Hidan to me is like. He’s that guy who’s raised in a tourist trap and he hates it, the labor is horrible and he has to deal with annoying tourists and customers and clients and put up with them. He’s the guy who wipes down the loads in the men’s sauna every time tourists have sex.
He had a bad habit of being kinda sadistic with the animals and a lot of people spoke ill of him for it. Which, fair. But he didn’t appreciate it. He was also kinda prodigal, like really good at fighting. Enough that when some nearby village got massacred, people actually thought this violent kid pulled it off.
That rumor may have been exaggeration but still. A lot of his violent urges were toned down at first with the monotony of his work but then the clients and the work caused it to fester and beg to be let out again.
And then all of a sudden you’ve got these reactionary groups who are like, back in the old days you didn’t have to put up with this. Back in the old days, men fought and killed and died for what they believed in. With honor!!! We had dignity. And it drives you a little mad thinking that if you’d been born a few generations earlier your society would’ve celebrated someone like you as you self-actualized into the hero you were supposed to be!!!
So you fall down this pipeline because look what they took from you!!! And on top of that the pipeline actually rewards you for your behavior by doing an experiment where killing people nets you immortality. You have no reason to stop. You have no reason to keep being the guy who wipes down the loads in the men’s sauna. So you go on a killing spree and free yourself from your tourist trap life.
Like it’s kinda funny and sad. Yugakure ended the cycle of violence but it could not end the cycle of economic exploitation and that inevitably created conditions for a generation that was frustrated by this lifestyle and took for granted what they’d moved on from to instead look forward to it.
And Kakuzu, he’s that old army vet who used to be a young and proud soldier/field medic until he fought in Vietnam or Korea or whatever and saw everyone around him die for money. He got thrown aside by his government when he came back home and he became disillusioned. He decided he wouldn’t take things lying down by becoming a homeless beggar like the rest of those losers so he became a criminal mercenary, organ trafficker, and off-the-books surgeon all in one.
Yeah he’s still hurting innocents too but every man for himself. As far as he’s concerned the only thing that matters are material realities. He doesn’t believe in social constructs like dignity or religion except as the eccentricities of tangible humans to navigate around.
And when he sees some young and dumb kid who’s never actually tasted the life he came from and has the audacity to worship it? Hoo boy it inspires a rage worse than what his previous partners did. The only reason Hidan isn’t ash or buried somewhere is because he can survive long enough for Kakuzu to realize what he’s doing and stop because like. Hidan’s his last chance and if he fucks this up Pain’s gonna lose his patience and decide Kakuzu’s the one who will be replaced instead. And while he doesn’t worship that Sage of Six Paths crap he knows damn well that cult came from the very tangible power the Sage wielded, which Pain now has.
