Disclaimer: Naruto and all the characters in the manga/anime are owned by Masashi Kishimoto. Everyone knows that. Also, scenes and quotes in this chapter will be taken from specific scenes in the anime. Some of the characters' lines are slightly altered.
Itachi knew well enough to act extra cautious whenever he was in Amegakure or in its neighboring villages. He knew what their master was capable of. Pain of the Akatsuki was notorious for being a powerful sensor, perhaps the most powerful sensor alive. His ability allowed him to sense people and chakra from as far as five miles away. A jutsu, one he called Rain Tiger at Will Technique, amplified his ability by allowing him to use rainfall to pinpoint locations of people and activities even outside of the hidden village. And in the third world country named Land of Rain, rainfall was the one thing that they had in abundance. The Uchiha knew that the best way to stay under the radar was to do what they were expected to do and to keep moving. Hence, he wasn't surprised when they were called upon right after Kisame suggested that they took a break.
"He's calling us."
The blue-skinned swordsman sighed quietly. "He caught us dawdling."
The pair sat on the ground facing away from each other and positioned their hands to form the Ram seal.
"Gentoshin no Jutsu," they uttered in unison.
Almost immediately, their thoughts were picked up by Pain. Silhouettes of both Itachi and Kisame appeared in front of a stone lantern. The former opened his eyes and saw the hazy shadows of nearly all the remaining Akatsuki members surrounding the lone source of light inside the stone cavern. Konan was nowhere to be found. He was well aware of the mission she was currently in along with the Akatsuki asset she had brought with her but refused to think more of it, not with Pain and Tobi nearby. Even if it were just their thought waves, he couldn't take any chances.
"You're late," Pain pointed out at the last pair who responded to his call.
Kisame spoke up. "We just finished hunting the jinchuuriki. We had to blind him first so he wouldn't escape. So, why are we being summoned?"
"There's something you need to know urgently," Pain replied. "Orochimaru has been killed."
Silence fell upon the cavern. Even Itachi was surprised. Orochimaru, one of Konoha's legendary Sannin, finally succumbed to death. For a man hellbent on obtaining immortality, that was rather unexpected. Kisame broke the silent spell.
"Huh. A decade after leaving the Akatsuki, death finally caught up with him, eh? How did it happen? Also, what are the deets on the Zombie Combo's demise?"
The Rinnegan-wielder glared at Kisame's silhouette. "Watch you tongue."
"Sorry. Rumor has it that they were killed by shinobi from Konoha."
"It was Kakashi and the Kyuubi jinchuuriki's platoon," the Black Zetsu spoke up, answering Kisame's queries.
Tobi gasped in amazement. "That platoon is strong, isn't it? They punched Deidara-san full of holes too!"
"Tobi!" Deidara barked. "Say one more word, you asshole, and I swear I'll blow you up, hn!"
"Easy! Easy!" the masked shinobi piped back. "Really senpai, your hot head will be the death of you."
"How about I'll be the death of you instead-!"
"Deidara, calm down. You'll only prove Tobi right." Pain sounded almost bored breaking up the verbal sparring between the two members.
"Boy, I sure made senpai angry," Tobi murmured.
"And Tobi, learn to keep your mouth shut. You know better than to anger your senpai."
Kisame rolled his eyes in exasperation. "It makes my head hurt just thinking about how we'll catch the remaining jinchuuriki like this. Anyway, whoever killed Orochimaru must have been something else. Who was it?"
"Uchiha Sasuke."
If Itachi was surprised, he was excellent at keeping it to himself. All eyes were on him but the young shinobi barely flinched. He didn't even bat an eyelash.
Kisame chuckled. "Impressive. I expect nothing less from Itachi-san's otouto."
"He's currently going around gathering companions," White Zetsu said. "Moreover, they're troublesome shinobi."
"Which means?"
"You know one of them," Pain said turning to Kisame. "Kirigakure's Hozuki brothers. He's one of them."
"Suigestsu huh? That takes me back," the swordsman replied with a hint of nostalgia.
"Juugo of the Scales is with them as well. You need to stay alert. Itachi, Kisame, he'll most likely be targeting you. Everyone else, remember what I've told you about Uchiha Sasuke. If they learn too much about Itachi and Kisame, chances are they may target the Akatsuki."
"Kisame," Deidara spoke up. "What kind of guy is he, that Suigetsu?"
"Ten years ago he was a kid with a cute face. He was always smiling. Combat-wise he was a prodigy who was called the second coming of the Demon Zabuza."
"They sound like an interesting bunch," Deidara mused.
"Itachi, Kisame, hurry up and bring the Yonbi here," Pain ordered. "We're going to seal it along with the Sanbi."
"Understood," Itachi finally spoke up.
With the jutsu terminated, Itachi felt his consciousness slowly settling back to his own body. He opened his eyes and breathed out quietly, digesting the information that he had just obtained from Pain.
Sasuke had killed Orochimaru. He was finally safe from that madman.
'Thank you Kami,' he thought to himself. And yet along with the relief was the unmistakable feeling of doom weighing down at the pit of his stomach.
Sasuke defeating Orochimaru meant that his otouto had become powerful, perhaps powerful enough that he finally had to honor his part of the deal. It won't be long before he would have to meet him and give him what he had been craving for all those years: a fight to the death. 'Just as well,' the older Uchiha thought wryly. He didn't have much time left.
"Good lord, just when I thought we could rest a little," Kisame groaned, turning to his quiet partner. "Sealing one bijuu takes days. Imagine how long it would take us to seal two."
"We have no choice. Let's hurry."
Everyone knew that Konan was Pain's most trusted member among the Akatsuki. Even the assets and sleeper agents were aware of this. If something big happened, she'd be the first to be called back by their leader.
A few days ago, just half an hour into tailing a Sunagakure jonin, the purple-haired kunoichi paused and ordered Shiori to fall back. But not before whispering a name that the ward thought was familiar.
"Jiraiya-sama."
As per protocol, Shiori made a beeline for the nearest headquarters. The trip took two days and it led her to the barren deserts of Wind Country. More than once she suspected that she was suffering from heat stroke. Her entire body felt like it weighed a ton and every movement made her head spin. By the time she reached the entrance to the headquarters, she was more than happy to lie down by the massive stone door and stay there throughout the night.
"You're lucky you found us before the sand storm began," Fudo said, helping her back to her feet. "You could've died."
"If I had a ryo for every time I nearly died," she said to herself.
That was days ago.
Now she was in a predicament which was no better than being exposed to the elements. For the umpteenth time Shiori forced down the bile that lurched up her throat every time she caught a whiff of the flowers that she was pounding for Sora. She didn't doubt these plants' worth. If the medic-nin told her these were important ingredients for important potions, then she believed that they were. But that didn't stop them from smelling so bad. Every plant she crushed with her pestle smelled worse than the last one. Come midday, she had grown cold and clammy from being sick. Once, Sora walked past her and gave her an odd look.
"Didn't know you had such a weak stomach."
"I don't. But this is...you seriously think these things smell ok?" Shiori asked through gritted teeth. The strong smell of crushed petals went up her nostrils yet again making her gag. How the medic-nin worked with such vicious scents for so long was beyond her.
Sora stuck her face near the mortar that Shiori was working on and inhaled deeply.
"Nonsense. I've never met anyone who doesn't like the smell of ylang-ylang until now."
Seeing the green tint on the young woman's face was enough to convince her that she wasn't feigning sickness. She excused her for an hour-long break. Shiori gratefully obliged.
On her way out of the room, she knocked a pack of chakra paper off of one of the shelves. Most of the pieces which came in contact with the chakra leaking out of her wrinkled in mid-air, just as expected. But one piece of chakra paper managed to land on her forearm before bursting into a small flame. She looked up to Sora who was staring back at her with a surprised look on her face.
"Strange. Must be a dud." Shiori shrugged. She had been tested many times ever since she became an asset of the organization. All of her test results pointed to her having an affinity to lightning-based jutsus, an expected finding considering both her parents originally hailed from Kumogakure.
Long after Shiori had cleaned her mess and left the room, Sora still pondered over the curious incident she had just witnessed. She went over to the bin where the young woman had dumped the wasted chakra papers and took out the one which was burnt black. The tiny square crumbled into ashes in her grip.
'A paper catching on fire meant the chakra has an affinity to fire,' the words in an old textbook repeated in her mind in verbatim.
"Oh Kami. But it can't be."
Stepping out of the room worked. As soon as she stopped smelling those hideous flowers, she stopped having the urge to throw up. Now all that was left was a sinking feeling in her stomach, a pang of worry which she had quietly endured for the past few days.
She was supposed to be loaned to Deidara following the mission with Konan. She hadn't seen much of the pyrotechnique extraordinaire since Sasori died and he was paired up with Tobi.
'Or should I say Madara,' she thought to herself, sending a chill down her spine. Reading Itachi's mind had been a double-edged sword. While it gave her answers to many of her questions, she also gained access to alarming facts she'd rather stay ignorant about. The truth about Uchiha Madara was one of those facts. The man was a psychopath and a genius, a combination which seemed common to the Uchiha clan, but this one, this Madara, was a league of his own. He was smart enough to manipulate a thirteen-year-old Itachi into committing a heinous massacre with him and also smart enough to fool a handful of S-rank shinobi into thinking that he was nothing more than a bumbling fool.
Back then, she did notice in passing that she never got loaned to the masked man. It was only over a year ago, when she first kissed Itachi in Iwagakure that she found out why. He had been bending over backwards to keep her out of Tobi's way since day one, more out of fear for his own safety. If Tobi/Madara found out that she knew about his involvement with the Uchiha massacre, she would be dead and Itachi would be in deep trouble.
Three weeks ago, on the last night they shared together, he had told her what was going to happen. It was inevitable. The number of Akatsuki members had dwindled considerably and so had their number of assets. Avoiding Tobi would now look suspicious. He had instructed her on what to do to keep herself safe.
"Forget you even know chakra control. As far as Deidara knows, you're terrible at it. Let your chakra loose. The easier it is for Tobi to sense it, the more inclined he would be to stay away. Even he would think twice about touching you for fear of being read."
"Right. Any more suggestions?"
Itachi pulled his mesh shirt down his head, smoothing it down his torso before smiling at her. "Let them think you hate me."
However, neither Deidara nor Tobi had shown up. They should have collected her five days ago and still there were no signs of them, not even a message saying that they were on their way. A cancelled bounty mission could only mean one thing. Something urgent was happening, something more important than earning funds for the Akatsuki. Maybe it even had something to do with Konan's aborted mission. She had no way of knowing. It was the not knowing which made the pang in her stomach grow heavier.
With only five minutes remaining on her break, Shiori decided to head back to Sora and her nauseating plants. She figured that the sooner she'd be done with them the better. She paused by the door when she overheard the voice of Fudo. He seemed to be talking to Sora.
"What are they up to now?" the medic-nin asked.
"I don't know, dear. Whatever it is, they want it done fast before Uchiha Sasuke could get to his brother, Itachi."
Shiori's knees buckled. She grabbed on to the walls for support, struggling to catch her breath as her heart pounded on her throat.
"Sasuke?! What do you mean?"
"He had killed Orochimaru, you know. Now they're saying him and a handful of shinobi are on their way to get Itachi. They don't treat it as a matter of if but when. And they want to make sure the older Uchiha is utilized well before...before-"
"-Fudo, stop. Just stop."
The sliding door opened revealing a teary-eyed Sora. Shori wasn't looking too well either. From green, she had turned paper white.
"What's happening to you?" the medic-nin asked worriedly.
The smell of flowers invaded her nostrils once again, mixing with the horror from the news about Sasuke. A ringing sound began to fill her head.
"Shiori? Shiori!" Sora's voice sounded far and echoey. "Goodness you're freezing! What's wrong-"
The last thing she remembered was emptying her stomach's contents on the stone floor before passing out.
Glossary:
Bijuu - tailed beast
Kami - God
Otouto - younger brother
Sanbi - three-tailed beast
Senpai - someone of higher rank
Yonbi - four-tailed beast
Author's Notes: First things first thank you oh so much for putting up with crappy update scheds! Believe me, I feel guilty for not updating this story as often as I should. However, like I always say, real life stuff comes first. Adulting is hard people. Who knew. Also one of the reason of the delays is that I had to re-watch some of the episodes in this timeline several times just to get the feel of the events. There's always more pressure when writing about events which happened in canon because there's the added obligation of making it feel as close to how the creators of Naruto wanted it portrayed as possible. Dunno...just felt like I had to do it out of respect for Kishimoto...while adding some bits and pieces from my ideas of course.
Also, the angst train has left the station and will only be gaining more momentum in the chapters to come. Like the clueless girl that I am, I'm begging you to please let me know about your thoughts of these events (aka leave a review people! if you're shy then feel free to PM me). I may not be able to reply to you personally but do bear in mind that I do take your suggestions and tips at heart and try to integrate it to the story as much as I can.
Anyways, thanks again for reading. See you next time.
