After what felt like eternity searching, I finally could see the Akatsuki but of course they weren't alone. I could also see Team 10 along with Kakashi fighting the two. I suppressed my chakra as I got closer wanting to observe the fight first before engaging. I peeked over the cliff looking down at the two Akatsuki members. One had his whole face covered except for his eyes and the other had silver hair wielding a three bladed scythe. I reached for my bingo book searching for the two. I found the masked one first; Kakuzu.

Kakuzu native to the Village Hidden in the Waterfalls. Status: Missing Nin

I read through his bio seeing he was someone not to take lightly. His stats were almost five out of five making me want to focus on him more. I can't afford to hold back with this one. I looked down at my training weights thinking it was time to take them off. I flipped through again finding the next man; Hidan.

Hidan native to the Village Hidden in the Hot springs. Status: Missing Nin

The first thing that popped out at me was his religion, Jashinism. I know I've read about it and it explains the pentagrams that I found. It seems like the scythe has something to do with the ritual he does so I'll have to stay away from that. It looks like intelligence and speed are his weak points. I was torn from my thoughts when I heard someone scream.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" It sounded like Shikamaru.

I looked back over the cliff seeing Kakashi's hand in Kakuzu's chest then pulling it out. I eyed the man seeing his numbers never went down; they stayed still at five hundred.

"That's weird, five hundred? Five hundred what? Minutes? Months? Years?" I wondered as I began to take off my weights.

"One thrust to the heart huh! Don't be getting killed so instantly stupid!" His partner cried out.

Kakashi turned towards the other with fury in his eyes. He formed his lightning blade again heading towards Hidan but Kakuzu came and kicked him in the stomach which sent him flying.

"How isn't he dead? Didn't Kakashi strike him in the heart?"

"Alright! Let's hurry up and end this!!" Hidan shouted.

"That's my intention." Kakuzu said unbuttoning his cloak and throwing it off.

I looked at his back seeing four different colored masks embedded to his skin but one was cracked; must've been where Kakashi hit it. They started to move and jumped from his back forming into what looked like bodies made from thread.

"Wh-what is that!? Why doesn't he die?!" Choji asked surprised.

"Who knows...but with these guys, I'm not surprised by the little stuff anymore." Shikamaru replied.

"I can finally move." Hidan said. "So..let's kill them guys. "Jashin-sama, please watch me! I'm gonna go all out! Fucking seriously! I'm gonna drag out their innards!!"

Not even a few minutes out of his body, one of Kakuzu's monsters died. It had to have been because Kakashi struck his heart before.

"So each body has it's own heart? I can see that each of them had their own timer above their heads but it doesn't look like they'll last long." I looked over at Kakuzu. "His numbers went down too, now it's two hundred"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! One of them fucking is already dead! You're pathetic!" Hidan shouted once more pointing his scythe at it.

"Hidan, step back a bit. I'll take care of this." Kakuzu warned.

"Jus...wait! Wait! We've been getting beaten since earlier and I'm pissed! Let's do it with the usual!"

Hidan then jumped to attack Kakashi as Kakuzu's blue masked monster sent out a huge blast of wind towards them both. I shielded my eyes from the blast as did the others. The yellow mask sent lightning towards Choji and Shikamaru but Kakashi flashed in front of them able to absorb the lightning.

"Sensei, are you okay!?" Ino asked jumping to his side.

"Yeah..somehow..."

Then Kakuzu made his fire type shoot out fire towards the four making a huge explosion but they all jumped out of the way. As Kakashi jumped, Hidan jumped up from behind him ready to slice. Kakashi took out a kunai and deflected it.

"You're the first one that we couldn't kill using those steps...Hatake..Kakashi." Hidan said appearing behind him ready to slice through.

"You alright, Kakashi-sensei?" Choji asked.

"They're teamwork's flawless." Ino commented.

"Your chidori definitely got him. How is he not dead?" Choji questioned.

"If I'd gotten his heart, he would be. But what I actually hit was one of those masked monsters living inside him. I think that it died in his place."

"Same as when he escaped the shadow mimic shuriken jutsu." Shikamaru said.

As they all talked, the Akatsuki members just stood there listening.

"Why aren't they attacking? They're wasting time. I thought the Akatsuki were professionals."

"I guess we have to be careful. Now with the masked one there was some beating heart thing in the middle of the mass acting on its own. This is just a guess but I'd say each one of those monsters has its own heart. And they all feed back to him. So essentially, he's got five hearts." Shikamaru explained.

"You keep impressing me, kid. You're absolutely right, they all contain hearts taken from shinobi I've killed. I'll have to stock back up and you guys should do nicely." Kakuzu said.

"How's it feel to realize your opponents are immortal?!" Hidan exclaimed with a disturbing tone. "Enough with the yakkin over there! Let's do this!"

I could see the two members about to head for Kakashi who I knew was starting to reach his limit. They went for the kill and something overcame me. I couldn't let Kakashi die... he saved my life. I moved from my spot creating a clone and with my new speed, I flashed in front of Kakashi while my clone got behind him blocked both attacks catching the Akatsuki off guard.

"What the?" Hidan exclaimed as he jumped back as did Kakuzu who jumped to his partner's side. "Who's the hot chick? Another Leaf Shinobi?" He questioned followed by a whistle as he looked up and down my body.

"If you were more observant, you'd see the Sound headband on her belt." Kakuzu spat.

"Ko, what are you doing here?" Ino growled probably still angry that I took her precious Sasuke away.

I turned to look at them with my glowing eyes which made them cower a bit. "Official business courtesy of Orochimaru," I replied turning back to the two Akatsuki members.

"Why did you save me?" Kakashi questioned curiosity in his voice as he looked up at me.

"A life for a life Kakashi, now my debt is repaid." I responded not wanting to look at him. I broke these bonds long ago; I can't let them resurface.

"Heh so Orochimaru sends some brat to take care of us?! That bastard is growing senile!" Hidan laughed but Kakuzu was studying me.

"Not just some brat, a brat with a huge bounty on her head." Kakuzu commented. "I believe she's the one Itachi told us about when he went after the nine tails."

Shikamaru ran towards Hidan taking him head on while I ran towards Kakuzu. We may be enemies but right now, we had a common one. I was in front of him within a blink of an eye thanks to my new speed but he blocked my kick. I jumped away before he could retaliate as my clone snuck up behind him trying to stab his heart but she was easily defeated. I did a few back flips landing a few feet away from the Leaf shinobi watching as Kakuzu held out his arm making the threads emerge from under his skin.

"When I look at your forehead protectors," he started, "it reminds me of the first Konaha shinobi I fought with...The First Hokage."

My eyes widened, no wonder his numbers haven't gone down. Those creatures must be what keep him alive.

"You're truly an immortal?" Kakashi questioned with shock.

"No, there's no such thing in this world, but by stocking up on the hearts of others before my own stops beating I've somehow been able to live longer. By using the living hearts of the stronger shinobis' to replace those from the weaker ones. The number of hearts I can stock is five, including my own. Kakashi...the heart you destroyed; I'll replace it with yours."

I saw the creatures about to merge and once they did, they were about to combine an attack. I didn't care for my former comrades so I jumped out of the way without a warning. The fire and wind used a combination blasting a huge ball of fire towards them which the wind powered making it bigger and more wild. Kakashi attempted to put out the flames with his water jutsu but it was impossible, so he was hurled back as well.

Kakuzu attempted to grab me with his threads but I took out my sword slicing them away so he turned his attention to Kakashi grabbing him with them. Suddenly, just as he was about to take out Kakashi's heart, he grabbed his chest in pain. I took this advantage to kick him away sending him tumbling on the ground. Kakashi explained how they took his blood knowing Hidan needed it for his ritual tricking him into ingesting his own partner's blood.

"Impressive Shikamaru, and I thought you were always dumb."

They thought it was over and Kakuzu was done for but I knew better. I was prepared for when his creatures both jumped into his body making his limbs expand out to fit all the thread. His life expectancy number grew once again to three hundred. He was able to catch the three Leaf Shinobi with his threads but I moved underground dodging it. I appeared behind him as he readied a jutsu but I made my own.

"Earth style: Rock Thorn Bed!" I shouted slamming my palms to the ground.

The ground began to shake as the thorns grew around Kakuzu but he jumped out of the way taking the three shinobi with him. When he landed, the three were slammed to the ground crying out in pain. Kakuzu directed his fire and wind technique towards me but I was already done weaving hand signs.

"Wind style: Barrage Tornados!"

My tornados emerged but I converged them into one sucking up the flames turning it into a flaming tornado which was traveling straight for Kakuzu. As he dodged the attack, I could see four familiar shinobi getting closer to our location.

"Great, more Leaf."

I summoned chakra into my sword making it ignite on fire. I swung it towards him as the line of fire expanded making it a wall. He lunged to the right but the flames were still expanding managing to burn his left side.

"You're impressive kid, no wonder that snake sent you against us." He commented. "Who are you to Orochimaru? I must know if the rumors are true."

I saw a figure appear in the distance only watching the fight. I've seen it appear a few times during the fight making me curious on who it was.

"I'm his daughter," I answered proudly as I lunged towards him with my sword.

"So they are true." He said as he sent his thread towards me.

I used my blade to cut them down but soon there were more and more making me unable to catch up. They started to pierce my skin over and over making me cough up blood then started to whip me so I quickly made hand signs.

"Ninja a-art: N-Needle Jizo!" I choked out as the threads were still whipping me.

My spiked hair grew around my body protecting it from his attacks giving me enough time to think. He was about to make his threads recede back into his skin so I dropped my jutsu. I didn't even process what had happened but I was on the ground with pressure on my back.

"Seems like my speed is too fast for those little eyes to handle." He said from above me putting more weight on my back.

He bent down yanking my hair and pulled me up to face him. I looked to my left seeing my one sword then looked back at him as I reached my hand out to my side. I sent out a chakra string wrapping it around the hilt but Kakuzu punched my stomach making me fly backwards towards my former comrades along with my sword.

I landed on my knees then looked up seeing my sword flying towards me. I held out my hand catching it by the blade cutting it in the process. I reached into my bag pulling out a scroll summoning Sinju.

"A puppet master also? You're full of surprises." He commented as he walked closer.

I sent Sinju out making her pick up my sword in the process. I flicked my left middle finger making her stomach open revealing a flame thrower device. Flames shot towards the Akatsuki member which he countered with a wind jutsu extinguishing the flames. He sent his threads towards her but I made her use my sword cutting them down before they could wrap around her.

Sinju circled around him with her joints cackling almost as if she were laughing. I flicked my right pointer finger making her arm completely open with weapons lodged inside. As she circled him, she released the weapons but his threads started to extend coming towards me. I sent Sinju towards the still tied up Leaf Shinobi breaking the chakra strings so I could dodge his attack. I quickly made hand signs summoning a clone then I went underground letting her take the heat.

He was behind my clone kicking her forward towards the threads which starting to whip her soon making her disappear. I appeared a couple feet behind him and reached behind me getting my other sword. He turned around sending more of the threads towards me so started to cut the threads once more. This was much more difficult than I thought honestly making me glad that the Leaf were here to handle Hidan. If I were up against both of them, I probably would've been defeated.

"Wind style: Slicing Blade!" I shouted swinging my sword towards Kakuzu.

He couldn't process my jutsu in time. I had already sliced him in half destroying the wind mask meaning I must've gotten another heart.

"Fire style: Flame killing Boundaries,"

I put my fingers up to my mouth spewing large flames towards Kakuzu who dodged each one with ease despite reforming his body from my last attack. His final mask blew a giant ball of fire towards me making my eyes widen. There wasn't anywhere to dodge so I weaved hand sign after hand sign.

"Earth style: Mud wall!" I slammed my hands into the ground with as much chakra as I could making it surround me then started to weave more using the last of my chakra. "Ninja art: Needle Jizo!" I finished just in time for my hair to completely cover me before the flames hit.

I heard my wall start to crack then burst followed by the force of the heat hitting my shield. The heat was intense making me start to sweat instantly. The flames started to push me back but it suddenly stopped. I started to let my jutsu recede but just as it started to, Kakuzu took the opportunity to kick my side sending me flying. I opened my eyes seeing he was already in front of me and kicked my jaw. I heard a crack followed by immense pain; he must've broken it.

I rolled on the ground finally landing on my back clutching my jaw. The threads once more came towards me so I tapped into my necklace releasing the chakra that was store in it and weaved more signs.

"Ninja art: Multiple shadow snakes!" I shouted throwing my arms towards him as hundreds of snakes went for the kill.

They were easily destroyed as Kakuzu lunged towards me with his hand now turning gray punching my abdomen possibly breaking some ribs. I cried out in pain as I landed but didn't have time to think of my next move since the threads wrapped around my body pulling me up to Kakuzu's face.

"Seems like he sent you on a suicide mission going after the Akatsuki little girl," he chuckled. "Guess he didn't care that much about you, now I can take my prize." He finished lifting me up higher so his hand could reach my heart. If it weren't for back up closing in, I would've been dead.

"Hope we're not too late." I heard Naruto say from behind me.

"Just in time," Kakashi breathed in relief.

Kakuzu turned his attention from me to Naruto lowering his arm away from my chest.

"Sakura, Sai, even Naruto." Ino said.

"Re-reinforcements. We're saved!" Choji cheered.

"This is the first time I've seen you lose your cool, Senpai. These opponents must be quite strong." Yamato commented. "I see Orochimaru is involved also." He said most likely noticing me.

"Yes, but she did buy you some time. We would've been dead already if not for Ko." Kakashi responded with a tone I didn't recognize...no I did, it was pride. Why is he proud of me?

"Hm so I guess we don't need to go to Konaha. The Nine Tails came to me." He said dropping me to the ground making me cry out in pain.

"What about Shikamaru?" Naruto asked his friends.

"He's fighting their partner." Choji answered.

"Hurry and get a two-man cell to Shikamaru one should be a medical ninja." Kakashi said summoning Pakkun.

"Right! Sai and Sakura, follow Pakkun and back up Shikamaru." The Yamato commanded.

"Yes captain!" Sakura and Sai said in unison.

"Hehe, you've brought more hearts to me." Kakuzu said.

"Leave these guys to me." Naruto said with confidence.

"Did you complete the jutsu?" Kakashi questioned Yamato.

I looked over at the Shinobi mostly focusing on Naruto. It seemed like he did grow stronger since the last time I saw him even more confident making me curious to see his new jutsu.

"No, it's about half strength." Yamato answered.

"I see."

"However, see for yourself. That's not the Naruto you once knew!"

Naruto made some shadow clones testing out Kakuzu's abilities.

"Looks like he got smarter too, using his clones to test his opponent's strengths." I thought as I painfully crawled away from the Akatsuki member not wanting to get in the way.

"Mass shadow clones," Kakuzu confirmed eyeing each one.

"Can you brief me on the situation and their abilities?" The man asked.

"We're up against two members of Akatsuki. Shikamaru is fighting one and his back up is on the way obviously. The other is right in front of you. His main ability is splitting off parts of his body, he started this battle with five hearts. We've destroyed two so far while Ko took out one."

"Excuse me?"

"Basically, we've killed him three times already and we have to kill him two more times to win. He's a mid range fighter and can use high level jutsu of every element."

"Naruto!" The Jonin called.

"I heard him!" Naruto yelled back running towards Kakuzu.

Naruto's clones then got caught by Kazuku's wires and disappeared. I used this time to summon more chakra from my necklace so I could start healing my injuries.

"Are shadow clones all you got? That's not enough kid." Kakuzu said.

He made more clones he made Rasengan but it was different and made a weird sound. I looked over seeing it was much bigger and brighter with what looked like blades spinning.

"This is the best..I can do for now.." Naruto said as his clones disappeared.

"What..what jutsu is that?" Kakuzu asked.

"WIND ELEMENT RASENGAN!" Naruto shouted. "We're going to decide it with this!"

He and his clones ran towards Kakuzu who stayed in place while I tried to crawl even further away. Whatever the jutsu was, it screamed danger.

"So this is the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki's power...it's a monstrous jutsu."

One clone jumped and tried to stab him with a kunai but a thread hit him which made him disappear. Then as the others were coming, they got blasted by the fire element but the real Naruto came running at him with his Rasengan but just as he was about to hit Kazuku but it wore out.

"A miss," Yamato said.

"Just like the unpredictable ninja to do this. Yamato!" Kakashi said running towards Naruto.

"Yeah!"

Kakuzu caught Naruto. "I'll take your heart!" He shouted pulling him closer.

But Kakashi cut the wires and wood appeared going through part of Kakuzu. Then the wood came towards Kakuzu but it missed.

"From a name like Rasen Shuriken, I thought you'd throw it..so why do you have to run and hit him with it?" Choji asked once Naruto landed besides them.

"What are you trying to say?!?! It's awesome if I can hit him!" Naruto yelled.

"Even though it's called a Rasen Shuriken, it has to be a direct hit from a zero distance. That's why the basics of this jutsu is using shadow clones as a feint, but..." Yamato said.

"The new jutsu's time limit is still too short. It only lasts a few seconds." Kakashi finished.

"You can't hit him with that with that guy as an opponent..."

"Let me do this one more time." Naruto pleaded. "I'll decide this with my new jutsu."

"The opponent is Akatsuki if you do the same thing, he'll just dodge it!" Ino said.

"Now that the jutsu has been exposed it won't work anymore. Let's all do this together." Choji said.

"That is true...in this situation right now it's five against one, maybe six if Ko decides to help again. There's no need to cross a dangerous bridge." Kakashi told them.

"Kakashi-sensei. Do you remember what you said to me during my training? That "the only shinobi that can surpass the fourth Hokage is you... That's what I believe."" He quoted. "Okay! It's ready! Keep going!"

Naruto went to hit Kakuzu but he jumped out of the way. Then another one came out of hiding and hit him dead on.

"GOTCHA!" Naruto said.

There was a huge explosion sending me rolling on the ground grunting in pain. Once I stopped, I looked up seeing Kakuzu in the air shaking and getting hit by multiple blue things.

"GGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He screamed in pain making my eyes widen. It was hitting every chakra point in his body.

When it finally stopped, he fell to the ground in a huge crater.

"Hehe alright..I did it." Naruto laughed.

Then they started to help Naruto and Ino healed him. But Naruto go up and faced me.

"We still have her left." He said with disgust making everyone stare at me.

I at least healed my jaw making me able to talk again. I didn't want to fight any of them; my mission was finished and I needed to get back to Father. I honestly was scared that if I did fight them, I'd end up like Kakuzu.

"My mission was only to defeat the Akatsuki members, since you did that for me I'll be leaving." I said getting up but winced in pain at my broken ribs.

"Ko!" Kakashi called out making me turn towards him. "I know you were forced into this; you don't have to go back...to me, you're still part of Team 7."

His words did mean something to me reminding me when Kitty said the same thing but I was too deep in the darkness. I looked over at him and my former teammates seeing they did have hope in their eyes.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, it's too late for me." My voice was almost a whisper and didn't bother to hide that I was upset with this predicament. I can't be forgiven for everything I did.

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Edited: 2/20/2021