Trip Down a Hill.

It's happening.

Idk why I'm so unenthused today, especially when League of Legends Worlds is coming up GET EXCITED PEOPLE!

Anyways, without further ado, something something something, something something.


Chapter 66: The Eternal Flames


Sasuke blocked a strike along his forearm, counting on the protectors attached to them them to aid him in taking the massive red scythe without injury.

His opponent, Hidan if the others screaming was anything to go by, simply licked his lips, juking backwards as Naruto kicked down at him. His partner, who they'd picked up was named Kakazu, fired off a lightning Jutsu, which arced through the air before being blocked by one of Fu's guards, who'd used a simple mud wall to absorb it.

Though, from the way he spasmed slightly after doing so, Sasuke had a feeling the electricity had passed through and into his body, which would've still been some damage.

They were winning, which was actually a pretty new feeling, but he wasn't sure how long that'd last, given that the whole "Or die" thing really wasn't working out too well.

Oh they'd definitely killed Hidan. Twice, in fact. He'd sort of assumed the first time the man had gotten up after getting his jugular sliced open had been a joke. Like, oh, OK, he possessed a powerful healing Jutsu, not the craziest thing to run into.

The second time, though, when his entire upper body had been bisected, and he'd just complained about how it was hard to see what was going on when he was stuck writhing on the ground… Sasuke hadn't known what to do about that one.

He was fairly sure none of them had, to be fair.

Right now, they were relying on the benefit of their opponents still figuring them out, measuring them up and seeing how powerful they really were. Neither of them had brought out anything crazy, other than rather advanced Taijutsu styles, which allowed them to easily contend with the five of them in combat. Fu, who hadn't been too happy about being denied combat, stood behind them, effectively a nonfactor.

Or at least, they hoped she stayed a nonfactor, for if the Akatsuki got their hands on her, the battle would shift quite rapidly in their favor.

Still, it wasn't like they could both sit here and posture forever. It was likely that these two agents had been sent alone, but it was entirely possible that they had others just behind them, and he didn't much favor their groups chances against four Akatsuki, even if that was all of them.

Sasuke decided, without really saying anything, that he would break this stalemate.

He dashed in, underneath Hidan's scythe, and drew a shuriken into his left hand while he forced chakra into his stomach, exhaling it in a fiery breath.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Hidan smiled manically as he was consumed in the flames.

Sasuke briefly, for some foolish reason, thought he might've got the guy.

When the man stepped out of the fire, his clothing tattered, and his skin burned, but looking entirely unconcerned, Sasuke wasn't even remotely surprised.

"Yer' fires not bad." Hidan cracked his neck a bit ominously, and though Sasuke wasn't quite sure about it, he briefly imagined he saw the man's neck come loose from the rest of his body, before some black strings brought it back. "Not bad at all. It burns juuust right."

He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth as he dodged backwards from an earth Jutsu out of Kakazu, who seemed to have a veritable repertoire of different things he could pull out of his ass. First lightning, and now earth. If Sasuke's theory was right, he could probably do the other three as well.

He heard more than saw Sakura's fist connect with a tree, for even if the flying bark entered his vision, it was the horrid cracking noise that sold the strength of the impact.

"Oi, Kakazu, this girl's a bitch, she totally just caved in my ribcage!"

"Deal with it." Kakazu himself sighed out casually. "Ugh. I always get stuck with the aggravating ones, and I can't even kill this one, either."

He turned towards Hidan, where the man had just barely managed to land a strike against Sakura, drawing a small amount of blood on the tip of his scythe. Still, as the man had said, there was a fist-shaped concave just about where his ribcage would be. Quite honestly, with how hard it looked like he'd been punched, likely the same punch that'd knocked that tree down, he should've been… well, dead.

That he still wasn't, combined with Kakazu's annoyance at being 'unable' to kill him, spelled a rather complicated picture for their future in this battle.

"Ooooh!" Hidan looked down at the tiny droplet of blood on his scythe, grinning from ear to ear. "Oooh, ooh, ooh!"

Sakura backed away, seeming to suspect something was up, even as Hidan dripped a copious amount of his own blood onto the ground below him, and began dragging his foot through it. He formed a rather simple pattern on the ground, a circle with a triangle within.

Then, he ingested the tiny bit of blood on his scythe, and his skin changed.

His normally pale white skin became black as night, with an odd, bone-like pattern printed upon it. It looked intimidating, sure, but… well, also campy, and sort of silly. Still, given that he was an enemy they were tasked with defeating, he didn't voice that thought.

"Finally." The man shuddered with what Sasuke could only assume was pleasure, even as he drew a stake out of his coat and pointed it at his own shoulder. "We can begin."

He stabbed down, directly into his own flesh, and Sakura screamed.

That's not okay. A part of him supplied rather succinctly as he watched his girlfriend fall to the floor, grasping her shoulder and gritting her teeth together as she gasped in pain. No more of that.

He dashed at Hidan, closing the distance between them in a matter of seconds, even as Naruto and Fu's guard's switched places, the latter two taking Naruto's job of distracting Kakazu, and allowed his best friend free reign on skull-boy over there.

Hidan saw him coming, and instead, shifted his stake, so that it hovered over his heart.

"Ah, ah!" He shouted, stabbing down slightly, enough to barely pierce the skin, and enough for Sakura to let out another pained whine. "None of that. She dies if you move, got it?"

He stopped, even as he clenched his jaw together. Naruto did the same, but drew a kunai into his hand, effectively stating that he was going to die for that.

"Better. Much better." Hidan actually had the nerve to sneer. "Kids these days, no respect for a good session. Now, where was I?"

He stabbed his own arm this time, eliciting another shocked cry of agony out of Sakura, and eliciting another look of pure fury from both himself and Naruto. They each inched forward, but yet again, the man held his stake to his own heart, raising an eyebrow at the both of them as if asking 'really?'.

But Sasuke wouldn't let him hurt Sakura anymore. No, he'd been practicing for two whole years to kill Itachi, someone who he was confident in saying could've absolutely wiped the floor with this showboating bastard. He'd make him regret hurting Sakura, he'd make him regret ever showing his face and placing a single finger on the people he loved.

He reached inside his head, palming around for a feeling burning at the tips of his eyes. His Sharingan spun into place, but Hidan was too caught up in the next part of his ceremony, too deep in his own lust for pain, to even see the way Sasuke's eyes pulsed.

"Naruto, GO!"

Hidan's eyes widened, even as his friend didn't hesitate. He charged forward, dashing in and bringing his fist to bare.

"Sorry, Sakura!" His friend shouted, "This might hurt a bit!"

Hidan smirked devilishly, holding his stake over his heart.

"Sheesh, fine, you want that girl to die so much?" He moved. "So be it!"

And then he stopped moving.

The man looked appalled as his entire body refused to heed his orders, as his muscles froze, as they stopped responding. He was trapped not in a different world, but in this own head.

Sasuke finally understood the usage of his own Genjutsu. He hadn't had an opponent to use it on thus far, but he had a weird feeling Hidan wouldn't be the best at resisting it. He seemed a bit like a one-trick pony.

His Genjutsu didn't put an opponents mind in another world, like Itachi's did. He was fairly sure that with a bit more experience, he could get it to that point, could access techniques of that nature, but his own, the innate one he'd used on the Nine-Tails' Naruto, or on Gaara in the forest, or in Kisame in that hotel… it had never made the opponent go into their own little world. In fact, for Kisame, it'd only really slowed him down.

The Jutsu forcefully disconnected the opponents nerve-endings, and then overloaded them, forced them into firing on every nerve ending, thus locking them in place. It'd come with the nasty side-effect of doing that same thing to him when he'd first used it, backfiring on him rather harshly. Now, he'd managed to not quite perfect it, but at the very least, become proficient enough to use it.

It'd been the most effective on the Nine-Tails, completely shutting the beast out from being able to control Naruto's body, which it was probably already struggling to do. Kisame it'd had the least effect on, the man completely full on chakra, and incredibly powerful, able to shrug off his technique like it was nothing.

Hidan fell somewhere in between. It wasn't like the man was weak, but he certainly didn't have Kisame's natural constitution, and even if he was a step above the Nine-Tails trapped in a child's body, well…

Sasuke himself had gotten quite a bit stronger since then.

Naruto's fist connected with Hidan's check, sending the man spiralling away. He noted with a wince that it'd done the same thing to Sakura, who now lay groaning on the ground a few meters away, grasping at her face.

"Thanks for the warning." She spat blood onto the ground. "But seriously, you couldn't have gone a little easy?"

"Eheh…" Naruto laughed out awkwardly. "Sorry."

The second Hidan hit the ground, his eye… ached.

It was hard to really quantify it. For a moment, his eye felt like it was unfolding, and the pain of that, the absolute agony, brought him to his knees. It wasn't enough for him to shout or scream, he liked to think he'd trained himself enough to not do such a thing, but it was enough for him to try and find out what was going on. For a moment, he feared Hidan had somehow gotten a hold of some of his blood, but… no, there was no way, he hadn't even taken a scratch thus far.

He looked over at the now standing Hidan, saw the man's profoundly angered face, and… something in his eye snapped in twain.

It was hard to quantify or describe how much it hurt. The earlier pain that he'd been able to ignore, to toss aside, was eclipsed entirely, forgotten in a moment. He opened his mouth and simply screamed as he felt his eyeball split into some odd, three-pronged formation, like an odd windmill.

It felt wrong, entirely against his eyes nature, to take on such a shape, and then, in the next moment, blood trickled down his face.

A black flame that burned like hellfire erupted onto Hidan's body, and his eye, in that moment, seemed to close, contented with itself. Hidan flinched at what Sasuke could only imagine was a blinding pain, trying to pat himself down, but only spreading the flame onto his hands and arms.

"What the hell is–!" Hidan laughed, cackled. "Ah, Lord Jashin, it hurts so much! I love it!"

He took a step forward, even as the flames spread across his entire body.

"Oi, Kakazu!" He shouted in a more annoyed than pained way. "Mind giving me some help?"

Kakazu's eyes were wide, like he was shocked by what was happening. Sasuke could agree as well, for he was on his knees, panting as he struggled to stand back up. Whatever it was that'd just happened, it'd sapped the last of his already dwindling energy reserves. He had nothing left if Hidan was able to recover from this.

Still, as Kakazu brought his hand up, and another Jutsu, this time a raging torrent of water, washed over Hidan's body, Sasuke found himself swearing, realizing he'd forgotten the man's five-element coverage.

And yet, by some hellish miracle, the flames hadn't gone out when the water was washed away. Instead, they seemed to have progressed unimpeded across his body, even as Hidan worked to make them disappear, shaking slightly as he fell to his knees, still cackling.

"Amaterasu!?" Kakazu spat out, taking a step back from Hidan, before letting out an angered breath. "Well, suppose I got my wish."

Hidan looked up at the ring of blood on the ground, and Sasuke swore as he realized what the man intended to do. He was too out of it to stop him from making it over there, but before he could step upon it, Naruto barely managed to run his foot over it. It wasn't much, but it was enough to break the seal, and as Hidan stepped upon the ring, not a single thing happened.

Sakura stood up, leaning against a tree, and Naruto stepped back and away from Hidan. Fu's guards had taken to standing just in front of the girl, shielding her from the events unfolding, and Sasuke could see why.

Watching a man burn to death, even a man as wicked and evil as Hidan, probably wasn't something any of them should've had to see.

"HAHAHA!" Hidan still, somehow, managed to laugh manically, even as he fell to his knees, and his muscle and bone shone beneath his burned away skin. "Is this a gift just for me, Lord Jashin!? This pain, this intense, never-ending pain! Is this my reward!? Ah, you're too kind!"

He tried to form more words, but it seemed like the air in his lungs had been seared away, Even Sasuke himself looked away, not wanting to have to see anymore.

He heard the sound of a corpse falling to the ground, and when he turned back, the man's body was gone.

Left in Hidan's wake was nothing but ash.

He panted as he pushed himself away from the ashen remnants of the man's body, towards his allies. He had no chakra left, that he was sure of. Whatever that was…

He could vaguely remember seeing a black fire when he'd met Itachi and Kisame in that hotel… but that honestly could've been anything. Was it related to his Sharingan? Had he accidentally used some technique he had no idea the origin of, like he had with his Genjutsu?

He had no way of knowing. Even still, Kakazu, who stood nearby but away from them all, wouldn't stop staring straight ahead at him, his eyes narrowed.

"How interesting." He spoke rather simply. "Well, whatever. You did me a service getting rid of that bastard, and it's not like I can fight you one on four."

Sasuke had a feeling that he was overestimating them, or perhaps simply playing things safe. He was fairly certain the man could've fought them himself; he'd definitely seemed the stronger of the two combatants. Still, if he was willing to back away and retreat…

Well, Sasuke wouldn't say anything, that was for sure.

It seemed the rest of them were content with that as well, for none of them spoke a word as Kakazu turned away, and jumped back into the tree line, taking them two at a time as he leapt back into the forest.

There was a silence that seemed to linger in the clearing for a good thirty or so seconds, during which time Sasuke panted exhaustively, doing his best to try and get some energy working through his system after… whatever that was.

"Uhm…"

He turned to the sound of the voice, where Fu, the Seven-Tails Jinchuuriki, was standing just beyond him, tilting her head a bit awkwardly.

"Thank you guys for saving me." She smiled down at him, and at the others. "And for protecting Kegon and Yoro. I…" She bowed. "Sorry, not great with words when I'm stressed."

"Yeah, I get that." Sakura let out as she slid down the tree she'd been leaning upon and activated her curse mark once more.

From out of the bark behind her flowed several branches, which curled around Sakura's body and began to glow a vibrant green in color, as if providing their energy to her. When they fell away, exhausted, and dead, Sakura's wounds had, at least partially, begun to close.

The beginnings of her ability with the wood style… he'd not had the chance to see them before, but they matched his own abilities with healing rather easily.

"Same here." Naruto uttered quietly as he stepped over a few fallen roots to get to him, staring at him a bit questioningly. "So… Sasuke? What the hell was that?"

He winced as his eye ached, and he touched his hand to his cheek. When he drew it back, it was red with blood, already beginning to flake in the hot sun.

"I…" He hesitated, before admitting the truth. "…Don't know."

/-/

By the time they'd made it back to the Waterfall, having been escorted the whole way their by Team 7, Fu was just about ready to croak from the stress.

Like, sure, was it likely that any more Akatsuki members would suddenly show up and challenge them all to another death battle? No, but she felt like she could be forgiven for having it on the brain when she'd been nearly killed twice in 24 hours.

Actually, wait, what was she saying, it was totally likely that the Akatsuki would show up to try and kidnap her again, that was why Team 7 had traveled with them.

It was also why Shibuki was currently bowing to the three of them, making everyone in the room really uncomfortable, but at least showing his gratitude.

"Thank you all." He rose, smiling. "I cannot thank you enough for all that you've done for my people, and especially for Fu."

"Ah, well," Naruto, who she'd grown quite fond of on the trip here, scratched the back of his neck. "We were just doing what we thought was right. I'm a Jinchuuriki too, so-"

Both of his teammates hissed, even as Shibuki, Kegon, and Yoro all sweat-dropped, a bit embarrassed to have been subject to perhaps the lamest leakage of intel of all time. For Fu, at least, it explained the strange draw she'd had to him these past few days.

He was like her.

She also supposed that would make Naruto Hinata's 'friend'. She wasn't sure why… but that made her feel the smallest bit… icky.

"Which one?" She asked curiously. "Er… It's cool if you don't wanna' tell me." She corrected when Shibuki shot her an expectant look out of the corner of his eye.

"No, that's fine, I've eh…" Naruto pointedly avoided looking at either Sasuke and Sakura, who had their heads in their hands. "I've already sold myself out. I'm the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails."

So, he was one of the two above her, too?

She pouted slightly at feeling slightly… what did one call feeling emasculated when they were a girl? Defeminized?

That sounded vaguely correct to Fu.

"Well, eh…" Shibuki turned to the others. "Should I pretend as if I haven't heard this?"

"We'd appreciate that, sir." Sakura bowed.

/-/

Kakazu stalked back towards the Akatsuki's main base in no real hurry.

The way there was a maze of trees, vines, and other foliage. Though it wasn't a danger to someone of his caliber, easily dealing with the multitude of bugs and massive snakes (which were surprisingly common all over the world) on his way there, it would've made for a frightening deterrent to the unprepared.

He stepped out of the tree line and landed solidly in front of the door the base. He read the air, trying to measure the number of other ring-bearers he should be expecting inside.

Only one, and he knew who that would be.

He stepped inside, disabled the trap on the door, and then disabled the second trap a few steps past. It reactivated the moment he pulled the door at the back of the chamber open, but that was its intended purpose.

Even if it annoyed him by constantly wasting his time.

He couldn't focus on that right now, though, instead, he followed one particular chakra signature, and headed into the depths of the base. He wasn't too hard to find, the man he was looking for, since he wasn't exactly hiding.

The moment he entered; he was already prepared to enact his plan.

"Kakazu." Itachi Uchiha gave a small incline of his head, a respectful gesture. "Good to see you. How went your mission?"

He was sat at the back of a small room, and seemed to be, oddly enough, making himself something to eat. It was a rather simple meal, a fried fish that looked mildly good, with a side of white rice.

"A failure, much like your own." He decided to make small talk at first, waiting for an opportunity. "Hidan was slain by Team 7 of the Hidden Leaf. The same team your brother is on."

For some reason, the mild shock that showed on Itachi's face was… incorrect. Like he'd been given a multiple response test and picked one that was close to the right answer… yet still undeniably false.

Itachi turned away from him, for a millisecond, to take a small bite of fish, and in that moment, Kakazu moved.

Blood scattered along the meal Itachi had set out for himself, even as his own deep black hand hovered over it, having drilled through the entirely of Itachi's back and into his chest, where he'd simultaneously ripped the man's heart from its cavity. He held it, still beating, just in front of the boy.

Itachi gurgled and wretched, spilling even more blood onto the table before him.

"Did you think me a fool, Itachi?" He questioned casually, having successfully pulled off his gambit. "That Jutsu that killed Hidan? It was Amaterasu, a Jutsu unique to the Mangekyou Sharingan."

He knew what the young man might say, were his lungs capable of drawing breath; It was Sasuke's ability, he'd unlocked the Amaterasu.

But he'd been paying attention when the boy had utilized the technique. It was not a pattern unique to him that'd spun into place in his eye…

It'd been Itachi's.

"You implanted an Amaterasu into your brother's eye to kill Hidan." He explained the man's plan to him, reveling in being able to show up the normally cocky and endlessly annoying child before him. "If I'm correct, you made it so it would only activate when he'd used his Curse Jutsu, and then stepped off of the blood circle. That way, even if Sasuke had been put under it, he still wouldn't burn to death along with him. Am I right?"

Itachi gave no answer, instead, he gripped onto Kakazu's hand, trying in some vain way to save his life by getting it out of him.

It was pointless, the wound was fatal, entirely so. Still, he did want the man's heart, it never hurt to have a spare, and his fire style one he currently possessed could use replacing with something far stronger…

"You are incredibly foolish, boy." He decided to gloat one final time as light left Itachi's eyes. "I have lived a century! I have fought countless of your line! I faced the likes of Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju in combat! I know the rules of the Sharingan more than anyone but the two of you." He leaned in close, sneering in the man's face. "You chose the wrong opponent to try and dupe."

And with that, he ripped the man's heart out from his body.

Itachi slumped forward, falling down onto his tray, and laid there, entirely dead.

He let out a small sigh, realizing he'd likely have to explain exactly why not one, but two Akatsuki members had been killed today to Pain, which would be a massive waste of his time. Well, it wasn't as if they could've let a traitor stay in their midst, anyways. He'd done them all a favor.

That he'd get to take Itachi's body to the bingo-book office, and cash in on his bounty?

Well, that was an entirely separate case.

It'd be worth less due to the condition of the body, but the heart of one of the last living Uchiha was too good a prize to pass up. He'd get a fourth of the bounty, which was still a hefty total of over fifty million yen.

Hey, killing a genocidal maniac had perks. Maybe he'd go good-guy, start picking on other criminals?

He laughed as he drew Itachi's body onto his shoulder, enjoying his own personal joke.

He laughed notably less when he saw the figure standing in the doorway, leaning against the left side, seemingly entirely unaffected by what'd just occurred.

Itachi looked… almost bored.

"W-What the-"

"My apologies, Kakazu." The man spoke in the same respectful tone he always did, but now there was something different about it, sinister in a way Kakazu couldn't quite describe. "I'm afraid I can't allow you to leave this room with the information you carry. I had my suspicions… but you certainly did figure it out."

He tensed, expecting a battle. Instead, Itachi casually walked up to him, standing directly in front of him.

He didn't question the man's stupidity, instead, he slammed Itachi down onto the ground, his hand going straight through the man's throat and impacting against the floor below. At that exact moment, when the Itachi below him died, the one on his back faded from reality.

"I'm sorry to say that you've already lost." Itachi spoke.

When Kakazu turned to see where he was, he saw Itachi sitting in his seat again, eating the same fish that'd been bloodied with his own heart's ichor. Neither he nor the fish were covered in blood, in fact, the entire scene looked exactly as it had when he'd entered the room.

"I placed a Genjutsu upon you the moment you stepped into the room." Itachi smiled a bit sadly at him. "Just in case you'd picked up on my betrayal."

He gritted his teeth, even as he placed his hand in front of him and spoke calmly.

"Release!"

Nothing happened.

"I'm afraid Tsukuyomi isn't something you can break yourself out of, Kakazu." Itachi, once again, seemed almost melancholic as he stood up. "In the real world, I believe I'm currently stabbing out each of your hearts individually as we speak."

He growled, clenching his jaw and unfurling entirely into his octopus-like form. It writhed and raged, destroying the room entirely as tables and trays scattered everywhere.

He blinked.

The room was back to normal.

"I am sorry, Kakazu." Itachi assured him, stepping up to him once more and entirely ignoring the lighting Jutsu he'd fired right between the boys eyes. "It's nothing personal, but do you know why I decided it was safe to use my Mangekyou on the two of you, even if it was vicariously?"

He wouldn't give the boy the satisfaction. He screamed as he ran a black tentacle through the boy's throat. Nothing.

"It was because I knew you wouldn't go to Pain with it." Itachi explained. "Because I knew you wouldn't care about Hidan's life, so you wouldn't try very hard to save him. You were also the safest of the Akatsuki, the most likely to back out against Sasuke and his friends once you were outnumbered. And…"

Itachi smiled, an almost amused look in his eye.

"Because I knew you'd be too greedy to pass up the chance to kill me in private. After all, you wouldn't have been able to turn my body into the Bingo Book if Pain got to me."

"YOU BASTARD!"

"Rest easy, Kakazu." His opponent, if he could even call this one-sided affair a battle, seemed to mock him one final time.

"Your watch has ended."

/-/

Kabuto Yakushi stood with his hand over his mouth and nose, desperately holding back his own breathing as, beyond him, in the room just off to his left, Itachi Uchiha was currently murdering Kakazu, stabbing out each of his (apparently several) hearts.

When he had finished, Kakazu's body fell to the ground, lifeless. Whatever Genjutsu he'd been trapped within fading away as Itachi let out a straining grunt.

The man's eye tensed for a moment, before black fire poured out of them, immolating the corpse below him until there was nothing left but ash. When he'd finished, Itachi let out a shaky breath, evidently exhausted.

The terror within him didn't fade as he heard Itachi's footsteps fade, even as he picked up a broom and dust collector and began sweeping Kakazu's remains into it. When he'd finished, he dropped them in the nearest trashcan, bowing before it in a respectful manner.

And then, with no more ceremony, he exited the room, taking another pathway out, which was probably the only thing that saved Kabuto's life.

He imagined that both had forgotten his presence at the base. He wasn't exactly memorable, largely working on his own in the basement, experimenting on this and that, reading through some of Orochimaru's old research documents (of which they had few) and otherwise trying to keep his head out of trouble.

He'd just come to get some food.

…And now he was privy to a horrible secret.

He'd heard Kakazu speak, had heard what he'd claimed; Itachi had implanted an Amaterasu within his brother's Sharingan, and set it to be used upon Hidan, burning the immortal to ash. Itachi had sat in front of the man and listened to him speak rather calmly, without so much as a movement, even as Kakazu seemed to gloat as if he'd won some battle.

In the Genjutsu, Kabuto wondered if he'd been battling Itachi, had been winning. In the real world, he'd been stood in front of him, asking to die.

And then, almost casually, Itachi had killed him.

That spelled out a rather easy to understand premise; Itachi was a traitor, potentially trying to destroy the Akatsuki from the inside.

…and he could go straight to Pain with that information.

It would earn him trust within the organization, something he'd been unable to build even with two whole years of quiet work. Hell, he might even get made into a ring-bearer, given the current state of the Akatsuki, down two men as they were. Yet even still…

His mother seemed to call out to him.

He hated when that happened, it usually preceded him doing something incredibly stupid.

His current theory was no exception…

The Akatsuki certainly weren't the kinds of people he wanted to be working for. Morally bankrupt kidnappers at best, and at worst, the kinds of people who were actively inviting the end of the world with their schemes. He'd figured out enough from their attempted sealing of the Tailed-Beasts.

They already possessed one, the Five-Tails. Some poor sap from the Stone had been brought in half-dead and had the beast in his stomach ripped out. It wasn't like death affected him, he'd caused his fair share in his day, but nowadays, well, he hadn't quite turned over a new leaf so much as… mellowed out.

When he'd been emulating Orochimaru with no real thought of who he was, there'd been little else on his mind but obeying the man's commands. He had only himself as company, now, and a conscience that was slowly coming back from the dead.

He wanted out of this place. He wanted to go out and…

And… and he didn't know yet. He didn't really have time to think about that, however, on account of a much more important, and admittedly much more idiotic, question.

He could use Itachi to get out of this place. It was likely the boy was probably the second or third most powerful fighter among the Akatsuki, and with the element of surprise, he might just be able to take on the likes of Pain himself. Having an ally like that on his quest for freedom… wouldn't be so bad.

But even despite all of those positives, the question remained; how could he get himself onto Itachi's side without being killed…

…By the remainder of the Akatsuki, or by the Uchiha himself?

End Chapter 66


Kabuto's back! I missed him.

So yeah, sort of end of the arc? Kind of? Nah, still two more chapters, then we're done for realsies.

So, two Akatsuki bite the dust thanks to Itachi's scheme, and Kabuto knows about it. Can he manage to ally himself with the man to get off of his rapidly sinking ship before he hits the water?

Possibly.

By the by, chapters will be dropping down to 4-5k words again for the foreseeable future. Just wanna give my wrists the chance to actually heal this time. So yeah, chapters will come, but not as lengthy.

Anyways, for right now, that's all from me. Next week; The finale of Ino and Haku's arc, and the beginning of some others.

See you all then!