Rikugun sat on a large branch of a gigantic tree. As he thought, he could sense chakras. He knew that they were approaching. Rikugun jumped from his perch and landed softly on the ground.

It's time.

As Rikugun started to create strange signs with his hands, two dark circles formed before him. As the edges of the two circles began to flash, two dark figures rose from the darkness. They both wore Takatsuki cloaks. It was Kakuzu and Hidan.

"What? Where in Jashin am I?" Yelled Hidan.

Rikugun calmed his nerves. He hated having to explain orders.

"The two of you have been resurrected by me."
Kakuzu spoke. "A forbidden jutsu? Impressive."
"What do you mean, 'impressive?'" said Hidan. "More like creepy."

Rikugun was annoyed. "FINE! Creepy, whatever. Kakuzu, I need you to stay put. Hidan, run from this area as fast as you can."

"And why exactly would I do that? You think I'm not powerful enough to handle this on my own?"
"No. I want you to lead one of our enemies that are approaching in the other direction. Kakuzu here will take on the other two."
"Alright, fine. But if I go down, Jashin WILL punish your ass!"

Hidan ran off, disgusted.

Rikugun looked back at Kakuzu. "I didn't want to say this in front of your partner. He asks to many questions. I resurrected the two of you from your graves. You were killed by Kakashi, while your buddy down there was buried alive and soon died due to lack of nutrients."

"I understand," said Kakuzu, "but what I really want to know is who we're fighting, and what's in it for me if we win?"
"First of all, I have no idea who your opponents will be. Hidan will be fighting someone who we are trying to 'exact our revenge on.' If you are victorious, then I shall give you 60% of the bounty on our opponent's heads."
"And where will you be during all of this?"
"Somewhere else. If you guys don't make it, I'll know."

Rikugun disappeared in a cloud of ash.

Kakuzu didn't care who he was fighting. He could kill anyone at this point. He moved his arms and legs. All of his joints were healed. As long as he got his share of the bounty, he would do anything.

******************************************

Bakiri, Ino and Yuki hopped through the trees.

"I'm picking something up." Yuki suddenly said. "There are two of them. One is stationary while the other is on the run."
"And who might they be?" Asked Bakiri.
"Hidan and Kakuzu. Kakuzu is staying put, and Hidan is running. What a coward."
"No. That's not it. He wants me to fight Hidan, thinking that he's the strongest, while the two of you get owned by Kakuzu."
"So, what now?" Asked Ino.
"Ok. Listen very carefully. I need the two of you to work together do defeat Kakuzu."

Ino had a disgusted look on her face. She didn't like working with Yuki. It wasn't fair that her Baraki-kun was spending years with some girl that he barely even knew. But Madara paired them up together for a reason.

And she was forced to live with it.

******************************************

Hidan ran through the forest as fast as he could.

Damn that asshole, excluding me from all the action. His plan better work, or I'll slaughter him.

Hidan turned around abruptly, and a kunai flew in his direction. Hidan pulled out his large, three-bladed scythe and blocked the knife. The kunai fell to the floor. Hidan then realized that a small, blue orb was attached to it.

Aw shit!

Large ice spikes shot out of the ground. Hidan was barely able to dodge by jumping backwards. Suddenly, even more kunai flew at him. Hidan wasted a ton of his energy dodging the spikes, so by the time the kunai stopped swarming, he was exhausted.

What the hell was that?

Then, without warning, Bakiri quickly shot through the forest and gave Hidan a swift uppercut. Hidan hit the ground hard.

"Ah, what the shit man?"
"Tsk. I barely even touched you. How pathetic."

In anger, Hidan quickly lashed out at Bakiri with his scythe. As he swung left and right, Bakiri was easily able to dodge every strike. Hidan then shot his scythe forward, but Bakiri quickly drew his sword and blocked the attack. As Hidan flew towards Bakiri by using the cable on his scythe, Bakiri quickly held his palm out.

Dark Release! Dākushunaidā!

Hidan tried his best to dodge them beam that shot out of Bakiri's palm by trying to move out of the way. Though it barely missed his head, the beam completely destroyed his left ear. Hidan fell to the ground in pain.

Ice Prison Technique!

A wall of ice quickly engulfed Hidan. Bakiri chuckled as he approached the wall.

"That was too easy. I would expect a bit more from an immortal."

Bakiri snapped his fingers, and the surrounding area was quickly vaporized.

I hope that Ino and Yuki are doing ok.

Ino and Yuki stood twenty feet away from Kakuzu. He had already released four of his five hearts, one of which was destroyed. Yuki and Ino looked at each other.

"You remember the plan, right?"
"Right."

"Hm. Whatever 'plan' you two ladies are coming up with, it'll prove to be useless." Gloated Kakuzu. He pointed at Ino. "I have to admit, you have grown stronger since your last battle."

Ino smirked. She slipped a violet pole from her sleeve to her hand, and charged at Kakuzu. She swung it towards his neck, and he ducked. He then swung his leg and tried to trip her. She sidestepped, and as hard as she could, gave a strong whack to Kakuzu's head. Kakuzu was able to harden his skin, so the attack did little damage.

Gotcha!

Suddenly, the top of the pole that Ino was holding snapped off, revealing a large claw attached to a wire. The claw grabbed Kakuzu's torso, and emitted an electric shock. Kakuzu screamed in pain, while Ino slipped behind him and opened the top of the other end of the pole, revealing a blade. She stabbed it into one of Kakuzu's hearts. She then nodded to Yuki, who began to charge at Kakuzu.

Trying to protect him, Kakuzu's wind heart flew towards Yuki, and began to charge an attack. Anticipating the attack from the start, she jumped to battle the creature.

Hitori!

Yuki's fingertips ignited, and she dug the deep into the wind heart's mask. The heart dropped to the ground and died.

Enraged, Kakuzu's fire and lightning hearts teamed up to attack Yuki. Ino quickly pulled her pole out of Kakuzu's heart and held both of her palms out towards the hearts.

Water Release! Osoroshii kyūryūI

Two balls of energy formed in Ino's palms. She fired them at the hearts. The two beams seemed to cross, then separate again. When the beams hit, both hearts were vaporized in the explosion. Ino walked over to Kakuzu, who was left half-dead on the ground.

"I-impossible... No one... could have... defeated me... so easily..."

Ino started at Kakuzu's body, motionless. After about a minute, she fake-grimaced.

"Guess you just weren't strong enough, little tart.

Ino stabbed her blade into Kakuzu's heart, ending his life in one, final blow.