What was Ai to do now that his face had been revealed and because of it, ANBU had mistaken him for his own brother? Ai believed there to be only one thing he could do, and that was escape the Leaf.

As the ANBU rushed in toward Ai, Shikamaru stood in place watching, still in awe that he was facing an old and most hated enemy.

"All this time," Shikamaru gulped as sweat beads rolled down the side of his face, which showed to be in a clear state of shock. "He had been deceiving us, just to get into the village. He could have... I might not be... " Shikamaru continued thinking on the possibilities of what could have been done by one who he believed to be the infamous Hidan, and while he thought, he hadn't realized the same Shinobi coming his way.

"I'm sorry Shikamaru, but I have to do this," Ai thought to himself, before swiftly taking hold of Shikamaru by the collar, from behind. "Make any sudden movements, and I'll have this Shinobi's head to hang on the wall," Ai spoke to the ANBU who halted their motion.

Ai had a kunai pulled, leaning it against Shikamaru's jugular. After what he had heard about such special ops, he knew the best chance he had of getting away from them was taking a hostage, though he regretted every moment of what was happening.

"You know I'll do it! So back off!" Ai became more forceful in his tone, though he could feel it being against his nature. "I'm only making things worse, but I don't know any other way to get out of here," he lamented in thought.

Shikamaru, being so out of it, couldn't bring himself to so much as lift a finger for his own sake, and for Ai, this was fortunate in him taking Shikamaru as a hostage.

The ANBU, not being trained to look out for fellow Shinobi, but rather to get the job done at hand, hesitated, knowing Shikamaru was no ordinary Shinobi of the Leaf, but the greatest strategist the village had. It would be unfortunate to lose him, they thought, and so they knew they needed to approach this differently than how they normally would.

"Hidan, you monster. You've already taken the life of this young Shinobi's Sensei and now you've come back to finish the job, it seems," one ANBU, in charge, stated behind his mask.

A look of subtle shock came upon Ai's face after hearing this. "H-Hidan killed his sensei...?" Ai faintly thought. "I can't... no, I can believe it, but... who would have imagined things would have turned out like... this."

As ai's eyes were directed toward the ground, being lost in his thoughts on such a strange twist of fate, the ANBU decided to capitalize on the moment.

"He's let his guard down!" One ANBU yelled, of the five present. They again rushed Ai, with one having thrown a kunai towards Ai's hand, injuring it, and making him drop his weapon, while also letting Shikamaru loose.

"Aaah!" Ai yelled. But he quickly performed his jutsu, though in pain, as he barely dodged the swipes and attacks of the ANBU Shinobi.

Once the ground began cracking, Ai knew it was his chance to make his way toward the exit of the village. "He's getting away!" One of the Shinobi yelled out, which seemed to snap Shikamaru out of his daze. He looked over in Ai's direction as he dashed.

"I can't do this. I can't stand and do nothing," Shikamaru thought to himself. "I have to stop this maniac at all costs. Why am I surprised that an immortal ninja returned? I should have expected this, but now... I can't worry about that. I have to stop him because if he gets away, another person will have to deal with his psychotic ways, and I'm not willing to let that happen." Shikamaru then prepared his Shadow Stitching technique to stop Ai from getting away.

But before it could reach him, steam was released into the air, which immediately made it hard for him to detect Ai's whereabouts.

"Damn, I should have done something sooner," Shikamaru thought with regret.

Meanwhile, with visibility now on his side, Ai continued to make his escape. He knew he'd have to be swift with getting out or else he'd soon be spotted again, since his jutsu covered only so much ground.

Ai held onto his still wounded shoulder, which was opposite to the injured hand he was using to hold it. "I'll have to find somewhere to patch these up and then lay low for awhile," he said rushing forward. Ai ground his teeth in frustration, guilt, and sadness. "Why did this have to happen? It was going so well, until... I should have known it'd be impossible for me to remain a Shinobi, but..." Ai recalled the promise he made to Hidan as a child. "I made a promise, and I plan to keep it, to honor the caring memory of my brother. Even if it's not with this village, I'm going to be the best Shinobi I can be, but first I have to make it out of here alive."

The ANBU and Shikamaru were quite lost in the steam jutsu, but Shikamaru was not at all content with letting an Akatsuki member slide out of his grip, and one he had felt such a deep hatred against. He would stop him, even if at the cost of his own life.

Shikamaru moved forward, though having no clue where to go, hoping soon he'd find his way through.

Outside of the steam, Hidden Leaf Shinobi were trying to figure out what the jutsu was exactly, and if it were an attack on their village. Many did their best to usher away civilians who were in awe at the steam's sudden and mysterious appearance, while other Shinobi reported to the Fifth with their limited findings, awaiting orders on what to do next.

Ai rushed forward, and as he dashed through his own jutsu, he soon came to it's end.

As suddenly as he appeared, the crowd was startled by Ai's presence as he shot passed them all. However, two of the Shinobi who were handling the crowd seemed to recognize the face that zipped by them, and gave each other a look mixed with terror and shock.

As Ai neared the village exit, he gave a small sigh of relief, believing his steam to have caused enough confusion to keep anyone else off his tail, but he so soon would realize this wasn't the case.

He was stopped by the two Shinobi who recognized him all too well.

It was Kotetsu and Izumo. After having seen his face, they had quickly surmised that he had to have been the cause of the mysterious steam, and that his having come running out of it like a mad man only showed as proof of this. They believed, as Leaf Shinobi, it was their duty to capture him, knowing he was up to no good and couldn't be allowed to walk free.

"So we meet again, you deranged bastard," Izumo spoke.

"And it looks like someone already got to him." Kotetsu noticed the wounds on Ai's hand and shoulder, by the blood that trickled down his arms.

"I don't have the skill to face every Shinobi in the Leaf," Ai thought to himself, as he tried to figure his way out of the situation. "Maybe I should just turn myself in? Maybe it'll give me a chance to explain everythi-"

But before Ai could finish his thought, Shikamaru came almost flying from behind him. He zipped straight passed Ai before turning himself to fully face him, as he stood alongside Izumo and Kotetsu blocking the exit.

The look in his eye was one of a stern determination, and as though he had every move he wanted to make fully planned out.

Before Ai was aware, Shikamaru had caught him in his shadow possession.

"Why can't I m-" Ai looked toward the ground and understood he had been caught. "Now what? Guess I have no choice but to try to turn myself in."

"Kotetsu, Izumo. Listen carefully. Now that I have him, I want you to hurry and cut his head off." Shikamaru spoke frankly to his comrades.

Ai was suddenly caught in a panic. "C-cut my head off...?"

"Don't just stand there! We don't have a lot of time with this guy; you know this better than any." Shikamaru barked his orders.

"Wait!" Ai pleaded.

"I have to tell you, I'm not-!" Ai was cut off mid sentence and suddenly in extreme pain because of Shikamaru's shadow stitching technique he was now using. It seemed to Ai as though he really wanted to make him suffer by putting him in such pain, rather than making certain he wouldn't escape his technique.

"Now Kotetsu, Izumo!" Shikamaru cried out.

Ai could do nothing to stop them rushing forth with their blades with his having been made immobile, and so he awaited his fate.

"So this is how it ends, huh? I try my hardest to fulfill my dream and it comes crashing down because of who they think I am," he thought.

But just before Kotetsu and Izumo's blade could strike Ai, the ANBU had arrived, and surprisingly to Ai, in his defense.

They then stood their ground between Ai and Kotetsu, Izumo and Shikamaru, preventing any further fighting.

"We have orders from the Hokage to take this monster away as a prisoner in one piece." One of the ANBU spoke.

"What!? Why!?" Shikamaru questioned in strong disbelief.

The ANBU Shinobi gave one another a look from behind their mask though none of the other Shinobi could tell what that meant.

"First," the ANBU in charge started in. "We have our orders, and we do not question them. Second, seeing that you already have him binded up, it would seem the best option would be to restrain him more securely from this point on, rather than risk any harm to civilians in the village with a full on battle."

Shikamaru was unwilling, but complied with the black ops order, knowing there wasn't much else he could do at that point.

After placing many binds on Ai, who was in pain from the open wounds on his body, they dragged him to certain quarters within the village where they awaited the Hokage's orders on what to do with him next, having set many guards over him, to keep an eye out until then.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, after having taken some time to calm his nerves from having faced Hidan again, decided to make his way to the Hokage's office to question why he was ordered to stop his assault on who he believed to be Hidan, a sadistic S-rank rogue ninja. He was bent on getting answers, whether the Fifth wanted him to know or not.

"What's this all about!?" he yelled as he barged into the Fifth's office. "I actually had him, and we were going to make him completely incapable of escaping or otherwise, so why'd you order us to stop?" He awaited her reply, as she excused the ANBU who had just given her the status report on the village, as well as feedback of the events that played out by witnesses; civilians and Shinobi, alike.

Though annoyed by his brazen questioning, Tsunade answered Shikamaru anyway, knowing how deeply this touched close to his heart, having lost his sensei to such a vile fiend as Hidan.

"To put it simply, I wanted to simplify the mission in capturing him within the village. I wanted none to be severely injured in getting this done, so I told the ANBU to put dismembering him aside."

Shikamaru paused with confusion, still feeling wound up about the situation.

"I knew it'd be easier to capture him in one piece, than trying to deal fatal blows to an immortal opponent."

"But it wasn't about trying to kill him, but to take away his movement so we wouldn't have to do anything of this all over again," Shikamaru explained, as though he felt such a thing should be obvious.

"Even still," Tsunade continued. "Had I actually known you, alone, would have caught him so easily, I might not have ordered a mission of simple detainment, and would have let you proceed. But, none of that matters now since we have the guy, and it seems he's in quite bit of pain after what you've done to him. He won't be making an escape anytime soon."

"None of it matters!?" Shikamaru was offended at the thought. "It all matters! The less of an advantage we let that bastard have over us, the better it'll be for our village and everyone who's had to suffer at his hands," he finished, almost shaking at his core.

Before Tsunade could reply to Shikamaru's outburst, which took her somewhat by surprise, an ANBU block op made his presence known.

"Forgive the intrusion, Lady Fifth, but there's something urgent to report."

"What is it?" Tsunade asked sternly.

"Hidan, he seems to be, well..." He paused. "He seems to be in denial of who he is."

"And just what's that supposed to mean?" Tsunade asked irately, not feeling up for dealing with anything trivial.

"Well, he says he's not Hidan, but instead is... his twin brother."

"Figures. A psychotic bastard like him would make up such things. He likes playing with people's minds." Shikamaru gave reply back almost directly after the black op spoke, not willing to believe or put up with anything that came from Hidan's mouth.

"Just why is this being reported when we know the history of this lunatic?" Tsunade was somewhat puzzled.

"Because he actually wants us to probe his mind, Lady Fifth."

This came as a shock to both Tsunade and Shikamaru. An Akatsuki member wanting a mind probe? What was his catch, they wondered. It had to be some sort of trick.

"No way. He probably has something up his sleeve. Its something he wants to trap us in. There's no way we can let one of the Yamanaka or anyone probe his thoughts. I'm certain he has some jutsu in place that keeps us from getting any truthful information from within his mind, and only what he wants us to believe. He is, after all, Akatsuki." Shikamaru said with a heated passion, thinking of Ino and her family being harmed by Hidan. He already lost one close friend to him, and he wasn't willing to lose another.

"Hmmm." Tsunade mulled over what she had just heard, along with the reports of the battle, as well as Ai's time in the village before the discovery.

"What do you mean, 'hmmm'?" Don't tell me you're actually considering what he says is true?" Shikamaru looked onto the Hokage in disbelief.

"Well, it was stated that he was caught fairly easy, too easy for a member of the Akatsuki, and-"

"That could very well be apart of his plan." Shikamaru cut Tsunade off as to dissuade what he believed her to be thinking. "He could have wanted to get caught, just so he could trick us into probing his mind."

"But for what reason?" Tsunade challenged him.

"I-I don't know yet." Shikamaru clenched his fist at the thought of Hidan still sitting in one piece in a cell, and at the thought of his own Hokage possibly believing any word that came from his mouth.

"As I was saying," Tsunade continued. "All the time he was in this village, why reveal himself now only to try to escape right after, as has been reported? I could believe it was some sort of espionage, but Hidan's not that kind of guy, is he? And you, yourself, reported how helpful and life saving he was on your mission to escort the pregnant woman you were protecting. To add to that, the technique he used..." she paused for thought. "I've never read a report saying that he could even do such a thing. None of this adds up to who we know Hidan to being."

"This isn't right. We can't fall into the enemy's hands, not again." Shikamaru pleaded with the Hokage, remembering back when Hidan used a bit of deception before to severely burn his sensei. "We can't just give him what he wants."

"Well how do you propose we go about this? From what we know up to now, his claim could very well be true, and we might have an innocent man locked up in a cell." Tsunade stood up from her seat, with her hands on her desk, in front of her. "I know how you feel about this Shikamaru, but as rational as you are, you can't let your bias be the ruling factor in your judgment toward this matter."

"I won't believe it, I can't. Not after what he's done." Shikamaru thought to himself. "He's lying... lying. He's an evil bastard and that's all he does."

Shikamaru gave an exasperated and troubled sigh.

"For all we know, this is just some ruse for something more elaborate in the works by the Akatsuki... but..." he continued. "If we're really going to take his claim into consideration, we should prove or disprove it our own way, and not his."

"What do you mean?" Tsunade inquired.

"We should go to where we know his body is or was buried, and dig up that spot. If we find him still there, then we'll know he's telling the truth, but if we don't, we can pin him for the liar and murderer he is."

Tsunade thought it over.

"All right then. I'll assemble the ANBU to check."

"No, I want to go and see for myself." Shikamaru objected.

Tsunade was taken aback by his comment.

"I know you'll probably say this is too personal for me, but understand that I have to do this, to see if what I buried long ago is still buried."

Tsunade gave a sigh, but reluctantly gave him permission.

"And I want to take him with me."

Tsunade was in more shock than before.

"Absolutely not! There's still a chance he's indeed the wanted S-rank criminal, Hidan! We should keep him locked away until absolutely certain."

"You were the one giving him the benefit of the doubt before, right?" Shikamaru stated, forcing Tsunade to remember her own words. "If you're really worried about him trying anything, then send ANBU to track us, since it seems he was having some trouble with them earlier."

"Fine." Tsunade again was reluctant, but gave in. "Even still, from what I've been told, he's pretty badly injured, so we may have let him heal some before sending him out anyway."

"No, he'll do fine. Just send a medical nin with me, who can look over him as we go, so we can quickly be done with this. If it really is Hidan, we don't want him trying to bolt after his wounds are healed."

Tsunade wasn't really liking all of what this plan was, but she was feeling like she had no other choice, as though Shikamaru wouldn't let the issue be handled her way, because he felt so strongly about doing it his way. He wasn't always like this, she knew, and was one to take orders as they were given, but if he really felt he needed to handle things this way, she did trust him; after all, he had been the one to bury Hidan in the first place.

She looked toward the ANBU black op who had been standing there quietly the whole conversation through.

"You and a few others will track Shikamaru as he goes to check Hidan's grave. Ino will be there also. If it's found that he's Hidan, take him down fast. But if found otherwise," Shikamaru looked Tsunade in the eye as she looked toward him, with Shikamaru not really believing there'd be an "otherwise". "You, Shikamaru are to bring him back as fast as possible to properly treat his injuries. Is that understood?"

"Sure." Shikamaru said somewhat bitterly. He couldn't bear the thought of treating the wounds of someone such as Hidan.

Ai was sitting in a cell, restrained tightly at his arms and legs, feeling like he could drift out of consciousness anytime, being still in pain.

"It's hurts so much. I wonder what they'll do to me. Why did they stop their attack? Did they believe when I said I wasn't Hidan, but was his twin?" So many questions and thoughts flooded his mind.

But even more questions were soon to come as he was brought out of his cell and told he'd be making a trip.

"You're going to be going with Shikamaru," the ANBU told him as he loosened his restraint. "Try anything funny, and we'll know," he then threatened.

"F-for what?" Ai asked, feeling shaken and battered.

"To see if what you say is true or false; if you're really Hidan, or just his brother. Personally, either way is still bad news to me," he finished telling him in a clearly spiteful manner.

Ai wondered how they'd confirm his words by making a trip. Were they going back to his village? It couldn't be that, Ai figured, because he believed they would just send a carrier bird for a message, and they might not believe his village anyway, seeing that Hidan came from there. Then where were they going, he wondered.

"Can I-I get some medical attention before I go?" Ai asked timidly.

The ANBU who stood by him waiting for Shikamaru to arrive looked Ai in the face, saying nothing, as though behind his mask he were staring at Ai for being so foolish as to ask.

Shikamaru soon made an appearance with Ino, and Ai found he'd be going with both.

"Where are we going?" Ai asked more urgently, somewhat fearful of the destination, without exactly knowing why.

"To see if you're who you say you are. We're going to your grave, Hidan. And when we find you're not in it, I guarantee, I will put you back." Shikamaru gave Ai a threatening and bitter look.

"My brother's grave?" Ai thought to himself. "I'm actually going to see him again... but, this wasn't how I wanted it."

As reluctant as Ai was to go, not wanting the last image in his head of his brother being his corpse, he knew he had no choice, and it was all he could do in order to prove who he was, to stay alive.

"I promised I would keep my dream alive, so I have to do this. They aren't giving me a choice, so I'll go through with it. I just hope I can muster the strength needed for the journey. These wounds Shikamaru gave me are pretty bad, and hurt like crazy."

Soon, within the same day, Ai and the rest were off, with the ANBU keeping themselves hidden as they trailed behind.

Ino and Shikamaru were on opposite sides of Ai as they slightly lead on, trying to make sure Ai didn't try to escape.

Ai winced his face in pain with each jump he made within the branches of the trees, as they headed toward the forest Shikamaru's family owned, while Shikamaru, on the other hand, held nothing but the face of one holding a grudge, knowing he truly wanted to bring Ai out there to bury him in the grave he thought was so rightfully his place. Just as soon as they dug up the dirt, he'd be going right back in there, he felt, but he'd bury his other body parts elsewhere so they'd never have to see Hidan come back again.

Though Ino was quiet about the situation, she had felt unsettled after hearing the news and especially after seeing Ai's face up close. She, too, wanted to finally finish Hidan off, but she couldn't help but feel something not quite being right. He just wasn't as she remembered Hidan, and part of her felt maybe, just maybe, he could have been truthful about who he actually was, though she didn't believe it'd be easy to convince Shikamaru of that.

But there was a chance, she believed, that reaching the grave of Hidan would clear things up for all of them, one way or the other.