Watch Tower

Lee swiftly looked over his shoulder so see Hidan bursting out of the water behind them. Watching as Hidan recklessly charged forward, Lee stood perfectly strait in his Strong Fist stance waiting for the right moment to counter the impending attack. Watching as Hidan thrusted the rod forward, Rock Lee swiftly put the palm of his hand over Hidan's fist and used his momentum to push the incoming stake to the side, while twisting his body all at the same time to avoid the weapon. Throwing Hidan off balance, this would give Shikamaru enough to time slash Hidan's forearm. At the same time Shikamaru swung his weapon, Lee would hop on spot and spin in the air. "Konoha Senpuu!" Lee would roar. Right after Hidan's arm was slashed Lee's spinning heel would swoop right over Shikamaru and into Hidan's nose. Hitting him with enough force to shatter his nose, the Akatsuki nin would be sent sliding across the waters surface. Landing back in a crouched strong fists stance Rock Lee would say "He is a close ranged fighter like me. I will try leading him to dry land so you can use your shadow jutsus on him." With that Lee would wait for Hidan to charge once more before he would slowly lour him to dry land.

Kakuzu easily re-wrapped Yamoto in a mess of black stitching and by now the Senju clone was already in front of Kakuzu ready to have his heart torn out. Right before Kankuro tried trapping Kakuzu in his fat puppet which would have most likely trapped Yamoto as well, he would have a little surprise visit. Kankuro had to summon the massive puppet and put it in the water before so that it would be able to attack Kakuzu, and in doing so he gave out his position. Also, do to the fact he was camping on the same building made it all that much easier to find him. Kakuzu's summon with the shattered mask silently crawled up behind Kankuro and viciously swung its arm across the back of Kankuro's neck. Because the shattered mask snuck attack Kankuro there were only two plausible outcomes. One, the mask would decapitate Kankuro or two, Kankuro would somehow notice the summon was there and make it out of harms way in the nick of time. Becuase he though Shikamaru had killed this summon he would not have been expecting it to attack him and he was focused on saving Yamoto making it all that much harder to stop his decapitation. Either way, this would force Kankuro to lose control over his puppets since he will either be dead or have to evade, and puppet-nins cannot control their puppets while moving. Thus Kakuzu would not be stopped. His stitches already tearing through Yamoto's flesh, they would wrap around his beating heart and rip it right out of his chest. Kakuzu would open up his own chest and place the triple affinity heart into himself. Raising to the surface Kakuzu would step onto the water with Yamoto's corps hung over his shoulder and his hand in a single seal the earth armor would activate. Keeping the body for its bounty, Kakuzu would grab the corps by its ankle and toss it over to dry land. As it ragdolled to the edge of a mountain, the zombie would either make his way to Kankuro if he was still alive or Hidan.

Shikamaru and Lee's tag team attack had worked, but it seemed it also worked to the enemies favor. Swiftly looking over his shoulder, Lee saw the incoming three bladed syth. Jumping to side, the Taijutsu specialist was not fast enough and the syth slashed him across his right shoulder. As Lee slid across the water he roared out in pain, blood gushing out onto the water. The wound over his shoulder was pretty deep thus Lee would have dificulties moving properly or using her right arm. Unwrapping the bandages around his right forearm, Lee would begin wrapping them around his shoulder, and under his armpit. Turning to face Shikamaru as he tied the bandages with his mouth and left arm, Lee would grumble "Huugh, yeh ill be fin." Rock Lee would look at Shikamaru funny as he told him to help Yamoto. "You sure you can handle this guy by yourself? He's fast and extremely skilled with that weapon." Before he knew it Shikamaru was off. Lee would listen to Shikamaru as he probably already ran the entire scenario through his head and figured the other guy out. Turning to face behind him, Lee's round eyes would open even wider and his mouth would drop "What the...?"

It seemed that Kakuzu's summon had not made it to Kankuro's position fast enough and was unable to stop him before the fat, hollow puppet came up from behind and enclosed Kakuzu inside of its chest. The stitching that was Kakuzu's arm and that were wrapped around Yamoto were thick enough to not be cut off by the puppet and to prevent it from properly closing, but the opening was still not big enough for Kakuzu to slip through. "This has gone on far too long. I will not be humiliated by these insects." While Kakuzu spoke in his head, the stitchings holding his flesh together had already unraveled themselves. Before the blades were stabbed into the tiny openings, the entire puppet would explode and shatter into millions of pieces as a massive cluster of black stitching broke through. There was so much stitching that even though Kakuzu was under water they were being reveled over the surface of the water. Yamoto still entangled in Kakuzu's arm(stitches), Kakuzu would grab hold off all the puppet weapons surrounding him underwater. Crushing them each into tiny pieces, Kakuzu would rise to the surface, entangling the Senju in a massive whip of stitching. Bringing the trapped Yamoto right in front of his chest, Kakuzu would tear the heart right out of the immobile Yamoto's chest. As he did so he would also let go of the wooden arms, letting them fall to the water in bits and pieces. Now with Yamoto's bulging heart in his massive whip of stitching, Kakuzu would move it over to the mass that was sticking out of his upper body. Moving his newly acquired heart and the old one into the the mass on his back just in case someone stabbed through his chest, making it nearly impossible to find.

Tossing Yamoto's dead body off to the side, not even looking where the corps landed, a mask would appear over Kakuzu's head. This mask was different then the others ones and had three different colors of paint on it. Lee would watch from a distance as the monster before him threw Yamoto's corps away with a massive hole in its chest, like a xenomorph had torn through it. "Yamoto Senpai!!" Lee would roar as Kakuzu put his right arm back to normal and placed his hands into a single seal. Angrily, Kakuzu would respond "Now that I have the Senju's heart, you, and the puppet nin will fill my remaining slots." With that the mask over Kakuzu's head would drop its lower jaw and release a titanic wave of mud strait towards Rock Lee. The ocean of mud was so large and wide spread that if Hidan and Shikamaru didnt run far away to find their strip of dry land the mud would crash into them as well. Meanwhile the summon that was presumed dead already found Kankuro's position. (Use the last post as the summon moving towards Kankuro instead of attacking him). Now that it had snuck up behind the Suna nin who was probably too concentrated on what was happening bellow, the mask would viciously swing its left arm across the back of Kankuro's neck, decapitating the puppet nin.

Kakuzu grunted when he came to realize Yamoto had switched places with a rock and avoided his impending death. Slowly turning to face Lee, Kakuzu would watch the Jounin come up out of the water beside the bowl hair cut shinobi. The fire mask would grab Kankuro's decapitated body and hop off of the building as Kakuzu said after realizing Lee had been cut "Your life is now in the hands of Hidan. And your death," turning his attention to Yamoto "is inevitable. The longer you struggle the more you shall suffer." The fire summon would land beside Kakuzu as it placed Kankuro's corps in the water. Digging his stichings into the floating body, Kakuzu would pull his heart right out and place it into the mass amount of stitches that was coming out of his back. Obtaining Kankuro's affinity(earth), the fire mask would merge back into Kakuzu's body. Replacing Hidan's heart with his own, two masks would appear over Kakuzu's shoulder one with brown painting on it and the other with light blue. While keeping his attention fixed on the monster ahead of him, Lee would ask Yamoto "How should we go about attacking him? By the looks of it, close ranged combat wont work against him and what long ranged could we use?" As Lee spoke Kakuzu put his hands together into a single seal and the brown colored mask opened its mouth and released a titanic wave of thick mud shot out in a cone shape strait towards the two remaining Konoha nin. The cone was large enough making it impossible to evade to the side and moved fast enough to give them little to no time to dodge by jumping. Because Lee's shoulder was injured he was not capable of moving at his full capacity thus the dense, heavy mud would collide into both of them and trap them under the mud like a coffin unless Yamoto did something quickly. Kakuzu was not an idiot either, if they somehow managed to dodge the ocean of mud Kakuzu knew it would be by dropping into the water. Therefore he would pay attention to what we underneath him just in case that is actually what they did.

Lee did not know or understand why Yamoto wanted to drag Kakuzu over to dry land but he would obey the captains orders. As the mud came rushing in, Yamoto was able to push it off to the side with a wooden wall. As the mud subsided and slowly began sinking into the water, Kakuzu stood in the exact same spot with his tentacles slowly twitching and moving around as he waited to see what would happen next. A wood wall came into view as the mud slowly slipped down the wall and next he knew Yamoto and Lee were both running towards him. Putting his hands together in a separate seal, Kakuzu waiting for the two Konoha wood clones to get closer to him. Meanwhile, Lee was underwater following Yamoto, where ever he was leading him. Once the two clones were close enough, the second mask over Kakuzu's opposite shoulder would open its mouth as a tiny ball of wind formed. Waiting till the two were at a distance where dodging his jutsu was impossible, Kakuzu would release a hurricane of wind. The jutsu was released with so much force that Kakuzu slightly slid across the waters surface trying to hold back its power. The cone shaped blast of wind grew larger as it went forward eventually being twice the width of the river they stood on and several stories high. The fast moving suffocating wind would smash right into the two clones and the wood wall behind them causing all three to explode into shards of wood. Do to the sheer force of the jutsu, the water Kakuzu was standing on now had huge waves and was causing the zombie to move up and down on them as if he were out in the middle of the ocean during a storm. Still standing in the same spot, Kakuzu would wait for the waters to calm down only to see pieces of wood and no bodies. Checking to make sure no one was in the water bellow him, Kakuzu would slowly start walking forward "Where did you rodents escape to?" If Kakuzu was unable to find his opponents, he would continue on to where Hidan battled Shikamaru.

Kakuzu clearly saw the Yamoto clone fall into the water right before he released his jutsu. The Lee clone would still be struck by the devastating winds and explode into thousands of wood shreddings. Kakuzu was by far no idiot, and knew exactly where the Yamoto clone would be going. Jumping off of the surface of the water right before the water orb collided with him, with lighting speed Kakuzu would send forward a cage a stitching that stabbed into the clone line a ring. Stabbing every side of its torso, this clone too would explode into pieces of wood that simply dispersed across the water. Landing back onto the same spot, Kakuzu knew full well the Itachi clone was beside him as he also saw the one standing on shore but made no sign to acknowledged the Uchiha. From bellow, Lee gasped as a painful drill of water thrusted into his stomach launching him and Yamoto right out of the water. Yamoto was quick to react and created a wood pillar catching Lee and one that extended all the way to dry land. By his efforts would be useless as before he could pull both himself and Rock Lee to shore, a shower a black threads came crashing in. The stitches pierced right through the wood Yamoto created severing his connection from Lee and the ground. As the stitching shot past him, now in mid air, they would wrap around the Senju clone, from shoulder to ankle. Wrapping the stitches around Yamoto so tight Kakuzu would brake his elbows and make it almost impossible for him to breath. Every gasp for air would be a struggle. Lee however was not as lucky as Yamoto. Kakuzu made sure his attack to brake the wood did not hit Yamoto as Itachi wanted him alive. But Lee was still just an enemy, and as the stitches shattered through the wood they stabbed right through the Taijutsu specialist as well, turning the green beast into swiss cheese. Now with Yamoto trapped in his blanket of black stitches and Lee's corps hanging, Kakuzu would retract those he used to attack. Pulling with such force that Lee's corps would simply fall to the water and Yamoto would be pulled right to Kakuzu. Placing the immobile Konoha nin in front of the Uchiha clone who stood beside him knowing he wanted to place him in a Genjutsu of some sort, Kakuzu would grunt "Do what you have to do, and quickly." Kakuzu was eager to steal his heart and kill the Senju clone as his attempt at it before had failed.

Kakuzu brought Yamoto before the Uchiha clone standing beside him. He herd what Itachi's question was, but before Yamoto could answer, Kakuzu would squeeze the Jounin so hard it would be impossible for him to speak. With every breath of air Yamoto tried taking he would be crushed even more, much like a python. The reason being Kakuzu knew the answer to Itachi's question. The mass amount of blackness protruding out of Kakuzu's back swiftly began making its way back into his body as the masks retreated into the blackness as well. Returning to his normal state but keeping his right arm extended around Yamoto Kakuzu would say "The puppet nin is dead." Blood would gush out of Yamoto's mouth as within the coiling of Kakuzu's stitches he had pierced into his chest and wrapped around his heart. Keeping his gaze fixed on Yamoto, Kakuzu would say "As I said, you were going to suffer." Kakuzu would open the coiling around Yamoto and let his corps splash down onto the water bellow. The stitching would return back into Kakuzu's body, revealing his human arm which was holding Yamoto's heart. Sticking his hand into an opening in his chest, Kakuzu would direct his speech back to Itachi. "I stole his heart thus he is somewhere in these waters. All we have to do is find him." Turning around to look for the corps which would probably be floating somewhere in the river, Kakuzu would ask "Why must we find a dead man?"

While Kakuzu walked around the surface of the water looking for Kankuro's corps, he realized that the real Itachi closer to shore had found the floating Suna corps. It appeared the waves caused by his wind jutsu and pushed the corps further than he though. From a far Kakuzu figured Kankuro had stored the four Jinchuriki in a scroll since Itachi took all of his equipment. Slowly walking towards the rest of his team, he simply watched as Itachi vanished. Right after Hidan opposed Itachi, Kakuzu would fall from above landing beside his immortal teammate in a crouched position. "For once I can say Hidan is right, we are not done here." Standing up to his full heigh, Kakuzu would continue as he looked up to where Shikamaru was hiding "I am missing a heart and I specifically saved the Nara's for last." Turning to face Kisame as he made a sly remark, Kakuzu would grunt " You need us to hold your hand back home?" Aimed directly towards Kisame. "You two can leave before I kill both of you. Bring the scrolls to Sasori, he will know what to do with them." Not happy that Kisame raised his sword to him, if the shark opposed him once more Kakuzu would definitely attack the Hoshigaki. Turning to face Hidan, Kakuzu would say "Lets finish this, before he escapes. We have been here far too long for my liking."

Kakuzu watched with his pale green eyes as Itachi jumped over Hidan and grabbed his neck locking him in some sort of hold. Kakuzu already in motion, at the exact same time Hidan's neck snapped Kakuzu delivered a side kick strait into Itachi's rib. Hitting him with enough force to crack a few ribs, Itachi would be sent flying away, creating more than enough distance between them. Because Hidan and thus Itachi were right beside him, Kakuzu had been able to keep his attention on Kisame as well since all of them were standing no more than 10 feet from each other. Grabbing hold of Hidan's arm before he fell, Kakuzu easily side stepped Kisame's punch, and jumped away so fast it appeared he actually vanished from where he stood. Landing onto a mountain far enough to easily evade any attack the two threw at them, Kakuzu placed Hidan over his right shoulder and placed his hands into a single seal. "Your are correct, the mission is over therefore we no longer have to baby sit you. Therefore it is not up to you to decide what we do. You two must be in your week, thus we will head else where." The zombie duo would then sunshin out of the lighting country, and head somewhere else other than an Akatsuki hide out where Hidan could heal his neck and Kakuzu could collect some hearts and bounties. After all Itachi was the one who possessed the scrolls which the Jinchurikis were trapped in so the burden of bringing it back to Pein was placed on them.