As Kakashi and Iruka started darting around the trees heading back towards the village, Kakashi touched the radio in his ear and said, "Shikamaru! Asuma! We've recovered the scroll and are heading back to the village. Retreat at once!"

Shikamaru quickly touched his ear and said, "We hear you. We're on our way."

Kakuzu grinned and said, "Leaving so soon?"

Asuma, burned from the sudden attack by Kakuzu, said, "We've got pressing matter elsewhere. Sorry."

Kakuzu laughed and said, "You're in no position to run. And the kid over there doesn't look like he's going to be holding out for much longer!"

Shikamaru looked at Asuma and said, "Get ready to run!"

Asuma nodded and got to his feet. Kakuzu looked over at Asuma and tried to attack with his tendrils again, but Shikamaru quickly grew to ten feet and strengthened his hold on Kakuzu, a shadow hand racing up Kakuzu's body to his neck. Shikamaru held Kakuzu tight, breaking his neck. Kakuzu fell to the ground and Asumu and Shikamaru both took off heading back to the village.

When both ninja were gone, Kakuzu got his feet, straightening his neck. He still had a few hearts left and it would take more than breaking his neck to finish him off. He walked over to Hidan's body and lifted it up. He slung it over his shoulder along with his bounty and started looking for Hidan's head. He slowly made his way to the river where he saw something stuck to the side of the river on a tree branch. Getting closer, Kakuzu saw that it was Hidan's head, holding against the current by biting a branch that was hanging over the river. Kakuzu grabbed it by the hair and Hidan instantly started shouting, "It's about $%$#%%^ time!'

Kakuzu dropped Hidan's body and head and said, "Quit complaining. We're both still alive after all. I can still trade in this bounty."

Hidan snorted and said, "Yeah, but I want to get those two! They can't just treat me like this and get away with it! I'll $%$#%%^ kill 'em!"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes and pulled out a needle. He dropped Hidan's head onto his body and started sewing.

"Jeez! You're never careful with that damn needle!" Hidan complained. "It hurts like hell!"

Kakuzu said, "How many times have we done this? Just get used to it. Would you rather I left your head in the river?"

Hidan grumbled and said, "Just hurry up!"

As Kakuzu worked, Zetsu suddenly appeared out of the tree overhead.

"Looks like you ran into some trouble." Zetsu said.

"We were ambushed by Leaf shinobi." Kakuzu said. "One of them grew to about ten feet tall. Obviously Orochimaru was busy with those scrolls of his. This might be more difficult than we thought."

Zetsu nodded and said, "I'm going to go check on Deidara and Sasori. Stay here for now."

Zetsu quickly made his way through the ground, looking for Deidara and Sasori. It didn't take long to find them. Zetsu rose out of the ground and said, "I take it you two were ambushed as well?"

"How did you guess hmm?" Deidara asked, folding his arms.

"Kakuzu and Hidan were also ambushed. One of them was a giant as well. Orochimaru's jutsu must have lasting effects beyond what we thought."

"I'm not surprised." Sasori said, outside since his puppet had been destroyed by Kakashi. "Orochimaru's Forbidden Jutsu often have many effects, some of which he's unaware of."

"Anyway, they got the scroll from us." Deidara said.

"I'll go report to Pain about this." Zetsu said. "You two find Kakuzu and Hidan. They're about two miles East of here."

With that, Zetsu disappeared into the ground. Deidara sighed and said, "This was supposed to be an easy mission. What happened to that?"

"We didn't have as much information as we should have before trying to attack." Sasori said. "This is a somewhat unorganized mission."

"Well, we should probably try to find Hidan and Kakuzu hmm?"

"Of course."

The two ninjas started heading to where Hidan and Kakuzu were waiting.

As the Akatsuki started to regroup, Kakashi and Iruka and met up with Asuma and Shikamaru at the gate of the Leaf Village. Shikamaru shrank back down to normal size and said, "That's it right? We're done?"

"Yes." Kakashi said. "I'll deliver the scroll to the Hokage and report what we know about the Akatsuki members."

"Alright. I'm taking Asuma-sensei to the hospital." Shikamaru said.

Asuma grimaced and said, "I'm find Shikamaru. I don't need to go to the hospital."

Shikamaru suddenly grew to twenty feet and said, "Do you want me to carry you?"

Asuma knew he was beat. He sighed and said, "Fine, let's go to the hospital."

Shikamaru shrank back down to normal and said, "Glad you see it my way."

Iruka laughed as he watched Shikamaru and Asuma walk away. "Things sure are different now. I don't think I would've normally been assigned to a mission like this before. And Asuma is usually the one forcing Shikamaru to do things."

"Yeah." Kakashi said. "I think that despite the trouble we went through with Orochimaru and these scrolls, it all turned out for the better. Even Akatsuki seems like less of a threat."

Iruka stretched and said, "I think I'll go back to rebuilding the village. See you later Kakashi."

Kakashi lifted a hand in response and headed toward the Hokage's Mansion.