Yay, i'm back! and with a new and long chapter to entertain you!

i hope you find this chapter enjoyable, although most of it is pretty serious, but it will get better! and i made this chapter nice and long, well i hope its long enough anyway.

soon, so soon, the summer holidays are coming, and when they do i will be able to update heaps! but for now its all; end of year exams, science and sose essays and teachers badgering me for work. oh well, such are the ways of schools now days.

but please enjoy and watch as my plot unfolds, and boy do i have a good idea for this story!

and guess what! this story had reached over 50 reviews, and is very close to 60! wow, i never thought it would get that many, but then i never thought this story would go for so long! heaps and heaps of thanks to everyone who has reviewed over the corse of this story, as it has given me determination and desire to update faster, thank you all so much!

thanks, BlueBB

"Sorry we're late."

Those words rang out clear and strong, sounding from inside the smoke screen, yet echoing around the whole clearing. Someone, or some people, had arrived to help their comrades.

Deidara, Tobi and I stayed quiet in our position from the rocks, waiting to see what had happened down below, our breath held tight.

The smoke started to clear; the silhouette of several people became visible. Kakuzu was the first to emerge from the smoke, his tentacle things by his side, no longer holding onto the three shinobi. His stance was guarded, waiting for the new arrivals to show themselves.

A breezed picked up taking the smoke with it, uncovering the clearing and showing us the new arrivals.

The tree shinobi from before stood in a line, all with looks of surprise and relief on their faces. In front of them stood four new shinobi, protecting the others from Kakuzu.

Their looks of determination were fierce, their pose ready for attack; they meant business.

"Oh, what do we have here?" Kakuzu asked with a deep chuckle.

"That's the Jinchuuriki, mm!" Deidara hissed from beside me.

I looked to where he was pointing, a boy of around my age stood at the head of the group, his bright orange jumpsuit clearly visible through the swirling smoke. His face was set, tense and ready for battle.

"I owe him a good punch in the face, mm!" Deidara had a begrudged look to his features, and was scowling down at the boy.

"Oh so that's the nine tails," Tobi whispered excitedly from my other side.

"That's the nine tails?" I asked incredulously, I'd heard the others speak of him, but I never thought he would be like this, I thought he was supposed to be more loud and childish.

"Yes, that's him, mm!"

"You ok Kakashi?" the nine tails asked the silver head man.

"Just fine." Kakashi answered, his voice wavering slightly.

"We'll take over from here." The nine tails stated, glaring at Kakuzu.

"Hehe… another candidate, you already look tired, are you sure you want to fight me?" Kakuzu chuckled at the nine tails, sending shivers down my spine.

"Is Shikimaru alright?" the nine tails asked his comrades.

"I hope so; he's fighting the other guy." The large one with long brown hair said.

"Follow me." A small dog which had been summoned by Kakashi said, "I'll lead you right to him," and with that bounded off through the other side of the clearing.

"Sai, Sakura! Go and back Shikimaru up." one of the new arrivals said to the other two.

"Roger!" and with that they leaped across the clearing after the little dog.

I followed them with my eyes, watching as they disappeared through the trees. "Should someone go and back Hidan up?" I asked quietly.

"Good idea, mm. Tobi!"

"Sure thing sempai, I'll protect Hidan with my life." And with that Tobi jumped down from the rocks and went in search of Hidan.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked nervously, thinking of how childish Tobi seemed to be.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine, mm." Deidara reassured me with a small chuckle.

"Let's do this," the nine tails said, tensing his body ready for a fight.

Kakuzu laughed, "Your hearts will be a replacement for the ones I have already lost."

Suddenly the nine tails made some hand signs and created two shadow clones, his look of determination never wavering.

"Ah, so you're the nine tails," Kakuzu asked, seeming intrigued.

"Yeah and just watch as I rip you to shreds!"

All of a sudden there was a huge explosion coming from the forest, creating a great cloud of black smoke which rose into the air.

"That's where Hidan was fighting, mm!" Deidara whispered.

"Crap, do think they got him?" I asked.

"I don't know, but Tobi will take care of it, hopefully, mm."

Looking back to the clearing I realised none of them had even acknowledged the explosion, and Kakashi was now filling the new comers on the situation and what they had learnt about Kakuzu.

"You hear that Naruto?" the older guy of the new arrivals said to the nine tails.

"Sure did!" Naruto yelled, charging towards Kakuzu head on.

"What is he doing? He's going to get himself killed." I said to Deidara who was watching the battle with interest. The girl from before echoed my concerns.

"I hope he does, mm." Deidara replied.

Kakuzu's tentacles struck out at the Narutos running towards him, and sure enough they were defeated and turned into smoke.

The original Naruto was still standing with his comrades, and seemed to be contemplating something.

"He used them to gain knowledge of Kakuzu, didn't he?" I asked as the realisation hit me.

Deidara gave me a look that said I was way too slow in working these things out, so I slapped him around the head, "Shut up, I'm just getting used to this stuff," I grumbled at him.

He chuckled quietly at my side and turned back to the fight just as three more Narutos appeared. Suddenly a bright blue ball started to appear in one of the Naruto's hands, and the others seemed to work around it, creating it.

The ball looked like swirling wind, all compacted into a tiny space. As it grew larger a faint screech seem to come from the ball. The ball grew larger, until it was a great swirling mass of wind with a huge shuriken shaped sphere around it.

"Wow," I breathed. It was utterly amazing, I never new such things existed in this world.

"Now you're going down!" Naruto yelled as he took off running towards Kakuzu, his great weapon held high.

The three shadow clones reached Kakuzu first, surrounding him. The two things on his shoulders took out two of the clones with awesome power, his cords taking out the other shadow clone.

"This is it!" Naruto's cry echoed around the clearing.

Kakuzu looked around and finally realised where Naruto was, but it too late. Naruto's great swirling sphere struck Kakuzu right in the stomach. But something was wrong.

The sphere began to shrink, losing its shuriken border, the wailing fading until there was no more.

"He failed." I whispered in both shock and relief.

"Yes, mm!" Deidara hissed from beside me, he was obviously hoping Kakuzu would take Naruto out for him.

"Now it's your turn," Kakuzu growled as he flung out his tentacles and captured Naruto in a deathly grip.

"Yamato!" Kakashi yelled out to the brown hair shinobi who had appeared with Naruto.

"Right!" they must have had a back up plan because they sprang into action immediately.

What seemed like a tree branch shot out of Yamato's arm. Kakuzu ducked just in time, barley missing it. Kakashi was already in the air by this time, what looked like lightening covered his hand.

I gasped as his hand came down and instantly cut Kakuzu's tentacles, freeing Naruto form the deadly grasp.

"Wow," I breathed, amazed at such power.

Naruto and Kakashi reached the others, and huge wooden logs came from Yamato's arms, chasing after Kakuzu and pushing him further back.

"One more time," Naruto demanded.

"No we need to work as a team," the blonde hair girl said.

Naruto pleaded with his sensei, and Kakashi finally let in. Once again the shadow clones appeared.

"Again? But Kakuzu won't fall for the same trick twice." I said, doubting it would work.

"Of course he won't, Naruto's just stupid, mm" Deidara said, looking doubtfully at Naruto.

We watched as Naruto once again went for Kakuzu, except this time Kakuzu only concentrated on the one, trying to take out the original clone. As Naruto drew closer Kakuzu jumped high in the air, taking the original Naruto by surprise and taking him down with his tentacles.

"Got him, mm!" Deidara cheered quietly from beside me.

I thought so too, there was no way Naruto could get out of this, but we were proven wrong. The Naruto turned into a puff of smoke, surprising everyone.

"What-" Deidara began, as shocked as I was.

"Now you're going down!" the cry came from behind Kakuzu.

Everyone looked up, but it was too late, the original Naruto was already on Kakuzu, his great sphere spiralling downwards, this time it didn't fail, this time it hit it's mark.

Time seemed to slow down as the attack hit Kakuzu fair in the back. A look of complete surprise and shock came over his face, Naruto had won, there was no question of that now.

Just when I thought nothing else would surprise me, the jutsu turned into a huge ball of wind, the diameter easily passing over 100 ft.

As Naruto pushed Kakuzu down further with his power the ground gave way, simply being ripped to spreads with the force. As the jutsu ended, Naruto fell, landing on the ground with a heavy thud some distance away from the huge crater he had created.

A couple of his comrades rushed to save him, the blonde girl performing medical ninjutsu.

"Lets take him out now, the little scum bag, while he hasn't got any chakra left, hm." Deidara growled, annoyed at Naruto's victory.

"No! We have to get Kakuzu, he might still be alive," I pleaded. Oh god, please let him live, I thought desperately.

Some sense came back into Deidara and he pouted at the thought of not being able to capture the nine tails. "Fine, I'll distract them while you get Kakuzu out of there and onto the birds, hopefully Tobi will be there by then, hm."

"But how am I suppose to carry Kakuzu, he'll be way to heavy, maybe I should distract them." I said, imagining myself trying to pick up Kakuzu, it wasn't going to work well.

"No!" he almost yelled, and then in a softer voice said, "Its too dangerous for you, I don't want you getting hurt, hm"

I sighed, silently pleased that he cared about me so much, "ok, but be careful, I don't want you getting hurt either."

"Don't worry, I'm always careful, mm." he said smiling and kissed my lips gently, "now let's get going, hm."

Before I knew it we were jumping down the rock face, heading towards Kakuzu and the others. Deidara made for the right, trying to distract them from what I would be doing.

"Hey! Who goes there?" Yamato yelled out to Deidara and everyone looked around, away from the crater in the ground which was my target.

As silently as I could I ran towards Kakuzu, slipping over the edge and coming to a halt next to him.

His condition was worse than I imagined, his clothes were all bloody and torn, and he had numerous cuts running up the length of his body. A couple of his tentacles lay flat and unmoving by his side, looking lifeless and cold.

"Kakuzu," I whispered, dropping to my knees beside his head. I reached out my hand and brushed a few strands of hair out of his face, seeing that his eyes were shut.

A lump formed in my throat; I had never been close to Kakuzu but the loss still hit hard. He had always seemed so strong in my mind, so indestructible, and yet seeing him like this brought tears to my eyes. No time for that now, I thought and pushed the tears back, concentrating on the task at hand.

I reached down and started to hall him up, trying to get him onto my back.

"mmm" the groan was barley audible, but it was there all the same.

"Kakuzu!" I exclaimed, almost dropping him.

"Caitlin?" his voice was raspy and weak, barley any sound at all.

"Yeah, its me, we're going to get you out of here, just stay still and stay alive." I told him, hoping he would listen.

My only response was a slight nod of the head, but it was enough. With a new determination I haled Kakuzu up and over my shoulder, struggling with the weight. It definitely wasn't easy, it felt like he weighed a ton. After almost dropping him a couple of times I finally got him over my shoulder and stood up, almost falling over, only just getting my balance.

"Where do you think you're going," the cold voice came from behind me, I spun around to face the speaker.

Kakashi stood at the edge of the crater, his battle scars also looking deep and vicious. He had a look of determination on his face; I knew I wasn't getting away any time soon.

"That's none of your concern." I said, holding my ground.

"Oh but I think it is, you're part of the Akatsuki too aren't you?" it didn't seem like a question, but an accusation.

"So what if I am, I'm not the one who attacked you, and the one your looking for is dead." I told him, trying to lie my way out of it.

"Don't think you can fool me, anyway even if he were dead, he would still be useful."

"Maybe, but he is still useful to us as well, so back off." Unfortunately my natural ability of saying the wrong thing was starting to reappear, and Kakashi didn't look to happy at my reply.

"Hand him over and we won't hurt you." He tried to compromise, but I wouldn't buy it. They wouldn't hurt me, but they would still capture me.

"No way, as if I'd hand him over to the likes of you, I don't betray my family like that." I said, getting really annoyed at Kakashi.

Unexpectedly Kakashi sighed, "You're all alike; quick tempered, arrogant and foolish. No wonder you guys have no sense of the pain and darkness you're bringing to this world, but your arrogance will be the death of you." He said, pulling out a kuni.

As he said this I thought of something my mother had told me when I was very little. "There is no good or evil, only thinking makes it so."

Kakashi stopped, temporally confused at my quote. I took the chance and jumped out of the crater, running as fast as I could towards the tress, and beyond to the birds. I didn't stop to look if I was being followed, it would only waste time.

The trees flashed past me in a blur of green as I pushed chakra into my feet, making my strides longer and faster. The sound of angry cries came from behind me, but I couldn't make out what they were saying, and I didn't stop to listen.

It seemed to take forever to reach the birds, yet there they were, as strong and proud as ever, their graceful wings spread out in welcome.

To my relief Tobi was already there, astride one of birds with what seemed like a bundle of clothes at his feet, yet to my dismay there was no Hidan.

I didn't have time to stop and ask, Deidara leapt up on the bird just after me, and my stomach dropped as the birds swiftly took off, gaining height every second. I fell to my knees on the soft clay, pulling Kakuzu off my back and laying him the bird.

I glanced over the bird's back and caught a glimpse of Yamato and Kakashi who had pursued us, both had scowls on their faces. We flew further away, their tiny forms becoming dots in the distance, any attacks were useless now.

"Yay! Mission complete, well done guys!" Tobi exclaimed over the rushing wind.

Deidara sighed in relief and sat down next to Kakuzu, checking over his wounds.

"What are you talking about, we left Hidan behind, it was a complete failure!" I yelled in frustration, how could they dismiss him so easily?

Deidara and Tobi both laughed, making my anger more profound, "Shut up! How could you be so dispassionate, don't you feel anything for his loss!"

"Wait, wait, don't get so worked up about it Caitlin." Tobi said happily, holding up his hands in front of him as a sign of peace.

"What! You're the ones being so composed, don't you feel any remorse."

"There's no need to," Tobi said causally. I was ready to tear him apart. "See watch this." And with that Tobi kicked the bundle at his feet. To my utter astonishment a string of profanities was screamed into the early afternoon sky, the wind drowning them out.

"Hidan?" I asked shakily.

Tobi and Deidara laughed, "Yep it sure is." Tobi confirmed.

"As you've probably worked out Hidan is immortal, so no matter what happens to his body, he will survive, mm." Deidara informed me after seeing my unspoken question. "Although he still feels pain."

I stared at the pile of clothes harder, finally recognising the red and white clouds and lumps of human body parts. Never in a million years had I thought that anyone's body could be put through this, and yet as I looked upon his ragged body parts the wonder that was Hidan finally hit me, I always wondered how the Akatsuki had put up with him before.

The realisation that we were all safe hit, and in that glorious moment of understanding I felt all the worries drain out of me. We were safe, we had seceded in our mission, Hidan and Kakuzu were alive. I started to laugh; all was as it should be, for now anyway. I just didn't realise how short lived that would be.

There you have it, I hope you enjoyed, and are glad that hidan and kakuzu have survived.

oh and as always i don't own the Naruto story line so therefore i will change it much as possible, haha take that! no not really!

but please tell me what you thought and if you have any ideas on how to improve this story, or others of mine, they are always welcome. also if you have the time go and check out my other stuff, there is plenty more...well sort of, but anyways, go check it out if you can.