Woo! Back from vacation ^^ Did ya miss me?

Disclaimer: Don't Own Naruto

Beta: Shatteredstar21

Onwards to the delayed story!

"Finally. Neutral territory." Akane gave a relieved sigh, though she didn't relax just yet. Just because they were in one of the rare Countries without a shinobi Village didn't mean that they were safe. At least there would be less risk of ANBU here.

"I don't fucking understand how bastards stand not having a damn Village." Hidan scoffed. No Village meant less chance of beating shitty heathens up. Yes, they'd been avoiding ANBU pussies so far, but that shit was getting fucking boring. "Leaves them wide open for a damn attack." He mused, scoffing at the idiocy of it all.

"The nearby Nations would not tolerate someone attacking this place." Akane shrugged in answer "It would upset the balance, more so than things already are."

"Well, someone's got to make the first fucking move for that war you're so damn worried about right?" The immortal rolled his eyes. "So Red, which bastards do you think are going to do it?"

"I'm rather hoping that we manage to find and bring down our culprit before that." She shook her head. A Fifth Shinobi War... after all that peace... it would almost undo all the work and the lives that had been put into creating the peace in the first place.

"Let's fucking pretend we don't. Answer the damn question, Red. I know you're a smart bitch. Share your shitty thoughts on who'd attack first." Hidan didn't know why this mattered. But perhaps it would in the damn end.

"In all honesty... I would say either Kiri or Iwa. They have fewer ties to the other nations than Konoha, Suna, or Kumo" Akane admitted at last. "Of those two... Stone is more likely than Mist. The Godaime Mizukage has been working so hard to change Mist's reputation. I highly doubt she'd want to undo all of that effort by attacking first."

"Heh. So the fucking Bloody Mist is going soft. Wonder what Sushi would think of that shit?" Hidan scoffed.

Being a damn immortal, Hidan had known he'd outlive most of the Akatsuki bastards, the old bastard the only possible exception to that. Still...

He was still not fucking sure about being the last Akatsuki alive.

Hidan hadn't cared much for the bastards... but the fact he was the last living asshole of an entire damn organization...

That was almost fucking surreal.

He glanced over at Red. Sooner or later she'd meet the same shitty fate. Death came for all shinobi be it in fucking combat or by age.

Except for him. He was the one bastard that was the exception to the rule.

Thank Jashin-sama.

Besides missing people was for pussy heathens. Not himself.

Hidan was the damn immortal S-class nuke-nin that would outlive them all!

So...

Why wasn't he very fucking happy about that?

Must have been the shitty fish or something disagreeing with him or some damn thing like that. Hidan was not some soft pussy heathen.

Therefore the fact of outliving the bastards of the Akatsuki and eventually this bitch keeping pace at his side did not upset him.

Not one Jashin-damned bit.

He would not and did not fucking miss anyone.

Being lonely was not shit that he was capable of.

Therefore, this weird damn feeling in his stomach had to be from the fucking fish earlier.

They had just crossed the borders into the Country where the Sound base used to be when Akane got chills down her back. At first, she thought it was just because of where they were. Who wouldn't be creeped out slightly by going into territory that had effectively once belonged to one of the most psychotic shinobi to have ever existed?

Plus, the fact Orochimaru looked like a snake made her detest him more. Akane would never admit it out loud but she hated snakes. They were basically the one thing that could make her shriek and run away screaming.

After a brief moment though, the Nara realized it wasn't discomfort as to their current location. It was her instincts telling her that she and Hidan were no longer alone in this forest.

"Heh. Look Red, looks like we've got some damn company." Hidan scoffed. These fuckers weren't subtle. Had the shitty standards fallen for hunter pussies too?

"Hunter-nin. Troublesome." Akane agreed as their unexpected and most unwelcome company revealed themselves. Five of them. Standard squad. She glanced at the symbol they wore. Frost-nin. Ugh. She did not want to be dealing with hunters from Shimo. It would be such a drag.

Plus, tensions were already high enough as is without these hunters seeing a non-rogue kunoichi like herself working willingly alongside a nuke-nin like the zealot.

"Well, since we know they won't back off and shit, can I have some fucking fun? I feel damn rusty." The little violence he'd gotten before this was Jashin-damn pathetic by Hidan's standards. He needed some more fucking entertaining fights or he'd turned into a psychotic bastard. Not that he wasn't already crazy as shit in the first place, but that was beside the point.

"No." Akane snapped. They did not need to be making things between the Villages any worse than they already were. She attempted to think about some way of explaining this that would manage to get them out of their current situation without violence.

That's when a hunter shunshined behind her, going for her throat with a kunai.

There was the ringing clash of metal meeting metal as it was blocked. But from the lack of pressure on her own kunai Akane found she hadn't blocked the attack.

No, that honor belonged to Hidan, scythe easily positioned to intercept the blow.

"... Thank you." Akane decided not to mention the fact she could've blocked it on her own, or that she had this unfortunate hunter now trapped in kagemane. Just going to let the immortal have his fun.

"Welcome, bitch. Now, Red, I now you've got him in that shadow-shit of yours. Make him back the fuck off and then release the bastard. Looks like I get to have my damn fun after all. You can just sit back and relax, Red. I fucking got this." Hidan offered his manic smile.

"You sure?" She questioned, lowering her kunai and forcing the trapped hunter to do the same. The others started to move to attack once seeing that their companion was trapped. The zealot moved, blade whirling in a blur to force them back.

"I already told you, Jashin-damn it. I feel fucking rusty. These bastards will help fix that shit." He grinned at her as Red forced the hunter to take several steps back.

The bastard was really really un-fucking-lucky. Hidan was pissed off now. Hidan's blood-lust had already been damned high before this. But, the asshole going after Red had managed to make him absolutely pissed.

Red was Hidan's bitch-contractor-whatever.

Plus she was damned entertaining.

Therefore going after her, even if the bitch could handle her own damn self, was not the fucking smartest idea the bastard had had.

Akane glanced at him, seeing a psychotic gleam in the immortal's eyes she was sure was stronger than normal.

"Very well." she shrugged, the kagemane forcing the hunter to mimic the action. "All yours then."

"Fucking thanks, Red." Hidan snickered, lunging the moment she dropped the kagemane while shouting "Come on, bastards! Time for you fucking shits to meet Jashin-sama!"

True to her word, Akane kept out of the ensuing chaos, only defending herself when needed.

The Nara took this chance to observe the S-class nuke-nin fight. Hidan was... impressive. Not a single wasted movement. His speed wasn't overly impressive considering that he was S-rank, but he made up for it with sheer power behind his attacks and tactics.

He really was clever, using his scythe to the fullest, sometimes as a weapon, sometimes as an extension of his arm to send him flying through the air to land particularly impressive bit of taijutsu on one hunter or another.

It got particularly interesting when Hidan was down to the last one. The very same one that had previously attacked her, if Akane was correct.

The immortal smirked, using the blood from the others to make a symbol on the ground while cleaning his scythe of any other blood. This was the very same symbol that Hidan wore on his pendent.

Akane, being a Nara, had already figured out that this symbol must represent his god, Jashin. The one he swore to on a nearly constant basis.

A whirl of the scythe landed a cut and Hidan licked the scythe clean. His stepping into the symbol made a startling transformation take place.

"Let's share in the pain together, motherfucker!" Hidan laughed.

Akane tilted her head in curiosity. Shikamaru-san was not keen on retelling about the death of Asuma-sensei. But the story of Hidan and Kakuzu's defeat was well known. It was also a known fact Shikamaru-san had somehow tricked the zealot into using the same jutsu that had killed Asuma-sensei against Kakuzu.

Akane would almost bet money that this was that jutsu. She certainly hadn't seen Hidan using anything else that really involved chakra outside of making his hits inhumanly strong.

She narrowed her eyes through when Hidan started what could only be called torture. The other hunter-nin had been taken care of quickly. And while Akane was not happy that he'd killed foreign-nin in this time of stress, she'd known it was necessary since the hunters wouldn't be leaving without capturing or killing them both.

But this was certainly not necessary.

Especially when she felt the icy coolness on herself… Exactly in the same spots that Hidan was using that pike of his on.

Akane still did not think this effect of the seal was a very useful one to have. She failed to see how this dull link to Hidan's physical state during the jutsu could serve any purpose.

"Enough." The Nara snapped at the zealot.

"You and the damn old bastard. Always wanting to fucking interrupt my rituals." Hidan complained, but the obedience part of the seal forced him to comply, driving the pike into his heart.

Akane couldn't help her gasp, hand going to her own chest.

The feeling with this was not like the others. It was like her entire body turned into ice. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think. Complete paralysis.

It lasted for only a fraction of a second before it was gone again.

"You fucking alright, Red?" The immortal was suddenly there in front of her. Had it been longer than she'd thought? Or was he simply faster than he'd let on in that fight?

"There is no way in Kami or in your Jashin's earth that something like that is useful!" Akane glared at him.

Hidan smirked. That was the bitchy Red he knew. When she'd gasped like that he felt something akin to what heathen pussies called panic. Had he somehow missed a damn hunter?! But then, on fucking seeing Red clutch at her chest, the zealot realized it was the shitty link to the curse jutsu.

"I still say that shit has to got to have some damn plus side to it, Red." He countered, deciding not to fucking comment on her use of Jashin's name.

He actually kind of liked hearing her use the name of his damn god. Wonder if he could fucking convert her from that Will of Fire shit that Leaf-nin heathens typically believed in.

Hell, Hidan would even take a shitty mix of both. It would just be damn nice to have another Jashinist around. It wasn't like his fucking religion was exactly very common.

"Troublesome man. This seal thing is such a drag." Akane went to inspect the fallen hunter-nin. Looting wasn't exactly very respectful, but they had little choice since Kami alone knew how much longer they were going to be following this winding trail.

After collecting spare not ruined supplies, Akane made a mental note that these poor saps weren't in nearly as bad shape as the kills from the murderers were. Not like she'd ever though Hidan was involved in the killings, seeing as how he'd only been recently dug up from his rocky prison, but it was an interesting thing to note.

The Nara activated an Earth jutsu, burying the bodies deep where they wouldn't be found. Better to not leave them out and exposed. Akane did not want to be the last straw that finally set off the impending war.

"Look at this shit, Red." Hidan's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Our damn prey is getting careless."

She left the newly buried hunters to go to where he stood some feet away to see was he was indicating. Had to return her focus to the admittedly more important matter, though that thought that anything was more important than the lives of others was depressing.

A broken branch.

"Sure that's not from the hunters or something natural?" She questioned.

In answer, Hidan picked the branch up; setting it against the base it had separated from. Revealing a footprint in the wood, left from a shinobi using chakra to increase speed and getting careless about the strength behind it. It was also facing away from the direction the hunters had just come from. Plus, no true hunter-nin would make this sort of Genin mistake.

"It has to be deliberate." Akane muttered "They're taunting us." There was no way this killer had gone unfound so long with making mistakes like that.

"Most fucking likely." Hidan agreed. "Which really pisses me off even more than I already was. I show these Jashin-damned heathens not to mess with a fucking S-class nuke-nin."

"We can't keep following an endless trail forever, Hidan. For all we know, that's what we're doing." Akane pointed out. She sighed "I wish we had something more to go off of. This trail, possibly endless circle or not, is the only thing we've got."

"It's got to fucking end at some point, Red. They've got to have some shitty hideout or something. Being out in the damn open is just asking to get fucking caught. And no matter how strong you think you are, there's always sheer numbers, or damn smarts. While no, fucking Chuunin are the best bet to be up against me, I was still defeated by the fucker, wasn't I?" Hidan glanced down at her.

Still thought Red was damn short.

Still not going to say that shit to her. He liked his eyes the way they were, aka not fucking stabbed by a kunai.

Akane was mildly surprised Hidan was so open about his defeat by Shikamaru-san. But he had a point. He was an S-class Chuunin that had been beaten by a Chuunin of all things. Rank wasn't the only indication of true strength.

Therefore, it was not in their killer's best interest to remain in the open, waiting on that one someone capable of beating them to find them. They needed a place to hide.

Persistent predation.

Wearing the prey down until they were simply too exhausted to continue.

It was how the human race and many shinobi, especially hunter-nin, operated.

"We'll need to pick up the pace for that to work though." Akane was thinking out loud without really noticing. "Persistence only really works if you can keep them from stopping. Keep them moving."

"So we need to fucking speed up then." Hidan chuckled. "How damn fast are you, Red?"

"Fast enough." Akane answered.

"Heh. Prove that shit." With that Hidan was off again, following the trail with the fastest speed he could muster.

Sure, he was the fucking slowest member of the Akatsuki, but he was still a fast motherfucker.

It only made him smirk in challenge when Red kept pace just behind him.

So, the bitch could keep up.

Good, cause judging by this Jashin-damned trail, they had a fucking while to go before they were anywhere close to the bastard on the other end of it.

Absently, Hidan wondered if the fucker was someone he'd known or knew of. Sure the Akatsuki bastards were all dead, but he'd kept up with the outside shinobi, thanks to the old miser's obsession with bounty hunting. He'd known the name of almost every fucking high-bounty shinobi from Kumo to Iwa thanks to Kakuzu.

Hidan had also known random tidbits that may or may not have been fucking forgotten.

"We need a damn updated bingo book." He informed Red.

"If we're stealthy, and the trail continues to head that way, we should be able to get one while in Shimo." Akane answered. She didn't bother questioning why. She highly doubted the zealot would want such a thing as a Bingo book just to look at the pictures.

"Fucking good. I'm going to try to jog my damn memory. See if I can't remember the old bastard mentioning a nuke-nin that liked messy kills. I don't fucking remember anything like that at the shitty moment, but it's something." Hidan stated. More than the damn precious little they had to go off of so far anyways.

Hope for their damn sake this trail continued to Frost. Hidan would remember shit nothing without a picture or something to jog the memories of the old bastard's voice in his mind.

Akane wasn't sure that this killer was going to be a known nuke-nin. But, seeing as how anyone that had gone after them had gotten themselves killed, really anything was possible. Or even if the murderer wasn't someone that was known to the general public, maybe Hidan had known about them once.

Nuke-nins sometimes knew each other better than hunter-nin did.

As the zealot had said. It was something. A hope.

Much like the same small hope that was this persistent predation strategy of hers. It certainly wasn't one of the most elaborate or famous plans to go down in Nara history. But it was the best Akane could do with the very limited information and resources she had available.

Akane couldn't help a soft laugh.

Hope was about all they'd had in the Fourth War. The hope that some, namely Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke could turn the tides in their favor.

Now hope took a much different form.

That of a foul-mouthed albino zealot she'd thought to dig up. Even if that man was a troublesome one that made her think things she shouldn't, especially with a nuke-nin while on a mission with stakes as high as this one.

So, how many of you forgot this existed? Be honest xD

Next time- "There are a number of things you shouldn't do. One of them being torment a kunoichi. I know ways to make you suffer".

"As if, Red. You couldn't do a damn thing to me. Even if you could, I'm immortal, bitch".

"And I'm the one trained for years on how to seduce a man into giving me what I want".

"Ha! Fucking bring it! I'd like to see you try!"

"Troublesome. But very well. You asked for it".

Review Replies!

LadyKarma - Hidan doesn't know what these soft feeling you speak of are.

Phantom - It's Hidan we're talking about. I see him as a giant perv xD

Arcami - I did say this story was a slow one ;) Yes, this story is following canon. As for the enemy/enemies I'm not telling~

Deathless - Yep. Something like that xD

Soul - Hidan refuses to admit to this 'care' thing you speak of.

Nazebaka - Not as happy with this chapter but it's what I get for forgetting my computer on vacation -.-;

Eternal - By soon, you meant a week later, yes? xD

Ethorin - My bad ^^; Hope you're not confused anymore.

Chibi - Nope. She had it handled but Hidan is the 'no-touching-what's-his' sort.

Otaku - This is why you don't challenge a Nara. Ever.

Fluffy - It ruins the suspense if I tell you everything! I apologize for the images. Very shameless, yes. A very interesting couple where nethier wants to admit they do more than tolerate the other person x3 -chased by the dragons-

Free- Glad you like it ^^

Mick - I try. I love our zealot and want to do him justice. Kakuzu is indeed rolling in his unmarked grave. Probably yelling at Hidan for forgetting things and doing it wrong, even if he's got the trail. The Swift release? Isn't there like no information on that besides it being a speed boost thing?

Sora - Thank you ^^ And Hidan's never struck me as the type of guy that likes submissive. He's the guy that wants someone who fights back and even wins on occasion.

Dragon - Maybe~

Shadow - Hey, can't have this be too serious all of the time.

Banana - Hope you haven't forgotten about it thanks to my vacation ^^;

Mars - Some idiot decided the didn't like peace and mucked things up. That's about all that anyone knows.

Tager - Glad you like it so far :D

Little - Well, welcome to the new story ^^ Hope you like it as much as you did Mist.

Fear - School is an evil being. The teasing only gets progressively worse. As does the denial. Akane will never tell her opinion of a certain albino's posterior xD