I don't have much to say, and since I know you're all anxious to see how this turns out, let's just get to the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Shibuki walked through the walls of his home, wearing a robe as he made his way, half asleep, to his kitchen, wearing a brown bed robe. He'd pulled an all-nighter trying to decide what to do with their latest crisis and had wound up too tired to even make himself a bite to eat before bed.
This was coming back to bite him now, as his empty stomach had woken him up in the middle of the night.
He rubbed the back of his head as he made his way to his fridge, but as his eye wandered the hall, something down at the entrance way caught his eye, a small white object on the ground.
Frowning, he made his way to the door and picked it up, raising a brow when he saw it was a letter.
With a shrug, he tore open the top and unfolded the paper, reading over its contents. After a certain point, his eyes shot open and he gripped the sheet with both hands, now fully awake as he frantically read through the rest. "This is…!"
Jiraiya and Naruto were awakened by a frenzied knocking at the door of their room. Getting up from his futon as Naruto rose across the room, Jiraiya made his way to the door, covering his mouth as he yawned.
Naruto stretched and let out a yawn of his own before rubbing his right eye as his other, half closed blue looked to the door, fighting the urge to just lay back and let his sensei deal with whatever it was that had awoken them.
But, curious, he watched as Jiraiya opened the door to reveal a slightly panicked Shibuki wearing his ninja gear.
Jiraiya frowned, knowing this was serious. Naruto too shook off his lingering fatigue as he wondered what the problem was.
"Lord Shibuki?" Jiraiya spoke. "You know, I hate to be rude, but do you know what time it is? What's the trouble?"
"Believe me, I wouldn't be here if this wasn't a serious problem." Shibuki answered quickly. "I've just had to call an emergency meeting of the village's council. I'd hate to ask, but we need your help."
Jiraiya nodded. "Alright, just cut to the chase."
Shibuki reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper, handing it to the Sannin. "I woke up half an hour ago to find this underneath my door."
Arching an eyebrow, Jiraiya took the sheet of paper and read it over, his eyes widening in shock as he reached the end. "That's…!" After a moment, his hands clenched, wrinkling the paper. "Damn it! That little fool!"
Naruto rose to his feet and walked over to the two adults, looking up at them both with a serious, if slightly curious expression. "What's the problem, Pervy Sage."
Turning to his student, Jiraiya responded, "Apparently, their Jinchuriki just ran away."
Both Shibuki and Naruto's expressions became masks of shock, Naruto's at the revelation and Shibuki's for how easily Jiraiya shared that bit of information. "What!? Wait a minute, Taki has a Jinchuriki!?"
Shibuki gave an affirmative. "We're the only minor village in possession of one of the Biju: the Nanabi no Kabutomushi: the Seven Tailed Horned Beetle."
"It's the reason we came here." Jiraiya added, bringing his hand to his forehead and shaking his head. "I wanted to personally warn Shibuki here about the threat."
"Apparently, our Jinchuriki felt that, in this situation, we were better off without her." The village leader responded, looking down to his feet and clenching his fists as he thought of the girl, and how he'd failed her.
Naruto felt a cold sense of dread resonate through his being at Shibuki's words, his shock giving way to fear as a sinking feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. 'Her?' He thought of his newest friend, the green haired kunoichi, who had been so troubled the other day. Who had been so lonely before they'd met. She couldn't be… "Who is she?" He asked, his heart already knowing the answer.
With a sigh, Shibuki replied, "A girl around your age named Fuu."
Naruto couldn't resist taking in a sharp breath as suddenly, everything about the girl made sense. She really experienced the same things he had. The same scorn, the same loneliness. They were more alike than either of them had realized.
And now she was rushing off to what was almost certainly her death. His fear gave way to anger and sorrow at her decision to throw her life away. His face twisting in anger and desperation, he shouted at the village leader, "Are you serious!? What the hell is she thinking!? Is she completely out of her mind, how could she just up and leave!? Especially at a time like this!?"
"Naruto!" Shibuki interrupted, slamming his fist against a wall as he felt helpless. Even if they weren't very close, Fuu was a shinobi of his village, one whose suffering he felt partially responsible for. He'd done everything he could over the years to help her, but he couldn't make the villagers like her, or convince the children not to fear her. "Don't you understand the sacrifice she's trying to make for us?"
Naruto frowned as Shibuki's arm fell to his side, his gaze once more falling to the floor as his expression became solemn.
"She knows exactly what she's getting herself into, but she's doing what she believes is for the best of the village. I can see you know what a Jinchuriki is, so I'd guess you know what kind of treatment they endure. She grew up completely alone, hated for something that she had no power over, and even so… even so she left, knowing what her chances were, for the sake of our village."
"But…" Naruto asked, the emotion clouding his mind preventing him from seeing what Fuu had realized. "Why would she just give up like that?"
"Think about it, Naruto… remember what Suien managed to do to our village?" Shibuki asked and Naruto's eyes widened as he finally put things together. "Do you remember what I told you when I was still guarding the hero's water? We're a small nation, and even he, our best jonin, paled in comparison to the likes of your sensei, or your past one, Kakashi Hatake. And yet, he was able to dominate our village with just a few chunin rank ninja. Even with the hero's water, I couldn't stop him. We needed help from you and your village to save us. What do you think monsters like the Akatsuki would do?"
The village leader closed his eyes tightly and tilted his head forward. "Since I found out, we've been struggling to decide how to face this threat. We don't have the power to defend Fuu… and most of my advisors wanted to simply give her to them…"
Naruto's expression shifted to shock, and then twisted in rage, gritting his teeth and resisting the urge to growl. Jiraiya had told him what would happen to a Jinchuriki once their Biju was removed. After everything they put her through, they were planning to basically kill her just to protect themselves?
"Fuu has the ability to control insects thanks to the Nanabi… she can even temporarily link her senses with them. I guess she listened in on our meeting and decided to make our decision for us." Shibuki finished his explanation before looking to Naruto.
"In her letter, she mentioned you. She asked me to tell you not to worry about her, and to let you know she was glad she got to know you. She said to tell you, you were her first real friend." Shibuki walked towards Naruto, who seemed surprised by what the girl had said about him, soon standing directly in front of him. "Seeing how you haven't judged her for what she is, you really are the kind of person I thought you were. Please," He said with a slight bow. "I don't know how I'm going to handle this, and I know it's not my place to ask, but… please, find her. I've tried my best to help her, but I couldn't be there for her as often as I should have, and I can't help her now. If there's anything you can do to help her…"
Naruto, with a more serious expression than Shibuki had ever seen on the normally exuberant blond, replied, "Don't worry. There's no chance in hell I'm going to let her throw her life away like this. Besides…" He began, turning to his things. "I know what it's like to suffer for something you have no control over, and what it means to be completely alone. I'm not going to leave her like this."
Shibuki looked slightly relieved, though he didn't know how he could know what she'd experienced, he was thankful he was going to do something. He'd have to meet with the council. He could send his shinobi, but somehow he didn't think that was a good idea.
Naruto walked to his bags and pulled out a scroll before turning to his sensei, who was watching the exchange with his arms crossed. "Let's hurry, Pervy Sage."
With a smirk, the Sannin replied, "You don't have to tell me twice. Besides, even if I was willing to let Akatsuki get closer to their goal, this master I am of the ways of the shinobi and the wiles of women, I would never allow a young lady to sacrifice herself like this."
Fuu bounded through the trees as she traveled through the forest at a fast, but reasonable pace, trying to put as much distance between her and Taki as she could. While she doubted they'd come looking for her, on the off chance they did she wanted to get as much of a head start on them as she could.
Her gaze trailed up to the moon, hovering in the sky above her, once more reflecting on her life. For the first time since she'd become a Jinchuriki she had true freedom. She didn't have to worry about being glared at or about people whispering behind her back. She didn't have to know everyone around her wished she was dead or gone.
She could do anything. She could go anywhere.
Or at least, she could for around two years.
Her face hardened. She wouldn't think about that. For now, she'd just enjoy her newfound freedom. Once she was sure she was away from Taki and had adjusted to her freedom, she'd come up with a plan and start getting herself ready for when the Akatsuki came after her.
Her eyes widened as she sensed something wrong. Her innate link with insects allowed her to easily detect when there was something wrong with their behavior, and right now they were agitated. Antsy. Something they didn't like was approaching.
She stopped and closed her eyes, placing her hand on a branch and focusing her chakra. Various insects, from gnats and flies to mosquitoes and even a praying mantis, gathered around her hand. Her head jerked in a seemingly random direction as they informed her of what was upsetting them.
Two individuals with very disturbing chakra, one of which's signature the insects described as disgusting, were coming in her direction.
Quickly deciding she needed to get as far away as possible, she took off once again.
Naruto ran out from behind the waterfall, followed by Jiraiya, who immediately ripped the blindfold off of his face and threw it into the waters of the river, more than a little annoyed that they'd stalled him with that formality under such circumstances.
Really, did they realize how easy it would be for him to infiltrate the village if he really wanted to? Yeah, he was sure that there were many different underwater tunnels, many with dead ends, but he could easily summon a toad and have the little amphibian seek out the correct route. It was basically just a waste of time, one he normally respected, but in this case…
But this was no time to dwell on an annoyance. They needed to find the Nanabi Jinchuriki as quickly as possible.
Once again able to see the world around him, he looked to his student who had bit his thumb and was making hand signs the moment that he stepped beyond the waterfall.
The blond raised his hand and called out, "Summoning Jutsu!" as he slammed his palm onto the ground.
During their training, Jiraiya had helped the blond become more acquainted with the toads and their abilities. Toads naturally had a strong sense of smell, and among the toads of Mount Myoboku, the home of the toad summons, there was a species that had a unique talent with not only tracking via smell, but also other methods.
One of the aptly named tracker toads, an average sized green toad with yellow markings appeared before the blond in a cloud of smoke, looking up at him and giving a salute as the Jinchuriki pulled out a scroll and unraveled it.
"Heya, Naruto. What'd you need?" The toad asked as Naruto made a hand sign. In a poof of smoke, a forehead protector of Taki appeared.
"We need to find the girl this belongs to, ASAP!" Naruto answered, holding it before the toad. It took a whiff of the cloth before jumping away as Naruto pocketed it.
The small toad sampled the air for a few moments before turning to its summoner. "Ok, I got it. She went that way." It said, pointing in the direction the girl had fled in.
"Thanks! I owe you some candy when this is over." Naruto said, picking up the little amphibian and placing on his shoulder. "Now, let's go! Come on, Pervy Sage!" With that, he immediately jumped to the branches in a single bound and bolted off in the direction the toad had indicated.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Jiraiya replied as he joined his student.
It was official, whoever the owners of those vile chakra signatures were, they were targeting her. Given by the extremely large reserves both had, the fact that she, a Jinchuriki, was their target, and the fact that they were in a group of two, she had quickly guessed, fearfully, the identity of her hunters.
Akatsuki. She'd guessed they'd either come for her early or had somehow already learned of her self imposed exile and had decided to take advantage of the situation.
Fuu cursed her luck, something she had done in the past more times than she cared to count. Why her? She hadn't even had an hour to enjoy her freedom before she was being chased by the very group that had spurred her decision to leave in the first place! And based on what her insects were telling her, they were gaining on her. It wouldn't be long before they had her cornered
Closing her eyes, she sent a mental command to the insects under her control. Suddenly, a swarm of beetles, a distant cousin to the kikaichu used by the Aburame, flew out of the large cylinder on her back. The object served as a hive for her insects, which, nourished by her chakra and the traces of the Nanabi's power within, quickly developed into more powerful and dangerous species, able to draw out chakra faster than their cousins used by the Konoha clan and, unlike them, able to transfer the chakra they took to others.
She'd toyed with the idea of trying to control the mutations, but had yet to actually attempt to do so. It was something she'd thought of exploring during her training over the next two years.
Now, it looked like she might not get the chance.
Directing the insects to form a duplicate of her, she sent it back to stall for time. It wasn't long before she felt the insect clone die. Unlike shadow clones, she didn't receive its memories, so she had no new information about her hunters.
It was only a few minutes later that a red, triple bladed scythe burst from the dense foliage. Fuu barely managed to duck in time for the weapon to sail over her head, before her eyes widened as she saw the metallic cord attached to the scythe's base.
Just as she noticed this, she saw the cord tighten. Knowing what was coming, she leapt into the air as the weapon was pulled back, flipping in mid air as a hidden mechanism in her armlets released two kunai, which she threw after the weapon, only to hear a 'thunk' as the daggers embed themselves in the bark of a tree out of sight.
She fell to the ground and landed on her feet in a crouch, adopting a fighting stance as her insects went into a flurry of activity, warning her of the two individuals before her.
"Ah, look at that, she dodged it. This one's pretty good, for a runt." One of the attackers said as they stepped out of the forest undergrowth. Much to Fuu's dismay, both were indeed wearing the distinctive uniform of the Akatsuki organization.
The speaker was holding the scythe she'd just dodged over his shoulder. He had medium length, slicked back silver hair and purple eyes, his face etched into a cocky smirk as he regarded his target. His cloak was open, allowing her to see the odd silver necklace he wore: a equilateral, circumscribed triangle, beneath the slashed forehead protector of his home village, which Fuu recognized as the now disbanded village of Yugakure, now a simply resort town.
The other, Fuu was surprised to see, was from her own village if the slashed forehead protector, which was in its proper place, was any indication. Odd, she didn't know of any S-class ninja from recent years from Taki. He was a tall, deeply tanned man with distinctive green pupil-less eyes with red sclera. He wore a white hood and a black mask, leaving only his eyes and the area around them visible.
"You picked a bad time to flee your village, little girl." The shinobi from her village said. "Although, I suppose I should thank you. You made things easier for us, though I would have liked to have had to go through Taki to reach you."
'That's part of the reason I left…' Fuu thought to herself as she took a step back to get in a better position to dodge if need be.
"Hey, Nanabi." The shinobi from Yugakure called, causing Fuu's face to twist in anger at being referred to as her tenant. "Can you do me a favor and just come quietly?"
Fuu was almost surprised out of her stance by that. "… What?"
The man held out his hand in an explanatory gesture. "You see, I'm a faithful follower of Lord Jashin. My religion demands the complete slaughter of those before me. Now, this is a fucking problem for me, cause we have to take you alive. I'm a very religious person and I hate to have to break my tenets. So, think could we skip the fighting and cut to the chase?"
"So, let me get this straight. You're asking me to just give myself up and let you guys kill me? Hmm… Let me think about it." Fuu replied in obvious sarcasm despite her deadpan expression, even cupping her chin in mock thought before pointing at him. "What, are you stupid!? Of course not!"
"I've asked that question more times than I care to count." The ex Taki nin said to the Jinchuriki, shaking his head, not sure whether to feel amused by his quarry or annoyed at his teammate.
The Yugakure ninja whirled on his partner. "Shut the fuck up, Kakuzu! Who's side are you on!?"
Fuu gasped at the name, her face becoming a mask of shock and slight fear. Kakuzu? He couldn't be the Kakuzu, could he? She knew of only one shinobi from her village named Kakuzu. A man who, around 70 years ago, back when the villages were still consolidating their powers and before Konoha had given Taki the Nanabi as a peace offering and established the balance of power, had been their most prominent shinobi. One of only two S-rank ninja ever produced by their village. He'd been sent, along with a squad of the village's best and brightest to assassinate the First Hokage. Success would not only grant Taki renown, it would destabilize the village, perhaps resulting in a power vacuum Taki could fill.
Needless to say, it had been a complete disaster. Hashirama Senju wasn't known as the Second God of Shinobi for nothing. He'd single handedly annihilated the group like they were raw genin and Kakuzu was the sole survivor. He'd had managed to drag himself back to Taki, barely alive. Granted, he'd failed a vital mission, but the battle showed that there was simply too big a difference in power and skill for it to have had any chance of success. Besides, until then, he'd never failed a mission or refused a job. He'd been a completely loyal, devoted ninja of the village.
And how had he been rewarded? He was thrown in prison for failing an impossible task. He responded to this betrayal by breaking out, stealing one of Taki's most forbidden techniques, killing the village leaders and departing from the village, leaving a trail of blood in his wake as he crushed all who tried to stop him.
And now, the man himself was standing before her. If he was an S-class ninja then, and he now had 70 more years of experience under his belt, how strong was he now?
Fuu felt a new trickle of fear run down her spine. Kakuzu was literally a boogieman in Taki. Parents would actually use his story, and the fact that he was never captured, to scare children into obeying, saying if they were bad, Kakuzu would return and wreak his vengeance upon the village…
She'd been told he'd one day specifically come after her back at the orphanage. Though she'd stopped believing such tales long ago, it seemed to have become a reality.
"K- Kakuzu…?" Fuu questioned. "No way. You can't be Kakuzu! You'd have to be 90 years old!"
"Ah, looks like she's heard of you, eh Kakuzu?" The Yugakure shinobi asked before grinning at the girl. "Hate to break it to you, but he's the real thing. You're looking at a pair of immortals!"
"Bah." Kakuzu scoffed. "How many times have I told you, Hidan. There's no such thing as immortality."
"Heh, yeah yeah." The now named Hidan waved him off before reaching for his necklace. "Well, if we're going to do this, will you let me pray for forgiveness first?" He asked as he raised the triangular pendant to his lips and closed his eyes in prayer.
Fuu stared dumbfounded at him as Kakuzu turned and glared. "Do you always have to pray before battle? Your religion is grating on my nerves."
"Hey, stop griping!" Hidan shot back. "I'm not happy about it either, but I have to do it!"
During this exchange, Fuu had had her insects quietly crawl out of their hiding spot, down her body to burrow into the ground. She doubted that she was any match for the two in front of her… but she wasn't going to just quietly go off to die.
"All right." Hidan said, dropping his pendant and hefting his scythe. "Leave this one to me, Kakuzu."
"Hmph." Kakuzu replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "Do whatever you want. Just don't complain to me if you lose a limb because you're careless."
"Don't worry." Hidan chuckled as he ran the blade of his weapon along his hand, creating a deep cut and allowing the blood to pour out to the ground. "A runt like her couldn't take me out. And if she could, I'd let her." He stepped into the puddle of blood and smeared it into the pattern of the symbol of the Jashin religion.
Sensing her trap was set, Fuu's gaze hardened. Holding out her hand, she called upon moisture in the air for Taki's signature technique, the only jutsu that would do so without the need for immense skill in the element.
In her hand, a long sword made of water formed. Fuu swept the blade out and got into a sword stance as Hidan smirked. The green haired Jinchuriki couldn't help but feel a chill down her spine as she thought to herself that this would probably be her last fight, but she remained calm. After all, ninja were used to battles of life and death.
Focusing as much chakra as she could into her limbs, Fuu leapt at the Akatsuki member as he did the same, their weapons clashed against each other with a clang, as if metal had collided with metal.
Hidan deftly swung his scythe with swift, rapid attacks that almost resembled a dance and the green haired Jinchuriki quickly found herself on the defensive. She was forced to block and dodge the large blades, but soon, Hidan found an opening and knocked her weapon out of the way with an upward move of his weapon, leaving her defenseless as he brought his scythe down.
Fortunately, Fuu tore her left hand away from her blade and summoned a second water blade, batting the weapon away and using the momentum from her movement to unleash a sweeping kick, which Hidan leapt back to dodge.
Fuu planted both her feet flat on the ground the moment her rotation came to an end and launched herself at the missing nin, who threw his scythe at her. The green haired Jinchuriki ducked under the weapon and continued her assault, only for her eyes to widen as the weapon was pulled back. She leapt to the side to avoid the weapon as Hidan jumped toward her, catching his weapon and using the momentum to unleash a powerful, spinning attack.
Fuu ducked under the weapon, but couldn't dodge when Hidan extended his leg, his foot colliding with her cheek and sending her to the ground. Fuu let herself roll before shifting her body and leaping back to her feet as Hidan charged towards her.
The Yugakure ninja slammed the shaft of the weapon against Fuu's water sword before pulling back, causing Fuu to twist her body in order to avoid the blades before leaping into the air when Hidan tried to sweep her feet out from beneath her.
Hidan moved to follow her, when Fuu sucked in a breath, causing her chest to puff out a bit before exhaling, releasing a golden, sparkling substance. 'Secret Ninja Art: Scale Camouflage!'
"What the f- Ah!" Hidan shielded his eyes as the powder consumed him, suddenly becoming so bright it was like a golden colored flash bomb had gone off in his face. Fuu immediately dropped the weapon in her left hand, the weapon breaking down into water before it hit the ground, and called a kunai with a paper bomb to her hand in its place before throwing it where Hidan had been.
She heard him yell yelp in surprise when the weapon dug into his shoulder. Fuu's mouth curled into a slightly bloodthirsty smirk as she thought to herself that that was the least of his worries. Making a one handed hand seal, she detonated the weapon.
Now, what Hidan was unaware of, which wouldn't be the case if he'd asked Kakuzu about the Nanabi's abilities beforehand, was that that powder he was currently enveloped in was combustible… highly combustible. The blast from the tag ignited the cloud, trapping Hidan in a massive explosion, painting the area red with its light and sending out a brief glow that could be seen from quite the distance and creating cracks through the earth around it.
Fuu waited as she watched the cloud of smoke created by the blast, summoning another water sword again as she prepared to counter, doubting that that was enough.
"Little bitch!" The scythe once again. Fuu knocked it aside, pausing to allow Hidan to pull it back so there wouldn't be any nasty surprises coming at her from behind. Sure enough, Hidan, the left side of his coat torn off, revealing her wore nothing but pants underneath, and much of his exposed chest along with half of his face red from burns, the wound he'd been given seared shut by the heat of the blast, burst from the cloud, pulling his weapon back.
'Now!' Fuu called out mentally. The explosion had had a dual purpose. The first was obvious, to injure the Akatsuki member, the second was to loosen the soil so that her insects could move more freely. That, combined with all their tunneling through the ground and…
As the missing nin's foot stepped on the ground, it suddenly collapsed underneath him, throwing him off balance as a swarm of insects came out of the torn earth.
Seeing her trap go off, Fuu charged, pulling back her arm holding her sword to spear Hidan through the heart. 'I've got him!'
"Don't get cocky!" Hidan spun rapidly to get rid of the beetles clinging to him before leaping back to escaping the approaching cloud of insects and throwing out his weapon, using it like a whip to cut through the swarm and sending Fuu rolling on the ground to avoid the attack.
As Kakuzu watched, his eyes suddenly turned in another direction, sensing a presence. He considered doing something, but decided against it. This might teach his partner a lesson.
The moment Hidan landed he launched himself at the Jinchuriki again, pulling the cord to bring the weapon down on top of her. Fuu leapt back to dodge as Hidan leapt into the air, grabbing the weapon and spinning into another attack.
Fuu managed to duck under the weapon again, but was caught in the side by another sweeping kick from Hidan, sending her crashing to the ground once again. Hidan raised his weapon to strike at her before and she prepared to attempt to roll out of the way, but suddenly, a fuma shuriken, surrounded by wind chakra, came flying through the air towards the Akatsuki member, tilting vertically and running along the ground, creating a cloud of debris as it cut through the earth.
"What?" Hidan leapt backwards to avoid the weapon as Fuu's eyes widened when a familiar, blond figure appeared before her in a body flicker before launching himself through the cloud and towards Hidan.
The missing nin couldn't raise his weapon to defend in time as Naruto pulled his hand back, forming an orb of chakra, before slamming it into Hidan's stomach. "Rasengan!"
Hidan cried out in pain as the sphere of pure energy tore into him, leaving a deep, spiral pattern in his reddened flesh before finally exploding, causing massive internal damage and sending him flying through the air towards his partner, who sidestepped him, and out of the clearing, slamming into a bark of a tree out of sight.
Fuu looked up in shock as Naruto stood between her and the Akatsuki, glaring in the direction of the missing nin.
"N- Naruto?"
Kakuzu frowned, but then his eyes shot open as he sensed another presence directly behind him. He turned his head just in time to see Jiraiya of the Sannin slam an orb identical to the one the blond just used into his back.
Without so much as a grunt, Kakuzu was pushed down and slammed into the ground, the force of Jiraiya's attack creating a dust cloud that obscured them both before he leapt out, turning in the air and landing beside his student.
"So, these guys are Akatsuki…" Jiraiya commented before smirking. "They don't seem so tough, compared to those two from before." He said, though he remained in a combat stance, ready to fight.
"Naruto?" Fuu asked again as she rose to her feet. This time, with his sensei there and their opponents seemingly down for the count, Naruto turned to her. "W- what are you doing here!? Do you have any idea what you've gotten yourself into!?"
The blond turned to face her, anger clear on his features. Not at truly at her, but how she was trying to throw her life away with this stunt. "Of course I do! What were you thinking running off and dealing with this by yourself!?"
Fuu's eyes widened. He knew… but… he couldn't. That would mean he… knew she was a Jinchuriki? And didn't care? After everything she'd been through, she found herself unwilling to believe what she was seeing. "I have to!" She cried, "Do you have any idea what these guys could do to Taki!?" Her uncertainty showed on her face as she stared up at him. "Why… why would you risk yourself against people like this to help me?"
Naruto's expression softened at that. With a slight smile, he said, "I told you, I'm your friend. Do you think I'd just stand by and let you throw your life away like this?" Fuu's eyes widened at that. "And," He began, turning around to face their enemies. "You're not the only one who knows that hell called loneliness… I know what you've been through, first hand. Besides… these guys are my problem too."
Fuu stared at him in disbelief. How could he know what she'd been through? How could he even hope to understand… then when she heard his next words, she froze. 'I- is he saying…? He couldn't be…'
Suddenly, all three of their senses screamed danger. All three leapt backwards as thick, black threads burst from the ground, threatening to ensnare them. They evaded the attack to see Kakuzu rise to his feet, his cloak falling to the ground, revealing a vest matching his pants.
"Jiraiya of the Sannin." Kakuzu said as slowly rose to his feet, the threads that had just attacked them retreating back into his arms, which appeared to be stitched together like a ragdolls. His cloak had been destroyed, falling to the ground around him and revealing he wore a backless vest underneath it. His back was stitched together like his arms, with four Anbu-like masks sewed into his skin. Aside from his clothing damage, he looked no worse for wear. "Well, this is a surprise. Today seems to be my day, your prowess and actions as a spymaster have given you an enormous bounty."
"Damn it!" The other Akatsuki member cried as he emerged from the bushes, rolling his shoulders as he shrugged off the pain from the attack. "That hurt, you little shit! Where the fuck did you come from?"
Naruto seemed shocked by what he saw while Jiraiya frowned. "What the hell?" The blond said as he stared at their adversaries. "They just ate two Rasengans and just shrugged it off."
"Ha! Like I told the girl, we're immortal, dumbass!" Hidan taunted before he blinked in realization and a grin spread across his face. "Well well. Looks like we get a two for one deal, eh Kakuzu?"
"More than that." The ex-Taki ninja responded. "We can capture two of the Jinchuriki and claim the prince on Jiraiya's head."
Fuu gasped, her wide, disbelieving eyes turning to Naruto, who remained focused on their attackers. She'd assumed from what he just said but still, she couldn't help but be surprised to hear it actually confirmed.
She couldn't believe it. He was just like her. A Jinchuriki… Her first friend… and he was someone who'd been through the same pain she had. He could understand and sympathize with what she went through. He would truly accept her. She realized then that that was why he'd tried so hard to get her to open up. Because he knew exactly what she'd been feeling.
Her thoughts were cut off as Hidan's voice reached her ears. There was so much she wanted to say. So much she wanted to ask. But that would have to wait until they weren't staring down people who were after their lives.
"Geez, it's always about money with you, isn't it?" Hidan asked, tilting his head and looking out the corner of his eye at his partner as he rested his scythe on his shoulder.
"Of course. It's the only thing you can really depend on, besides yourself. Even hell runs on money." Kakuzu replied without looking at his partner.
"Heh, heathen." Hidan responded.
"Fuu." Jiraiya spoke, without looking away from his opponents. "What do you know about these guys?"
"About the one with the scythe? Next to nothing. But the other one…" Her orange orbs focused on the other ex-Taki ninja. "His name's Kakuzu. He was sent to assassinate the First Hokage before our villages became allies, but failed. He was the only one who came back alive and he was locked away for it. After that, he betrayed the village, stole a forbidden technique and killed our leaders."
Both of the leaf shinobi turned to her, Naruto's expression a mask of shock. "What? This guy took on the First?"
"And he actually lived?" Jiraiya asked, equally surprised as his student, knowing from his sensei that the legends of the power of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha were anything but. Even surviving a battle with either of them if they fought seriously was a feat in itself, far beyond surviving against Hanzo of the Salamander, an act which had earned him and his former teammates the title of Sannin.
"Hm." Kakuzu grunted in acknowledgement. "He was the last ninja from your village I fought, until now."
"You believe me now when I tell you that we're immortal? You guys are screwed." Hidan cackled, pointing at their adversaries.
"There's no such thing as immortality. I've just found a way to extend my life, that's all." Kakuzu refuted with a shrug of his shoulders.
Jiraiya glared, thinking quickly. This was bad, if Kakuzu had fought the First Hokage, he must have been a very powerful individual even then. Now, with at least 80 years of experience under his belt, and from the looks of it the body of a thirty year old through whatever forbidden jutsu he was using, he'd be an extremely dangerous opponent. On top of that, despite the obvious conflict between them, they probably had strong teamwork. If they tried to fight them both at once…
He grit his teeth as he struggled with his decision. While he was confident in the abilities of his student, and from what he saw Fuu was quite competent, he wasn't sure they could handle Hidan. After all, even if he there was a large gap between him and his partner, he was still an S-class ninja and they knew little about his abilities. On top of that, he seemed like the type to fly off the handle and might try to kill rather than incapacitate. Then again, if they were incapacitated and taken, their deaths were certain anyway.
Shaking his head, he made up his mind, loathe as he was to do it. He'd need to separate these two. "Guys." Jiraiya said in a low voice, making sure they couldn't hear them. For the first time in decades, there was hesitation in the Sannin's voice. "We need to split these two up. I'll leave the guy with the scythe to you. You seemed to be handling him fine, and I get the feeling that Kakuzu's in a whole different league than him. I don't need you to win, just hold him off until I finish with this guy."
Naruto nodded. "Got it, Pervy Sage. Don't worry; we can take care of him."
"Right." Fuu's expression hardened as she nodded too, slipping back into her combat stance and summoning a second water sword again, ready to fight alongside her fellow Jinchuriki against their hunters. There was no chance she was going to let them take her or Naruto.
Jiraiya grunted in response before making two hand signs and slamming his palm into the ground. "Earth Style: Dark Swamp!"
Both of the Akatsuki members eyes widened as the earth transformed into thick mud at the Sannin's touch, rapidly spreading across the ground towards them.
The two leapt in different directions to escape the spreading bog, which chased after them in both directions. Jiraiya released his jutsu and sped after his opponent as Naruto and Fuu leapt off after Hidan.
Naruto brought his hand to the back of his glove, activating a seal engraved on the metal and summoning three shuriken to his hand before flowing wind chakra through the blades and throwing them at the silver haired man.
"Heh, what a joke. Do you really think that's going to do anything?" Hidan taunted with an arrogant grin as he deflected two of the metal stars and twisted his body to dodge the third, which tore all he way through a nearby tree and the one behind it before tearing into the ground. The missing nin threw his scythe once more.
Fuu batted the weapon aside with one of her water swords as she charged at the man, but then saw him pull back on the cord of the weapon. Fuu turned her head to see the weapon was heading towards her and dodged to the side. With a yank of the cord, Hidan changed the weapons direction and sent it her way, causing her to duck under it and then take to the air as he sent it flying towards her again before pulling it back as the blond reached him.
Naruto made a cross shaped hand sign and created three shadow clones, each of which charged at Hidan from a different direction; both sides and above, summoning a kunai from the seal on their gloves and charging them with wind chakra.
The three clones engaged Hidan in close range combat as the real Naruto took to the air. The Akatsuki member deflected the first attack from the airborne clone with the shaft of his scythe and the second with its base and begun clashing his weapon against the duplicates. While he was much more skilled than them, they attacked quickly and relentlessly, covering each other and leaving him little opportunity to counter.
Finally, there was a brief lull in their attacks and he saw an opening. He slashed his blade, forcing two of the clones back before lashing out with a sweeping kick aimed at the third, who blocked with his forearm and grasped the appendage with his hand, holding it in place as another clone rushed to attack.
Hidan whipped his leg away, sending the clone to the ground and dispersing it and destroying the other clone with a slash of his scythe, only for the third clone to burst from behind the resulting cloud. With the momentum of his weapon against him, Hidan could do little but move to prevent a serious injury, causing the clone drove a wind enhanced kunai through his right shoulder, the chakra coating the small weapon causing it to go all the way through.
He raised his arm to destroy the clone, only for his eyes to widen as it smirked. Suddenly, the missing nin found himself engulfed in another explosion as the Shadow Clone revealed itself to be of the exploding variety.
Naruto watched the blast with a feral grin as Fuu sent out her insects to attack. The blond had told her he'd make an opening and he certainly didn't disappoint.
Hidan, with his right side now matching his left, his flesh slightly torn due to the proximity of the blast, his face etched into a look of fury, burst from the cloud.
The moment he did, he saw the huge cloud of chakra draining beetles flying toward him, threatening to envelope him.
He took to the air, landing on the bark of a tree, only to see the real Naruto in the air above him, making the bird hand sign.
"Wind Style: Air Bullets!" Naruto breathed in deeply and exhaled multiple fist sized pellets of wind, each with enough power to break stone.
Hidan darted through the trees in the clearing, each time the area he landed on was destroyed by the bullets of air only a moment after he left, repeating the process multiple times before the barrage stopped, at which point he leapt at Naruto, only to find the cloud of insects suddenly appear between them and move towards him.
The missing nin threw his weapon and embedded it in a tree, using it as a grappling hook to pull himself away from the swarm. He pulled himself to the tree and stood on the horizontal surface, looking down on the two Jinchuriki as the insects flew back to their master, returning to the cylinder on her back.
Naruto landed and Fuu ran up to join him, the blonds' clones standing before them in a defensive formation as they stared at their adversary.
"Well, this might actually be more of a challenge than I thought." Hidan commented as he stared down at them from his place on the tree.
'Fire Style: Flame Bullet!' Jiraiya inhaled deeply and breathed out a massive, oil filled ball of fire which barreled towards the missing nin, who leapt over the attack.
Kakuzu was very fast, very strong, and highly skilled in taijutsu, but Jiraiya outdid him in all these areas, however, he was still pushing Jiraiya back against a wall.
Why, you might ask, was the sage having so much trouble? All one need do was look at Kakuzu to find the answer. Though he still looked normal, his skin had taken an unnaturally dark tone. He was using a jutsu Jiraiya recognized as Earth Style: Earth Spear, to harden his body, making every inch of himself nearly as hard as tempered steel. Jiraiya had punched him earlier, sending him into a tree, but all he got out of it was a stinging hand as it felt like he'd really punched metal. This was why he wasn't damaged by the Rasengan earlier, and Jiraiya was having a hard time finding a way around this defense.
Flipping in mid air, the man threw his forearm out towards the Sannin, which shockingly detached from his arm, connected to him by the numerous threads, and flew towards the Sannin.
The toad sage leapt back to dodge only to look in shock as the limb changed direction, shooting towards his throat and gripping his neck as the threads ensnared him. He tried to pry off the hand that was choking the life out of him, only for the threads to entangle themselves around his body, restraining his arms and preventing him from fighting back.
"Hm. Is that the best you can do?" Kakuzu asked. Despite this, his senses were warning him of danger. This had been too easy; there was no way someone with a bounty as large as his would be taken down this quickly.
Sure enough, his instincts were proven right when the Sannin smirked and burst into smoke. Kakuzu frowned as he recalled his now empty appendage. "When did you…?"
Suddenly, he was doused from behind with a sticky green fluid. Kakuzu struggled, but he quickly found himself encased in the mass and unable to move.
"Hah, you should have known that it would take more than that to bring down this shinobi." Jiraiya said as he stepped out of the foliage, though he kept his distance. "I suggest you don't struggle. A single spark is all it'll take for you to go up in a ball of fire. I doubt you're jutsu would protect you from the raging inferno this stuff would make."
"Hm." Kakuzu responded. "You vastly underestimate me." Surprisingly, without hand signs, the ex Taki ninja inhaled deeply. 'Water Style: Exploding Water Shockwave!' Kakuzu spit up a massive surge of water, blowing his mask off his face and revealing his lower jaw was stitched to his head as well, each side beginning at the corner of his lips, giving him the appearance of an ear to ear grin.
The flood of water was so massive it pushed Kakuzu off of the ground and sent a wave towards the Sannin, which he dodged by taking to the trees. Looking down on him from a branch, with a grim expression.
This wasn't good. To be able to use a jutsu without a single hand sign was an extremely advanced art. It required total mastery, not only of the element but of that jutsu itself. It showed he hadn't been wasting the decades since his defection.
"It was foolish of you to leave those two with Hidan." Kakuzu stated as he looked up at the Sannin, his expression neutral. "You were right in believing I was the greater threat, but Hidan may very well kill those two." He then shook his head, his gaze turning in the direction of the other battle. "I get enough complaints from our leader for killing my pervious partners. The last thing I need is flak for him killing one of our targets and delaying our plans."
Jiraiya's frown deepened at that. This guy killed his own partners? Either he was a complete bastard, or despite his calm demeanor, he was just as likely to go into a blind rage as his partner.
Taking note of that, Jiraiya questioned. "So, you said the last ninja of our village you fought was the First? Pretty impressive that you actually managed to survive."
Kakuzu grunted in response. "'Survive' is too strong a word. I dragged myself back to that pitiful excuse for a village half dead after that battle, and how do they respond?" He scoffed. "That's when I learned a valuable lesson. The only things in this world you can really count on are yourself and money."
With a smirk, Jiraiya nodded. "Yeah, seems to me you did learn something valuable."
"Oh?" Kakuzu tilted his head.
"You said he was the last Konoha ninja you fought. You learned not to mess with our village." Jiraiya replied tauntingly, though Kakuzu's expression didn't change. Jiraiya then raised his hand, holding his palm up and parallel to the ground as he added. "Not that I blame you. If I'd been beaten that badly, I'd probably run scared every time I saw the Konoha symbol too."
"Don't flatter yourself by thinking that, Jiraiya. While my battle with the First was many years ago, the only reason I haven't faced a Konoha shinobi since is because I don't go after small fry. Since the deaths of your Second, Third and Fourth Hokages, the only shinobi your village produced with bounties worth my time are yourself, Tsunade, Orochimaru, Might Gai, Asuma Sarutobi and Kakashi Hatake, not counting Itachi of course. I simply haven't had the opportunity to pursue them yet since I've been collecting valuable bounties from all the other villages. Perhaps you'd like me to collect Tsunade's head after yours since she'll be the next Konoha ninja with the highest bounty after yours and she's no where near as powerful as her grandfather was." Kakuzu said darkly with clear intention that he'd do what he said.
Jiraiya's face darkened, his fists clenching when he heard the ex-Taki ninja threaten Tsunade. He would make the man regret threatening his old teammate. Before he could respond, the Akatsuki member continued.
"But maybe you'd like to see how much I've changed since that day."
With that, Kakuzu's face twisted in effort as he clenched his fists. His back began to shift unnaturally as the mass of threads beneath his skin shifted and the unstitched his back, until finally, his back burst open. Four masses of threads tore themselves out of him, each one with the mask and shaped themselves into a monster.
One appeared to be a demonic tiger, another a four legged creature with small, makeshift wings, another some odd, deformed biped, and the final a twisted, two tailed wolf.
Jiraiya stared down in disbelief and disgust at what he saw, the forbidden jutsu making him think of his former teammate, Orochimaru. This seemed like it was right up his alley.
Which brought the question; what kind of monster had this guy turned himself into?
"How about this?" The tiger like construct leapt into the air and opened its mouth, revealing a small fire ball.
Jiraiya's eyes widened as he recognized the jutsu as Fire Style: Searing Migraine. He quickly bolted to another tree just as the tiger like monstrosity released a small fire ball about the size as a fist, which erupted into a massive fire storm the moment it came into contact with the tree, destroying it and setting the nearby trees ablaze.
The creature rapid fired the attacks, causing Jiraiya to bound through the trees as it rapidly decimated the forest. While still in midair, Jiraiya sensed something wrong. His gaze fell downward to see the winged construct flying at him. It opened its mouth and wind spiraled towards it, compressing into a small ball.
Jiraiya's face became a mask of shock. There was no way. This guy was using high level techniques from four different elements! Even factoring in his long life, he shouldn't have been able to master the elements to this degree.
The creature released the jutsu: Wind Style: Pressure Damage. The small ball of compressed air struck true, slamming into the center of Jiraiya's chest and exploding into a twisting maelstrom on contact, hiding him from view.
When it cleared however, nothing but torn pieces of a log fell to the ground.
"What?" Kakuzu questioned as Jiraiya came at him from behind, wielding another Rasengan. He slammed it into his back, aiming for the stitches that held his body together in hopes of ripping his body apart.
The ex-Taki ninja was pushed forward by the attack for a moment before he fell apart into water. Jiraiya's eyes widened as the other constructs leapt away from him. He looked up to see the fire and wind spewing creatures coming at him together, combining their attacks into a single ball of fire and wind.
'Oh, shit.' Was Jiraiya's sole thought before they released a massive wave of wind and fire than destroyed a huge section of the forest.
Whipping his scythe through the air by the cord, Hidan caught the last of Naruto's clones with the weapon, destroying it. Fuu ran through hand signs as she watched Hidan destroy the clone. "Water Style: Wild Water Wave!"
Pouring as much chakra into the technique as she could, Fuu spit out a powerful stream of water. Hidan leapt through the air to dodge the attack, the force of the deluge strong enough to tear down the tree behind him. Fuu swept the attack, following him with it as Naruto leapt into the air, positioning himself on the other side of the kunoichi's jutsu facing Hidan, above the raging water flow.
"Wind Style: Gale Palm!" Clapping his hands together, the Uzumaki created a powerful gust of wind, concentrating the blast as much as he could and sending it towards Hidan, who was largely preoccupied with the water.
The resulting squall was highly focused, about the size of Naruto's body, and flew towards Hidan, colliding with the stream of water and redirecting it towards the missing nin.
Hidan, currently in mid jump, could do naught but raise his arm to shield himself before the redirected deluge collided with his body, driving him back, knocking over a tree behind him and plowing him into the ground as the Jinchuriki's combined assault continued, letting out a garbled curse as the water overtook him. The wind quickly died down, but by that time Fuu had redirected her jutsu so he was still caught within it.
Naruto landed and summoned four kunai, two in each hand and channeling wind chakra into them, giving them a blue glow before throwing them into Fuu's water stream where he thought the silver haired man would be, repeating the motion as he moved toward the mint haired girl and then slamming his palms together again, unleashing another gust of wind, this time in the exact same direction as his fellow Jinchuriki's jutsu, increasing its attack power.
Finally, Fuu released her technique and placed her hand to her chest, breathing a little deeply as her lungs demanded oxygen and she recovered from the having kept up the water stream for so long. Thankfully, her chakra control was decent and combined with the massive chakra supply granted from possessing the third most powerful Biju, while smaller than Naruto's immense reserves, she still had plenty of chakra left in her.
Naruto eyed where Hidan had been, but all he could see was a trench carved into the ground that disappeared into shadows of the forest. He knew that that wouldn't be enough to down their adversary, but he hoped that would at least slow him down.
Both teens had taken a few blows, Fuu more than Naruto since they'd decided that she should fight him at close range along with Naruto's clones since her water swords gave her a longer reach than his kunai while Naruto provided long range support. Still, Hidan had suffered far more damage and at first glance, their combined efforts appeared to give them the upper hand. It helped that the man was arrogant as hell and didn't seem to know the meaning of the word 'strategy'.
But something was very wrong. Nothing, not the burns, not the damage to his stomach and internal organs from the Rasengan nor the hole in his shoulder seemed to impair Hidan even slightly.
Both Jinchuriki's danger senses kicked in, warning them of something behind them and they turned just in time to see the scythe coming down from above them. Both jumped back to dodge as Hidan burst from the tree line, grabbing his scythe and targeting the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki this time.
Summoning another pair of kunai to his hands and flowing his chakra through them, Naruto engaged the fanatical shinobi in close range combat, ducking as Hidan swept his weapon above his head and raising his fist with his weapon extended towards the Akatsuki member, ready to vivisect the man, who leaned back just enough to dodge.
Hidan retaliated with a kick, which Naruto deflected with his forearm, and blocked Naruto's following swipe of his blade with the metallic cord connecting him to his weapon.
The two engaged each other in a brief, fierce exchange of blows until Naruto made another quick slash of his kunai. When Hidan moved back to dodge, Naruto's eyes narrowed and he sent as much wind chakra into the blade as he could.
Hidan saw the blue glow of the chakra grow as the wind blade extended just in the nick of time. He jumped backwards, barely avoiding being bisected by the blond Konoha genin.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he detected a presence coming at him from behind. Turning his head, he saw the mind haired girl coming at him with a pair of water blades. He slashed at her, using the momentum of his weapon to turn him around. Fuu shifted, letting the attack sail just inches over her head and stabbed with her blade. Hidan side stepped her attack as well as several follow up slashes before raising his weapon above his head and bringing it down on the girl, his strength forcing her to her knee.
Hidan then raised his foot, aiming to kick her in the face. Fuu leaned backward, allowing herself to fall on her back as the attack passed just over her head while extending her arms to push the blades of the scythe away from her before twisting her body into a high kick as she collided with the ground, which Hidan jumped back to dodge.
He would have pressed the attack, but he found himself pelted by more small air bullets from the blond once again, who landed at Fuu's side.
"Geez, you two are a pain." Hidan commented, resting his scythe on his shoulder and looking at them in annoyance. "This sucks, not being able to kill you."
"Well, sorry." Fuu commented sarcastically. "I'm really sorry to hear that your religion is so completely out of its mind. It must be hard, following such crazy rules."
"Hey!" The missing nin yelled, his face twisting in rage and pointing his weapon at them. "Don't speak ill of the great Lord Jashin, or I'll have to show you just how horrible his judgment can be!"
"Heh, talk talk talk, that's all you've done so far." Naruto replied with a smirk, turning to Fuu and winking one eye.
Getting Naruto's game, Fuu looked at him out of the corner of her orange orb with a smirk of her own and asked, "Are all the Akatsuki really this bad? Maybe I don't have as much to worry about as I thought."
That wasn't entirely true. The only reason she hadn't been hit by that scythe was because of the blonds' aid and the fact that she mainly kept to the defensive, only attacking when he really left himself open, which typically didn't work.
"Nah." Naruto shrugged and shook his head. "You should have seen Itachi and Kisame. This guy's got nothing on them." He then pointed at Hidan, who was bent forward, gritting his teeth and raising a trembling fist in rage. "I mean, look at him. He hasn't even used any ninjutsu or genjutsu since we started fighting, and I've seen better taijutsu all over Konoha. I guess he's just nothing special."
Fuu closed her eyes. "Well, I guess we lucked out. They must have taken this guy just to round out there numbers. I mean, why else would they let this religious nutcase into a group of elites like that. At this rate, we can finish him off and go help your sensei take out Kakuzu." She brought a finger to her chin and looked to the sky in thought. "I wonder what the people in Taki will say when we bring him in…"
Hidan grit his teeth, fuming at the pair of kids taunting him. With a growl, he charged forward once again, his feet splashing in the puddles from Fuu's attack. "Shut the fuck up!"
Fuu ran forward and clashed her weapon against his again, but the moment their weapons met a swarm of beetles burst out of the cylinder on her back, covering the man's arms and biting into his limbs, draining his chakra away.
The missing nin began to move back, when he heard rapid foot steps. He turned his head and saw that three more clones of the blond were coming at him from behind, trying to lock him in and prevent him from escaping.
Hidan snarled as he leapt into the air and spun rapidly, throwing out his scythe and destroying two of the clones in a single move while shaking off many of the insects.
He then stopped and brought his scythe down on the remaining clone as it reached him, jumping over its attack and slashing through it, causing it to burst into smoke. He landed to see Fuu charging at him once again.
She clashed her water blades against his scythe again, quickly finding herself pushed backwards by his speed and skill before jumping back. Hidan followed, raising his scythe for another attack.
Just as Fuu wanted. She'd quickly seen that he was the type to just attack blindly and hope to get his opponent with his raw abilities and talent. On top of that, he seemed to have no ninjutsu or genjutsu skills. She figured it wouldn't be that hard to get him to press the attack.
Hidan was alerted that something was wrong when he saw a smirk spread across Fuu's face, but before he could do anything, a clone of the girl rose out of the puddle directly beneath him, using the Hiding in Water jutsu to become one with it.
In the air and with his weapon raised above his head, he couldn't block as the clone thrust a water blade. He coughed up blood as the sword stabbed him through the heart.
Both Jinchuriki felt relief flood their systems. It was over. Now all they had to do was go help the Sannin and…
"Shit, that hurt." Hidan said, shocking both of the teens and the clone, which Hidan promptly backhanded, causing it to fall apart into water. "Do you have any idea how it feels to be stabbed through the heart?"
Naruto stared in shock before pointing at the man, his face a mask of shock, horror and disbelief as the missing nin stood with a hole in his heart and acted like it was nothing. "W- what the hell!? You were just stabbed in the heart! How are you still alive?"
"Didn't I already tell you?" Hidan replied as he raised his scythe. "I'm immortal, you dumb shit!" And with that, he charged forward.
Now it made horrifying sense to the blond. While it had just been a taunt, he had been meant what he'd said earlier. This guy was good, sure, but he wasn't any better than some of the jonin Naruto knew from Konoha. From what he'd seen, this guy had nothing on S-rank ninja like the other members of Akatsuki. On top of that, he didn't think or plan. The guy just charged into any situation blindly. So why had they let him into the organization?
Now he knew. The man couldn't be killed. This was not good.
Naruto took a step back as the man approached, knowing now that any damage they might inflict would be meaningless, and slammed his palms together, creating another wave of wind which slammed into the apparently immortal man and sent him flying back.
"Ok, so he's immortal. Big deal. He's not invincible." Naruto commented, partially to remind himself of this fact as he watched the man drag his feet and hand across the ground to bring himself to a stop.
"Right." Fuu said, shaking off her uncertainty at the revelation. And the people in her village called her a monster. What were these guys? "Even if he's immortal, he can't do anything if he doesn't have any chakra." She said, her insects crawling out of the cylinder on her back, which was basically a massive hive.
"And he won't be able to do a thing if we cut off his head." Naruto added as he readied his kunai.
"Ha! Just try it!" Hidan yelled as he threw his scythe again, both Jinchuriki jumping out of the way. This time, Hidan yanked the cord to the side, once again redirecting it, sending it twisting to through the air. Naruto and Fuu jumped high to evade as the weapon swept at them before another deft movement sent it after them.
Naruto evaded the attack before another deft movement of the cord brought the triple bladed weapon up before bringing it down at him.
The moment Naruto landed, he leapt back, narrowly evading as the scythe slammed into the ground just as Hidan reached it. The man picked up the scythe and threw it one more. Naruto snaked around it to evade, but his eyes widened when he saw Hidan immediately pulled back on the cord and called the weapon back.
Naruto turned his head as he heard Fuu call his name, seeing the weapon almost upon him. He slammed his kunai into the weapon and deflected the attack, but the blade raked across his side, leaving a shallow cut.
Hidan's face lit up in a sadistic grin as he leapt away. As he moved backwards, he brought the scythe to his mouth and licked the blood off of the blade. He continued skipping back until he reached the seal he'd drawn on the ground at the beginning of the battle.
"The preparations are complete!" Hidan cackled in an almost insane manner as he stepped into the seal. "You're now under my curse." The Jinchuriki would have commented on this, before his body began to shift. His skin turned black with white, skeleton like patterns appearing over his body with a skull like symbol covering his face almost like a mask, giving him an appearance slightly reminiscent of a stereotypical grim reaper. "It's too bad I won't be able to savor the agony of your death," He said as he reached into the remnants of his coat and pulled out a collapsible pike, which he promptly opened up. "… but at least we can revel in some glorious pain!"
As Naruto and Fuu faced down Hidan, Kakuzu stared after the devastation his attack caused, tilting his head, knowing that wouldn't be enough to take care of the legendary shinobi. Minutes had passed, and still no sign of the Sannin.
"You can drop the act. It would take more than that to finish one of your caliber." The ex-Taki ninja stated as his eyes wandered the area.
Sure enough, a mass of spiky white hair burst out of the ground, shaping into a form reminiscent of a lion's mouth as it lengthened and sped towards the missing nin.
Kakuzu leapt back to avoid the attack, but it moved too quickly for all his masks to dodge. The winged construct was caught in the hair and driven through the air, slamming it into a tree with enough force to nearly break it in half, the strands of hair hardened to the point that each was like a steel needle, piercing the creatures mask.
The construct writhed disturbingly in the grip of the Sannin's hair before seeming to melt, liquefying and slipping to the ground before the hair retracted.
Kakuzu snarled at seeing his wind using mask destroyed.
The Sannin burst out of the ground, immediately running through the hand signs for the Fire Style: Flame Bullet technique once again, this time partitioning the oil to fire off small fire balls instead of one large one.
The constructs quickly dodged through the air, flying even though they had no wings. The bipedal construct opened its mouth to shoot out a bolt of lightning which tore through the ground. Jiraiya changed direction and ran from the blast, only to see wolf like creature ahead of him, unleashing a wave of water.
Jiraiya was caught between the two attacks, crying out in shock as the water overtook him before the lightning bolt crashed into it, spearing him and sending arcs of electricity through the wave, but in a burst of smoke, the Sannin had been replaced with a charred and broken log.
He reappeared on the branch of a tree, hidden by the foliage, examining the devastation created from the combined attack. A moment later, and he would have been toast.
Sensing danger, he spun to see Kakuzu himself coming down on him from behind, grabbing him by the shoulder and grappling with him through the air, trying to stab him through the chest with his hand as his tendrils burst from his body to ensnare him.
Jiraiya managed to fight back, overwhelming Kakuzu's grip and manipulating his hair to fight the threads and stab Kakuzu, only for it to bounce off of him as he hardened his body. However, the hair did serve a purpose: winning out against and tearing through the tendrils while entangling Kakuzu's arms and allowing Jiraiya to get the upper hand.
Jiraiya gripped the missing nin's shoulder and maneuvered them so Kakuzu's back was facing the rapidly approaching ground, Jiraiya pulled back his hand and clawed it.
The Earth Spear technique was extremely difficult to overcome. Explosions, taijutsu short of the upper levels of the hidden lotus and most ninjutsu were rendered useless due to the damage resistance the technique offered. There were only a few ways to counter it.
First, use genjutsu. Not an option, genjutsu was never the toad Sannin's thing. Second, use a lightning technique to pierce it. Again, not an option, as though the toad Sannin knew enough to teach one how to use the element and had access to scrolls detailing advanced lightning jutsu, he didn't have the affinity and had never learned to use it. He could reflect the lightning mask's attack back at Kakuzu with a barrier, but the man tended to make himself keep a distance between them whenever the masks came in, giving him time to dodge. That left option three, an extremely powerful attack that could shatter even the damage resilience the technique offered.
Fortunately for the Sannin, he had just the thing, and he owed it to his most recent student.
After the events in the Land of Vegetables, Jiraiya had commented on the Giant Rasengan Naruto had created. The technique was far more powerful than the basic Rasengan, a testament to this being the fact that the attack as absolutely lethal, whereas the basic Rasengan was incapable of killing on its own. During that discussion, the blond had questioned about other defenses as strong as Renga's and ways to get around them and had come up with an idea; rather than creating a massive Rasengan, why not create a normal one compressed to a far greater degree, making it more focused and dense?
Inside Jiraiya's hand just a few inches away from his palm, chakra gathered and formed into a swirling orb, but unlike the normal technique, this Rasengan was only one fourth the size of a basic one.
A variant of the Rasengan created specifically to pierce powerful defenses.
He thrust his hand forward, slamming the tiny orb into the missing nin's chest. "Great Spear Rasengan!"
The attack drilled into Kakuzu's chest. With Jiraiya's hand and lengthened hair holding him in place, preventing the attack from pushing him back, it instead drilled into his steel hard skin.
Kakuzu cried out in pain as his chest was torn open, sending the black threads that seemed to hold his body together spiraling out and ripping his heart apart. Red blood and black, liquefied tendrils flew from the site of the impact before finally, Jiraiya released him, allowing the orb to burst, releasing a wave of chakra that sent him flying, slamming into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust. Jiraiya landed only a few feet away.
The Taki missing nin lied there, motionless, lifeless eyes staring up into the starry night sky.
Jiraiya sighed as he looked down at the defeated Akatsuki member. That had been a fairly difficult battle. Now all that was left was to…
Suddenly, he sensed something coming at him, fast. Looking up, his eyes widened in shock as he saw the three remaining mask creatures flying towards him and their master. The Sannin had expected the jutsu to be canceled as soon as Kakuzu fell, but apparently not.
He jumped backwards as the three slammed into Kakuzu, breaking apart into masses of threads as the neared him and remerging with his body. Jiraiya watched, disbelief written on his features as the man rose to his feet, the seams in his body bulging and retracting as the threads beneath his skin shifted and they burst from his body in masses.
His arms separated from his body, linked to together via the threads, and a large mass of it spilled out from his lips. His back completely opened up, allowing writing tentacles made of the tendrils to form as the water and lightning spewing masks fastened themselves where Kakuzu's shoulders should have been, the fire mask vanishing into his body.
Jiraiya took stock of his adversary's new form with a grim expression. How was he still alive? There was no way he'd missed his heart, and for that brief moment, he'd definitely been dead. The way that he revived when those things returned…
"So I see…" Jiraiya began, his mouth twisting in revulsion as he understood. "That's how you've survived all these years. You've been using the forbidden jutsu you stole to take the organs, more precisely the hearts of shinobi you killed, and used them to replace your own. That's also what lets you use all the elements, you've been running your chakra through those stolen hearts and using the element of its original owner."
"You certainly are worthy of your title of Sannin." Kakuzu commented, speaking perfectly clearly despite the mass of tendrils coming out of his mouth. "You're exactly right. You're the first opponent who's managed to destroy two of my hearts. I'll need to restock… yours and the Jinchuriki's will do."
Jiraiya was about to retort when both felt a wave of malevolent chakra wash over the area.
"Looks like things are heating up with your partner." Jiraiya noted after a moment before turning to the monster of a man he was facing, slipping back into his combat stance. "Which means I can't afford to waste anymore time here."
Oh dear, what's happened with Naruto and Fuu? Will they come out of it all right? Find out next time.
As always, I hope you enjoyed this and please review.
In case anyone thinks I made Hidan too weak, you should know I have a very low opinion of him. In my mind, without factoring in his immortality and his curse technique, he's basically dumb muscle with jonin level taijutsu skill. On top of being far less skilled than the other Akatsuki, he doesn't think, doesn't plan, doesn't analyze his opponents and just rushes in blindly due to his arrogance from being immortal, causing him to fall for traps someone of jonin level skill has no business being caught by.