Tempted by Darui's idea, the six Kumo ninjas quickly stored the dead bodies of their comrades and prepared themselves to move.
Darui looked at everyone and said, "We don't know whether he can activate his curse with any blood or only the blood he draws. So, if any of you have any cuts, get healed and apply bandages. Not a drop of your blood should flow while fighting against him."
Everyone nodded. C quickly healed everyone and they restarted their chase in a hurry! Despite it not being their mission, everyone knew that the Raikage would be more pleased with Hidan's body rather than eliminating Fujin. Hence, they gave up on their official mission entirely.
Some distance away, Hidan was running at a fast speed. He was holding his left arm in his right hand while he was running away. He cursed, "What strong bastards! If I didn't catch them by surprise and escaped, that motherfucker would have cut me into several pieces! I will find them later and sacrifice them to Lord Jashin."
Though Hidan's arm was cut, his wounds had long stopped bleeding. In fact, he wasn't even feeling any weakness. And, he was well aware of the fact that even with his immortality, he wouldn't win against them. So, he was rushing ahead at a rapid speed.
This loss also made Hidan slightly wiser. He thought, 'I now understand why Shikabane took so much effort to ensure that we didn't leave any trail. I need to do the same as well. But it is so much fucking work!'
Kumo ninjas didn't anticipate that Hidan would move faster than ever and would take efforts to make trailing him more difficult. As such, their new chase would be many times more difficult than their previous chase despite being much closer.
While the Kumo ninjas chased after Hidan, Fujin and Shiro's Shadow Clones reached the location where Darui's team was when the injured Kumo ninja found them. With Shiro's ability, they easily found blood at the spot where that ninja had died.
Shiro's clone inspected the place and said, "The same 9 scents are lingering here. But if we continue forward, one scent disappears. I guess 8 Kumo ninjas fought with Hidan and only one managed to escape here. He met with another squad of 8 ninjas here, most likely from Kumo, and they went back to find him. That is why there were 17 scents there."
Fujin's clone nodded. He had reached the same conclusion. He said, "Well, it looks like this is a dead end. Still, it clears up the picture. Let's dispel ourselves."
Both clones dispelled themselves and sent the memories back to their main bodies. Fujin immediately analyzed the memories, 'Hmm, so that's how it was. But Shiro can only smell 8 other scents other than Hidan occasionally. That ninja who escaped should have died as well.
I wonder who the Kumo ninjas chasing Hidan are and whether they would be able to stop or stall him for long enough. It'll be great if they can exhaust him enough to force him to take a nap. Otherwise, this will be a rather long hunt.'
A little while later, the Giant Drill-Pecked Bird reached the location where the first clash between Hidan and Kumo ninjas happened. Hovering above the area, they scanned the lands below.
Kakuzu said, "There is no one here. Tracking them will take a lot of effort considering that it has been a while since they fought here."
Konan said, "Wait for some time. Zetsu sent a clone to keep an eye on him."
While she was speaking, a White Zetsu appeared from the ground. He took a few heavy breaths and said, "I ran so much!"
The bird flew lower and landed on the ground in front of him. The White Zetsu looked at Konan and said, "Hidan has escaped to the east and fought with another Kumo squad led by Darui. I couldn't watch the fight, but Hidan ran away once again while the Kumo ninjas gave chase again.
They are moving to the South East. I tried to track them but their sensor sensed me and they tried looking for me. So you will have to find them on your own."
After getting the location from White Zetsu, Konoha flew once again. Thanks to the speed of the bird, they overtook Fujin's squad and reached the location where Darui and Hidan clashed before the Konoha ninjas. After inspecting, Konan said, "If we keep flying, we won't be able to search for clues. We will move on foot from here onwards. Itachi, check if you can find any tracks."
Itachi activated his Sharingan. He immediately found a few tracks and the trio began moving.
Around half an hour later, Fujin's squad reached the location where Hidan and Darui's squad had clashed. Shiro inspected the place and a frown appeared on his face.
He reported, "This place has Hidan's scent and 8 scents that were in the previous place. However, there are 4 new additional scents. One of them smells like a bird. I'm not sure if they are chasing as well or if they were just passing through…"
His words surprised the team. Fujin asked, "Do you recognize any of their scents?"
Shiro answered, "I feel that one scent is a bit familiar. Unfortunately, I can't recall whose scent it is. It must have been a long time since I encountered that person."
Fujin didn't find it odd. After all, it was impossible for anyone to remember everyone's scent for years. It was the same as normal people forgetting the faces and names of someone they hadn't met for a long time.
Fujin said, "I see. Check in which directions all the scents here are travelling. Hisao, check if you can see anything odd around."
The two immediately got to work. Fujin and Ken used their chakra fields and Space-Time Sensing Technique to see if they could find something. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything for them to detect.
Shiro and Hisao quickly found tracks and the team began moving once again. Shiro said, "Of the 13 people, 10 are moving in this direction. They are Hidan, six people from the 2nd group and 3 people from this new group. The one who smells like a bird isn't moving on this route."
Fujin was confused. He analyzed, 'Which ninja smells like a bird? Is it someone with a bird summoning? Or is it a bird summoned by one of those 3 people? Also, Kumo lost 2 more ninjas. It looks like they suffered losses at the hands of Hidan once again.
But since they weren't wiped out, this squad should be quite strong. But considering that Hidan escaped, they shouldn't be too strong. At the very least, the Raikage and the two Jinchurikis shouldn't be among those six.
Since they are still chasing, they should be quite strong. I'm guessing there should be one or two Elite Jounins in that squad, giving them the confidence to still chase Hidan. Unless of course, it's them who are escaping with Hidan chasing them. That would be a sight to see, hahaha.'
Fujin couldn't help but wonder who it could be if it was indeed an Elite Jounin chasing Hidan. Involuntarily, he recalled Darui and his previous squad when he was a Chunin which met their demise against the Kumo ninjas under Darui's command.
The situation changed once again. Hidan was running at the foremost. He was being chased by 6 Kumo ninjas led by Darui. However, they were finding it increasingly difficult to trail him properly. They were followed by the three Akatsuki members who were moving at a very rapid speed.
Behind them was Fujin's squad. Despite not being as fast as the Akatsuki members, Fujin's squad still moved at the fastest speed as they had four trails and ninjas who were excellent at tracking. As a result, they never had to waste any time in confirming that they were on the right track. It was an advantage that neither Kumo ninjas nor Akatsuki members had.
Elsewhere, the Yugakure and Shimogakure ninjas encountered each other. They began moving together in search of Hidan. Shimogakure ninjas weren't interested in fighting Hidan, but they offered their help to find him and to ensure that other Shimogakure ninjas didn't fight them. Unfortunately, their squads were left far behind.
After a couple of hours, the Kumo ninjas finally stopped! C said, "It's getting increasingly difficult to keep track of him. How is that bastard still running? There are two trails in front of us. What do we do?"
Darui replied, "Let's split up. We will move in squads of three. Whoever finds him will send a signal to the other team. Don't fight him recklessly. Just keep him at bay and don't lose sight of him until the other squad meets up."
The Kumo ninjas nodded. They split into two squads and began moving ahead. When Akatsuki reached the same location, they fell into a dilemma as well. Itachi said, "There are three different tracks ahead of us. It is difficult to say which one is Hidan."
Konan thought for a bit and said, "Let's split up."
She created a few butterflies made of paper which flew and landed on Itachi and Kakuzu's shoulders and said, "I will use the butterflies to communicate if any of us find him. Let's move quickly."
The three of them split up and began moving rapidly. Though Konan and Kakuzu weren't as good as Itachi at tracking, they were still quite good at it.
