Inevitable
Chapter 28

"I don't thinkI've ever been to Kusagakure before," Ameji said, trying to think of allthe missions she had been on while she lived in Konoha.

"I've only beenthere a few times, but I doubt that anyone would immediately recogniseme," Itachi shrugged.

"That girl, Suttefani,looks kind of familiar…"

"I think she'sbeen on missions with Konoha squads a few times. If my memory is correct, sheis mainly a messenger and sometimes is sent as a guard for her Kage."

"Is she powerful?

"How would Iknow? I got my information from the Hokage. If there was an unfamiliar kunoichichakra in our village and she was pretty much radiating power, then I wouldknow."

They were silent afterthat for a few hours of running through trees in the direction of their target.Each thought of different reasons as to why Pain would want to keep this girlalive. If it was just because she had to be interrogated, they could do it or Zetsucould step in and do it quickly due to his quick modes of transportationthrough the ground.

Deciding to just dropthe subject of their thoughts, they instead focused on the journey. Amejisutohad brought the food this time instead of dropping by small towns and buyingwhatever for the day. She pulled out an energy pill every once in a while andalways offered some to Itachi, though he never needed them and declined theoffer.

After a few days ofalmost non-stop running and jumping, the pill supply was starting to get lowand the brunette stopped taking them. "These just can't be good for yourhealth, can they?" she started slowing down and not being as precise as towhere she landed on the next branches, almost falling off a few times. Itachinoticed and shook his head. Why hadn't she said anything? "I mean, itwould probably be like drinking six hundred red bulls with all the pills I'vetaken in the past few days. I'm expecting a heart attack soon."

"We should getsome natural energy by resting up when we get to the next small town. Thereshould be one only a few minutes away," Itachi assured, trying not to be aparticipant in a growingly paranoid girl's worrying.

She was a strongkunoichi with a lot of chakra that would at least protect her insides. Gettingover these unnatural energy bursts would be easy.

They were nearing thetown and once it came into sight, Amejisuto gasped in delight. Though she wasexhausted, she immediately perked up at the beautiful view.

It looked kind of likeAirin, where they went on her traditional birthday mission, in the way of itbeing more of a resort town. "We're staying here?"

"Yes, we needrest. I doubt that Kakuzu would be too mad about us not replaceing the cheapestmotel ever, especially after he just recently got all that money from thebounty he brought in about a week ago," Itachi smirked, leading the way tothe nearest hotel. "We can probably stay here for a bit in the morninginstead of rushing off."

The Ishi nodded andsmiled. "This will be a nice small break."

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"You know, youcan go grave-robbing and get that Asuma guy," Hidan said, trying to gethis partner in a better mood so he would stop cutting off his limbs every fewhours because of a few words that set him off. Being cut up in the middle of aforest wasn’t fun; twigs and pine needles occasionally got stuck to hisinsides.

"I may be aruthless killer that will do anything for money, but I am also not an idiotunlike you," Kakuzu mentioned nonchalantly, like he hadn't just calledHidan an idiot, though the albino wouldn't be able to do anything but get madanyways.

"How is it a badidea?" Hidan growled.

"He is mostlikely buried in Konohagakure grounds. It would be like walking into a deathtrap. We may be extremely powerful, but we would still have odds against us.There are ways of defeating us, andthey would replace them." Kakuzu paused in his walking and quickly jumped upinto the trees.

"What thehe-" The Jashinist was interrupted by an explosion that circled aroundhim, burning him slightly. After a few seconds the clouds of smoke disappeared,revealing the same teenagers that participated in his previous fight, and atall man with silver hair and a mask. Hidan knew him but he couldn't quite puthis finger on where from…

Turning back to theexplosion situation, the albino looked up behind him. "You could've warnedme you bastard."

"If you can'tsense a trap, then you shouldn't be a ninja," the old man hopped down fromthe trees and spotted the squad. "Oh look, the children are back."

"And this time,we're going to defeat you," the spiky-ponytail kid - Shikamaru - spoke.

"Alright, amuseus," Hidan smirked, launching himself into battle first facing off withthe Nara.

Kakuzu looked annoyed,staying back for a few minutes as a one-on-one fight went on between hispartner and the shadow user, before deciding that he might as well fight. Thequicker he won, the quicker he would be able to search for more valuable ninja.

He sent wires from hisarms toward the three other onlookers who reacted quickly, taking out kunai andblocking. The silver haired ninja ran at him, hoping for a close combat battle.Kakuzu smirked underneath his mask as he recognized Kakashi Hatake, the onlynon-Uchiha with a sharingan and copier of over a thousand jutsu's. He was worthquite a bit; possibly even more than Asuma Sarutobi.

In one of the Konohaninja's hands, he saw a few sparks erupt into a ball of lightning that he couldhold in his palm. It was quite loud, sounding like a mix of metal clashingtogether and birds chirping. 'So this is the famous chidori attack,'Kakuzu thought, deciding to have a bit of fun with his opponent.

Kakashi could barelybelieve it as the Akatsuki member didn't defend himself, letting him shove apalm full of lightning through his heart. The man fell over and the copy ninjastared in disbelief. "He went down so easily."

"WaitKakashi-sensei, didn't Hidan go down easily at first last time too?" Inoremembered.

"Oh, the blonde'sgot a bit of a brain in there." Hidan smirked at the girl's upset look.

"Don't focus onher, focus on me!" Shikamaru distracted him, sending shadows that swirledaround his opponent and shot up, solidifying in spikes that pierced theimmortal.

"Why youbrat," he growled. Shikamaru straightened up and fled deeper into theforest they were in with Hidan following closely behind, leaving Ino, Choji,Kakashi and Kakuzu in the clearing.

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"You incompetentchild, get back here and fight me. Stop running like a scaredy-cat!" thealbino yelled.

"Oh wow, someactual intellectual vocabulary does sitin your brain," Shikamaru taunted, making sure to insult and aggravate theJashinist as often as possible in order to keep him on his trail. They reacheda point much deeper in the forest. An extremely familiar point to the genius. 'We're here.'

"Why you little-"Hidan was slightly confused when the teen whirled around, a determined andslightly smug look was etched on his face.

"Do you have anyidea where we are?" he grinned.

"In a forest.What, do you think I'm a moron?" Hidan spat, getting ready to attack again.

"Actually,yes."

The Akatsuki memberwas taken by surprise as he found he couldn't move his body at all. He lookeddown and noticed there were shadows all around them, and some were under theyoung ninja’s control, having climbed up Hidan's body while he was distracted andtightening in the exact spot that Shikamaru had planned.

"You're in theNara district. My clan's forest. The deer here are our eyes and ears, and if wewish it, no one can escape this area."

"What are youtalking about? I will escape with no trouble," Hidan started to panic,trying to wiggle out of the grasp of the shadows.

Shikamaru threw apaper bomb at the ground and lifted the Jashinist slightly with the shadows,revealing a large hole that was now under him. "You're partner is right.You shouldn't be a ninja - you fall for traps too easily." He then threwseveral dormant paper bombs onto the strands of shadows that held Hidan andopened the lighter Asuma gave him quite a while before when he wanted to quitsmoking for his unborn child. He flicked it and a small flame poured out of thetip.

"Try to escapewhen you're in a thousand pieces," he threw the lighter at the bombs.

The reaction wasimmediate; all the bombs went off, more powerful than they would have withoutthe aid of the flame. It was an instant chain reaction. Dirt, leaves, rocks andpieces of Hidan all fell into the hole at different moments, mixing theJashinist's remains up enough for it to be impossible to reassemble himself. Hethen placed paper bombs around the outside of the hole, making them explode andcave in to fill it.

"I wonder how theothers are doing," Shikamaru mumbled. "I should go help them...”

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Kakashi and Kakuzuwere in a heated battle once the former realised that the Akatsuki member wasin fact still alive, just as Ino had been worried about. The instructions thecopy nin had given them before they even sprung the trap on the two criminalswas no not be involved in either of the fights unless he or Shikamaru hadcalled for assistance; Ino was the healer of the group and Choji could get themback to Konoha in a few steps with his expansion jutsu.

They were left tostand back and watch on as the Jonin struggled to hold his own against theolder and more powerful ninja.

"He still hasn'tcalled you for help?"

They jumped slightlyas they didn't notice their other team mate was standing right next to them.His chakra was incredibly familiar tothem, after all.

Choji shook his head."He's too stubborn to call us in."

"At this rate,he'll be dead before he even asks us for help," Ino sighed, worried fortheir comrade's safety.

"And the informationabout our opponent?"

"WellKakashi-sensei ran his chidori through Kakuzu's heart but it was a mask inside.Apparently he has three or four more and they're all his hearts," Chojiexplained.

"That helps alot." Shikamaru got into his thinking stance while Kakashi and Kakuzu keptat it, getting a few blows in each. The Konoha Jonin had a great disadvantagebut was still trying and refusing to ask the Chunin to help. "Alright. Wehave to help him in this," he finally spoke again.

"Okay Shika, whatshould we do?" Ino asked, ready to help.

"Ino, you go forthe heart that's probably located on the bottom right of his torso. Choji, gofor the bottom left. I'll go for the top left and Kakashi-sensei can just beused to distract him," he said in a quieter voice so Kakuzu wouldn't hearthe plan.

The teens nodded andapproached the Akatsuki member from different directions. Shikamaru ran infirst, trapping the man with shadows, leaving opportunities for the others toattack. Ino went in with flower bombs in her hands, throwing them in thegeneral area on Kakuzu's body that she was supposed to target. Kakashi stoppedfighting and stood back as the explosion broke another of the masks.

The shadow user wasrunning out of chakra and knew he had to end his quota quickly."Choji!" He called as he pierced his mask with a sharp shadow,effectively shattering it. The Akimichi shoved his hand in the lower left ofthe body, using an expansion jutsu to crush the mask. He was still glaring atthem though, and they knew that he had at least one more mask in his body.

Shadows seeped awayfrom his body and he was able to move once more; the Nara had finally run outof chakra. "You're doomed now, kids," he cackled, aiming his cords atShikamaru.

"Not thistime!" a voice called with a body following and landing down on thecriminal with a blue orb in his palm. He smashed it against the criminal’sface, breaking the last mask and even obliterating most of his body.

The original squadlooked at the newcomer and instantly recognised the blonde hair, blue eyes andwhisker marks. "Naruto!" Choji cried with happiness that thejinchuriki had rescued his best friend from being torn apart by an Akatsuki.

"I wasn't toolate! Woo!" the blonde cheered. "Granny Tsunade sent me as backupjust in case. She actually had good intuition this time. By the way," helooked around. "Wasn't there another Akatsuki?"

"I already tookcare of him," Shikamaru said, walking towards Naruto a bit. "Thanksfor saving our butts. We owe you."

"You guys neverowe me. No one does! Though if you insist, it could all be repaid by a bowl ofIchiraku ramen, your treat," he replied with hope shining in his blueeyes.

The shadow usersighed. "Alright. We should go back to the village and report to the Hokage."

"Yes, let'sgo," Kakashi finally talked after that whole battle, leading the way backto Konohagakure with the others following closely behind.

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"I'm afraid we havelost Hidan and Kakuzu," Zetsu reported to Pain, Konan and Madara.

"Quite the loss;they were some of the more powerful members," Madara shook his head.

"Who should wesend as their replacements on the eight tails hunt?" Konan asked.

"I will go and sowill Orochimaru," the elder Uchiha said almost too quickly, like he hadalready known somehow that the 'immortal duo' would be defeated.

"Should we attackKonoha after?" Pain inquired.

"It would be inour best interests if we didn't. Kakuzu and Hidan were defeated by a mere teamof four normal shinobi and the last blow by Naruto Uzumaki. Taking down Konohawon't be an easy task without our store of tailed demons. We can't risk usingthe demons so soon on a task like taking down Konohagakure; we have to use iton a something bigger that would defeat the nine-tails jinchuriki in theprocess."

"Wait, does thatmean what I think it does?" Konan gasped.

"Yes. We willhave to start the fourth great ninja war earlier than planned."