Sunlight.
The sunlight made his eyelids flutter wide open, revealing in front of him a bright, blue sky. He could hear distant caws and warbles echoing in the distance, which became clearer with every second that went by.
He laid still on the ground with eyes open, not staring at anything in particular.
It was warm, the sunlight.
He didn't know how much time he had spent looking at the sky above him, but he was not really interested on finding out. He found himself very comfortable in there, and had absolutely no intention to move at all. His long, dark lashes brushed his eyes softly, as he closed his eyes for a couple of seconds to feel the bland wind blowing slightly.
So warm...
The possibility of being dead crossed his mind for a couple of seconds. How else could he feel so calm? But it was just too good to be true; if he were dead, he would be in hell for sure, instead of such a pleasant place. Then again, he hadn't bothered to turn his head from the sky, so he couldn't even know where he was at all.
He didn't know what the twins had done wrong this time, but he was certainly thankful for not being inside the ark any longer. He had yearned for the sun, the real sun, for a couple of weeks already.
The Noah didn't want to think about that.
He decided to lift his upper body from the ground to see the place he had been laying until then. Tall green trees surrounded him, mostly pine trees. There was a small pond a few meters away from him; its clear water was only disturbed by the movement of the living creatures beneath its surface.
Tyki did not recall ever seeing that place before.
Staring at the pond made him realize how thirsty he was, probably a result of the heat and having drunk excessively much wine the night before. He reached for the water, pulling his long, dark hair away from his face to drink. The blessed liquid was fresh, relieving his dry throat.
When he was finished, he looked down at the pond, meeting his reflection. His eyes bored into the water, looking at his Noah form. When had it been the last time he used his human looks? If he didn't go back soon enough, Eeez would worry. Clark and Momo would be suspicious for sure...
He didn't want to lose them... he was aware, he would have to let them go at a point, but he couldn't lose them yet.
Tyki's mood darkened. No matter what he thought of, it all went back to the same point.
"Maybe I'd better off in hell"
He had to go back to the ark. If he fooled around for too long, it wouldn't be easy to deal with the Earl later on. However, he was still weakened because of the battle in the ark and the Noah's awakening, so he needed to contact Road to return.
Now, where on earth could he be? He levitated in the air; as if he was climbing an invisible ladder, until he made it up to the height if the tree tops.
He looked to the north, then to the west, the south, the east.
The forest was extended itself for miles, giving the impression of being a never-ending landscape.
That didn't help much.
Where was that stupid talking umbrella when he needed it? At least he could make Cell Roron take a look around... if he had his card deck in his pockets. The golden-eyed man mentally slapped himself when remembered he had left it over his nightstand that morning.
But he had not expected to need it, since he was supposed to be in the ark helping Jasdevi to fix the wall they had "accidentally" destroyed that morning with one of their "harmless games", not in the middle of nowhere. The lazy twins decided to rebuild the wall using their Jitsugen, assuring the Portuguese Noah that they had all under control.
"Under control my ass" muttered Tyki. He would absolutely blame that pair of knuckleheads for his struggle.
He roved around the area through the air for a little while, but every time he took a step to find any signs of human life or a recognizable area, the forest seemed to move along with him. It was just too wide.
The Noah of pleasure sighed.
Whether he wanted to or not (he certainly did; he needed a vacation from his beloved family.), he had to wait for someone to find him. Until then, he would sleep under the open air.
His gaze finally met a large lake, located a few miles away from the place he stood. Perhaps he could fish peacefully in there.
Tyki descended to the ground, starting to walk towards its direction.
"Looks like he is trying to approach us." "I doubt he even knows where he is going at all."
"Still, it wouldn't be wise to let him approach the hideout." "We have to let Nagato know about the intruder, then"
Zetsu looked intrigued at the umber-skinned man that had been flying around the forest for the past couple of hours. Although he had been guarding the zone since the day before, he did not notice the man's presence; he suddenly appeared in his range of vision a few hours ago. What confused him the most was the fact that he had missed the intruder when he had such an unusual kind of chakra: It was... obscure, that is the only word Zetsu had to describe it.
Shrugging his thoughts off, the shinobi camouflaged with the forest once again, and communicated with his partners.
"We will have a visitor at any moment now." The holograms of the Akatsuki members turned their heads to Zetsu. "He is not wearing a head band, and by his appearance it's hard to tell where he comes from...He doesn't look like a shinobi, but he was flying around east just now."
"Flying?" Repeated Konan, as if trying to confirm what she heard. Zetsu nodded. "His body was levitating in the air, and looked around for something. He descended when he found the lake."
"The flight technique is exclusive of the Tsuchikage. Are you absolutely sure of what you are saying?" asked Pein, slightly squinting his eyes. They had been hired a couple of times by the Land of Earth, which made him be sure that they had no reason to turn against them. Having them violate their agreements would bring very serious consequences for both sides.
"No, not the Tsuchikage. It's a much younger man with dark skin. He could be a spy, perhaps?"
"Deidara, do you know about anyone else capable of performing that jutsu?" asked Sasori's deep voice.
"No, only the old man can do it, hm." replied the blond man, and shook his head. "But he can make other people fly for a short period of time. The old Ōnoki could be trying to check on us."
Pein remained silent for a couple of seconds. Considering the grand ammount information they had received and the Tsuchikage's petitions, it was hard to believe they sent a spy to watch over them. If this happened to be true, it would delay their objectives... The Land of Earth was satisfied with their work; or at least it appeared to do so, and they were sealing in that very moment the first Jinchūriki they had captured: Nanabi. Therefore, there was no way they knew what they intended to do. Iwagakure's Jinchūrikis were renegades, for that matter, so why would they make such an indiscreet move?
Keeping a blank expression, The Akatsuki leader turned his head to the team on the Gedō Statue's left hand.
"Kakuzu, Hidan, you are the ones located closest to the hideout. Try to learn this man's identity and his objective. I want him dead, whether you gain the information or not."
"We'll be on our way, then."
With that, their holograms disappeared.
Pein turned back to Zetsu. "Keep an eye on this man; let us know if anything changes."
"Understood."
"What a bother. It was already going to take longer without Orochimaru here..." said Kisame.
"That is why we can't afford to lose anytime. We'll have to focus on this even more." replied the leader.
"Hurry your ass up. We don't know with how much speed the intruder is moving."
"Shut the fuck up, I know that already. But I still need to pray before I offer him as sacrifice."
Much to Kakuzu's displeasure, he couldn't just dispose of his partner in that very moment, just like he had done with the previous ones. Oh, how he loathed himself when he found out that the moron he had been paired was an immortal.
The shinobis moved gracefully and quick through the trees. They'd arrive in about ten minutes if they kept their pace.
Hidan held his necklace in his hand, muttering unintelligible words while they approached his destination. He was annoyed, knowing it was most likely to be a simple civilian not worth of their time. How long had it been since he had a real battle? The boredom of spending so much time doing Kakuzu's jobs was killing him, figuratively, of course.
But the jashinist couldn't complain; at least the Jinchūriki hunting was staring.
"Oi, Kakuzu, do you really think that old fart is going to stab our back? I'd fucking love to see him try to stand against us."
"Who knows. I'd say it is unlikely, but it's not as if anyone could be casually flying around here. It could be some sort of messenger, so don't just jump over him yet. We don't know if he's a simple civilian, if you underestimate him you could get killed."
"Che, as if that was possible."
Hidan knew very well that neither of them were the appropriate ones to interrogate anyone. If the masked shinobi beside him really thought he would hold back, he was very wrong; Pein said he wanted the man dead anyway, and he wasn't going to miss the chance to use a sacrifice to Jashin.
When they arrived to the hideout entrance, they found a quite unexpected sight: A man with long, jet black hair and umber skin was peacefully resting by the shoreline, playing with what seemed to be a fishbone in his mouth. The man looked somewhat surprised, noticing the men's presence.
Hidan immediately agreed with Zetsu: He looked like anything but a shinobi; he wore a white, silk shirt and expensive-looking patent leather shoes. However, he knew a fighter when he saw one.
"What are you doing here? This is a restricted zone." said the elder ninja.
"Ah, is that so? My apologies, I wasn't aware of that." His tone was calm, even somewhat courteous.
The man looked at them up and down with mild curiosity, making the jashinist think he was being a little too confident, considering his situation. Like he didn't have to deal with enough irritating fuckers already...
"That doesn't answer my question" replied Kakuzu coldly. "What are you doing here?"
"Nothing at all, I was simply taking a rest. If you could tell me in what direction the closest town is, I'll be on my way." The man said, standing up.
A goddamn foreigner. Now that was just great. Hidan rolled his eyes in annoyance.
Realizing he wouldn't get an answer, the man turned around. "I'll go back to where I came from, then. I apologize for the inconvenience."
Hidan's blood boiled up. He was already in a bad mood for having to stand to two days straight to seal the damn Jinchūriki, and now a random man was trying to brush him off like a small piece of dirt. "Just who do you think you're talking to?" The shinobi approached the golden-eyed man rapidly and brandished his scythe. He didn't even have the time to turn around and defend himself from the jashinist's attack.
The shinobi expected to feel the blade of his weapon drilling into the man's body, to listen to a pained scream and see the bloodied man fall on his knees. But none of that happened.
The scythe swung through the man's body, as if he wasn't standing in front of him.
"What the fuck..." His eyes widened in shock. What kind of jutsu was that?
"Ah..." the man sighed, slowly turning his head to the silver haired shinobi. "Please, I don't wish to start a fight now. It would be a waste of time." He said, with the same calm and confident tone he used before.
"Stop it."
Hidan gritted his teeth. This bastard...
The jashinist's thoughts were interrupted as the man placed his hand forcefully around the shinobi's neck with an invisible speed. Hidan's violet eyes, still wide from shock, met a menacing glare, as he felt the pressure around his neck tighten. The man's eyes bore into his for a second, as his expression changed from an irritated glance to a confused, perhaps even concerned look.
He pulled hesitantly away from Hidan's neck. "There's no use in fighting..." he muttered.
Hidan gasped for air, backing up a bit. "What the fuck was that?"
"If you were so kind to answer my questions, I could answer yours."
Kakuzu looked at the scene in front of him. Stupid Hidan was always taking everyone for granted.
The masked shinobi has to admit it; he had not seen that coming. They were not in a genjutsu; so it had to be some sort of Space-Time Migration technique, which was very rare to witness. However, it didn't look like the jutsu itself, but a variation of it... Kakuzu couldn't explain what it truly was.
The umber-skinned man turned to him. "I have no intention to battle you. Could you just do it the easy way, and let me go?"
"Unfortunately, that's not an option." replied the emerald-eyed man. "That is an impressive ability you have, I can see you're an experimented fighter. But you're certainly not a ninja, are you? What is a foreigner doing in the Land of Rivers?"
Tyki was overly confused. The strangest thing about these were their attires: The wore black cloaks with red clouds that looked like some sort of uniform; at first glance he even thought they could be part of some branch of the Black Order, but they did not possess any Innocence. He had never seen such strange individuals before.
Something else bothered him too. His black side was taking over him slowly as the silver-haired man attacked, but when he made physical contact with him, he felt the bloodlust fade away. That was absolutely unusual. Then again, he never really attempted to kill a mere human before, so it probably was some sort of lack of interest from Joid.
The masked man had been watching him and his partner attentively. Even if his eyes were the only visible part of his face, the Noah could tell he was annoyed.
"I have no intention to battle you. Could you just do it the easy way, and let me go?" he asked, in hopes of not being in the need to kill anyone. After all, he was trying to keep himself from thinking of that part of him.
"Unfortunately, that's not an option. That is an impressive ability you have, I can see you're an experimented fighter. But you're certainly not a ninja, are you? What is a foreigner doing in the Land of Rivers?"
Ninja? Land of Rivers? Tyki became more and more disconcerted with every word coming out of their lips. The men had addressed him in Japanese, which was already strange considering the Noah Family had conquered over that territory, so he had assumed he was in some remote, oriental island they hadn't taken control of.
Not only were these men strange looking, but they also had a very strange personality. He had barely ever used his abilities on common humans before, but he was certain that they were supposed to be more than frightened. These men acted as if going through objects was something they saw every now and then.
The golden-eyed man decided the only choice he had would be to fight back. He'd make it quick, and search for someone who at least looked mentally sane and could tell him more about this… Land of Rivers.
"You are right, I am not a ninja, and I honestly don't understand much of what you're saying, but you're leaving me with no other alternative than to kill you."
The silver haired man in front of him adopted and offensive position once again with a smug smirk over his pale face. The shock has quickly vanished from any of his features, giving Tyki the impression of being an overly confident prick.
"Oh, really? I'd be more than happy you could fucking kill me, bastard. Really, I can't wait to see you try."
The challenging attitude made the Noah smirk. Maybe Joid could be interested in this man's blood after all.