A few minutes later, Fujin's team reached the same location. For the first time, their team stopped. Shiro inspected the scents and said, "They have split into three groups and are moving along three paths."
Hisao nodded and agreed with his observation. Fujin asked, "Which path did Hidan take?"
Shiro pointed in one direction and said, "He is moving along this path. Only one other person is moving in this direction. He is from the last group."
Fujin instructed, "Let's keep following him."
The Konoha ninjas continued moving. Fujin didn't particularly care about the Kumo ninjas or the other group. He only wanted Hidan. Unfortunately, as everyone split up, he wasn't sure of how he could get Hidan alone and read up his memories.
He calculated, "I was initially planning to use the Kumo group to split our group and catch Hidan alone. I could knock him out and read his memories as much as I wanted and let him go. But what do I do now?'
Fujin thought for a while and realized, 'There is only one way. I have to let Hidan kill all three of them or perhaps do it myself while they are fighting him. However, in that case, I can't let Hidan go. I'll have to capture and seal him. He'll be my test subject to experiment on. But, is there any value to doing this?'
While Fujin didn't want to kill innocent people, he wasn't opposed to it if he had a lot to gain. If success was guaranteed, Fujin would have done it. However, the chances of success were just too low. Over a day had passed from the moment Fujin found the cave used for ritual. The ritual itself most probably took place a few days before Fujin found the cave.
Even if the dead Bishop's body wasn't burned like his subordinates, the chances of his memories staying intact were almost nil. The longer the chase went on, the lesser Fujin's hopes were.
To make matters worse, not only was Fujin not guaranteed any benefits, on the contrary, he would suffer two disadvantages. For starters, Hidan wouldn't be able to join Akatsuki in the future. As a result, the internal structure of Akatsuki would change. Their movements in the future could change as well.
Secondly, this matter would cast a lot of suspicions on Fujin. There was no need for him to volunteer to hunt Hidan. His job was done when he found the missing people. If he were to lose all his subordinates, be unable to recover their bodies and allow their killer to escape, Hiruzen would easily suspect that there was something fishy.
Even though Fujin would not leave any proof behind, he would be foolish to think that Hiruzen wouldn't get suspicious and raise his guard against Fujin. Considering his future plans, Fujin didn't want to be under constant watch by Hiruzen.
Considering the advantages and disadvantages, Fujin decided, 'It's not worth it. The only way I can get what I want is if Hidan preserved that Bishop's body or if that Bishop is alive and Hidan knows where he is. Both are very unlikely. Despite doing all I can, I have already failed in achieving any of my goals for this hunt.
It'll be better to let him live for now. I'll capture him in the future and have Tsunade study his body. Even if I raise my medical knowledge and recruit someone who is damn good at it, it won't be anywhere comparable to what Tsunade can do. Not to mention, Akatsuki's movements will stay more or less the same as I remember.'
Fujin sighed internally. He muttered to himself, 'Chasing Hidan here was a mistake. Now, how do I convince them to stop looking and turn around?'
Since Fujin didn't see much hope in being able to read the Bishop's memories, the entire chase seemed pointless to him. He no longer wanted to capture Hidan. After all, if he captured Hidan now and brought him to Konoha, Hiruzen would most likely ask Danzo to experiment on Hidan. Though Fujin no longer consider Danzo as a great threat, he had no intention of underestimating Danzo and giving him the means to strengthen himself.
Unfortunately for Fujin, he was already very deep into this mission. Calling it off suddenly without a good explanation would look suspicious as well. He moved along his squad while thinking about how to back off from the mission.
As they moved, Fujin occasionally used his Space-Time Sensing Technique. At one such instance, he sensed a disturbance. He looked in front of him and thought, 'Hmm? There is someone around 4 kilometers in front of me. Who is it? Is it Hidan?'
Just when Fujin gave up hope, he sensed someone. Fujin was generally a very calm person. This mission was one of the rare times where he had lost his cool several times and become very frustrated. Once again, Fujin's anger flared!
He cursed internally, 'This bastard. I have been hunting him for so long and he doesn't show himself. Finally, when I give up, he presents himself to me. I hope that damned Bishop is alive. Otherwise, I will skin this bastard alive!'
The last few days, Fujin's mind had experienced an emotional roller-coaster. None of his plans went as he wanted. It was as if the entire world wanted to stop him from succeeding. As a result, he was extremely frustrated and wanted to take it out on someone. Though he didn't want to capture Hidan anymore, he doubted whether he'd be able to control himself.
He decided, 'I don't want to take his body back to the village now. Hiruzen will probably give it to Danzo. I don't want that old bastard to get some sort of power up. I will just pummel him here and cut his body into pieces. Akatsuki can fix him up if and when they find him. I'll mark his body just in case they don't and someone else gets to him.'
Fujin's team continued moving. The one in front of them was moving slower than their group. When the distance was reduced to 3 kilometers, Fujin activated his chakra field and tried to sense his chakra signature.
His eyes suddenly widened in shock. Though Fujin could detect disturbances with his Space-Time Sensing Technique, he couldn't detect who caused the disturbances. As a result, he had to depend on his normal sensing ability to identify who it was. Of course, just like Shiro's sense of smell, it wasn't practical to remember everyone's chakra signature. However, the chakra signature Fujin sensed was something he could never forget!
Fujin's shock soon changed into excitement. He thought, 'Fucking Kakuzu! Excellent. I'll run into him and begin fighting him. It'll be the best reason to stop chasing Hidan and retreat back to Konoha.'
Fujin immediately made plans. However, he wondered, 'That said, what is he doing here? Is he just hunting some bounty? Or is he one of the three from that last group? If so, does that mean that three Akatsuki members are here and are chasing after Hidan to recruit him?'
Fujin was surprised by how quickly the Akatsuki moved. He quickly put together all his information and speculated, 'Zetsu should have seen Hidan's fight with Kumo ninjas. Only that would explain such quick movement. After all, 3 villages are hunting Hidan. If they are slow, even if he is immortal, he'll be captured.
Shiro stated that he smelled a familiar scent. I guess that's Itachi. Itachi has a bird summon as well. Or it could be Nagato's Bird summon if they used it to travel. It all makes sense now. Still... How lucky is that bastard? I hunted him so much and he managed to avoid me each time. In fact, he is probably not even aware of the fact that I'm chasing him!'
Fujin couldn't help but wonder if Jashin's ritual improved the luck of an individual. It was difficult to explain Hidan's incredible luck otherwise. Despite being stronger, faster and having better assistance, Fujin lost to Hidan merely due to Hidan's luck! He found the entire ordeal utterly ridiculous!
He shook his head and stopped thinking about it. He said, "Prepare yourselves. I can sense a strong chakra signature 2.7 kilometers ahead. Hisao, check whether it is Hidan or someone else."
The entire team became alert at once. They had been moving around for a long time without finding any enemy to fight. As such, all of them were exhausted and had gotten slightly lethargic. They were aware of that fact. Hence, with Fujin's warning, all of them prepared themselves. They didn't want to be caught off-guard when they finally faced an enemy!
Kakuzu turned around and looked behind him. He wondered, 'There is someone chasing me from behind? Or is it a squad just passing through the area? Or did I somehow overtake that ninja called Hidan? Or were there more people chasing him? But how are they able to track so quickly?'
Kakuzu could feel the chakra field moving rapidly, implying that whoever was behind him was coming rapidly. He stood his ground and muttered, "Whoever it is, I hope that they have a good bounty!"
