A/N: Just a little note here, I'm going to be skipping the fight with Team 10 and Hidan and Kakuzu because it plays exactly the same as canon.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you think that Asuma-sensei and the others will be okay? Those two Akatsuki members did say they were immortal, that seems like a huge advantage in their favor." Said Sakura sprinting through the trees alongside Kakashi.

"There is always a way to defeat an opponent, even if they seem unstoppable." Replied Kakashi. Sakura nodded, although she was still a bit unsure if they would make out of the fight in one piece.

They kept on speeding up to who knew where they would find Naruto and the others. The sun was beginning to rise now, but they didn't stop their trek, even when they got a little tired at night. It was at that moment that the Jounin and Chuunin spotted four figures coming closer to them. Kakashi had a good idea of who they were, but unfortunately for him, there were only four as opposed to five.

"Naruto, over here!" Exclaimed Sakura waving at him with a smile.

Naruto was surprised. Sure, he expected Jiraiya to break eventually, but he never expected him to spill the beans this soon.

"You know those two Naruto?" Asked Darui as they approached the two Konoha ninja.

"Yeah, it's Kakashi-sensei and my teammate Sakura-chan." Answered the blonde. Kurotsuchi unknowingly raised an eyebrow at the way that he addressed his teammate. She figured out what she was doing a second later, and she didn't even know why. She shook her head, deciding it wasn't worth thinking about. It wasn't long before they eventually came into close proximity to them.

"Naruto, glad to see you're doing alright." Said the copy ninja giving his student his famous one eyed smile.

"Hey, nice to see you too Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan." Said blonde replied with his own grin.

"It's a pleasure to meet Kakashi of the Sharingan in person." Spoke up Darui getting a nod from Kakashi.

"Umm, I'm sorry to break up the nice reunion and all, but we kinda have to catch up to the Akatsuki if were gonna have a chance at saving Gaara." Said Chojuro adjusting his glasses a little bit.

"So it was Gaara they took." Said Kakashi getting serious again. Before he could say anything else however, Naruto sped up past him and the others.

"Naruto, hold up! We still need to figure out how were going to beat those Akatsuki members!" Sakura's words fell on deaf ears as her teammate continued on his path without looking back. Kurotsuchi, Chojuro, and Darui followed after him, not too soon followed by the two Konoha nin.

Back with Deidara and Sasori

The bomber and human puppet were bored to say the least. It would take a while, putting it lightly to get to their base for the extraction of Shukaku. Not to mention they had other ninja following them, so that added more work that they would have to take care of should they arrive before, during, or right after they finished extracting it.

"This is such a pain in my ass." Groaned Deidara as he sat down on his bird.

"Just be glad that we got the much easier part of the job. Hidan is probably pissed off as much as...well every other time we have to do these types of missions, and Kakuzu is most likely getting tired of this with an excruciatingly headache by now." That got a short laugh out of Deidara. He always enjoyed whenever someone in the Akatsuki would make fun of those two immortals, even if Kakuzu didn't consider himself a real one. In fact, insulting each other was something that became sort of like a tradition, even though the leader would stop them shortly after. Speaking of which, that was when the leader decided to call them telepathically.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it I have recieved word from Zetsu that a team of six Konoha ninja have come to take the others, so Hidan and Kakuzu will be busy. Either we wait for them to finish them off, or we will have to start the extraction without them." He said. Sasori decided to speak his vote first.

"I say we begin without them. If we wait for them, there is a high possibility that they will be followed. At least if we start with their absence we might be able to still get the Ichibi out of the Kazekage." Sasori responed.

"I agree, those two dipshits can go fuck themselves for all I care!" Exclaimed Deidara in a rare instance of loud cursing that the organization wouldn't expect from him.

"Very well. I'll inform Hidan and Kakuzu of this choice immediately." Said the leader cutting off the connection. Sasori looked at his partner with a blank look in his eyes, not that it meant much since he was a puppet and who ever heard of puppets that could emote. Deidara looked back at him strangely.

"What? Is there something on my face or something?"

"The readers don't like it when characters are out of character, except when they are." Explained Sasori, only serving to further confuse his partner.

"I have no idea what you just said, but I don't care. Let's just pick up the pace, hopefully this thing can go faster." Deidara gave a hard tap to his clay bird, and it had the desired effect as it took off at a faster pace than when they were travelling previously.

With Hidan and Kakuzu

Things were not loooking too hot for Team 10. Chouji and Ino were bruised pretty badly and knocked out, Hidan had Shikamaru pinned to the ground with his scythe, and Kakuzu hada bloodied Asuma in a choke hold.

"You know, the bingo books put your head in very high regard. You could make me a lot of easy money." Said Kakuzu squeezing harder on the Jounin's neck, making him cough out blood.

"Hey Kakuzu, I hope you don't mind if I kill these three." Called out Hidan as his face split into a grin.

"Go right ahead. Compared to Sarutobi, they are worth nothing." It was at this moment when the leader decided to make his presence known to the two.

"Hidan, Kakuzu, we have decided that we would be going on without you to take out the Ichibi. Unless you want to be left behind, then I suggest you kill whoever you are fighting right now." He quickly told them before leaving. Kakuzu sighed.

"Looks like I won't be able to get my bounty, but not to worry. I have another use for you that I can use, it was destroyed in a previous fight after all." Asuma had little to no clue what he was talking about, but he got his answer when the Taki-nin lodged his hand straight through his chest.

"Asuma-sensei!!!" Shikamaru shouted. Kakuzu pulled out to reveal Asuma's slowly beating heart. He dropped the now dead Konoha-nin on the ground like a ragdoll and inserted the heart into his heavily stitched up body.

"Wow, I never saw you actually do that in person. Now to deal with the rest of you!" Hidan kicked Shikamaru back to his team. He then looked back at his partner.

"Kakuzu, you can go on without me. These ones won't be much of a problem. Unlike me you can actually die if all those hearts of yours are all destroyed."

"Hidan, you probably won't admit this, but you might just be the weakest Akatsuki member here. I can't guarantee that you'll survive this." The Jashinist got a tic mark at that and glared at him.

"For fucks sake, you know damn well that I will be able handle myself, now leave, or I will sacrifice you to Jashin-sama!" Kakuzu didn't have the time to argue, so he took the offer and just left him behind. Hidan looked back at Shikamaru as the Chuunin stood up.

"You should just give up right now if you want your pussy ass to survive, not that I would let a fucker like you to live in the first place." Shikamaru wiped some blood from his lips before he spoke.

"If that immortality is your only gimmick, then I'm afraid your partner was right, you probably are one of the weaker Akatsuki members."

"Shut the fuck up you piece of shit!" Hidan charged at Shikamaru. He jumped high into the air, his scythe gripped tightly in his hand about to strike it's target. The Nara pulled out a kunai and managed to block it as they engaged in a fight of clashing blades.

While they were going at it, Ino and Chouji managed to wake up.

"Chouji...where is the other Akatsuki ninja, and...is that Asuma-sensei?" Ino whispered. Chouji looked at his sensei's dead body. He wanted to scream in anguish at the demise of his sensei, but he felt it best to remain quiet so they wouldn't attract Hidan's attention, getting them killed in the process. By his teammate's silence, she seemed to agree with him too. That was when Ino seemed to get an idea.

"Look, Shikamaru seems to be busy right now, but I have a plan on how we can take down that guy, even though he is immortal." She said quietly. Chouji nodded and leaned in.

"Okay, for this to work, I'm gonna need you to create a distraction, but wait for me to be out of sight first..." Ino continued to tell Chouji her plan, and once she was done, she mustered up all her strength and shunshined away. That was Chouji's cue.

"Shikamaru!" Shouted the Akimichi. Shikamaru blocked another blow from Hidan before looking back.

"Chouji! Look, I'm kinda busy right now, get to safety, and where is Ino?!"

"Oh no you don't you son of a bitch! I will kill both of you right here, then I'll find that blonde bimbo and slice her in half!" Exclaimed Hidan like a madman as he swung wildly.

Meanwhile, Ino managed to get to a safe location up in a tree. She put her hands together in her signature hand sign. Carefully, she aimed it close enough to Hidan.

"Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Just like that, she fell from the tree at the loss of consciousness.

"Huh? What the fuck was-" Hidan was cut off when he suddenly felt like his mind left him. Just as Shikamaru was about to strike, 'Hidan' dodged it and took hold of his arm.

"Hey, Shikamaru, it's me!" Ino said from within his body. Shikamaru's eyes widened in shock.

"Ino?"

"Yes, it's me. Listen, I don't have much chakra left, so perform your jutsu before I leave his body." Shikamaru hastily nodded before stepping back and making a hand sign.

"Shadow Strangle Jutsu!" The Chuunin's shadow streteched out into hand as it trapped the Jashinist. Ino smiled before she returned to her body. Hidan looled at his situation and predictably, he was pissed.

"Hey! What the hell is this bullshit?!" Shikamaru smirked in satisfaction as Ino came out of the shadows with a similar expression. She then went over to Asuma and pulled out one of his trench knives. Hidan widened his eyes.

"You bitch! You took me by surprise, you can go to-" He was silenced when Ino sliced his head off clean.

"You did it Ino!" Cheered Chouji.

'And I thought I was the smart one.' Thought Shikamaru with a mental sigh. They heard the sound of the trees rustling, and suddenly Naruto, Kakashi, and the others appeared.

"Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, are you guys alright." Asked Naruto.

"Were fine Naruto, but Asuma-sensei..." The Yamanaka couldn't hold her tears as she quietly began to sob. Everyone else then took a look at what happened and were shocked to their core. Despite that, Kakashi spoke up.

"Things just keep getting worse. As if Gaara being captured was bad enough."

"Kakashi-sensei, you guys can go on ahead, we'll take Asuma back to Konoha." Said Shikamaru.

"Are you sure about that Shikamaru?" Asked Sakura, recieving a nod. She looked back at her sensei, who also seemed to agree.

"Very well. Stay safe Shikamaru." With that out of the way, the others went on their way, leaving the Ino-Shika-Cho by themselves. Shikamaru carried Asuma's pale body on his back.

"C'mon guys, let's bring him home." He said mournfully. After leaving though, there was something that could be heard throughout the entirety of the Land of Snow.

"KAKUZUUUU!!! YOU FUCKING JIIIIIINX!!!"

A/N: So yeah, the ending felt a bit rushed to me, but honestly, there are many important things going on right now for me, so I didn't have a lot of time to write, and I felt I kept you guys waiting too long. Sorry if this felt like a terrible chapter to most.