WOO. Another update. I'm on a roll~

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! MASASHI KISHIMOTO DOES! I also do not own any of the OCs introduced within this fic, except the following:

Tsukuyomi Clan

Nero

Roku

Ikiteiru Kage

Mushishokan Gatsuki

Uzumaki Kaede

Kaiga (I totally didn't mention him in the disclaimer in the last chapter! OOPS! :'D)

A/N: THIRD POV.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter Thirty-Three: Discovery! Fear of Death!

Koyuki was still frozen, staring back at the man who watched her before he tilted his head back to the Akatsuki. Koyuki gritted her teeth, preparing to have her position given away, however, instead of yelling that, the man yelled:

"Can I join Akatsuki now?" Koyuki blinked and jerked her head up, surprised. The man laughed following the question.

"No, now buzz off, Tobi!" Hidan barked.

"Cut him some slack," Kisame retorted, "He's one of the only happy people in this whole organization."

"You're only saying that because you know how it feels to be picked on, stupid." Deidara snorted.

"Shut up!" Kisame snapped, annoyed. Itachi just sighed, closing his eyes and turning his head the other way to avoid the arguments.

"And you guys call this a criminal organization." Sasori muttered.

"I never wanted to join in the first place, hmm!" Deidara yelled angrily, glancing at Itachi, who once again avoided the conversation.

"Quit arguing," The kunoichi scolded quietly and calmly, "Save all your energy for the jutsu. You can bicker afterwards."

"What Konan said." Kakuzu agreed.

"Tch!" Hidan spat over the side of the statue before putting his hands in a hand sign. Koyuki looked at her group again and nodded. They had to get out of there and fast. Although, rescuing the fallen Jinchuuriki was probably in all their heads, there was just no way they could all hold off the powerful S-ranked criminals by themselves. They were going to need at least an army to go up against them.

Kaiga's sneeze seemed to have faded by now as he rubbed his nose red before nodding to the kunoichi. They were about to slink away from their hiding spot in hopes of darting out quickly, but they froze as an odd schluck sound. They all jerked their heads up to see someone slowly morphing out of the wall just over their heads and stepping out onto a stalagmite. The man was dressed in an Akatsuki cloak, his skin half black and half white and his eyes piercing yellow with what looked like a Venus fly trap encasing his upper torso.

"Pein, please tell me you noticed." The white side of the man called to the leader of the organization.

"If you have not, I am pretty surprised." The black half muttered. Pein averted his eyes flatly, putting his hand in a hand sign.

"I have, Zetsu. The kunoichi hiding the back of the cavern, I suggest you step out." He stated. Koyuki's eyes widened. Ayaka and Honoka flinched while Mai and Kishi looked at Kaiga, who winced. Should we come out like he says? I mean, they've noticed is… That ninja, Zetsu, is obviously good at sensing chakra… He must have been hiding here the entire time. Koyuki thought, then rose to her feet to reveal herself. She nodded to her teammates, who also got to their feet, Ayaka jerking Kaiga up by the collar of his yukata.

As soon as they did, a wall of rock shot up in front of the opening of the cavern, sealing off the entrance.

"Uchiha Koyuki, Kamaya Mai, Saki Kishi, Tachibana Ayaka and Honoka, and Kaiga of the Mountains. An interesting group." Pein stated, his eyes sweeping over them. Koyuki glared at him.

"I'm surprised you didn't kill us when you had the chance." She stated. Pein's eyes locked on her for a moment.

"I don't have a reason, at the moment. Your intruding merely caused a bit of a problem, but there's nothing you can do once we start the jutsu." He explained.

"We're not staying here," Koyuki snapped, thrusting her hand out to the side, "And we're reporting this back to our village."

"I don't think so." Pein stated and glanced upwards slightly toward Tobi, who giggled behind his mask wildly. Pein looked back down, frowning. Koyuki immediately whipped out hand signs. Catching up, Kisame did the same, using a huge wave of water to douse out the huge wall of fire that Koyuki sent outwards. Koyuki winced and immediately looked at Ayaka past the smoke and rubble.

"Quit, use a wind jutsu to tear down the barrier in the entrance. If you can't do that, MAKE an exit." She ordered. Ayaka nodded and whipped around, making hand signs as she sent a blast of rock at the wall in the opening. It crackled, but barely broke.

"Plan B." Mai ordered. Ayaka nodded and made a few hand signs, slamming her palm down on the ground and sending a huge crack shooting across the floor and slamming into the wall before it shot upwards. The cavern shook and the wall exploded in a burst of dust and rock.

"Go!" Koyuki ordered and grabbed Kaiga, who yelped.

"Whoa! Why are ya dragging me wif ya?" He cried.

"Because you're not staying behind with these guys! No matter how much you wanna die!" Koyuki barked at him and shot out of the cavern, taking a flailing Kaiga with her, the rest of her team shooting out front of her. Behind them, the cavern was exploding, crashing apart.

"Looks like we're on the run again." Mai muttered as they bolted across the swamp.

"Unfortunately." Honoka sighed miserably. Koyuki frowned, leading them racing toward the way they came into the valley.

"It's probably a long shot, but Honoka, set a Genjutsu behind us. Hopefully it'll slow whoever they send after us down a bit." She commanded.

"Gladly!" Honoka beamed and skidded to a stop, turning around while the others ran up ahead. She made a few hand signs, concentrating her chakra before she whipped her around in a circle. She flicked her finger in the center before taking off again. Behind her, the air seemed to ripple and become a huge wall of rocks.

"Nice job." Ayaka commented as her twin rejoined them.

"That should hold them for just a bit. It's best we keep running and find a village to go into. Maybe we can hide in the crowds." Honoka advised.

"Sounds like a plan. Iwagakure isn't far from here and hopefully we can get in and hide out there. Akatsuki wouldn't dare go near a hidden village like that, causing such havoc." Mai explained.

"Let's do it." Kishi agreed. With that, they shot forward, Kaiga bringing up their rear.

"Can we PLEASE take a nap once we get there? I'm over a hundred years old! This is NOT how I want to spend the rest of my old life!"

"Will you shut up?" Ayaka yelled and rolled her eyes, pushing off the water's surface as she kept her pace with the team.

"I can't wait till yer old and wrinkly so ya have to try and keep up wif the younger generation!" Kaiga retorted, but he easily caught up, moving along side Honoka and behind Kishi.

"Is there any sign of them?" Koyuki demanded, not daring to glance over her shoulder. Ayaka did, however, and her eyes widened.

"HOLYSHIT." She swore. All at once, the team skidded to a stop and whipped around. The Genjutsu behind them crashed to pieces like a bunch of pieces of glass, making their eyes widen as Hidan burst past it, laughing at the top of his lungs.

"YOU'RE TOTALLY FUCKED!" He yelled and swung downwards, landing on the swamp's surface, swinging his three-pronged scythe down. Following after him was his partner, Kakuzu, looking less intrigued.

"Che, so they sent big mouth and smartass." Ayaka muttered, clenching her fists. Honoka frowned.

"They're strong, I'll give them that, though. That Genjutsu was really strong." She murmured.

"Just what we need." Mai seethed past clenched teeth. Hidan smirked at them, gripping his scythe tightly.

"Let's see you run from Jashin again, you little bitches!" He laughed, pointing a finger at them. Kakuzu smacked his finger down, glancing at the girls with glowing, emerald eyes.

"Don't waste your jutsu on that, Hidan." He stated. Hidan twitched and scowled at him, waving a fist comically.

"Shut your fat fuck mouth, shithead! I'll take care of them all myself! Just sit back and watch, old man!" He yelled. Kakuzu rolled his eyes and stepped side, gesturing toward the kunoichi.

"Go right on ahead, then, but just so you know, I won't help you until you beg."

"FUCK YOU!" Hidan shrieked at him, then whipped around, smirking at the kunoichi.

"Who wants to be the lucky lady first?" He demanded. Koyuki gritted her teeth, glancing at her teammates.

"We don't have time to drag this out…" She started, but Kaiga stepped in front of them, waving out his hand, removing it from his yukata.

"Go on," He ordered, "Find Iwagakure and hide. I'll handle this tough guy." Koyuki blinked.

"But, Kaiga-"

"Maybe I'll get lucky and die. If I do, I want ya ta do what ya can to stop the next ninja war. There's no way this world can handle anymore damage. I've seen 'nough problems. Now on, girlies!" Kaiga ordered. Koyuki flinched. Kaiga turned to Hidan, who huffed impatiently.

"Come on, kid," Kaiga yelled, grinning to show off his missing tooth, "Let's see what ya got!" Hidan's eye twitched in annoyance.

"Fucking old man. You're dead!" He darted at him, swinging his scythe around, but Kaiga swung his arm up, making a hand sign and causing a stalagmite to shoot from the bottom of the swamp upwards and hitting Hidan in the face, knocking him back. Hidan was knocked, skidding across the swamp's surface, spitting curses.

Koyuki finally whipped around and shot off. Kakuzu watched them go with a frown behind his hood, glancing at Hidan before shooting after them. Hidan scrambled back to his feet, glaring daggers at Kaiga, who was laughing his ass off.

"Y-You're hilarious!" Kaiga roared.

"Suck my dick, fucker!" Hidan yelled angrily.

"That's quite a mouth ya got on ya. Let's compare it to my ol' friend." Kaiga grinned and pointed down, waving his other hand as if to say bye-bye. Hidan blinked, giving his head a little tilt before his eyes flashed, widening and looking downwards. Rising up from the deepest parts of the swamp was a large gray fish with yellow eyes, its jaws stretching wide to reveal rows of sharp teeth.

"FUCK!" Hidan yelled as the fish jumped from the swamp, catching him up into his mouth. The fish sailed upwards. Kaiga smirked, but it vanished as he watched the scene from below. Hidan had gone inside the fish, that was for sure, but he was coming out.

Through its belly.

The three-pronged scythe sliced from the inside of the fish, ripping it open and spilling thick chunks of raw, red meat all over the place. The fish only managed to a slight, screechy roar before it tumbled back into the swamp. Hidan leapt from its stomach before it fell, landing on the swamp's surface in a crouch.

"Ugh, gross! Disgusting! What the hell kind of fucking fish was that?" He yelled, standing up and shaking blood and guts from him. Kaiga frowned.

"You're a tough one…" He muttered, and made a quick hand sign, causing more stalagmites to jut from the swamp. Hidan was torn upwards, but managed to catch himself on his feet after being hit with one, jumping across them and leaping off the highest one to swing his scythe down. Kaiga leapt back, wincing as the tip of the blade sliced his chest, making him gasp in pain.

"YES! WIN! EPIC FUCKING WIN!" Hidan shouted in his face before Kaiga kicked him backwards, skidding on his feet. Hidan smirked anyway and did a back flip, landing on one of the jutting stalagmites. He brought his blade to his mouth and swiped his tongue across the bloodied prong, snickering before an odd symbol was drawn at his feet. Kaiga's eyes narrowed at the sight of the symbol, watching as Hidan's body seemed to take on a different appearance, black and white.

"Let's have some fun, old man!" Hidan laughed and took the cord connected to his scythe, jerking on it and swinging his scythe forward. Kaiga winced and swung backwards, avoiding it just barely and making a hand sign. Vines swirled from a tree nearby and shot right at Hidan, who smirked and didn't move. The vines caught Hidan around the throat and squeezed, releasing a little gasp from Hidan.

Kaiga smirked, but stopped when he suddenly felt as if someone was strangling him. He gasped and dropped the hand sign to grab his throat. As soon as he did, the vines released Hidan's throat and hit the ground. Hidan then jerked on the cable of his scythe, hard. The scythe tore back up from its fallen position, the blades slicing through Kaiga's left side.

Kaiga yelled in pain, watching in horror as his left arm flew off in a firework display of blood, his eyes swinging upwards at Hidan, just in time to watch Hidan's left arm also pop off. Hidan winced a little, but he grinned past it.

"Ahh~ Now that was awesome! Let's go, old man! One arm left! Move faster!" He shouted, laughing. Kaiga panted a little and jumped up, letting a kunai drop from a hidden holster on his right wrist and into his palm. He swung it around, slicing Hidan across the face. Hidan squeezed his eyes shut, his head snapped the other way as blood gushed past the gash.

Kaiga yelped as a stinging pain shot across his own face, making him back flip and hit the swamp below. Kaiga panted harshly, forcing himself to scoot back along a tree root. Hidan smirked down at him, licking the blood off his face.

"Che, maybe Kakuzu was right. I'm wasting my time with this jutsu on you! You'll be dead in one hit." He stated and held the handle of his scythe, bringing the blade close to his chest as if ready to stab himself before Kaiga started laughing. Hidan glared at him.

"Just what the FUCK are you laughing at, asshole?" He barked. Kaiga chuckled quietly now, looking up at him.

"You like pain huh?"

"Fuck yea! What about it?" Hidan snarled. Kaiga held his hand in a hand sign, breathing hard now. One last jutsu to try… And then I can take this fucker with me… He thought, wincing a little.

"What about emotionally pain, hm? Everyone's scared of something." He replied. Hidan blinked, his face screwing up in confusion.

"What the fuck…? What the hell are you-" His expression grew somewhat surprised before becoming slightly dazed. In a split second, Kaiga fell backwards on the tree root, finished. Hidan fell off the stalagmite and hit the swamp, sinking under slightly, his head still above. All was silent for a while, the battle finished.

So it seemed.

After a while, Hidan forced his eyes open, his vision blurry at first before focusing. He blinked and sat upright quickly.

"What the fuck?" He yelled, but went silent as he saw Kaiga lying slumped to the ground and he grinned triumphantly, shooting to his feet.

"HA! Take that you piece of shit old man! I fucking kicked your ass!" Hidan shouted, waving a finger at him. He smirked cockily.

"Faster than I thought." A voice muttered. Hidan blinked and whipped around to find Kakuzu sitting on a stalagmite, his legs dangling and his cloak and hood missing. He grinned up at him.

"See? I did, all by myself, you fat fuck!"

"Hidan, I'm- Never mind…""What about those kunoichi? Did you kill them?" Hidan demanded. Kakuzu averted his eyes.

"Took care of 'em. They're all dead." He replied. Hidan huffed a little.

"Good. Now we can go back to that shop, the one with the ribs. I'm fucking starving." He announced, but noticed Kakuzu wasn't moving. He frowned and looked up.

"Well, what the fuck are you waiting for?" He demanded. Kakuzu looked down at him with tired eyes.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to." He stated. Hidan blinked and glared at him.

"What the fuck? You promised! You said after we come back from this fucking mission, you'd get me ribs, you fucking liar!" He shouted, his index finger thrust at his partner. Kakuzu stared at him flatly.

"I'm dying." He deadpanned. Hidan blinked, taking a little step back to look at him in shock.

"Wh-What? Oh, fuck off! You're lying! You said you couldn't die!" He accused. Kakuzu frowned and reached down, pulling up his bloodied shirt to reveal a gaping whole in his gut, chunk of flesh and blood hitting the swamp below.

"I'm all out of hearts, Hidan. I'm dying. But that's probably good for you, isn't it? You can get a partner your age." He muttered. Hidan blinked rapidly as if not understanding.

"Wh- No! Fuck no! You're my partner! You're not dying!"

"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not."

"You're fucking lying!" Hidan cried, looking paler than usual now. Kakuzu smirked faintly.

"What? You're not going to cry are you? What kind of criminal does that?" He demanded and slid from his perch, stumbling a little. Hidan stepped away from him as if he had a disease. He dropped his scythe in the swamp to put a hand on the side of his head, ruining his slicked back hair.

"This isn't happening… You were fine when…! They were just a bunch of stupid little girls!" Hidan protested, dropping his hand to clench his fists. Kakuzu frowned.

"Guess not…"

"Y-You can't die! You have five hearts!"

"That they wiped out before I could kill them."

"Wh-Who's going to sew my body parts back on when they get knocked off? Who's going to buy me ribs? WHO'S GONNA START ARGUMENTS WITH ME? I CAN'T FUCKING ARGUE WITH MYSELF!" Hidan screamed, stomping his foot in the swamp.

"Che, you act like you're gonna miss me… I fucking hate you and you hate me, so shut your big mouth, brat." Kakuzu retorted, then winced and collapsed to his knees. Hidan squirmed uncomfortably, watching from his spot several feet away.

"Don't do that! Get up!"

"Shut up, Hidan…! Goddamn, you've seen enough death to know. Go back and tell Pein and take my ring too… Unfortunately, the cloak was ruined, so he can't have that back…" Kakuzu muttered, fumbling to pull his ring off his bloodied finger. Hidan stared at him, still unbelieving of the sight before him.

"N-No way! No! That's your ring, assfucker! Put it back on!" He yelled. Kakuzu rolled his eyes, then coughed, hunching over and blood pouring out of his mouth. Hidan flinched.

"Kakuzu! Stop that! Get up! Don't fucking…!" He couldn't even finish. In that moment, Kakuzu hit the swamp's surface, his body giving out on him.

He died.

Hidan tensed up.

"Kakuzu! Kakuzu! Wake the fuck up! Kakuzu!" He yelled, panicking as he whipped around. The swamp seemed to fade away as well as the structures all around it, everything going white, except for Kakuzu and his ring, which rolled across the white ground to Hidan's feet. Hidan's eyes widened.

"No way… No fucking way…" He managed, stumbling away from it and falling backwards on his ass, gasping. The air felt like it was growing thinner and thinner, making him gasp. An unbearable icy chill enveloped him, even through his cloak.

Dead. Dead! Kakuzu's dead…? But…! He said he couldn't die! He lied! Liar! Kakuzu died!

Everything went white at that moment. The illusion suffocated him. In reality, Hidan had hit the swamp as well as a stalagmite sticking out of the water, his expression still dazed.

"And that's… Emotional pain…" Kaiga mumbled against the tree root, blood dribbling from his mouth and along the root, hitting the water and spreading out in a red pool. His eyes grew dark and colorless, his body limp.

Only moments later did Kakuzu land on a stalagmite, fully in tact with a frown under his mask. He'd lost the kunoichi, watching them bolt behind the gates of Iwagakure within moments. He looked around, seeing Kaiga's body before looking around. Hidan was nowhere- Wait, there he was.

Hidan was flopped on a stalagmite, murmuring gibberish. Kakuzu rolled his eyes and hopped from the stalagmite.

"Stupid, cocky kid…" He muttered and bent down, heaving Hidan over his shoulder and picking up the Jashinist's scythe before shooting off to report the failure to Zetsu, rather than the true leader of Akatsuki.

"Promised me ribs…" Hidan mumbled, still under the Genjutsu. Kakuzu scuffed, but he felt a very faint bit of pity for the brat. Whatever Genjutsu it was, it had Hidan pretty upset because he caught a few murmured curses.

In Iwagakure, Koyuki collapsed on a hotel lobby couch, panting for air. Mai and Kishi took a seat beside her, Honoka sitting on the arm and Ayaka flopping out on the floor.

"Holy shit, that guy was fast." Ayaka managed.

"Unbelievably… I can see why he's part of Akatsuki." Mai managed past deep breathes of air.

"I'm just glad they let us in." Kishi mumbled before taking a deep breath. The others nodded in agreement. After catching her breath, Koyuki rose to her feet, nodding to them.

"All right. Mai, grab a hotel room for one night. Kishi and I will go and see if we can send a message to our sensei back in Konohagakure." She explained.

"What? Why?" Ayaka demanded.

"She's got a point," Honoka murmured, "If they find out, so will Lady Tsunade and we'll be in big trouble." Koyuki frowned.

"I know… But Kaiga's last request was to prevent a war. We have to respect that and we can't do this by ourselves. Our sensei, our villages, are our last hopes." She stated.

"I wonder if our sensei even know we're gone." Kishi said under her breath, averting her eyes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: Haha… I got some good suggestions and yes, I am putting them to use! They gave me great ideas, so updates will be frequent once again! I'm super excited to get them all up! And, I must say, I felt like a sadist when I wrote about the Genjutsu that trapped Hidan… :'D I'm terrible. Oh well. xD Anyway, thanks for reading, hope the characters are in character, and your reviews are greatly appreciated!