Climbing Silver

Synopsis
The other teams reach the other Land of Fire Bounty Stations but are unable to locate the Akatsuki. As Hidan sits outside one of the bounty stations, he turns around to greet what he thought was Kakuzu, but turns out to be none other than Asuma. He recognises the Twelve Guardian Ninja sash Asuma wears; as Asuma attempts to attack him, Hidan attempts to move out of the way, but is frozen in place by Shikamaru's Shadow Sewing Technique. Izumo and Kotetsu then rush at Hidan and impale him in his vital spots, but are surprised to see Hidan is still alive. Hidan confirms that he is immortal, and that they messed up their play by attempting to kill someone who happened to be unkillable. Just then, Kakuzu comes from behind, attempting to strike Shikamaru; Shikamaru dodges, but in doing so is forced to release Kakuzu.

Kakuzu recognises Asuma as someone who has a bounty on his head and praises Hidan for catching him, but Hidan tells Kakuzu to stay out of the fight, wanting to use the other three for his Jashin rituals. Using his blood to draw a diagram on the ground, he prepares to attack Asuma with his Triple-Bladed Scythe. Asuma offers to attack Hidan while the others back him up, with Shikamaru providing support with his Shadow Sewing Technique. Shikamaru remarks how Asuma is not the one to make a sacrificial play, and remembers the day Asuma taught him how to play shogi, and how he had beat Asuma using a sacrificial move known as the Climbing Silver. Shikamaru asks Asuma if he is intending to use that same strategy, but Asuma comforts him by telling him that he does not intent to sacrifice his life.

Using his chakra blades, Asuma engages in a fight with Hidan, who not only has to dodge Asuma but has to evade being caught by Shikamaru's shadows. Hidan attempts to use his scythe to kill Shikamaru, Izumo and Kotetsu, but the attack is blocked by Asuma's Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder, which is the ultimate technique of the Fire Temple and a specialty of Chiriku's. Although Asuma saved his teammates' lives, Hidan manages to use his scythe to cut Asuma's cheek. Asuma uses his Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning technique to spew a stream of chakra-infused gunpowder to engulf Hidan, but the immortal Akatsuki member calmly walks to the center of his Jashin diagram and ingests the blood he had nicked from Asuma.

Trivia

 * Climbing Silver is a move in the Japanese board game shōgi.

La escalera de plata