Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
You didn't really think I'd leave you with that horrible excuse for a chapter for a week, now would I?
You know, I've never actually said outright what gender I am, you know?
It's not on my profile either.
I mean, I think it's obvious, but that might be because I already know.
So, out of curiousity, do you guys think I'm a girl or a guy?
Chapter 49: Defeating Kakuzu: The Akatsuki's Deception!
"Kakuzu?" Naruto repeated. "Why did you only know Kakashi-sensei?"
"He's the only one with a bounty." Kakazu rationlized. "I have no interest in you others, except for the fact I have to kill you all. Wait, which one of you is the Jinchuriki? I need to capture you."
"Kakashi-sensei, can I-" Naruto started, glaring at Kakuzu in irritation.
"No. We're going to fight together. He's a member of the Akatsuki." Kakashi pointed out, not even bothering to hear what Naruto was about to say. "He's stronger than he seems."
Naruto grumbled under his breath.
Kakuzu brought his arm up and his hand flew out from the elbow down. Black strings kept that hand attached to his arm.
The six of them scattered, and the hand flew back to his arm.
"Looks like we don't exactly have time to make a plan." Obito commented. "Still, six against one? Even though he's an Akatsuki, I feel sorry for him. Well, not really."
"Just don't get in my way." Sasuke retorted, activating his Sharingan.
"Oh, that's my line." Naruto smirked, placing his hands into a handseal. "Fuuton: Kaze no Yaiba. Wind Swords!"
Kakuzu easily dodged the technique, wary of any other attack. He jumped back, leaving a large space between him and the Konoha team. He seemed to be doing nothing but analyzing the situation.
Naruto stared at Kakuzu. "Something's wrong."
Kakashi's eyes widened as he felt a slight bit of chakra from behind them.
"Scatter!" Kakashi ordered.
The six of them scattered without hesitation as the detached hand of Kakuzu flew out of the ground.
"Wow. This guy can detach his hand?" Obito commented.
Naruto jumped at the hand and attempted to stab it with a kunai. It wrestled itself out of Naruto's grasp and got dragged back down through the ground towards Kakuzu.
A devious smile appeared on Naruto's face for a moment, then disappeared.
I'm going to finish this up quickly. Kakuzu decided, taking off his cloak. His eyes flitted over his right arm for a split-second, and he noticed a white, steadily burning, tag on it. It was nearly completely burnt.
That little-
His eyes widened and he quickly lengthened his arm, leading it towards Naruto.
Naruto's eyes widened.
Darn it! He noticed!
"Get away!" Naruto snapped. "Explosion tag!"
Luckily enough, the tag exploded half-way between Kakuzu and Naruto.
Kakuzu cut off the threads that attached himself to his arm without hesitation the moment it exploded. He sucessfully managed to keep himself from butning to death.
Chiyo chuckled. "You're pretty good, I suppose."
"You didn't think that he might aim your explosion tag back towards us?" Sasuke said scathingly.
"Well, at least I managed to destroy his right hand! That's more than you did." Naruto retorted.
"I would've gotten him as soon as he looked in my eyes." Sasuke snapped.
"Sure you would've." Naruto scoffed. "Well, you can concentrate on hiding behind us as you attempt to meet your eyes with Kakuzu."
"Don't be stupid." Sasuke growled. "I don't need my genjutsu to fight someone like this."
"Enough arguing, more fighting!" Obito snapped.
"What's he doing?" Sakura said in confusion.
All of them stared at Kakuzu. Four ghoul-like figures floated up from his back. They appeared to be made out of the threads that criss-crossed Kakuzu's body and connected his limbs to it.
They all wore different masks, however.
"What are those?" Naruto muttered in disgust.
"Things we have to destroy." Obito retorted, placing his hands into a handseal. "Katon: Endan! Flame Bullet!"
"Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu! Great Dragon Flame Jutsu!" Sasuke snapped in unision.
"Fuuton: Shinkuuha. Vacuum Wave!" Naruto said.
Kakuzu looked on impassively as the two of the four 'beings' blew techniques out of their mouths.
What seemed to be a small sea of fire completely destroyed the three weaker techniques.
"Um, I have a feeling that we might be in a bit of trouble." Naruto muttered. "Suiton: Shuuhen Mizumamori. Surronding Water Protection."
Kakashi blinked, looking at the gigantic water shield that surronded the six of them.
"Good, Naruto. But I rather doubt this'd be enough against a wind-enhanced fire attack." Kakashi pointed out, placing his hand into a handseal. In a second, he had moved through five handseals.
Raiton: Raikou! Lightning Flash!
The technique went into the water shield Naruto had put up.
"They say to fight fire with fire, but I guess you're fighting wind-fire with lightning-water." Obito commented.
Kakuzu's technique hit the lightning-enhanced water and was sucessfully disperced.
Naruto let the technique go, as smoke and steam floated through the air.
"Perfect chance." Naruto grinned. He closed his eyes for a moment, then raced through the makeshift smokescreen towards what he thought was Kakuzu.
"Rasengan!" Naruto exclaimed, a blue glow lighting his face.
He thrusted his hand forwards to pierce a body.
Naruto frowned as he met less resistance than he expected. His eyes narrowed as the smoke and steam cleared enough for him to see the figure in front of him.
He discovered that there was a blob of black threads and a broken mask on the ground in front of him.
"Darn. Well, at least I got one of the weird things." Naruto muttered, jumping back to his team.
"Naruto, I'm going to take a page out of your book." Obito decided.
"Hm?" Naruto blinked.
"Hey! You! Kakuzu!" Obito exclaimed. "Where's Gaara!"
Naruto twitched.
"I did not act like that." he whispered.
"Keep on believing that if you want." Sasuke smirked.
"I wasn't one of the ones who captured him." Kakuzu answered.
"Why are you attacking us?" Obito demanded.
"Do I need a reason?" Kakuzu said coldly looked on towards Naruto. "You. Blondie."
"Yes?" Naruto said calmly.
"You destroyed my Wind Element heart." he narrowed his eyes, and something that resembled anger... no, irritation... flashed in the corners. "You'll replace it. Temporarily, that is. Do you know how difficult it is to find a heart of someone with the wind element? In fact, I think I'll replace my right arm you incinerated with yours as well."
"Heart?" Naruto said in confusion.
"I suppose I can give you the courtesy of explaining." Kakazu sighed. "I have five hearts. Well, four now. Each of them are in one of those, with one in mine. And each of them has a different chakra element."
He paused.
Wait a second... since I'm using that technique to be here, then technically I didn't lose a heart...
Hm...
For that matter, I didn't lose a right arm either. Perfect.
Whatever. I need to kill them anyways. I'll put Hatake Kakashi's body somewhere where it won't rot as much, then collect it later after the ritual finishes. For the bounty.
"Oh, so that's why you want my heart." Naruto rolled his eyes. "Well, I'll just make sure you don't get it then."
"You don't have a choice in the matter." Kakuzu said coldly.
One of the beings blew out a lightning technique.
The six of them dodged the technique.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
"So, that means there's one heart in each of the beings, most likely." he commented.
"So, that means we have to kill him another... four times?" Obito raised his eyebrow. "Wonderful."
"That's stupid." Naruto retorted. "Let's just aim at his head."
"I agree with Naruto." Sasuke nodded.
Chiyo chuckled. "That's one way to get past that little problem."
Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. "Okay. There's no point in just standing here. I'll go after Kakuzu, so can you-"
"No." Sasuke cut him off. "I'll go after Kakuzu."
"Sasuke, this isn't the time to argue..." Obito complained.
"I have my genjutsu." Sasuke explained. "I'll get Kakuzu under a genjustu, then attack him with my Chidori. Much better than your plan which was- what? Charge after Kakuzu with a Rasengan?"
Naruto growled. "That was not my plan, okay? Stop thinking that I'm the same as before. But I guess that might work better. Slightly.
He sighed. "Fine. I'll back you up."
Naruto's eyes narrowed, utterly serious. He lunged after one of the beings without a moment of hesitation.
The being opened its mouth and a lightning technique of some sort flew out.
"Fuudate! Wind Shield!" Naruto said quickly, creating a shield in front of him. The lightning technique and shield destroyed each other.
He grabbed a number of kunai from his pouch and threw them, one after another.
Explosions flew up.
The being easily dodged the small explosions. It might have been injured if it had been human, but this being seemed to be made out of moving black strings.
That didn't deter Naruto, however. It didn't even seem to worry him much.
He merely took out four more tag-attached kunai and threw them at the ground around the being.
The being made to escape again, but found it's way blocked by a translucent shield.
It swiftly turned to another direction, but Naruto had already set up another shield on that side.
In a matter of a second, the other two sides were covered with the shield, along with the top.
Naruto smirked.
The being opened it's mouth and did the same lightning technique again.
"Gee, is that the only technique you know?" Naruto retorted. He walked up to the shield slowly.
"You know what's interesting about this shield? Things can go in, but not out." Naruto grinned. Even if his opponent was probably non-sentient, he felt the need to talk to it. "It's hard to get people in here though. Aren't I lucky you seem to be dumber than most?"
The being continued on trying to escape.
"So. I wonder what would have happen if I threw this explosion tag?" Naruto smirked, lifting up a kunai. He threw it through the shield, causing ripples to appear.
"Five... four..." Naruto counted. "Three... "
There was an explosion, incinerating the being into nothingness.
Naruto twitched and muttered 'two' and 'one' underneath his breath.
Meanwhile, Obito looked at his opponent.
"How to deal with this..." Obito murmured.
It's made out of strings, so unless I completely destroy it at once, it'll probably regenerate or something like that.
Wait, Naruto just destroyed the mask and it melted... or something like that.
So, basically, as long as I destroy the mask, it's fine.
Obito's eye narrowed.
I might be able to use taijutsu, but those strings seem awfully dangerous, so I better stay with ninjutsu. After all...
...Can these things even fall under genjutsu? Doubt it.
The being didn't wait for Obito to finish musing. It opened it's mouth, an Earth technique coming out.
This technique was in the form of a a large spear.
Obito jumped back, the spear stabbing itself into the ground.
"Fine, then." Obito muttered, glaring at the being.
I may not have super-strong techniques like the Chidori or Rasengan...
He blinked once, his Sharingan activating.
Or super-strong strength like Sakura...
His hands floated into several different handseals.
But I can still do this.
Katon: Kasenshin! Thousand Needles of Fire!
The chakra that Obito had let out narrowed into needles. It lit up with fire, and flew towards the being.
The being attempted to dodge the onslaught of needles, but eventually got hit.
The needles that went threw the black cloak of threads caused no damage, but a needle hit the mask.
It broke into little pieces, and the being fell onto the ground.
Obito grinned.
1010101010
Sakura glared at the being.
I can't lose.
I have to prove that I'm just as strong as Naruto and Sasuke... and Obito-san.
Her hands clenched.
I'm not a dead weight anymore.
Her eyes narrowed and she jumped at the being in front of her.
Her fists met thin air as the being stepped back. She flipped in mid-air and landed lightly on the ground.
This being blew out a concentrated blast of fire.
Sakura dodged, the edge of her sandals a little blacker than before.
She glared at the being and took a breath.
Calm down.
Her eyes narrowed and she aimed a kick at towards the being.
The being simply blew out another burst of fire.
Sakura jumped back yet again, dodging it expertly.
Like I thought. Whenever I attack it, it gets me away from it with a blast of fire.
As long as I keep on the offensive, I should be fine. I've got a plan. If I can call it that.
Sakura aimed yet another kick right underneath the mask.
The mouth opened, as if to blow out fire again.
Sakura already expected that. She already hit the being and kicked off into the air. Sakura clenched her fist and punched the being straight into the ground.
It didn't stand a chance as the mask cracked into little pieces.
She smiled.
1010101010
Kakuzu frowned underneath his mask as his last 'heart' was destroyed.
He had expected them to be more of a difficultly for them to defeat, but he didn't have as much chakra as usual, after all. They were connected partly to his chakra supply.
Kakuzu ducked as a blade of lightning flew over his head. He stared at the ground, avoiding the gaze of Sasuke.
Things wouldn't be so easy for them if I had all my chakra.
However, enough time has passed that there's no way that they can reach the Jinchuriki before the beast is extracted.
My only irritation is that I cannot gain the bounty for Hatake Kakashi.
Kakuzu let his arms separate from his body, aiming the one with a hand still attached towards Kakashi.
The two of them promptly tried to attack his arms.
Kakuzu froze.
Not because he wanted to. Because he had to.
A throaty chuckle echoed from behind Kakuzu.
"Did you think that I was a senile old lady?" Chiyo smirked, her hands extended in front of her.
Blue threads attached themselves to various parts of Kakuzu.
She winced slightly as Kakuzu tried to escape.
"What are you waiting for?" Chiyo demanded. "Hurry up and finish him off!"
Kakashi nodded and powered up a Chidori. He stabbed it in the chest of Kakuzu, destroying his last heart.
Kakuzu fell to the ground as Chiyo let the chakra strings go.
A puff of smoke flew up, covering everyone and everything for a few moments.
Then it dispersed, and revealed the face of 'Kakuzu'.
"That's a jonin from the Sand." Chiyo commented, staring down at the body in shock. "Yuura. He's been working hard as a leader for years now. There's no way he's an Akatsuki spy."
"Are you sure?" Kakashi asked.
"Certain." Chiyo said.
"It can't be Henge." Naruto muttered.
"It has to be some sort of special technique." Obito commented. His eyes widened. "Wait, that means-"
"-Gaara's in trouble." Naruto finished. "They were trying to slow us down."
"They must have already started to extract the tailed beast." Chiyo stated.
"Extract." Naruto repeated mutely.
"Yes. Perhaps they want to make a new Jinchuriki." Chiyo answered.
"We must hurry." Kakashi murmured. "There's no time."
"Old lady." Naruto said in worry, his head starting to put the pieces together. "When someone extracts the tailed beast from the Jinchuriki..."
He hesitated, his eyes darkening.
"...does the Jinchuriki die?"
There was a moment of silence, before Chiyo answered softly. "Yes."
Naruto looked nothing but resigned.
"So, wait a second. If the Akatsuki get ahold of Naruto, then..." Obito let the sentence go unfinished.
Sakura's eyes widened.
No.
"Stop worrying!" Naruto snapped, not wanting to worry them. "We'll save Gaara, okay?"
"We're worried about you-" Sakura retorted.
"-there's no reason to." Sasuke cut Sakura off. "Or do you not believe in Naruto? I'm sure that the Akatsuki will be so irritated with his annoying self that they'd let him go if they actually ever managed to capture him. Which I doubt."
"I'm glad you have such faith in me." Naruto said sarcastically.
Sasuke smirked. "Whatever you say."
Naruto turned around and looked towards the forest.
Gaara...
"Let's go." Kakashi said quickly. "We can't lose another moment."
There was a series of nods, and the six of them jumped into the trees.
1010101010
Blah, blah, blah... Anything else to say?
