Chapter 323 *spoilers*

[Denisa]

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/4046/naruto1yy5.jpghttp://img105.imageshack.us/img105/6285/naruto10ay7.jpg

Hidan turns into Skeletor. :P No RAW, but most of the chapter is out through spoilers. As of now, it looks like a rare and welcome Naruto free chapter. The fight looks awesome. If you go back and read chapter 316, it looks like the fight is mirroring the shogi match. Asuma wanted to end the game quickly against a superior opponent(Shika). Shikamaru thought that was a stupid and risky move and he is saying the same things during this fight. Asuma lost. Shikamaru won.

Kishimoto proably got a book on voodoo not long ago because that looks to be the major influence for Hidan.

[DarkNataku]

hidan would fit in just fine in el dia de los muertos in mexico. lol. so maybe that is the reason he cant die? oh the voodoo, worked for that guy in 007. was up with the circle a lil fma alchemy in the works?

[Big Shot]

WTF is Kakuzu doing behind Shikamaru???!!!

[abomination]

Voodoo huh ? Well I don't know if that's what Kishi is aiming for, but looking like that Hidan has a slight resemblance (facial wise ) to some of the depictions of Baron Samedi. And yes, Hidan's 'circle' looks alot like a transmutation circle from FMA; Armstrong's and Kimbley's to be exact.

Now that I think about it, some variants of homunculi legends say that homunculi can't be killed by human means, only alchemy. Perhaps Hidan is a homunculus. You never know; weirder things are in Naruto. Maybe Kishi was inspired by alchemy legends and FMA to create Hidan this way. I may be way off base but it's a thought.

It's no surprise that this fight, or these fighters, are linked to Shogi. The first kanji in both Hidan and Kakazu's names also stand for the names of shogi pieces. I can't recall which pieces, but I can remember reading that somewhere. I'll probably look it up later.

Also, looking at that second page there, Shikamaru's fixing to get blind sided by Kakazu.

[DarkNataku]

well gaara was created out of a jutsu. well his biju to be put into his body. so maybe there is an alchemy jutsu or maybe its a kekkei genkai. i doubt that itachi be the only holder of a genkai in akatsuki.

[Jinto117]

Now that I think about it, some variants of homunculi legends say that homunculi can't be killed by human means, only alchemy. Perhaps Hidan is a homunculus. You never know; weirder things are in Naruto. Maybe Kishi was inspired by alchemy legends and FMA to create Hidan this way. I may be way off base but it's a thought.

That's a very good theory. When I first saw him in that form I was like, "So Hidan is a zombie?" That would also explain the no death thing. And it looks like Tsunada and Sakura aren't the only ones with super strength, Kakuzu keeps punching the crap out of things.

[gameoffreak8]

The chapter is interesting. I am just thinking Asuma fight Hidan while Shikamaru stay back as he look for Hidan's weakness on next chapter.

[DarkNataku]

maybe erase the blood circle with someone elses blood. but then probably that person would become the next "target" and hey if i could punch the crap out of things like it was nothing then i would do it all over the place. lol

just thought of something ok back when asuma and shika were playing shogi asuma tell shika that "he is just a sacrificial pawn" so can i go on and guess that asuma's plan to stop/kill hidan have something to do with him taking his own life or coming close to it. he might tell shika to deal the blow.

[abomination]

Ok, what the hell ? Asuma doing a Katon jutsu ? That's something new.

I think I like Hidan even more now. Getting eviscerated and acting so non-chalant about it and using one of the large kunai that penetrated him in the fight ? That's got to be a requirement for the ultimate badass award. Acting like that, he reminds me of Alucard, alot. On top of that, he seems to have a blood fetish; drawing with his own blood and licking Asuma's blood from his scythe. Giving me Anko vibes there. Dare I say, he may be as big of a badass as Itachi.

Oh, and look at this page....
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/9527/page110sj4.jpg

Does anything look odd to you ? Does Asuma look a bit different to anyone ? He's seems to be missing something, but what ?..... But what ?
Kishi, does anything look 'off' to you too ?.......... Good, that's what I thought. Glad we cleared that up.

[max_powers]

most interesting. After reading the translation (which, from the looks of it, few of you have done) it seems that Hidan's powers are twofold. The first half is the immortality part. This could be many things, including rapid healing, some form of control over internal organs, or even homunculi powers. I really have no clue on this one. But this is for sure: he does bleed, and he does feel the pain.
The second, and possibly more interesting half is the ability to make his opponents feel what he does. This seems to require two things. The first is the seal on the ground (made from his own blood) and the second is the opponent's blood (which he managed to get by cutting Asuma slightly with his triple bladed scythe).

Put these together, and you get an answer as to his previous actions. He "kills" himself while linked with the opponent, but since he CAN'T die, only his opponent does. Or...something like that.


As for Kakuzu...he likes punching sh*t.

[ffl]

Oh, and look at this page....
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/9527/page110sj4.jpg

Does anything look odd to you ? Does Asuma look a bit different to anyone ? He's seems to be missing something, but what ?..... But what ?
Kishi, does anything look 'off' to you too ?.......... Good, that's what I thought. Glad we cleared that up.

That's why you should refer to the raws...<_< The person who cleaned that scanlation there took out the Japanese text on the side as well as Asuma's sideburn. So you shouldn't be pointing fingers at Kishimoto for that.

This was a nice chapter. Hehe, Asuma's Katon jutsu looked like he was spitting back out all of the ash that he inhales.:) Now... it makes me wonder if Asuma's strategy of cutting off Hidan's head will overcome Hidan's ability?

[Hara!]

From god warrior to skeletor? WTF?

[Denisa]

I have no clue how they will kill Hidan. Everyone seems to have 8,000,000 ideas. I am pretty sure Shikamaru will have something to do with it. Kishimoto has him there for a reason. Time for him to shine.

The "Shikamaru cuts off Asuma's head to kill Hidan theory" is something I am starting to lean to. It would be the craziest moment in the manga to date. Kill your own sensei just because you think it might kill Hidan. The ultimate sacrifice. Pretty hardcore.

Shika would then become more emo than Sasuke with the blood of his own sensei on his hands.

[MightyDustLoop]

If the secret's something lame, like taking your own life, I'll be rather pissed.

[abomination]

That's why you should refer to the raws... The person who cleaned that scanlation there took out the Japanese text on the side as well as Asuma's sideburn. So you shouldn't be pointing fingers at Kishimoto for that.

Seriously ! Why in the hell did they do that ? If they were going to have to chop off a part of the image to remove text, they chould have just left it in there or ,at best, attempted to redraw the part they had to remove.

[max_powers]

I'm gonna go back to my ant theories.
I say, make Hidan link with the ant (somehow), and then step on it. Voila.

And for those who don't know my older ant theory:
Make Sasuke/Kakashi befriend an ant, and then step on it. Instant Mangekyou.

[Atriede]

that would be totaly cool

[abomination]

So far, I think the only thing thats got me kinda irked about this fight is the beginning of it. Wouldn't you know it, the first time in a while we've seen actual shinobi blitz assassination tactics to off a character and there's a convenient plot device to save said character.

Also, if Asuma wants to chop Hidan's head off, why didn't he do so when Izumo and Kotetsu had him impaled. ? If the kunai's to the side didn't do the trick, then why didn't he do it while he was still immobilized and impaled ? I'm sure Asuma could have gotten behind him and done it in the time between his immortality disclosure and the point in which Kakuzu shows up. But if that was done, then where would the fight have been.

[Punnchy]

Theres the shock value setting in from the, hey we didn't acutally get this guy, plus even though he was impaled dosn't mean he's immobile, his arms where pined to his sides by the kunai.

[ffl]

He was immobile because Shikamaru still had him bound with Kage Mane no jutsu.

[abomination]

Theres the shock value setting in from the, hey we didn't acutally get this guy,

Well, yes, there is that, but these guys are supposed to be expert shinobi. Stuff like that isn't really supposed to faze them that much. There is a multitude of oddities in the Naruto-verse; this is one of them, and with Shikamaru's Kage Mane- an exceptional assassination type jutsu- still under effect,a second attempt should have been the first thought, especially when you're out in the open and you yourself are open for attack and you don't know where the other target is.

[Hellsartist]

Well even if they are trained for a number of different situations, Invincibility(immortality, I blanked and forget wich one is accurate) doesn't seem to be one. The only other character I remember being able to survive an attack that would kill anyone else is Orichimaru (and seeing as Naruto was the only one to witness this and he was obviously not himself *snicker* I doubt they are ready for that). This doesn't mean anything lol but I remember Shikimaru noticing that either his shadow imitation jutsu was completely innefective or that he (the akatsuki guy, i blanked and forgot his name too lol which is sad seeing as hes one of my favorite characters but anyways) had such immense power Shikamaru could barely hold him.

[ffl]

Shikamaru had no problem holding him. That's why Izumo and Kotetsu weren't immediately killed after stabbing him. It was only after Kakuzu attacked Shikamaru that the jutsu was dispelled.