Don't you love it when you start writing something, and then it runs away with you? I started this as a pure Halloween special, and then it ran off. Oh well!

The end of October was approaching, and the Akatsuki started to hear whispers of a strange event that included free candy, a masquerade of sorts, and lots of creepy things. Being the good leader that he was, Yahiko decided to call a meeting regarding this event. One evening, on the rooftop during the daily report, he brought the topic up.

"Ok, everybody, what do you know about this upcoming grand event? I've been hearing all about it, and I'm not quite sure what to think of it."

"Tobi says it will be fun! Tobi heard that there is free candy!" the cheery boy exclaimed.

"Fun?" Kakuzu asked. "I heard that it's a day of tricks and creepy things. Granted, I don't know what these civilians consider creepy, but it could be a good day to trick people out of money."

"I heard some girls talking about dressing up," Konan said. "Perhaps it's a type of formal event."

"I've been hearing all about costumes myself," Kisame remarked. "People have been telling me that I'm so lucky that I don't need to spend any money to get a costume."

"They've got that one right, un," Deidara snorted. "Tape a shark fin on your back and release that illusion on your teeth, and you're good."

"You have an illusion on your teeth?" Itachi asked, his Sharingan flickering on.

"Yeah, didn't wanna freak anyone out," Kisame said. "See, the civilians have a thing about blood-sucking creatures with pointed teeth, and I wanted to save myself the trouble."

"Ah."
"Zetsu, what have you heard?" Yahiko asked.

"We don't really care too much about stupid and pointless civilian things. There are other things that are more important like our plants in the greenhouse!"

"Plants in the greenhouse?" Nagato asked.

"He's cultivating poisons for me, Leader, sir" Sasori said.

"Why?" asked Yahiko.

"You never know when we might be attacked," the puppeteer said. "I believe a quote that gets thrown around this place is 'Constant vigilance'."

"I call it paranoia, un," Deidara said. "This place is full of civilians who couldn't do anything to us if we went all out."

"I wouldn't be so certain," Itachi said. "A number of them with decent aim could pose as much trouble as a number of ranged weapons specialists. Due to our lack of knowledge on the appearance of different spells, we would be unable to tell which spells were the least harmful, and we would fall prey to them."

"Not Tobi!" Tobi interjected. "Tobi is the ultimate escape artist."

"Yes," Itachi said, nodding.

"Hidan, you haven't said much on the subject," Yahiko noted. "Why so quiet?"

The Jashinist made a furious motion toward his mouth.

Konan sighed. "I'm going to regret this," she said as she took out her wand. "Finite incantatum."

"Finally! Someone who f- understands! Kakuzu, you f- s-head, you-" the loudmouth Gryffindor shouted.

"Answer my question," Yahiko interrupted.

Hidan continued to rant. "I swear by Lord f- Jashin that I'm gonna damn your heathen soul to hell!"

Nagato at Hidan, his ringed eyes flashing. "Hidan. Shut up and listen. Now." To everyone's surprise (except for, perhaps, Konan's), Hidan shut up.

"F- fine, Leader," Hidan grumbled. "I've been hearing that chakra bastard the Bloody Baron yapping s- about it being a f- day of death and blood."

"…These are some very differing opinions," Konan remarked as Kakuzu silenced Hidan again.

"Well, there's only one way to solve this," Yahiko said decisively.

"And that would be?" Sasori asked as he idly carved a chunk of wood with a kunai.

"To ask the civilians, of course!" Yahiko said. "It's their event. We should join in and do it with them!"

"Why?" asked Nagato.

"Well, when in the Land of Iron, do as the samurai do," Yahiko said in a matter-of-fact tone. "We'll blend in more and people will think of us as normal because some of us have suspicions set on them due to walking out of classes, getting detentions, and other things that they shouldn't be doing."

"Tobi doesn't do any of that! Tobi is a good boy!" Tobi said.

"Hush," Itachi said. "Yes, Tobi is a good boy. Sir Leader was referring to other, not to you." Tobi, reassured, fell into a satisfied silence.

"Ok, new order," Yahiko announced. "You are all to partake in the civilian holiday of masquerading and having fun. You are under no circumstances to do anything involving blood unless you have confirmation-"

"From a credible source," Nagato interjected.

"-From a credible source that there is in fact blood involved in this event," Yahiko said. "Am I understood?"

"Yes, Leader, sir," the Akatsuki said.

"Good. Get outta here."

As the Ame trio watched their subordinates disappear, Nagato sighed. "For some reason, I think this is going to be troublesome."

"You're too negative, buddy," Yahiko said. "Come on. I've got the perfect idea for what we three should dress up as."

l l l

"Happy Halloween, un!" Kisame blinked and opened his eyes. Deidara smacked him with a pillow.

"Yo," Kisame said, sitting up. "I take it that Hermione actually did transfigure that shirt into a white lab coat?"

"Yep, un!" Deidara said happily. "I went over to danna's room early and grabbed that shark fin you asked him to make."

"Thanks," Kisame said as he got out of bed and threw the covers up messily. "Lemme just get my stupid uniform on, and then I'll stick it on."

"I can use some adhesive clay, you know, un…"

"Hell no," Kisame said. "Speaking of hell, have you seen Hidan?"

"Nope, un," Deidara said as he tossed Kisame the wooden shark fin and grabbed a pair of lab goggles. "Got these from the twins. They said I'd need these to look the part."

"Remind me what you are again?" Kisame asked as he dispelled the illusion on his teeth, revealing their sharp pointy-ness.

"Mad scientist, un!" Deidara said. "You know, one of those guys in this world that makes stuff go BOOM!"

"Keep it down, people are still sleeping," Kisame hissed as he took a sticking tag and taped it on the fin. "What are Sasori and Kakuzu being?"

"Danna was lazy and just carved himself two fangs, un. He's a vampire. Kakuzu's being a banker."

"Figures," Kisame said with a snort. "Wonder if 'Tachi's gonna dress up?"

"Let's just go down and see, un," Deidara said. "I'm not gonna wait for Hidan to finish doing whatever devotions he does for Jashin. I'm starving, and according to Tobi and Zetsu, there's candy all day, un!"

"Great, just what we need," Kisame said. "You know what? Screw this tag, I'm using chakra."
"Whatever, un," Deidara said. "Just hurry up!"

When they got down to the Great Hall, the two Gryffindor ninjas saw a huge crowd of people at the door. Kisame tapped an older student. "What's going on?"

"Dunno, some kid decided to go real heavy on a Halloween prank. Apparently there's blood and creepy writing and everything!"

"Cool," Kisame said. "Can we see?"

"That's what I'm trying to do!"

"Maybe I should do a Halloween art show, un," Deidara said thoughtfully.

"As if Leader would allow you to," Kisame scoffed. Deidara scowled.

There was a rustled of paper and a swirl of blackness, and suddenly Konan, Yahiko, Nagato, Itachi, Tobi, and Zetsu appeared.

"I really hope that illusion of yours holds up, Itachi," Yahiko said as he pushed through the crowd.

"What's wrong?" Kisame asked, noticing that both Yahiko and Nagato had devil's horns and Konan had her paper wings.

"Hidan! Did that idiot not hear me tell him no blood?" Yahiko moaned. "Ugh…we gotta get through, we gotta get through!"

"Uchiha, do something to make them let us by," Nagato ordered. "Konan, don't fly, and Tobi, stand still!"

Kisame looked at his other two comrades, and almost burst out laughing when he saw Itachi with whiskers drawn on his face and a pair of cats' ears on his head.

"Tobi insisted," Itachi said.

"But why a cat, un?" Deidara asked.

"The Uchiha clan has a summoning contract with cats," Itachi said.

"And Tobi is a pumpkin!" Tobi said, nodding. "Tobi is a good pumpkin!"

"Yeah, well, the good pumpkin needs to shove his way through all these people to clear the way," Yahiko said. "Come on!"

Kakuzu and Sasori walked up.

"Hello. So Zetsu's back to wearing his plant thing," Sasori remarked. "I was wondering where it was."

"What's the hold up?" Kakuzu asked, looking rather funny as an eleven-year-old dressed in a clean, crisp suit.

"I think Hidan performed one of his rituals in the freaking Great Hall!" Yahiko hissed. "Oh, for crying out loud! Kisame, Kakuzu, you're tall. Boost us up so we can climb over everyone's shoulders. We need to get in there now."

"Sure thing, Leader, Sir," Kisame said as he picked up his chibified leader and held him above his head. "Is this good enough?"

"Yeah, thanks," Yahiko said as he ran off as best he could.

Konan tapped Tobi. "Teleport us in," she ordered.

"Yes, Konan-Angel!" Tobi said. There was a swirl of black, and suddenly they were at the front, near the doors.

"Ugh," Sasori groaned. "I hate teleporting."

"Oh, s-," Yahiko hissed as he dropped down from his climb. "Hidan, you a-, I told you not to do anything involving blood!"

Hidan lay in one of his prayer circles, in his black and white zombie mode, with his scythe sticking out of him.

"Sasori, get that thing out of him and sit him up. Konan, the prayer circle, and Zetsu, the blood," Yahiko ordered.

Sasori twitched his fingers and the scythe flew to him. He flicked his other wrist, and Hidan was jerked to his feet. The Jashinist opened his eyes.

"I f- declare this day to be the f- feast day of Jashin!" he exclaimed.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Yahiko exclaimed. "You moron, I told you, no blood!"

"What the f-? You told me that if some-f-one confirmed some s- about there being blood, I could f- do it!" Hidan argued.

"And who'd you confirm it with?" Nagato asked angrily.

"That f- chakra bastard, the bloody whatsit!" Hidan snapped.

Yahiko groaned. "Fine. So you confirmed it. But why did you have to do something that could potentially blow our cover?" he asked, switching to their native language.

"It was to f- praise Lord Jashin!" Hidan shouted. "Why couldn't I do that?"

"What's going on here?" Professors Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall stood over them.

"Oh! Uh…" Yahiko fumbled for an excuse.

"That white-haired kid pulled are really awesome and realistic prank!" a student shouted.

"Yeah, he had blood and a grim reaper thing and everything!" another added.

"Uh, yeah, it was a Halloween trick," Yahiko said with a nod. "But it was clogging the door, so we came and made him stop."

"You f- interrupted my prayer, you f- heathen," Hidan seethed. Kakuzu took him by his neck and dragged him away.

Itachi spoke up. His eyes turned red as he said, "There is no problem. It was just a prank."

Professor McGonagall nodded. "I see. Well, I suppose I should applaud you for your use of spells, Mr.- oh, right, you don't have a surname- Hidan."

"What's all the commotion about?" Professor Umbridge walked into the hall.

"Nothing, just a Halloween trick!" Yahiko said cheerfully.

"Yes," Itachi echoed, looking Professor Umbridge's eyes with his own red ones. "It was just a Halloween trick. Nothing to worry about at all, and nothing suspicious."

Professor Umbridge was still for a moment. Then she blinked. "I see. Nothing to worry about at all. Well? Why are you all standing there, gawking like young trolls? In!" She waved her hand and the rest of Hogwarts filed into the Hall.

l l l

Severus Snape watched the young Hufflepuff Itachi Uchiha go to his table with his friends. His eyes narrowed. Had he just been imagining things, or had the boy just used a wandless, apparently eye-based, version of the Imperius curse? Normally he wasn't able to read the child's mind, as his thoughts were all in a language that sounded suspiciously like Japanese, but he had just heard the boy thinking in English about somehow tricking the teachers into believing his and his friends' story. Snape thanked his lucky stars that he'd noticed that the boy had thought about making eye contact before implementing his spell, otherwise he would have looked and been taken in as well. And had his eyes been tricking him, or had Uchiha's eyes turned red as he'd Imperius-ed his colleagues?

He focused and tried to read the boy's mind again. Uchiha's thoughts were back to that other language again. He tried the hopeless one-eyed boy who botched every potion worse than Neville Longbottom, if such a thing was possible. That boy's thoughts were racing rapidly in the other language. However, Snape caught a few images from the boy's head- he saw an odd red circle with a spinning pattern in it before the image flashed to a grown-looking Uchiha wearing an odd cloak with red…clouds? He dismissed it as one of the childish boy's fantastical daydreams. He tried the blue-haired girl, Konan, and the red-head Nagato, but found their thoughts to be in the other language as well. Realizing that he would get nothing from the Hufflepuffs, he switched to the two Slytherin boys who were friendly with them.

From Zetsu, he heard two voices interrupting each other in the other language. Then, suddenly, he heard nothing. Snape frowned. Either Zetsu had somehow sensed him, or the boy had mental issues that caused such things to happen. He switched to Yahiko. Thankfully, Yahiko's thoughts were in clear, coherent English.

Thank whatever god there is out there – except Jashin, of course – that Itachi Sharinganed us clear! Oh, I'm gonna kick Hidan's a- tonight for that little stunt! Not to mention I'll put him under closer watch. Maybe I'll put Kakuzu on him. He seems to be able to rein the idiot in.

Snape held his expression in his usual scowl as he wondered what Yahiko meant by 'Sharinganed'. That was not a spell he was familiar with, and he liked to consider himself quite learned. Then he paused. Yahiko sounded like he was a commanding officer of some sorts, deciding to order Kakuzu (that sour-faced Ravenclaw, he recalled) to keep watch over Hidan. Perhaps Yahiko is the leader of the bunch, he decided. That didn't matter much to Snape. What did matter to him, though, was that a first year boy was able to apparently mind control Professor McGonagall, one of the best and most learned teachers in the school (Umbridge didn't count – he didn't like the woman, even if she favored his House and was attempting to restore order to the school). He would have to speak with Professor Dumbledore about this new development.

l l l

The rest of the day went smoothly for the ninjas. That evening, after classes, the Akatsuki met for their daily report.

"Alright, everybody, what happened today?" Yahiko asked.

"I got extra credit for being so skilled in Charms that I was able to make paper wings," Konan said.

"People asked me how I sharpened my teeth," Kisame said. "I blamed it on those pranking twins and their little tricks."

"I blew up my cauldron in Potions and lost fifteen points for Gryffindor, un!" Deidara said with a grin. "It was totally worth it, though. And I replenished my clay, un."

"No one asked me anything and I didn't ask anyone anything," Sasori said. "However, Zetsu tells me that my plants are nearly mature and that soon I can arrange for sedative poison for anyone who is interested."

"I figured out a way to make that silencing spell work for the entire day," said Kakuzu. "Judging by how Hidan hasn't made a single comment on anything yet, I'd say it works well." Hidan responded by making some very angry and explicit gestures.

"Tobi was a good boy!" the entirely orange-clad boy exclaimed. "Tobi made people laugh, and he explained why Itachi is a cat."

"Yeah, how'd that work out for ya?" Kisame asked.

"Well enough," Itachi said simply. "The Potions professor kept me after class and asked questions that seemed to probe my ability to control minds. I believe that he has a power not unlike the Yamanaka clan of Konoha-"

"Which is?" Nagato asked.

"The power to read, control, and project their minds," Itachi said. "I believe that the Potions professor can read minds, as I felt him probing my mental shields."

"Shoot," Yahiko muttered. "That's not good."

"He asked me what it was to be Sharinganed," Itachi mentioned.

"He did?" Nagato asked. "We're going to have to work on a defense for that, then."

"Well, we'll think more on that later," Yahiko said decisively. "Zetsu, I haven't heard from you yet."

"We have nearly finished Sasori's plants which should have enough poison in them to sedate the entire civilian population of this school," said Zetsu. "That is all."

"Cool," said Yahiko. "Now to get serious. Hidan, I can't really put you on probation because you said you confirmed with one of the chakra beings that-"

"Hold it," Nagato said.

"What?" Yahiko asked.

"I said it had to be a credible source, yes?" the Rinnegan bearer asked.

"Yeah…you don't count the chakra beings as credible?" Yahiko asked.

"Do they hold any position of authority in this school?" asked Nagato.

"Only the history teacher, I think," Konan said. "I see where this is going."

"Yes," Nagato said. "Hidan, you're on probation. That means no weapon, no wand, no rosary-thing, no anything. Oh, and Kakuzu can keep you on permanent silence."

Hidan immediately began to protest violently with body language as vivid as he could make it.

"Look," Yahiko said, "I hate to do this, but you've gotta reign it in. Sure, maybe probation a little unfair, but what else am I as leader supposed to do to make you understand that stunts like, I don't know, what you pulled this morning are a danger to all of us?"

"Shall I let the accused defend himself?" Kakuzu asked.

"Yeah," Yahiko said. "Finite incantatum."

"So f- what if the civilians find out about us?" Hidan asked. "What's it to us? We f- overpower 'em any day. Uchiha can f- Sharingan them, Kisame's got his big a- f- sword somewhere, or at least some s- stand-in, Sasori's f- rebuilding his f- puppet army, Tobi's a Jashin-damned teleporter, Deidara can f- blow them up, Zetsu can f- eat them, Konan can f- mummify them, Leader Red can do his f- creepy eyes, and what not. Hell, even Kakuzu's not entirely f- useless. So what if those f- wand-wavers find out s- about us? We could f- claim this world for Jashin and they wouldn't be able to do s- against us!"

Yahiko sighed. "But that's not what we want. We're keeping a low profile so that we can learn all the tricks from this place and get home so that we can end war and violence forever."

"Huh?" asked Kisame. "What happened to capture the tailed beasts?"

"Oh, I've changed my mind," Yahiko said, grinning. "That's not a good way to bring peace. The best way to bring peace is to make an example with it! You know how I'm kinda the god of Amegakure?"

"There's only one f- god with any power, and he is the great and glorious Jashin," Hidan growled.

"Fine. You know how the people of Amegakure kinda regard me as a god and Konan as an angel?" Yahiko asked. "Well, if we were to make Amegakure into a kind of utopia where ninjas actually exist not to kill other ninjas but to protect Amegakure, and civilians and ninjas together promote the well-being of the village, then the nations would see our example and maybe even try to follow it!"

"Isn't that how most shinobi villages operate?" asked Kakuzu skeptically.

"Yeah, but there's always that greed and underlying darkness," Yahiko said. "We'd actually make a village of peace, where the rain washes away the tears of the people and blood off the hands of the ninjas."

"What good is peace for money?" Kakuzu asked.

"Well…Konan, I'm no good with economics," Yahiko said.

"Peace promotes stability, which promotes the economy," Konan said simply. "Peace also give bounty hunters opportunities to leave their stable home and go out to collect and turn in troublemakers."

Kakuzu nodded. "I'll buy that."

"So basically you want is to create a utopia in the middle of our war-torn, blood-filled world," Itachi said.

"Yep!" Yahiko said cheerfully.

"Yay! Tobi likes that! Tobi hates fighting," Tobi said. "Tobi will work with Leader!"

"What's this got to do with Hidan being on probation?" Sasori asked.

"Oh, right, Hidan," Yahiko said. "You're on probation for the rest of the week."

"That's it?" Kakuzu asked, sounding disappointed.

"Yep," said Yahiko. "It's his first major offense."

Hidan spluttered angrily. "I can't f- pray to Jashin for a week? What happened to my f- rights?"

"What rights?" asked Nagato. "You gave them to us as soon as you signed up for Akatsuki."

"Actually," Yahiko interjected, "you can still pray to Jashin. Just pray without blood."

"But Jashin f- demands blood!" Hidan exclaimed. "He'll f- take your heathen souls to hell, you know."

Yahiko turned to Konan. "Remind me to outlaw violent Jashinism when we get back to Ame." Konan nodded.

"I was not aware that there was such a thing as nonviolent Jashinism," Nagato commented.

"After all this nice talk of reports, probation, mind readers, and utopia, are we free to go?" Sasori asked. "I have work to return to."

"Time is money," Kakuzu agreed. "I've got money to collect."

"Oh, yeah, dismissed," Yahiko said.

"Let's blow things up, un!" Deidara yelled happily.

"Absolutely not," Nagato said sharply as the blonde bomber disappeared.

Yahiko watched his retreating subordinates. "Do you think we can do it?" he asked.

"Do what?" Nagato asked.

"Create the example of peace for the world," Yahiko said. "And do it with people like them."

"I think we can," Konan said.

"You do?" Yahiko asked.

"Yes," Konan said.

"Of course," Nagato said flatly. "I can see Sasori as our main engineer, Kakuzu as our head of economy, Hidan in prison, Kisame, Itachi, and Deidara as our hit men, Zetsu as our intelligence, and Tobi as Kami-knows-what."

"But that might actually work!" Yahiko said. "Whatever. We'll deal with that when we get home. Happy Halloween, you guys."

Halloween costumes:

Yahiko and Nagato- devils

Konan- angel

Kisame- shark

Itachi- cat

Tobi- pumpkin

Deidara- mad scientist

Sasori- vampire

Kakuzu- banker

Hidan- zombie-mode self, passed off as a grim reaper/zombie

Zetsu- plant, everyone asks where he got the giant green thing

I'll return to the aftermath of the prank later, but now we have another subplot – Snape's on the lookout, and he might just be the one who causes our favorite S-rank ninjas the most trouble! Ah, I love how my brain comes up with these things.

Special thanks to flamegirl55 for Hidan doing a ceremony in the hall.

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