A/N- Sorry that I haven't updated in a while, I just wanted this chapter to be perfect. I hope that it was worth the wait. Review! –Phoenix

Shocked silence filled the air and everyone could feel the rage that was coming off of Sasuke in waves. Sakura clutched her tessen tighter and turned her head slightly so that she could see Sasuke out of the corner of her eye. The last thing she wanted was for him to try and kill her out of rage.

Then suddenly, Sasuke threw his head back and laughed, shocking everyone.

"Sakura, kill Itachi?" Sasuke choked out between laughs. "As if she could ever come close to defeating him!"

Sakura felt herself flush in anger at Sasuke's jibe. He still didn't understand that she was strong now, and that she wasn't the fangirl who left years ago.

Beside her, Katsu waved his tail in anger as he fought with himself to not attack the bastard that was more commonly known as Sasuke.

Unable to stop himself, Sasuke continued. "Sakura has never been able to defeat anyone on her own! She has always had someone do the dirty work! Even now, she has her fox do most of the fighting. There's no way that she would have been able to defeat Itachi!"

Up on the ledge, Hidan and Kakuzu glanced calmly down at him. "She seemed pretty capable when she pierced his chest with a kunai," Hidan said. "And after Itachi died, the fox burned the corpse until there was nothing left. We learned of Itachi's death from some local villagers who witnessed the fight."

Sakura and Katsu glanced at each other in alarm. If a villager told them about how they killed Itachi, then it was most likely that they now knew about Izumi transferring the seal to Sakura.

"You're lying!" Sasuke roared. "An Uchiha could never be beaten by that poor excuse of a ninja!"

That pissed Sakura off. "Sasuke," she said coolly, deciding that she couldn't deny it. "They're telling the truth."

The now last Uchiha whipped towards her with his dark eyes burning with fury. "Stop lying," he ordered.

"I had just received my warrior's tessen from my sensei when we were attacked by two Akatsuki members. Itachi and Kisame attacked us and my sensei and I separated. Katsu and I defeated Kisame, though he got away. When we got back to my sensei, we saw Itachi pierce her with a sword. Katsu and I fought and killed Itachi and Katsu burned the body so that no one would be able to use it again," Sakura said calmly.

The group looked at Sakura in shock and disbelief, while Sasuke's rage continued to build. Without turning her back to their opponents, Sakura spoke to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry that you feel that I took away your reason for existing," she said gently. "But, I wasn't about to let that bastard walk away after he killed my beloved sensei. Just think about the fact that he's dead now. You're finally free from his existence."

That was the wrong thing to say. Sasuke whipped out a kunai and made a move to rush at her. Before he even took a step however, Naruto was there restraining him from behind.

"Sakura-chan is your teammate," Naruto hissed. "She did her duty as a ninja; she killed a threat to the village. Do not let your rage destroy your life teme."

Sasuke glared at Naruto but didn't struggle. After a moment Naruto let him go and Sasuke turned his steely gaze back to Sakura.

"I won't forget this," he swore. "But for now, I will fight with you to kill these Akatsuki scum."

Sakura nodded in acknowledgement. "Fair enough."

On top of the ledge Hidan and Kakuzu were watching their argument with amused expressions on their faces.

"Enough talk, let's fight," Kakuzu said impatiently. "I want to get the jinchuuriki and the girl back to headquarters and get my reward."

Naruto looked at Sakura in concern. He still had no idea why Akatsuki wanted her.

Sakura didn't take her eyes off of the Akatsuki. "I'll explain later," she said calmly. She knew that the Akatsuki in front of her wouldn't reveal her secret. If they did then it would be much more difficult for them to get to her as everyone would rush her back to Konoha where she wouldn't be allowed out again.

Behind her, Sakura could hear Kakashi and Shikamaru murmur a few words to each other. Knowing that Shikamaru was one hell of a strategist, Sakura was more than happy to let him plan.

"Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Katsu," Shikamaru said calmly. "Draw Kakuzu down here and engage in close combat. Be careful, he is fast and a taijutsu specialist. Kakashi will wait for his opening. Ino, Chouji and I will keep Hidan off of your backs."

The team nodded in agreement, though Sasuke still glared at Sakura with pure hatred. Sakura and Katsu leapt forward and separated Kakuzu from Hidan while Naruto and Sasuke interfered while Hidan tried to strike at their backs.

Saying that Kakuzu was fast was an understatement. Sakura lashed out with her tessen but he grabbed the fan with his hand and bent it before he kicked her in her stomach, sending her flying.

She landed with a grunt and took a few seconds to heal her broken ribs before she pushed chakra into her tessen to force it to straighten out.

"Bastard, you nearly broke my fan," Sakura growled. She ran back to join the fray.

The four Konoha ninjas exchanged blows with Kakuzu, but they were thrown back at every turn. Even though all four of them were strong, they were no match for Kakuzu's brute strength.

"Fighting close-ranged isn't working," Naruto called.

Katsu leapt back. "Then let's try some long-range." He leapt onto one of the large trees by the mountain and ran until he was directly above Kakuzu. "Katon: Gōenka!" he yelled as he shot out three large balls of fire from his mouth.

The balls of fire were about to make contact when Kakuzu ran forward and grabbed Sasuke by the front of his uniform and threw the Uchiha directly into the fireballs' path. When they made contact, the balls erupted into geysers.

"Opps," Katsu mumbled.

When the flames dissipated, a very angry Sasuke was left. He was literally smoking.

"You stupid ass fox!" he shouted. "Are you trying to incinerate all Uchiha?"

Katsu bared his teeth at Sasuke. "I wasn't aiming for you, snake," he snarled.

"Enough!" Naruto shouted while he engaged Kakuzu in close combat.

Despite his best efforts, Naruto was effortlessly being overpowered. Sakura raced forward and joined him. Fighting with Naruto was very natural, Sakura realized. Between her graceful style and Naruto's brash style, they made a good team. It was almost as if they had been fighting together for years instead of only a few months.

When Sakura leapt back and held out her free hand, Naruto was right there. He grabbed her hand and looked into her emerald eyes. Sakura smiled warmly and felt a spark where their hands touched. Judging by the small smile on Naruto's face, despite the danger they were in, he felt it too.

With a grunt, Naruto spun Sakura around and let her go flying towards Kakuzu. Sakura landed on the ground, but continued to slide towards their opponent while dragging her arm on the ground. Ignoring the pain as her leg was cut up by the stone, Sakura slid underneath the Akatsuki.

Kakuzu was startled by her tactic and didn't move quickly enough when Sakura cried out, "Doton: Kengan no Jutsu!" and leapt to her feet and slammed her now rock covered arm into Kakuzu's back.

Sakura grinned when she heard something crack, but it turned into a frown when Kakuzu spun around, furious, and grabbed her arms. She cried out in pain as Kakuzu started crushing her body with his massive strength.

"Sakura!" "Sakura-chan!" Both Katsu and Naruto cried out respectively.

Sakura opened her eyes and noticed that while Naruto and Katsu were sprinting to her aid, Sasuke was watching from a distance. What made Sakura uncomfortable was the look on Sasuke's face. There was a small smirk on his lips. Almost as if he was enjoying watching her get the life crushed out of her.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Sakura mumbled. She pushed chakra into her feet and pushed off of Kakuzu's chest.

She was surprised when instead of pushing herself out of Kakuzu's hold; she pushed herself away from his torso. And his arms were still crushing her.

It was Katsu that saved her. He rushed forward and bit down on the strings that connected Kakuzu's arms to his torso. Kakuzu grunted, more out of annoyance than out of pain, and loosened his grip just enough for Sakura to squirm out of his hold.

"You're annoying," Kakuzu said. He grabbed his cloak and ripped it off his body.

The four ninja stared at Kakuzu in shock as they saw that his body was covered in sutures and on his back were four masks. One of the masks, where Sakura had landed a punch, was broken.

"You destroyed one of my hearts," Kakuzu said angrily. "Now, I will take one of yours to compensate for it."

"That's how you're immortal," Sakura said in astonishment. "Izumi-sensei once told me about a ninja who would take the hearts of his opponents to lengthen his own life."

"That would be me," Kakuzu said sternly. "Good to see that my reputation perceives me. I think that I will take your heart pinkie, seeing as you destroyed my earth mask."

Sakura didn't show any reaction to Kakuzu's words. She merely stared at him with her determined stare.

Naruto suddenly appeared behind Kakuzu with a familiar ball of energy in his hands. It was much more controlled than it was the last time that she had seen it.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted.

Before the attack made contact, Kakuzu kicked out and knocked Naruto back. In the brief second that Kakuzu attacked, Kakashi appeared and sliced at him with his kunai before Kakuzu could continue his attack.

Kakuzu's eyes narrowed dangerously when the kunai made a light scratch on him. "You will pay for that," he said.

Sakura watched Kakashi's attack with narrowed eyes. She had seen how he had drawn back his attack slightly while Kakuzu was distracted. The damage should have been much deeper than a simple scratch, but Kakashi had let him off easy. Why?

Kakashi held the bloody kunai behind his back and covered the dripping blood with his hand.

She turned her head slightly and saw that the Ino-Shika-Cho trio was not doing well with their attack on Hidan. As if sensing her gaze, Shikamaru looked up and quickly assessed the battle with Kakuzu before he formed a sign.

"Kagemane no Jutsu," he said calmly.

Shikamaru's shadow stretched across the battlefield and easily latched itself onto Hidan's own. The timing couldn't have been better as Hidan was about to bring his scythe down on a helpless Ino.

"What the hell!" Hidan shouted as his movements suddenly stopped.

Shikamaru stood up and started walking towards the denser forest. "You killed Asuma-sensei, so I will deal with you."

Hidan cursed as his body started mimicking Shikamaru's.

The arrogant jerk honestly didn't think that we stood a chance, Sakura noticed. His guard was down, and now Shikamaru has him.

"I'll take care of Hidan," Shikamaru called out. "The rest of you deal with Kakuzu."

Kakashi sprinted over to Shikamaru and shook his hand. "Asuma would be proud of you," he said calmly.

Shikamaru nodded in appreciation and continued walking. Before he disappeared completely, Sakura mused over the dark glint in Shikamaru's eyes.

Sakura frowned, recognizing the signs of the dark path that she herself had started walking after Izumi was killed.

I won't let that happen, Sakura thought determinedly. I'm still trying to find some light; I won't let Shikamaru get as lost as me.

"I will come with you," Sakura called as she ran to catch up with Shikamaru. At Shikamaru's glare she quickly added, "I will only intervene if you're in trouble."

Shikamaru seemed soothed with this and gave her a curt nod. He started sprinting into the forest with Hidan mimicking his movements and Sakura right behind him.

When Katsu made a move to follow them, Sakura shouted, "They need you more than we do! We'll be back!"

Katsu gave an uneasy nod. They had never fought so far apart before and it went against his instincts. But, he trusted her and therefore he would listen.

Sakura gave Katsu and Naruto a reassuring smile before she spun around and ran to catch up with Shikamaru.

When she caught up with him, she noticed that Shikamaru was throwing numerous kunai with paper bombs attached to them all over the area. Not wanting to get caught in Shikamaru's web, Sakura leapt to the branches of the nearest tree. She saw that most of the kunai had been there before they got there and approved of Shikamaru planning in advance. There was something special about the forest that they were in; she just didn't know what it was.

Hidan was mimicking Shikamaru's movements with a confused look on his face. He obviously didn't know what Shikamaru was planning. Neither did Sakura for that matter.

Judging by the way the shadow was starting to tremble, Sakura concluded that either Shikamaru was running low on chakra and wouldn't be able to hold the jutsu for much longer, or he was purposefully making it look like his strength was waning.

From what I've heard, Shikamaru always has a plan, Sakura thought.

As soon as the last kunai was embedded in the tree, Shikamaru turned to Hidan.

"I can't hold you much longer, but that won't prevent me from blowing us both to smithereens," Shikamaru said calmly.

Sakura raised her eyebrow in confusion. She knew, just as well as Shikamaru that blowing up Hidan with a bunch of paper bombs wouldn't kill him. He may have been grieving, but he wasn't that stupid. No, there was a plan in motion.

Hidan laughed sadistically in Shikamaru's face. "My god makes me immortal! A few bombs won't kill me! Your pathetic jutsu can't even trap me!"

To prove his point, Hidan started pumping his chakra into his muscles and started straining against the shadow jutsu. Sakura saw Shikamaru tremble with apparent effort to keep Hidan imprisoned. But she didn't smell any sweat coming from her ally.

With one final push, Hidan broke Shikamaru's jutsu. Shikamaru fell back and was immediately attacked with a series of slashes from Hidan's scythe.

Shikamaru was able to dodge all of the attacks, but he was easily being overpowered. Sakura was about to intervene when Shikamaru looked up at her with a determined and confident gaze. He had a plan, and Sakura was not to intervene.

Sakura felt a knot in her stomach when Hidan landed a kick on Shikamaru's stomach and aimed a swipe at Shikamaru's head. Shikamaru leaned back and avoided being decapitated, but now he had a bloody cut on his cheek.

Thanks to the debriefing on Hidan and Kakuzu before their mission, Sakura knew how Hidan's deadly jutsu worked. He only needed a bit of his opponent's blood to activate his deadly seal.

Using his scythe, Hidan quickly drew the seal on the ground. He brought the scythe to his lips and licked the blood. Sakura frowned uneasily when Hidan's face transformed and took on the appearance of a skull. It truly felt like they were fighting death itself.

"Die!" Hidan yelled gleefully. He raised his scythe and used it to pierce his heart.

Sakura saw Shikamaru's eyes widen in shock as he clutched his chest before he fell to the ground.

"Shikamaru!" Sakura shouted.

Gripping her tessen, Sakura prepared to leap down and slice the bastard's head off. Hidan turned his back to Shikamaru and started stalking towards Sakura.

"Now, time to take you," he said with a cruel smile.

"Not going to happen," Sakura growled.

Hidan's retort was interrupted by a flash of steel and a wave of blood as Shikamaru sliced at Hidan's neck. Hidan cursed in surprise and swung at Shikamaru once move.

Shikamaru gazed at Hidan and formed a sign. His shadow stretched out and beyond Hidan before it lifted off the ground and wrapped around his arm. Hidan sneered at the shadows and continued to stalk towards Shikamaru.

"You're pathetic," he laughed. "Just like that sash-wearing weakling that I killed. I felt his pain when I stabbed myself when I had him trapped in my seal. It was more enjoyable than any other death that I caused before!"

Shikamaru didn't respond to Hidan's taunts. When Hidan raised his scythe and started bringing it down towards Shikamaru's head, he merely formed a hand sign.

Hidan's arm stopped moving in its tracks as the shadows that were wrapped around his arm reached out to the shadows from the strings that the paper bombs held from. The shadows pulled together, restraining Hidan and covering him with paper bombs while lifting him off of the ground.

"Damn you!" Hidan cursed as he struggled to break through all of the shadows. "You can't kill me!"

Shikamaru held up a kunai and tossed it to the side. The earth underneath Hidan's feet crumbled and a deep pit was revealed. Even from her position at the top of the tree, Sakura couldn't see the bottom of the hole.

"I don't need to kill you," Shikamaru said simply as he lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. "I just need to make sure that you never hurt anyone ever again."

"I will be back, and I will kill everyone that you love!" Hidan swore. "And then I will kill you, and I will take such pleasure in your pain!"

Sakura glared at Hidan and was tempted to leap down there and finish him herself. But Shikamaru was way ahead of her.

He took one last breath from his cigarette before he tossed it at the paper bombs covering Hidan's chest. The instant that the cigarette made contact, the paper bombs exploded. Shikamaru stood in front of the blast and watched while Hidan was engulfed in flames.

When the flames dispersed, Sakura noticed that Hidan was gone. She could hear Shikamaru saying something about how the forest belonged to the Nara clan and that no one would ever find his head. Shikamaru turned his head as if he were talking to someone behind him before he set off more paper bombs, turning the hole into Hidan's tomb.

Once there were no more rocks falling, Shikamaru took out a fresh cigarette and started to light it. Sakura leapt down from the tree and walked up to Shikamaru. She grabbed the cigarette right out of his mouth and threw it on the ground.

"You avenged your sensei, there's no longer a need to smoke," she said sternly as she stepped on the cigarette.

"It helps me feel closer to Asuma-sensei," Shikamaru mumbled. "Don't you have anything to help you feel closer to your dead sensei?"

Sakura smiled sadly and held up her warrior's tessen. "This was given to me by my sensei. When I wield it, I can almost hear her voice telling me how to wield it. I always feel closer to her when I use it. But your method is harmful to yourself and I highly doubt that Asuma-san would want that."

Shikamaru smiled sadly. "I guess not. He didn't like that he smoked himself. But it was how he dealt with stress." He was quiet for a moment before he said, "Does it get any easier? Losing your teacher?"

"It never stops hurting," Sakura said truthfully. "But it helps when you have someone who can help take the hurt away."

"Is that what Naruto is to you?" Shikamaru asked.

Sakura blushed and nodded after a moment of hesitation. "But we can't be anything more than friends," she mumbled.

"Is that because of the secret that you have about the reason why Akatsuki wants you?"

"You are too smart for your own good," Sakura chuckled. "But, yes it does. Shikamaru," she said, suddenly serious. "I went down a dark path after Izumi-sensei was killed and I'm still trying to find some light. It is okay to grieve, especially now that you have taken care of your sensei's murderer, but you can't let vengeance fill the void that your sensei left."

Shikamaru studied Sakura for a moment before he sighed. "I guess that makes sense. Sakura, do I need to warn you to keep an eye out for Sasuke now? He is the vengeful type, and he was already walking down a dark path before he found out about you killing Itachi."

"I will keep an eye out," Sakura promised. Suddenly feeling mischievous, Sakura added, "So, will you make a move on Temari soon?"

The master strategist blushed. "She's just a friend."

"Who likes you a lot," Sakura continued. "I met her when I was in Suna, and she was blushing just like you when I mentioned your name."

The duo turned their backs to Hidan's tomb and raced back towards their team. Sakura teased Shikamaru about Temari while he called her troublesome. If they weren't on a mission, it would almost be like they were hanging out as friends. Shikamaru was very smart, but he didn't like to show it off, but he made for a great companion.

When they made it back to the group, they were happy to see Kakuzu's body on the ground in a bloody mess. Sakura's glee was short lived when she saw Katsu turn his head towards her and give her a sorrowful glance. It was then that Sakura noticed a limp form that the team was huddled around.

"Naruto!"

A/N- I wasn't going to take Shikamaru's moment away. It's one of my favorite battles in Naruto. Review! -Phoenix