DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. This story is purely fan-made!

Enjoy! )

………………………………...

Heavy footsteps walked through the dense forest, in a direct path to the hideout. The man staggered and nearly tripped on a tree root, catching himself just in time. He could feel his body slowly weakening; his muscles protesting with each step he took, and his brain threatening to engulf him in unconsciousness.

" If only I could make it to the hideout…I'll be alright." he thought numbly to himself. The bright moonlight glinted off his many piercings, and his orange-red hair was flung into his face by the soft breeze.

At last, he broke through the last vestiges of foliage and came upon the familiar sight. A tall cliff loomed high above the tree line at the far end of the clearing, and a small lake glittered in the moonlight, a few feet away. The clearing was remotely located, purposely far from the prying eyes of neighbouring villages. The Akatsuki hideout was located here, and was skilfully camouflaged within the cliff, so that it could be detected by no one outside the Akatsuki. Pein slowly walked towards the cliff, performed a few seals, and was admitted into a small opening which appeared as a slit in the cliff wall.

Once inside, he collapsed against a wall, and succumbed to unconsciousness.

………………………………...

Konan walked through the halls, book in hand. "It seems as if those boys take up the entire hideout! Seriously, the only place I have peace and quiet is in my own room." She had travelled to a nearby village yesterday, and bought a few books to read during those uneventful times at the hideout. But currently she was finding it impossible to read them, because there was always something happening with the other members, which distracted her.

Smartly, she proceeded to Zetsu's garden, the one serene and tranquil place in all the hideout-if you didn't get close to his carnivorous plants, that is. She took a detour around a few rooms and walked towards the main entrance of the hideout, planning to go to the gardens from there. Konan immediately noticed a man's figure laying sprawled along the wall of the main entrance, and screamed as she recognized the profile.

Her scream attracted the other members, who ran to see what was going on. They froze when they saw their fallen leader. Konan dropped to her knees and pulled Pein's figure in a sitting position. She checked his pulse, and was relieved to find that he was still alive. She looked up at the others, pale faced.

"What happened to him? He was probably poisoned or severely drugged, or-" Konan said worriedly.

"If he has been poisoned, I think I can help." Sasori responded quietly.

Itachi looked thoughtful. "If he has been injured by an enemy ninja, they must be extremely powerful to take down Pein like that. Unless they're already dead, which I doubt, we seem to have a new enemy."

"Thanks, Itachi. Our leader is grievously injured, and you know just how to make us feel a little less worried, don't you?" Kisame responded sarcastically.

Kakuzu stepped in before Itachi could respond. "I think it would be best if Sasori took Pein to the infirmary room to treat him. The sooner Pein is healed, the better."

Sasori nodded and attached a few chakra strings to Pein's body, so that he could transport him easier.

"Wait." Zetsu stepped from the shadows, and looked at the unconsciousness figure of Pein. "With Pein unable to lead us, I think we should find a temporary leader, just until he gets well."

"Well, since I was his teammate, I'll take over until he's healed." Konan said decisively.

"Hold on just a moment! I think its up for grabs who our next leader is going to be." Hidan responded defiantly.

"Excuse me? I was closest to Pein, so I think I know how to run our organization a little better than a guy who locks himself up in his room cutting himself!" Konan stood face to face with Hidan, both of them angrily staring each other down.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you were extremely close to Pein, after all, you do seem to spend an awful lot of time with him…" Hidan stated suggestively, with a smirk.

"Shut up!" Konan flushed angrily; Sasori and Itachi had to hold her back, so she wouldn't beat up Hidan in anger.

"Why don't we just have a spar or something? The winner will be our temporary leader." Kakuzu suggested hastily.

Konan leaned against the wall, glaring at Hidan. "That's such a guy thing to do…honestly." Konan rolled her eyes.

"Aw, its ok Konan, we'll go easy on you. You know, so you don't lose." Hidan smirked evilly, enjoying the implied message his taunt held.

Konan's anger flared again. She created a whole bunch of sharp paper origami, and threw them at Hidan.

Kakuzu banged his head against the wall repeatedly. "What are you doing?" asked Deidara, as though worried for his sanity.

"I suggested that to stop their fight, not start a more violent one." he replied. Deidara grinned and shrugged. "Its fun to watch Hidan getting beaten up!" he said happily.

Konan's paper designs were getting more vicious each time, and it was only when she sent out a barrage of sharp, paper thin needles, which could sink inched deep and cause tremendous pain, that Sasori put chakra strings on both Konan and Hidan to stop their fighting.

"Why don't we just draw a paper to see who will be 'leader'? Itachi made a mark on one paper. There's one for each of us. Whoever gets the paper with a mark, will be our temporary leader." Kisame said, holding out a small bag. Each person drew a paper.

"There's one left. Who didn't draw?" Deidara asked. Kakuzu looked around the group. "Tobi."

Deidara rolled his eyes and called Tobi. "Yes, Sempai?" Tobi asked cutely hurrying towards him. "Just take the paper from the bag Tobi." Deidara muttered. "Ok!" Tobi pulled out the last paper, and opened it. "Ooh! There's a circle on my paper! What does that mean Sempai? Hmm?" Tobi looked up curiously at Deidara, who looked shocked. As did everyone else.

"What does the circle mean?" Tobi repeated. "It means that you're our new temporary leader…Tobi." Kakuzu replied. Tobi's face lit up, and a wide smile filled his face (underneath his mask). "Really? Wow! Tobi's gonna be a leader! You must be proud Sempai! Tobi knows lots of fun stuff we are going to do together! Yay!" Tobi bounced off to his room, eagerly planning his strange variety of activities and games and whatever else he thought of.

"Suddenly, I just had a vivid mental image of us playing 'Duck, Duck, Goose." Hidan stated hollowly.

Itachi shuddered. He knew that whatever Tobi planned on doing, it was going to ruin his sophisticated, cool guy reputation.

"I-I'll take Pein to the infirmary room." Sasori walked away, carrying Pein alongside him with chakra strings.

Deidara was banging his head on the wall. "Oh, come on Deidara. I'm sure its not going to be that bad, I mean, what's the worse that can happen? Sure, we may be mentally scarred for life, or lose 60 percent of our evilness, but we'll make it alive right?" Kakuzu said comfortingly. "Wow, Tobi may be childish, but he sure is evil." Kakuzu thought as he realized the negativity of his words."

Konan laughed. "And what's so funny?" Hidan demanded, eyes narrowed. "Oh, nothing," she replied aloofly, "Its just that you big macho guys look really scared, and because of Tobi!" Still laughing, she walked away to her room before anyone could contradict her. Kisame yawned and declared that he was going to bed. Slowly, the other members began to drift to their rooms as well.

………………………………...

Itachi stood in the corner of his room too anxious to sleep. He prided himself on being the hot, cool, sophisticated, hot, elegant, dark, mysterious hot and powerful guy of the Akatsuki, and he knew that 2 minutes with Tobi would completely ruin his image and reputation, let alone a few days-maybe more. Kisame was already asleep across the room, and seemed pretty much untroubled; but then again, he didn't really have much of an image or reputation to maintain. "Pein, you had best get better soon, or else you'll find your entire organization taken over by Tobi-imitations." Itachi sighed in resignation and went to his bed. Unfortunately, his dreams were plagued with imagining the worst that Tobi could do; he shuddered in his sleep and vowed that he was going to take an extra long mission the next day.

………………………………...

Deidara walked to his bed, said good night to Sasori who was working on his puppets, and lay down, closing his eyes. "Konan thinks we're fools for being apprehensive of having Tobi as a temporary leader? Clearly she hasn't spent too much time around him. We'll see what she thinks of Tobi when he starts to take over as leader, but it definitely will be interesting to see what he comes up with." Deidara thought, as he fell asleep.

………………………………...

Hope you liked the prologue, lots of hints for what's to come! Reviews/comments are always welcome!

-crimsonrose88 )