Monsters on the Horizon
She wasn't the one who received the final word on many things. That would have been Nagato's job, or by extension, Madara Uchiha. Konan was simply the one who carried out their dirty work, or whatever the Akatsuki leader was unable of doing himself. From there, she had another duty, keeping the members of the organization in check. Making sure they were doing their jobs, making sure they were relatively content in their positions. Konan never expected the members who joined to love their careers, or even to immerse themselves in it. More than usual, they hated it, and would lunge at freedom at the very first chance. No one was truly happy in the Akatsuki, though it had its perks.
So often the only chance she got to check up on their members were usually during real physical meetings or when they would stay at the tower in preparation for their missions. Konan was no social butterfly, but the Akatsuki members had always had to get used to their lives being probed every now and then. Mark her words though, she very rarely got even close to be friends with any of them.
At the moment, Konan had quite the opportunity to check in with the others. With winter fast approaching, it seemed this current generation of members had decided to stick by the tower in wait for missions.
As she strolled down the empty corridor, she could already spy the cold rust on the pipes lining the ceiling, the empty drips echoing through the hall and the quiet scuttle of the rats by the next turn. Konan passed the dark empty rooms without so much as a glance, much to eager to get her job over with. She'd already checked in with Kisame's floor, the humid one which stank more of the winter cold than the other floors. Konan had observed that with each member who would come, they all claimed their own sort of territory. A floor would be reserved for them and they alone would rule that turf. Luckily for her, Kisame was relatively friendly for a rogue ninja. He wasn't very pushy nor was he aloof. When she came by, the shark greeted her with a wondering grin and she had quite a pleasant conversation with him about his early return from his errands.
But that was where the good part ended. Konan pursed her lips slightly as she caught sight of the stone stairs to the next floor above just at the end of the hall. A slight churning twisted her stomach at the thought that drifted into her mind.
During her talk, she had wondered about Itachi's condition. Kisame had little good news to give her, claiming that though Sasori's medicine worked just as intended, he could see the boy only getting a few short hours of relief before the coughing fits threatened to emerge. Kisame expressed some worry for his partner as well of the future of their two-man team. Like this, he wondered if they could go on the way they had. Kisame was shaky on how Itachi would cope with the disease, and whether or not it was merciful to put him out of his misery.
Konan had told him it was too early to make any predictions like that, though, she wasn't quite sure about Itachi's potential either. Konan knew she had to take into account the boy's will to live. At the very mention he could post-phone his death, the child was immediately clinging to the idea. How desperately Itachi strained his voice to ask her but the very pressure itself brought him to another coughing fit.
When she asked where Itachi was at the moment, Kisame said he wasn't on the floor. More than likely, he'd either gone out or went to visit Deidara. The swordsman claimed that the boy had been rather talkative about the subject of going to visit him on Sasori's floor. He said he didn't really comment on it or tell him not to go, since he really didn't want to appear to be ordering him around like a parent or guardian. Kisame claimed he had no real experience with kids, so he just tried to think of it like some sort of hangout or play date, not that he knew much about those things either.
On the subject of Sasori...
Konan stared up the flight of steps to the floor above. She placed a hand on the pipes lining the wall next to the stairs, serving as a sort of railing. Her fingers curled away from the metal surface, already shivering slightly due to the cold exterior. Konan glanced at the railing and wondered briefly if winter would be arriving early. Perhaps this would be one of the few years they would receive snow and not rain.
The Akatsuki finally started up the steps and emerged on the next floor. Immediately, she felt the need to call out as she took a quick gander around the hall. "Itachi? Deidara?"
She waited for a full minute, standing at the entrance wondering if she'd receive any responses. Konan spared another wary glance over the familiar passage, then continued on her way to the workshop, the puppeteer's usual dwelling.
Turning a few forks in the path and making a few right turns, she finally recognized the burnt dust smell in the hallway, though less choking than usual. Konan strode out of a corner and gazed down the corridor she had walked down so many times before. Unlike the other members, Sasori stuck by the tower more regularly due to the abundance of his materials here. Of course, he had places like the Ink village to go to as well.
Konan took a breath and made her way down, finally arriving at the door to the puppeteer's workshop. She stood there thoughtlessly, then proceeded to grab the door knob and twist it open. With her status, she had no need to knock.
The door swung open fairly easily. Even as the years passed, Konan still found herself blinking in surprise whenever that happened. Before, Sasori always kept his door locked. It was a sign to others that he did not wish to be disturbed during his work. In particular, this floor used to be harder to access due to the traps that the puppeteer set up. Of course, that was before Sasori had brought that child back with him from that mission.
Konan stepped inside and was immediately blocked by someone. Caught off guard, she immediately stiffened and lowered her gaze as carefully as she could manage. Staring right back at her, she recognized the large black irises of Itachi wide with surprise. Itachi gulped and staggered back and bowed hastily, muttering an apology for blocking her path.
Her expression softened as she watched the young Uchiha remain that way for a few moments, then straighten again to look up at her with a child's eye. Itachi must have forgotten to keep up his calm and cool facade, for now he looked more like a kid than ever before.
"Hello Itachi, what are you doing here?" Konan smiled and tried to keep her tone pleasant as she walked forward into the room.
The first thing she noticed was the sudden freedom of her breathing. Upon gazing around the room, Konan ignored the sight of Sasori sitting by the work table to gawk at the transformation of the art studio. Usual overrun with mess and wood shavings, now the room was organized and spacious. The air was clean as well, and allowed her relax more than usual in here.
This is novel...Konan blinked as she heard Itachi say something that she didn't quite catch. Turning down to look at the younger, she requested him to repeat his sentence.
"I'm just leaving but I came here to see Deidara. He's not here though." Itachi replied, nodding towards the room. "What are you doing here, Mrs. Konan?"
She sighed and closed the door behind her out of courtesy. "Please just address me as Konan. I'm here to check on both of you, see how you two are faring." She paused for a second, eyes narrowing slightly, "and what's this about Deidara not being here?"
"Itachi!"
The boy stopped in the middle of the street and raised his head to look around. He turned his head to the sky and spied out the cloudy sky just behind the towering buildings. Itachi blinked and finally looked in the direction of the voice. Just down a short alley, he could see the other street from here, a young familiar child waving to him from afar. The moment they met gazes, he could tell Deidara was assured he saw him. The blond ceased waving and ran over, a large smirk on his face.
Deidara stopped just a few meters from the other boy. Itachi took a few steps back, eyes slightly wide with surprise. The other child took a moment to double over and pant for a few seconds, tired from the long run across the region. Deidara looked up again and wiped his brow from sweat.
"Oh, um." The Uchiha tilted his head slightly, unsure of what to say. "Y-you're back."
"Hm?" Deidara finally straightened and staggered back slightly. His made a puzzled expression, looking at Itachi oddly, "How did you know I was gone?"
"I went to visit you but Sasori told me you were off somewhere else." Why is he wearing that? Itachi looked at the other from head to toe, noting the large cloak that Deidara wore, similar to the kind he knew of the ANBU in his former village to don. "I wanted to apologize about what I told you."
"Told me what?" Deidara blanked.
Does he not remember? Itachi pressed his lips together and quickly snapped his head to look elsewhere. "N-nothing, nevermind."
The child squinted his eyes at him suspiciously for a full minute, wondering if he should push the Uchiha into telling. "Anyway!" His face brightened immediately. "I just got back from a assignment! I did all by myself!"
"That's...nice." Itachi blinked cluelessly.
Deidara's prideful grin fell, replaced by a shrewd expression. The boy scrunched up his nose is distaste and became hostile, backing up a few steps. "Nice? Just nice?"
The Uchiha stared at him, then quickly shook his head and tried to change the subject by bringing up a forced grin. "W-well, I've been sticking around for a bit while you were gone. Kisame tells me we should go south in a couple of days, winter's coming you know."
The blond squinted for the last time and decided to discard his fowl attitude to play along. He crossed his arms. "I get that. Danna hasn't told me if we're going too." He tilted his head up towards the sky as if to inspect it for snowflakes. "They say this year is supposed to be a pretty bad."
Suddenly, he spied something dark and black flit across his vision, a seemingly large creature streaking across the metallic towers. The boy made a grunt of surprise, and blinked, then began to scan the sky to catch another glimpse of it. Unable to locate it, the child felt a swelling rise up his chest as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. What was that?
"Cold bad?" Itachi asked.
Deidara turned back to him and noticed Itachi's rather neutral expression, realizing that he was oblivious to the creature that just shot through the air above them. "U-un." He paused for a moment, then had a thought. "Oh, did you stay at Danna's for long?"
"For a while, yes." Itachi decided not to mention his little 'accident' in the storage room. He wasn't in the mood to deal with any mockery. "He started asking me about how you were doing. This should prove now that he's just busy, he really does care about you."
"Well I never doubted that!" The blond snapped half-heartedly and looked away. His blue eye slowly moved to peek at the older boy from the corner of his vision."So...what did you tell him?" Deidara asked evasively, a bit curious about what the Uchiha had been saying behind his back, but he didn't want to seem nosey.
Itachi ignored the gesture, knowing full well of Deidara's admiration for Sasori. "I told him mainly about your art. What your views were and such."
He watched the younger make a slight grunt in surprise. The raven expected the boy to be more ecstatic about that fact but as it seemed, the blond wasn't as set as he thought he was to reveal his beliefs to the puppeteer.
"Did you? What'd he say?" Deidara frowned, narrowing his gaze quickly.
"He..." Itachi's lips fell into a thin line, eyes dropping to the floor nervously. The puddles on the cracked concrete suddenly seemed intensely fascinating.
Deidara knitted his eyebrows curiously, then leaned in, wondering what kind of reaction would have cornered the infamous young rogue to silence. "What? He said what?"
"I FOUND YOU!"
A path of destruction. The hall was a mess of traps, seals torn to shreds, wire strings stretched so taught that some of them snapped and hung limp from the ceiling. There was a pile of rubble by the entrance where the door should have been, now nothing but a large gaping hole in the building. Inside, one could smell smoke wafting off the singed candle lying on top of the rubble, filling the room with a choking incense.
Hidan stood at the end of the room, the corner of his brow dripping with a red liquid and just sliding past the wide grin on his face. His eyes were wide with excitement as he knelt down and grabbed his triple-bladed scythe off of the floor, the polished metal glaring off the light form the outside.
"Now to finish the job."
(Naruto Shippuden Movie 5 OST Track 23 - The Mask)
A loud boom sounded in the sky, thunder crashing and the faint white sound in the distance signalling the coming rainfall. The world seemed to change for a brief quarter of a second, dark shadows flashing across the city of towers while sharp lights countering them. Itachi stared with his eyes wide, breath hitching at the sight before him.
Deidara barely regarded the thunder. Instead, he eyed Tobi doubled over and panting in the alleyway from the corner of his eye, lidded with disdain. He considered himself pretty independent now, he trained on his own, now did small assignments on his own, surely he didn't need Tobi looking after him anymore. He placed a hand on his hip in a superior manner, obviously annoyed by the masked man's appearance. "What do you want Tobi? I'm talking here!"
The rush of rain seemed to arrive, a blanket of water droplets pouring onto the village. Even when the cold droplets hit Itachi's face, he refused to pay attention, still breathless at the sight, a clear memory from the back of his mind immediately running through his head. A memory of life, a memory of blood.
Tobi's spiky hair dampened slightly in the rain, the dark hole in his eye still too pitch to glean anything at all from his real face. Tobi raised his head and straightened, immediately jolting into a dramatic position, almost as if he were readying to fight. His head frantically looked from place to place. "You guys have to follow me! It's not safe here!"
"Safe?" Deidara spat, "Tobi, what are you talking about, this is Ame. Leader's keeping an eye on everything!"
All three jumped slightly as a loud screech tore across the atmosphere. Deidara blinked a couple of times, heart thumping rapidly at the booming sound. Immediately, he turned to Tobi to demand what that sound was but the elder beat him to say anything.
The next thing he knew, he was thrown against the wall next to the alleyway. The back of his head hit the metal and his mind spun in complete confusion and shock. Itachi watched as Deidara quickly shrunk to the ground and grabbed his aching head, groaning slightly in pain. Tobi shushed them, back pressed to the wall. He turned away from the children to his right and inched towards the alleyway, peering into the neighbouring street.
Itachi followed him, chancing his way past Deidara and Tobi to look down the same way. Immediately, a strange creature darted into sight and halted, giving him a good view of its strange body. It was a dark black creature, slightly bigger than a large horse. It crawled on all fours, white masked face seemingly sniffing the ground and making those screeching noises as it did so. It's mouth resembled something of a beak drawn onto the mask, light blue marks underneath it's round empty eyes. Its body seemed to be made of some stringy material, almost appearing like long fur. The creature reared up and revealed it's long bulky arms, using its superior height to scan the area.
"What is that?" Tobi heard Deidara whispered much too loudly for his liking, quickly noticing that Deidara had also peered out to see it.
The creature suddenly made a loud screech, having heard him. Deidara froze upon realizing his mistake but luckily for them, the animal was distracted as similar looking creature of larger size zoomed past the street. A gust of wind followed, sending a sheet of trash paper into the original creature's mask. Irritated, it bellowed another roar and shook the paper off of its mask before looking in the direction the other creature went, screeching again before darting off.
Tobi held out his arm to signal the two children to hold their breaths a little longer before a whole 20 seconds passed when he lowered it.
Itachi let out a big exhale while Deidara merely staggered back, eyes wide. "H-hey answer me Tobi, what is that thing?"
"Not now, we need to get somewhere safe." Tobi shook his head, speaking in a hissed tone. He turned to Itachi, who simply stared back with a steely look. "No way, Itachi too? I've heard about you, you're that prodigy member that everyone's talking about!" He pointed at him.
Deidara grumbled at the title.
Itachi didn't reply immediately, instead taking a moment before asking in a monotonous tone. "And you are?"
"Tobi." Deidara groused and nodded towards the ecstatic adult. "He's the babysitter I told you about."
No point in that. I already know who he is. Itachi narrowed his gaze slightly, but decided to play along when he considered the blond's point of view. "I see."
Zetsu's subordinate stood straight and walked ahead of them abruptly, stopping with his back turned and whirled around, one hand on his hip and the other jutting his thumb out in another direction. Deidara groaned exasperatedly at his antics but Tobi seemed to ignore him.
"Well! I'll get your autograph later! I'll tell you what's happening on the way!"
The market place had been buzzing a bit more recently, shelves lined with apples and grapes along with dried out fish and other assortments of food. Konan walked her way through the crowd, a good foot of space spreading out before her as her status had made her citizens make way. The good people of Ame backed away and bowed in her presence, addressing her as the lady angel of the village.
Konan acknowledged them with glances but she wasn't in the talkative mood. It wasn't very often she came down to stroll amongst the regular citizens, so she wasn't surprised when she was met with looks of shock and surprise followed by loud greetings and offerings to her and the current governor of the area, Pein.
She wasn't concerned too much with the village at the moment, mind still on the subject of Sasori's strangely secretive behaviour. He acted like that all the time of course, but this time, she had a sinking feeling that this project was different from the others. Not only that, but Konan also had the hunch that she knew exactly what he was planning to do.
"Mom! Mom! Is that her?"
Konan paused and looked to her left, noticing a older woman lean down and shush a young boy. For a moment, she was reminded of Deidara as the kid seemed to be around his age. Actually, that child reminded her of many like him, though less fortunate.
"Yes dear, now please be more respectful of Lady Angel." The middle-aged woman was slightly chubby, pressing a finger to his lips in a silent signal. When she looked up, her eyes widened momentarily to see Konan stand before her, looking down directly at them.
Konan smiled softly. "Are you his mother?"
"Lady Angel! Oh! No! No! I'm his nanny!" The woman pressed a hand to her chest and made a proud expression. "His parents are out at work right now, but I can't wait to tell them that their son has met you. We are truly blessed by your presence."
"I see a good future for him, will he be a prospective ninja?" Konan asked curiously.
"He was," The nanny paused, her smile melting into a thin line. "His older brother was a ninja you see, but he was killed in the line of duty." Her eyes lowered to the child beside her, head also bowed in grief. "His parents don't want him to follow the same path, so we're looking at a different career."
Konan considered encouraging the nanny to bring the boy to the ninja academy but for some reason, those weren't the words that left her mouth. "Perhaps that's best." She looked the lady in the eye. "If I may ask, what was the name of his older brother?"
The woman opened her mouth to reply but before any of that, a loud screech emitted in the distance. Konan quickly came to attention and looked up, noticing the people all looking behind them, a frantic stirring in the crowd as there seemed to be a wave of shoving. A dark black creature came from the skies and landed on a hapless apple stand, crushing the fruit and the wood beneath its clawed feet as frightened screams and yells emerged from the crowd. The creature flapped its disproportionately small webbed fly wings and jumped onto the puddled street, the intense rain following shortly after its arrival to pelt the area.
Konan watched in shock as chaos exploded in the area, the creature running rampage through the citizens, seemingly confused and enraged. The animal threatened the people, looking as if it were searching through them, inspecting each and and every nook and cranny on the street. For moment, it stared a man in the face on the ground, then screeched loudly and turned its attentions to another.
She ran to approach the creature but the animal simply hissed at the sight of her. Konan prepared to restrain it with her paper jutsu but the creature backed away and lifted its wings, flapping them once and it was in the air. She could only watch as the animal retreated down the street, disappearing as it turned a corner, leaving the area in ruins.
The female Akatsuki stood there amongst the panic, staring as if the creature where still flying down the road. Of course she knew what it was, but the question was, what was it doing here?
"They're part of Kakuzu's jutsu." Tobi began to explain, nodding out the gap between the planks of wood in the abandoned tower.
A faint light streaked out from the gap and hit the faces of both Itachi and Deidara, having followed the older ninja into the wrecked area where the creatures seemed disenterested in exploring. From here, Deidara could see two creatures circling the skies, both black bodied and furry looking. One had pronounced shoulders and no wings to speak of, crackling bits of electricity around its head, only seconds after, thunder streaking the sky above it. The other was a smaller and bulkier animal, webbed fly wings keeping itself aloft.
Itachi blinked. "Summonings?"
Deidara made a sound of agreement, suddenly excited at the thought that such awesome creatures could be summoned. They seemed much more useful than Aoda any day. Not only that, but he could tell by the sudden movement of his palms that they seemed quite interested for the first time in months.
"No, they're not, they're not as sentient as they seem-" Tobi ducked quickly as the winged creature glanced their way. He peeked again once its gaze moved back to the area below. He passed a hand over his mask as if to wipe away a bead of sweat. "Phew! That was close! Anyway, they're like your jutsu Deidara."
"My jutsu?" Deidara furrowed an eyebrow.
"Your hand mouths, they're something like them." Tobi noticed Itachi look over curiously, staring at the lolling tongues of the other child's hand. He continued, "Kakuzu's jutsu is basically the same concept, but only in a sense. It was derived in Takigakure, they're own forbidden jutsu, just like yours. It's hard to explain, but it's something like chakra threads in a way, but they can sew up wounds and reattach limbs. When someone looses a limb, sometimes they get them reattached in surgery. That's what Kakuzu can do infinitely and far quicker with his jutsu. I'm sure you've heard form Sasori, about his many hearts."
Both children looked at him blankly. Tobi copied them, then realized when it clicked that neither of them had heard. Immediately, he grabbed both sides of his head and doubled over in frustration. "Ugh! What are Sasori and Kisame even teaching you two? Do they tell you anything!?" He childishly complained and hung his arms wearily. "Fine! I'll explain, but you better listen to me while I can!" He pointed at Itachi accusingly. "Even you mister Uchiha! You may be an akatsuki, but you're looking at your future-coworker!"
Itachi didn't react, continuing to stare expectantly at the other.
"Get on with it Tobi, I don't have all day." Deidara deadpanned.
Tobi staggered back in surprise, holding his arms up in a comical pose. "If Sasori had taught you anything, it's to be cranky!"
Deidara stomped and made a threatening grunt.
"Okay! Okay! Let me talk!" The masked man sighed and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "Kakuzu has extra organs in his body. Those organs are four extra hearts next to his own aged one. They're the reason that he's been able to live so long, since he's fooling his body into thinking he's young with new blood running through his veins." Tobi hummed and tapped his chin. "Mr. Zetsu explained this to me so don't expect me to know everything about him. Those hearts of his store different kinds of chakra. Kakuzu is the only living shinobi the Akatsuki knows of to possess five chakra elements."
"Five!?" Deidara exclaimed, the fact also serving to widen Itachi's eyes.
"That's right, other than his original earth style, he has water, fire, wind, and lightening up his sleeve. Those hearts of his control his jutsu and they can live as separate entities from Kakuzu, of course, they're still controlled by him." Tobi gestured out the boarded window, the creatures now slightly further away but continue to circle the skies. "I'll just warn you, those hearts are usually in a bad mood. They act Kakuzu's will, so they're not friendly.
"But why are they released?" Itachi proposed carefully.
"I don't know for sure, but I heard from Mr. Zetsu that Kakuzu's searching for someone. Who it would be, I don't really know. It's probably a bounty though." He shrugged.
Deidara bit his lip and looked at the two. He contemplated confessing as to knowing who the miser was looking for, but he wasn't sure how they would react. After a full minute of watching the creatures zoom across the sky, Deidara decided finally to spill.
"They're looking for Hidan."
Itachi and Tobi snapped their attentions to the youngest in the room. Deidara looked on bravely. "I was sent by Sasori no danna to assist or stop Kakuzu's team from springing his traps by our old summer hideout. During then, Hidan was waiting outside and I was too distracted to notice him sneak away." The blond's eyes fell to the floor fearfully. "He's angry at me, I know it. I didn't realize until it was too late." He lifted his gaze again. "I don't know why he's looking here in Amegakure though."
"Well, there's not much we can do about that." Tobi followed his gaze out the window. "But for now, while the search is going on, we should stick together." He made a thumbs up. "Got it, team?"
Itachi was slightly irked by his actions but simply nodded. Deidara however was quick to become disgusted by the cliche title and looked at the other child with dread, unable to think of working with the Uchiha again. They did relatively fine last time, but both Itachi and Tobi sounded like a horrible idea.
A/N: I expect to see some Sasodei in episode 457. My friend somehow ships Itachi and Juzo, I'm okay with Juzo, I can imagine it a bit more than Kisame. Even then, I barley ship Itachi with anyone.
Moving into the new arc, we'll be focusing back on Deidara and Sasori very soon. I'm still dropping hints to foreshadow the final arc of this part as usual. Tobi's pretty knowledgeable for a quack eh?
Thanks for Reading! Please review if you'd like! Nice to meet you all!
