Chapter 2: Meetings

Now that Naruto was no longer at the Leaf Village and his whereabouts were unknown, the Akatsuki had nothing to do between finding all the tailed beasts. Most of them were taken care of. Still, the search continued for the few remaining.

However, things had gotten turbulent ever since the attack on the Leaf Village and the recent beasts being located and taken care of. It wasn't safe for them to go wandering around so freely anymore. They had to keep a low profile for a little while. Some villages were searching for them, vengeful for their fallen men while ninja searched for them in an attempt to stop them. The Leaf Village seemed especially motivated to dispose of them after Itachi's attack on Sasuke and Kakashi and several other ninja. If they did too much at once it would arose suspicion and any movement they made might tip someone off.

That is why Nagato opted to bring them all to a single hidden location for a week's time until things cooled down somewhat in hot areas keen to their activity. At first, some of the members thought it was foolish to bring everyone together, but the more their mysterious leader spoke, the more it seemed reasonable. This was a hidden location. No one knew of it and it was in an area irrelevant to any of their hotspots. It held nothing of interest and it wasn't near any tailed beasts, which everyone knew they were after, so no one would think about traveling so far and to such an uninteresting and poor area. No one, not even ninja knew about it. It was very well hidden and no one traveled that way.

The Akatsuki members started to arrive in groups of two. Konan was the first to arrive along with Itachi and Kisame. Deidara and Sasori were the next to arrive followed by Zetsu. They waited for the others to arrive. Konan looked up at the thick trees surrounding them, blocking their location from view. The large rocky hill behind them was very steep and did its part to hide the other side of their temporary home. She then looked at the building that almost looked like it was a part of the hillside, covered by leaves and moss. It appeared small from the front, but that was only because most of the building was built into the side of the hill. Most of the rooms would be without windows which was fine with them. It would be like living in a cave but with all the luxuries of a real home. It had pluming and a working kitchen and even furniture. Each member would have their own room as well. It would be like dorm life. Which didn't sound too wonderful considering who the boarders would be.

At last, the two remaining members they were waiting for arrived from the trees. Hidan and Kakuzu seemed to be trying to race each other for who would be the first of them to reach the rest of the group without running.

"It's about time you showed up," Deidara teased.

"We would have been here sooner if somebody…" Hidan glared at his partner. "Didn't waste time on a coin he found on the ground."

"It took you that long to pick up a coin?" Itachi asked in mild disbelief.

Kakuzu frowned behind his raised collar and faced the other direction. "It was a 100 yen coin and it was wedged between the tree roots. Must have grown around the coin. It looked old like it had been there a while."

"Then leave the damn thing well enough alone, ass!"

"Money spends the same. Old or not, dirty or not."

Hidan cursed him under his breath and then looked around at everyone else. "So this is it?" He counted them off with his wandering eyes. "Aren't we missing someone? There should be someone else, right?"

"The leader couldn't make it. He is not feeling well and chooses to remain hidden," explained Konan.

"Well, good for him, the lousy mother-"

"So this is where we'll be for a whole week?" Kakuzu asked, interrupting Hidan. "Why? I could refuse, you know."

"You don't have to pay for anything so you get to keep your money and I understand that the family that used this safe house years ago left emergency money stolen away inside. No one is sure where exactly so it's possible that it's still there."

Kakuzu pushed them aside. "Sold." He was the first one to the door.

The others started after him, but Konan held back, reaching into her coat and feeling the smooth sides of the hidden scroll. Nagato gave her permission to do as she pleased and entertain herself a little.

According to the woman who gave her the scroll, from the moment it's opened, the scroll grants the opener the power of hypnosis for one week. The scroll's power was only good for that amount of time. After a week, it would become useless. And since she was the one who opened it, it would work for her and no one else. The problem was that the scroll held no instructions. Only limited advice. Hints and tips. That was all. She would have to do everything herself. Everything was incredibly vague.

But she would have this power for one week. She really shouldn't pass this up. And who knew? Maybe she could make this week's stay a little more tolerable.

Keeping the scroll out of sight, she entered their temporary home and sealed the door shut.

The boys were already at each other's throats and they were only in each other's company for a few minutes.

"Please don't tell me you're going to be tearing up the walls in this place, you zombie freak."

Kakuzu was sniffing around the walls, tapping the surface with his knuckles, searching for a weak spot or a hollow area where treasure could be buried. "If you find anything… Anything at all, give it to me. If I think you're holding out, I'll rip your face off."

"And it begins," Deidara said dramatically, throwing his arms in the air. "Please, tell me my door's nowhere near his."

"Hey, Kakuzu," said Sasori. "I'll give you the change in my pocket if you get on your knees for me."

He shot him a look and then went back to tapping walls.

"It's shiny."

A knife was thrown at his head and sank into the wall just above Hidan's head.

"Are you trying to kill me you son of a bitch?!"

Kisame laughed and elbowed Itachi in the rib. "This is gonna be a fun week, isn't it? Hahaha! I can tell already."

"At least until someone loses it and kills everyone."

"Yeah, but how long's that gonna take?" Kisame asked. "A couple days?"

Hidan threw a knife back at his partner which was deflected and sent into the floor.

"Or less," Itachi answered coolly.

Kisame ducked a flying shuriken. "I see what you mean. They're only going to last a couple of hours."

Itachi closed his eyes lazily, ignoring the foursome dueling on the floor, each one trying to pummel the other in a flurry of weapons and fists. "At this rate it might only be minutes."

Konan stood by the wall and watched them thoughtfully. Using this newfound hypnotism may prove useful in this situation. But how would she know if she could do it or not? She would have to test it in order to make sure.

Now the question was who would make a good guinea pig? It couldn't be too easy a subject otherwise it could be passed off as stupidity and not real hypnosis. If it worked on a complete fool and she tried to use it on someone of a stronger will and intellect, the results could be disastrous. In this case she had to start out big in order to know if it was real or not. But who would be a good test subject?

She watched as Itachi stepped over the brawling Akatsuki on the floor and went to the other side of the building. "Since you're all there, I'll take the opportunity to pick my own room. Far away from you."

"Hmm." Konan put a finger to her chin thoughtfully. Itachi would make a good subject. He didn't seem the type to drown out everything she had to say and would sit there quietly. He was intelligent enough to not be passed off as a fool. And he was a genjutsu user. Surely if she could hypnotize him she could hypnotize anybody.

Now how to do it. She needed a plan.

Great. So who's first? Everyone's favorite big brother ^-^

I think we all know it's not going to end well.

Please review! Nicely :D