The Phoenix King
Chapter 1
A/N: Brand new story, sorry, couldn't help it. And yes, it is alternate-universe shit, which I based off of the upcoming OVA in Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution...don't ask I'm way too hyped for that game. R&R, Tell me what you think. Yes, Sasori, Deidara, Kakuzu, and Hidan are my favorite Akatsuki, don't even ask that question.
The wind whipped through Sasori's already messy red hair, tangling grains of sand in the strands if crimson. The shinobi stood still, nonetheless.
He smelled blood on the wind.
The wind died down and Sasori opened his russet eyes. Blood in the desert, that never meant anything good. You learned a few things from fifteen years in a barren desert and twenty wandering around like you're lost as shit. Blood in the Land of Wind, especially when the smell was half a day's walk from Sunagakure, usually was the result of something nasty. Sure enough, upon getting closer to the smell, he found quite the battle ground; the victor had long since abandoned the loser, whose body had been moved since the battle. He glanced around, poisoned needles, from the noxious smell in the air, a poisoned smoke bomb or two was detonated.
A strong puppet-user had battled here, but he had lost. Sasori felt an unexpected pull from his emotional side. A pull he swiftly ignored.
He stepped back and began heading in the opposite direction. Curiosity had gotten the better of him, nothing else; he wanted to know who could have possibly won a fight against a strong Sunagakure puppet-user, much less one that used poison gas.
Kai, Sasori needed to find Kai.
Sasori stepped into Kai's weapon shop to be assaulted by massive amounts of yelling, which was going on between a teenage shinobi behind the counter and another shinobi of roughly the same age. The teenager was much smaller, and clearly younger (despite being much more intelligent. A small blonde with wild blue eyes, full of emotion and intelligence, he seemed likable, Iwa, judging by his headband. The other was a Yugakure shinobi, which never meant much good. He was already volatile in voice and words, the angry violet eyes didn't help.
"I told you," the shinobi behind the counter yelled, "Kai's in the basement, he's working out a transaction with a bounty hunter!"
"I want to see that asshole!" the other shinobi bellowed, "He owes me for that crap he sold me for double the price!"
"My grenades aren't crap!" the blonde growled, "Now get out! No one wants you here!"
"I'll be here whether people want me here or not!" the shinobi retorted.
"Please," Sasori interrupted, rubbing his temples, "leave, no one wants you here." The shinobi behind the counter looked surprised to see Sasori, then a devious smile spread across his face. Crooked, there was another trait to keep in mind; the kid had a crooked smile.
"I've seen you," he leaned on the counter, "bounty hunters don't hunt you, yet you're in their books, un." Sasori flinched at the verbal tic at the end of the teen's lightly accented speech. The accent itself seemed a little odd and out of place for an Iwagakure shinobi like this one, but the tic seemed impossible for a shinobi. Speech impediments like that, in Suna at least, were trained out of a shinobi; it made them easy to be identified by an enemy.
"Hey, Red," the shinobi waved his hand tentatively, "you alright? What's up, un?"
"I know what it is," the other shinobi leaned against the counter, "Sunagakure shinobi have speech impediments trained out of them."
"It's a verbal tic numbskull," the first snapped, "and Iwagakure only fixes problems like stuttering, verbal tics are a hassle to train out of someone, un."
"Because they slip up when they get overly excited," the second teased. Kai walked in from the back room with an olive skinned bounty hunter in tow.
"Oh Christ Deidara," he sighed, "I told you to keep Hidan out!"
"Don't blame me!" the blonde shinobi, Deidara apparently, argued, "You never told me what he looked like, un." The other shinobi looked between them, running a hand through his silver hair. Sasori guessed that his was Hidan.
"Like an idiot!" Kai shoved the small shinobi away from the counter.
"Because that was specific," Deidara scoffed under his breath.
"I don't think I look like an idiot," Hidan muttered under his breath. Kai sighed heavily.
"What did you need Sasori?" he asked, "All my mercenaries are out. I can't help you with that."
"You've got two mercs and a bounty hunter in the room and you say you have none?" Sasori raised an eyebrow, "I was only looking for news, nothing more. A puppet user got beaten near Suna recently, a strong one. I wanted to know if there are any shinobi nearby who are capable of that. Y'know, besides Jashinists, because the user was poisoned."
"Weren't there two nutjobs heading for the Land of Rivers passing through yesterday?" Deidara asked, "The ones that killed Kuroten, un."
"The Akatsuki members?" Kai rubbed his temples, "You'd need at least a four-man cell to get into their territory, they're all S-Rank on the kill-list. Complete monsters. If you're just curious to know what they're up to, don't bother."
"There was an emergency cell of Konoha shinobi you just missed too," Hidan mentioned, "headed for Suna, they sounded like it was bad."
"Oh yeah, them," Kai ran his hands through his hair, "Kakuzu, you're pretty good with news, what's the deal?"
"You saw Suna rack up their border patrol right?" the bounty hunter glanced to Sasori, "They haven't done that since their last Kazekage was found dead." Sasori flinched at that sharp memory. Then Sasori remembered the name, Kakuzu, the shinobi that knew everything. He'd never seen the illusive man before, but had heard of how intimidating he could be. Over a head taller than both Deidara and Sasori with dark hair and frightening green eyes was pretty damn intimidating.
"So you think the current Kazekage is missing?" Sasori asked, trying to shake off the weird feeling he got from Kakuzu.
"Those Akatsuki had a body with them," Deidara noted, "I don't know what any of you are thinking, but I'm curious to see how this pans out, un."
"Deidara it's the Akatsuki," Kakuzu glared at the excited teenager, "not the bumbling terrorists you've worked for."
"I won't go unless there are people willing to come with," Deidara assured the older man. Sasori sighed, they'd worked together, no honorifics, and the clearly arrogant Deidara didn't mind.
"I'll go," Hidan smirked, "I've been looking for action, being out of work fucking sucks."
"It's my home village," Sasori looked to Kai, "and missing nin don't fare well during wars."
"I swear you three are like toddlers," Kai sighed.
"I'll go," Kakuzu offered, "Deidara's not exactly even tempered."
"Oh goddamn it Kakuzu!"
Kai does show up later, enjoy that fun fact, and yes, I did make Hidan and Deidara argue in the first goddamn chapter. I just imagine them arguing a lot. Hidan's really pissy so it makes sense. Tell me what you think of this, I know I never warned you about it, but...mah brain is weird.