A/N: So this part of the story is gonna lead into the final arc, which in itself is probably going to be around 5/6 chapters long, if not more. I tend to get carried away when writing fight scenes these days, even though I know I'm terrible at them, I can't seem to be able to stop until I'm satisfied they've put in enough effort in the fight!

Please let me know what you think! These chapters make me nervous…

Answer to the question is your ears and nose! They keep getting bigger! Madness.

And the riddle answer is an anchor!

I still don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

Crossroads

Separating from Ino, Mika's eyes turned to Hidan, and his battle with the Nara and Akimichi. Choji was bounding around in his human boulder form, keeping the Jashinist on his toes as he danced away from the shadow snaking its way across the ground. If they kept that up, there was no way Hidan could get a chance to attack them back.

'Didn't anyone ever tell you to always keep your eyes on the opponent?' A sickeningly silky voice whispered against her ear, and Mika braced herself as she replied.

'No one ever said my opponent would be invisible.' She spun on her heel, kunai poised to attack, but she was met with only thin air. 'Come out, you coward!' She taunted, dipping into a more defensive crouch.

'Yeah, come out and fight like a man!' The Uzumaki bellowed, puffing out his chest as he squared himself off, daring her to try.

Shrill laughter filled the battlefield, floating through the leaves around them as though riding the wind. 'That's no way to speak to a lady, you know!'

'Then let's fight, woman to woman.' Mika called out fiercely, scowling when the laughter chimed again.

'You are no woman, little girl. But alright, I'll humour you.'

Mika let out a gasp as she felt something cold press against the bare skin of her back, just below where her short top ended.

'Was this what you had in mind?' Hakanai smirked wildly as she drove the dagger deep into Mika's lower spine, taking the phrase stabbed in the back to a whole new level. She cried out in agony but she kept her word, twisting, despite the tearing flesh, and digging her nails into the shimmer ninja's arms.

'NOW, INO!' Mika yelled, her eyes flashing darkly at Hakanai's look of surprise. Locked together by the arms, the woman struggled to pull away, wrenching the knife still in the girl's spine to the side.

She cried out, louder this time, when Hakanai's emerald irises sparked with recognition as she pulled the weapon from Mika's back in one sharp tug, catching the attention of the surrounding ninja. Shikamaru winced, cursing out loud, his eyes snapping to his opponent. He'd have to keep him away from Mika with her open wound, the Nara couldn't have the female Akatsuki swapping her bloodied weapon with her partner's right now.

Only, Hidan didn't appear to have even noticed. In fact, when Shikamaru turned back to the Jashinist, he was surprised to find him charging forward, taking their distraction as his chance to strike. He just barely managed to dodge the suddenly unyielding attacks, the giant crimson weapon swinging continuously at him in arcs, too fast for him to reform his shadow hand signs.

Choji backed him up, reaching out with a giant fist and swooping up his comrade seconds before he would have been sliced in half.

'Thanks, Choji,' He smiled faintly, but his mind was elsewhere, calculating. They had to come up with a better plan than this, or they'd never be able to stop the immortal. And while a quick glance to Ino, Naruto and Mika proved to look promising, there was no way they could use the same tactic for pinning this one down.

'She's strong, I can't hold her for long.' Ino ground out, body shaking as her host fought the invasive conscious. 'Do it, Naruto.'

'Are you sure, Ino?' Mika asked weakly, gripping one hip as though it'd help stem the blood flow. Ino had to leave Hakanai's body at the exact right time, otherwise she'd be affected by Naruto's hit, too.

'Just do it!' She repeated, more forcefully.

Naruto's two doppelgangers were already swirling chakra around his raised hand, a giant rasengan forming and convulsing into something more aggressive. A giant shuriken of blue wind.

'Rasenshurkien!' Mika leapt sideways as the Jinchuuriki's jutsu flew from his palm at lightning speed, crashing with a great flash of white into its target. The whole area shook, trees trembling around them as they were knocked from their feet at the force of the backlash.

'Fuck me…' Hidan grumbled, his voice startlingly close to Mika. She glanced at him sitting up just a few feet away, rubbing his head as he clambered back to his feet. 'Well, that gets rid of one giant pain in my ass. Thanks.' He grinned at her, then leapt up into a tree, leaning against his weapon as his eyes scanned the field for his original opponents.

'Ino!' Mika yelped upon remembering and dashed over to the blonde girl's slumped body. She shook her shoulders gently, releasing the breath she'd been holding when her friend groaned and opened her eyes.

'Oh, thank God…'

Naruto appeared beside them, looking exhausted. 'Well, she's as good as – oof!'

He was cut off suddenly when Shikamaru catapulted into his side, winding him. From across the field, Hidan cackled at the force of his kick, and began to pace with a wild expression.

'I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to finishing you, brat.' He sneered as Shikamaru grunted, clutching a broken rib.

Choji was at his friend's side instantly. 'Ino, use your medical ninjutsu on Shikamaru and Mika, Naruto and I can hold him off for a while!'

The Uzumaki in question grinned, throwing them a thumbs up. 'No problem!'

The Yamanaka nodded, getting to work on Mika's back instantly, trying to at least close the bleeding wound. While she worked, Shikamaru analysed. There was a way they could beat him, he was sure, he just needed to figure it out. A little pre-preparation would have been nice too, but heck, life wasn't fair.

Using his time wisely, he scrawled a note on an old scroll and chucked it towards his yellow comrade. 'Naruto, have one of your clones take this!'

Catching on quickly, a Naruto duplicate snatched the scroll from midair, and took off towards the village. They needed back up, and fast. In truth, the shadow user was just thankful Hidan hadn't been able to draw blood from any of them himself yet. Team Asuma knew all too well how disastrous that was.

'It's not fully healed, it'd take a lot more for that, but for now–'

'I understand, Ino. Thanks. I'll go help the others.'

'Be careful!' Ino called after her, turning to her teammate with glowing green hands and pressing them against his chest.

'Keep still, you bastard!' Naruto grumbled, missing the Akatsuki member again. Hidan was surrounded by at least twelve Naruto's, but none of the clones seemed to be able to land a single punch on him.

Mika watched momentarily as Hidan danced away from the Jinchuuriki one more time, knowing that he was just teasing him. He could have taken them all out with one swing of his scythe, but he appeared to be enjoying the thrill of the chase far too much. She resisted an eye roll.

'What're you thinking?' Choji spoke from her left, startling her.

'I'm thinking… His partner is dead. He's outnumbered, we've sent for back up… Why doesn't he just give up for now?' She mumbled, knowing full well that Hidan would never, 'just give up', even if it was temporary. But if she could convince him to leave them for now, it would give the leaf ninja a chance to recover and spare him potential torture. He might not have been able to die, but he did hurt. He told her so himself.

'Hey!' She called out to him, bravely.

Shocked, the Akimichi flinched beside her, hissing, 'what're you doing?!'

'Trust me.' She shushed him.

Dispelling Naruto's last clone and kicking the panting Jinchuuriki away from him, Hidan's sharp magenta eyes snapped to hers.

'Your partners dead.' She tested, wondering how he'd react.

'Yeah, and?' He demanded, hands on hips as though she'd just told him what the weather was like.

'And you're alone now, and we were due to meet up with another squad around here shortly. They'll be arriving any moment now.' Mika bluffed, elbowing Naruto non-too-subtly when he turned to stare at her blankly.

'…And?' Hidan frowned. He guessed what she was hinting at, but he was being a stubborn bastard, as always. Besides, he really wanted that pineapple kid for his ritual.

Gritting her teeth, she silently begged him to cooperate. 'And that means that you have the opportunity to escape capture. If you leave now.'

Throwing his head back, he laughed. 'You say that like you think you can beat me. Why would I leave when the party's only just beginning?' He smirked, the expression convincingly hostile, which was beginning to unnerve her. 'Akatsuki only wants the Jinchuuriki. You know, if he came with me now then maybe I would leave willingly.'

'Don't bother, Mika. This guy is mentally unhinged, he won't listen to reason.' Choji spoke firmly, the grudge evident in his voice.

'Choji's right.' Shikamaru agreed, coming to stand beside the others, Ino right behind him. 'But I have a plan.'

Volume dropping to a murmur, the Nara quickly gave out his team instructions, involving Naruto's multi-shadow clone jutsu blocking his vision, while Choji used his expansion arm jutsu to block his vision of above, while Ino and Mika set up a bunch of explosive traps in the trees. Then, Shikamaru would use his shadow strangle jutsu to manoeuvre him into the branches. And as a backup, they would each try to push him upwards into the treeline willingly.

Mika felt uneasy about the idea of explosives. He might be immortal, but how could he fight back in a million tiny pieces?

Putting their plan into motion instantly, the ninja darted apart, Mika just a second behind the others. From amidst the crowd of yellow and orange grunting clones, Hidan spat out curse after curse as 'the little shitheads' were starting to piss him off. At one point, Mika found herself hiding another eye roll as he broke into a rant about how Jashin was going to smite all their asses.

Finally, the traps were laid, and Naruto's clones evaporated in one giant ball of smoke, leaving the Jashinist exposed and surprised in the centre. Naruto knelt at his feet before him, gripping his chest as he wheezed. The rasenshuriken took a massive strain on his body, and he knew he was almost out of energy.

'Fucking finally.' He grinned, gripping his weapon. He ripped it into the air, drawing it back over his head as he aimed for the blonde Jinchuuriki. Then, with a mad cackle, Hidan brought the weapon down, Naruto's blue eyes widening impossibly as he lifted his arms in a futile block.

But before the scythe could make impact, something got in the way.

'NO DON'T!' In a blind panic for her friend, Mika skidded to a halt in front of the Uzumaki, golden irises glowing with adrenalin as the three blades tore into her flesh, her arms screaming at her in agony. She winced heavily, eyes squeezing shut as she took the brutal hit, blood pouring from her veins as she dropped to her knees.

For a moment, Hidan just stared a her, mouth agape as he watched her unhook his weapon from her skin. He let her, backing away a little and flicking the scythe to the side, the red liquid splattering against the ground from the blade.

Mika stared up at him in pain, her eyes watery as her heart pulled into two separate directions. How could she just stand aside and let any of these people die. She hadn't realised until this moment how important the leaf ninja had become to her, nor had she realised how desperately she needed Hidan in her life. On one hand, her bonds with the leaf ninja was something she had never experienced before. Sure, she'd had friendships in her life, like Nagisa from River country, but nothing as mutual as this. These people made her feel part of something, and necessary. Like she had a purpose that they could only fulfil together.

Then again, on the other hand, there was Hidan. He had always been the one constant in her life, though unpredictable and unruly, she trusted him with her life. And that was something that had taken so long to build up, something that would take a lot longer for her to fully achieve with the leaf. And maybe her friendship with Hidan wasn't as conventional or as healthy as with Konaha, but it was sincere. And it ran far deeper than she even realised, until now.

And the worse thing was, she knew she couldn't have it both ways. Mika had finally reached the crossroads she had always been destined for, and it almost tore her apart.

Shikamaru and the others were beside them quickly, the Nara barking orders at Choji and Naruto to get his weapon away from him, before he had a chance to lick it!

Ino's hands ran over Mika's wounds, a sense of déjà vu flickering in Mika's conscious. Shikamaru stood by her shoulder, watching vigilantly for any sign that Hidan may begin his ritual. But none seemed to come. In fact, he didn't even seem interested in his newly acquired blood, and he was making no effort to form the religious symbol on the ground.

The shadow user watched the enemy ninja clash together several more times until, finally, he heard something on the wind. A dog barking. Glancing over his shoulder, his hazel irises brightened, barely noticeably. Backup was here.

And in the nick of time, too.

Team eight had the Jashinist encircled quickly, sensing the urgency in their teammate's relieved glances. Hinata had her Byakugan activated instinctively, while Kiba, Shino and Akamaru readied their battle stances.

Hidan growled in frustration, letting his scythe fly at them wildly while he withdrew a long metal pike from his cloak.

Again, Shikamaru watched, puzzled. The criminal had discarded his giant blade in favour of the smaller, cleaner weapon. Though still attached to its owner by a long spiralling coil, the scythe lay some feet away from him as he single-handedly kept the foursome at bay with his spear. The fourth member being Akamaru, of course. But why, why would he not take immediate advantage of the fresh blood he had already collated. It was all Hidan had been able to concentrate on when the Nara had fought him last, unless something had changed since then.

When he had killed his sensei, Asuma Sarutobi, he had been brutal. Uncaring. Mad, even. But this time, his expression was almost annoyed by the red stained blades, casting them aside as though they had somehow become unusable. Something was definitely off.

Team eight were much quicker and more organised than their team had been, having been able to mentally and physically prepare for their battle with the immortal thanks to Shikamaru's scroll. Their combined attacks and defensive jutsu had Hidan cornered against a tree trunk in no time, but the Jashinist still had another trick up his sleeve. Something new, he'd acquired quite recently.

Retracting the pike, his hand dipped into his bloodied cloak once again, this time withdrawing something curved and small. Before the leaf ninja even had a chance to identify it, with one quick flick of his wrist, he threw it. It spun away from his hand and around the ninja in an arc, managing to nick Hinata on the cheek just a split-second before she could react. The cut was tiny, but it drew blood, and that was all he needed. He caught the weapon easily, bringing it to his mouth without hesitation, a devilish smirk on his lips. He might not be able to take them all out, but he'd be dammed if Jashin went without one single sacrifice. And these bastards definitely deserved it.

'Hinata!' Naruto called, mortified, sprinting to her side.

'Damn it! Don't let him draw the circle!' The shadow wielder called out to them, but the wind had chosen that specific moment to pick up, drowning out any way he'd be heard. He let out a noise of frustration, then pushed off to reach Hinata's comrades, to warn them.

Leaping upwards into the branches, Hidan cursed as one of the paper bombs exploded close to his arm, but the blast wasn't quite powerful enough to rip it off. Slitting his wrist with an almost playful grin, he let the blood roll from his limb and onto the ground beneath him. Dropping to the floor, conveniently next to his scythe, he used its long-range ability to keep the Leaf at bay while he worked on the circle of crimson with one sandal. The chunin and Jinchuuriki fought him determinedly, even managing to delay his artwork momentarily, but their efforts were futile and Hidan was an expert in his trade.

He completed the symbol, sliding his foot along the last line of the inner triangle, and smirked.

The Leaf watched in horror, suddenly unsure of how to react, as his skin began to transform before their very eyes, into something that didn't quite resemble a human, though not quite a Shinigami. They were aware of this Akatsuki members ritual, from what Team Asuma had reported after their last skirmish with him. But seeing it with their own eyes was something else entirely.

From across the battlefield, Mika gnawed on her cheek. There was no way she was letting him sacrifice Hinata – judgement, Jashin, Heaven and Hell be damned. The girl only had a vague plan in mind, but it was her only hope of saving them both. Her only hope of keeping them both. The leaf ninja and Hidan.

Ino's breathing had become shallow, her brow creased and damp with sweat as she worked on healing her forearms. She frowned when Mika suddenly pushed her hands away.

'It's alright, Ino. That's enough, I'm fine.' She insisted, hurriedly, ignoring the protests from the blonde healer as she tried to pull her back. She ran forward, pushing chakra to her feet and crossing the clearing in a heartbeat, as she moved to pass the others, she was suddenly gripped in Choji's large fist. She flailed and kicked her legs out beneath her, but the Akimichi wasn't letting go.

'He's already cut you, Mika! Stay away from him!'

Hidan didn't even appear to notice her, concentrating now on flipping the pike in his hand out of it's offensive pose, and raised it above his shoulder, intending to impale his stomach.

'No…' Mika mouthed, the sound barely leaving her lips as her eyes widened in fear. 'No… No, don't! DON'T! PLEASE, HIDAN, DON'T KILL HER!'

His eyes downcast out of her sight, and she just caught the faint mumble of an apology from his lips before he brought his weapon down.

A/N: This chapter was soooooo hard to write, I'm so sorry if the fight scenes suck. I didn't want to make a big deal out of Hidan's new partner, her role was really to get them to this point, since the Akatsuki usually function in two-man squads, and they're still actively recruiting towards their world domination plot in this fic.

So yeah. Anyway! Question of the chapter, this one's a bit different, let's see who can guess correctly! Both of my cats are named after Pokémon, guess their names!

And the riddle: A man walks into a bar and asks for a glass of water. The bartender takes out a shotgun and aims it at the man. The man then thanks him and leaves. Why?

See you again! :D