Prologue
" Tobi, c'mere, I got a special assignment for you, yeah." Deidara called
It had been a while since Tobi had actually had a mission from Deidara or the leader. His Jinchuuriki, with some help from Deidara-sempai ( though he didn't admit it...) Was caught and sealed and he was running out of tricks and pranks which made days with the strict member a little funner. It got even better when Deidara got worked up and did something stupid, which happened often. Now he was excited. He was always an excitable person, and was often chastised for it, but he didn't care too much.
And here the two remained on a grassy field, bordering a large forest, most likely the entrance into the country of Fire, but Tobi wasn't too sure. Dark clouds where filling up the sky, it would probably rain soon. The leaves on the nearby trees hung heavy, and the wind was definitely getting colder. Small purple flowers that dotted the field swayed in the chilled wind. Mossy rocks gave off a humid smell which seemed to be the last of the fading warmth of the summer day.
Eagerly Tobi popped down on a large boulder, sitting and waiting for further instruction, only to receive an odd look from his Sempai. He knew the look, it was the look that was saying he was being rather cooperative today, something unusual.
But None-the-less, Deidara began to speak taking advantage of Tobi's attention, for it was very limited.
" I'm pretty sure you know by know, the Nine tailed brat has been a hassle for most of us to catch..."
Tobi snickered, " yeah, you should know!" he laughed, remembering the armless Deidara and how deadly his feet could be. Another great time when he had pushed Deidara too far.
After a quick glare from Deidara, he shut up.
" Anyway...," Deidara announced, trying to regaining Tobi's wavering attention, which seemed to be focused more on a small white butterfly floating in a thermal above Deidara's head than important details of the mission at hand.
" Tobi...!" Deidara said through gritted teeth. But Tobi still wasn't listening. " TOBI!!" This got his attention, but not in the way Deidara had wanted it..
"Hehe!" Tobi laughed at Deidaras rising temper. " No wonder that bug can stay up there, you're letting off more hot air then usual!"
He had done it now. The rock suddenly crumbled from a small blast. Bands of strong clay wound across Tobi's wrists and ankles, pinning him to the ground while Deidara pushed one knee down on his chest. Tobi was forced to listen now.
" Listen! The leader wants you to track and follow the nine tails. You need to go undercover and feed us information on the brats plans. Leader-sama choose you to do it because Konoha doesn't know about you in Akatsuki yet, Hm. You have to find out a way to stay with the Jinchuuriki's group and as long as possible. You're almost the same age," and same maturity, Deidara thought to himself, " as the kid, I think you'll have no problem bonding with him."
" How am I supposed to do that!?" Tobi cried.
" Well, I know you're not the kind of person to be able to think of that, so I did that for you, yeah. That brat...what was his name.. Oh yeah, Naruto and his group are coming this way, returning from a mission, yeah, I'm still not sure how you're going to tag along with them though...didn't get that far..." Deidara quieted for a moment thinking, getting off Tobi and turning his back, obviously embarrassed he couldn't back-up his statement. He released Tobi from his clay bonds. Tobi sat up, rubbing his wrists to get the blood circulation flowing again.
" Pfft, looks like you're not the kind of person to think up good plans either," Tobi taunted him.
He saw Deidara tense. Wow, pushing Deidara over the edge twice today! I'm getting good... Deidara swiftly turned and faced Tobi, a gust filled the field tossing his long golden hair and revealing his left eye. Tobi didn't like the look of that eye, consumed by zooming lens, it gave him the creeps.
" Change of plan, I know exactly how you're going to get close to them," he said almost cheerfully. Tobi didn't like the look on his Sempai's face, a grim smile and unwavering features, he knew something was up. He stepped back, well tried to.
A large clay centipede had wound its way around Tobi's leg and proceeded to his chest. Shit! He thought, he hadn't seen it coming because of the long grass. He tried to stay calm.. Sometimes Deidara threatened Tobi with things like this, but he was never sure whether Deidara would detonate them or not. His heart thumped painfully in his chest, he tried pulling the ugly thing off, but failed. A terrible feeling rose up inside him, a combination of confusion and fear.
"Oh, don't worry Tobi, I'm absolutely sure you wont remember this one, hm." Deidara cooed, raising his right hand, the middle and index finger extended. At this he uttered his fearful word.
"Katsu."
It was quick, one of Tobi's last thoughts reminded him. An overwhelming white light was all he could see. He felt his flesh around his legs being torn, though not as badly as his chest, and his orange swirled mask crack and splinter, scattering pieces into the world beyond the whiteness. . He heard his ribs crack and smelled his skin burn. He tasted blood.
His vision returned, though the colours blurred by pain, for seconds only. Tobi staggered forward, gasping, for the newly formed hole in his chest made it difficult to breathe properly. His knees felt weak, a warm liquid spread outward from the wound. Small specks of red where scattered on the blades of grass, the same coppery stuff that filled his mouth. His eyes rolled back in his head as his knees finally collapsed. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain, his breath laboured, coughing and choking. Darkness crept over his eyes, he felt like he was fading and couldn't stop it. He gave up his struggle to stay conscience and let the darkness swallow him.
Deidara stepped up to him, but got no reaction. He could clearly see the damage that was done, small shards of splintered bone stuck out the the masses of red on his chest, which rose and fell rapidly. It didn't kill him. Pity, Deidara thought. Though killing him wouldn't be wise of course, because he was part of the plan. A major one too.
Deidara worked quickly, removing Tobi's cloak, mask shards and anything else that would give him away as an Akatsuki member. Tobi's face was very pale, strands of black hair hung down over his eyes. Brushing them away he placed his palm on Tobi's forehead, he could feel a fever working up, but ignored it, he had a more important task to carry out.
Deidara didn't trust Tobi as much as he would have liked to. The mission would prove dangerous, and if Tobi was discovered, it would be easy to extract information from him, especially if he fell into the hands of Ibiki. Just to be safe, he would erase Tobi's memories, leaving him to only remember his name. White chakra flowed out of Deidara's palm, seeping through Tobi's skin, coming out a light pink colour. The jutsu though, was a difficult one to maintain. Often, the victims memories returned slowly, sparked by familiar things or actions. Deidara went through his memories, keeping the ones about Akatsuki inside him, so that they would not return to Tobi until he gave them back. He then planted a small tracker in Tobi.
It started to rain. By this time, Deidara was finished with Tobi. The mouth on his left hand slurped and gulped, creating a worthy air vessel on which he could escape. He would use the tracker to follow Tobi and make sure everything went according to plan. The tongue on his hand produced a small lump of clay, thick and rubbery, which Deidara quickly shaped into a pot bellied bird, one of his favourites, and enlarged it with his chakra. Hopping on, he sped off into the distance, for the Jinchuuriki's team would be arriving in a few hours.
" Might as well wait out the storm, hm," he said to himself. Landing on a rather thick tree about 5 kilometers away from the bloody scene, he sat down at a branch attachment, trying to keep dry. The rain was coming down harder now. This would probably delay the nine tails brat from reaching Tobi when he had expected them to, but nothing could be done now. He watched the small red dot on the GPS. On off on off on off, couldn't get much more exciting then this... Deidara sighed, watching the blinking light, but the dot never moved.
Sighing away his boredom, He decided to catch a little shut eye. He had been on night watch for the past 2 nights and was very tired, a little grumpy too. The swaying branches comforted him, bringing back nostalgic memories of riding his clay birds in calm winds, as the circles under his eyes grew. His eyelids grew heavy and he couldn't hold them open much longer. Drifting off on the branches, he didn't notice that the rain had stopped, and four unfamiliar signals had appeared on the GPS...