DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. But how I wish I damn do.
"hello"- speech, common jutsus
"hello"- thoughts, other Japanese words (hope they're right though)
"hello"- Kyuubi talking, or some other kick ass jutsu
Thank you for all my reviews and 1 flame so far. Sorry for the very late update. I was really busy doing…stuff. This is Chapter 338 – 339 from the Manga, but with a slight twist. Anyways, here is chapter 4. Enjoy.
Mikomimaru – I don't know about the typo. The manga said Shunshin.
Flame Rising – Hehe. Good luck with your flaming streak.
Naruto: Chapter 4 – Immortals Attack
She was frustrated. That morning, when she went inside laboratory 2, the body nor the head of the Akatsuki member was no where to be seen. She quickly called Shizune and told her to have Izumo, Kotetsui, Shikamaru, Yamato and Asuma assemble at her office immediately.
The five shinobi arrived a few minutes later and formed a line a few feet from her desk. Her elbows rested on the desktop with right hand fisted and the left clasped the right, cracking a knuckle now and then. They couldn't see her mouth, only those beautiful brown, but very angry eyes.
"The immortal's body is gone." said Tsunade.
The four shinobi who had defeated Hidan, or thought they did, went wide eyed in shock. "H…how? His head was crushed to a pulp?!" stuttered Kotetsui.
"I don't know, but if he's alive, he must be found and…" she was going to say 'killed' but seeing as this seemed impossible she changed her words and said "..incapacitated."
"Yamato, go and replace Kakashi for now. We need his sharingan on this. Kotetsui, Izumo, go find Ibiki and help him interrogate that bounty hunter. Asuma, Shikamaru, call Ino and Chouji, they'll replace Kotetsui and Izumo. Also, Kakashi will join your team, making it a five man team. Now, Move out!!"
The four shinobi quickly disappeared to follow the Hokage's instructions.
Sakura was waiting outside the Hokage's office. She heard from Shizune about the Akatsuki member's missing body. She remembered seeing it yesterday when she was preparing Laboratory 2 for Team Asuma to bring the body. When they entered, her eyes froze in shock upon seeing the crushed head. She automatically went into her medical mode and scanned the entire body for other causes of death. "Cerebral hemorrhage is the likely suspect but I hope I get to do the autopsy with Tsunade-shishou tomorrow."
"Sakura!!"
It was Tsunade's calling her that brought her back to the present. She opened the door and quickly stepped before the Godaime.
"I need for you and Sai to stand ready. You, Sai, Yamato and Naruto will act as Team Asuma's back-up." Tsunade quickly rummaged at the files on her desk for Asuma's report of the battle with the Akatsuki members. "Here, read this. It contains some details of the fighting styles the 2 Akatuski members use."
Sakura received the report from Tsunade and thought "Akatsuki…why are they after Naruto?"
"Hai!!" said Sakura and exited the office to look for Sai.
Tsunade slumped down back on her chair, looked out the window and thought "Naruto, please complete the jutsu…"
Meanwhile, with Kakashi and Naruto
He was sweating profusely and turned his eyes to the sun, willing a cloud to cover the heat. He cursed at himself for letting distractions get in his mind and focused once more to the task at hand. He looked at his partner who was breathing heavily. Shoulders hunched in fatigue, clothes soaked with sweat and a dirty hand out-stretched, palm facing upwards and waiting for him.
He sighs, holds his hands over the palm and begins to manipulate his partner's chakra. A small blue orb begins to take shape, spinning, faster and faster. As his partner pours more chakra into the orb, it grows larger until it is relatively the size of a baseball. "The first step is done" he thinks, and begins to summon chakra into his own fingertips, but this time, he lets his chakra control the air…the wind…his affinity. He manipulates the chakra, as a baker would knead dough, mixing and turning. Shaping the wind chakra and willing it to enter into the blue sphere. But his body was tired, and his eye-lids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. Exhaustion overwhelms him, and he collapses to the floor and disappears in a puff of smoke, sharing the fate of many before him in this hot morning.
The training had begun at 6 in the morning, with Kakashi unusually strict than his past demeanor had shown. Naruto informed Kakashi that he wanted to concentrate on developing the new rasengan and work on the Shunshin no jutsu later to which Kakashi agreed, not knowing that Naruto had already learned this technique by himself with Kyuubi's help.
"Damn it!" exclaims the partner, and looks at a nearby clone. "Hey you. Can you please continue with me and let your partner rest a bit?" The other clone shrugged and was about to continue what the previous clone was doing when Kakashi called out.
"Naruto, are you okay?' asked Kakashi.
"Yeah, I'm okay." replied Naruto. "Kakashi-sensei, can you give me some more tips? Making this new technique is impossible!!"
Kakashi merely smiled. "You can do it Naruto. I believe in you."
Naruto smiled at this and said "Thank you, but still…how am I supposed to make this new technique? It's like asking me to look at the left and look at the right in the same time!!"
Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment, and then suddenly formed a hand seal. In a puff of smoke, 2 Kakashi clones appeared. One was looking to the left while the other was looking to the right. "I'm looking at 2 directions at the same time, Naruto...3 directions in fact" said the original Kakashi with a smile in his eyes. "Hehe, I know that wasn't much of a help, but don't forget, even the Yondaime wasn't able to figure this out, but you've learned so much already in a span of a couple of days!"
Kakashi looked at Naruto and suddenly rolled his visible eye.
Naruto wasn't even listening. He had a hand to his lips, thinking with a far-away look. Suddenly, he ran back to where the other clones were and dispelled the other clones, all except two. He whispered excitedly at them then held his right palm upwards. The two clones placed their hands above the palm and started summoning chakra.
Soon a sphere starts to grow and four small ethereal spikes begin to protrude. Spinning around the sphere in a fast and steady pace. His partners smile with glee as the fruits of their labor begin to take shape.
"I think that's all I can manage for now, Kakashi-sensei" smiled Naruto.
"So, my little joke was actually useful, huh? Hehe. You've finally mixed shape manipulation and nature manipulation together. Good work Naruto!" said Kakashi with a smile.
Kakashi walked over, stretched his arm out and formed a rasengan. "Now, slam your rasengan into mine."
"What?!" shouted Naruto. "Are you crazy?! And since when did you learn the rasengan?! "
Kakashi let out an exasperated sigh then quickly ran towards the blonde, with his rasengan outstretched, aiming for Naruto's chest. "I'm not called copy cat Kakashi for nothing, Naruto" replied the silver-haired jounin.
The blonde looked on in horror at the fast approaching jounin and quickly held out his own rasengan to meet that of his sensei's. The other two clones stopped at their jumping and patting at the back with joy to look at the situation with interest. The two rasengans finally met with a deafening sound. A dust cloud had covered the area where Kakashi and the clone would have collided. When it had cleared, they saw a visibly shaking Naruto, and behind him, a Kakashi still in the forward stance and an arm outstretched.
Then they saw the blood.
It was coming from Kakashi's hand.
The shaking blonde quickly turned around and started shouting "Have you gone out of your mind?! Charging at me like that and….oh…" Naruto stopped his ranting upon seeing Kakashi's wounded hand. Kakashi let out another sigh and said "It is certainly stronger, but still far from being finished. Please continue."
The blonde merely nodded, not knowing what to say and summoned another hundred clones to resume his training. Kakashi reached into his pouch to get some bandages for the painful wound….no…wounds on his hand. It was as if a hundred razors had feasted on his right hand.
He finished bandaging the wound and was about to sit down and read Icha-Icha tactics when he felt a presence approaching.
"Yamato" he thought.
Yamato jumped down from the forest to the clearing where the hundreds of clones were training. He waved at Kakashi and said "Hello Kakashi-sempai. How's it going?"
"Slow…but still progressing. Any news from Konoha?"
"Yes. Hokage-sama wishes to speak with you" replied Yamato while handing Kakashi a scroll from Tsunade.
Kakashi unhooked the clasp and read the contents of the scroll. He was to return to Konoha immediately and Yamato would replace him in training Naruto.
The original Naruto came running towards the pair and smiled at Yamato. "Captain Yamato! It's good to see you're back!"
"It's good to see you too Naruto. Listen, Kakashi has to go back to Konoha to meet with Hokage-sama. So I'll take over your training for now."
"Naruto, do your best." said Kakashi. Naruto nodded in reply. Kakashi waved a last farewell at the two shinobi and headed back for Konoha.
"Hey, Yamato-sensei, did you bring anything with you to eat?" asked an eager Naruto.
"Ummmm, no, but I'll go inside the house and prepare some. What would you like?" asked Yamato
"Ramen!!" shouted Naruto and the hundred other clones.
Yamato sweat-dropped at this and walked into the house while mumbling "Sheesh! You and your antics…"
When Naruto saw that Yamato was already busy in the house, he quickly body flickered over to the other side of the lake and summoned another hundred clones. "Okay guys..." said the original Naruto "were gonna work on the two new jutsus Kyuubi taught us yesterday. One is Renku dan, and the other is…..I don't know what it's called but here is how it's supposed to work…."
Back at Konoha
It had taken Kakashi a few hours to get back to Konoha from the training area. Upon seeing the outer walls of the Hidden Leaf, he jumped down towards the main entrance and quickly made his way to Hokage Tower.
Just about when Kakashi was meeting with Tsunade, Ino had done the mind-switching technique with a hawk to search the area for any Akatsuki members. In the hawk's body, she flew further north, having already scanned the western area thoroughly. "If what Asuma and Shikamaru assume is true, then this Hidan guy will have had only a couple of hours head start from us, so he shouldn't have left fire country yet" thought Ino, shifting now to the North east. She saw two figures slowly making their way towards Wave Country. The two figures were wearing a long black robe with red clouds on them. "Gotcha!!" and quickly released the jutsu. She was disoriented at first and slowly opened her eyes to see Shikamaru and Chouji squatting by her side, while Asuma smoked a cigarette a few feet away.
"I've found them. They're about a days travel away in the North East area heading for Wave Country." said Ino.
Shikamaru looked at Asuma, waiting for orders. Asuma crushed his cigarette and said "I'll go find Kakashi, and we'll move out."
"I'm here" said Kakashi. Asuma nodded to the copy ninja in greeting then said "Did you meet with Hokage-sama already?"
"Yeah. She filled me in on the situation. Do we know where they are?"
"Yes. They're a day's travel away from us, but we could easily catch up before they leave the borders of Fire Country."
"Okay. Asuma, I'll leave leadership to you. What do you want me to do?"
Asuma looked at Shikamaru and asked "Formulate a plan yet?"
"Yeah. I'll brief you all in along the way of what I had in mind." replied Shikamaru.
"Good. Then let's go."
Back at Yondaime's house
Naruto and Yamato were having miso ramen for lunch. "Good thing I made a lot! Where does Naruto put it all?" thought Yamato. Naruto had already consumed 3 bowls of ramen and didn't show signs of stopping anytime soon.
Unbeknownst to Yamato, Naruto still had a hundred clones training at the other side of the lake. Naruto had progressed further with the new jutsu, thanks to Kakashi's unique training method. The new jutsu was probably almost fifty percent complete, but he still had trouble maintaining it. After Naruto had eaten all that Yamato had cooked, he helped with the dishes and both shinobi went to the secret room in the house to explore some more and rest up a bit before continuing with the afternoon's training.
Yamato was amazed to find such a fountain of knowledge in the hidden room and thanked Naruto for showing it to him. Naruto already trusted the former ANBU captain, but didn't show him the Summoning contract for the monkeys, nor the Flying Thunder God scroll. He kept his promise to his father. He'd also hidden the jutsu-shiki(trigger markers) so no one else could see them. Yamato was discussing with Naruto about a wind-natured technique called Atsugai when they heard someone outside the house calling out their names.
Quickly closing the secret room with the bookcase, Yamato and Naruto looked out the window and saw Sakura and Sai randomly walking around and shouting their names.
"Hey Saku…." Naruto was about to call out to Sakura when Yamato quickly put his hand on Naruto's mouth.
"No Naruto. She can't see the house because of Yondaime's powerful genjutsu. We must keep Yondaime's house a secret."
"But…but, that's Sakura-chan!!" whined Naruto.
Yamato shrugged and said "Yondaime's orders. I wasn't even supposed to know about this place, but I'm one of your guardians so I was told where it was."
"Cool….a guardian. Hey sensei, does that mean I get to order you around?"
Yamato smirked at Naruto and lightly hit the back of his head and said "Hell no. C'mon, let's exit at the back so they'll think we were just behind the 'big rock'."
Naruto quickly followed Yamato and once they were outside, called out to Sakura.
"Hey Sakura-chan! Sai! How are you guys?"
Sakura waved and smiled at Naruto. Sai also smiled…but still in a way that makes you wonder if he was faking it or not.
"Jeez, that guy still creeps me out a little" thought Naruto.
"Hello Sai. Hi Sakura. What brings you two out here?" asked Yamato.
"Tsunade-shishou wanted Team 7 to back up Team Asuma against any Akatsuki members they encounter" replied Sakura.
"Okay. Do you know Team Asuma's current location?"
"Yep." Replied Sakura while taking out a map from her pouch. "Kakashi-sensei gave it to me before they moved out."
"I love the way she said 'Yep'. So cute" thought Naruto.
Sakura placed the map on the floor and crouched down. The three other males followed suit. "Kakashi-sensei said the Akatsuki members are headed for Wave country. Last known position was here" while she pointed to a spot on the map. "Kakashi-sensei said they'd leave signs for us from this last known position so we can catch up."
"Good. Naruto, do you have everything you need?" asked Yamato.
Naruto nodded in reply.
"Team Kakashi, let's move out!" stated Yamato.
Team 7 was jumping from tree branch to tree branch with Yamato in the lead, followed by Naruto. Behind the jinchuuriki was Sakura, and last to follow was Sai.
They'd developed this formation after the Orochimaru/Sasuke incident. Yamato was a good close-mid range fighter. Naruto was a close-range fighter, backup to Yamato and secondary defense of the only medical ninja in the team. Next was Sakura, also a good close-range fighter and medic nin for the group.
She would partner up with Sai, the long-range fighter if ever the team had more than one opponent. And Sai in the rear to protect the pink-haired kunoichi from behind.
Tsunade was slowly implementing back the one medical nin per team standard to lessen casualty rates. Many shinobi deaths were cause by delayed medical attention which she didn't want happening during and after her term as Hokage.
Naruto looked behind him to Sakura. Sapphire eyes met emerald ones. Naruto quickly looked in front of him again and blushed. Sakura smiled at this. Naruto, still ever the shy one. "Of course, if he says anything wrong I'll beat him to a pulp" thought Sakura.
"S…so, Sakura-chan. How are things with Granny Tsunade?" asked Naruto.
Sakura giggled at hearing the mighty Godiame being called a granny and replied "Well, she's really kept me busy the past few days. Many medic nin were assigned to the other teams searching for Akatsuki, so the hospital was a bit short staffed, but patient count isn't high right now. She had me do a lot of paper work too."
"Hehe…knock knock"
"Who's there?"
"Hee hee, scissors"
Sakura rolled her eyes, already knowing a corny joke was coming. "Scissors who?"
"Scissors cut up all your paper work….will you go out on a date with me after the mission?"
"Baka! That doesn't make sense! If you cut up my paperwork, then I'd beat you up and have to redo that work all over again!"
Naruto frowned in concentration, thinking about Sakura's argument.
"Naruto," called Sai from the rear "I've got this book on how to tell jokes. I could lend it to you if you want."
"Oh, shut up!" replied Naruto.
Yamato had a difficult time suppressing his laughter but managed to do so.
An hour or so later, he stopped and held up a fist, signaling to the others that they were coming to a stop. The other three landed on the same tree branch as Yamato and remained quiet.
From a distance, they could see Kakashi, Ino and Chouji. They were battling a guy whose body looked like that of a rag doll with seams connecting the body parts. It was already discussed and agreed before to never jump right into a battle. Always taking a moment to study your surroundings and knowing the situation.
Even Naruto was silent, eyes steady and focused on the enemy, studying the enemy's fighting style. Sakura was looking at Kakashi, Ino and Chouji, already assessing who needed medical aid the most while doing a quick diagnosis on each one.
Sai was looking at the terrain, looking for possible hiding areas to command his army of sketched warriors from a safe but close distance. He was also looking for other hiding enemy shinobi that could act as backup to the one visible enemy.
Yamato had trained the team well during his time with them.
Kakuzu had closed in on Kakashi, Ino and Chouji, taking advantage of their fatigue to wrap those black tentacles of his and making ready to finish them off.
Yamato immediately looked at Naruto and said "Time to do that combo."
Naruto only nodded in reply, already knowing what to do.
Yamato addressed Sai and Sakura "act as backup."
Sakura and Sai nodded. Yamato started to collect chakra onto his left hand, while Naruto quickly called a Kage bunshin to form the new rasengan on his right hand. Once the jutsus were ready, Yamato gave the go signal and he and Naruto attacked.
Kakashi knew the opponent was too quick and experienced. He didn't have any chakra left to even do a kawarimi. He looked on as the two masked creatures attached to his body prepared a fire element and wind element based attack to finish the three of them off.
"We're trapped" thought Ino.
"Shit!!" muttered Chouji.
"DIE!!" shouted Kakuzu.
"Suiton: Hahoryuu!"
"Fuuton: Rasengan!"
"KUFUU SUIKA NO JUTSU!!"(Drowning Maelstrom Technique!!)
A large explosion could be heard and nothing could be seen because of the large dust cloud the jutsu had caused.
"What happened? Am I dead and now approaching the after life?" thought Kakashi.
When the dust had cleared, Kakuzu was pushed back by a few meters and 4 new shadows appeared before him.
Ino spotted Sakura, Sai, Naruto and a jounin before her. "Reinforcements!!"
"We're saved!!" exclaimed Chouji.
Kakashi let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the familiar faces. "Nice timing."
Naruto stared at Kakuzu. The black tentacles oozing out of his back, arms and mouth like it had a life of its own. Naruto looked at Chouji and asked "Where's Shikamaru and Asuma?"
"They're off fighting this guy's partner." replied Chouji.
"Two of you back him up. A medical ninja and long-range type would be the best" stated Kakashi while quickly doing some summoning hand seals. He touched his hand to the ground and moments later, Pakkun, the best scent-tracking dog albeit small of Kakashi's summon appeared.
"Please follow me" said Pakkun
"Sai, Sakura, follow Pakkun and back Asuma and Shikamaru up!" ordered Yamato.
"Yosh!" replied Sakura and Sai.
Before departing, Sakura looks at Naruto and said "I'm counting on you for this end…please be careful." And with that, she and Sai followed Pakkun.
"I've never seen you look so uncool." observed Yamato of Kakashi, "He must be a strong opponent."
"Hehe, another comedian. Doesn't matter. You are just another set of hearts for me to rip out!" declared Kakuzu.
"Sempai, please fill me in on the situation and his abilities" said Yamato.
"We're up against 2 members of Akatsuki. Shikamaru and Asuma are off fighting the other one. The other is right in front of you. His main ability is splitting off parts of his body. The masked creatures on his back are normally connected but can be detached at his command. He started this battle with five hearts…we've managed to take out 2 so far" stated Kakashi.
"Excuse me?" pardoned Yamato.
"Basically, we've killed him twice already and we have to kill him 3 more times to finish the job. He's a mid-range fighter and can use high-level jutsus of every element. He takes out the hearts of enemy shinobi and uses them as his own" replied Kakashi.
"No wonder Kakashi had a hard time dealing with him…" thought Yamato, and then he called out "Naruto!"
"I heard him!!" said Naruto. The blonde quickly formed a hand seal and summoned 2 Kage bunshins which immediately ran towards Kakuzu.
"Naruto! Wait!" shouted Chouji.
"You can't take him head on!" insisted Ino.
The 2 clones ignored his friend's statements and reached in their pouches for kunai. One clone jumped clear over Kakuzu while the other aimed for a stab to the heart. Before the kunai made contact, tentacles reach out and choked the clone in the front. As the first clone disappeared, Kakuzu leapt in the air in a summersault and had tentacles from his mouth dispose of the other clone.
"Are shadow clones all you have?! It'll take more than that to kill me!" shouted Kakuzu in a defiant voice.
Meanwhile, Naruto had his hand to his lips in that familiar thinking mode as the knowledge accumulated from the 2 clones came to him.
"He used the clones to acquire battle data on his opponent. It was like a simulation for him." thought Kakashi. "Naruto, you've really improved in making use of your bunshins."
Naruto redid the hand seal and now summoned 3 more clones. The 2 clones began forming the new jutsu on the original's palm while the third clone looked at Kakuzu, watching him for any sort of attack.
"What is this chakra?…so powerful" thought Chouji.
"What is that?…and that noise?!" thought Ino.
Yamato merely smiled as Kakashi looked on with a shocked face.
Finally, the new rasengan was formed. It was a much larger version of what he was practicing before with.
"Did…did he complete it?" asked Kakashi.
"No. It is only fifty percent done." answered Yamato.
"What…what is that jutsu?...I can't be hit with that thing!" thought Kakuzu nervously. When he looked at Naruto's eyes, he cringed in fear. The once blue eyes were now colored in blood red, with a black slit in the middle. "So…this is the jinchuuriki that Deidara was talking about…Naruto"
Kakuzu immediately began charging up his chakra. Because of this, his tentacles now grew in length, giving him more height and a much longer range of attack.
"This is it!" shouted a Naruto clone, and the 3 kage bunshins ran forward for the attack. 2 clones went to attack Kakuzu's rear left and rear right side while the remaining clone, Yoshimoto blade unsheathed, jumped to attack from above.
"I'll back him up!" declared Chouji. But a restraining hand stopped him from going any further.
"No, don't get involved. You might get caught up in it." stated Yamato.
Kakuzu took out the clone from above first with the tentacles from his hand crushing the neck, then he had the 2 masks on his left and right shoulder blast the other 2 clones. While he was distracted, the original Naruto was now very near. He was only 2 feet away when the tentacles from Kakuzu's mouth shot out to grab him. "Give me your heart!!" shouted a triumphant Kakuzu.
"The number 1 surprising ninja does it again! Yamato!!" called out Kakashi while preparing to do some hand seals for his Raikiri.
Yamato understood immediately. He stretched out his left hand to shoot out large, sharp-edged, beams of wood to distract Kakuzu while Kakashi goes in to save Naruto.
Naruto in the meantime actually smiled at Kakuzu. The Akatsuki member frowned as to why this was but started making his tentacles reach in for Naruto's beating heart when suddenly, Naruto vanished from his grip… "Where did he go?!"
Kakashi stopped finishing the hand seal procedure only to look at the battle wide eyed. "When did he learn Shunshin no jutsu?!"
Yamato was in the same train of thought.
"FUUTON: RASEN SHURIKEN!!" (Wind element: Spiral Shuriken)
Naruto had flickered behind Kakuzu and hit him point blank.
The ethereal blades sliced into the back of Kakuzu with such ferocity that it blasted him forwards like a bullet, making Kakashi, Yamato, Chouji and Ino dive out of the way for cover. When the blades had hit him innumerable times, 'dulling' them, the rasengan axis was still there to do some more damage. The spinning compressed chakra digging and eating away into Kakuzu's body finally exploded in a huge sphere that left a huge crate half a mile wide. Because of the sheer intensity of it, Kakuzu was catapulted air borne and now he began to fall.
"I…finally…did it" said Naruto after which he fell to the ground unconscious with fatigue ever since training for the past 2 days.
Needless to say, Kakuzu is now dead.
Meanwhile, with Sai and Sakura
"Here we are" said Pakkun.
"You guys are the backup?" asked Shikamaru. "You're a few minutes late."
"We are? We came here all for nothing…" replied Sakura.
"Asuma-sensei needs medical attention. Hidan seriously wounded his leg, he can barely stand."
"Lead the way." said Sakura.
Asuma was unconscious and lying beside a huge rock pile. The cut on his leg was quite critical since Hidan had managed to cut an artery. Shikamaru was able to apply first aid, but wasn't successful in stopping the bleed. Luckily, Sakura was there. Her hands glowed green as she used chakra healing to clean and close the wound.
"So, where is 'he'?" asked Sai.
"In there." replied Shikamaru pointing on the rubble. "It's hard to believe, but he really can't be killed. So Asuma-sensei and I cut him to pieces and buried him in there."
"Is there any chance of him escaping?"
"No. The thing about this forest is that my family is in charge of it. We're the only ones allowed here. No one else ever comes, and my clan will keep him trapped here forever." said Shikamaru.
During the battle, Asuma dropped his pack of cigarettes. Shikamaru picked it up, took out a stick and lit up. He breathes in the smoke and lets out a heavy sigh… "It's good to be alive…"
Back at Kakashi, Yamato and the rest
During the final moments of the Rasen shuriken, when everyone else was distracted; A figure, half white, half black, emerged from the ground near where Naruto lay. He grabs the boy's body, makes a final look at the thrashing body of Kakuzu and slides back down into the earth, with the boy in tow.
There wasn't a trace that Zetsu was even there.
Whew! That's finally done. Anyway, I've been reading about 'beta-readers' and am curious as to what their role is. Can someone enlighten me?
Next chapter's title: Akatsuki's Lair
