Author's Note: Hmmm, the number of reviews the last chapter got was one of the lowest as of date, though the reviews themselves didn't point out if there was something wrong. Oh well, let's hope this chapter fares better. Enjoy:

Chapter 62:

The Battle for Taki

or

You Catch more Fu with Honey than Vinegar

"It's a pity we have to abandon this village," Hidan said, sounding a little saddened. "I couldn't even get started on the construction of the Jashin Temple."

"I thought there was already a Jashin Temple in the Land of Springs. Wasn't there where you were trained?" Kakuzu asked.

"Well, yes, but the temple was in in the middle of fucking nowhere. Jashin-sama would be mostly pleased if I build a temple to him in the heart of a ninja village. Oh well, guess that another slaughter will have to do," Hidan said, with his usual sadistic glee.

"Do as you wish," Kakuzu apathetically replied, as from their vantage point, they watched the activity going on in the village below them.

A messenger had arrived with the news that the Taki resistance, alongside reinforcements from Konoha and Suna, were heading towards the village. Kakuzu and Hidan, pretending they cared about keeping the village, had ordered everybody to put a defense and repel the invaders, even if they did know that the village was already lost and those poor idiots would die for nothing.

Well, not for nothing. Maybe if they managed to kill some enemy ninjas before going down, their lives would weaken Akatsuki's enemies even if just a little.

Even if he would never admit it, Kakuzu felt it was a pity he couldn't keep the village for longer. It was a place that he hated like no other, and having it under his control would have been his ultimate revenge.

"Anyway, I'll better get everything ready. You stay here and keep them busy. Try to kill some of them if you can," Kakuzu told him as he turned around, and walked away.

"How are you so sure the jinchuriki will come to us?" Hidan asked.

"I know how she thinks," Kakuzu confidently said, before Body Flickering away.

"'I know how she thinks'" Hidan mockingly repeated. "'I'm Kakuzu and I'm a fucking smartass that knows everything, yet doesn't worship Jashin-sama'. Oh well, at least he gave me the fun part of the mission..."

…

Meanwhile, not far away from there, said group of ninjas, about five hundred strong, were leaping from one tree branch to another, getting closer to Takigakure. The Konoha and Suna ninja would expect traps or an ambush the more they got closer, but the Taki ninjas told them that the Akatsuki wouldn't bother with that. The secret entrances to Takigakure were pretty much bottlenecks, and the defenders would use that to their advantage.

That's why they decided to send their strongest asset to deal with such situation first: Naruto Uzumaki.

The blond jinchuriki would infiltrate Takigakure on his own, create some ruckus with his clones and summons, and thus allowing the bulk of their forces to enter the village unimpeded. Right now, he was being led by a Takigakure Jonin, a blond haired man he remembered from the Chunin exams as one of Fu's teammates. Kegon was his name.

They stopped when they reached a small waterfall that fed into a lagoon.

"Here we are," Kegon announced.

"So...where's this secret entrance? Behind that waterfall?" Naruto guessed.

"It is," the Taki Jonin confirmed.

"That's kind of cliché," Naruto pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest.

"It's not a direct way into the village," Kegon replied, a little annoyed. "Behind this waterfall there's a grotto. Said grotto is pretty much a maze where you will get lost unless you know where to go," the blond Taki man handed Naruto a small scroll. "Follow the indications on this scroll, and you'll be able to reach an entrance at the edge of the lake."

Naruto nodded as he took the scroll. "Understood!" he replied, as he gave Kegon a thumbs up.

"Make sure you're quick, because the moment I return to the others and tell them you're inside, we'll wait only ten minutes to attack. Will you be able to clear a zone big enough for our forces to enter unimpeded in such little time?"

Naruto smirked confidently. "I'll only need five minutes."

"For the sake of our village, hope you can back those words up," Kegon replied. "Anyway, now you'll be on your own. Good luck."

And with that, Kegon leaped away, leaving Naruto to his mission. Despite his initial impression, he had to admit that the secret entrance wasn't as lame as he thought. Without the scroll telling him where to go, he would have gotten lost in no time.

"Or maybe I could summon an army of clones and have them move around until one of them found the exit," Naruto thought, pleased with his idea.

The blond jinchuriki exited from a small hole in the ground that was hidden by several strategically placed bushes. From that point, he could see the village of Takigakure. Most of it was in the island in the middle of the lake, built around the roots of the Great Tree, with a single bridge connecting it to the mainland. There were also several clusters of houses built at the edge of the lake as well.

"Okay, those houses at the edge of the lake look like they're from civilians, so I shouldn't worry too much about them. Now, the best way to call their attention would be to attack the bridge. But how? This requires a clever, intricate plan like any other..." Naruto said, as he started to think for a couple minutes.

After doing some thinking, the blond Konoha ninja grinned, and made his trademark hand seal. One hundred Naruto clones appeared besides him in an instant.

"Everybody, charge! Seek the enemies, and kick their asses!" the original Naruto shouted.

His command was met with a chorus of "yeah!", "let's go!", "Let's show them our strength!" and, oddly enough, a couple of "I'm hungry!".

The Takigakure defenders, composed by mercenaries, cultists, and a few Taki ninjas that decided to defect to Kakuzu's side, were soon swarmed by a tsunami of orange and black.

"We're under attack!" a thug cried.

"The hell? Why do these guys look the same?" another one asked.

"They're clones, you idiot!" a cultist told them.

"Impossible! Nobody should be able to produce so many clones!" the first thug angrily fired back, as he destroyed a clone of Naruto.

"We can!" several Naruto clones replied in unison, almost indignant at the mere thought of casting doubt on their boss' abilities.

The flash attack of the Naruto army quickly pushed the defenders of the bridge back into the main village, with the clones following suit. Sadly, by that point, most of the ninjas guarding the village had been alerted of the invasion, and quickly run to face the army of orange clad clones, which quickly began to dwindle in number as kunai, shuriken and destructive elemental ninjutsu flied at them.

"Well, so much for the clones," Naruto said, as he leaped into the air, landing in the surface of the lake. He bit his thumb, and made several hand seals. "Guess I'll need to bring the heavy hitters. Summoning Jutsu!"

Naruto slammed his palm on the water, creating a giant cloud of smoke, as well as producing some waves due the water that has been displaced. When the smoke dispelled, everybody could see a gigantic toad, his rusty red skin covered in multiple warts. He was wearing a blue vest, had a short –to him– blade attached to his belt, and his lips were holding on a still smoking pipe.

The giant toad took a few moments to contemplate his surroundings.

"Naruto?" the giant toad asked, noticing the blonde standing on his head. "Is this the village you told me about!"

"Yup!" Naruto enthusiastically nodded. "Are you ready for the action, Bunta?"

Gamabunta, or Bunta, as he was sometimes called, unsheathed his blade to state his answer.

"I just hope it won't be just the two of us," Gamabunta stated, as he prepared to attack a group of mercenaries and Jashin cultists.

"Nah, we're just clearing the way for the rest to join us," Naruto reassured him.

"Good, because otherwise this would be kind of boring," Gamabunta said, as he leaped to the edge of the island in the center of the lake, creating a quake and producing more waves on the lake. "Come on, come at me, ants!" Gamabunta taunted, as he swung his blade at a group of enemies, some which avoided the swipe, others not so fortunate.

…

"Boy, you can heard the sound of the battle even from here."

The ten minutes long gone, the Takigakure resistance and their Konoha and Suna allies decided to move and attack. They were split in three groups, one for each secret entrance the village had. They would attack from three different sides in a pincer maneuver, and meet in the middle.

"I can believe that Naruto went on his own like that, the madman," Kiba continued, shaking his head. "The cocky bastard must think he can take on a village on his own."

Kakashi's Animal Squad was also taking part in the battle. Though rather than direct combatants, they have been appointed as Fu's bodyguards due their close friendship with the female jinchūriki , as well as their tracking skills just in case Fu disappeared, either on her own, or if she was abducted by the enemy. They were jumping from one branch to another like the rest of their group, while Fu flew above them.

"Naruto knows he isn't doing that. All he's doing is draw attention to him so we have a bigger window of opportunity to strike," Kakashi reminded him.

"Alright then, what secret entry are we going to use?" Tamaki asked.

"No one," Fu interjected before Kakashi could answer. "We'll attack from the air."

"Um...Fu? Maybe you can do that, but no one else here can fly," Tamaki uneasily asked.

Fu shot a smirk at the cat kunoichi, which sent chills down her spine. Then, without any kind of warning, Fu dived and, in one fell swoop, grabbed Shino, Kiba and Tamaki in a two-armed hug.

"Kakashi-san, grab onto me, I can't carry anymore people in my arms!" Fu told the silver haired ninja.

"Fu! Just...what are you doing?" the surprised Jonin asked in shock.

"The secret entrances take too much time. I prefer if we take a more direct route. And yes, I know that you guys are my escorts and I'm not going to leave you behind. But I will if you don't make up your mind!" Fu protested.

Seeing that the Taki jinchuriki was gaining altitude, Kakashi jumped and latched onto one of her legs. The additional weight added to the already heavy load didn't seem to hinder Fu in the slightest, as they continued to gain altitude. Kakashi silently thanked that this girl wasn't one of his students.

Fu continued flying as easily as if she wasn't carrying anybody, her eyes locked into the thick forest on a plateau that hid Takigakure. While those orange eyes usually shone with the glint of youth and happiness, now they reflected her determination and steel hard resolve to take back her home.

"Fu, I know this battle means a lot to you but..." Kakashi began. "Shouldn't we attack alongside the rest of the group? If we arrive too early, we will find ourselves outnumbered and away from backup."

"Naruto should have taken care of that," Fu replied, as she pierced the forest that surrounded Taki, skillfully avoiding all the thick and lush branches without having to slow down. "Plus, we aren't going to take part in the main battle."

"We aren't?" Kiba and Tamaki asked in unison.

"Fu, you can't-" Kakashi was going to say before being interrupted.

"Our mission will be to find and rescue Shibuki," Fu firmly stated. "You're a tracking squad, you will be able to track him, right? And taking advantage of the chaos of the battle, we'll take him to safety while the rest of our forces take back the city. Genius plan!"

Kakashi didn't share Fu's optimism.

"Fu, there's the chance that Akatsuki might be counting on you trying to rescue Shibuki, and thus making you leave the security of the bulk of the army," Shino pointed out.

"I already thought of that. But that's why you're also here, silly! You're also my escorts, right? So as long as you guys keep close to me, nothing will go wrong!" Fu excitedly said, as her lips curved into an innocent smile.

…

The bulk of the Taki Resistance and their allies took very little time to arrive at the village and join the battle, Thanks to Naruto drawing all the attention to him, the rest of the ninja could get into the village with little problem, and engage the enemies.

"Come on everybody! For Takigakure! Let's kick these invaders out of our home!" a Taki ninja shouted, with his comrades cheering back.

"Alright then, I think I can fight normally now. Gamabunta, cover us while we liberate the village!" Naruto said, as he jumped off of the giant toad, as he pulled out and activated his Wind Blade.

"You got it, brat!" Gamabunta replied.

Naruto landed in the water, and rushed towards the central island, eyeing the ongoing battles and wondering which one he should join.

"Naruto-kun!"

The voice of his girlfriend coming from above snapping him from his thoughts. Looking upwards, Naruto saw Hinata flying down at him. Haku was with her and, oddly enough, he was flying as well.

"Hinata-hime! Haku!" Naruto cheered, waving at them. "Good to see you're here! Now we can fight the three of us together!"

"Indeed. Let's end this battle as quick as possible so the loses for Taki and our forces are kept to a minimum," Haku agreed, as he landed near Naruto. Hinata remained floating above them.

"Um, Haku? Were you flying?" Naruto asked, scratching his head.

The Ice Ninja shook his head. "No. Hinata-san has become proficient in her abilities to share her flight with somebody else."

"So far I can only carry one person with me, but I'm working to expand that limit," Hinata chimed in. "That way, the Assault Squad can be a flying unit!"

"Neat idea, hime! Though for the time being, we won't need it," Naruto said, as he directed his eyes to the battle in front of them. "There doesn't seem to be any trace of the Akatsuki, and the ones defending the village are made of rabble. Thugs, mercenaries, and screaming cultists that look scary but aren't that though."

"Okay then. Let's clear the battlefield by the time the Akatsuki show up," Hinata agreed.

Suddenly, an ear piercing scream echoed through the village. The battle stopped for a few seconds, as everybody directed their eyes to the canopy of the Great Tree, where the scream had come from. Then, a mass of black creatures emerged from the canopy of the tree, and rushed to the battlefield, some of them running, those who had wings flying.

"What...what are those abominations?" Hinata asked in horror. With her Tensiegan, she could see them close. Ugly, nightmarish creatures with inky black skin, long, bony limbs, several maws full of razor sharp long teeth, multiple eyes across their uneven bodies, or no eyes at all.

"I don't know, but I have the feeling that they aren't on our side," Haku uneasily said, as his hand grabbed a handful of senbon from his ninja tool pouch.

"Oh no! Not those monsters again!" a Taki ninja cried in despair, taking a step back.

"You know those things?" Naruto asked the Taki ninja.

The fearful Taki man nodded. "The cultist summoned them when they first attacked us...but there weren't so many of them before!"

"Of course, it would be naïve on our part to think that this would be easy and that Akatsuki wouldn't have a nasty surprise in stock for us," Naruto said, sounding a bit annoyed, but he quickly lightened up. "But if there's no challenge, there's no fun! Hinata, Haku, let's focus on those creatures while the rest of our forces deal with the human opponents!"

"Alright!" the two of them chorused in unison, as they followed Naruto towards the incoming charge of demonic creatures.

…

Meanwhile, not far away from there, but far enough from the main battle, Fu and Kakashi's animal Squad had located the Akatsuki, and were heading towards their alleged location, with Shino leading the group. Given the threat Kakuzu made, Fu guessed that Shibuki wouldn't be far away from them.

"How do you know where they are?" Kakashi asked his quiet student.

"During our brief confrontation, I had a kikai beetle latched onto the Akatsuki that was chasing Fu. Said beetle is now releasing a pheromone only my hive of kikai can smell," Shino explained.

"Good one, Shino! I'll have to give you a really big reward for being so efficient!" Fu cheerfully said, winking at her boyfriend.

Shino blushed for a few seconds. "Err...that's very nice of you, but let's leave the celebrations for the moment the Akatsuki is defeated and Taki is again free of its grasp."

Akamaru then barked.

"Guys, Akamaru can smell him as well!" Kiba stated. "He says that he remembers the foul scent of his chakra. Wherever they go, they won't evade our senses."

"Alright then, everybody, prepare for an imminent fight! And Fu, stay close to us! I know what you must be feeling right now, but don't stray away, that's what Akatsuki wants!" Kakashi sternly stated, looking at Fu with his one visible eye.

"Don't worry, I won't let those bastards capture me so easily," Fu replied.

"We're heading out of the village," Tamaki mentioned.

And indeed, the others noticed that they were heading towards the forests west of Taki.

"I think they're moving," Kiba added. "My guess is that they know we're coming, and are taking us to a trap."

"Or they just simply want to isolate us from the rest of our allies," Kakashi stated. "Probably both."

All of them tensed up the moment they left the village and entered the forest. Now, they would be alone. Whatever Akatsuki had prepared, it wouldn't be pretty.

"Fu, do you know if there's something around here? Something the Akatsuki could use against us?" Tamaki asked the green haired girl.

Fu placed a finger under her lips, as she started to think if there is anything special about the forest, but nothing came to mind. She shook her head.

"As far as I know, there are nothing but trees. Kilometers and kilometers of trees," Fu replied.

"Remember that Kakuzu used to be a Takigakure ninja. It's probable that he knows secrets about the village and its surroundings many of the younger Taki ninjas such as yourself might ignore," Shino pointed out.

"If you say so," Fu replied, shrugging again. "Though I won't let my guard down."

"Too bad we didn't take Hinata with us. With those eyes of her, she could be able to see any potential trap in advance," Kiba said.

"Maybe in another life. But now, we'll have to do without an Hyuga to help us," Shino replied.

They continued leaping from one branch to another, until Akamaru started to bark.

"Kiba?" Tamaki asked.

"Akamaru said that they've stopped. I think they're ready to fight," Kiba explained the others.

"And so are we!" Fu firmly shouted, punching her palm.

They arrived to a clearing in the forest. In the middle of the clearing, lying on his side, with his arms and legs restrained by ropes, laid Fubuki, the former –hopefully not for long– leader of Takigakure. Fu couldn't help but gasp in shock upon seeing her leader and big brother-like figure.

"Shibuki!" she cried, while repressing her urges to speed towards him. Even she knew they were using him as the bait for a trap.

"Let's help Shibuki, but stay close to each other, and watch for any trap or ambush. It's not a matter of if, but of when," Kakashi instructed, as he uncovered his Sharingan.

The four members of the Animal Squad landed around Shibuki, each one of them facing to a different cardinal point, while Fu landed besides Shibuki, and quickly dropped on her knees, untied him, and checked if he was okay.

"Shibuki! Are you okay? Did those mean guys hurt you? Do you need something?" Fu hurriedly asked as she untied her leader. "Oh my Kami, you look awful! Shino, I need you to heal him a little!"

"Fu, you have to leave! They used me to lure you out of the village! The Akatsuki are here!" a panicked Shibuki stammered.

"We're already aware of that, Shibuki-san," Kakashi told him, without dropping his fighting stance. "By the way, do you think you can fight? We're going to need all the possible help."

As Fu helped him to sit up, Shibuki shook his head. "On top of the daily beatings I got from the guards, those bastards barely fed me. I can barely stand on my feet."

"Shino, go and heal Shibuki, I believe you have a spare soldier pill, right? Give one to Shibuki," Kakashi ordered. "With that, you should be able to provide us some assistance."

"Assistance that, in the end, will fail to make a difference," a new, raspy voice grumbled.

Everybody saw how Kakuzu and Hidan landed in front of them. They immediately turned towards their direction, but without leaving their backs uncovered. Who knows how many allies the Akatsuki still had.

"Hehe, you were right. Those retards fell right into our trap, despite being so fucking obvious what it was!" Hidan laughed.

"What is your trap, may I ask?" Shino asked. "You lured us to this clearing, but you didn't even ambushed us. You blew the element of surprise by announcing your arrival. If this is a trap, it's a very poor one."

"Didn't your sensei teach you that a ninja must learn to see through deception, or, as more commonly said, appearances can be deceiving?" Kakuzu asked in a somewhat mocking tone, as his hands formed hand seals, before slapping Hidan's bare chest. "Five Purple Ray Barrier!"

Suddenly, Hidan started to glow with a purple light, and a purple colored beam of chakra fired from his body into the sky. Four other beams fired from different parts around their position. The four periferic rays started to curve towards the central one, until the five rays converged, creating a dome-shaped purple chakra barrier around the area.

"And now, the trap is complete," Kakuzu continued. "The Five Purple Ray Barrier is a secret jutsu of Takigakure they used back in my day to protect the village, but not anymore since I stole it. It's a powerful barrier that uses a human being as focal point and it slowly feeds into their life force. Once the focal point dies, the barrier will go down."

"Why are you telling us this?" Tamaki demanded. She was getting some really bad vibes from Kakuzu's overconfidence.

"Because I'm immortal, you dumb bitch! There's no way that barrier will go down until Kakuzu or myself decides to take it down!" Hidan shouted, laughing maniacally.

"Meaning that you're now trapped here with us, with no reinforcements, and no chance to escape. And if by some miracle you're able to kill Hidan..." Kakuzu said, as he briefly eyed his partner. "...you will have my eternal gratitude."

"Yeah!" Hidan cheered, before Kakuzu's words registered in his brain, and shoot his partner an indignant look. "...wait, what?"

"Enough chit chat, we have a job to do," Kakuzu said, as he started to make hand seals. "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullets!

A giant dragon head made of mud formed in front of Kakuzu. It opened its jaws, and fired a volley of mud bullets at the group of six, which jumped away in different directions (while Fu deployed her wings and took off to the sky).

"Let the slaughter begin!" Hidan hollered, as he leaped towards Tamaki, ready to strike her down with his scythe.

"Shit!" Tamaki cursed as she parried the powerful blow with her bladed gauntlets.

Still, Hidan was undeterred, and in his mad frenzy continued to deliver a flurry of furious swipes at the cat kunoichi, who could do nothing but defend while the demented cultist pushed her back with each swipe.

"Come on, little girl, put on a better show! Make your death worth something!" Hidan cackled as he continued to attack.

Suddenly, he heard a loud buzz, and looked upwards as a shadow was cast over the two of them. Much to his surprise, he saw a massive swarm of beetles angrily buzzing and flying at him.

"What the fuck!? Bugs? Like, fucking seriously?" the pissed Akatsuki shouted, as the swarm of insects forced him to disengage Tamaki and jump back.

"Fang Passing Fang!"

Suddenly, Hidan saw two drilling tornadoes flying towards him. The cultist was barely able to dodge them, shredding part of his Akatsuki cloak. When the tornadoes stopped spinning, they revealed to be Kiba and Akamaru, who landed between Tamaki and Shino.

"One with bugs, the other with a dog...just what kind of ninjas are you?" Hidan asked, almost indignant.

"The ones who are going to kick your sorry ass!" Tamaki replied, as her hands flew through hand seals. "Fire Release: Blistering Firecat!"

Tamaki breathed a stream of fire, which quickly took the shape of a giant cat, rushing on all fours towards Hidan.

"And I guess that you use cats, right? Fucking flea ridden pests..." Hidan said, making no effort in dodging the attack. The fire cat crashed against him, and he was soon engulfed by a fiery torrent of flames.

"Yes! Direct hit! Well done, Tamaki!" Kiba congratulated his teammate, who smiled proudly in return.

However, when the fires dispelled, Hidan was still there, completely unscathed.

"So, that was all?" Hidan mockingly asked.

Tamaki and Kiba stared at the Akarsuki in shock, their mouths wide agape.

"It seems he may be an immortal after all..." Shino observed.

Meanwhile, a few meters from the clash against Hidan, Kakashi, Fu and Shibuki engaged Kakuzu. Fu was engaging him in hand to hand combat, while Kakashi and Shibuki supported her from afar.

"You didn't learn anything from our previous duel, did you?" Kakuzu asked, as he and Fu traded blows. Whenever their fists clashed, a small shockwave was produced.

Fu gritted her teeth in irritation. "Things are different now! I have my friends backing me up!"

"And I do have my partner as well, for all what it's worth," Kakuzu nonchalantly replied, as he blocked a lateral kick with both arms. "But even if I was alone, the result would be the same. You only saw a smidge of my power."

"Show me your full power, then!" Fu challenged him.

Before Kakuzu could answer, the sound of a thousand birds chirping could be heard. The Taki Akatsuki disengaged Fu and jumped upwards, barely avoiding Kakashi's Lightning Blade coming from the side, before the Copy Ninja could skewer him.

"Word of advice, Kakashi Hatake," Kakuzu stated as his feet touched the ground again. "Assassination jutsu tend to work better when they don't make a noise so loud it can be heard in the entire continent."

Kakashi remained silent as the blue electricity coating his hand flickered away, and merely glared at the masked Akatsuki with anger filled eyes. Kakuzu ignored Kakashi and directed his stare back at Fu.

"If you want to skip the warm up and go directly into the heat of the battle, I'm more than happy to comply," Kakuzu replied, in an oddly satisfied tone. "Hidan!"

The scythe-wielding Akatsuki was busy fighting the three Chunin of the Animal Squad.

"The fuck you want, Kakuzu? Don't you see I'm busy murdering some brats?" Hidan hollered at him.

"The jinchuriki asked us to go all out on her," Kakuzu said, as he removed his cloak, and tossed it away, revealing a body full of stitches scars. "I'm going to do it."

Hidan's anger instantly evaporated, and a sadistic grin appeared in his face. The Jashin cultist disengaged the three Chunin, and jumped towards Kakuzu.

"Why didn't you say it before? I love when we go all out!" Hidan said in glee.

The three Chunin took advantage of the brief pause, and rejoined their sensei and the two Takigakure ninja.

"Hey, what the hell is going on?" Kiba asked.

"I'm not sure, but whatever they plan to do, we won't like it," Kakashi said.

Kakuzu then bent over, and everybody could see that there were four different masks sewn to his back. The masks then started to tremble, as if they tried to break from Kakuzu's body, which they did after struggling for some seconds. Turns out those masks were attached to four inky black beings made my a mass of pulsating threads. Upon escaping Kakuzu, they placed themselves in front of the two Akatsuki. More threads emerge from the huge gap that was now on Kakuzu's back, and started to stitch the skin together.

"I think I'm going to throw up..." Tamaki moaned, green to the gills.

"I remember Hinata saying that Kakuzu's body was nothing like she saw before. I guess this is what she meant," Shino deduced, remaining as impossible as ever.

"The number of enemies now matches our group. And we don't even know what those monsters even do," Shibuki observed, as he eyed the newcomers.

"Oh, you're going to find out really soon," Kakuzu said as he made three hand seals. The monster with the red lipped mask, which looked like a tiger, opened its mouth. "Fire Release: Searing Migraine!"

The thread monster exhaled a massive breath of fire that scorched the earth and burned any nearby plant or tree as it advanced. The Konoha ninjas jumped away, but the Taki duo decided to counter the attack.

"Fu!" Shibuki called, as he made several hand seals.

"I know!" the green haired girl replied, mimicking his actions.

"Water Release: Water Wall!"

Fu and Shibuki expelled two cones of water each at the incoming firestorm, Fu's packing more power than Shibuki's. A cloud of steam flooded the battlefield when the two elemental forces met, and Kakuzu's attack was nullified.

"Guys, are you okay?" Fu called.

"Yes! That was close, good one, Fu," Tamaki said from above, perched on a tree branch.

"I thought that man was an Earth Release user. An attack of such scale would have only been possible if the Akatsuki had a fire affinity," Shino noted.

"Double affinity then? Remember Sakura," Kiba pointed out.

"Your conjectures couldn't be any wronger," Kakuzu said, as he made the Ram seal. The monster with the bird faced mask opened its beak. "Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"

"Wind too? He can't have three affinities!" Tamaki protested.

The bird-masked monster released a monstrously powerful gale, that instantly dispelled the steam, teared apart tree branches and small plants, and naturally, blew away all the opposing ninjas, Fu included. With with just those two attacks, Kakuzu had already doubled the expanse of the forest clearing.

"Ugh..." Kiba groaned, as he removed several branches from his body, as he tiredly stood up. "Just what's with this-"

"KIBA, LOOK OUT!" Tamaki screamed.

"DIE, YOU INFIDEL!"

Before he had time to react, Kiba saw Hidan leaping towards him, ready to cut him open with that three bladed scythe. Kiba managed to pull two kunai from his ninja tool pouch, and parried the hit. Like with Tamaki before, Hidan continued to deliver vicious swings. Kiba managed to defend himself, but Hidan's blows carried a lot of power, and his weapon had a greater range.

"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted.

Akamaru rushed towards his master with a loud bark, and leaped at Hidan. The startled Akatsuki disengaged Kiba and raised his scythe defensively towards the incoming dog. Akamaru clenched his jaws across the scythe's handle, trying to wrestle it away from Hidan.

"How you dare to touch the High Priest's Sacred Scythe, you flea ridden bitch!" Hidan hollered, as he tried to wrestle the scythe from the snarling dog.

"Keep him like that, Akamaru!" Kiba said, as he dashed towards them. However, much to his horror, he realized the fire monster was aiming another of those fire attacks towards them. "Oh shit!"

"Oh no, you won't!" Tamaki's voice said, as the cat kunoichi delivered a flying double kick to the monster's side, making it to release the fire attack into the sky. "You owe me one!"

Hidan, meanwhile, managed to retrieve his scythe from Akamaru's grasp, but as he did, he was unable to dodge Kiba lunging at him, ready to slash him with his elongated nails. His face and exposed part of his chest felt the pain of Kiba's slashed.

"God Dammit! What the fuck you think you-"

"Lightning Blade!"

Despite the initial sound, Kakashi's trademark jutsu hit its mark, and pierced the Jashin cultist's heart from behind, running him his arm through, his still electrified hand bursting from his chest. Hidan, however, looked more angry rather than in pain.

"You don't seem to understand what 'immortality' means, do you, you retard?" Hidan asked, as he grabbed Kakashi's hand, keeping him stuck.

"I had to test it to see if it was true," was Kakashi's answer. "After all, I'm not going to take the enemy's word for granted."

"Whatever, dude. Kakuzu!" Hidan hollered.

Another one of Kakuzu's monsters, this time one with a mask that looked like a horned demon, leaped towards them. Its body started to crackle with electricity as Kakuzu made the Snake seal. "Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

The demon masked monster opened its mouth, releasing a stream of lightning bolts at the startled Kakashi.

"This is bad!" the copy ninja distressingly though, trying in vain to pull his right hand from Hidan's chest. Before the lightning could strike, he used his left arm and, without the aid of seals, tried to use his signature jutsu once again. "Lightning Blade!"

With his electrified hand, Kakashi managed to swat away the lightning attack. Then, he felt that Hidan was no longer grabbing him, and pulled his hand from the hole he had made. However, Hidan spun over his feet, ready to deliver an horizontal spinning slash with his scythe. Kakashi jumped back, but wasn't fast enough, and the scythe slashed his chest, piercing his flak jacket, and drawing some blood.

"Yes! Hahaha...hahahaha...HAHAHAHA! You'll make a fine sacrifice to Jashin-sama, copy ninja!" Hidan said, as he licked Kakashi's blood.

While Team Kakashi dealt with Hidan and some of Kakuzu's monsters, Fu hadn't lost sight of her initial goal, and flew to face Kakuzu once again. The masked Akatsuki didn't fail to notice the enraged jinchuriki.

"It's rare to see a prey seeking their predator with such energy," Kakuzu deadpanned as he engaged into another brutal hand to hand duel with the green haired jinchuriki. "Are you that foolish to believe that you have a chance against me?"

"I have more than a chance!" Fu yelled, as a tornado started to form in her fist. "Hurricane Punch!"

Fu's punch produced a powerful wind in every direction strong enough to push Kakuzu back. Before he could have time to react, Fu jumped and tried to deliver a roundhouse kick to the head. But Kakuzu's reflexes were sharper than she thought, and expertly grabbed her by the ankle. In a display of monumental force, Kakuzu then slammed Fu against the ground multiple times.

"Leave her alone!" Shibuku shouted, as he leaped at Kakuzu with a blade made of water in his hands.

Kakuzu merely chucked Fu at Shibuki, who crashed against her, before they dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

"Not being able to kill you is rather irritating. But let's hope that can keep you two down enough time so we can get rid of the rest," Kakuzu grumbled.

Before Kakuzu could decide which enemy he should take out next, that decision was made for him when he was covered head to toe by an angry swarm of beetles.

"What the...?" Kakuzu asked, trying to swat the bugs away.

"You won't lay a finger on Fu while I'm here and I can fight," Shino said in cold anger, as with a hand motion, commanded his swarm to drain Kakuzu dry of chakra.

However, the swarm of beetles had the unintended effect of hiding Kakuzu while he made a hand seal. One of the thread monsters, the one with the turtle mask, leaped at them.

"Water Release: Roaring Waterfall!"

The turtle masked monster opened its jaws, expelling a massive cone of water wide enough to hit both Kakuzu and Shino with immense force. Shino jumped, as he recalled the swarm attacking Kakuzu, who made no effort to move and was engulfed by the incoming torrent.

"He didn't care about hitting himself with his own jutsu in order to get rid of my Kikai swarm..." Shino noted, as his brain tried to formulate a strategy. "Elemental blasts of such scale will wipe my swarm away in an instant...I didn't think I'd have to resort to this jutsu so soon, but guess that the quality of the enemy demands it..."

"You are an Aburame, aren't you? Very few clans use insects to attack enemies," Kakuzu noted. "If you were five years older, I could cash a nice bounty for your head. Such a pity, but I can't let you live. Please don't make it harder than it should be. I'm sure you already noticed that your set of skills will be of little use against me, so let's not drag this out. Time is gold, as they usually say."

"Trust me, the feeling is mutual," Shino coldly replied, as he made a singler hand seal. "Aburame Secret Art: Giant Beetle Growth!"

Several bursts of smoke exploded around Shino, creating eight beetles as large as Akamaru. Kakuzu, however, was unimpressed.

"That changes nothing. No matter what you do, you won't be able to land a hit on me," Kakuzu confidently said.

"Maybe," with a hand motion, Shino directed the enlarged beetles at the Akatsuki adopted a fighting stance. Then, much to his surprise, the beatles deviated their trajectory in the last second, flying to the sides. "But I'm sure she can."

Kakuzu noticed a shadow looming over him. Looking up, he saw an enraged Fu descending upon him, her fist ready to crush him into pulp. While her body was battered and had numerous bruises, she didn't look as she was unable to keep fighting.

"How did she recover so soon?" Kakuzu thought in frustration, as he instinctively raised his arms to protect himself. "Too late to dodge, I need to harden my skin!"

"TAKE THIS!" Fu screamed, as her fist hit Kakuzu's crossed arms, unleashing all her anger into that blow.

Fu felt like her fist was hitting solid rock rather than soft flesh, but she didn't mind. If Kakuzu turned into stone, she'll shatter him to bits. The force of the impact caused a powerful shockwave, while it also sank Kakuzu to his knees into the ground, cracks in the ground spreading from the penetration point. Fu the continued punching Kakuzu both arms, sinking him a little more with each hit.

Sensing its master cornered, one of the monsters quickly rushed to his aid. The bird, masked creature opened is beak as it charged a devastating Wind Release against the jinchuriki...

"No, you won't," Shino said cooly.

...if it weren't for the group of giant beetles slamming against the monster, latching onto him, and devouring its chakra as well. The monster didn't scream –it seemed it was unable to– but tried to struggle against its predators by wildly shooting wind bullets in random directions, failing to hit any of the enlarged insects, who wisely positioned themselves to avoid being hit.

"What!?" Kakuzu asked in shock.

The first creature failing its task, and being already defeated, it was the turtle masked monster who attacked Fu with a powerful stream of water, forcing the mint haired girl to fly away, and allowing Kakuzu to get out of the hole Fu had sunken him into.

"Inconceivable. How did I lose one of my hearts so soon, to these children!?" Kakuzu thought in frustration. "My greater experience should give me enough advantage to deal with these kids easily."

"Fu, Shibuki-san, are you okay?" Shino asked, as both he and Fu converged with Shibuki.

"I'm fine, but Shibuki doesn't look that hot," Fu said, before turning towards Kakuzu, and raising her fists in front of her face. "I'll keep the Akatsuki busy while you heal Shibuki, okay?"

"You need healing too," Shino protested.

"Not as much as Shibuki. Now heal him already!" Fu ordered.

Shino decided not to oppose his girlfriend anymore, as he started to heal Shibuki while Fu went back to engage Kakuzu.

…

Takigakure

"Lightning Release: Thunder Arrows!"

Flying above the battle that was taking place in the village, Hinata fired several arrow-shaped lightning bolts with her chakra bow at some of the Sons of Jashin –that's how the cultists called those horrible creatures– that entered her range. The arrows exploded in a splash of electricity, hitting every enemy in a small radius. Had she used her Lightning Release jutsu from such distance she could had hit her allies, who were fighting very close to the enemies.

"But with this weapon, I can shot accurate attacks at the enemy without being afraid of hitting my allies," Hinata thought, as she floated over the battlefield. "Haku-kun, two coming from behind!" Hinata warned him.

Haku wordlessly nodded, and made several hand seals, before slamming his foot on the ground. Ice started to grow on the ground around him, suddenly generating multiple ice spikes that impaled the Sons of Jashin that tried to ambush him.

"Thank you, Hinata," Haku replied, as he weaved hand signs to pelt with ice blades a group of mercenaries and Jashin cultists in front of him.

"Hey, do you guys know where is Fu?" Naruto asked, as he sliced more Sons of Jashin with his Wind Blade. "I can't see him anywhere. Hinata-hime?"

Hinata nodded, and extended the range of her Tenseigan to cover the whole village. Still, she was unable to find her physical body nor her chakra signature. A worried expression crept on her face.

"I can't find her!" she said in horror.

"What? No, she has to be here! What are Kakashi-sensei and the other doing!?" Naruto shouted in frustration. "There's no way Akatsuki could have get their hands on her so quick!"

"Hinata-san, can you scan the area surrounding the village? She might still be around here," Haku suggested.

Hinata nodded, and did as she was told. As she inspected the surrounding forests, her desperation grew when no signs of human activity were found. That's it, until she saw some flickers of chakra coming from the west. Focusing her sight in that direction, she finally saw it.

"There's a domed chakra barrier in the forest to the west!" Hinata pointed out. "I can't see what's inside, but I have the feeling that both Fu, Team Kakashi and the Akatsuki might be there."

"In that case, we should go and help them. I believe the situation here is under control," Naruto said.

"Indeed, those horrible creatures are retreating!" Hinata pointed out.

And just like she said, the Sons of Jashin disengaging the Taki, Konoha or Suna ninjas fighting them, and run back to the Great Tree. However, they didn't look as if they were abandoning the fight, but more like regrouping to plan a counterattack –could those beasts think complex strategies?–. She was taken aback by what they did next.

"What...?" Hinata asked.

"Hinata-hime, what's going on?" Naruto asked

"They're merging! It seems that, since they have the same chakra signature, they can combine themselves and-"

Hinata's explanation was interrupted when Naruto, Haku and their allies saw a massive black mass rise above them. The mass took a vaguely humanoid form, with a massive top body, large, thick arms, short but stocky legs, and a featureless tiny stump in place of a head. The giant creature had multiple eyes of varying sizes across his body, as well as many mouths full of sharp teeth. Several small tentacles protruded from several parts of his body, constantly wiggling as if they had life on his own.

"What...what the hell is THAT!?" Naruto screamed upon seeing the abomination.

"Our secret weapon! Behold the power of our dark master, you unclean infidels!" a Jashin cultist said in joy. "The Wrath of Jashin! A colossal avatar of our God's will, that will purge this place of the unbelievers!"

The massive creature took a step forward, crushing a house under one his feet, and several ninja of both sides. This caused all the Taki, Konoha and Suna ninja to flee from that monsters' vicinity.

"We need to take that thing out of the village!" Hinata said.

"I know!" Naruto replied, as he leaped onto Gamabunta's head. "Boss, you think you can take that creature away from here?"

"I'll try, but I won't promise anything!" Gamabunta replied, as he went to engage the giant creature. "Try to get everybody else out of my way!"

Gamabunta leaped out of the water, landing in front of the Wrath of Jashin with a loud rumble that make the earth shake. The abomination set all its eyes on the gigantic toad, identifying it as the main threat. Moving one giant arm, the monster tried to slam Gamabunta, but giant toad proved to be more nimble than his size let on, feinted, and latched onto the creature.

"Hinata-hime, Haku, come on, we need to help the boss deal with this guy! Let's try to finish it as soon as we can so we can move to hep Fu and the others!" Naruto cried.

Naruto's teammates nodded and jumped –or descended in Hinata's case– onto Gamanunta's head.

"Let's take this somewhere more private, shall we?" Gamabunta said, before leaping high into the air, with the Wrath of Jashin in tow. They cruised the skies at high speed, before falling down a kilometer or so away from Taki. The abrupt landing caused an earthquake and blasted a multitude of trees away, creating a clearing.

"Alright then, now I don't need to hold back anymore!" Gamabunta said with a glee.

"Neither do we," Naruto added, as he prepared his Wind Blade.

…

Back inside the Chakra Dome

Holding his bleeding, slashed stomach with one hand, Kakashi watched in confusion as Hidan licked the blood from his scythe, and changed. His skin turned pitch black with white motifs that somehow resembled human bones.

"The condition has been met. Not, let us begin," Hidan cryptically said as he pulled out a ritual dagger from within his cloak, and stabbed it on his palm. He used the resulting gush of blood to draw a circle with a triangle inside it around him.

"I don't know what the hell is he doing, but my instincts are screaming not to let him finish!" Kakashi thought, as he lunged at Hidan with one hand still holding his stomach, and the other firmly grabbing a kunai.

However, he was forced to cancel the attack when his Sharingan noticed the lightning monster coming at him, ready to fire an electric blast at the copy ninja, who jumped away to avoid it. Still, the monster persisted in his onslaught, and fired more electric botls, forcing the silver haired Jonin to continue jumping.

Kiba and Tamaki had noticed what had happened, and decided to stop Hidan before he could finish whatever he was doing.

"Come on, Akamaru!" Kiba said, riding his large dog, as they charged at Hidan.

"He needs to stay still to finish whatever jutsu he's planning to do! We can't waste this chance to finish him off!" Tamaki said, leaping besides him.

Unfortunately for them, Kakuzu still had one more monster left, the one with the tiger mask that spewed fire. And fire did spew, a massive torrent of flames, forcing Kiba, Tamaki and Akamaru away from Hidan.

"...and done!" Hidan cried triumphantly, as he started to laugh. "Hahahaha, yes! Now, Jashin-sama, accept this measly sacrifice from this unworthy servant of yours!" Hidan said, almost chanted, as he raised the ritual dagger over his head.

"I need to stop him! He changed when he drank my blood, that means he created some sort of connection between us, and plans to use it in some way to cause me harm!" Kakashi distressingly thought as he tried to avoid the demon masked monster while rushing towards Hidan.

Kakashi's hand crackled with electricity, as he jumped over the demon masked monster. The pain in his stomach became greater the more he moved, made it even worse by all the blood he was losing. He only had a chance to top it. He forced his Sharingan to his limits in order to have a clear shot at the Akatsuki cultist.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Beast Tracking Fang!"

But he was too late.

"Now...SUFFER!"

Hidan brought down his dagger, piercing his flesh, causing him a great pain that flooded him with a perverse sense of joy and pleasure. And the silver haired Jonin felt that very same pain in his own flesh.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Tamaki cried in horror.

Author's Note: Yeah, another cliffhanger that teases a death of a major character. I know, I suck a lot and you hope I die in a fire.

So! The battle for Takigakure's freedom has begun! But we all know that in the end, that battle means very little and the Taki ninjas will take back their home. The real question, though, it's if Akatsuki will be able to capture Fu, or the greeen haired girl and the Animal Squad (and Shibuki) will be able to survive against the Zombie Team, at least until help arrives.

And while the Assault Squad knows about their predicament, not only are they busy dealing with the Wrath of Jashin, but there's that pesy barrier they have to deal with.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed all the action on this chapter. Tune in two weeks for the resolution. In the meantime, don't forget to review! Reviews make me really, really, really happy!