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Part 2

3 - Hidan & Kakazu

Two newly introduced Akatsuki members, Hidan and Kakuzu, were chasing after the host of the Two-Tailed Monster Cat, Yugito Nii. Despite fully transforming into her two-tailed state, Hidan and Kakuzu defeated Yugito. After the battle, Hidan performed a gruesome religious ritual, greatly annoying Kakuzu, who was a money-obsessed bounty hunter. Zetsu appeared, and took charge of Yugito, ordering the pair to proceed to the Land of Fire and their next target.

Hidan and Kakuzu stopped by a nearby temple and killed the head monk, Chiriku, a former bodyguard for the Land of Fire's nobility. One monk managed to escape, and informed Tsunade of the incident. Tsunade ordered Shizune to mobilize a new task force, the Niju Shotai. Asuma's group, consisting of himself, Shikamaru, Kotetsu Hagane, and Izumo Kamizuki, left for the temple.

Team Asuma arrived at the ruins of the temple, and realized that the Akatsuki pair had taken Chiriku's body to a bounty station. The team prepared to intercept the killers at the station, and a monk prayed for the team's safety. When the monk expressed concern for their safety, Asuma revealed that his bounty was five million ryo higher than Chiriku's. Meanwhile, Hidan and Kakuzu collected the bounty on Chiriku's head, and turned over the corpse as proof.

At the bounty station, Kakuzu explained to Zangei that Hidan, an immortal, was the only ninja capable of surviving Kakuzu's indiscriminate attack strategies. This was the reason for their partnership, despite their ideological differences.

As Asuma's group moved toward the bounty station, Asuma explained that he and Chiriku had both belonged to the 12 Guardian Ninja of Konoha, and that their relationship was akin to Shikamaru's relationship with Choji. Asuma stopped smoking because he needed no distractions if he was to fight Chiriku's killers.

Meanwhile Naruto was training trying to infuse the Rasengan with wind chakra. Unfortunately, the jutsu consistently exploded, frustrating him to such degrees that a clone would start drawing upon the Nine-Tails' chakra. Yamato reversed the transformations, and Kakashi reminded him that success or failure rested on Yamato's ability to control the Nine-Tails.

At the bounty station, Asuma's team attacked Hidan. Izumo and Kotetsu stabbed him in the chest with their large kunai; however, Hidan was merely annoyed by the attack. Asuma's team quickly realized that Hidan couldn't be killed by normal means. Kakuzu appeared, and prepared to join the fight, but Hidan told him to stay out of it. Asuma proceeded to fight Hidan alone. Hidan managed to cut Asuma's cheek, and licked the blood off his scythe just as the latter used a fire jutsu. Hidan drew a seal beneath him just as the jutsu hit. It burnt Hidan's robe, but he emerged unscathed. Instead, Asuma's right arm was badly burned; the damage meant for Hidan had somehow been turned back upon himself. Hidan had also physically transformed; his skin was black with white accents.Hidan told Asuma that any pain he felt was transferred to Asuma. Since he was immortal, Hidan needed only to inflict a fatal wound on himself to kill Asuma.

Shikamaru caught Hidan in another Shadow Bind before he could do so. Going over every motion Hidan had made to start the ritual, Shikamaru figured out Hidan's ability: Hidan first needed to consume his opponent's blood and then stand within his ceremonial circle. Shikamaru explained that in order to save Asuma, all he needed to do was to move Hidan out of his circle.

Asuma sliced Hidan's head off with his chakra blades, and it fell next to Kakuzu. Rather than killing Hidan as expected, the head started talking, calling Kakuzu a bastard for allowing him to be decapitated.

Shikamaru fell from exhaustion as Hidan complained about the pain of being decapitated. Asuma, Kotetsu, and Izumo stood frozen in amazement, and plotted their next move. Kakuzu suddenly attacked Asuma, then grabbed Hidan's body. He reattached Hidan's head using threads from his arms. Kotetsu and Izumo attempted to strike Kakuzu, whose forearms extended, grabbing both of them by the throat. Meanwhile, Hidan jumped back into the circle, linking himself back to Asuma, and dealt himself a fatal blow in order to kill Asuma.

Asuma's wounds were fatal. Asuma died, but not before smoking his last cigarette and sharing some final words with Shikamaru, he lit another of Asum's cigarettes, which he began to smoke himself. He tearfully mumbled that he hated cigarettes, as they made his eyes water — a reference to when Team 10 first met their sensei. Shikamaru returned to Konoha, and informed Tsunade of what had happened. Tsunade sent out the message for the funeral to everyone, but Shikamaru had a message for Kurenai from Asuma, and would tell her what had happened himself. Naruto had nearly created the jutsu when they were informed of Asuma's death, and rushed back to the village. Shikamaru told Kurenai the message, and she collapsed from grief. At the funeral, Konohamaru wept for his uncle while Naruto comforted him. Shikamaru didn't attend the funeral, and spent his time seemingly formulating a strategy and learning how to use Asuma's trench knives. He also picked up Asuma's smoking habit.

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