Rewriting Naruto Shippuden

Chapter 13

 The Nara funneled chakra into Asuma's chakra blade until it glowed blue. He pocketed the two charged chakra blades and an extra knife. He grabbed the last of his things then turned to his teammate. Ino asked, "You all set, Shikamaru?" He nodded, "Yeah."

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The two stood at the top of one of Konoha's surrounding walls. "I found this spot earlier today. It'll take longer to get to them, but we'll avoid being stopped by Lady Tsunade," Ino said. Shikamaru nodded, "Let's head out."

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Ibiki stood across from the bounty collector, "We're gonna have a long talk about your crimes." Ibiki held up a photo of the Akatsuki member Kakuzu, "We know you've been in contact with this guy. Tell me everything you know." The collector scoffed, "Fuck you, I'm no snitch." Ibiki waited a moment for the man to take that back, but when he didn't Ibiki said, "Fine, if you don't want to do this the easy way, we'll just do it my way."

Inoichi opened the door to the interrogation room, "Ibiki, have you seen Ino?" Ibiki answered, "No, anything else you want to ask needs to wait." Inoichi ignored the younger man, "Do you have an idea of where she is?" Ibiki sighed before answering, "Considering the results of her last mission and her not showing up here at all, she's probably off doing something stupid like going for revenge." Inoichi thought for a moment before turning to leave, Ibiki stopped him, "Don't bother going after her. She would've left the village by now and even if you caught up to her, she wouldn't listen to you. If you try bringing her back by force, she'll fight back. And her will is most likely a lot stronger than yours, at least in this situation." Inoichi replied, "Well I have to do some-" Ibiki interrupted, "She won't get herself into anything she can't finish. Plus, she's not stupid enough to go alone and she's not stupid enough to have not prepared in any way she could." Inoichi stood silent as Ibiki summoned some equipment, "You should leave now. Things are gonna get really bloody really fast, and I know my work isn't exactly in your comfort zone."

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The two were in a completely barren and empty forest, aside from some giant trees that were slowly rotting. Ino showed her teammate a pill-sized empty container, "If I get the chance to use this, I will then give it to you." Shikamaru replied, "Got it. If you've memorized the plan, then mentally simulate it at least three times." Ino nodded, then Shikamaru continued, "Now, it's just a matter of finding them." Ino responded, "Don't worry about that. Also, there's just one thing I want to change about your plan." Shikamaru asked, "What is it?"

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Kakuzu suddenly turned around and extended his arm towards a bird. Hidan turned back to look at his partner, "Kakuzu, what are you doing?" After a short moment of silence, Kakuzu answered, "Nothing of concern."

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"I found them. Those guys are taking a different route as you predicted. They're coming from 2 o'clock, we should collide with them in about 10 minutes," Ino explained.

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The shadow, split in two, approached two Akatsuki members silently. "Hidan." "I know." The two moved away from the jutsu and were faced with an incoming kunai each, Hidan blocked with the rope of his scythe and Kakuzu just brought his hand up. It was only when they were in range that they noticed it, 'Dammit! It's a paper bomb!' Hidan moved out of the smoke, the roped of his weapon now destroyed, and turned to where his partner was, "Kakuzu!" Kakuzu moved out of the smoke, his arm missing, "I hardened my arm, it's not an injury! Pay attention to the shadows, not me!" As the shadows came closer and the Akatsuki members moved farther back, two more weapons with tags tied to them came flying down at them. Kakuzu warned, "Hidan, above you! Dodge it!" The two weapons lodged into the ground next to the two Akatsuki members, close enough to be in their shadows. Hidan looked at the weapon in front of him, 'It didn't explode?!' Then he noticed it, 'That's not a paper bomb!' Shikamaru walked out from behind the tree he was behind, "Shuriken shadow paralysis jutsu complete." Hidan yelled, "You bastard!" 'Why the hell is it stronger than before?!' Shikamaru explained, "What I threw at you were chakra blades. It absorbs the user's chakra properties. Then, based on the jutsu, it gives off an effect. In other words, don't bother trying to move." Kakuzu looked down at the weapon, 'The explosive tag is a fake, just a scrap of paper. That means the first bomb was to make sure we dodged the second one. He also made us focus on the ground so we couldn't properly analyze any attacks from above.' Kakuzu followed the path the chakra blades took to them and it ended at one of the rotting trees. 'He couldn't have gotten from there to where he walked from without a teleportation jutsu. Except, we would've noticed the inevitable chakra spike, even the fourth hokage couldn't rid himself of that. So, he either used the clone jutsu or has a partner with him that doesn't want to be seen.' Kakuzu turned his attention back to the leaf shinobi in front of him, 'Nonetheless, he's quite sharp. Too bad, he could've had a worthwhile bounty one day.'