Kurenai hummed to herself as she strolled through the streets of Uzu. She had just gotten back from an ambassadorial mission in the Land of Waves, and had decided to get a head start on confronting Hana before Tayuya caught wind of anything. She was just making her way to the newly constructed Inuzuka compound, smiling as she watched the dogs run through the enclosed fields surrounding the compound that Naruto had helped in the creation of. She was still curious as to why he constantly offered to help Tazuna and his men with the various construction projects in and around the rapidly growing village, but insisted on rarely using his formidable abilities save for large projects like creating the fields for the Inuzuka dogs or the Nara deer. There was probably a good reason behind him electing to grab a tool belt and simply help out, only occasionally using his clones to help when there were certain time constraints, when he had the ability to build a perfect two-story house with his wood release within minutes, she just hoped that people didn't start resenting him for it.

Her thoughts were broken when Tayuya hopped down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, never missing a step as she joined Kurenai on the way to the Inuzuka compound.

"You weren't planning on paying Inu-chan a visit without me, were you, Kure-chan?" She asked sweetly.

Kurenai opened her mouth to reply when the subject of their discussion appeared as well, joining her on her other side, a feral grin on her face.

"My ears were burning," Hana said. "You two ladies talking about me?"

This can't end well, Kurenai thought to herself as she ran a hand over her face.

*(OoO)*

Konan grit her teeth as she carried a frozen Shion through the air above the forest towards the first temple. She had always known, deep down, that she would undoubtedly have to face Nagato someday, but that had in no way prepared her for seeing his Human Path so far from Amegakure. Though not happy about it, she understood Naruto's reasoning for keeping her from being seen by him, as they wanted to keep the fact that several defectors from Akatsuki resided within Uzu a secret for as long as possible. Gritting her teeth, she swerved through the air as a massive wooden spike rose from the ground in an attempt to impale her.

"My, my, I think we've found an angel."

"So this is where the girl disappeared to. Perhaps she knows what happened to Tobi."

"Zetsu, what are you doing here?" Konan demanded as she turned to face the flytrap-looking creature.

"You're little friend has become a tad unhinged since you and a few others disappeared," White Zetsu giggled. "We're just keeping an eye on him unti-" Black Zetsu was cut off as Konan unleashed a flurry of paper shuriken that shred through him before he melted into the tree to evade them. Or at least, he tried to.

The second one of her shuriken managed to graze him, Zetsu's body started to swell and become covered in bark as branches exploded out from his white side. The black side attempted to escape, but Konan fired several more shuriken, the seals Naruto had placed on them now glowing as she activated them and imbued the white half with more and more natural energy. In a matter of moments, the creature was consumed within a tree that had grown around its body, and Konan breathed a sigh of relief before hurrying back towards the temple, where she was supposed to meet the others.

She and Shion waited there breathlessly, ignoring the priests as they attempted to get them settled.

"Why would he split us up like that?" Shion demanded.

"Because, it was the best way to keep you safe and take care of at least one member of Akatsuki," Konan replied.

"Why would he be so concerned about keeping me safe?"

"Besides the fact that protecting you is our mission?" Konan replied, a hint of sarcasm touching her voice.

"We both know that you don't take that mission seriously," Shion shot back. "It's simply a cover to investigate the Land of Demons without raising any eyebrows."

"That doesn't mean Naruto-kun doesn't care about your safety," Konan replied. "Or that he doesn't take your mission seriously, especially if it came from Ameterasu-sama herself."

"My visions never showed me why he was so important in her plans," Shion muttered.

"Sit down," Konan beckoned. "I'll tell you what I can."

*(OoO)*

Naruto grunted as Kakuzu sent him flying through a tree while Itachi dodged blasts of lightning from one of the grotesque creatures that had sprouted from his back. His clones had already transported Jiraiya and the Path of Pain to a predetermined location far away in the Land of Fire, where Tsunade and Yazawa would join him in fighting the body. With Konan's help, they had already come up with a plan in case they ever ran into one of Nagato's Paths, and he was confident three S-Class fighters could take one severely weakened Path of Pain, assuming the system of seals, he, Jiraiya, and Yazawa had prepared to make Nagato overconfident worked and the corpse puppet was still within his control so far away from wherever he had situated himself to control the bodies. In the meantime, he had managed to sense Zetsu watching them, and had provided Konan with a seal to put on her paper that he had developed from Orochimaru's Cursed Seal. The seal would allow the papers to lace themselves with natural energy, which should contain enough life force to slow Zetsu down and eventually cause him to lose control of Hashirama's cells.

Finally, he and Itachi were left dealing with the second of the immortal members of the Akatsuki, and Naruto could see why Kakuzu had given the First Hokage a run for his money back in the day. Pulling himself to his feet, Naruto grunted and shot his hands forwards just in time to block a ball of fire, growling as his own stream of flame was easily extinguished by a deluge of water from another of the strange masks on Kakuzu's back.

"Itachi-sensei!" Naruto shouted as he cartwheeled over a gust of razor-sharp wind. "Trade with me!"

Itachi nodded and jumped back just as the deformed golem made of string opened its mouth and released another spear of lightning. Naruto's eyes narrowed, even as he rushed in and intercepted the attack, redirecting the lightning at Kakuzu in a bolt of lightning that blasted him off his feet. It seemed that while Kakuzu had a veritable affinity for each of the elemental releases, each mask was only capable of one technique. His theory was proven when the golem screeched in anger and leapt over him, unleashing another spear of electricity. Naruto once again redirected the lightning itself, using the chakra from the technique to insulate himself so as not to cause a repeat of what happened to him less then a day earlier. Kakuzu didn't have time to dodge as the bolt of lightning struck him at near lightspeed, just as he was preparing to use his water mask. He screamed in pain as the heart within the mask was incinerated along with his black cloak, revealing his bare, stitched up chest.

Itachi immediately followed up with an onslaught of slashes with his ninja-to while using his Sharingan to constantly evade the nigh-unstoppable blasts of wind-augmented flames from his masks.

"It's seems that you're deserving of the large bounty posted in the Bingo Books, Itachi," Kakuzu noted as another massive gout of fire enveloped the area where Itachi had landed from his previous attack.

"It's a shame you'll never collect on it," Itachi replied from behind Kakuzu as he shoved his blade through the mask containing Kakuzu's wind heart.

Kakuzu roared and tried to turn around, only to be blasted by yet another bolt of lightning and sent careening into a nearby rock formation. Growling in frustration, he recalled his lightning heart into his body. Naruto landed next to Itachi and watched as the threads holding Kakuzu together unravelled and his body parts shot out, expanding as more and more threads coiled together until he had nearly tripled in size, his two remaining masks floating amongst the threads above each of his shoulders.

"This is far from over, Itachi!" He shouted as he released a deluge of fire and electricity from the masks floating above him while jagged spikes of earth raced towards the two of them.

Naruto grunted as one of the earth spikes sliced through his side and leapt away to safety only to curse as he looked around and found Kakuzu nowhere to be found.

"Come on," Itachi said, "we need to check on the others and see how Jiraiya-sama fared against Pain."

*(OoO)*

Tsunade grit her teeth as she healed the gash on her leg from where the bald, Rinnegan-bearing corpse-puppet had slashed her with its serrated tail. Between herself, Jiraiya, and Yazawa, they had made short work of what Konan had informed them was Pain's Asura Path, but the mechanical monster had still packed far more of a punch than any of them could have anticipated. The fact that it wouldn't be long before Pain acquired a replacement for the one they had destroyed was a sobering thought, but she managed to push it aside as she listened to Naruto's report on his and Itachi's fight with the other member of Akatsuki.

Something felt wrong about the way that Kakuzu had just left in the middle of their battle. Most people would be smart to turn tail and run rather than face Itachi Uchiha alone – let alone with back up – but Kakuzu wasn't most people. He had gone toe to toe with her grandfather at one point in time, after all. Jiraiya seemed to feel similarly, but there wasn't much Tsunade could do about it at the moment, and between him, Itachi, Konan, and Naruto, they should be able to handle whatever came their way. Instead, she focused on figuring out what to do with the gnarled hunk of wood that was Zetsu – Obito's partner, and their only other connection to Madara Uchiha.

"I should get back," Yazawa said as he stood up and brushed the dirt and dust from their battle off his armor. "The border skirmishes are getting worse, and I worry every minute I'm not on the battle field is another minute that someone is going to attack."

"We should too," Jiraiya added as three clones of Naruto appeared before them. "Akatsuki showing up in the country we happen to be investigating is too much of a coincidence for my taste."

"Report to me if you find anything," Tsunade said before the clone transported her back to Uzu along with the remains of the puppet. She smiled and gave the clone a peck on the forehead before it dispelled and sighed as she turned to face her new village, taking a moment to enjoy the calm breeze through her hair.

A/N: So, while this chapter is short, and not a lot really happens, I decided to post it more as a statement to let you guys know that I haven't abandoned it. I'm going to need to go through it again and try to remember what I had planned, as well as split my time between this, No More Games, and The First Spark - my original piece that I've started on Wattpad, so updates will be much slower. Regardless, there will be updates, so look forward to those.