to the tearful Hidan and clenched his fist.
"Hidan, let's keep pushing forward! We can do it!"
Hearing this, Hidan burst into sobs.
"Monster... You're a monster... Lord Jashin, please save me..."
*(End of Chapter)*