XXX

Kakuzu

Their strategy would need precise timing. Hidan was looking bolstered and lively, yes, but Kakuzu could see that beneath this awakened exterior, the fanatic was still exhausted. They couldn't hope for a prolonged battle.

We got one shot, and that's it. If we mess up, we'll have to retreat.

"Not getting cold feet, Kakuzu?" Hidan called jovially from where he had walked over to pick up his scythe. He held up the weapon, letting the sun bounce off the red alloy. "Because I'm done letting these Konoha welps walk all over us!"

"Not at all," Kakuzu said smoothly, sighing at his partner's hubris. Still the exuberant Jashinist. "You know the plan. We take the trio out first." He nodded to where the boy with the dog, the Aburame boy, and the Hyuga girl had clustered off to the side. Their coordination was perfect; they were the only complete team on the field. The rest were mismatched friends and combination, thus making these three the prominent threat.

And therefore, the prime target.

"Distract the rest, wait for the signal."

"Right. Let's get the party going!" Hidan laughed mirthlessly, then bolted for the others. He would tie them up for a while; all Hidan had to do in this strategy was get them all riled up and fighting. An expert tactician would be arguing against the opposite, saying to strike when they were most tired.

But sixty years had given him a bit more to work with than an expert tactician. They knew their strategy, and the others didn't. They would be expecting the expert tacticians hypothesis; that's what counted.

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!" He sent a colossal wall of flame at the trio, forcing them to direct their attention to himself.

In the center, he saw the familiar whirling masses of the dog and the boy coming at him. Their attack made their defenses stronger, they would be able to take the heat. The other boy and the girl would have to go around the sides of the attack, he knew. He had seen it countless times.

He crossed his arms as the boy and dog thundered towards him. He hardened his arms a moment before impact, wanting to use as little chakra as possible. The impact caused the ground around them to explode as the energy, unable to be absorbed by his body, instead traveled into the earth itself. The boy and dog recovered quickly, going left and right. Kakuzu responded by whirling around and striking the dog with his left leg, making it howl in pain. The boy dropped down on all fours, suddenly looking very animistic, gnashing his teeth at Kakuzu. And, out of the corner of his eye, he could see the girl appearing around the fading orange-

The boy leaped for his neck, while the dog went lower, obviously trying to divide his attention between the two, and then allow their comrades to hit him in his blind spot. He ducked his head and shot his arm up, catching the boy called Kiba square in the face and sending him up into the air. However, his arm followed him, extending up and grabbing him by the collar. With his other hand, he splayed his fingers and caught the mutt by the muzzle, snapping its dripping jaws shut. He spun around, building momentum, finally bringing both arms down and smashing both bodies into the ground.

"Someone's gonna need a trip to the vet, after this," Kakuzu commented. The two, however, still had plenty of fight left in them, however battered they were. And then the other two-

He smashed a foot into the ground, and behind him a wall of earth shot up. He heard a small splat as the incoming wave of insects, given away by their buzz, struck the hardened earth.

I have to keep them on their toes, get them clustered again. He turned and drove a hardened fist through the earth, breaking it apart. On the other side, the Aburame boy gave a surprised jolt, having been about to climb over it. Kakuzu dove through the cloud of bugs, feeling several leech onto his skin but ignoring it. His closed fist struck the boy full in the face, went through it as the body dissipated-

Insect Clone. He looked at his arms, where the bugs were swarming him in earnest. He looked to the sky as his chakra began to weaken. The fire mask answered his call, sending a hot cascade of flame. He felt the rest of his Akatsuki cloak shrivel up around him. However, the insects were also dying, burning away into crisps.

"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!"

He had a moment to give a gasp of surprise as he felt a tremendous pressure hit him in the small of his back, sending him flying forward. She sneaked up behind me! He went tumbling across the war-torn ground, straightening himself a few feet away. He guessed her position and shot out a hand immediately in retaliation. However, his hand only grabbed open air; she had already moved-

To where I want her. She was checking Kiba and Akamaru, thinking he was impaired enough for her to divert attention, meaning the bug boy was the last piece of his puzzle.

"You burned a lot of my insects," said the modulated voice below him. Kakuzu instantly stamped his foot again, causing the earth to crack around him as he sent his chakra running through it. However, there was no result. "Nice try, but my insects can absorb any attack you try."

"Any chakra- related attack," Kakuzu corrected, trying to feel where the boy was in the ground. "Your insects are parasitic, chakra feeding bastards. A very lethal combination, and very good usage of them by someone so young. You would have made a fine bounty one day."

"I'm flattered."

There. He struck his arm deep into the ground, and this time he felt something squishy. He grabbed, but all that came out were more insects.

"So you use them as a sort of shield?" he guessed, smashing any beetles on his arm.

"My defense and my offense, as so." From the hole he made, a tirade of bugs emerged like a volcano. He back-flipped away, gave a side look at Hidan. He was occupying the others as best he could, but his movements were significantly slower. His scythe came up and slashed open an inky duo of tigers, and then he was running from a stream of explosive tags.

"Don't let yourself get to distracted." The insects came again, like one sentient beast, and he jumped back again and again. Come on kid, make an appearance.

The ground ruptured behind him, and he knew that this time his wish had been granted. The Aburame boy was thinking he was distracted by the beetles, and wouldn't notice an attack from behind.

Kakuzu extended his arms and placed them on the boy's shoulders, then swung himself over the kid entirely, so that his hands were still on his shoulders, yet he was now behind.

"Nice try," he said, then squeezed, snapping the shoulder blades with a wet squishing sound-

No, another clone?!

The ground ruptured again, and this time the boy emerged, and kicked him straight in the face. Kakuzu went reeling, but his desperation to finish the strategy sharpened his retaliation. He shot out a arm again and grabbed the boy by the same leg that had hit him. As he swung the Aburame clan member, he squeezed, completely crushing the bones in that leg, aware that the insects were beginning to swarm his legs again.

He released the boy and sent him flying, and the insects left him, swarming out in a black cloud to catch their fallen master... right in the midst of the other two.

"HIDAN!"

There was no reply, but instead a deadly swooshing sound took over the battlefield -the scythe flying out towards the trio at neck height. He in turn began to run towards the trio, doing the hand signs necessary-

I can't do the technique on a large scale without the Lightning Mask, but I can still do a smaller burst. And that'll be enough.

The sound had attracted the attention of the trio, and the girl put her hands on the two boys heads and shoved them down to the ground along with her own, out of harms way-

"Lightning Style: False Darkness Current!"

The beam of chakra shot out like a laser and struck the scythe when it almost directly swinging above their heads. The attack made a loud crackling sound that echoed throughout the entire village- a testimony to the devastation of their combo that was about to be unleashed.

The three humans screamed while the dog whined loudly as they became electrocuted for a brief, excruciating moment. The metal of the scythe, while having missed them, had acted as an electrical conductor for the lightning, amplifying the jutsu tremendously due to the strange nature of whatever alloy the scythe was made of. The three collapsed to the ground, hardly breathing. Their nervous systems were fried at the least; had he still possessed his Lightning Mask, they would have been killed. But with their brains were still a steamed mess, the chances of them being able to even speak again was low.

The scythe lost momentum a few seconds after the attack finished, clanging onto the ground. Hidan was running over to collect while the other four regrouped, still in obvious shock.

"Nice throw," Kakuzu said as his partner picked up the scythe. "Our timing was matched perfectly."

"Hey, our combinations are normally pretty good," Hidan replied offhandedly. "But we still have four..." he wheezed, almost doubling over from exhaustion. Kakuzu didn't need to be a sensory type to know Hidan was reaching his limit. And not just of chakra, the shuriken wounds were still fresh; Hidan had probably lost a pint of blood. "...four more to go. Let's finish this already."

The Fire and Earth Masks came over and stood idly beside them. The four chunin spread out in a phalanx, so that the two sides glared over at each other, waiting for the first move. The four steaming bodies had subsided into unconsciousness, for what little life they still clung to. Above them, two birds flew above, observing the climax of the fight.

Hidan chuckled. "They want us to make the next move."

Kakuzu didn't reply. He was studying their opponents. Was it him, or were the edges sharpened, darker? They seemed to shake with the slightest breeze, too. Something was a little off.

"Kakuzu, hit them with a big flame attack again. I'll run interference."

"Wait, Hidan." He narrowed his eyes, looking hard. Yes, distinct black edges. He looked up, and felt a familiar sense of deja vu, from when they had been caught by the Nara boy's shadow in their second fight. "We've been had... again."

XXX

Hidan

Yeah I'm tired, but that doesn't mean I can sit down and relax. Gotta keep going and balance it. Keep things balanced, yeah.

"We've been had... again."

He shook his head, chuckling again. "That seems to happen a lot to us, doesn't it?"

"The ones in front of us are ink clones. Look up."

He did, and saw two birds flying overhead. From one, what looked like an enormous shit suddenly detached and fell towards them. "Well how do you like that, even the birds don't think to highly of us."

Kakuzu's arm had hardened again, with a notable look of strain on his face beneath the mask. He's getting tired to. We can't hold out like this much longer. "Look again, Hidan."

He did, and this time he realized that the incoming blob was much to big to be a turd. In fact, it was much to big to be even human...

"Spiky Human Boulder!"

Oh great, they sent in fatso dressed as porcupine. He shot a glance at Kakuzu. He can't harden his body, he's to tired. So what's he gonna do with just his arm?

The fat kid was coming in hot like a comet, and then he saw a pink blip appear behind him. The girl from the forest, the one that packed a punch. What are they gonna do?

"You're not the only one with combinations!" shouted the fat boy from his rapidly spinning mass of hair. "Hit me, Sakura!"

"Right! Cherry Blossom Impact!" Hidan blinked in surprise as the girl drew back her arm and smashed it into her teammate. What the hell is she doing, that'll kill him!

No, wait-

The boy, already coming in high speed, was suddenly bolstered forward even faster as the tremendous punch hit him. Hidan had a chance to open his mouth into an O of amazement before the kid, originally a hundred yards in the sky, pelted at them within a microsecond.

The result was a detonation of power as the kid hit Kakuzu head on, and suddenly Hidan was showered in blood and earth. The girl gave a shriek of horror as she touched the ground a few yards away.

A feast that would have been worthy of Jashin... had he existed, he thought, feeling deflated. But what the hell happened.

The dust of the impact cleared, finally giving him a clear image. The fat kid -Choji, right, poor kid- was dead, impaled on Kakuzu's literally rock solid arm. The tips of Kakuzu's fingers jutted out of the center of the kid's back, shining red dimples. The boy gave a death shudder and vomited blood onto Kakuzu's shoulder, and his partner gave a disgusted sigh and pushed the boy off with his other hand.

That jutsu never ceases to disappoint. There was a crunch of earth a few meters away from him, and he raised his scythe in reflexive defense. The girl was running at him, having already overcome the sudden death of her partner. She raised her fist to land a devastating blow, but he grinned and raised the scythe like a shield. Her first connected with the middle blade, and he felt his ears ring with the clang of the metal resisting her strike. To his shock, however, he saw a crack form, almost in slow motion, running from the point of impact and zig-zagging to the base.

"You son of a bitch-" He gave a piston-kick to her, which she took with a grunt, then flipped away. He came slashing after her, vigorously trying to get a nick of blood. But her moves were nimble and swift, dancing out of reach of his swings. He snarled as his tool missed her throat by a mere inch. "Just hold still-"

She smirked and dropped down. He followed her gaze, but was soon attracted up again as a large, inky tiger jumped over her, jaws gaping to bite into his own throat. He held up his arm and the beast gnawed into, tackling him to the ground. He gave it a powerful kick and sent it away, but his surroundings were getting woozy and hazy. Can't slow down, can't let up.

The tiger had turned around and was coming back for him. He shook his head, readied himself-

"Move'n'Toss!" He rolled to the left, out of Kakuzu's flight path. Kakuzu's fist plowed into the beast and destroyed it, causing it to dissolve into an inky mess. But before the black pool had settled, they were already in their next phase. First step done, now for the toss.

On his right, he could hear the pink haired girl approaching again, along with a second pair of footsteps, the weapons master. Make it count, Kakuzu.

His partner's arm had shot out towards him, and he grasped it firmly with both hands. With an exasperated yell, he heaved in his partner and began to turn. Kakuzu swung past him like a rock on the end of a rope being swung around. The girls realized a moment before he had let go what was going to happen, and they jumped as Hidan released his partner, causing Kakuzu to shoot at them like a bullet. Much to their disadvantage, Kakuzu's Fire Mask was already waiting for them from above. It sent a cascade of flame that swallowed the duo in an instant.

"GAH!" He looked down as he saw the sharp steel enter through the middle of his chest. He heard the labored, masculine breathing of the pale faced boy, and he shot his elbow behind him. The kid took the blow but recovered quickly, drawing out a kunai and running straight back at him. He turned sluggishly, feeling the abnormal protrusion in his chest.

If I still had my fucking power, I wouldn't even need to be thinking about this! A dark thought crossed his mind. But if Jashin didn't exist, then how can I even be sure my invincibility even existed, without his blessing being real?

The kunai stabbed him in the shoulder and pulled out again. He knocked away another thrust and pushed the boy away with his right hand, buying him a second of breathing space. The kid didn't even slow down, aiming to stick the kunai in his lungs.

It hurts so badly, fuck. This pain, is it real? Jashin said pain was good, and that pain could only feel good to his Chosen. But if he didn't exist, then what was real? How am I supposed to piece together everything if everything WAS A LIE-

"JUST GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" He shot his hand forward, passing straight through the incoming kunai knife. It split his hand wide open and sent out a spurt of red, but it knocked away the blade. He had a second to look at the surprised boy's face before his fist slammed into his face, smearing the white canvas with red paint.

He screamed wildly at the pain and clutched his hand in agony, watching the blood stream at an unprecedented rate. He raised it to the sky and yelled at nobody, anybody, someone to understand, to help. "GOD DAMMIT!"

XXX

Kakuzu

The fight was over. He could tell by the way the pink-haired girl, the one that had already begun medical ninjutsu on herself and was therefore the least injured, was breathing laboriously. She stooped and dragged her friend off to the side. He watched, curious. Why is she still helping her? She should be focusing on herself, she's the only one who can still fight.

He looked at his blood encrusted right hand and wrinkled his nose. I didn't mean to kill him. I only meant to divert the blow, but the sensation was just to familiar, to tempting. He looked back at her. "Enough of this, it's over. Tell me where Asuma Sarutobi is, and we will be on our way."

She set her friend down and turned to face him. "You'll be on your way?" she asked, disbelieving. "What do you really want?"

"Sarutobi," he repeated. "I want the bounty on him. Tell me where he is."

She shook her head. "Not going to happen. You've taken enough people away from us, now you want to go after our dead? You Akatsuki are no different from the ones from before. All you can think about is power and profit."

Ah, that's right. She's the one that killed Sasori. "Irrelevant," he said shortly. He took a menacing step forward. "Tell me where he is, or I'll ring your pretty neck until your life has been wasted all over the ground."

Again, she laughed. "I'm not letting you rip away another person from the village," she said, her voice hollow.

How can she be so dedicated to one already dead? he thought in bewilderment. This village is to strange. So much dedication and waste of life, all for the protection of someone that is already gone. "Your ties are... admirable," he said carelessly, hardly knowing what he was saying. "Tell me where Sarutobi is!"

"Tell me where Naruto is," she retorted, but Kakuzu caught a slight catch in her voice, something he didn't like. It was like she was concealing something, but what he couldn't guess. The fight was over, and the jinchuuriki stashed and locked away. He shook off the feeling.

"Your bargaining position is without footing; you're already tottering on the edge of the cliff. You've sidetracked us enough and you've lost, where is Sarutobi?"

Again, she only laughed. Incensed, he pointed a finger at the body of her friend. "Tell me where he is, or they start to die!"

There! What is with these people and this, this, this friendship? Her eyes had gone wide, concerned. She had bitten her lower lip, suddenly fearful. These ties, they shouldn't be existing. Is this what it would have been like, had I stayed in Takigakure? This desperate, nonsensical feeling of companionship? How can she have no care for her own life, yet flinch at the slightest harm to her companions? In this obstinate, backwards village?

"Why?" he asked awkwardly. "Why do you care so much about them? Why do you put them before yourself, instead of using their lives to further yourself?"

"Why do I care about my friends?" she said quietly."

The curiosity, this strange question about to be answered. All his life, battle after battle, using every life around him to his advantage. Partners in hunting and Akatsuki, used up like batteries and spent as easily. So many bounties he had seen doing the same. Yet this village, what made them break this hidden code?

"Because these people give me something to fight for, and this gives me strength," she said simply. "They make me who I am."

He stood there, silent, waiting for more. "That's it?"

She laughed. "Is it so hard to understand? Maybe it is. You're monsters, you've never had a relationship and you probably never will. You broke bonds with your village, what do you expect? Other people make you who you are, and because you didn't have that, you turned into a shell of a person."

Slowly, he looked at his bloody hand. A monster... that's all they've said of me. The killer, the hunter. And look at me. Even though I swore to kill only by necessity now, I still killed that boy. If I had these bonds, would I have done differently?

"Now tell me where Naruto is."

The quiver in her voice. This would have to wait. These bonds, however curious he was about them, they would have to wait once more. The possibility of having one, of this "strength" she mentioned, was enticing. But the catch in her voice.

"The jinchuuriki is hidden away, and this is no time to be bargaining," he said forcefully, taking another step forward. "If you do not tell me where Sarutobi is, your friend is going to die." For emphasis, he solidified his left arm into a solid spear.

She shook her head, tears stinging her eyes. "Tell me where he is!" she choked out. "Give us back our friend!"

"Now, or she dies!"

"Give us-"

"Wait, Sakura."

He paused, momentarily lost for words. "Still haven't had enough?" he asked when he found his tongue again.

"No, we have," Shikamaru said. "Asuma is buried over there." He pointed off into the distance, and Kakuzu detected a note of regret in the boy's voice, veiled by some strange determination. He's not lying this time. Good.

Sakura was looking at her friend in shock. "B-but Shikamaru-"

"No more lives have to be spent on him, Sakura," he said shortly. "We already lost Choji... I don't want to lose anyone else. Asuma wouldn't want more people to die for his sake. We can pay these Akatsuki back one day, when we're stronger, better organized." He looked back at Kakuzu, and in his eyes, he saw something shimmering. Chakra? What sort of power is that? "They've won today, but we'll have tomorrow."

"Fine words, kid," said a serious voice behind Kakuzu. About time, but jeez when did Hidan sound like that? "You gonna back them up with actual force next time?"

Shikamaru curled his hands into fists. He was shaking in place, his anger just beneath the surface.

"You got fire in your eyes, kid," Hidan said carefully. He sounded, much to Kakuzu's shock, almost afraid. "It's that thing you told me in the forest, isn't it. Your..."

"My Will of Fire," the boy said weakly, his voice cracking. The anger was being replaced by sorrow. "No, it was a lie. This is the Will of Shikamaru. I believe in myself now." He looked Hidan dead in the eyes with a fierce intensity. "The Will of Fire was a lie to make me think I could do anything as a boy. But with this, I'm a man with a goal. And my goal is to kill you, someday. For everything you've taken away from me-"

"You're wrong."

The air seemed to go silent, as if listening to. The boy if anything was doubtless confused. "What? Wrong about what, you bastard?"

"Your Will of Fire... is real."

What the hell did he just say? Is this-?

"Protecting others does give you strength, it gives you a sense of purpose," Hidan said, his voice monotone. He sounded like an old man, finally realized the mistakes of his youth. "All this time, I believed in one thing, and only now do I realize it was myself. I ignored everyone around me and invested only in myself. I had my Will of Hidan, not Jashin."

Not Jashin?

"You're insane," Shikamaru spat. "What are you even talking about?"

"I did wrong!" Hidan said loudly, quelling the boy again. "I lied to myself, told myself only I was important, instead of other people! Don't do what I've done- what would your sensei think of you, looking at his student swamped by revenge!"

"Raving," Shikamaru breathed. "You're more insane than I thought."

"Hidan?" Kakuzu said roughly, trying to break whatever spell had been placed on his parnter. "What's happened to you? Is this genjutsu? What the hell is the matter?"

"The truth is what the matter is," his partner said heavily. "But that can wait for after. Let's get Sarutobi and get out of here-"

"Sakura, they found him, they have him!" The pale faced kid was limping over, holding up a scroll with a blinking symbol, his face shining with radiance. "Neji's found the place where they have him!"

"Sai, shut up, not here-"

What's this?

"He's in the abondoned worship center, on the outskirts! He's locked up by some sort of jutsu, he's in a bad state-"

"The jinchuuriki," Kakuzu breathed, catching on. That was the catch in her voice, she was stalling for time while another group tracked down the jinchuuriki. No, this whole fight has been a diversion!

"We've been had," Hidan said grimly.

"That's my line."

He shrugged. Kakuzu slapped his partner in the face, and his features grew angry, just like the old Hidan. "What the fuck was that for?"

"They're going after the jinchuuriki, you idiot!"

The girl was getting on a large ink bird, as was the pale faced boy. He did a hand sign and the Fire Mask landed clumsily next to him. It sent a volley of fire balls at the bird, but once in the air, it avoided them all easily. In a matter of seconds, it was beyond the gates and a speck in the distance.

In the direction of the abandoned Jashinist center.

"Well, what now?" Hidan asked, his voice frustrated. "The boy or Saruotobi?"

"Sarutobi," Kakuzu said instantly. "They'll have a hassle removing the chains you placed on him; that buys us time. Let's make this quick."

"Right..." Kakuzu turned, and saw that Hidan was again looking at Shikamaru, who was bending over the lightly breathing weapon girl. "And what about you?"

"The hell do you care?" Shikamaru shot back fiercely. "I'm not your friend, I'm your enemy! I don't even know why you're bothering to spare me. You really are nuts."

"Maybe I am," Hidan conceded. "But I'm learning to be less nuts."

"Great. Fuck off."

"Your sensei..." he seemed to be struggling with his words. The boy looked up at him, eyebrows raised. "Your sensei... was... a good man." He brought out finally. "He taught you well."

Shikamaru did not reply, just looked at him with dumbfounded eyes. It seemed that it was the last thing he was expecting. Indeed, considering they were about to dig up his grave. Kakuzu facepalmed. What the hell are you even doing a this point, trying to say you're sorry. The earth mask landed next to him, and he flashed the release seal. The two masks slammed into his back. molding themselves back into him.

"I'll look forward to fighting and killing you, too, someday," Hidan said brightly, flashing Shikamaru a crooked smile. "It'll be a fight I'll look forward to."

"You... to?" the boy said, not really sure if this was reality or not. Kakuzu could only imagine what he must be thinking. Is the man I just promised to kill... actually giving me gratitude?

"Let's go, Kakuzu." He nodded and they took off running. He couldn't help but stare at his partner, his eyes searching.

"What the hell was that? What are you doing?"

"I'm fixing things, kinda. It's the first thing I should do as the new me."

"New you? What?"

Hidan laughed, and it actually made Kakuzu flinch. "I'm a crooked man, Kakuzu. I can only fix things in my broken way. I can't lean to far to one side, or the jagged edges will cut into me. No, I've fixed myself with duct tape and string, like a kid in school. It's the best I can do, and it's what I'll have to be satisfied with."

Pause. "The Nara boy's right. You are nuts."

He shrugged. "At this point, I'll take it as a compliment."