Guess what? New cover art, with proper dimensions, drawn by me! Anybody else want to take a shot at it? Or simply want to do a picture for the story? Go for it. I'll advertise you, and everyone will go check it out and make you more widely known.

Yeah, so obviously I survived midterms. Yay! Of course, that means that normal school work resumes. I'm sure most of you understand. So I'll try to do the next chapter as soon as possible, but you know, things happen.

Disclaimer: my version of the history of magical Japan is completely made up. Also, boggart dealers exist for this story's purposes. If they're canon, yay. If not, oh well.

"I am not getting involved with this." Deidara, Tobi, Kakuzu, Kisame, Itachi, and Sasori sat in the Room of Requirement, modeled after a ninja training room. The Ame trio were having a snowball fight, Zetsu was who knows where, and Hidan was in the forest, sacrificing acromantulas in honor of Jashin.

"Come on, danna, un," Deidara whined. "The prat annoys us because of you!"

"And that's his problem, not mine," Sasori said firmly.

"Don't tell me you weren't bothered by the fact that they guy tried to use our worst fears against us," Kakuzu grumbled.

"I don't care because I have measures to ensure that my fears never come to pass," Sasori said. "I can't believe Deidara and Tobi managed to convince you to do this."

"If you mess with my money, you mess with me," Kakuzu said simply.

"But your money wasn't touched," Kisame said as he swung his model Samehada around.

"His fears were," Sasori muttered.

"And yours weren't?" Kakuzu countered.

"Not enough to warrant petty retaliation," Sasori said. "I'll admit that I was startled at first, but then I realized that it had to be fake because none of my puppets were transferred here."

"Heh, same," said Kisame. "As soon as a full-grown Itachi appeared, I knew something was off, but since he's got the Sharingan, I wouldn't put it past him. But when normal Leader showed up, I knew it wasn't real."

"Tobi was so scared!" the one-eyed boy whimpered. "That's why Tobi will help Deidara prank them back."

"Like I said, I can't believe these two dopes actually managed to get you in on this," Sasori said. "I mean, a revenge prank? Really?"

"A revenge prank in the true style of a ninja, un!" Deidara corrected. "We'll do it so that they can't trace us, but so that they know that it was us, un."

"You do know that Leader's never going to allow this, right?" Itachi asked.

"So what?" Deidara asked. "It's not like he's gonna do anything to us anyway, at least not in this place, un. Besides, what's the worst he can do?"

"Sic Zetsu on you," said Kisame.

"So? I can blow him up, un!"

"Here, in this place?" asked Sasori. "I think not."

"…You're not gonna rat us out, are you, danna, un?" Deidara asked.

"I'll think about it," Sasori said.

"Is Hidan in on it?" Kisame asked.

"That guy? Feh," Kakuzu said. "An untraceable attack requires finesse."

"And Deidara and Tobi are what you would consider having finesse?" Itachi asked.

"Hey, un! I have finesse coming out of my ears, un!" Deidara exclaimed.

"In the form of bombs," Sasori said.

"They are my works of art, and art, by definition, is finesse, un!" Deidara fumed.

"A violent ball of fire and debris is not my definition of finesse, let alone art," Sasori said.

"Itachi's got his fireball whatsit, un," Deidara pointed out. "Does he have finesse?"

"Yes," said Sasori. "He's not you." While Deidara sputtered, insulted, the puppet master turned to Itachi. "Are you in on this?" The Uchiha shook his head. "I thought not. Kisame, you?"

"I follow Leader's orders," Kisame said simply.

"Why won't you join us, danna?" Deidara nagged.

"The prat is not worth my time. Now stop being a brat," Sasori snapped.

"Leave the man alone," Kakuzu ordered. "Don't forget that you and Tobi put me in charge of this operation."

Deidara shut his mouth. It didn't last long. "Seriously, though, danna, you're not gonna tell Leader, are you, un?"

"I said I wasn't going to get involved," Sasori said simply.

"…Be more specific than that!" Deidara exclaimed.

Kakuzu sighed. "He's not getting involved means that he's going to do nothing about it. He's basically pretending that it doesn't exist."

"Tobi says thank you!" Tobi cheered, bouncing up and down. Sasori ignored him and went to improve his steadily growing arsenal of puppets.

"Alright, so here's the plan…" Kakuzu said. Deidara and Tobi leaned in to listen.

l l l

For her rather conveniently timed History of Magic paper that involved tracing a magical culture's history, Hermione chose magical Japan. This gave her an excuse to disappear into the library for higher-level, less suspicious research. She was delighted when she read about ancient Japanese witches and wizards who had yet to discover the magic of wands and therefore used wandless magic and muggle weapons. She was disappointed to discover that wands were invented in Japan around 1100 AD in the Heian period, causing the wandless magic users to slowly die out.

So Hermione decided to go straight to the source. One day, while she was finishing the rough draft of her paper, she noticed that some of the Hufflepuffs of the eleven were in the library, and approached them. "Hey," she said, "I know that you guys are exchange students, but I never caught exactly where you were from."

"Tobi forgot where he is from!" Tobi said brightly. "Tobi was wandering and having fun and met all these people and stayed."

"We're from Japan," Konan said. "Yes, we don't look Japanese, and we really don't know why. We also don't know how we speak such fluent English."

"Tobi touched something and then POOF!" Tobi made an explosion gesture with his arms.

"Sh!" Madame Pince hissed.

"Tobi is a good boy, he is sorry," Tobi said as Itachi gently pushed him down in his seat.

"A portkey?" Hermione asked.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about," Nagato said.

"But-" Tobi started. Itachi whispered something to him in their other language, and Tobi nodded and was quiet.

"Ah," Hermione said. When none of them said anything, she assumed that the conversation was over.

Although she knew that Tobi's strange comment about touching something and there being a poof was most likely a fruitless lead, she decided to look into rogue portkeys. She talked to Professor Flitwick, and found out that such a thing, while uncommon, was definitely possible. What one was doing in magical Japan in a place that was easily accessible to children baffled her. With no other leads at the moment and O.W.L. exams to prepare for, Hermione simply settled for observing the children.

A few days later, she was sitting in Potions with the Slytherins, minding her own business, when she heard Draco Malfoy call, "Professor, someone stole my bat spleens!" Everyone turned to look at him. When Professor Snape came over to investigate, he picked up a capped jar that had tipped over and rolled behind Malfoy's things. Malfoy flushed, but said nothing. Unscrewing the cap, he was about to pull one out for preparation when there was a poof of smoke and a great looming figure with a heavy black cloak and a scarf covering his mouth and one eye appeared. The left visible eye was hauntingly empty.

"Draco Malfoy," it bellowed, "Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson! This is retribution for the boggarts! I am but a herald. For three days this week, you will be visited by three angry spirits who will punish you for your cruelty. May this be a lesson!" A halo of black thread-like material flared wildly around the figure before there was a puff of smoke, and the figure, along with the jar, vanished.

There was dead silence in the Potions classroom, before Malfoy blinked and said, "I'm still missing my bat spleens, Professor."

l l l

Having been teleported away from the classroom by Tobi, Deidara broke down laughing. "I can't believe we pulled that off, un!"

"I can't believe Tobi managed to stay in control enough for me to keep the illusion up," Kakuzu said.

"I didn't think you were good at illusions, un," Deidara said.

"It was a basic transformation," Kakuzu said. "Anyone can do it, even Tobi."

"True, un," Deidara said. "So, who's 'ghost' is up first, un?"

Kakuzu held up his copy of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, which Sasori had conveniently left lying around the dorm opened to a certain page. "Seems that Sasori's too prideful to admit that he's actually bothered by the brat's antics, so he's making us do the dirty work. What we just did parallels Jacob Marley. Now we do the three ghosts. You, Deidara, get to go first."

"I'll take care of this one, alright, un," Deidara said with a laugh.

News spread quickly through the fifth years, that apparently someone was blaming Malfoy's gang of Slytherins for the boggart incident. Some teachers were investigating the claim of three spirits showing up for three days in the school that week, while others were investigating the involvement of the four Slytherins in the boggart incident.

At breakfast the next morning, Hermione noticed Deidara come into the Great Hall in a very good mood.

"Hullo, you seem happy," Ginny said to him as he sat between her and Kisame.

"I am, un," Deidara said with a nod.

"I wonder why," Kisame muttered under his breath as he ate his breakfast.

When the mail owls came in, there was a poof of smoke at the Slytherin table. Everyone in the Great Hall turned to see Draco Malfoy holding an open envelope, staring up at a giant flying monstrosity. It was some kind of flying hybrid monster with powerful dragon wings, an eagle's head, the body of a hairy something, nine snakes for tails, and insect legs. "I am the ghost of things gone horribly wrong, yeah! I am here to make you sorry for doing something really reckless and Gryffindor-like that could have backfired nastily and screwed things up real bad, yeah!"

"Stupefy!" Professor Snape, Professor Umbridge, and Professor McGonagall shouted, pointing their wands at the thing. The red stunners were harmlessly absorbed in the thing's body.

"You cannot defeat me, yeah!" the giant hybrid exclaimed. "I am the great spirit of the fleeting moments it takes for something to go way downhill, yeah! Attempts to mess with the mess up will only mess you up, yeah!"

When it became clear that spells had no effect, Crabbe stood up and stabbed the thing with a fork. The beast looked down at him, apathetic. "Puny little civilian, yeah," it said. Crabbed yanked out the fork, along with a piece of the thing's body.

"It's clay," he said, poking it. It then proceeded to blow up in his face. "Argh! Dung bomb! The thing's made out of dung bombs!"

At the Gryffindor table, Deidara started laughing hysterically. "Dung bombs, un! Wicked!"

"That was subtle," Kisame said to his friend.

"So, un?" Deidara asked. "It's not like everyone hasn't noticed."

"There are gonna be some who are gonna be ticked," Kisame remarked.

"So what? Laughing now and consequences later is totally worth it, un."

Hermione, listening, frowned. Kisame's comment about subtly seemed appropriate yet odd. So what if Deidara laughed? There others doing so. Then she remembered. When the Weasley twins had organized the prank, Deidara had been a part of the group that rigged Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with dung bombs. His group had also set off some sort of actual explosion that had done a decent amount of damage to the facility. He like exploding things for certain, and the way the beast was talking, with the added 'yeah' at the end of every sentence, made her suspicious.

"You look like you're thinking about something," Ron remarked.

Hermione blinked and turned. "It's nothing."

Any comment from Ron was cut short by Hidan's appearance. "Oh my f- Jashin! Kisame, how'd blondie get away with this s-?"

"Shut up, un!" Deidara snapped, throwing a hard-boiled egg with aim so frighteningly accurate that it slammed into his mouth, effectively silencing the foul-mouthed child.

Hidan waved his arms furiously as he choked on the egg. Kisame slammed him on the back and said, "This is payback for the boggarts."

"Why the f- was I not told of this? I could do a whole lot f- better than anything blondie can," Hidan ranted.

"According to Kakuzu, you've got no finesse, un," said Deidara. "And this requires finesse."

"And that thing counts at finesse?" asked Kisame asked.

"It's more than this freak's got, un," said Deidara, whacking Hidan over the head.

"At least my soul isn't f- damned to hell, f- heathen!" Hidan snapped.

"You're making a scene," said Kisame, shoving an English muffin into Hidan's mouth. "Just keep your mouth shut."

"And don't tell Leader, un," Deidara added.

"Is he always like that?" Ginny asked, eyeing the silver-haired boy.

"Unfortunately," Kisame said. "We think he was dropped on his head too many times when he was a kid." Deidara muttered something in their language that Hermione couldn't understand.

"Did Hidan just imply that Deidara is behind that thing?" she asked.

"Eh, probably, but that's Hidan for you," Kisame said. "Somewhat cracked in the head that one is."

"I see," Hermione said. She knew that whoever was behind the flying monstrosity had to have much more than first year Charm work, and probably some higher-level Transfiguration work as well. It didn't make sense that Hidan would even think that Deidara, a first year like himself, would be able pull off something like that. It was the sort of thing that she would expect the Weasley twins to come up with.

"Whose masterpiece is this?" Fred asked as he pushed in between Harry and Dean, with George squishing in next to him. There went that theory.

"Dunno, but it's bloody brilliant!" Ron exclaimed. "It's targeting Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy!"

"I heard that the original spirit blamed Malfoy and his gang for that boggart thing a while back," George said. "Do you think it's true?"

"It'd take more brains than the little brat has," Fred pointed out.

"This is true," George conceded.

"It does seem like the sort of underhanded thing he would do," Hermione said. "How he got his hands on so many is beyond me, though."

"Probably some sort of black market in Knockturn Alley," Ron scoffed. "I bet he used his family's name to get some dealer to go through with it."

The rest of the day was rather interesting. The giant flying thing didn't once leave the four Slytherins' side, and when they split up, it would follow Malfoy. The teachers didn't know what to do. The thing somehow absorbed all spells and potions thrown at it, and when it was touched, it would let loose a dung bomb.

At dinner that night, it was still orbiting around Malfoy and his gang's heads, stealing bits of their food and being obnoxious. Then, when the clock tolled seven, the giant, dung bomb-throwing monstrosity declared, "My time is up, but be prepared for more, yeah! I'm the ghost of things gone horribly wrong, and you'd do well to remember that, yeah. No more messing with dangerous creatures for you lot, or I'll see to it that it goes up in a bang, yeah! And don't forget to watch out for my two brother ghosts, yeah. They'll be coming before the end of the week, yeah." And with that, the giant flying thing blew up in an explosion of dung bombs, brightly-colored powder, glitter, and confetti.

"That was awesome, un!" Deidara exclaimed, reaching up to catch the falling confetti. Then the wave of dung bomb smell hit reached the Gryffindor table. "Ugh…nasty, un." The smell was quickly dispelled with a few well-placed charms.

"It's A Christmas Carol!" Hermione exclaimed.

"What?" asked Ron.

Harry's eyes widened with understanding. "It's a story about some old miser with no sense of goodwill," he explained to his friend. "Three ghosts come and show him the past, present, and future, and make him a changed man."

"I see," said Ron.

"So whoever is behind this is a high-level student who knows Muggle literature," Hermione said conclusively. "And no, it was not me."

l l l

The next day, everyone was on high alert. The staff had put up multiple spells to warn them of incoming oddities, as well as measures against them. So of course, no ghost showed up. The day after that, however, at breakfast, a child-like figure with its face covered by a strange, white, one-eyed mask with what resembled a cat's face painted on it appeared. It had wings on its feet, allowing it to fly, and it appeared to be able to teleport with a space-distorting swirl. It was cloaked in a bright yellow cloak with vibrant orange swirls all over it, and it repeatedly appeared and disappeared before Malfoy and his crew.

"I am the ghost of pranks, and the pranks are what I do!" it cheered as its head appeared a few inches from Malfoy's face. "You guys pulled a prank, but it was a nasty one, and pranks are meant to be for fun with no ill intent! So I must punish you, even though punishing is not for pranks."

Goyle took an angry swipe at the self-proclaimed ghost of pranks, but his arm passed through the ghost like it would any other ghost. The ghost's masked face was suddenly at Goyle's ear. "No, no, no," it said in a playful voice. "Pranks are not for hurting. Pranks are for fun! So let's have fun together, shall we?" And then it swooped down and started juggling oranges, only to realize that it was in fact immaterial and that it could not physically touch the anything. "Oopsie…" The oranges fell unceremoniously in the four target Slytherins' food.

It turned out that that day was the day that the Slytherins and the Gryffindors were having combined Defense against the Dark Arts. Somehow the ghost managed to make his immaterial self dump the chalkboard over, as well as teleport its four targets one at a time to the ceiling.

"Isn't it fun to be upside down?" the happy ghost asked Pansy as the two of them appeared on the ceiling. Somehow it had attached Pansy by her feet so that she wouldn't fall and hurt herself, but that attachment didn't include her uniform, and so the girl got the embarrassment of a lifetime as Professor Umbridge tried to figure out a way to unstick her. Fortunately, the ghost realized that Pansy was not taking being upside down as a prank, so it very apologetically returned her to her seat and took up Crabbe instead.

Potions was also rather interesting. The unpredictable ghost swapped around several of its targets' ingredients, resulting in explosions and very unsatisfactory potions. Professor Snape was not amused. He blamed the ghost, of course, but surprisingly managed to make a lesson out of it by not gently reminding the class that one must always check their ingredients. Ron complained that if it had been a Gryffindor, the greasy git would have taken away an unfair amount of points in the process.

The yellow, flying oddity apparently followed the four everywhere. Hermione could not quite put a finger on who it reminded her of, but did not let it bother her. She noted that Tobi was not present that day, and when she asked, Itachi told her that he had come down with something and was currently sleeping it off in his dorm. However, in the library she overheard the two Ravenclaws, Sasori and Kakuzu, talking.

"How'd you get him to speak like a regular person?" Sasori asked.

"Spell," Kakuzu said.

"How'd you get Leader and Co. to buy that Tobi actually was out with a cold?" asked Sasori.

"I managed to get Tobi to convince Itachi, and when Itachi says something, it's usually right. Also couldn't hurt that I hit the little brat with a couple of potions that made him have cold-like symptoms."

"How'd you develop that?" Sasori asked, seeming interested.

"I managed to figure out the inverse of the Pepper-up potion," Kakuzu told him.

"I didn't take you for a chemist," Sasori remarked.

"Necessity makes me many things," Kakuzu said. "By the way, thanks for the idea."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sasori said.

"Sure you don't," Kakuzu said. "Just like I know you didn't pick up that civilian book about the miser. I wasn't sure if you were trying to make a point about me or the prank, but it's damn useful."

"I still don't know what you're talking about," Sasori said.

"Whatever," Kakuzu muttered. "Be stubborn."

"It's not that," Sasori said. "It's…" And then Hermione couldn't understand him, because he switched languages.

"Ah," Kakuzu said. "I can't believe I let my guard down that much." And then the two of them walked away.

Hermione didn't know what to think. How exactly had those children managed a display of that magnitude? Kakuzu had talked about creating an inverse of the Pepper-up potion. Was that even possible? Hermione found herself frowning. The way those two had been talking did not make them sound like first years at all. They didn't even strike her as students. Something really was off about them, and it bothered her now even more.

At dinner, the ghost of pranks made its finale. It was not as dramatic as the ghost of things gone wrong's finale. The ghost of pranks flew up to the middle of the Great Hall. In its arms were envelopes. "Pranks are meant for fun!" it declared. Then it threw the envelopes up into the air. They turned into paper airplanes and flew at the faculty table. Most landed there, but a few doubled back and hit the student tables. Then, in a swirl, the ghost disappeared.

Professor McGonagall picked up the envelope that had landed in her lap. She opened it, and after a moment, her eyes grew wide, and then narrowed. Professor Dumbledore also read his, and frowned, an unusual occurrence in the man. Snape looked absolutely livid. Hermione pointed her wand at the envelope that had flown at the Gryffindor table and summoned it. She opened it and gasped. It was a letter in Malfoy's own handwriting that requested from a dealer in Knockturn Alley several boggarts.

l l l

Hogwarts was all in a tizzy. News of Malfoy's confirmed guilt in the boggart incident had flown through the school. His father, furious, had arrived for several meetings with Dumbledore. The letters, which each documented the several exchanges between Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy with the boggart dealer, were checked thoroughly by both Lucius Malfoy and Professor Flitwick for forgery. Both men came to the conclusion that the letters were not fakes. Of course, this only increased Mr. Malfoy's ire, who threatened to withdraw his son from the school on charges that he had been put under the Imperius curse for framing purposes. Naturally, a Veritaserum test was in order for Draco and his compatriots.

The day after the ghost of pranks, the third ghost did not appear. Nor did it appear the day after. On the Saturday that the parents of the accused were to arrive, however, it did.

The third ghost was a monstrous mass of black tendril-like things. The creature did not speak, but instead formed words with its tendrils. I am the ghost of negative consequences, it spelled out. You three are currently on the receiving end of such. And it simply followed the four around, emitting a Dementor-like feeling of woe. Whenever the annoyed parents of the four accused tried any spells, they had no effect. Trying to physically shut the mass of doom out did no good either as it simply phased through the door or wall. At one point, Professor Snape even tried the Patronus charm, but that did nothing either.

This giant mass of black…stuff did nothing as amusing as the other two ghosts. This one just floated around with the four targets, causing feelings of gloom, despair, and other depressing things. Cheering charms had little effect, and paranoia ran high that day in Hogwarts.

The day dragged by, and no one saw the ghost's finale because the four Slytherins' did not go to dinner. Hermione, for one, was glad, as she assumed that its finale would be nowhere near as entertaining as the other two. The ghost of negative consequences indeed. Apparently several of the teachers were looking up old magic from the restricted section that would allow someone to summon ghosts. Hermione herself had done her research and knew that ghosts did not represent specific topics. The three, no, four, 'ghosts' that had visited Malfoy and his cronies were purely man-made, and judging by Kakuzu and Sasori's conversation the other day, the eleven had something to do with it.

l l l

Yahiko was not happy. Yahiko was furious. He was so furious that he was pacing angrily in the Room of Requirement. The rest of Akatsuki watched nervously as he turned to the three pranksters.

"Did you or did you not disobey direct orders to not engage Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Parkinson?" the leader of Akatsuki demanded.

"No," said Kakuzu. "There were never any direct orders from you. There was only Konan chastising both you and Nagato for arguing over whether or not to retaliate."

"Let me rephrase. Did you or did you not disobey the understood consensus that there was to be no retaliation against the aforementioned?" Yahiko asked.

"Uh-oh! Tobi hears Leader-sir talking in big words! Tobi is so so so so so sorry! Tobi was a bad boy!" And the one-eyed boy proceeded to burst out bawling.

"Deidara, what have you to say for yourself?" Yahiko asked.

"It was totally worth it, un!" Deidara said simply. "I regret nothing."

"And Kakuzu? I'd expect this sort of thing from your idiot partner, not from you," Yahiko said.

"Like I said, there were no explicit orders forbidding us," Kakuzu said. "Besides, the little brat deserved to be put in his place."

"And how about the rest of you?" Yahiko asked, flinging his arms about. "Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, Hidan! I expected more from you!"

"It was too f- good to pass up," Hidan said with a shrug. "I owed some chaos to Lord Jashin."

"I honestly thought you would catch wind of this before it escalated and felt no need to bother you with such a triviality," Itachi said.

"Same," said Kisame.

"It was amusing while it lasted," Sasori said. "I thought it would be interesting to see what they would come up with. Besides, as Kakuzu pointed out, there were no explicit orders."

"What about Zetsu, un?" asked Deidara. "Aren't you gonna chew him out?"

"Zetsu's doing work for me on Voldemort," said Yahiko. "He's got an alibi."

"So, what's our punishment?" asked Kakuzu, not really caring.

"The ones who didn't do anything get a warning. If you fail to report to me something like this again, it will be worse," Yahiko said. "The rest of you, probation."

"What, un!?" Deidara exclaimed.

"You will not be allowed to be unaccompanied by someone in my good faith," said Yahiko. "That would include Konan, Nagato, Zetsu, Itachi, Kisame, and myself."

"What about danna, un?" asked Deidara.

"He let it happen," said Yahiko. "I have good reason to believe that Itachi and Kisame actually thought I would stop this before it happened."

"Who's got who?" asked Kakuzu.

"Kisame has Deidara, Konan's got you, and Itachi gets Tobi," said Yahiko. "I never want to see this happen again! Now get out of my site!" The somewhat intimidated Akatsuki rapidly dispersed. Konan followed Kakuzu out of the room.

Yahiko sighed. "Deidara and Tobi I understand, but Kakuzu?"

Nagato shrugged. "Fear does strange things to people."

"Heh, I guess we'd know," Yahiko said.

"Sasori reported to me that we're being watched," Nagato remarked.

"He reported to you?" Yahiko asked, confused.

"Apparently he recognizes me as Leader," Nagato said. "Something about the personalities matching. Anyway, he said that Hermione Granger is getting nosy."

"Right…" Yahiko said. "You mentioned that she asked about us last week."

"Yeah," Nagato said. "Apparently she overheard enough of Sasori and Kakuzu talking for her to realize that we're not normal."

"And those two let her hear them? I thought they were supposed to be our brains!" Yahiko exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, we've always known that most of our members have their own agendas," said Nagato. "Sasori was bored, Kakuzu thought organized crime was profitable, Orochimaru wanted resources, and who knows what Itachi is up to."

"Eh, when we get back home, we may want to have a change of employees if we want to return to original purpose," Yahiko said.

"Ah, about that…I may have made a deal with Madara Uchiha…" Nagato muttered.

"Oh?" asked Yahiko. "I thought he was dead."

"Anyway, he sent us Tobi," said Nagato.

"Tobi's a traitor?" Yahiko asked.

"Not anymore," said Nagato. "As soon as we got our wands, I hit him with a powerful memory charm. He's harmless now, and under my control."

"Ok…" Yahiko said slowly. "We'll deal with this Madara fellow when we get back."

"About that," Nagato added. "Zetsu's also one of his."

"Why are you just telling me this now?" Yahiko asked, exasperated.

"I thought that you might like to know," Nagato said.

"Does Konan know?" asked Yahiko.

"Yes, and she made me tell you," said Nagato.

"Ok, and did you do anything about Zetsu?" asked Yahiko.

"I'm working on that," said Nagato. "He's got two minds, which makes it tricky, not to mention that the black half is clever. I'll chat with Sasori about that."

"And Sasori can be trusted?" Yahiko asked.

"I'll work on that," said Nagato.

"How about we, meaning us and Konan, figure out a way to do this together?" Yahiko suggested. "There's no 'I' in 'team', I think the civilian term here goes. You don't have to do this alone. Ok, so we've made some mistakes. We can fix them! You've already made Tobi from whoever he was back to Tobi again. Now we deal with Zetsu and fix him up, and then we deal with everyone else, one at a time, ok? It's gonna be fine."

Nagato nodded. Then Konan appeared in a flurry of papers. "I left a clone with Kakuzu. He'll obey the probation, and Sasori's there. I take it we have a lot of work to do."

So, ending on a more serious note, but that's ok. I hate leaving things with holes, and so I felt the need to deal with the whole Tobi-Madara thing, even though this is technically AU since Sasori's still around. Just had to do it. It was bugging me. Now watch it create more problems for the story. Feel free to laugh at me.

Also, if you've got a couple of seconds, check out my newest idea that I just had bring into being, Demon Tamer! It's a Hinata-centric story involving her growing up in Suna. I've only got the prologue up so far, and that's probably all for a bit since I'm working on this story mainly, but I can tell you now that a) Hinata will end up being slightly OOC because of her new background without Hiashi being a butt, b), Hinata most likely will end up with Gaara, and c) Neji won't have a problem with fate because of different circumstances.

Anyway, leave a comment, an idea (especially for the post-break prank that I promised the twins will plan), or just say hi. Oh, and if you're an artist, have fun and draw something for the story!

Until next time ;)