The blow Kakashi landed on Kakuzu was brutal. I saw him pierce straight through his chest with the Chidori, right to the heart. But Kakuzu... that guy doesn't go down easily. Kakashi, quick as always, used Kakuzu's back as a springboard to leap into a tree, launching him to the ground with force. But Kakuzu... landed on his feet. Like it was nothing.
Three masks emerged from his back. One of them, the water mask, shattered almost instantly. The others remained intact. Kakuzu looked at Kakashi with a rage that sent a chill down my spine.
"How is he still alive after that?! Are these Akatsuki guys immortal or what...?"
"Then we'll kill them until they stop getting up," Kakashi replied firmly.
There was no time to waste. I activated my "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," and two dozen clones appeared around me. We moved in sync, driven by the breath of wind. We had to surround him, trap him, and end this.
Kakuzu spat with fury as his eyes locked on Kakashi. "You'll be the replacement for that heart."
The masks reacted immediately. Two turned toward me. One released a massive wave of fire, the other used a wind Jutsu to amplify it to monstrous proportions. The sea of flames heading toward me was insane. There was no way I could counter it with my own wind... so I relied on my speed, on the flow of the air. I slipped out of its path just in time, hiding behind some rocks as the world burned.
Kakashi, meanwhile, was struck by a direct lightning attack. He responded with his Raikiri, the perfected Chidori. As the lightning faded, Kakuzu was already on him, launching his tendrils. Kakashi barely had time to substitute himself. What Kakuzu grabbed next was a log wrapped in explosive tags. The explosion was brutal, but Kakuzu used Doton: Domu (Iron Skin) and emerged nearly unscathed.
I saw my chance. My three surviving clones moved with great speed. One charged the fire mask, another the wind, and the last the lightning. Thanks to the breath of wind and Shunshin no Jutsu, we closed the distance in seconds.
Against the fire mask, my clone tried a direct Rasengan, but it was intercepted by an explosion as the flames flared wildly. The clone was destroyed before it could complete the attack.
The wind mask... something about its movements told me it wasn't free. As if the wind inside it was restrained. I predicted its dodge, and I was there—right where it reappeared. The Rasengan hit it squarely. It shattered.
The clone facing the lightning mask used all its remaining chakra for a point-blank "Fūton: Dai Toppā." The blast hurled it violently into several trees. It didn't move again. The clone dispelled.
I summoned two more clones at my side. We already knew what was coming. We began forming the Rasen Shuriken.
Seeing us, Kakuzu ran toward the lightning mask. Kakashi tried to intercept him with another Chidori. The clone that destroyed the wind mask joined the pursuit, but the fire mask released a burst of flames that forced Kakashi to defend with a "Suiton: Suijinheki" (Water Wall). My clone wasn't able to dodge in time due to how close he was and got dispelled as well.
In that moment, Kakuzu fused with the fire and lightning masks.
"You two... are more annoying than I thought..."
He looked at me. He saw the Rasen Shuriken ready in my hands. He took a defensive stance.
The three Narutos advanced. The one holding the Rasen Shuriken lagged slightly behind. Kakuzu didn't hesitate. He ignored the clones and charged straight for him. He fell for it. It was a clone.
Behind him, I, the real Naruto, with only a single clone, had created the Rasen Shuriken much faster than I had pretended. Thanks to the breath of air, this Jutsu has become much easier to form. I finished the technique and struck him point-blank in the back.
The impact was brutal. The cyclone of cutting chakra rose like a storm tearing the sky. Kakuzu's body was torn apart by countless micro-cuts, his flesh shredded from within. Three hearts. All destroyed.
When he hit the ground... Kakuzu no longer moved.
<<<< o >>>>
The place was marked by chaos: scorched earth, charred trees, and at the center of the crater, Hidan's body slowly regenerating while his shattered scythe lay to the side—nothing more than a silent reminder of the brutal Rasengan Naruto Clone had landed on him seconds earlier.
Shikamaru stood a few meters away, quietly observing as he pulled a small notebook from his flak jacket. "Just like we planned... just a bit more rushed than I'd like," he muttered to himself, signaling Asuma to move into position. Asuma created a shadow clone beside him.
"Didn't think I'd see this bastard on his feet again after what Naruto did," Asuma growled, fists clenched and wind chakra flowing into his blades.
"Be careful, Asuma-sensei," said Shikamaru, who had already begun weaving hand signs. "Whatever's keeping him alive... it's not natural."
Asuma's clone moved into one of the marked points Shikamaru had set up hours ago: a floor trap embedded with lightning-release seals strong enough to immobilize even a tailed beast for a few seconds. "Seals active," the clone murmured.
Shikamaru sighed. "The problem is, most of these traps were made to kill... and this guy just regenerates. Cutting him up won't work—he'll piece himself back together. We need to completely restrain him."
Hidan's body twitched and he let out a coarse laugh. His skull was reforming, piece by piece like curling parchment. "You really think you can stop me...? I am the will of Jashin!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Shikamaru muttered, eyes narrowing. At that moment, he moved his hands and triggered a hidden explosive tag beneath the ground. A muffled, controlled blast launched Hidan down onto the only trap Shikamaru had deemed fit for the job—he landed squarely on a circular platform inscribed with sealing marks invisible to the untrained eye.
The trap, designed by Kasumi and Daizen and guided by Asuma's skilled hands, came to life. Thin, nearly invisible steel wire from Daizen's setup wrapped around Hidan's limbs, locking down the movements of the immortal. At that moment, barbed spikes prepared by Kasumi shot upward, impaling the restrained target as more seals of the trap were activated, beginning to deliver electric shocks. Shikamaru reinforced it all with his Shadow Possession Jutsu to ensure Hidan was locked in place.
Asuma approached from the rear, deactivating the last part of the trap—explosive tags. "You sure this is going to hold him?"
"Nothing's certain with this guy," Shikamaru replied. "But it should last until a Fuinjutsu specialist can come in and place a proper seal."
Hidan thrashed and screamed, but his body was caught in a web of steel wires, spikes impaling him from all sides, and Shikamaru's shadow Jutsu pressing him into the sealing platform. The ground beneath him glowed with successive waves of symbols—each activation sending a burst of electricity designed to paralyze him down to the core.
"You think I can get Tsunade to patch me up before Kurenai sees the damage?" Asuma asked in a hushed tone, glancing at Shikamaru.
"That's your mess to clean up," Shikamaru replied, sweat beading on his brow as he maintained the Jutsu. "If you're fast, go get help. With the racket we made, backup teams should already be on their way."
This fight was over—for now. In the background, only the howls of Hidan echoed, muffled between crackling bursts of electricity.
<<<< o >>>>
Kiba, Shino, and Rugen moved swiftly through the peripheral paths surrounding the Fire Temple, guided by Akamaru's nose. They had decided to track Akatsuki's scent trail in reverse, hoping to discover the whereabouts of Yugito Nii, who had vanished after her battle with the criminals. To their surprise, Akamaru suddenly halted in front of the temple entrance, growling.
"What is it, Akamaru?" Kiba asked, leaping down.
The giant hound sniffed the ground intensely before lifting his head. "Her scent... Yugito was here. Not long ago."
"What would be the point of bringing her to a temple?" murmured Shino, his kikaichū insects buzzing softly around his form.
Rugen stepped forward. "That doesn't matter now. If she's here, we're going in."
As they approached the temple and stated their intent to search for the jinchūriki, the monks grew tense. One of them, with a shadowed expression, muttered something in an ancient tongue. Then everything happened in an instant.
"Move!" shouted Shino, extending both arms.
From his sleeves, a wave of kikaichū insects spread in a wide arc, intercepting a rain of poisoned kunai thrown by the monks in a surprise attack.
Rugen dashed in from the flank, activating his sword technique. "Raiton: Hiraikotsu no Mai!" —a lightning-fast dance of slashes with his short blade engulfed the first two attackers in a violent discharge that dropped them instantly.
"Gatsūga!" roared Kiba and Akamaru in unison, spinning like twin tornadoes and bulldozing through the enemies trying to surround them.
The ground trembled with the intensity of the battle. Despite the monks' superior numbers, the three shinobi were an unstoppable force. The temple itself quaked under the pressure of clashing jutsu. Shino unleashed another technique: "Mushikui no Jutsu" —his insects infiltrated beneath the monks' robes, draining their chakra and paralyzing them.
Soon after, they found a hidden door behind the main altar. Without hesitation, Rugen kicked it open. On the other side, in a dimly lit chamber glowing with mysterious inscriptions, lay Yugito Nii. She was unconscious, resting atop a circle of seals none of them could understand.
"Yugito!" Rugen cried, running to her and lifting her into his arms.
Kiba scanned the room, still panting. "This... this isn't ordinary chakra. Something's off here."
What none of them noticed was the hooded figure watching from the shadows deep within the shrine, hidden beyond conventional methods, the darkness in the hearts of Kiba, Akamaru, Rugen and Shino prevented them from observing or even thinking about his existence, he is the darkness of the soul, he is the Red Monk.
"This place needed to fall..." the entity whispered, barely audible. "My purpose with this woman is complete. Now, I must seek access to the other former jinchūriki..."
His eyes like burning coals settled on Shino.
"Interesting... I can use this..."