A/N: This will be a long chapter to read, 14,000+ words long to to be exact, so just a heads up. As for Broken, I'll get to it when I can, but I've just had more motivation to write for this story.
Hope you all enjoy!
"Naruto!" Yugito called out, swiftly but barely dodging his clawed hands from ripping her to shreds, "Calm down! I know you're pissed with me, bu- shit!" She exclaimed when she managed to dodge yet another lunge, however even though Naruto's back was toward her, she had no time to dodge the huge tail of chakra from swatting her off her feet. Even though she managed to hold her arms up to block it, it still hit her hard. She flew a few feet away after impact, crashing and rolling into the dirt until she skidded and managed to catch her footing again.
"Alright..." Yugito growled, wiping the small trail of blood that leaked from the corner of her mouth to her chin. Her eyes were locked on to the blond boy who had just turned around to do the same to her, "If that's how you wanna play, then so be it."
Yugito Nii was now on all fours, and two black and blue tails made of flames grew out just above her butt. Her eyes changed from black to bright yellow, with feline irises. Her canines developed into fangs, sharp as blades, and her nails lengthened around a whole two inches. Two tails of fiery chakra emitted from behind her and began to swirl around just like the jinchuuriki before her. They eyed each other down, showing off their toothy scowls.
"I don't want to hurt you, Naruto." she told him, "But if you keep getting in my way, things are going to end badly for you."
As if that were an insult, Naruto rewarded her with a growl and charged straight for her. Yugito followed suit, and allowed herself to clash head-to-head with her new opponent.
"Annoying bunch of brats, aren't they?" Hidan commented with a smug grin, "Lord Jashin will be pleased to have them as sacrifices. I say we make it quick and kill them now!"
"Easy, Hidan." Kakuzu warned, "Let's not be reckless. They may be small fries, but that doesn't mean we should underestimate them. We made that mistake last time."
Shikamaru grit his teeth, "Kakashi-sensei, what's going on with Yugito and Naruto?!"
Kakashi looked over to his side to peer at him, "I have no idea, I was hoping you'd tell me." He then looked forward at the two Akatsuki members, "We can't worry about them right now, though. We're still going with the same plan?"
Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah."
Hidan shifted his stance and gripped his scythe with both hands, "To hell with this! If you guys are willing to die so badly, then let's go!" The religious man charged forward, straight for the two men in front of him. Kakashi went forward in response and blocked a swipe of Hidan's scythe with a kunai. He then countered with a roundhouse kick that was dodged, and had to duck under the next swipe of Hidan's scythe, remembering what Shikamaru told him about avoiding that scythe from leaking blood. The series of dodging, parrying, and attacking continued, as they moved about the clearing to dodge the other's attacks, with Hidan's insane cackling being heard throughout the process.
Chouji lunged for the masked man using his Expansion Jutsu, enlarging his fist to five times its size. To everyone's shock, the man blocked the large fist with his hand easily. Kakuzu quickly closed the distance between them and began delivering a series of punches of his own to his face and chest.
Upon realizing that there was a thin shadow on the ground heading for him, Kakuzu kicked the large Konoha-nin away and jumped back. Chouji grunted as his back hit against the trunk of a large tree.
"Hmph. This pesky strategy of trying to keep me distracted so you can catch me with that shadow jutsu is really getting old." Kakuzu scoffed as he swiftly dodged the shadow after him. Shikamaru simply ignored him and remained focused on his task. Ino decided to back him up by tossing kunai with explosive tags at the large man. Kakuzu easily dodged and blocked them while he continued running, as they exploded one by one behind him. Ino then let one of the explosive tags cook in her hand for a bit before throwing it directly at Kakuzu's feet. Kakuzu jumped high in the air in response, just as soon as the tag exploded.
"Nikudan Senshaaaa!" he heard shouted from above. Kakuzu turned his head to see a large boulder-shaped shinobi spinning at insane speeds heading straight toward him. Kakuzu grunted as he raised his hands above him and used his hardening powers to keep him at bay. The friction of Chouji's spinning form and Kakuzu's rock-like appendages caused sparks to fly between them.
However, they both hit the ground hard and rock and dirt flew throughout the clearing immediately upon impact. Ino and Shikamaru shielded their eyes, and looked at the large cloud of dust in front of them to see if Chouji successfully got him. Their hopes were denied once they saw Kakuzu hop out of the cloud with minor scratches and rips in his coat. Chouji hopped out of the other side of the cloud in a similar condition. Nevertheless, Shikamaru's Shadow Manipulation still hunted after the man, and Kakuzu proceeded to avoid it.
"This is boring me." Kakuzu declared, before maneuvering around the shadow and began to head directly for the caster of the jutsu. Shikamaru broke his jutsu and used the decent amount of agility he had to avoid Kakuzu's incoming strikes. Soon, this led to Shikamaru being backed against a tree, and he just barely moved his head out of the way from a hard punch that easily went clean through the tree's sturdy material. It would have crushed his skull upon impact if he didn't avoid it. Shikamaru sidestepped while Kakuzu's hand was stuck and joined up with his two partners, who now directly stood behind the Akatsuki member.
Kakuzu pulled his arm out the large tree and faced his opponents, "Not bad, though. Your teamwork is impressive."
Ino quickly used her last paper bomb and kunai and tossed it directly at Kakuzu's skull. Kakuzu deflected it perfectly with his hardening powers, and sent it straight at Chouji, who dodged and used his expanded fist to crush him, now that his back was cornered. Kakuzu jumped up along the tree and then hopped off, seeing as Chouji missed and his force caused the tree to collapse and fall. The three other shinobi moved out the way to avoided getting crushed by it. Chouji was the closest one to him, and proceeded to attack him again. However, Kakuzu found an opening and delivered a hard backhand to Chouji's face, sending him spinning approximately a good fifty or sixty feet away.
Not giving Shikamaru any time to cast his jutsu again, Shikamaru quickly was grabbed by his throat by Kakuzu's extended arm made of hundreds of grey tendrils, just as he had finished the final hand seal. Ino quickly shared the same fate as they were dragged closer to him with his iron-like grip around their necks. He soon had them suspended in the air directly in front of him, crushing their windpipes.
He looked at the pineapple-headed boy, "It's a shame, really. With your intellect, you had the opportunity to become a very valuable bounty in the future." He then strengthened his grip around their throats, causing them to quickly change the color of their faces. No matter how hard they grasped his hand and squirmed, his grip would not cease, "Now die."
Despite his lack of oxygen, Shikamaru managed to grin at his assaulter, as did Ino.
Kakuzu raised an eyebrow, "Something funn- What?!"
Kakuzu's left hand went from clutching a young girl's throat to grabbing air as Ino puffed out of existence into a cloud of smoke.
"Right here!" He heard from behind. Before he could even react to those words, a severe sharp and searing pain was brought to his attention, all the way across the top of his back to the whole center of his chest.
Shikamaru's butt hit the ground as he was released from Kakuzu's hand. He rubbed his throat as he saw the blood dripping down from Kakuzu's torso. He then grinned while struggling to catch his breath, "Heh... great job, Ino."
The Akatsuki's treasurer looked down to see three red blades jutting through his chest, soaked in his blood. He peered over his shoulder at the person behind him, expecting to see a certain blonde bombshell.
However, his eyes gazed upon the form of his partner, Hidan.
Hidan drew the scythe out of Kakuzu's body, making him fall to the ground on his stomach. Hidan then placed a hand on his hip and smiled at Shikamaru.
"It was nothing. Are you alright, Shika?"
Kakuzu's eyes went wide. That wasn't Hidan's voice.
Kakashi Hatake then appeared beside Shikamaru, holding the unconscious body of Ino Yamanaka.
"Yeah, I'm fine..." Shikamaru coughed, then rose to his feet.
"Looks like your plan was a success, Shikamaru." Kakashi stated, "Exactly as you pictured it."
Kakuzu coughed up blood into his mask as he continued lying on the ground, immobile, "But... How...?!" He grunted.
*Five minutes ago*
"Woo! You're pretty good on your toes, aren't you Hatake?!" Hidan taunted as he continued his battle of Taijutsu with his opponent. Kakashi, using his Sharingan to help aid in his evasion of Hidan's strikes, remained silent. Hidan then executed a downward strike of his scythe, which was blocked with the base of Kakashi's kunai. He issued all his strength in both of his hands against both sides of the kunai to keep the blades of Hidan's scythe away from his head. Hidan pressed on, grinning as he knew Kakashi couldn't keep this up for long.
"Stupid! It's over for you once that kunai breaks! Killing you is going to be so much fun!" Hidan barked. His gleeful, almost psychotic smirk was suddenly flipped around completely, and Kakashi grinned under his mask. Kakashi allowed his hands to return to his sides, as Hidan held his pose, completely immobile.
"You talk too much." Kakashi told him, before looking at the woman behind Hidan, "Shikamaru got him, Ino! Now's your chance!"
"Wh-What?!" Growled the Joshin worshipper. His eyes went down to his own shadow, and saw a line connecting it to Shikamaru's, who was in Kakuzu's grasp a few feet away, "How?!"
"Shikamaru wasn't solely focused on your partner." Kakashi answered, "He was watching you, too. Waiting until I managed to keep you still so he can catch you with his technique."
"Shinrashin no Jutsu!" Hidan heard a feminine voice from behind. The next moment, Hidan no longer had any control over his mind or what little control he had left of his body.
"Alright Ino-chan, you can exit out of his body now." Said Shikamaru, holding Hidan's body still with his Shadow Manipulation technique.
"Good, this guy smells anyway." Ino mumbled. Hidan's eyes then closed and his body would have went limp, if not for Shikamaru's technique keeping him up. Chouji then arrived to the scene and Shikamaru nodded at his best friend, "Good job keeping him busy, Chouji."
Chouji winced as he rubbed his head, "Yeah... that guy hits really hard, though..." he mumbled. He then took Ino's body from Kakashi and took off for a safe location until she returned to her own consciousness. Kakashi then went through three hand seals and allowed lightning nature chakra to emit around his hand. He closed his fingers together and shaped the lightning into a blade, cocking his arm back and stepping toward the still unconscious Hidan. He looked back at Shikamaru, "You sure you don't want the finishing blow?"
"Nah." he said, "Their death is all that matters. Let's just get this over with."
Kakashi nodded and faced the voodoo imitator. He cocked his hand back some more, planning to send the lightning blade straight through his neck to decapita-
"Ghrrrgh!"
Kakashi was kicked square in the stomach and flew a few feet away. Shikamaru's eyes widened to see Kakuzu bring his foot back down from the ground.
"What?! You should be dead!" Shikamaru growled. Kakuzu turned his head toward the boy.
"I see you've used the time from our last encounter to come up with a good strategy. And it's very impressive. However, there's still information you don't know about me." He quickly charged for Shikamaru and forced him to repel back and release his technique on Hidan. By this time, Hidan was conscious again, holding his head.
"Meh... The hell just happened?"
Kakuzu looked over his shoulder at the man behind him, "Looks like you got careless and got taken over by the girl."
Hidan sneered, having remembered what happened a few minutes ago, "Says the bastard who let my blade go through you."
"Shut it." Kakuzu replied. He then looked back at Shikamaru, "Seems to me that we keep underestimating you. Now, playtime is over." Just as Hidan picked up his scythe and shook his teammates blood off of it, Hidan took off his Akatsuki robe in one motion, exposing the dark undershirt and pants he wore under it. Staining the whole front of the shirt and the top of his pants was his own blood, as three thin horizontal holes were embedded into his chest.
Shikamaru could only look in horror as Kakuzu seemingly looked unaffected by it, "H-How are you alive...?! You were stabbed right through your heart! And you seemed dead for a while!"
"Baaakaaaa!" Hidan shouted annoyingly, "What part of 'we can't die' don't you understand?!"
Shikamaru furrowed his brow. Just then, Kakuzu hunched over, seemingly in pain. Hidan could only chuckle at Shikamaru's horror as thousands of dark grey threads erupted from his back, into the air. The many tendrils then split four ways and landed next to him in the form of four unnatural unique body shapes, with four white masks that identified each of them. The first mask on the far left took on the shape of a demonic, beaked biped with a yellow nose. The next one beside it took on the shape of a demonic tiger with red lips. The mask on Kakuzu's right looked like another biped, only a bit more deformed than the other one, and had dark blue vertical lines down each side of its face. The last mask on the far right took on a strange four-legged shape with thin wings, that had light blue lines on either side of its face.
A bead of sweat rolled down Shikamaru's forehead as the four new beings seemed to look directly at him, "What the hell...?!"
Just then, the creature with wigs on Kakuzu's far left and the one with a yellow nose quickly dissolved and melted in a pool of now lifeless tendrils, the masks now sitting atop of the diminished beings.
"Oi, Oi! Two of those things died, Kakuzu! What's with that?!" Hidan blurted out.
Kakuzu coolly sneered, "If you hadn't let those brats take a hold of your body and stab me with that scythe, I wouldn't have had two of my hearts destroyed." He then shrugged, and shot a leer at the Jounin who was off to the side, who just managed to recover from the hit he unexpectedly took, "But no matter. I can always replenish my inventory."
"Whatever."
"We're switching opponents now. You go after the shadow boy. I'll take care of Hatake." Kakuzu stated. Hidan didn't particularly like how that sounded like a command, but decided not to speak on it.
"Fine. Him and that blonde bitch are the one's who pissed me off anyway."
Naruto roared as he now suffered many gashes and rips in his clothing do to his current adversary. However, he was already starting to heal at surreal speeds due to the demon within him.
Yugito clenched her teeth as she shared the same fate. It was a bloody sight to watch as they tried ripping each other to shreds. Though, with their healing factor, neither of them were too affected by their wounds, despite how much blood was shed on the ground and nearby trees. It was like watching two super-powered lions fight to the death, with the tide of the battle constantly shifting back and forth towards each opponent.
"All we're doing is getting each other more angry." Yugito thought, "Naruto apparently hasn't learned how to control his Jinchuuriki state like I can, even though he's an even match for me right now. But... I know the Kyuubi is stronger than Matatabi and if this goes on, he'll grow more tails which could end badly for me. I don't want to kill him, however..." Naruto then charged after her, and pounced on her. Yugito grabbed both of his wrists as he was on top of her now, keeping his claws away from her face. They scowled in each other's faces, struggling as they fought against each other's enhanced strength, "But if I can't calm him down, then I might just have to."
Yugito kicked Naruto off her before his chakra cloak burned her too much and was back on all fours again. Her nails dug into the dirt as she charged her chakra, her tails thrashing around angrily. Naruto watched as she began to transform herself into a large demon feline, with blue flames as it's fur, matching her tails. The Jinchuuriki now took the form of The Two-Tailed Demon Cat, though a smaller version. Still, the demon towered over Naruto, now over ten times his size. Yugito, currently taking the form of Nibi, emitted a leopard-like roar that could distress eardrums, as if declaring her final transformation.
Naruto only grimaced in blind anger upon witnessing this. He leaped up high in the sky, aiming a clawed hand at Nibi's face. To his dismay, he was quickly swatted away like a flea before he could connect his attack, torpedoing the young boy deeper into the forest at speeds well over 80 mph, crashing through every tree trunk and branch in his path. Had it have been a normal shinobi, they would have died almost instantaneously from such an attack. As Naruto finally slowed to a halt around three quarters of a mile away, he laid on the forest floor with many broken bones and blood leaking out of his mouth, though the Kyuubi's powers were healing him instantly.
Before the angered blonde could get up for more combat, he was suddenly pounced upon by the same demon that attacked him earlier. His body was trapped under it's huge paw, and no matter how much he struggled, he could not break free.
"Listen to me, Naruto!" Demanded Yugito's voice from the beast, with a slightly demonic echo to it, "I need you to calm down. If we keep this up, we'll be putting the Akatsuki at an advantage. So please, just try to-"
She was cut off by a loud roar from Naruto, signifying that she was only annoying him more. His murderous eyes grew even worse as his chakra shroud began bubbling up at an increased rate. She knew that he may start growing more tails soon if she didn't act fast.
"... I'll tell Anko the truth." She proposed. This seemingly managed to get to him as his chakra cloak calmed down, as did his expression, "I'll tell her that I lied to her to get away, that I set you up. It wasn't right for me to do and I'm sorry."
Naruto only stared into the cat's face before scowling again, "Don't lie to me!" He finally spoke comprehensible words since he first attacked her.
She saw that she was getting through to him, "I'm not lying, I'm serious. I'll tell her the truth and she'll get back together with you. I'll even accept any form of punishment she wishes to deal to me afterwords. I just need you to calm down."
Slowly, the chakra shroud began dissipating. His feral features continued to exist, but Kyuubi's chakra no longer enveloped around his body. Seeing this, Yugito discarded her transformation as well. She was now standing over Naruto who, even though calmed down enough to rid himself of most of the Kyuubi's influence, continued looking at her with a hardened glared with his blazing red eyes.
"I should kill you after what you did." Naruto grunted coldly, "Anko meant a lot to me. And it tore my heart in two to have her leave me over something YOU did."
"I see that." Yugito nodded, "I'm sorry. But you were becoming a pest and I had to distract you somehow."
"At the cost of potentially ruining one of the only special connections I've ever had with someone?" He growled.
Yugito closed her eyes shamefully, "Again, I apologize."
Naruto couldn't accept her apology just yet, "That's so selfish! Why would you do that?! What is so important about seeking revenge on those Akatsuki guys that you would do something like that?!"
Yugito's expression remained even as she looked at the boy, "I'll tell you after you've help me defeat them. And tell you what; if you still want to kill me after I tell you, and after I tell your girlfriend the truth, I won't stop you." This time, Naruto knew she was one hundred percent sincere, "But we have to take care of the Akatsuki first, since fighting amongst ourselves is giving them a benefit. Do we have a deal?"
Yugito extended a hand out to Naruto to not only accept the deal, but to help him climb out of the dirt. Naruto leered at the hand, then back at her face reluctantly.
She saw his hesitation and sighed, "I understand that you're still angry, and you have every reason to be. But think about those guys from your village fighting the Akatsuki at this very moment. I don't know how strong they are, but I'm sure you don't want them to die at their hands. Us helping to fight them, instead of fighting each other can prevent that from happening."
Naruto took what she said into consideration. Even though his conscience was solely set on hunting Yugito down when he found her, he was able to make out that Shikamaru was on the battlefield with Hidan and Kakuzu. And he figured that Chouji and Ino were tagging along, along with a Jounin that had to have taken Asuma's place, which was most likely his own sensei, Kakashi. While he was aware that his friends were strong, he knew the Akatsuki was strong too, especially if they could take down Yugito who clearly mastered controlling her Jinchuuriki abilities, while he had been struggling to kill for the past hour or so in his three-tailed Jinchuuriki state. He figured under those odds, his friends could be in deep trouble.
Naruto sighed heavily before accepting the hand that was still extended toward him. Yugito helped pull him back onto his feet, inside of the giant crater in the shape of a paw print they had been in.
"...Deal."
"Not good...!" Kakashi murmured with sweat staining his hitai-ate as he barely avoided the powerful fire and lightning jutsu being cast through Kakuzu's strange creatures who seemed to have minds of their own. He performed many leaps backwards along a gigantic tree, using his chakra on his feet to keep him along the vertical surface, as he tried to avoid becoming a fried or roasted scarecrow.
He then gained the opportunity to use both hands to beam two kunai at each of the creatures on each side, aiming right for their masks which he assumed was their vulnerability. The creatures dodged and retaliated back by opening their masks and charging another fire-style jutsu at Kakashi's right side, and a lightning jutsu at his left. Cursing under his breath, he jumped toward the lightning style creature and extended his hand toward it. The strange being launched a direct beam of lightning at the Sharingan user, and Kakashi took the hit. Instead of being fried to a crisp, Kakashi's hand seemingly absorbed the lightning directed at him, allowing his Chidori to intercept it. Though he was in pain from such an action, he shifted himself so that his feet were out toward the creature, and pressed them against its mask before using his inertia to leap off of it. This caused him to avoid the ray of flames that were just a half of a second away from enveloping around him from behind. Instead, the fire jutsu hit the lightning style creature, encasing it in over 500 degrees worth of flames. Midair, Kakashi pushed his hand out toward the fire user, shooting out the lightning stored in his arm back directly at it. The thing clearly didn't see his coming as bolts of lightning wrapped around and through the creature.
Kakashi grinned in his mask. However, his satisfaction was brought to an end as Kakuzu seemingly appeared out of thin air above Kakashi mid-air, delivering a firm elbow to Kakashi's spine. Kakashi was launched back to the earth at high speeds, causing a small crater to form where he landed.
Kakuzu landed a few meters away from the cloud of dust that picked up where the Jounin crashed, "You certainly aren't an overrated shinobi, Kakashi Hatake, I'll grant you that much."
The cloud of dust settled down and revealed a damaged Kakashi on all fours, coughing spots of blood into his mask. He looked over at Kakuzu and grimaced when his 'pets' returned to his side, though the mask of the lighting one was now a bit scorched.
"I was going to try to save your heart so I can add it to replenish the two you and your team destroyed. However, I already have a lightning-style heart already. Oh well," he shrugged, "looks like I'll just have to kill you and collect your bounty. You're worth almost twice as much as that man my partner killed before, so I suppose that will make up for not being able to cash in his body."
Kakashi growled lowly at the man before him, seemingly becoming overpowered. The two beings made up of tendrils then opened the mouths to their masks, preparing to aim their jutsu's at the man with a few minor broken bones.
"Now die, Hatake."
Shikamaru growled as he just barely managed to avoid Hidan's strikes with his scythe. He was getting low on chakra, and it was taking all he had to desperately avoid that scythe from cutting into his skin. Though he somehow managed to be doing a good enough job of doing just that, he knew his taijutsu skills were average for a fresh Jounin, and Hidan was well over that. He would tire out eventually, and that would be the end of him. He could only hope that Ino could hurry back into consciousness so she and Chouji could aid him.
Shikamaru noted Hidan was more serious and less talkative than before. He could only figure that Hidan was done playing around with them and was set on ending his life, rather than torturing him.
He also noted Hidan's fighting style was wide and a bit unpredictable. He used very long and broad swipes of his weapon, while simultaneously using kicks, mainly with the help of his scythe, using the long rod of the weapon as a vaulting pole. Shikamaru was able to block the kicks instead of dodging them, which slowed down the deterioration of his stamina, but almost made him susceptible to a follow up attack with Hidan's scythe.
His thoughts were interrupted when a giant spinning ball rolled and crashed into Hidan at a blink of an eye. Chouji unrolled himself from his giant boulder-like shape and stood next to his friend, watching as Hidan crashed against the trunk of a nearby tree at speeds that should severe a fragile spinal cord.
At this time, Ino landed on the other side of Shikamaru, "I don't get it... That other guy should have died! I was sure I hit him directly in his heart, and with a big weapon like that scythe, it would be hard for me to miss!" She said.
"Kinda figured it wouldn't be that easy." Shikamaru grunted, "But no time to think about that now." He told his teammates, watching as Hidan stood back up, cracking his neck.
"You guys are really becoming a pain in my ass..." Hidan sighed, "Why won't you all just die already? Lord Jashin is gonna be pissed with me for making him wait for his ritual."
He then slowly began walking over to his opponents, the three blades of his scythe trailing in the dirt behind him. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio stiffened in their fighting poses at such a bold act.
"Preventing us from capturing the Two-Tails... Keeping Kakuzu from collecting his bounty on that other man you were with before... taking over my body and making me stab my partner... and now you guys just continue to piss me off by being so fucking stubborn." The God of Death wannabe mumbled with closed eyes and a shake of his head as he continued to slowly close the gap between them. The trio were still on their toes, prepared for any sudden movements.
Hidan then stopped walking and analyzed the three shinobi he was up against. He then grinned insanely and tightened his grip on his weapon, "I'M GOING TO RIP YOU BRATS TO PIECES! CUT YOUR HEADS OFF AND USE YOUR MOUTHS AS MY OWN PERSONAL TOILETS!" The next second, he charged at them at great speeds. Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru all put their guard up and prepared for their attacker's assault.
Hidan's first target was the blonde kunoichi, surprising the three a bit seeing as they thought he would go for Shikamaru again. Ino seemed ready for this, however, using her agile body as an advantage to avoid Kakuzu's attacks. It was moments like this where she wished her clan was blessed with natural hand-to-hand combat skills like the Hyuuga or Uchiha. It took all she had to avoid Hidan's scythe, and she knew for a fact that she couldn't keep it up for long.
Fortunately, any worries about that were brought to an end when she saw her friend's oversized hand from above, ready to crush the silver-haired man. Hidan seemingly saw this coming and side-stepped out of the way. Chouji's hand crashed into the earth violently, right in front of Ino. Hidan then turned toward the expanded hand that almost pummeled him into the ground and brought his scythe down to pierce it. He couldn't do this however, as he spotted a thin linear shadow creeping toward him. He jumped back to avoid it, and sprinted around it to head toward the caster, who was near Chouji. In the midst of his sprint, he deflected a barrage of shuriken from behind, which were thrown by Ino. Not paying it much mind, he continued toward Chouji, who was guarding Shikamaru, and delivered a swift horizontal swipe with his scythe. Chouji avoided it with a back-step, while Shikamaru tried to drive a kunai into Hidan's skull. Hidan grinned as he grabbed Shikamaru's wrist just prior to contact, and delivered a hard kick to his gut that sent him flying. He then turned and jumped just in time to avoid a devastating punch from Chouji, who expanded the size of his fist to the size of his own body. Hidan gracefully landed atop of Chouji's wrist, and brought his scythe down to collect some of the Chuunin's blood with it. Chouji shrunk his arm and hand just in time to avoid this, however, Hidan's weapon dug into the dirt, and he used his remaining inertia to flip above it, sending a foot against Chouji's temples. Like Shikamaru, he was sent tumbling away.
Hidan then landed and grabbed his scythe that was still planted in the dirt. Just then, he grinned. He reached his free arm out, and caught the throat of a certain kunoichi who attempted an aerial attack with a kunai.
He looked at the blonde with a smirk as she squirmed in his grip and clutched her throat tighter, "I like your ability. You can take over people's minds. But it looks like that's all you can really do, huh?"
Ino knew that her arms weren't long enough to drive the kunai that was still in her hand into his head, and attacked his arm instead, hoping to sever a nerve that would cause Hidan to let her go. Her eyes bulged as this did nothing but simply draw blood. He didn't even flinch.
"Hey, that tickles. I would appreciate if you didn't do that, thanks." He taunted. Then, with his other hand, he brought his scythe up and pointed the top blade to Ino's eye. "Your eyes are gorgeous, by the way. It's a shame you're so set on killing me, or I'd definitely bang you."
Ino could only squirm and clutch at Hidan's hand at those words, "Well, I could always keep your body around for that regardless, though I won't have the satisfaction of watching you enjoy it. And as for those eyes, I think I'll keep them for myself."
Hidan then cocked his blade back a bit, ready to gouge out Ino's eyes with them. All she could do was squirm and desperately hope that Chouji and Shikamaru could save her from this sick man.
The blade then made contact, and Ino's left eyeball was scooped from out of her face with enough precision that prevented damaging the eye itself.
...Or at least that's what would have happened, if Hidan's arm hadn't been cut clean from his body, just above the elbow. The hand was still holding the scythe, even as they both landed on the ground between Ino and its owner. Blood oozed out of the stump and onto his disconnected appendage and weapon.
Before Hidan could even respond to this, he was kicked in the gut hard, breaking some of his lower ribs. He flew far away from the force, releasing Ino in the process. Hidan crashed through a few bushes before landing somewhere in the middle of the forest, around seventy meters away from his previous location.
Ino held her bruised neck as she gasped for the air she so desperately need. She was so caught up in the struggle for more oxygen, she didn't realize right away that her upper body was being held up by someone.
"Ino, you okay?"
Ino opened her eyes and paused so her brain could figure out who's voice that was before she saw for herself. She quickly gave up and looked up at the person holding her before widening her eyes at what she saw.
"...A-Anko-sensei...?!"
She had to admit, if it weren't for the voice, the trench coat, and the general outline of her facial features, she wouldn't have guessed who this person was. Even still, she wasn't so sure it was who she thought it was. The golden eyes with black scleroses, the brown skin, the red hair... Anko normally had signature features, like the purple ponytail that would make her identifiable to anyone who knew her. But those features were gone, and it almost looked as though she transformed into some kind of... monster.
Anko saw her obvious shock and nodded, "Yeah, I know I look just a tad different than usual, but it's me okay?" She reassured her. Ino seemed to buy it and hesitantly nodded, still unable to take her eyes off Anko's new form.
She had many questions to ask her, but decided to ask the most relevant one first, "Uh... What are you doing here, Anko-sensei...? Did the Hokage send for backup or something?"
"I'll answer your questions as soon as you tell your friend to release his jutsu on me..." Anko mumbled. Ino noted how she seemed to be twitching slightly in the same position, seemingly unable to move. She got up and saw that Anko's shadow was connected to Shikamaru's, who was a few yards away.
"Shika, it's okay! It's Anko-sensei!" She clarified. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow skeptically, but took Ino's words for it. He released his jutsu and walked over to the two females, with a damaged Chouji arriving soon after.
"Anko-sensei...?" Shikamaru asked, studying Anko's new look.
Anko nodded, "In the flesh. But we can't talk much right now, you guys have to tell me where Naruto and Yugito are."
Shikamaru had to look away from the tail that hung between Anko's legs before answering, "Naruto attacked her and went somewhere that way." he told her, pointing in the direction he last saw the two Jinchuuriki. Before Anko could nod and take off in that direction, her attention was brought to a sharpened baton-like metal spear that was aimed her way from the direction she kicked Hidan to earlier. She barely avoided the weapon, though it grazed her right arm, leaving a scratch.
"Okay, now I'm REALLY getting pissed off." Hidan growled as he emerged from the bushes of the forest, with his arm still missing. He glared at this unknown opponent that had strange eyes and mahogany colored skin, "And what in the name of Jashin are you supposed to be?!"
Anko sneered and grabbed the scythe in front of her. She yanked the arm that still had a firm grip on the weapon and threw it in the air with incredible strength, seemingly being launched toward the sun as the bloody appendage soared farther and farther away into the sky until it was no longer visible to the naked eye.
"OI, I NEEDED THAT, YOU BITCH!" Kakuzu roared. He then charged for Anko, mainly in an attempt to retrieve his weapon back. Anko avoided his punches and kicks with a bit of ease and grace, noting how her new transformation enhanced her speed and agility, not only during travel, but in combat as well.
As she ducked under a swift roundhouse aimed for her temple, she delivered a low sweep kick, sweeping Hidan's leg from under him while the other was still in the air. Hidan landed on his back hard, and Anko placed a firm foot on his chest, resting his scythe atop of her shoulder.
"Oh, this is just too awesome." She remarked to herself with a grin. She then looked down at the man grabbing at her ankle with his one hand, "And for the record, it's not very nice to call a woman a bitch."
A vein almost burst on Hidan's forehead, "Fuck you, you cunt! You threw my arm away like it was nothing! Stupid bitch, I should...!" Hidan's face then grew into a perverted smile, "Hey, I can see up your skirt from here..."
Everyone's face, save for Hidan's and Anko's, sweat-dropped at this. Anko grew a tick on the back of her head as she grounded her teeth. Turning slightly, she cocked Hidan's scythe back and swiftly swung it down below Hidan's mid section, cutting his waist apart from his torso. Team Ten had to hold back the urge to vomit upon seeing Hidan's blood and intestines pool out from below him.
Anko was a bit taken back to see no signs of pain from Hidan, as he instead shouted out something about her being a cheap red-headed whore. Despite this, she grinned and shook the remaining blood and guts off of her new weapon, "Now you can look all you want without worrying about catching a hard-on." She chuckled lowly.
"I SWEAR I'LL KILL EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! LORD JASHIN WILL BE SO PLEASED! I WILL RIP YOU ALL OPEN WITH MY BARE HANDS AND BATHE IN EVERYTHING THAT'S INSIDE! I'll-!"
Anko seemingly got annoyed and placed her foot against the Akatsuki member's mouth, which only allowed muffled outbursts to be heard from him. Anko looked over at Team Ten, "This is the bastard that killed Asuma, correct?"
The team nodded slowly, still stunned at how fast she overpowered him. Anko frowned, upon seeing the man that was responsible for Kurenai's distress.
She suddenly held out the scythe to Shikamaru, "Here. I know you guys wanted revenge, so I'll let you deliver the final blow. I would tell you guys to torture him first, but it doesn't seem like he'd feel much if you did."
Shikamaru took the scythe from Anko and nodded, "I'm sorry for your loss. Asuma was a fine shinobi." She then looked toward Ino, "And we'll talk later."
Anko then took off in the direction she was directed to a few minutes ago, leaving Team Ten with a continuously barking head and torso of Hidan.
Shikamaru paused to look at the man responsible for his sensei's death. He gripped the weapon with both hands and cocked it back overhead, planning to cut Hidan's head clean off his shoulders. Before he could bring the weapon down, Ino placed a hand on his chest, stopping him.
"Wait, Shika-kun..." she mumbled, looking directly at the separated remains of the Jashin worshiper, "...I want to do it."
*Meanwhile*
Kakuzu grinned triumphantly as Kakashi seemingly disappeared in a big explosion of fire and lightning. He waited a second or two for the smoke to clear before he collected the body that he could exchange for a very nice bundle of ryu.
However, to Kakuzu's disbelief, the body was not there.
"What?!" Kakuzu looked around before spotting Kakashi being assisted by another Konoha-nin, one with purple hair.
"Thanks, Yugao." Kakashi thanked his savior, "Though, I'll admit that I'm shocked to see you."
"I'm just shocked to see you, of all people, getting their ass kicked." She responded, her ANBU mask hiding her taunting grin. She then turned to the Akatsuki member who was looking directly at her for taking his opportunity of collecting a high bounty.
"More pests." He spat. He decided to move this along and charged his two monster's jutsu at the pair. Yugao managed to grab Kakashi's wounded form and move them out of harm's way just in time. As they landed, Kakashi made a motion to assure that he was still okay to fight and stood beside Yugao in a ready stance.
However, before they both could charge in for battle, two blonds hopped out in between them, both with ripped clothing and minor cuts and gashes.
Despite him being outnumbered, Kakuzu grinned underneath his mask, "Great, now I have everyone right where I want them."
Yugito, Yugao, Naruto, and Kakashi all watched as the two monsters made of Kakuzu's tendrils rushed inside of his body. Groaning, Kakuzu seemed to be in pain, as if he were about to explode from having the large creatures trying to fit inside his body. But instead, the threads burst out of his appendages and mouth, removing the mask he wore and lengthening his arms and torso. The grey threads tied his body loosely together like an unfinished rag doll. The two masks that previously had their own bodies were now integrated with Kakuzu's, the masks appearing out on each side of Kakuzu's head.
This sudden unnatural transformation had thrown the four opposing nin off quite a bit. Nevertheless, Yugito was the first to act as she shift through a few hand seals, "Katon: Yatsugibaya no kaen-dan(Fire Style: Rapid-Fire Flame Bullets)" She shouted before spitting out small balls of flames from her mouth like a gatling gun. Kakuzu responds by opening the mouth of the fire-mask and shooting out a big ball of fire chakra, which simply absorbed the mass miniature flame bullets headed its way. All four shinobi jumped out of the way just before they ended up burning into a crisp.
Figuring now was as good time as any, Naruto created ten clones and ordered eight of them to attack the enemy and two to stay with him, "You guys distract him while I form my jutsu!" He told his other comrades. Kakashi and Yugao nodded, while Yugito looked back at him.
"Do you really think now is a good time to try and look cool? We can take him out without that jutsu that you supposedly hurt yourself with!" She told him. Naruto only shook his head.
"I don't want to drag this out any longer than we need to. If this jutsu is as strong as it's said to be, then it'll end things quickly. Besides, I have an idea. I just need you guys to keep him still." he responded while he and his clones worked together to form his newly created ninjutsu. Yugito hesitantly put her trust into Naruto before jumping into the frame with Kakashi and Yugao. They all avoided Kakuzu's threads and ninjutsu, effectively keeping him occupied with three opponents to keep track of. Naruto's clones that charged the missing-nin had already dispersed easily, and it was up to his friends to make sure that his jutsu would hit home.
Soon, a very high-pitched screeching sound could be heard as the rapidly spinning blades of Naruto's Rasenshuriken was held just above his head. At this point, Yugito had retreated back beside Naruto, as to not get hit by Kakuzu's lightning chakra aimed at her.
"Guys, fall back!" Naruto called as he threw the spectacular wind jutsu at Kakuzu. The weapon made of wind chakra hovered violently above the ground, heading straight toward the Akatsuki's funds manager. At this time, Kakashi and Yugao used Kiwarimi to replace their bodies with logs of wood, to avoid getting caught in the ninjutsu.
Seeing that the technique was wind-styled, Yugito improvised and quickly sped through twelve hand-seals, "Katon: Kaen hosha-ki no jutsu (Fire Style: Flamethrower Jutsu)!" She then extended both of her hands and streams of white hot flames caught up from her palms to the spinning blades of wind. Her plan seemed to have worked, as the Rasenshuriken was set ablaze with blinding red hot flames, almost resembling a fiery spinning star. It scorched the ground below its path when they combined as it headed straight for Kakuzu.
Eyes widening in alarm, Kakuzu immediately jumped into the air upon seeing this to avoid the extremely lethal ninjutsu. He was sure a ninjutsu like that would be dangerous if he allowed it to hit him, and he grinned triumphantly when he saw it about to pass under h-
"I don't think so."
A stunning blow was delivered to Kakuzu's cranium from above as the force plummeted him back down to earth faster than he would have if gravity had suddenly doubled. Kakashi grinned from above and quickly maneuvered out of the way once he saw Kakuzu's body line up almost perfectly with the flaming S-ranked ninjutsu.
Everyone watched as the long-lived Akatsuki member landed head first into the ninjutsu. Immediately upon impact, an colossal explosion erupted in a blinding bright orange light. The earth shook from below everyone's feet within a fifty kilometer radius as a spectacular sphere of fire grew and steadily expanded toward the shinobi who were only standing a few yards away.
"Everyone get back!" Kakashi shouted loud enough over the loud whining/thunderous roar of the combined jutsu. Everyone followed Kakashi's advice and moved back away from the giant ball of flame expanding more and more with every second.
To anyone watching the events of what just happened, it would seem as though Kakuzu was encased in a miniature version of the sun. It easily stretch out more than over a two-hundred meter radius, as the hot winds swirling around it blew at nearly hurricane-like speeds. Kakashi, Yugao, Naruto, and Yugito all shielded their eyes from the blinding light and fought against the strong winds as they retreated, fighting as hard as they could not to get caught in the second-hand effects of this jutsu.
After approximately a whole minute, the sphere stopped expanding and began dying down. It slowly shrunk back to the source, revealing a large molten crater where it had once been. The winds eventually died down, and the divine orange glow lifted off the forest. Everyone stared agape, witnessing the deep crater, which was just as deep as the width of the explosion, filled completely with flaming dirt and rocks. Any trees that were unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast was no more. Anything that had occupied any kind of space that got caught in the blast simply no longer existed.
Including, a corpse of Kakuzu.
Everyone was close to losing their eyeballs, as they were completely speechless. No one had seen such a devastating technique, nor had anyone imagined that the effects of this collaboration would be so... drastic.
"Well... there goes any hope of collecting a bounty placed on his head..." Kakashi sweatdropped, completely flabbergasted to see that the jutsu had completely eradicated and dissolved anything of Kakuzu's being. There was no trace of him. The jutsu had completely destroyed and incinerated every atom that made up Kakuzu's entire structure, with no kind of remains left behind.
Telling from Yugito's expression, she didn't expect her collaboration of her ninjutsu with Naruto's to be so severe. She was aware of him telling her that the jutsu was S-ranked, but she was now fully convinced that he was completely telling the truth. And with the addition of her fire jutsu, which was B-ranked, she easily bumped up its rank to a higher plane of the S-ranked ninjutsu, possibly to SS-rank levels. The jutsu simply destroyed anything in its path on a molecular level, completely erasing it from the earth in nothing but extreme winds and flames.
She was beginning to think that her assistance may have been unneeded, and could have been overkill.
"Holy..." Naruto mumbled, a bit run down from his battles with Yugito and the amount of chakra consumption of his recent ninjutsu. Yugito and Naruto slowly locked eyes in disbelief, before Kakashi and Yugao approached near them.
"Such a powerful collaboration." Kakashi huffed, glad the battle was over. Kakuzu really did a number on him, and the pain was catching up to him now that his adrenaline levels went down.
The woman with a cat mask and a long thin sword in her hand standing next to Kakashi then approached Yugito and grabbed her wrist, "With that all said and done, I have to place you under arrest for the contravention of the Hokage's word and stepping out of Konohagakure's walls."
Yugito's first instinct was to protest against this, but instead she lowered her head and nodded. Just as Yugao was about to bind Yugito's wrists behind her back with wire, a strange figure landed and stood in front of the shinobi. Immediately, everyone, save for Yugao were prepared to defend themselves until Yugao raised a hand.
"It's okay. It's Anko."
Everyone's jaw dropped as 'Anko' waved a greeting hand at everybody.
However, nobody's shocked expressions could compare to Naruto's, as his eyes scanned her in utter disbelief, "...A-Anko...?!"
"Hehe... hi." Anko smiled sheepishly, despite the drastic changes of her appearance altering the usual smile her friends and comrades were used to. Hearing Anko's voice confirmed that this was actually the woman he had dated for a short period of time. He didn't know whether or not he should be relieved or afraid to see her right now.
Kakashi was the one who could finally vocalize everyone's thoughts, "Anko... What uh... what happened to you?"
Anko held her clawed hand up in a motion to hold off on answering Kakashi's question. Anko's eyes locked with Yugito's who felt small under her gaze, especially since her hands were tied behind her back.
The tension between them was so thick, Yugao could cut it with her sword if she wanted to. Everything was silent between everyone as Anko's golden eyes was fixed completely on Yugito's black ones. Yugito couldn't keep eye contact for long, as she knew why Anko was leering at her so hard. The Tokubetsu Jounin's transformation only seemed to intimidate her more as well.
As soon as Yugito opened her mouth to mumble anything to break the awkward air a bit, she heard her jaw crack when a fist struck her face at remarkable speeds. The punch was so fast and sudden, she didn't even see it coming, not that she could avoid or block it if she did, considering her hands being tied behind her back. Anko's hit caused Yugito to spin and land face-first into the ground. Groaning, Yugito was sure that strike would leave a bruise, and almost dislocated her jaw.
Anko's glare only hardened as she knew she wasn't done with her just yet. Anko took a step forward towards the squirming Jinchuuriki before Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder. Anko stopped and looked at him with a deathly stare.
"Let go of me, Kakashi."
Kakashi had to admit that with the way Anko was looking now, she was easily five times as scary as she usually was. But he still felt he had to stop his friend from going to far.
"Anko, I-"
"Let her go." Naruto interrupted, looking at the ground with serious eyes. Kakashi connected eyes with Naruto before Yugao spoke up.
"He's right, Kakashi." She told him, "She needs to do this."
Kakashi paused for a second, "I don't really know what's going on, or what has happened between these two, but this is Kumogakure's Jinchuuriki. We shouldn't harm her, otherwise-"
"She'll heal." Naruto grumbled, clenching his fist.
"But-"
"It's okay." Yugito suddenly grunted, wishing her hands weren't tied so she could rub her cheek. She rolled over and looked up at the man holding Anko back. She then looked at Anko and nodded. Anko's leer never let up on Yugito.
Kakashi hesitantly released Anko, and she wasted no time in straddling the cat lady, pulling her head off the ground by tugging on Yugito's shirt. Yugito was now less than a foot away from Anko's face as she snarled at her, exposing her sharp fangs.
"So not only did you kiss my man, but you lied about it and made it seem as though he kissed you, making me feel heartbreak on incomprehensible levels... right?" Anko asked calmly, but with so much venom in her voice that everyone hearing it felt their skin crawl a bit.
Yugito swallowed her pride and locked eyes with Anko as she delivered her answer, "Yes. I'm sor-"
Any words regarding an apology was forced back down into her throat as Anko delivered another strong hook to Yugito's face. The force of the punch almost snapped Yugito's neck as her face turned in the other direction, spitting out blood onto the brown dirt below her. She then weakly turned her face back to Anko before meeting with another punch, one that was harder than before. She actually heard the grotesque noise of her facial bones crunching as the strike connected this time, making Yugito cry out in pain.
Anko expected her fist to hurt as she struck the woman below her with strength she didn't know she had. Yugito's cheek had now burst open in a wide wound, leaking blood down her usually beautiful face. Seeing Yugito start to hang her head backwards due to the pain, Anko growled as she pulled her by her shirt some more to deliver an even stronger punch in the same area yet again. Anko's brown knuckles were now tainted with Yugito's blood, and a large bloody lump began to form on the side of Yugito's left cheekbone.
"S-Son of a..." Yugito hissed, amazed to see that Anko could hit so hard. It felt like a rock was being bashed against her face each time she was hit. She was sure Anko wanted to beat her senseless, and Yugito decided she deserved to let her.
Seeing Yugito's eyes were shut due to the pain, she brought her face closer to her own, "Look at me." She demanded. Yugito's face, now hosting a purple and blue lump, drenched in her own dark red blood on its left side, turned and opened her weary eyes to meet Anko's deathly leer.
"I should kill you. This form you see now is thanks to you. You're responsible for hurting me, as well as making me unjustifiably hurt my boyfriend, who has had nothing but pain follow him throughout his years of living. You've made fools of us both and you don't know how much pain you caused us." she growled. Yugito, now half-conscious, wondered how Anko could have found that out without telling her. But any rational thought was beaten out of her head as another fist slammed into the bloody lump on her face. Another thick wad of blood flew out of her mouth as she took yet another blow that blurred her vision. She was sure her back tooth was cracked, and knew Nibi would need quite a bit of effort to heal her face and return it back to the way it was after Anko was done with it.
Seven agonizing punches later, Naruto grasped Anko's elbow as she cocked her hand back for yet another strike. She looked back and her expression softened a bit as she looked into his eyes. She saw the look on his face and it told her "That's enough for now". She then turned back to Yugito, who was now creating a pool of blood onto the ground below her as Anko continued to hold her up by her shirt. Yugito was within an inch of reaching unconsciousness and began twitching slightly, moaning lowly as her swollen and lumpy face made it difficult to form comprehensible words. Her left eye was now puffy, holding a dark purple ring around it, and the eyeball was red, dangerously close to being unusable and destroyed under the abuse.
Anko released Yugito's shirt and she landed on the ground with a dull thud. Anko took a deep breath and got off of the woman who had spent the last five whole minutes getting the side of her face bashed in. She stood in front of Naruto and looked up at him. Her right fist, still slightly clenched and twitching, dripped with Yugito's and her own mixed blood, seeing as the skin began to shed from her knuckles after the fourth or fifth punch.
Their eyes locked for a while until Anko finally lunged forward, quickly capturing his lips with her own. Naruto did not resist against this as he kissed back, soon developing a battle between the two to see who can kiss with the most passion. Anko's clawed hands caressed Naruto's face, gently tickling his skin with her nails, as Naruto held her by the waist, pressing their bodies together.
Kakashi and Yugao watched as their masked smiles were hidden. The moment seemed a bit inappropriate for them to be kissing like this, but they decided to let it slide. Naruto and Anko needed this.
Anko soon pulled back and her gold eyes looked into Naruto's with pure emotion, something that both Yugao and Kakashi only say from Anko in very rare circumstances, "I'm sorry." Anko apologized. Naruto smiled and brushed a hand through Anko's wild red hair.
"Don't be, you didn't know." he responded. He then chuckled, "I don't know what happened to you, but I think you're just as pretty as you were before."
Anko smirked, "Yeah?" She then rose her tail up and tickled Naruto's nose with it, "Even with my tail, sharp fangs, red hair, weird eyes, brown skin, and sharp claws?"
Naruto nodded, grinning goofily, "Pretty much, yeah."
Anko scoffed playfully and shook her head, "And I thought I was the weird one in this relationship."
"As touching as this moment is..." Kakashi mumbled, clearing his throat, "I think it would be best if we went back to assist in defeating that other-"
"Killed him." Anko said flatly, "Well, incapacitated him. I let Ino and her friends finish the job."
"Oh..." Kakashi mumbled. This was really turning out to be a very interesting day for him to say the least. Just on queue, Team 10 approached the rest of the shinobi, shocked to see an ANBU there, a giant crater in the ground behind them, and a very battered and bloody Jinchuuriki groaning on the ground.
"Er, I'm assuming Kakuzu was taken care of?" Shikamaru asked.
"That's an understatement." Kakashi responded. Shikamaru was about to ask what he meant by that, but decided that doing so would be troublesome.
"Well, Hidan is taken care of as well. The mission turned out to be a success." The six other shinobi and kunoichi from Konoha nodded their hands, and prepared to make their way back to Konoha. Yugao made the offer to carry Yugito back, and they took off, leaving the site of the intense battle that occurred there.
*Five minutes later, on the way back to Konoha*
The air between the four shinobi and four kunoichi was awkwardly silent. Easy to say, no one in the group planned their day to go exactly the way it did today, but most of them were satisfied with the outcome.
Anko was traversing through the trees between Naruto and Kakashi, while Yugao continued to carry Yugito behind them. Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji all continued ahead of the group.
"So..." Kakashi started awkwardly, "How exactly did you end up like this, Anko?"
"I was mad." She said, "I was really angry over what happened between Naruto, that bitch, and I, that I was just in a blind fury and my Curse Seal began to activate out of nowhere. One thing lead to another, and I turned into this."
Kakashi and Naruto looked at each other knowingly. Confused, Anko raised an eyebrow.
"This is like when Sasuke and I fought in the Valley of the End three years ago. His Curse Seal allowed him to transform into something similar to what you transformed into." Naruto explained to his girlfriend, "It's like another stage that the Curse Seal can go into past the first level where those markings would surround your body."
"You mean to tell me there's different levels to the power of the Curse Seal?" Anko groaned dejectedly.
"I thought The Third had suppressed it years ago, though." Kakashi murmured.
"I thought so too, Kakashi. Apparently, what he did wasn't enough to keep it from activating this time. If we're being honest, I haven't really been that angry since that old man suppressed it And you know as well as I do that chakra levels can spike dangerously when shinobi are angry as hell."
Naruto frowned to hear exactly how upset Anko was over what happened. But he cheered up immediately after, happy that everything had been resolved now.
A thought soon occurred to him, "Wait, how did you know that Yugito lied to you about what happened? She told me she was going to tell you herself while we were fighting, but I didn't see her tell you anything."
"Yugao told me." Anko smiled, happy she had a trustworthy friend that helped clear everything up, "She saw everything that happened between you and her and relayed that information to me after informing the Hokage."
Naruto looked back at the masked ANBU holding his fellow Jinchuuriki with a smile, "Thank you, Neko-san."
Yugao nodded, smiling even though Naruto couldn't see it, "Call me Yugao."
Naruto nodded as well, then thought about something, "So... can you transform back into the old Anko?"
"What happened to that 'you're just as beautiful as before' bullshit you were talking about earlier?" Anko chuckled.
Naruto blushed, "N-No, I mean, the fight is over. So I don't think there's any use for that form anymore... And doesn't it consume chakra, or something?"
"Unfortunately, I don't know how to deactivate this seal. How I did it before isn't working. I've tried everything and nothing seems to be working. However, I don't think it consumes chakra nor does damage to my body."
"Sounds like the seal may be damaged or malfunctioned somehow." Kakashi said, "I would go to Tsunade-sama or Jiraiya-sama to get it inspected."
"That's the plan. I just hope I don't get attacked as soon as I return back to Konoha. I already had to sneak out of there to get to you guys."
"...So Tsunade-sama wasn't aware that you left the village?" Kakashi asked with a somewhat dead tone. Anko looked around innocently.
"Define 'aware'."
"Damn it, Anko." Kakashi sighed, "You'd better hope the Hokage is having a good day today."
"Considering my current state, and how I helped in the defeat of an Akatsuki member, as well as helped bring Little Miss Cat Bitch back to Konoha in one piece, I think she'll bypass the fact that I snuck out." Anko said with a devilish grin.
Kakashi could only shake his head, "Whatever you say."
*An hour later*
The group had just passed through Konoha's main entrance, and Kakashi dismissed Team 10 to go back home and rest, while he relay the details of the mission back to Tsunade. Yugito had partially recovered from Anko's assault along the journey back, and was walking beside Yugao back to the Hokage tower. Naruto, Kakashi, and Anko were walking on the other side of Yugao, with Anko having a genjutsu cast upon her by Kakashi to at least trick the villagers into believing that Anko was in her natural form.
The five of them entered the Hokage's open office door's to discover the back of a very tall and muscular man with blonde hair. Along side him were two of his most trusted assistants and bodyguards. The Hokage was staring at the large dark-skinned man calmly while he slammed a fist onto the Hokage's desk.
"What the hell do you mean she's not here?!" A thunderous voice boomed throughout the whole building. Tsunade sighed and held a firm face, looking the Raikage dead in his eyes.
"I said she's not here. Your kunoichi decided to escape the village in order to pursue her own personal agendas."
The Raikage growled in frustration, "And you just let her?!"
Tsunade opened her mouth to respond, before spotting four of her shinobi behind the Raikage, with a certain Kumo-nin between them with her hands bound behind her back. The Sannin grinned, "No, we didn't." she responded, gesturing for him to turn around. A followed Tsunade's gesture, and was welcomed to see one of his top Jounin kunoichi being pushed into the office by an ANBU.
"Yugito!" He exclaimed, walking over to her, "Are you okay?"
Yugito saw that the first thing A noticed was the minor bruises and scars on her face, "Yes, Raikage-sama, I'm okay."
The other four nin in the room could only remark at how big Komogakure's Kage was, having never seen him in the flesh, "Why did you leave the village, knowing that I would be here soon to extract you? And what on earth happened to your face?!" he asked.
Yugito sighed, "I was being stupid and snuck out to seek revenge on the Akatsuki members that nearly killed me. And I got these bruises during the altercation with them."
Naruto and Anko looked at each other upon hearing these words come out of Yugito's mouth.
Raikage sneered, "Are you stupid?! Why would you do that, especially since they almost killed you before?!"
Yugito could only sigh, unable to make eye contact with her leader, "I don't know... I wasn't thinking clearly."
A simply leered at her a bit more before sighing, "Well, I'm just glad you're okay." He then turned around toward Tsunade, "Thank you, Hokage-dono. Without you and your shinobi, I'm sure Yugito wouldn't be here with us. You have my gratitude."
Tsunade gave a small smile and nodded, "You're welcome. However, I feel we should discuss more about the Akatsuki now that you're here, since it was brought to my attention that Yugito had not known about the Akatsuki's existence prior to them attacking her."
"I agree." A said. Tsunade made a nod toward Yugao to unbind Yugito's wrists. Yugao did as she was told and her arms were now free. Anko looked at the four behind Yugito and paused when she saw Anko's appearance. She wanted to ask what happened to her, but the matter didn't seem too dire, and she would soon talk to her about it later.
"Kakashi, Naruto, and Anko. I will call for you later. For now, I have to speak with the Raikage so you're dismissed until I send for you. Yugao, I want you to stay." she commanded. The shinobi nodded.
"A-sama," Yugito called, "If it's okay, may I be dismissed as well? I have a bit of unfinished matters with a few of these Konoha-nin that need to be settled."
A hesitated to answer to her request, "... Sure."
With a thankful nod of Yugito's head, they all headed out of the office, save for Yugao and the two Kage's.
After exiting out of the Hokage Tower, Kakashi felt it would be appropriate to let Yugito, Anko, and Naruto have some alone time. With a thankful nod in the their direction for the assistance in his mission, Kakashi took off, destination unknown.
Yugito turned to the two remaining Konoha nin, and Naruto and Anko frowned slightly. Yugito saw this and put a defensive hand up, "I don't want to start any more trouble. I would just like to clear up any remaining issues we may have. Then you can kill me or do whatever it is you wish to do."
"We don't want to kill you, obviously." Anko scoffed, "If we did, we would have done it during the mission and said that the Akatsuki captured you."
"But we can still talk somewhere private. There are a few things we need to talk about." Naruto added.
Anko nodded, "We'll talk in the training grounds right in front of the Forest of Death." Yugito then nodded and fell in step between Naruto and Anko, following them to the designated training grounds.
Soon, the trio arrived in the middle of the clearing with a small river passing through two strips of land. Anko turned around to face Yugito with crossed arms, while Naruto stood between them, "So what is it you wish to talk about?" Anko asked with a hardened expression.
Yugito gave a small sigh, "First off, I just want to say that you hit really hard, Anko-san. I-"
"You deserved it." Anko spat.
"I deserved it." Yugito agreed with a nod of her head, "Secondly, I just want to apologize again for what I did. I honestly have no excuse for my actions. I was being selfish, and didn't care about anyone or anything that may have gotten in my way to seek revenge."
"Why were you so bent on killing them?" Naruto asked with narrowed eyes. Naruto could tell there was another reason behind it, other than the fact that they almost killed her themselves.
Yugito didn't answer right away, as she picked up a rock in front of her and skipped it on the river in front of her, "...They killed my parents."
Naruto and Anko, slightly surprised to hear this, met eyes for a few seconds. Seeing how the two Konoha-nin suddenly got quiet upon hearing this made Yugito close her eyes and elaborate, "They dragged me out in the open by killing my parents as soon as they left the village, knowing I would go out for blood. And that's when I began to fight them before I got saved by you Konoha-nin."
"Are your parents shinobi?" Anko asked.
Yugito shook her head, "No, and they never planned for me to be one either. But when I got the Nibi sealed in me as a kid, they had no choice but to have Kumo drag me into the academy and become a kunoichi, seeing as they had to find some kind of use for Nibi in their shinobi force."
A slight ting of guilt hit Naruto for being so hard on Yugito. He had to admit that if he were in her shoes, he can't say he would have acted much differently.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Yugito." Anko said, "But you're old enough to know how your actions can affect other people, so that's not an appropriate excuse."
"I said I have no excuse for what happened, so I'm aware of that. I just wanted you guys to know what was going on in my head when it happened. I knew what I was doing wasn't exactly going to please anyone. I just simply didn't care."
Anko nodded, despite still not being too sympathetic toward Yugito for what she did. She understood where Yugito was coming from, and knew that finding out both of her parents died could send anyone into some sort of insensible rage.
"I'm sorry for your loss, Yugito." Naruto apologized sincerely, "Both Anko and I grew up without knowing who our parents were, so we couldn't possibly know what that could feel like."
Yugito skipped another rock across the small river. She then looked back at the pair, "I'm sorry to hear that."
Anko placed a hand on her hips, "So exactly what made you realize that you were being a manipulative and insensitive bitch ever since you've first entered this village? It's kind of sketchy how you've suddenly went from that to this in such a short amount of time."
Naruto flinched a bit at Anko's harsh terms, but Yugito didn't seem to be affected by them. Yugito answered her question by pointing at the man beside her.
"Naruto. I saw how pissed he was when he attacked me and how set he was on seeking revenge over what I did. He didn't even pay any mind to the Akatsuki. He only wanted to harm me. When I saw his irrationality and rage, it was then that I realized how irrational I was being too. I was being no better than Naruto. I was so set on killing those guys, I didn't care about what impact I could have on either of our villages or any people involved. That's why I understood if you two wanted me dead. Those Akatsuki guys are dead anyway, so I wouldn't have stopped you if you felt that was appropriate."
Anko looked at her a bit in silence before speaking, "If we're being honest, the only reason I didn't kill you was because I wasn't sure if that would have any impact on the relationship between our villages, even if I had lied and said the Akatsuki were the ones who killed you."
Yugito gave an understanding nod, to their slight surprise. Despite this, Anko continued, "But now I'm glad I didn't do it after hearing what you've been through. If I had found out all of this after killing you, I admit that even I would feel kinda guilty."
Before Yugito could respond, Anko sent her a low leer and crossed her arms, "You're a very good liar, by the way. I work in the T&I department of our force and I'm one of the top interrogators in my field. I'm an expert at seeing through lies. So the fact that you were able to convince me that Naruto kissed you is quite remarkable to say the least." She narrowed her eyes a bit more, critically analyzing her, "It makes me wonder if you're lying about everything you just told us..."
Yugito shook her head, "I'm not lying about this. What I said makes sense, doesn't it? Besides, the fact that I flipped Naruto on top of me at that moment probably made it hard for you to think that I was lying. And Naruto's pathetic attempts to convince you otherwise probably didn't help either." Yugito grinned at the last sentence. Naruto frowned and sweatdropped.
"I was caught in the heat of the moment!" He defended.
Anko's expression was as flat as a 2x4, "Well let's just hope that you don't get caught in any kind of 'heat' between you and another woman again."
Anko then shushed him before he could rant on about how it wasn't his fault before looking toward an amused Yugito, "Anyway, I forgive you for everything, considering how noble you are. But I think it goes without saying that I will not hesitate to kill you the second time around if I find you in any sort of intimate predicament with my man again."
Yugito discretely brushed off Anko's attempt to intimidate her, "I understand. If you want, you can hit me one more time."
Anko immediately accepted this proposal and cracked her knuckles before cocking her fist back, before she could launch another fist toward her face, Naruto intercepted it with his hand.
Anko looked at him puzzled, while Naruto seemed to be deep in thought about something, "... Wait just a second, Anko-chan."
"What, do you want me to hit you instead?" She questioned with a grimace for stopping her from hitting the woman who almost permanently severed their relationship a second time.
Naruto ignored Anko's comment and looked at Yugito with a slight grin, "Hey, we're still not even for what you did. Our fight was pretty even-sided from what I remember."
"...So do you want a free hit instead?" Yugito asked confusedly. Naruto shook his head and crossed his arms.
"Teach me how to control my Biju and I'll call it even."
This proposal made Yugito pause in thought for a few seconds, "Hm... that would make us even, I guess. But there's a few problems with that. For one thing, I'm going back to Kumo in a few minutes, so I don't know exactly how we'll be able to work on that together. And secondly, I still don't know how to fully control my Biju, only to a certain extent."
"Well, you still know how to control it way better than I do, so I'm sure I can still learn something from you. And-"
"No, Naruto." Anko interrupted, "You still have to check with Jiraiya to make sure your seal is alright."
"I'm not saying she can teach me right now." He responded, "I mean she can teach me next time we see each other. The Raikage seemed pretty grateful upon seeing that we saved Yugito, so there may be some sort of alliance forming soon. And if so, we'll be able to come and go into each other's villages as we please."
"I highly doubt that an alliance will form just because we saved a kunoichi from their village. It runs a lot deeper than that." Said Anko.
"Yugito isn't just some kunoichi from Kumo. This is probably one of Kumogakure's strongest shinobi, who also contains the Two-Tails. Not only that, but I can tell that Yugito means a lot to the Raikage, especially if he was willing to barge into her office like that." Naruto argued, "How grateful do you think Baa-chan would be if she found out that I was saved from the Akatsuki by Kumo?"
Anko sneered that she was actually losing an argument against Naruto this time, "Well... I'm still kind of skeptical."
"Both of you aren't completely wrong, if we're being honest." Yugito spoke up, "A-sama and I do have somewhat of a father/daughter bond of sorts, and I'm sure he appreciates the fact that I was saved from death by you guys. But forming something as big as an alliance between our villages because of it may be a bit unexpected. It's as Anko said, it deals with a lot more than what you may think."
"I know I don't know a lot about all this political and economical crap and whatnot," Naruto began with a shrug, "But considering everything Konoha and Suna have been through and have formed an alliance despite that, I have hope for Kumo and Konoha."
Yugito had no argumentative response to this, nor did Anko.
"Well if you turn out to be correct, Naruto, I wouldn't mind teaching you what I know if that evens the score between us."
"Yes you would." Anko sourly interjected before Naruto could respond, "Because I mind."
Naruto looked back at her, wondering if this new form she took was making her crazy (crazier), "What do you mean?"
"Look, I know I said all is forgiven between us, but I still would rather not have you having any 'private' sessions with Naruto, Yugito."
Yugito, understanding her skepticism, simply shrugged and nodded, "I understand."
Naruto's jaw hung and his eyes widened. He then looked toward Yugito with a forced smile before grabbing Anko's arm, "Excuse us for a second."
At Yugito's slightly confused nod, Naruto proceeded to drag his girlfriend away from hearing's range, "Are you out of your mind?!"
"Let go of me." Anko grunted, yanking her arm from his grip, "And no I'm not. I don't want her around you alone. You should understand why."
"But Yugito is cool now! She understands she was wrong, and knows you'll come after her if she tries it again!"
"I don't care. I don't want her alone with you. Whether or not she'll try something again doesn't matter, I just personally would feel a lot better if you two weren't alone. Is that too much to ask?"
"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed in a loud whisper, "She'd be helping me control the Kyuubi! I can be a lot stronger, and won't have to worry about losing control again. You were the one who convinced me that I should learn how to control the Kyuubi's power anyway!"
"Valid points, Naruto." Anko nodded, "But I don't want you two alone together. If it were with anyone else, I wouldn't mind."
Naruto groaned, "Do you not trust me or something?"
"Oh, I trust you completely. It's her I don't trust." Anko said, crossing her arms. Naruto placed his face in his hand at his girlfriend's stubbornness. He then raised his head up when he got an idea.
"How about if you come along and watch?"
Anko shrugged, "Then I suppose I wouldn't mind. But you'll have to understand that I won't always be available, and I would want you to respect my wish in not doing anything while I wasn't around."
Naruto beamed, "So as long as you're around, we can do it?"
Anko's face fell flatter than it already had been during the whole conversation, "If by 'do it' you mean nothing more than teaching you how to control your Tailed Beast, then yes."
Naruto blushed a bit before grinning and running to Yugito to tell her the news. Anko watched as Naruto relayed what she said to the ponytail-ed blonde, and shook her head when Naruto pumped a fist in the air when Yugito smiled and nodded her head.
"Sometimes I wonder why I love that idiot." Anko sighed.