The following day, I was already deployed for another mission. Naruto was sent about two days ago after our dinner at Ichiraku, but I wasn't sure about the specifics of his mission. Today, I was sent on my mission alone. A small village near the Land of Hot Water requested help because a person was killing people for no reason.

Walking through the forest, I wondered who would do something so unsettling. I couldn't shake the feeling of unease, knowing that this person was likely already inside the village. They seemed dangerous, but I was determined to stop them from harming more innocent people.

After all, Lady Tsunade sent me for a reason. 

I walked to the entrance and saw two men standing by the gate. Their faces were almost panicked, but they breathed a sigh of relief when they recognized my headband. 

"You must be the Leaf ninja we requested help from," The first spoke. "I'm glad you're here. My name is Raizo, and this is my partner, Hide," 

"My name is Hana," I replied, following them inside the village. 

The villagers eyed me with suspicion, but I knew they were just worried because of the random killings happening. The air was tense and thick with anxiety.

"It's awful," Hide sighed as we walked to the tower where the feudal lord stayed. "We used to have lots of tourists, but we had to close the tourist attractions, and now we worry for the safety of the children here,"

I couldn't help but feel angry hearing that. 

"And our men have already died trying to stop them," Raizo added. 

"Well, I'll stop them," I said, causing them both to look at me with surprise and disbelief. 

"Uh, no offense, but I don't think you can take them down by yourself, given how dangerous they are," Raizo replied. "We have others who will come with you to stop them,"

"I was sent for a reason, you know," I said determinedly. "I won't let a couple of low lives get me,"

Hide and Raizo opened the feudal lord's tower doors and let me through first. I quietly thanked them, and they continued to lead me down the hall.

We stopped at the door at the end of the hall, and Raizo knocked. He opened it when we heard a "come in," the feudal lord was sitting at his desk, eyebrows furrowed with stress. He looked at my headband and raised an eyebrow.

"So, the Slug Queen sent you?" He asked, almost sounding disappointed.

"You don't sound pleased," I replied as respectfully as possible.

"Well, I don't mean to offend you, miss, but I was hoping for someone like Kakashi of the Sharingan or Asuma Sarutobi. I have a feeling who this person is, and someone with their skillset could definitely take them down," He said. "Someone as young as you might see their demise with him,"

"Well, I happen to be the same age as them," I said. "I know I may not seem much, but Lady Tsunade sent me here for a reason. They are both on a mission right now and couldn't be called in,"

I was surprised that he thought I was younger than them and at how much he underestimated me. If I told him my last name, he would probably stop underestimating me, but there's no need for that. 

"Very well," He sighed. "I'll debrief you, but I will be sending Raizo and Hide along with you,"

I internally rolled my eyes at how much he was underestimating me.

"I have a feeling who this individual is," The daimyo started. "Long ago, there used to be a young boy here who would get into trouble frequently. He was always getting into fights, and when he was older, he murdered people in cold blood because of a cult he joined. He wasn't happy with the way our village was turning out and murdered more people. We went to great lengths to stop him, but it failed."

Raizo and Hide tensed as the daimyo told the story.

"How do you know for sure it's the same boy?" I asked.

"There was a symbol of the cult near one of the crime scenes," He replied. "However, the body was missing,"

This man sounded sick.

"Well, don't worry because I'll stop him," I said, clenching my fists.

How could someone do that?

"The last person that reported the murder stated that there were two of them this time. Please be careful; there's no telling if they are disgusting themselves here." 

The daimyo dismissed us three, and I was more than ready to stop them.

"Where do we start looking?" I asked Raizo as we left the building.

"The last murder happened near the hot springs, so we should check there," He replied.

I followed him to the hot springs and immediately noticed the dried blood on the ground. Based on how it was dried, it looked like it had taken place about two days ago. 

We investigated the area, and nothing was found so far. 

"Any clues where we could look?" Hide asked Raizo.

Raizo shrugged.

"What if they're not even in the village?" I asked. "With all the attention that's been attracted, it's likely that they went to hide out,"

"That does make sense," Hide agreed. "It doesn't hurt to look on the outskirts,"

We walked toward the outskirts and continued to investigate. Somehow, Raizo had gotten separated from us, and Hide was worried about him the entire time.

"I just hope nothing happened to him," Hide sighed.

The sun started to set, and I immediately sensed two powerful chakra signatures as we explored deeper into the forest. My heart began to race as I cautiously drew closer.

Hide noticed it, too, and clenched his jaw as he followed me. We hid inside a shrub near a clearing that was darker. They were definitely there.

I took a deep breath and looked at Hide as we hid inside the shrubs. "Ready?"

He nodded slowly. Neither of us knew what to expect. 

We walked onto a clearing, and sure enough, the two most notorious criminals stood: Kakuzu and Hidan of the Akatsuki. They were listed in the bingo book, so it wasn't hard to tell who they were. My instincts screamed danger, but I refused to let fear get to me. Kakuzu was a bounty hunter, which explains why the bodies went missing. 

I narrowed my eyes at them and dug my nails into my palms. "Your killing spree here is done, you two!"

Kakuzu stared at me and Hide with intensity. I could tell that sent shivers down Hide's spine, but I didn't want to show fear toward them. He just sighed, "So a meddling little Leaf Village brat,"

Hidan grabbed his scythe, his sharp eyes anticipating my move as he grinned with excitement. 

"Shit, that IS Hidan," Hide panicked.

"I don't recognize this one," Kakuzu said nonchalantly. "I've never seen her in the bingo book, so she's probably not worth killing,"

Hidan's eyes gleamed with a sadistic delight. "That's all you care about, money. Let me play with this one, then; I like her spirit. She'll be fun for me to kill and will definitely make Lord Jashin happy,"

I held out the palm of my hand, forming a rasengan.

"No, don't engage with them!" Hide exclaimed. "You don't know what he's capable of!"

I ignored Hide, running towards Hidan to hit him with my rasengan. He quickly grabbed his scythe, slashed my shoulder with it, and dug the blades into my skin. 

I did my best not to show pain, but when he dug the three blades into my skin, it stopped me. 

"See what happens when you get too cocky?" Hidan snickered.

"You're one to talk," Kakuzu snorted.

Hidan's expression dropped at that comment, and he looked irritated at Kakuzu.

"Shut the hell up! You're not even in this fight!"

Hidan pulled the blades out of my shoulder,r and my blood dripped off of it, staining the ground. Kakuzu made another snarky comment to Hidan, causing Hidan to shout at him again. I used that opportunity to form another rasengan and hit him in the chest, causing him to fly back. 

He was caught off guard by my attack.

"You bitch!" Hidan spat after landing on a tree. "That wasn't polite of you at all to interrupt my conversation like that!"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not here to be polite, jackass,"

Hidan's annoyance faded, and he started laughing sadistically. "I'm glad you're feisty; it would be boring if I had to deal with a square. It's too bad you're a Leaf Village pawn because you should repent and join the ways of Lord Jashin,"

"And end the lives of innocent people? As if!" I scoffed, clutching the spot where his scythe dug into my shoulder. "What kind of god allows that?!"

Hidan's expression changed again, and he seemed angry that I insulted his god. "You really should reconsider. Now that you insulted Lord Jashin, I'm forced to kill you faster,"

Hide charged at Hidan and ended up getting slashed by the scythe. Hidan dug the scythe into his body and flung it away. 

"Stay out of this fight, pest!" Hidan exclaimed. 

That made me even angrier, and I quickly formed hand signs. Why is Hidan treating this like a game?

"Water style: Water dragon jutsu!"

A giant dragon made of water lunged toward Hidan. He jumped to dodge it and swung his scythe at me again, this time cutting deeply into my arm. I hissed through the pain, trying my best not to let it stop me from stopping him.

I quickly formed another hand sign, wincing at the throbbing pain of my wounds. "Water style, water whip!"

A water whip formed, and I used my chakra again to fuse my lightning style. I swung the whip to Hidan, and it managed to hit him. He grunted in pain when the electricity shocked him repeatedly.

I hoped this one would stop him and wrap it around his body this time. 

"This weak attack won't kill me!" Hidan said, still being shocked by the electricity. 

"We'll see about that," I retorted, forming a rasengan to hit him.

I hit him in the chest with it, and his head blew off from the impact. I looked over at Hide, whose eyes were wide with shock.

"Y-You did it..." He choked out.

"I-"

I stopped my sentence when Hidan started talking. I turned my head and realized he was talking even though he was decapitated. He looked over at Kakuzu. "Can you please sew my head back?"

I stared in disbelief at this. What the hell happened?

Kakuzu walked over to Hidan and uncaringly grabbed him by the hair, causing Hidan to yell in pain and curse at him. 

"That hurts, you ass!" 

"Shut up. You caused this yourself because you wanted to fight so bad."

"You're the one who said she wasn't worth killing," Hidan bickered with Kakuzu as his head was getting stitched back together. 

When Hidan was back put together, he moved his neck from side to side and picked his scythe off the ground to fight again. 

"Don't be so surprised, Leaf pawn. I-"

He stopped talking and then looked over at Kakuzu with a knowing look. I raised an eyebrow at the sudden change.

"Sorry, Leaf pawn, we have to go. It was fun fighting with you, but I'll have to sacrifice you another time. You got lucky because I can't kill any more people for a while now." 

With that, Hidan turned to leave with Kakuzu.

"Hey, wait!" I shouted, about to run after them.

They both raised their hands to form a seal and poofed away. 

Where the hell did they go, and what had just happened? Did that really put a stop to them killing people in the village?

Hide coughed up blood, snapping me out of that, and I rushed over to him and gripped my shoulder to suppress the pain.

"We need to return."

Hide nodded, and we both walked back to the village. Raizo's whereabouts were still unknown. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry again for the hiatus. I've been hella busy with college because I'm trying to be a dental hygienist. I'll try updating; I wrote my first-ever Tokyo Revengers smut on Tumblr if anyone is interested lol it's for Draken. It's the same username here, and I don't know if I got Hidan's past accurate, but it's been a hot minute since I've watched Naruto, and I tried to get as close as possible.