Summary:Kakuzu, after he left his village lives as a head-hunter, a mercenary. When he seeks out the most dangerous shinobi of the time he's in for a life-changing experience. Yaoi, Kakuzu/Madara
Warning: Mostly for yaoi and unbetad text.
A/N: This grew longer than expected, but it wasn't actually easy to write this pairing in a plausible way… well I do hope it will be plausible not only for me :)
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The Mercenary
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It takes him weeks to find the smallest of clue but he doesn't give up. He already decided that he'll find the man, take what it takes and anyway - it's not as if he's anything better to do. So he searches and investigates, goes after even the most improbable rumours, just to find that when it comes to Uchiha Madara, the unlikeliest will provide the best result.
Still it's not easy, remaining on the right track. Many claim that he's dead, killed by -depending on who's telling the story- Senju Hashirama, his own clan, any random shooting-star ninja, his own brother (who is in fact long dead), the ghost of his brother or that he'd a fatal illness or committed suicide.
Kakuzu listens to these rumours as well, and hopes they will turn out to be the rubbish they seem to be.
He doesn't have any particular reason to find this legendary shinobi. The decision was made on a whim, or rather yet, out of boredom. That is something he keeps struggling with, ever since his violent departure from Takigakure.
As a loyal ninja to his village, he used to have a strict, organised life. Going to missions he was sent to, killing people he was ordered to defeat... he was ready at every day from the break of dawn until he was released from duty to have a short rest. This vast amount of time he now has on his hands is quite a change to that. Not as much as the transformation of his body, but still substantial.
He enjoyed it at first, all these changes, his new power just as much as the free-time. Yet it's taken him less than three years to get bored. He also feels rather lonely, something he hasn't been expecting, as he assumed that he was finished with once and for all with other people. Some things just doesn't change that easily it seems, even for someone like Kakuzu, who sacrificed his own humanity for revenge and power.
So he came up with the idea to find someone like himself. A runaway, a traitor if you asked the village, a survivor, an avenger in Kakuzu's opinion. It's the same drive what will, more than half a century later, make him join the Akatsuki. Solitude is something he welcomes but he doesn't care for loneliness.
With that thought born, he decides to search for Madara. He is, after all, the most famous, or notorious of their kind. That finding the man proves to be almost impossible doesn't bother him at all. At least he's something to do while it lasts.
He carries out a thorough investigation still - if he decides to do something, he'll do it scrupulously. In the end however it's more luck than the intelligence gathered that helps him to find him.
It's a warm summer night, the type when darkness falls only in the late hours and even after it, the stars and the moon give Kakuzu enough light to wander the narrow path of the forest he's crossing. One of the unexpected benefits of the kinjutsu is his improved eyesight. He doesn't require much sleep - he always had quite the stamina, but nowadays he can be up on his feet whole day with only a few hours rest.
When he sees the flames of a fire blinking far in the woods he turns toward it without a second thought. It's not because he believes in fate or any other rubbish like that. No, he's been following a clue that is, if not hot, but at least warm compared to the previous ones he went after. So there's a possibility, however slight, that this will provide something further to work with.
He draws closer slowly, silently. He watches from a branch, hidden behind the thick canopy the slim figure who appears to be sleeping, dimly illuminated by the dancing flames. Only a fool would be so careless - to fall asleep in the wild, alone, and even next to a fire that brings anyone close to it. Most of the people passing through at night the forest aren't someone a lone traveller would wish to meet. Kakuzu killed such fools before, just for the money they carried with them, when he was in dire need. He doesn't feel above such a deed now, but the man doesn't look wealthy enough to worth the bother.
The ex-Takigakure ninja can't make out much of his appearance - a not particularly tall or powerfully-built man, lying with his head propped up on his backpack, dressed in well-worn trousers and a long, loose shirt. His armour is next to him on the ground. The handle of some weapon is peeking out from under it. Very nonchalant - it's not a position from where it could be drawn with ease. Kakuzu cannot see the sleeping figure's face, as it's obscured by the shadows of his long, thick hair.
He's not someone who makes a rash decision, so he keeps watching motionless for long minutes. The man on the ground doesn't make any sign that he'd feel his presence, his breathing remaining deep and slow, his form relaxed. Fast asleep by all appearances.
Only a fool would be so careless - or someone powerful enough not to have anything to fear. Kakuzu closes his eyes and concentrates. A wave of overpowering chakra hits him so unexpectedly that he almost loses his balance. He only ever felt something like this once before, and he was smashed down that time, his resistance broken like he was just a kid waving a fake shuriken, not an elite warrior of his village. He'd stood no more chance against this man, he's suddenly sure, that he did against Hashirama Senju years ago, although he got immeasurably stronger since.
It's not too late to go back where he came from. This is much more risky than what he's prepared for and he didn't survive what he did, to throw his life away now for nothing. Still, he's gone out of his way to find this shinobi... no, he won't run away now, with his tail between his legs.
He climbs down and, making sure to make enough noise, steps out to the clearing. Still, the man lying on the ground continues to pretend to be asleep. Kakuzu clears his throat.
"Uchiha Madara? I've been looking for you."
He turns his head at that slightly, a thick lock of dark hair falling away from his face with the movement, revealing a sliver of a pale face, sharp chin and deep, deadly cold eyes.
"So you found me. What you're waiting for? You won't get a better chance to attack."
"I didn't come to fight." Kakuzu's mouth twitch upwards under his mask. It's not really a smile, more like a grim sign of satisfaction at a job well done, that his time spent on the search wasn't in vain.
"Everyone comes to me for a fight," Madara says. He watches Kakuzu, but doesn't show any sign that he's about to get up. "Oh yes, there are those idiots who want me to teach them. Both types end up dead quickly."
"I don't want to learn anything from you either." It's a gamble - one, where the stake is his life - but he steps closer and sits down next to the fire. Madara's head rises just slightly and one of his eyebrows climbs high on his forehead. As far as Kakuzu can tell, he looks amused, not angry.
"By all means, make yourself at home," still, the threat is unmistakable in his voice. It takes considerable willpower to remain calm and not to put up his defence, but Kakuzu manages. Those unfathomable dark eyes search his form, though he can't see any real curiosity on the pale face of the Uchiha. It's not that he reveals much of himself - ever since his violent departure from his village, Kakuzu wears a heavy jacket and a mask, to cover the inhuman features of his body and face. He let his hair grew long, and the way it drops over his back hides the slight hunch that the masks cause. Like this it's only his eyes – the white coloured to deep red, and the vibrant green of his iris that doesn't have pupils any more - that show that he's not an ordinary ninja.
He can't tell what Madara thinks. He's not getting rid of him yet, which can either mean that he piqued his curiosity or that he doesn't think him worth the bother. Finally he pushes himself up on his elbows then sits. He yawns and stretches, making a show of closing his eyes in the meantime. Even if Kakuzu came to fight him, he wouldn't be so stupid to try to attack now.
By the flickering light of the campfire the Uchiha looks young, younger than him, although in fact he must be his senior by years if not a decade. It's his slender form, or his smooth face. Maybe it's that thick and long hair that hides so much of him. It'd be easy to be fooled by his appearance. His arch enemy, the Senju, didn't look really dangerous either. Kakuzu learned his lesson then. He needs to be very cautious with this man.
He lets Madara make the next step. Instinctively he knows that he has to let him dictate the pace. One step off the path and he'll be dead. Though Kakuzu might surprise him - he doesn't think that even the Uchiha met anyone else who has to be killed five times to die. But he'd rather not try his luck.
"Don't you think it'd be polite to introduce yourself?"
"Kakuzu," he bows his head slightly.
"Just Kakuzu?"
"Yes," it's not the name he's been born with, but he left that behind, along with the rest of his old life when he fled Takigakure. He rarely ever spares it a thought any longer. In a few years he won't think about himself differently.
"Tell me then just Kakuzu, who are you?"
"A mercenary," he's been that for last, before he started this search for Madara, so it's truth enough.
"A mercenary?" the other man grins, but there's hardly any mirth in the gesture. "So you came to offer your services to me? If so, you're barking up the wrong tree. I hardly need help from someone like you."
"I'm not necessarily here for that," Kakuzu shakes his head, few of his own long locks falling in front of his eyes, though it's hardly anything like the curtain of black hair that shadows Madara's face. "Though if you pay me, I'm not refusing any job," he sees the irritation on the other's face. Careful now, he thinks. "I actually might have some information you'd like."
"On what?" Madara stands up and unobtrusively Kakuzu pulls his legs under himself, ready to spring up at the first sign of attack.
"On Senju Hashirama. He's the one you're interested in, isn't he?"
"Oh? You think you know anything about Hashirama that I don't?" He steps up close and crouches down in front of Kakuzu, ignoring his personal space completely. The flames cast deep shadows on his face, making him look dangerous. Or probably it's his chakra that the masked man can feel on the back of his tongue, on his skin, heavy and threatening. Still, he refuses to lean back, away from this man. Rather he forces himself to sit still, his pulse to remain slow as he returns the gaze. Madara's eyes are still black, not red with the awakened Sharingan, which he takes as a promising sign.
"I fought him once, a few years ago," he's not sure if the Uchiha left the village that time or not, and berates himself for not doing his research carefully enough. But he wasn't quite prepared for this - a dangerous power so tangible he can all but grab it with his hands. It distracts him, especially as Madara is so close. It makes his normally quick and organized thoughts jumbled.
"And you survived?" There, just the slightest flash of curiosity appears on the pale face. "Do you expect me to pay for your information?"
Kakuzu heard enough about the eye-technique of the Uchihas - and this Uchiha's in particular - to know that he could pry what he wants out of him by force. Although genjutsus doesn't have the same effect on him as they used to have, his five hearts enabling him to break out of the usual kind with ease, he's not about to try against Madara.
"I'm willing to share for free. I haven't come this long for money, though as I said, I never refuse it."
"So what do you want, Kakuzu? Me to beat down Senju where you failed?"
"I've nothing particular against the Hokage," he notices how Madara's eyes narrow momentarily at hearing that title. He doesn't say anything at the lack of honorifics - he's not sensitive at all how people call him, and really, it's not even his real name.
"I've now a handful of reasons why you didn't come for..."
"Tell me, Madara-sama," Kakuzu is not a fool to try the same informality "are you heading to any particular place, or doing anything of importance? If not, I could keep you company for a short while."
"Company?" the Uchiha barks a short, joyless laugh. "That I need even less than a mercenary or an apprentice. Tell me," his voice deepens with his command "what are you trying to achieve?" His hand shots out to grab the younger man by the nape and draw him so close that their foreheads almost touch. Something shifts in his eyes and they are now red as blood. The next instant Kakuzu is in his genjutsu, standing on a vast barren land that's almost as crimson as the Sharingan. He doesn't stop to wait to see what happens next. His hearts beat out of synch for once, five thumps rapidly after each other, the monsters belonging to them shifting in his body and he's back on the small clearing.
Madara blinks at him in surprise. If Kakuzu stands any chance with an attack - or at least to flee - it's now. Still, he only clasps Madara's hand and pulls it away from his neck.
"So there's more to you than meets the eye. But I'm not interested in company. Tomorrow you'll tell me your fight with Senju and disappear. If after that I'll ever see you again, I'll kill you without a second thought."
"As you wish, Madara-sama."
The Uchiha stands up and goes back to his previous spot by the fire and Kakuzu releases a breath he's been holding.
Kakuzu remains sitting up whole night, and doesn't sleep more than a few minutes here and there. Madara is watching him, he knows, even if his eyes are closed and his breathing is deep as if asleep. He didn't fall for that trick first, and not about to this second time. At the crack of dawn the Uchiha gets up, stretches like a cat and puts on his armour. He also rakes his fingers through his hair, but it just becomes even more unruly with the gesture. He doesn't spare Kakuzu a glance during all these, nor when he walks away without a word. The masked shinobi follows him.
Neither of them says anything for hours. Madara pretends he's not there, just a few steps behind him. Kakuzu is willing to pay that game. He didn't used to be, but now he's a patient man. He learned when his own people imprisoned and ridiculed him for failing to kill Senju Hashirama that sometimes only time will bring what he wants. Like the chance to break out and massacre the ungrateful bastards back then.
He takes a cautious step back when Madara finally loses his patience and spins around to face him. He looks different dressed up in his armour, more obviously deadly, not so slim and young. He lost his fake innocence in the daylight.
"Are you planning to follow me like a stray dog whole day?!" he snaps. Kakuzu shrugs.
"I'd rather walk next to you."
"Than do that, for fuck's sake!"
Now and then he glances at Madara after this, sometimes meeting his gaze. The black-haired man is a good five inches shorter than him, probably even more without that thick mane that stands in every direction, and even with his armour on he must weigh less than Kakuzu naked. His pose, his springy steps tells of his power however. He doesn't bother to hide it like the ex-Takigakure nin, under plain clothes and closed-up behaviour. He's unlike anyone else the younger man met before and he's intrigued by this strange, dangerous shinobi.
"You're not a very talkative guy, are you?" Madara asks after a while. When Kakuzu agrees with a grunt only, he turns his head towards him and raises an eyebrow. "You've got your mouth sewn together under that mask, or what?"
He can't help but snort at that, amused.
"Something like that," he agrees.
"Still you claim you want to keep me company."
"What would you have me talking about, Madara-sama?"
"Hashirama of course! Or at least the real reason why you seek me out. Your real name - or why you hide yourself. In my book a masked man is a coward."
"I gave you my reason," he says slowly, avoiding the first topic. He's got a strong suspicion that he won't be able to say anything about Senju what Madara doesn't already know. "It's up to you whether you believe it or not. Kakuzu is as good name as any else I could give to you. As for my mask - I have my reasons."
"I'm sure you have," Madara smiles and attacks the next instant. The kick comes so quickly that he doesn't have time to harden his skin against it. The movement is heavily woven through with chakra and is so forceful that when it lands on Kakuzu's stomach it not only forces all breath out of his lungs but also sends him flying backwards. He hits a tree and the shorter man is on him already, before he could gather his wits about him, pressing a short sword against his throat. Reaching up he rips the cloth mask from Kakuzu's face and laughs when he sees the stitches.
"So it is sewn together! Tell me, my friend - will I discover more secrets if I uncover you somewhere else? Like how you resisted my genjutsu last night?" He has to stand on his tiptoes to press his forearm down on Kakuzu's windpipe. The blade moves down on his chest, close to his hearts. If he tries to cut him there, the stitched man will fight him, even if he knows that probably it'll cost him his life. He'll never again let someone do as they want with him. He's not the weakling he once was, who left himself be used and then cast away by his village.
"If I go with you, you'll have the chance to discover more," his voice is hoarse with the impact of the tree and with the threat of the sharp sword. He can't tell if Madara will try to stab him and the uncertainty is maddening. He struggles to stay calm, not to let fear or rage take him over.
"I'm not a patient man Kakuzu, so why shouldn't I just get everything I care to know now? And I've never said you can come with me." Still, he steps back and watches as the younger shinobi picks up his torn mask.
The ex-Takigakure ninja doesn't glance up to him -that would feel like as if he's putting up a show- when he extends a thin thread from the gash above his wrist and patches up the cloth quickly. When he's sure it'll hold, he hides his face behind it again.
The Uchiha is looking at him, but he can't read his expression. He returns the dark glaze evenly. When the black-haired man turns to advance on the road again, Kakuzu quickly catches up to walk next to him.
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Madara keeps walking whole day, only stopping for a short break to refill his gourd with fresh water when they cross a spring. If he puts up the fast pace to test Kakuzu's stamina, he's in for a ride - he might be way more powerful than the younger shinobi, but he doesn't have five hearts pumping blood, nor inhuman threads woven through his muscles.
Kakuzu doesn't ask where they're heading, if anywhere in particular. It's all the same for him. He doesn't have a home after all, and at any town he goes someone will be in need of a trained ninja to fight, to kill and willing to pay for his services.
When Madara asks, he tells shortly about himself. Not about his strange features, which he suspects the other is interested in, just where he's from, that he left the village, that he was an avenger and now a freelancer.
"Shinobi villages," Madara says with concept "the whole idea is ridiculous. Even where the blood draws them together, they will fight. If there's not even that connection - it just bounds to end badly."
"Still, you were there, to found Konoha," Kakuzu points out. Black eyes flash angrily at him.
"It was a mistake. My clan -the ungrateful bastards- wanted peace. So I did what they asked, but I've never received any thanks."
"There's no gratitude in the world of shinobi," the taller man agrees.
"Gratitude, alliance, remission - if you hear those from someone, you can know they're hypocrites."
"I know that now," he nods. He understands this sentiment deeply.
"Tell me, Kakuzu - how you fell from grace?"
"I was sent to kill your Hokage and was punished when I failed."
"He's not my Hokage!" Madara snaps, angrier than expected at the sarcastic comment. "He's not my anything!" He exhales slowly, trying to get rid of his fury. Kakuzu keeps his face blank, but stores this in his mind as valuable information. "Anyhow, he's not someone who can be killed by the likes of you, even if you have your little secrets."
"And I didn't even have my secrets then," he's not affronted -after all that's the truth.
"Then you're a fool to try."
"A naive fool," Kakuzu agrees "who believed in his village then. Believed in the elders who sent me on the mission. I've paid for my stupidity, but they paid as well..." he smirks for himself, under his patched mask. The memory never fails to fill him with dark satisfaction. Three of the hearts beating in his chest were taken from the leaders of Hidden Waterfall. The elders serve him now, in their death.
"So you had your revenge already, I gather?" Madara asks and he nods. "So you didn't come to me for help in that."
"No, that was my revenge. You're not getting an army against Konoha after all, do you? You want to settle the score yourself. I wouldn't have asked for help to fulfil my vengeance either.
"Then why have you seeked me out?"
"I told you already. For company."
"I find that hard to believe."
"The truth is not always the most probable option."
Madara just snorts, clearly unbelieving.
TBC…
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