Orochimaru vs Akatsuki

It was a blunt sound. Like something loud in the distance, yet not ear-piercing. He opened his eyes in a flash, hearing the faint noise. He laid at the bottom of the new lake, steel parts serving to weigh his wooden body down. It took a while to register what had happened, since he remained there for a moment, wondering why the world didn't look right. Why the night sky was so distorted and blue.

Chakra strings shot out from his core, attaching themselves like re-formed muscle and tissue. The first tug was strenuous and nearly broke his limbs, the pressure and thickness of the water weighing down his motion. Carefully, the puppeteer adjusted and managed to flip himself over.

Sasori stood on the floor, knelt down as his eyes took in his surroundings. Dirt and large rocks settled on the ground, moonlight streaming through from the surface. Something white was in the distance, a tiny body shrouded by a stream of bubbles. Immediately, the redhead knew exactly what he was looking at, and rose from his spot. In a body like this, swimming wasn't an option. Neither was propelling himself with bladed wings that weren't meant to brave the waters. Instead, he unbuttoned his cloak around his abdomen as swiftly as he could manage, creating a small gap large enough that he could shove his hand into his stomach. Fingers curled around the coil, tearing out chunks of paper and releasing them to drift uselessly into the surrounding water. After a few hand-fulls, the cord twitched and shot out, slithering towards the body.

The cord slunk carefully around the child's torso and wrapped him up, gently dragging the boy to the surface. Deidara emerged from the depths, heavily drenched and motionless. With a few shakes from the cord, he broke into loud damp gasps and coughs. The boy blinked and looked at the cable, realizing immediately who it belonged to.

"Danna!" His voice came unnaturally high, briefly swinging his arms and legs around in glee. An innocent smile graced his expression as he eagerly watched the water come close again.

As gently as the first time he had been handled with one of Sasori's tails, Deidara was slowly lowered onto the lake and plopped him down where he could stand. By then, the cord wasted no time retreating and flitted back into the water.

Minutes passed until a hand finally erupted, quickly pressing to the surface of the water and hauling the rest of Sasori up. The puppeteer made an annoyed look as he staggered to a stand, the sight of his subordinate only serving to soften it a little. Sasori pinched the bridge of his nose as he re-buttoned his cloak. "This is why you learn to swim."

As before, Deidara rolled his eyes and huffed, adamant on holding back those lessons as far as possible. Further out onto the crater, the water stirred and some familiar faces began to emerge. Kisame rose from the surface, water pouring off his back and head. His robes clung to his muscled frame, dripping still even when he hoisted the mighty blade Samehada onto his shoulder. The shark made a curious look around, eyes resting on the two at last.

Along with him, several more emerged. Itachi rose to the top stomach first and eased himself onto a dry rock. The Uchiha made a gasp for air, breathing for a few moments as he wiped his wet bangs from his face. He curled up on the rock, one leg pressed to his chest as he tried to comprehend what just happened.

Another surfaced from the depths, a large white spherical structure, seemingly constructed of paper floated at the very edge of the lake nearby Itachi. Bits of water dripped off the edges, the a paper remained a dry texture, even after the water had drenched it heavily. A few seconds passed before the papers began to fall away, disintegrating into the surrounding water to reveal both Leader and Konan within the encasing, both unharmed and dry.

Both children blinked, surprised to see their leaders as well as so many others here. Deidara has not expected to find Sasori or Leader within the ruins, and Konan was quick to notice the arrival of both young ones and one other seemingly random swordsman member.

A pregnant silence fell, a slight tension building at the presence of so many other Akatsuki in the same space. Itachi shuffled to his feet and avoided eye contact with any of the others, keeping his gaze to the edge of the water. Kisame kept a wary eye for the last to emerge, knowing full-well a little cave-in like this would not kill someone like that guy. Where is he?

SPLOOSH

Itachi bound in the air to avoid the four snakes extended towards him, jaws clamping shut at empty air. Itachi skid away, landing next to Deidara and Sasori. The snakes hissed in frustration but coiled around the rock, hauling up their master next. Orochimaru arrived with a frustrated scowl, barely gasping.

"Orochimaru?" Sasori blinked, eyes widening and narrowing at the sight of him. The blond accidentally caught the sannin's gaze, squeaking in fear before clinging closely to his master's wet cloak. Itachi held his breath.

Ringed eyes switched from every member and subordinate. Pein frowned and took a confident step forward. "Hold on. What is going on here?"

Orochimaru faltered at the voice, practically shrinking as he vigilantly glanced over at the glaring ginger. Even if the question was directed towards everyone, he knew for a fact, everyone was looking at him. No surprise really, he was the only one without the cloak, Deidara excluded. Just looking at the set arena, his odds were stacked against him. Six enemies, and not a single one of his underlings in sight. Orochimaru set his glare onto the Uchiha boy, his stoic expression serving to push him further towards the edge. No fear at all. Who did this kid think he was? The infamous murderer of the Uchiha plan perhaps, but he was only thirteen, barely a man.

CRASH

A gigantic wave exploded from the spot. Sasori shielded himself with his arm, keeping an eye on the action as he had just witnessed Kisame drop his sword right on the Sannin's back. The leaders stayed indifferent, easily withstanding the wave as if it were nothing but a wind.

The rush of water calmed, revealing Kisame bent over as he grasped his blade. A huge dent was impacted into the stone, a crushed body beneath the edge of Samehada, arms twisted awkwardly and the snakes erupted in smoke. The shark took a good look at his work, smirking as he raised his blade to reveal the frozen horrified expression etched into Orochimaru's face. His back was crushed, a few sickening pops and cracks could be heard as the weight lifted from the body. Kisame stood proudly. "That wasn't so hard."

With a resolved expression, he turned to their leader. "Orochimaru defected from the Akatsuki. I was just cleaning up."

So cool! Deidara's eyes twinkled, impressed by the brute force of Kisame's swing. The utter destruction pleased him, and with everyone alive except for the snake, the cave-in no longer bothered him. On the other hand, Sasori wasn't pleased at all, teeth still clenched as he snarled. "You idiot!"

Soon enough, the others turned to the puppeteer. Sasori was seething with an expression that showed a rare mix between fear and rage. "That won't kill him!"

As if right on the cue, popping sounds emitted from the broken spine of the sannin. Orochimaru's skin twisted like cloth as he head spun with a horrible crack, chin rested on the floor. Out of his mouth, a black form emerged and stretched the jaw farther and farther. Long straight hair fell from the chin of the mouth, draping forward slick with saliva.

A battle cry rang out as Samehada was brought down upon the crushed body once more, consuming them both in a cloud of dust and water. Out of the cloud, Orochimaru slithered towards Itachi. The boy activated his sharingan, eyes swirling into a red pinwheel shape in hopes of capturing the snake dead in his tracks. Sasori shifted into a stance as he tried to hold his partner still with chakra strings, just missing as the former Leaf-ninja passed them both and ran up the cave wall. Several papers gathered and swiftly formed a barrier at the top, blocking escape.

Pein watched from afar, eyeing the old attire of the sannin. Looking at the way he treated the others, there was no doubt that he was defecting. Their leader made a steely expression, mouth set in a thin line as he locked onto the new enemy of the Akatsuki. With a commanding voice, he set new orders to the organization. "Orochimaru has turned against us, a common enemy. As our enemy, we as the Akatsuki cannot let him live. That is our new top priority right now."

"...So we get to kill him?" Kisame grinned eagerly.

A slow nod from their leader was enough to start a war. In a few split seconds, Orochimaru was immediately surrounded by the Akatsuki. Itachi, Kisame, and Sasori cornered him while Konan blocked off all escape into the sky.

Samehada shook and tore at the bandages completely, rustling hungrily in his wielder's hand. Kisame threw the sword into the air and formed a seal with his hands. "Water Style: Super Exploding Water Shockwave."

Sasori emerged from a cloud of smoke. Clinking emitted from Hiruko as it stood at the ready by the puppeteer's side. All four limbs moved outspread as it crouched low to the lake, tail hovered threateningly over the redhead and the puppet.

"Fire style: Pheonix Flower Jutsu." Shuriken fanned out from Itachi's hands as he swiped them into the air, quickly lighting them on fire with a simple exhale of chakra. The shuriken wheeled about and sparked brightly, flying towards the target.

"Shikigami Dance." A wave of white sheets pooled from Konan's back, creating a massive wall of paper above the shinobi. The very grandeur of the vast wall served to block out the moon and cast a dark shadow over them all. Sasori couldn't help but shiver slightly, frowning at the sight of it. Even after their battle, she still had so much chakra to spend.

Orochimaru sweated slightly. From the left, an enormous wave crashed through the rubble as it approached. From the right, Hiruko's tail was striking down at him. From the back, countless flaming shuriken flew his way. Even from the sky was the growing shadow of the Akatsuki threatening him. This was a typical group attack, and yet on a level only the likes of the Akatsuki could achieve.

Left, right, front, back, above, several attacks swarmed the snake. Orochimaru growled as Hiruko's tail slammed him into the nearest wall, causing the land to quake behind him. The sannin cracked an eye open, able to catch a second of each member bounding away from each other, as if clearing a path.

"Almighty Push."

Even Konan backed off into the sky as the lake bed stirred and grew, an invisible force pushing the water back to reveal the dry land at the bottom. The very pulse generated a wind strong enough to knock back the other members, a grand slammed into the wall, successfully, tearing the land apart as a single slash threw trees and rocks into the air.

Deidara skidded back, having never deal with this kind of force before. The very blast sent a shock wave beyond any explosion he's ever made before. The wind rushed at his small body, eventually throwing him off balance and sending the child flying back.

The next thing he knew, he was caught and held like a sack of potatoes. Deidara blinked and chirped with a smile. "Danna!"

"That danna right?"

The hoarse voice caught him off guard, shark teeth grinning back at him. Deidara's smile fell but he was less than disappointed, more surprised to see that it was him who had broke his fall. "Kisame?"

Kisame frowned. "Aw, where did the master part go?"

The boy chuckled and looked around, the blast having left a deep ravine in the land, filled with lake water at the bottom. He gazed about the caved in cavern, the other members safely out the way of Pein's attack, as if they knew it was coming from a mile away. The boy caught his danna's gaze for a moment, a relieved look briefly coming over Sasori's face before he quickly averted his eyes and directed them towards the newly formed ravine. Konan waited in the sky, a swarm of papers slowly floating in her presence. From what it seemed, everyone was accounted for.

What about Itachi? Deidara wriggled out of Kisame's grasp and plopped down onto the water to whirl his head around. "Where's Itachi?"

"Itachi?" Kisame repeated and copied the boy's actions.

BOOM

A large white snake slithered into the air in the distance, capturing everyone's attention. Immediately, Deidara noticed something wrong about the snake, not quite normal other than its massive size. The scales didn't look right, they weren't shiny and neatly rowed. Not only that, but a figure seemed wedged between its jaws.

Itachi strained himself to keep the mouth pried open, one hand firmly grasping the snake's nose and his shoes pressed against the bottom jaw. The world grew smaller by the second, trees becoming dots and the ravine shrinking into nothing more than a ragged line on the earth. He was gaining height, the stars moving ever closer as they continued to push into the sky.

"ITACHI!" Orochimaru hissed, further pressuring the boy and forcing his jaws to close. The many albino snakes making up his scales rattled to life, a few quickly slithering over and coiling around Itachi's body. With a single yank, the Uchiha was pulled in, jaws finally clamping shut to engulf him into the darkness. The boy barely stood a chance as the world disappeared around him, now stuck within a slick and gooey space, soft tissue flesh pulsating around him and squishing him further into the stomach.

The Akatsuki watched as their newest member was quickly consumed by the giant beast, a silence falling over each of them as the snake fell back to the earth like a cut ribbon.

"Itachi..." Deidara's eyes widened. He stepped forward and broke into a run.

Two arms wrapped around his torso and halted the boy, lifting him into the air. Deidara squirmed and kicked, even chomping down on the arm with his hand mouths to let him go. Sasori remained unfazed, numb to the bite. "He's dead brat."

"You're wrong! He's not! Danna we have to go get him out!"

The puppeteer spoke exasperatedly. "He just got eaten by a giant snake, what part of that don't you understand?"

"He's not dead."

Pein tilted his head upwards, exuding an aura of authority over the other members. The blond quickly calmed, all eyes directed towards their leader. The pierced man paused, then gazed at the other Akatsuki expectantly. "Well? Go. I can still sense that his chakra is still there, he's very much alive. It's too early to let Itachi to die on us."

On that very order, Kisame bounded towards the ravine while Konan swooped in after him. In attempt to follow, Deidara wriggled again and clung to Sasori's arm, earning a puzzled look from the elder. "What are you doing?"

"I wanna get on your back."

"You want to-" Sasori groaned and pried the little boy off of him, plopping him down on the water and leaning over him. "I haven't given you one of those since the Jirou attack."

"Yeah!" Deidara jumped up and wrapped both arms around Sasori's neck to swing around on his back. With a determined look, he pointed towards the ravine heroically. "You're faster so we can go save Itachi!"

At that moment, the puppeteer could have burned of embarrassment, forced to lean forward due to the added strain on his back. The boy had surely gained weight over the years. Warily, he glanced over at the Akatsuki leader who stared him down. "Hurry up, Sasori."

"Ugh. I know that." Sasori snorted, then bucked the little boy off his back.

Deidara fell off and caught himself, a displeased look crossing his face. He was ready to protest but the words died in his throat as he met eyes with his master. The puppeteer made a sound similar to a sigh and spoke flatly. "You're not going."

As expected, the child argued and began to wave his arms around to emphasize his point. "Eh? Why? I'm stronger now! You know it!"

"We've talked about this before, Deidara."

The boy shrunk to a silence, grumbling under his breath as he watched the other two Akatsuki disappear down the newly created gorge. He began to regret letting Itachi out, he knew this would happen, and he didn't act on what was probably the better option. Now, the boy would deal with the possibility of being partially responsible for Itachi's death, if anyone found out that was.

Exchanging a tense nod with their leader, Sasori seemed to momentarily glare before heading off, leaping onto a stray stone next to the ravine entrance. The puppeteer turned back to his subordinate to inform him of one last thing. "Tobi will take care of you."

Deidara didn't even get the chance to at surprised as two hands cupped underneath his arms and hauled him into the air. In suite, a loud and squeaky voice rang in his ears. "THAT'S RIGHT!"

(Naruto Shippuden Movie 6 OST Track 19 – Middle Age Attack!)

BOOM

A streak of blood splattered into the water, the snake tail wriggling still while the majority of Orochimaru's body escaped the slash. Kisame kept a grin, impressed by the bulky snake's speed. Meanwhile, Sasori quickly wrapped the snake tail in chakra strings and flung the piece elsewhere into a corner.

Kisame observed the massive snake move about and dodge the incoming paper pikes, each one striking the ground just an inch away. Moving swiftly, the serpent easily slithered out of danger and tried to make an escape, turning to the edge of the ravine where a hill of rubble created an easy exit. Immediately, Konan raised her arms, as if raising the wall of paper that quickly blocked his way.

A curious rushing sound caught his attention, as the shark rested Samehada on his shoulder. A fierce fire spewed out of Sasori's palm, burning the snail tail into a crisp. Kisame cocked his head. "Why are you burning it?"

"His blood is poisonous. When exposed to air, it evaporates and makes a poison mist. This is the only way to deal with it." The glow of the fire ceased once the flame dissipated and left a pile of black ashes. The redhead turned back to the others and waited along the bottom as Konan dealt with keeping Orochimaru contained within the area, blocking off all exits.

The white snake scaled up the ravine wall, forced to go even further than the ledge as a humongous wall of paper cupped the entire gully and drove him up. A massive shadow formed and covered over the moon, both Akatsuki watching as their superior abruptly formed a ceiling and caged the serpent within.

Orochimaru hissed as his face hit the wall and fell back towards the bottom of the ravine. His stomach churned, as massive object still wriggling in his gut. He cracked his eyes open, snarling at the Akatsuki. Dammit! I can't shut down this vessel if they keep attacking me!

"Cutting and hacking him to pieces won't do anything, he'll just regenerate." Sasori explained while eyeing his former partner's descent and took a ready stance. "I'll extract Itachi, after all, I'm not effected by the poison gas."

"Gotcha." Kisame nodded.

With a loud splash, the snake fell into the water and fell into the depths. Immediately, the swordsman pressed his hand to the surface. "Water style: Five Hungry Sharks."

A small rush of liquid squirted from his finger tips and exploded into the river. A total of five sharks encircled the serpent, twisting in a corkscrew to churn the water. Soon enough, a whirlpool formed and dragged the snake along with it, driving it to the bottom of the shallow river. The ground shook upon impact, a flurry of bubbles escaped to the surface to reveal the five sharks pinning the snake down. Several small snakes coiled around their assailant's, biting down uselessly against the water-formed sharks.

At the top, a barrage of paper sheets dove into the river and encircled the five sharks. It folded into a single wall above them before dragging out and forcing the water aside, creating a dry opening that exposed Orochimaru to dry land.

Sasori jumped into the pit, quickly landing besides the wriggling snake. The sharks shuffled aside to let the puppeteer through. As he approached, the bloodied water began to hiss and evaporate into a poisonous steam and shrouded the paper funnel from the bottom to the very top. Sasori remained calm and unaffected by sauntering over the snake.

"I hate you." Orochimaru hissed out. Sasori barely acknowledged the statement and summoned one of his bladed puppets and lowered one of the claw blades to his stomach.

SLASH

The wound didn't remain silent, as a rush of white snakes emerged from the cut and flooded over Sasori. Sasori grit his teeth and tried to slice them away but the force was stronger than any water.

More fled the wound and crashed into the sharks, causing them to disperse into water. Upon release, Orochimaru jerked and squirmed violently before biting into the paper. Sasori tried to move his hands and fingers, but found himself overpowered by the rush of snakes. Purple pooled around the bitten area of the wall and hissed. It started with a few spurts and quickly grew into a giant hole as the acidic venom ate away at the paper.

Sasori scowled as his former-partner slipped into the hole and escaped the funnel, leaving him with the sea of snakes to deal with. He growled and raised his hands but paused immediately. Crap. If I burn them, I'll end up burning the paper too! I'm stuck! Not only that, but if these snakes get under the cloak... "Konan! Get me out of here!" He yelled.

A surge of papers cupped the puppeteer and elevated him up while the bottom of the funnel dispersed, allowing water to drain in and drown the reptiles. Sasori emerged from the funnel before the sheets disappeared and stumbled to a stop. Immediately, he tore a hand into his cloak and pulled out several snakes and began to chuck them away. Once finished, Sasori patted down his clothes to make sure nothing else was stowing away and turned to the others.

By now, Orochimaru was scraped and beaten, driven into a corner by the papers and Kisame's sharks. The albino snake's angular face hissed. "Good riddance, Akatsuki!"

With a powerful swipe of his tail, the rubble behind him fell and revealed an entrance, several torches lighting up the hall within. Orochimaru slipped into the hall, darting into the maze of a hideout.

Kisame charged after him but quickly found himself blasted away by an invisible barrier at the very foot of the entrance. Konan frowned and flooded her papers over the entrance, several explosive tags written on the sheets immediately told the other Akatsuki to back off. With a grunt, the tags exploded in a cloud of debris. The cloud dispersed and revealed the entrance again, undamaged by the force.

Konan's face fell, realizing quickly that they were losing time. "I can't get through."

"Another one of those power deflecting barriers." Kisame explained.

The puppeteer clicked his tongue. A few seconds was enough for Orochimaru to escape, so even if he tried to open the seal, Itachi was as good as dead. Sasori fished through his sleeve and pulled out a wad of numbered tags. "We'll have to wait a bit, but I'll give this a try." It'll probably be too late by then though.

He opened his eyes to reveal a strange world. The sky was nothing but a dull red while the earth was made up of several fleshy mounds of differing heights. A squishy substance engulfed his body, slowly working its way over his shoulders. Itachi immediately began to think, searching his mind for any brilliant plans or explanations but only found his thoughts clouded.

I'm in panic. I have to calm down. Itachi took a deep breath in but recoiled immediately, the horrid stench filling his lungs. He forced himself to take small breathes instead, but organizing the panic only managed to spread the thick mist over his mind even further.

I can't move. What's happening to me?

The fleshy substance worked its way around his head, cold saliva pulsating against his skin. Itachi felt himself go numb, no longer able to feel his feet. His consciousness began to fade and the world blurred. His very being faded, and the Uchiha swore, he felt as if the fleshy substance was of his very own body.

In an last ditch attempt to pull himself out, Itachi clung on his memories, an image of a small little boy around age six flashed into his mind.

Sasuke.

A/N: Finally, I'm able to write again. I actually wrote an extra scene in here for Sasori specifically but it caused the plot to swerve in a different direction so I cut it out. Next chapter is the end of this arc! I also made sure to make this chapter longer to make up for the time!

Thanks for reading! Nice to meet ya! Please review if you'd like!