The tree is on fire

The giant tree, which in ancient times became a symbol of the Village of the Hidden Waterfall (as well as the river falling into the abyss, which was noisy a little further away from the village), now resembled a huge torch. Mighty branches and foliage blazed in a fierce flame, emitting a characteristic crackling. Enveloped in tongues of fire, clouds of smoke creeping over the ground and rising into the air, the village turned into the embodiment of the most terrible nightmares. The morning sky was filled with black smoke, accumulating in the form of a huge cloud.

— What happened here? Ino was the first to dare to whisper, having moved away from the shock caused by this sight. She turned her head and saw that Mikoto was frozen in her tracks, staring with wild horror at what was left of the village where their mission had led them.

A terrible picture from the past flashed in her friend's eyes, which she could not remember all these years. It was the floor, drenched in still-warm blood, on which she was kneeling, and a decapitated man was lying in front of her.

It seems that this sight found echoes not only in the girl's memories. Naruto shivered slightly, also remembering the events of that bloody night. And Sasuke took a step back at all, as if he saw the streets of his native quarter littered with mutilated bodies again. Hatake, like Sarutobi, this picture reminded Konoha after the attack of the Nine-Tailed. But if on that terrible day Kyubi destroyed only part of the village, then there was practically nothing left of Takigakure.

"An entire village has been destroyed," Asuma said, a smoking cigarette falling out of his mouth. – It just can't be!

— It's Akatsuki. I don't know anyone else capable of something like this," Kakashi muttered, lifting the protector and lowering the mask a little to release the sharingan. The red eye with three tomoes around the pupil flashed, looking for something alive among the dancing flames.

— Akatsuki? Naruto repeated, remembering yesterday's conversation with Shikamaru. He exchanged glances with his comrade, whose face was as serious as ever.

— There's something there! Choji exclaimed, noticing something a moment after Kakashi's sharingan detected some movement.

"They're still here,— Hatake said, snatching the kunai.

And the next moment his words were confirmed by two shadows that slipped out of the dancing flames. It turned out to be two people in black raincoats with an unusual pattern in the form of red clouds, who stood with their backs to the reinforcements from Konoha, as if not noticing them. It was as if their attention was focused on something else, more important than the shinobi of the Leaf.

The first man in the raincoat was tall and rather large, and on his head was a hood tied with some kind of black ribbon, apparently a protector. It was not possible to examine the stranger in detail, since he never turned to face the belated help from Konoha, but something still caught his eye. It was a hand with gray-brown skin, like a corpse, peeking out from under a half-torn sleeve of a cloak. The arm was crossed by several sloppy seams of black threads. A ring glittered on the middle finger.

The second stranger was smaller, with long gray hair slicked back and disappearing behind the high collar of his raincoat. In the man's right hand was clutching the handle of a very exotic weapon – a scythe with three blades, which was already sprinkled with fresh blood.

The ninja from Konoha did not have time to make any decision regarding further actions when suddenly a loud roar made them shudder. Something gigantic, resembling a beetle with seven wings, burst out of the black smoke screen and was about to attack two Akatsuki, but suddenly froze in the air and began to shrink. The scary monster, against which the two men seemed like little bugs, eventually turned into a swarthy green-haired girl in tattered and torn clothes. She hung in the air for a while while the wings moved quickly behind her, but suddenly they disappeared, and kunoichi fell to the ground, right on her knees, breathing heavily.

"These two were able to defeat her?! It can't be!" — Mikoto was horrified, on whom the complete transformation of Fu made a very strong impression.

"They are incredibly strong, since even jinchuriki could not fight back against them," flashed through Kakashi's head, who immediately realized who the last survivor of the Hidden Waterfall Village was.

"Naruto, be very careful. Perhaps these two are stronger than anyone you have ever encountered," Kurama addressed Uzumaki, who did not take his eyes off the defeated girl. The monster that she had just been, no doubt came from the same place where the Nine-Tailed One appeared, imprisoned in his body.

"Is she the same as me?" he asked.

"Yes. Jinchuriki Seven-tailed. Choumei is sealed in it. And since even she couldn't cope with them, then your team doesn't have much chance of winning!"

"Looks like you're running out of strength, little devil." That's the end of the fairy tale," the ash—haired Akatsuki waved his scythe. He was about to rush forward to deliver the final blow, but suddenly realized that he could not move. Not understanding anything, he turned to his partner. – Kakuzu, what the fuck is this?

— I'm afraid it's my fault, — Shikamaru answered them, who sat down on one knee and folded the clan seal to perform a shadow capture. – You fell into my technique.

The two started, realizing that someone had appeared behind them. The green-haired girl looked in amazement at the detachment from Konoha that appeared between the two enemies frozen in place, who came to her aid. However, she did not have time to be happy, because the next moment she lost consciousness, completely exhausted.

— You two are guilty of destroying an entire village and will pay for this crime! Asuma exclaimed, glaring at the couple in raincoats with a hateful look.

— A bold statement, — said the Akatsuki, whom his partner hailed as Kakuzu. "Perhaps you'd let us take a look at those who risk threatening us?"

Sarutobi exchanged glances with Shikamaru, and he momentarily weakened the technique, allowing the two to turn around one hundred and eighty degrees. Akatsuki stared at the new opponents, and they, in turn, were able to properly examine them.

The one who answered to the name Kakuzu, just like Kakashi, hid half of his face behind a mask. Only his bright green eyes without pupils with reddened whites were visible. Apparently, not only the hand had such a strange color, but also the skin on the whole body. On the man's forehead, over the hood, there was indeed a protector with a crossed-out symbol of the Hidden Waterfall village.

Akatsuki with a scythe turned out to be quite a human type with a rather pleasant face, although a slightly deranged smile spoiled the impression. His cloak was casually buttoned halfway, showing the neck and part of the man's chest, on which an unusual amulet on a chain fell. Even more surprising were the unusual purple eyes that appraisingly passed over all the members of the Konoha squad and stopped at Sasuke.

— Yes, you're just the spitting image of Itachi, kid. Aren't you the brother of our "genius", whom he could not kill? – he grinned and immediately caught the unkind look of his partner.

"What do you know about my brother?", — everything inside Sasuke turned over. He barely restrained himself from rushing into the attack in order to knock out all the information he needed from the man with the scythe. But intuition and common sense suggested that the enemy was much more experienced than himself and much more dangerous than it seemed at first glance.

Uchiha clenched his fist with such force that the knuckles cracked loudly, clearly defusing the silence, which was broken only by the crackling of flames around.

"Stop talking, Hidan, the Leader will be unhappy," Kakuzu said.

— Itachi?! Did you say Itachi?! Sasuke shuddered.

But either because of his partner's phrase or because of the explosion of interest in his person from the young Uchiha, Hidan abruptly changed the subject. He once again looked around at all those present and again addressed them:

— So, who do we have here? Two jonins who don't know how to soberly assess their strength, two girls who are about to piss themselves from fear…

Asuma and Kakashi exchanged glances, thinking that the enemies do not doubt their superiority. And it really was on their side.

Mikoto glanced at Ino, whose legs were still trembling treacherously. The blonde was barely able to control herself. It seems that she was greatly impressed by the result of the Akatsuki attack on the village. She doubted that they could be defeated when the gap between her and their level of strength was so great.

— Three boys who held weapons in their hands a couple of times, and a fat man who, even in such a situation, cannot part with his favorite delicacy.

"They underestimate us, although it hardly changes anything," Sasuke thought and squinted at Naruto, whose hand slipped unnoticed into a pouch behind a deck of cards. It looks like Uzumaki was thinking the same thing and was already thinking about possible battle strategies. Shikamaru was probably already doing this, but now all his strength was focused on preventing these two from moving. And Choji, whose hand spontaneously squeezed and still did not release the bag of chips, swallowed nervously, Akatsuki's words clearly touched him to the quick.

— Yes, yes, fat, I'm talking to you, — Hidan poked him with a scythe, then looked at his hand in surprise. – Wow. And I can move. Looks like your technique is bullshit, kid.

A drop of sweat rolled down Shikamaru's forehead, and he strengthened the technique, forcing Hidan to freeze in a new unnatural pose.

"They are strong, I won't be able to restrain them for long," Nara warned the teacher.

— Choji, stop! Asuma exclaimed instead of answering, watching Choji, furious at being insulted and completely forgetting about fear, inflate, turning into a ball.

— Meat tank! – the brave Akimichi exclaimed, finally assuming a round shape and, spinning, rushed towards the enemies, aiming for some reason not at Hidan, but Kakuzu, who probably seemed to him a more formidable opponent.

A moment before Choji crashed into Akatsuki, his skin turned to stone, and at the moment of contact Akimichi, who did not expect that the enemy would be so strong, flew back, rolled on the still hot ground, and collapsed at the feet of his comrades, after which he could not immediately get up.

"Everyone be careful," Kakashi commanded, addressing not only his students but also Asuma's genins. – You can't beat them alone, you need to work in a team.

—Damn," Shikamaru whispered, realizing that his technique had weakened. He looked up, noticing that the wind had changed and forced the smoke screen to cover the sun, thanks to which his shadow techniques became stronger.

"The leader—sama will be glad that we got rid of all the witnesses," Kakuzu, who was the first to notice that the shadow connecting him and the boy from the Nara clan had disappeared, took a step forward. – The Element of Fire: Infernal hell!

His hands put together a quick combination of seals, after which a powerful barrage of fire rushed to the group of shinobi Leaf, astonishing both Asuma and Sasuke, whose skills in mastering this element were on a completely different level.

— Earth Element: The Great Stone Wall! – at the last moment, Kakashi managed to fold the necessary seals and hit the ground with his palm, after which all the shinobi from Konoha were blocked by a stone barrier that appeared from the ground.

Asuma, armed with two brass knuckles soaked in blue chakra, met the blow of the second Akatsuki, who rushed forward like lightning, deciding to attack from the side. The two blades met with a scythe, the blades clanking threateningly right in front of Sarutobi's face.

— Good reaction, — Khidan praised his opponent. – Only this won't save you anyway!

He jumped back and, I must say, very timely, because the next moment the stone wall under the powerful blow of his partner fell on the squad of the Sheet in a hail. Fortunately, Kakashi had time to anticipate this, so he grabbed Choji and Ino and jumped back. He was followed by Shikamaru, who had been taught by previous assignments to follow the example of a senior in everything. Naruto picked up Mikoto and jumped to the other side. And Sasuke, in whose hand lightning sparkled, crushed boulders flying at him with several blows, thanks to which he escaped.

— Chidori! Uchiha shouted belatedly when the lightning in his palm had already gone out.

Kakuzu appeared out of a cloud of dust and immediately rushed to the brunette, who, as he thought, did not expect such a swift attack. The hand separated from the Akatsuki's body flew to Uchiha, and grabbed him. Tenacious fingers closed around Sasuke's throat, blocking his access to air. Uchiha immediately went dark in his eyes from lack of oxygen, he only saw the blurred figure of the enemy, who was connected to his own hand by some black threads.

Fortunately, Naruto came to the rescue in time, cutting these threads with his kukri. And Mikoto, in whose eyes the sharingan was already burning, rushed to meet Kakuzu, throwing five kunai at him at once, soaked in sparkling lightning and connected by them to each other.

— Lightning Element: Chain Reaction!

But when the kunai crashed into the enemy, he was not paralyzed by an electric discharge, but, turning into liquid, spread out on the ground in the form of a large puddle.

Meanwhile, Asuma and Hidan met each other again in close combat, and Sarutobi managed to scratch the opponent's cheek with a well-aimed blow. The man with the scythe had to pull back again.

— Ay, it hurts, — Akatsuki squeezed out a theatrical groan and put his palm to the scratch, after which he fixed his gaze on the opponent, which did not promise anything good. "When your blood is spilled, you won't have to wait long for your end.

However, his further threats were interrupted by a flurry of shurikens sent by Ino, who, along with Choji and Shikamaru, rushed to the rescue.

— Shuriken capture technique! – Nara sat down on one knee again, folding the seal at the right moment. Shadows from throwing weapons, which by the will of fate or intentionally flew by the sides of the Akatsuki, without causing him any harm, turned into black threads. Thus, once connected to the earth, the metal stars flew around Akatsuki, binding him before he had time to do anything.

— Weight gain technique. Meat tank! – Akimichi, having tripled in size thanks to the clan jutsu, turned into a rotating ball again and crashed into the enemy at full speed, forcing him to fly back.

— Well done, — Sarutobi praised his students, but without taking his eyes off the enemy. He got to his feet and dusted off his cloak, uttering such curses and curses that the young generation of Konoha has not yet heard.

"Was it a water clone?" thought Uchiha, seeing how the enemy's hand, from which he was freed, lying on the ground, also turned into water.

— Thank you, — he threw reluctantly to his savior, in response Naruto limited himself to a nod. He was holding a kukri in one hand, and a map was already prepared in the other. I wonder what kind of technique the Joker has prepared this time?

Uchiha also activated the sharingan, and the next moment he and Naruto and Mikoto, who hurried to them, stood around with their backs inside, preparing for an attack from any side. But the enemy decided not to attack them, but Kakashi, who was five meters away from them, appeared right in front of him from under the ground and hit Jonin with a stone fist right in the stomach.

Hatake's breath caught in his throat, but he found the strength to dodge the opponent's next blow by ducking under his arm. Once behind Kakuzu, Kakashi was about to plunge the kunai into the back of his head, but Akatsuki's skin became hard as stone again, and the weapon only ripped open the hood and cut the tread tape, forcing the bandage with the crossed symbol to fall to the ground. When in contact with the skin itself, the blade struck a lot of sparks, but it did not cause any harm to the enemy himself.

Kakuzu deftly intercepted the enemy's hand, squeezing it with such force that the Copying Ninja dropped the kunai, after which he spun jonin over himself and threw him into a group of his own students who were already rushing to help. They did not try to catch the mentor, instead spread out and prepared to attack from several flanks.

— Element of Fire: The Great Fireball! Sasuke exclaimed, coming in from the left.

— Wind Element: An air storm! Naruto shouted, walking towards the enemy from the left side, throwing the card forward and folding the seal of concentration.

The two techniques merged into one and moved threateningly towards Akatsuki, crushing everything in their path. But he was not at a loss.

— The Element of Water: The Great Water Wall! – he quickly folded the seals and at the last moment closed the water curtain, which absorbed the enemy jutsu and evaporated.

Kakuzu thought for a moment that the Genin attack was over, but he completely forgot about Mikoto.

"My training should not be wasted. All this time I've been preparing for this moment! Uchiha thought, concentrating her chakra and preparing to throw it out in the form of a completely new technique that neither Kakashi-sensei nor teammates had ever seen. — You definitely won't like it!"

- The Element of Lightning! Thunder Panther! – the brunette cried out, folding the seals and putting her hands forward. A bolt of lightning that flew out between her palms took the shape of a large cat and, flying through the steam curtain formed by the collision of previous techniques, landed directly into a man in a raincoat.

He shuddered several times while his body was overflowing with the murderous energy of electricity, and then collapsed to the ground. The three genins were finally able to breathe easily. Together with Kakashi, they slowly approached the body.

— I can't believe it! I did it! Mikoto exclaimed, and all the fear and horror of realizing what she had just done suddenly turned into joy, which Uchiha barely controlled.

She caught Sasuke's surprised gaze and Naruto's look of overflowing pride for her and relief.

—Great job, Mikoto," Hatake praised, wincing slightly from the pain. The last few blows made themselves felt. He wanted to say that they urgently need to help Asuma's team deal with the second Akatsuki, but suddenly Kakuzu's body twitched. – Everyone back up!

The students instantly reacted to the mentor's command and recoiled from the corpse, from which demons seemed to be tearing. Something under the black tattered cloak swelled, and then something black flew out of nukenin's body, landing a little behind. Then it happened again, and then again. After that, Kakuzu himself twitched once more, and then, to the horror of Kakashi and his students, stood up.

— Not bad. For a moment, all my hearts stopped. One of them never started up again," Akatsuki commented.

Hatake and his students saw that three black clumps of strange matter, lined up behind the master's back, were beginning to grow and take the form of incomprehensible creatures, whose faces were masks instead.

— Did he say "hearts"? Sasuke asked, realizing that the enemy was even more dangerous than originally thought.

— That's right. I have five hearts, each of which can exist separately from my body," Kakuzu grinned. – But this information won't help you anyway.

The next moment, one of the masked creatures opened its mouth, and a blinding lightning burst out, forcing Kakashi's team to scatter.

— Fire, Earth, Water... now he also uses lightning? – Naruto squeezed out in bewilderment, who did not in any way assume that someone besides himself could use techniques of any elements.

"No, he's not like you. He doesn't have cards or anything like that in which to seal techniques. His source of power is different! I don't like it," Kurama dispelled his doubts.

— It seems that each heart controls one element, — Kakashi put forward his theory.

"Then we need to destroy the remaining hearts to defeat him," Sasuke said, resolutely clenching his fist.

"And then I'll shake his friend out of everything he knows about Itachi," he promised himself.

And the battle of Asuma's team with Hidan continued. And the fiercer Sarutobi and his students stepped on Akatsuki, the wider his smile became.

—Well, you're completely exhausted," he commented, shielding his scythe from Choji's enlarged fist.

—The technique of shadow needles," Shikamaru said, but he was too late with his jutsu, because Hidan again deftly jumped away from a dangerous place.

And Yamanaka, who was preparing to use the consciousness transfer technique, could not aim, the man in the raincoat was too fast and impetuous. When he finally noticed her, he made a deft swing with his hand, threw it forward and let go of the handle of his formidable weapon.

The scythe, spinning several times in the air, in the blink of an eye overtook the blonde who was frozen in place, and the next moment one of the three blades pierced her fragile body, piercing the girl through in the abdomen.

— no! Shikamaru shouted when he saw his teammate, looking at her stomach with a scythe sticking out of it, falling to her knees.

Hidan licked his lips contentedly and with the help of the cable connecting his arm and the scythe, pulled the weapon towards him with a sharp jerk.

— Eno! Asuma exclaimed, rushing to the girl and picking her up before she collapsed face–first into the ground. Sarutobi tried to clamp his hands over the wounds, but blood continued to ooze between his fingers.

Yamanaka was strong, but not strong enough to contain the pain. She was moaning, which became like a moo – so strong was the pain.

"I... Failed."

— No, it's okay, shut up! Her mentor quickly interrupted her.

The man quickly raised his head, hoping that Hidan did not have time to attack Choji and Shikamaru during this time. Oddly enough, all three of them were standing in their places. Nara and Akimichi stared at the enemy, who was using his foot to draw some kind of symbol on the ground with blood, just like on the amulet that hung around his neck. When he finished, he licked the blood off the blade for some reason.

— Nothing is good, you lying nit. I warned you that just a scratch is enough to throw off your skates," he grinned. "It wasn't just you, it was everyone else. However, why scratch your tongue. Now you'll see for yourself!

Asuma did not take his horrified gaze off the villain, whose skin instantly darkened. White patterns resembling the shape of bones appeared on it. It looks like Hidan has just completed some kind of ritual.

Akatsuki picked up a kunai lying on the ground with his foot, after which he deftly tossed it up and caught it with his hand. What was the surprise of all the spectators of this nightmare when the man brought the blade to his own throat.

— Are you ready to see what I'm really capable of? Hidan asked.