Author's Note: So recently I've relapsed into a Naruto phase and I've been writing about Hidan, one of my favorite characters of all time. When I was younger I wondered what would have happened to Hidan if somehow he was put back together, and years later I have formed a story out of it. I don't know how long this will be or how long I intend to play with it (before I get bored and start to hate it), but it's here for now and I really have some good ideas going for it. I've never done a full length Naruto fic, especially not with Hidan, so reviews and feedback would be really nice.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

There had been darkness for so long, he had forgotten what light was like.

He had forgotten the feel of the sun, and the sensation of warmth on his skin. The illusion of time had waned on him, and he was left with nothing but a void he had filled with his thoughts, reaching a deeper level of meaning than he had ever reached before.

He was not a philosophical man. Far from it. But in his earthy prison, he had plenty of time to relive his memories, replay his regrets, his failures. A hollow emptiness had consumed his being into cynicism.

Where once there had been his god, there was only a hole.

The last thing he had seen before the rubble smashed over his face was that Konoha brat barking about "the Will of Fire", and that his god was nothing. Rage had fueled him for what seemed days, and he waited for Jashin to come and save him, or to take him to the promised afterlife. But paradise nor rescue ever came. The hole budded in his chest, and for the first time since joining the cult, Hidan had felt doubt and uncertainty.

Though he was blown into pieces he could feel the sensation of pain in each and every one of his limbs. Weariness took over, and the energy was sapped out of his body with each passing moment. Days must have passed by now. His tongue became dry and parched and his consciousness flickered in and out in short bursts. This was pure agony. This was what it felt like to die.

In his acceptance of that, he was resolved to one truth.

There was no such thing as god. There was no higher force watching over him, granting him eternal life. There was only life, and then death. Immortality was an illusion. Time was an illusion. There was no beginning, or end. There was only a middle, and life would carry on with or without him. His body would rot and become one with the soil. Then he'd become grass for the deer, and prey for the wolves who would then die and rot as well. Life was a never ending loop, and he had been foolish to think he could exclude himself from it. Reality settled over him like a shroud and stripped him of his immature, naive mind, leaving him only with bitterness.

He recalled the day he was approached by the cult members of Jashin. They enticed him with their words of violence and destruction. Back then, utter chaos and anarchy was all he ever wanted. And then they had promised him immortality… Of course, he had been skeptical, but after months of experimenting, it somehow worked. No matter how many times his skull was bashed in, no matter how many vitals were pierced, he still lived on. How could he have denied such clever trickery? How could he had not have accepted that as the divine will of a god? There was no way he could have known any better, but now he was dying and regretting ever stepping foot into that temple. He should have just fled and lived out his life… Doing what, he didn't know, but not this. He was too young for this.

How long had he wasted his life on giving a fake deity sacrifices? How much time had he wasted praying and preaching? He could have been doing so much more. He could have traveled, could have learned so much. There were so many things he had not experienced that -though, before seemed trifle- now seemed fundamental.

What was having a family and friends like? Or an honest working job? What was it like to belong somewhere and feel welcomed? What was it like to be liberated from the rules of religion and just be yourself? Who was he without a god? What was his identity?

It was too late for him to find out, he supposed. At the end of the day, he was only mortal.

The darkness had engulfed him, swallowed his life and will. He was ready to die and complete the loop, ready to accept his fate.

So when he saw the first crack of light, he was sure that it was the beginning of oblivion.

The light pierced the fabric of his inky well, dotting his vision and becoming wider and brighter with each passing moment. Never did it occur to him that the rocks were moving. He had decided that this was the end of his rope. There was no reason to hold out for anything.

He felt his eyes wince at the light, barely conscious enough to hear the sounds of birds singing in the distance. The shadow of a head passed in front of the light, surrounding them with a bright halo.

Maybe there was a god after all. A sense of peace began to settle over the young man, his eyes closing as he resigned to imminent death. This was it. Salvation from this hell hole had come to deliver him to the afterlife. The sweet release was upon him. Soon there would be no more pain. He was ready, so ready…

"Boy, you sure took a beating down there, didn't you, Hidan?"

Fucking hell.

Kabuto ended up being the one to find him. He had not seen much of the spy in his time with Akatsuki, but he knew enough about him from the other members to at least recognize him. A medic nin and spy for Sasori. At least, that was what everyone had thought.

As it turned out, Kabuto had been serving Orochimaru since the beginning, studying with him, perfecting his medical craft and jutsu. He was quite an expert now, surpassing his now deceased master, able to miraculously mend Hidan's body parts back together seamlessly. The process had of course taken a very long time and it was far from painless. The entire procedure took almost a month, and after that, he had to go through some rough physical therapy for an extra two months just to be able to walk and hold things steadily in his hand. It had been grueling, and often his patience had worn thin from not being able to do the simplest things on his own, such as feed himself, dress himself, or even carry himself to the bathroom. As if his pride hadn't been wounded enough already...

Four months had passed since Kabuto had dug him out of that accursed hole. In that time he had been informed on what he had missed.

When Kabuto had found him he had been on the brink of death, his body dying from lack of sustenance and nutrients. Most of his body parts were his own, but some had been completely blown to smithereens in the blast, and thus he had been given "donated" parts from within Kabuto's reserve. He honestly couldn't have told the difference between what was his and what wasn't besides for the fact that some parts had different skin tones than his normal, pale ghost complexion. The most noticeable part were his arms and hands, which had been obliterated by the explosion and crushing debris. His donated arms were tanner than his normal skin, but his hands were lighter, but too pink for him to know them as his own. Seeing his mismatching Frankenstein body made him think of the time he and his partner had to go on a hunt to get Deidara a pair of new arms.

Which reminded him...

Kakuzu was dead. The Nine-Tails jinchuuriki had shown up as back-up during their last fight and annihilated his partner, apparently. Deidara was dead, Kisame was dead, Itachi was dead, the fake leader of Akatsuki (who was apparently called Nagato) was dead, his quiet, female partner, Konan, was dead too. All that remained was Zetsu and Tobi, the latter being the real brains behind the Akatsuki, much to Hidan's utter disbelief. Even more shocking was that Tobi was not Tobi. Tobi was Madara Uchiha. By the time Kabuto had been finished explaining all of it, Hidan had accumulated an enormous headache. He decided he didn't even care anymore. He couldn't have given any less of a shit for the Akatsuki bastards, and how they were alive, dead, or somewhere in-between.

By the time the end of the fourth month rolled around, he was fit and healthy, able to walk, run, hold his weapons without falter, and of course, run his mouth.

"Alright, Kabuto, what's the fucking deal, seriously?" he asked one morning as the medical ninja went over the results of his recent examination, scribbling down notes on a clipboard. He was seated on a cold, metal table, bare-chested and only wearing a pair of dark pants. He had no idea where this place was, aside from underground, for it echoed and he could sense movement up above them. Perhaps forest life? He wasn't sure. He hadn't been outside since the day Kabuto found him, so they could have been just about anywhere. If he had to take a guess though, he'd have to say somewhere in Sound territory. If it weren't for his fatigued state he would have tried to bust out ages ago, but he was in no position to defy Kabuto. He was nowhere near as fit as he used to be. Even though he could hold his own in a fight, he had to actually dodge now, since Kabuto wasn't sure if his immortality was still effective after being sewn together with so many different body parts, and the effort and unusual fighting style made him naturally clumsy and awkward.

"You revived me, now I owe you something, right?" His tone was far from gracious as he followed Kabuto around the room with his harsh, violet gaze. He had been so ready to die, so accepting of it, and as soon as that tranquility had started to take over, it was snatched away by this loser.

Kabuto's features smirked, eyes narrowing behind thick, round glasses. His hair was short, grey, and scraggly now, cut just past chin length. Hidan thought he looked like absolute shit. Physically and mentally it looked like Kabuto had went off the deep end.

"Quite the opposite," he crooned smugly. "You don't owe me anything, Hidan. Consider this a pure act of kindness."

"Yeah right," he retorted with a loud snort. "I know how you guys play the game. I guess this means I'm being forced back into servitude. What fucking bullshit."

Kabuto frowned, looking a bit irked at the way Hidan so carelessly threw around his foul words. "You should be more grateful. All I really needed was your scythe. I could have just taken it and left you down there."

"So why didn't you then? I was more than happy to die in that shit hole, let me tell ya."

The old Akatsuki pawn shifted and adjusted his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose as he set down his clipboard on a nearby counter. "Because, I thought this would be a fun experiment. I didn't think I'd be able to fix you, to tell you the truth. You are very lucky to be alive…"

When Hidan didn't respond, Kabuto huffed and added, "And though it would have been fun to test out some things on you, I was worried they'd end up killing you and ruining all my hard work… In any case, that's what the scythe is for I guess. I'm going to use your genetic material to make a clone of you."

A loud and obnoxious groan left the ex-Steam ninja's mouth. "There's going to be two of me?!"

"Essentially. This one will be a puppet that I control, though. I may place your memories up until the incident with Shikamaru inside it, give it life, but it won't be anything close to the original. I'm hoping to make it a bit better. Don't get too jealous."

"Trust me, I'm not, seriously."

Kabuto chuckled darkly for a minute before letting out a sigh. "I'll tell you what, Hidan… This is the deal: you give me your permission to take your scythe and that Jashin pendant of yours-which mind you, I already have- and I'll let you go completely and utterly free. You can go wherever you want, as a free man."

There was a bitter and palpable silence. Hidan looked at his lap, hands clenching on the edge of the table till his knuckles turned white. He was stunned and skeptical, but a little flicker of hope kindled dimly inside of him.

"I can go?"

Kabuto nodded. "Anywhere you wish. Granted, you stay away from where the Akatsuki is operating. Otherwise you'll be captured and in the very situation you were in before, only worse. They'd kill you to keep quiet, you know."

"And you won't track me?"

"I may pop in and keep track of your progress out of curiosity, but I won't interfere with your life. You won't even know when I'm around."

"I won't owe you any favors or deals?"

"Nope. Not one. So long as you stay out of my business, and away from the Akatsuki, I'll stay out of yours."

The idea was too good to be true. A second chance was what Kabuto was offering. A chance to start over and live his life without shackles. A chance to be completely free. A chance to finally get away from all this criminal organization crap.

"Why?" he hissed suspiciously. This was too sweet a deal to be true. "Why would you let me go?"

"Because all I need is your clone," was the simple answer he got. "And sure, I could turn you back over to the Akatsuki, but what's the point when the Hidan I'll be making will be much stronger? Besides that, I'd like to scorn them just a little. Think of this as my way of gaining the upper hand with them. If I were to give you over, they might use you against me and that's just one more factor to the equation I have to add in. It's simpler if I just leave you out of it entirely."

Hidan nodded slowly, seeing that Kabuto had no real reason to lie to him right now. It made perfect sense to him. There was nothing to gain from using him or turning him over to Zetsu or Tobi or whoever was left now. He was useless without his immortality anyway. "… You promise you will stay the fuck out of my life?" he hissed venomously.

"You have my word."

He slid off the table, his feet hitting the concrete floor with a resounding thud. "When can I go?"

"Whenever you want," Kabuto said dismissively. "I'm not stopping you. If you'd like to leave now even, I can get some provisions together for you and send you on your way by tomorrow."

Hidan had no idea where he would go. He didn't care. He just wanted to get away, and make sure that no one from his past could track him down and use him again.

"I'm ready."

The following morning after getting dressed in a simple traveling attire provided for him, Kabuto fetched Hidan from his room and led him up a large flight of stairs that he had never been up before. This had to be the exit. They must have been extremely far underground, for the staircase seemed endless, spiraling higher and higher. The workout was making his legs sore already. How was he supposed to get the hell out of here as fast as he could when he could barely even walk up the stairs?

Light began filtering into his view, and he was reminded of the ditch that brat blasted him into. But this was just another hell hole he'd crawl out of alive. Miraculous on both accounts.

He rolled his eyes to himself, reminding himself sourly that there were no such thing as miracles. "Just happy accidents, then," he muttered to himself, causing Kabuto to cast a sidelong glance at him from under his large hood.

"We're almost there," he affirmed, refocusing his attention ahead of him.

"So, where should I go now?" Hidan mused to the much smaller man, who was cloaked in such away that the only thing visible on his body was his face.

"Well, I'm going to make sure you start somewhere where the Akatsuki dare not reach and that I know won't be snooping around by. From there, the rest is up to you. Be a hired sword, open a shop, get married, I don't care. You are your own man now, Hidan."

None of those options sounded the least bit appealing to the brash ex-Akatsuki member and he made a face, pondering his fate grimly.

It was bright, and the sound of birds met his ears with a cheerful clamor. They surfaced in the middle of a dense forest, the feeling of tall grass brushing his feet soothing and familiar. It was so much better than being cooped up in a lab. Hidan let in a deep breath of a fresh air, void of detergent and sanitizer. It was the first time had breathed outside air since the day he was buried in the middle of that thicket in the Land of Fire. Wherever Kabuto took him, he sure hoped that it wasn't anywhere near there...

"Here is a bag I made up for you." The medic nin handed him a light pack meant to sling over his shoulder. Hidan opened it curiously, rifling through the basic supplies. A stack of cash, some kunai, wire, matches, a sleeping bag, extra clothes, a first-aid kit, explosive notes (he frowned at that one), and some food rations.

"I really don't need your charity," he grumbled as he flipped through the money with disdain. "That's quite a lot to give a science experiment, seriously."

Kabuto smirked. "Well, I don't want that experiment to die of hunger or be a homeless bum. It's enough to get you started. I'm also curious to see what you'll end up doing with this generous opportunity, so don't spend it all in one place."

"Yeah, yeah whatever," Hidan huffed. "Let's just get going already. I'm sick of this place and following you everywhere."

"There's only one more thing…" Kabuto took a slight step towards him. Hidan felt his thin eyebrows draw together suspiciously, not liking the way Orochimaru's former henchman curved his mouth into a heinous smile.

"I'd really prefer you not know how to get back here again."

He blinked, and Kabuto had vanished before him with a rustle of wind. "What the-"

A blow to the back of the head silenced Hidan before he could even finish his sentence, and he felt his eyes roll back as he fell face-first into the dirt.