How Kurama Leads Naruto Astray

"You're from... the Akatsuki!" Naruto landed on the ground, his face serious as he looked at the two people in front of him.

"Hoshigaki Kisame," Kisame said with a grin. "We met back when Itachi-san was still around."

"That crazy huge chakra?" Naruto instantly remembered who this guy was.

Back when Sasuke fought Itachi, there had been a powerful chakra nearby. But that guy was handled by Kakashi, so Naruto didn't really get to see him. Now that he was sensing it himself, the chakra was definitely the same.

After that, Naruto looked at the other guy next to Kisame. "Who's this guy?"

His chakra felt strange—unnaturally evil. It made Naruto frown without thinking.

Wearing the Akatsuki cloak and carrying a triple-bladed scythe on his back, it was clear this was Hidan, one of the two immortal duo.

Hidan had that same cocky expression as always, acting like he didn't care about anything. "You're that Uzumaki Naruto from Konoha, right? You've got some nice chakra. Want to join my religion?"

"Join a religion? What is this, a pyramid scheme?" Naruto shot back without thinking.

"Pyramid scheme? What's that?" Hidan froze for a second.

He wasn't exactly the smartest — to be kind, you could say he was straightforward; to be blunt, he was just plain dumb.

"Doesn't matter. I'm not joining your whatever-it-is religion anyway." Naruto waved his hand, stood tall, and looked right at them. "So what are you here for? Trying to stop me from saving Gaara?"

"You little…" Hidan jumped up angrily.

But before he could say anything, Kisame spoke first. "The One-Tail is a must. So no, we're not letting you go save him."

"Just the two of you?" Naruto was feeling more confident than ever. He wasn't trying to mock them, but his meaning was clear. "If both of you were on the same level as Brother Nagato, maybe you could hold me back for a bit. Your chakra doesn't feel weak, but you're still not quite there."

And it was true. In the Akatsuki, Nagato could fight multiple enemies using Pain alone—and still win.

Sure, that was only possible because it wasn't a fight to the death and both sides knew each other's abilities, but still—it showed that Nagato was 

one of the strongest in the Akatsuki.

And as for Naruto, honestly, he could beat Nagato one-on-one without even taking a hit.

Kisame actually thought the same thing. He smiled and said, "You're right. The two of us definitely aren't a match for you. We know that."

Then Kisame changed his tone. "But everyone has something they believe in, something they'd risk their life to do. For me, this is it."

Everyone has something they'd fight for, no matter what, even if it doesn't seem noble or meaningful.

Naruto understood that feeling. It was the same way he felt when he faced Neji, or later when he stood against Shukaku, or even when he fought Doto in the Land of Snow. Even when he knew he might die, he never backed down—he always gave it everything he had.

— ¶ —————————————————————

But in this regard, Kisame standing in front of him wasn't much different from himself.

Thinking this, Naruto's tone became a little more serious. "I have to save Gaara too. It's a promise I made to a friend."

He was doing it for a friend. Kisame was doing it for his ideals.

As they spoke, the blood-red triple scythe cut through the air with the sound of chains clashing, flying straight toward Naruto. The cold gleam made Naruto frown, and he quickly jumped back.

The scythe missed. Hidan grinned and yanked the chain, pulling the weapon back and resting it on his shoulder. "So rude. I wasn't even finished talking."

"Who's the rude one here?" Naruto stood at a distance.

"I don't care! If you won't listen to me, you're rude!" Hidan shouted like a maniac. He grabbed his scythe tight and charged at Naruto with killing intent.

Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance. This guy was seriously unreasonable.

He pulled out a kunai, ready to fight him head-on.

At almost the same moment, Kurama's voice echoed in his mind: "Two things to keep in mind. First, Hidan's jutsu is really weird. I don't know if it'll work on you, but you'd better make sure he doesn't get your blood."

"Second, the team in front of you is clearly set up to deal with you, and you don't have much time to waste. My advice—go all out, take them both down, then go save Gaara."

Kurama speaking so seriously actually surprised Naruto a little.

He flipped out of the way of Hidan's attack, backing off as he asked, 

"Is Hidan's jutsu really that tricky?"

"I never told you?" Kurama was full of question marks. He could've sworn he told Naruto about all the Akatsuki members' powers a long time ago. Did this guy forget again?

Naruto coughed awkwardly and jumped into the air. "Maybe you could… tell me again?"

"Even a fish has a better memory than you," Kurama said with a sneer.

Here's a fun fact: fish actually don't just have seven-second memories. Scientists have done studies—whatever the details were—but the result was that fish can remember things for several weeks, even over a month.

And it's not like only some fish have short memories. In the tests, over 80% of fish remembered things for more than a week, and the rest for at least three days. So the whole "seven-second memory" thing is a myth.

Naruto nodded, then paused with a confused look. "Okay, but what does that have to do with me?"

"I'm insulting you, you idiot," Kurama snapped. "Listen closely. I'll say it one last time. Hidan's jutsu is called 'Curse with Blood'. He has a way of linking your body to his, so any injury he takes gets passed to you."

"That doesn't sound that scary," Naruto said casually. "Unless he's trying to die with me."

"Idiot," Kurama rolled his eyes. "Hidan's second ability is that he can't die. And right now, no one in the ninja world knows how his immortality even works."

"And to activate his jutsu, he needs your blood."

Naruto froze. "So he's basically unbeatable?"

"That's why I'm telling you—don't let them get your blood," Kurama said, nodding with a hint of emotion.

You had to admit, Obito wasn't dumb. At this point, there's pretty much no one left in the ninja world who could kill Naruto in a straight fight. His sensing and healing abilities had already reached a level far beyond normal.

The only way to kill Naruto now would be to destroy his brain instantly. Even breaking his heart wouldn't work anymore—it might just put him in a death-like state for a while, but he'd recover eventually.

Just like in the original story, when Madara took a full hit from Guy's Eight Gates and still didn't die. That's how tough it is to kill someone like Naruto.

Hmm… hold on.

Now that he thought about it… Naruto didn't seem all that different from Hidan...

---

You can read 10 Chapters ahead on my

pat reon.com/GMadman