Shikamaru realizes Kakuzu has five hearts, each of which must be killed to defeat him. He also reasons that separating Kakuzu from Hidan is the only way to defeat them, and so, he uses Shadow Possession Jutsu to lead Hidan into a dense forest. Kakuzu combines two of his hearts into a single entity and prepares to face Kakashi, Ino and Choji to get a replacement heart. At the same time, after taking Hidan into a forest amidst numerous explosive tags, Shikamaru's jutsu is canceled with his opponent appearing to have managed to strike Shikamaru with his spear. Hidan then drinks the apparent spilled blood and prepares to use his curse ritual to kill Shikamaru.