(A/N) Kakuzu.
Kakuzu was more difficult to track down, a lot because he moved erratically, moving north to hunt down a Kumo shinobi for a bounty, west for an Iwa bounty, east for a Suna bounty, then chasing another Kumo bounty in circles for five days straight while Shino and Jiraiya attempted to track him.
Finally Shino managed to sneak a bug onto the man's clothing, and they trailed him loosely, waiting for a good ambush ground. He knew the place where Shikamaru had drawn Hidan and Kakuzu, it was big and open with massive trees. Less ammo for Kakuzu to use against them, less things for his fire heart to light on fire. The hearts would still be troublesome, but would be less so on a grassland, as opposed to very flammable forest.
"He is in a large open area," Shino reported, using the seal on his shoulder to send a pulse of chakra to Tenten. She'd come when she could, and they would move, while Kakuzu was hopefully still tired from his battle to collect the bounty. With any luck, they'd be able to collect both that bounty, and Kakuzu's, which was large.
Tenten appeared a few moments later, looking somewhat flushed.
"Are you alright?" Shino asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes!" Her voice cracked slightly, and she reddened further. "Sorry, yes, I'm fine. It's nothing."
His eyebrow raised further, but he dropped it. Tenten looked somewhat relieved.
"Is Jiraiya around?" Tenten asked quickly, looking around.
"He's watching Kakuzu," Shino replied evenly, tilting his head towards where he knew Jiraiya was.
Tenten looked around curiously. "This looks like the place he was killed last time."
Shino shrugged. "I was not there last time so I do not remember."
Tenten hummed in agreement. She hadn't been there either, Shino knew. Only Team 10 and Kakashi had been there.
Luckily, Tenten had fought Kakuzu, or at least his hearts before.
They approached the pervert hermit after a quiet moment of silence, crouching with him, their chakra suppressed as they watched the entirely one sided destruction of the ninja Kakuzu had been hunting. A Suna nin, by the looks of it. A puppeteer, nowhere on the level of Sasori or Kakuro. The battle would be over soon.
Kakuzu ended the fight decisively and quickly. Shino might have felt more sorry for the shinobi if he didn't know that the death had been instantaneous.
Jiraiya made the first move, lunging out with a fire jutsu springing to his lips.
Kakuzu leaped out of the way, standing up on top of one of the massive trees. The four hearts split from his back, lunging to attack Jiraiya.
"Try and separate one and I have something I think will work," Tenten whispered to Shino. "Even if Obito stole the sage fan from me, I still can use jutsu outside of that."
Shino looked at her for a moment, then nodded, slinking out of the undergrowth to attack one of the hearts, to draw it away.
Tenten quickly leaped out when it looked like all four were going to focus on him while Kakuzu took Jiraiya. It didn't look like picking them off one by one would work, so all in it was.
She leaped into the air, two scrolls spinning around her in a move she'd mastered nearly a decade ago. Only difference was, this time, all of the weapons were marked with her hiraishin seal. No matter where they hit, it turned the battle in her favor, making the area a minefield.
Kakuzu looked at her warily, blowing away a fire jutsu from Jiraiya. He was an S-class shinobi. Tenten knew personally that one did not get there by underestimating opponents. Especially not when they made such a bold move as to not hit anyone with their weapons.
She landed lightly, tucking the scrolls away.
Kakuzu seemed to decide she was the greater threat, she was unknown after all, and sent an arm after her. Tenten twirled a sword she'd pulled out of one of her side pouches, and ducked under the arm, slicing it off. It reconnected soon enough when she flashed to one of her kunai near where the hearts were attempting to kill Shino.
"Shino, get out of the way," she yelled, flipping through the signs for the Dance of Lightning jutsu. She had to get back and tell Kumori it worked in the field after all. He'd be delighted.
Shino shunshined to the top of one of the trees, and before the masks could chase after him, Tenten slammed her hands into the ground, successfully managing five tendrils almost three times her height with the jutsu. Three slammed into the water mask, and two into the fire mask. Both shuddered and broke apart. Tenten counted that as a success. Two down, three to go.
"You destroyed two of my hearts!" Kakuzu sounded very affronted indeed.
Tenten stared at him evenly as Jiraiya used the distraction to back up and summon a few toads. "I did. Wanna see if I can destroy the rest?"
She flickered to another one of her weapons as the lightning heart destroyed where she had just been standing.
Kakuzu growled. "I will be stealing your hearts to replace the ones you destroyed." He pointed at Jiraiya, who paused and looked up at him. "Except you. You will be turned in for your bounty."
"Oh, is that all," Jiraiya remarked sarcastically as he finished up his summonings.
Tenten went ahead and summoned a smaller kestrel to provide any needed backup, and turned her attention back to the masks.
Shino was engaging the earth one, using the messed up terrain to presumably hide his insects to drain its chakra. She figured he'd be fine, and focused on the lightning and wind masks, the remaining ones. Jiraiya could handle Kakuzu.
Lightning tried to zap her again, but she hiraishined away, throwing kunai at the wind heart, fully expecting and even hoping the kunai would be deflected into the trees. It'd give her more places to teleport to.
She teleported again as wind whipped through where she just was, shredding the ground and unfortunately, her weapon. Luckily she could make more of them, but still, her weapon! She threw a half heartedly aimed kunai at the wind again, and this one was deflected into the trees.
She teleported to it, and used the distraction of the now confused masks to leap down and crush wind's mask with a helpful mace.
She quickly teleported away to a safer spot as Lightning tried to fry her.
A pulse of satisfaction and confirmation rippled from the seal on her shoulder, and Tenten figured Shino had finished off his. A quick glance at his general area confirmed that.
Two more jumps later and she was still uninjured, although more of her weapons had been destroyed. She hurled a spread of weapons at the mask, ricocheting a few off each other to send them up into the trees.
A wind jutsu ripped through the mask, tearing it apart as Shino entered the fight. Tenten sent a thankful pulse into her seal.
Jiraiya was almost finished with Kakuzu, so Tenten and Shino left him to it, not wanting to interfere and mess him up at a critical moment.
Soon enough, Kakuzu was dead, and unlike a couple others, he did have a bounty to turn in.
"Do you want to turn that in, or should I?" Tenten wondered, staring at the body.
"You can," Shino told her. "I don't want it."
Tenten snorted.
(A/N) Right, so I will be skipping Hidan, because I personally do not cuss, so I'm not gonna write Hidan. He was sealed away for eternity or something, don't think too hard about it. Please do not remark upon this, I'm not writing the bastard, so don't even try it. Itachi's next time, so that'll be fun. It's Ino's birthday, so happ