ii.
Chapter 42: In the Eyes of God
"Divine Judgement awaits heathens who are ignorant to the pain of others." -Hidan
Itachi watched Tobi (Obito he reminded himself) flutter around the edges of the room, never quite interjecting in the argument but not really bothering to remove himself either. He couldn't help but wonder what the man was up to. He was sure, regardless, that Obito had no investment in either side of the ongoing argument.
"We have to let her make her own choices sometime." Kisame said, unconcerned. Itachi thought this was probably the Kiri-nin's way of showing faith in her prowess. It was a grave insult to any shinobi worth their salt to be told they needed supervision.
But it was also often a foolish assumption to think that a shinobi could handle things on their own, and Itachi could only trust that Nanami had adequately weighed the dangers of her choice. She was young, but she was also sharp; with a keen sense for violence and it was Itachi's opinion that she needed to make her own choices in order to continue growing.
"That not the point!" Hidan snarled, practically frothing at the mouth. Behind the white haired man his partner stood silent with crossed arms, mask firmly in place. His eyes were unsettling, and told nothing of what he was thinking.
"We all have fucking partners for a reason! You two-" He swung an accusing finger between Itachi and Kisame with too-wide eyes and just a few too many teeth flashing in the light. "-Just let her go traipsing into whatever the fuck situation without any fucking backup! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"
"She's not going to be a little kid forever. You'll just have to trust that she understands what she's gotten into. If she wanted help she would have asked for it." Kisame seemed to be done arguing with Hidan; his voice tinged on frustration. A frustrated Kisame was not a fun time for anyone.
Deidara barked a laugh from his position on the couch, grasping everyone's attention. Until now the blond man had had little to say. Itachi thought he was probably torn.
"Do you even know who we are talking about, un. Nanami? Ask for something?" He said incredulously. Itachi also agreed with this assessment, but it didn't sway his position either.
They had to let Nanami make this choice. If they didn't, she might never stop relying on them. (and even after all these years, a part of Itachi was stunned that this particular group was even having this particular argument.)
Hidan sputtered, almost talking over Deidara in his haste to bite back at Kisame. "Nanami isn't just any little kid!"
Kisame folded his arms across his chest and leaned back, clearly having said his peace and done with this conversation. He turned towards the stairs, teeth gnashing behind his lips.
"We have to let her grow up." He reiterated a final time.
Hidan shoved both his hands into his hair and tugged hard enough that Itachi thought he might be attempting to rip it out of his scalp. He made a guttural, snarling sort of noise that was not unlike the sounds Nanami made during a particularly rough practice.
"Where is Tobi?" Kakuzu spoke for the first time, and Itachi turned his head towards the direction he had seen the orange masked man creeping earlier.
"Huh? What the fuck does that even matter." Hidan grumbled, purple eyes sweeping across the room.
Itachi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose; having come to the same conclusion Kakuzu had.
"It seems he has stepped out."
Hidan snarled again and swung a lighting quick fist into the wall on his left. "Oh fuck no." He hissed, pulling back his arm with a cloud of crumbling drywall.
Hidan bolted for the door, and Itachi didn't bother to stop him.
The man could make his own choices, just like Nanami. Even if he didn't agree with them.
Kakuzu uncrossed his arms and moved to follow at a more languid pace. His acid green and red eyes caught Itachi's, and he gave a small nod of acknowledgement without words.
But he still left all the same.
"Well." Deidara commented into the ensuing silence as Itachi made his way to follow after his own partner. It was late after all.
The blond man sighed, the sound stressed and unsure.
Itachi agreed with that assessment as well.
Nanami's palms smacked into the rough bark of the next branch and she flung herself forward with all the momentum her little body was worth. She rocketed forward at a renewed speed, bare feet in front seeking the next perch to throw herself forward with.
She felt like she had been traveling for hours. Maybe it had been, or perhaps her sense of time was skewed with all the panic that wasn't hers racing through her brain. (movemovemove)
The closer she got, the more she could feel Bitter Wings heightened state of agitation.
It was another hour before something distracted her enough to pull her out of the tunnel vision she'd burrowed into.
Two chakra signatures pinged onto her mental map, and something in her went slightly slack at the sense of them. They were a ways behind, but catching up quickly.
Loud Blood, and Beating Hearts. The closest of her Red Clouds.
Her heart tore between relief and fear for their safety. She knew as S-class shinobi that they could handle themselves; she trusted them, she trusted in their abilities; but that didn't make her any less afraid.
The other, less familiar, but no less recognizable chakra signatures a ways away on her left didn't make her trepidation at the Zombi-combo's arrival any less prevalent.
Naruto.
She could pick that boy out of a crowd of a thousand people. Just beneath his burning ball of chakra Kakashi and Sakura registered. There was another as well, but it wasn't one she was familiar with.
She swerved her path to avoid them, moving on a harder line to her right.
Fucking leaf-nin always sticking their noses in everything.
She supposed if anyone had a right to know Sasuke's business though it would be that blond boy, but he'd have to get in line at this point. Nanami felt overly responsible for Bitter Wings; it was her fault he was struggling in this battle to begin with. There was no doubt left in her mind either, Orochimaru's chakra was as disgusting as it was recognizable.
Sasuke had to live through this. He had a job to do. Itachi needed him.
Nanami trampled the rising tightness in her throat. Not now.
Her senses keen on Naruto's position, she headed as quickly as she could towards Sasuke's weakening signature and Orochimaru's strengthening one, it was no wonder she completely overlooked the group in her path with all the powerhouses in the area.
Their signatures in comparison were negligible.
But running into them did her no favors either.
Nanami ducked beneath a whistling kunai above her and jumped down onto the ground, her momentum carrying her across the grass in a graceful slide that flung dirt and plant matter up behind her.
The clink of more metal had her attention swinging towards a blue-eyed, blond girl. Nanami's nails dug into the earth beneath her, eyes wide at the realization of the group who had scampered into fighting positions before her.
The blond girl, who Nanami was sure had a name like pig or boar or something, relaxed her stance slightly at the sight of her; her kunai coming down with a confused expression that pinched her perfectly manicured eyebrows together.
"It's just a little kid." She said, but the pug at her feet didn't seem to think Nanami was 'just a little kid'. The dog made a strangled sort of noise that caught her attention, and she looked down at him, recognizing his chakra as the summon she had sensed in the cave that was now Sasori's resting place.
"Pakkun?" Yea, that seemed right, maybe? She wasn't sure. Her head felt cloudy, her breath was coming too fast; and she knew it had nothing to do with her run.
The blond girl's breath hitched and she took an unconscious step backwards, the dog making a prancing motion on all four feet to hide behind the girl's legs. At her side, a much larger, grown man barred an arm between the her and Nanami.
Her eyes flickered up to look at him with distaste.
Asuma.
Her heart felt like it was palpating inside her chest; her blood rushing in her ears, her skin crawled in the most uncomfortable sensation. Dread fell over her like a closing curtain, because, fuck.
If he was here… then…
Her eyes slid slowly over the gathered group of Konoha-nin, expectant but not really prepared.
(She was afraid. So very terrified.)
She rose slowly, hands coming off the ground and her black cloak swirling around her feet. The weight of her weapon at the small of her back came to the forefront of her mind for a split second. The chains clinked together as she moved.
Doe brown eyes swept the collected four man team, and she found him.
He stood to her left atop a jagged outcropping of rock, slightly above the rest of his team. His dark eyes were narrow and calculating, mouth set in a grim line.
Her fingers spasmed.
"Nara." She snarled at him baring all her sharp little teeth in every warning of bloodshed she could muster.
She fucking hated his guts on sight.
Obito swirled into existence atop a hefty branch that swayed under the barrage of chakra laden wind. He fluttered around the edges of the battle-made clearing; minimizing his core instinctually to keep from garnering any attention from the combatants below.
It didn't seem like they'd be taking notice of anyone anytime soon, but he didn't have any interest in getting involved; he just wanted to keep any eye on the proceedings.
Originally, he had left to chase after the girl but once he had locked onto the youngest surviving Uchiha and the Akatsuki deserter he figured he knew where she was headed anyways.
He spared a moment to wonder how she had even known what was going on from the confines of their base. Her chakra sense was either far above anything he had thought her capable of, or there was something else going on with her. At this point it could be either; and he rankled over the lack of information to come to a decent conclusion with.
He watched for a time, and couldn't help but scoff at the pathetic display before him.
Orochimaru was clearly unwell. The frail looking man heaved for breath, a sickly sheen of sweat covering what was visible of his scaly white skin. His chakra was sluggish, and the jutsu he produced were half of what he was capable of at best.
On the other side Sasuke seemed to be in a perpetual state of confusion, torn between anger and fear and a myriad of other emotions Obito didn't care to analyze. His strategies were incomplete, and he made strange mistakes that one might associate with a person who had been poisoned or drugged. He supposed since this was Orochimaru the boy was dealing with either was a possibility.
"Hmm." He wondered aloud to himself quietly as the young Uchiha made a sloppy dodge that resulted in a shredded sleeve and blood erupting down his arm.
He pondered over whether or not it would be a good idea to interfere or not, but eventually dismissed the thought. He would watch a while longer.
He wanted to see why Nanami was coming here after all.
Hidan had zero sensory capabilities. He was pretty much flying blind at all times when entering a situation. So when Kakuzu, who had a better sense of things than he did, (marginally) informed him of two groups of enemy-nin when they were practically on top of them he didn't question it.
They split, Kakuzu veering off to run interference for Nanami on one group and himself with the other. Hidan wasn't particularly smart, certainly not like Itachi (no one was smart like Itachi) but some things just made sense after a life time of war and fighting.
Of course, he hadn't expected to almost run over Nanami either.
"Little Bitch!" He screeched, coming to land at her side with a thud of heavy feet on dry earth. His Akatsuki cloak whipped behind him with snaps of agitated movement, proclaiming for anyone who had eyes exactly who he worked for.
There was an immediate sense of relief at seeing her whole; limbs still attached and breathing. He was the only one who had the right at attempting to grievously injure her after all. (Not that he would... probably.)
Hidan's attention quickly turned to where her's lay after his inspection of her person was found to be satisfactory. He looked at the group before him like the seasoned shinobi he was, adjusting his stance and reaching for the handle of his scythe on his back with well trained reflexes.
The first thing he processed was a skinny blond girl with a ninkin between her feet, and a grown man hiding half her body behind his bulk protectively. The look on her face was something akin to shock and fear.
Hidan thought it was a good look for her.
The man in front of her was clearly a Jonin, perhaps their Jonin-sensei?
Easy Pickings. His thoughts laughed with malicious glee.
A rotund boy who looked like he hadn't done a day's worth of hard work in his life with swirls on his cheeks looked between himself and the little girl at his side. He seemed confused, and fearful.
The last member was a boy with spiky hair wrangled into a ponytail. He had dark eyes that cataloged purposefully in a way that Itachi's did absently.
"Shouldn't you be headed towards that?" Hidan assumed aloud and purposefully turned to Nanami to agitate the leaf-nin with his dismissal. She glanced up at him, and then towards the smoke and echoing booms that sounded farther off.
When she looked back at him, he realized that he had never seen her quite like this before.
Her breath came in wild pants, the whites of her eyes bloodshot and hands twitching towards the weapon that was secured to the small of her back beneath her cloak. He could hear the chains clink and the bell in her hair chime every time she shifted.
He paused at the sight of her, everything about her body language and features told him she wasn't in her right state of mind. There was more going on here than Hidan was capable of imagining, but he recognized it at least.
Her eyes flicked up to the boy with the ponytail and back over to him.
"I can't leave you here with him." She whispered brokenly, her attention slipping once again to look off into the distance at the smoke rising above the trees. A white eyebrow shot into his hairline at the declaration.
"He's just going to have to wait." She said even lower. Hidan only caught it because he was standing right next to her.
"Akatsuki." The Jonin-sensei spoke, breaking their small exchange. The blond girl gave the older man a wild look, like she couldn't believe they were just standing there instead of fleeing.
Hidan giggled, the sound unhinged. The Konoha-nin before him shifted uncomfortably which only heightened his sense of pleasure and satisfaction.
"You know who we are." The Jonin made a statement that somehow sounded like a question, voice hard edged and sharp like a blade. This was directed at Nanami, and Hidan swung his attention back down to the girl who still had eyes locked on Ponytail Boy.
She looked five seconds from leaping at him and tearing out his throat. His grin widened, that little bit of something in himself that wasn't quite sane slipping into the forefront. Hidan wanted to watch her do it more than he had ever wanted anything in his life. He had no idea why that boy in particular set her off, but fuck he wanted her slaughter him. Her killing intent was leaking everywhere every time she even glanced at the boy; heavy and potent on his tongue. It wasn't much to him, but he imagined to these kids who still looked wet behind their ears it must have felt death itself.
(Hidan was so proud of Nanami.)
"Whats with you and Leaf-nin?" He asked aloud. It always did seem to be the Leaf-nin when she went all soothsayer on everyone.
She look up at him, and when purple met wide doe brown his breath hitched for the sheer amount of pain he could see hidden behind her eyes.
It was… beautiful. As if Jashin-sama was looking right at her, blessing her with the true understanding of suffering. Nanami, as Hidan knew better than the others; was always suffering. She never said why, save for the time she had been feverish and ill, but Hidan knew. Hidan knew she suffered constantly under the weight of something vile and terrible, just as he knew the Uchiha did when he looked at him.
Jashin-sama was always pointing him in the right direction, and his God's gaze was constantly upon Nanami. But right now, in this singular moment he could almost see the hands of God upon her shoulders, Jashin-sama's eyes looking up at him through hers. The years and years worth of suffering for the things she troubled over accumulating around her, saturating the air.
Nanami was the most blessed creature he had ever come across, and it only endeared him more to her.
She suffered constantly.
Jashin-sama loved her for it.
Hidan… loved her for it. Or whatever the feeling in his chest was; because he kind of doubted he was capable of anything like love. Not in the way that Jashin-sama loved, and certainly not in the way that Nanami loved.
(Hidan had never thought that anyone might suffer over the idea of losing him, of losing any of them, and of course she was still a heathen but Nanami was… less tainted with sin than others. If only she would convert; then she would be truly as blessed and pure as he knew her to be.)
"He's the Nara." She said plainly, her voice level, empty, and at complete odds with the turmoil in her eyes. She sounded like Itachi again he registered in the back of his mind.
She had said The Nara.
Not A, The.
His face split into a shit eating grin as he looked over at the boy who was now taking careful, measured steps towards his teammates.
They all looked ready to flee. They clearly had no interest in engaging the two of them.
"That one?" He laughed with a pointed finger that made the boy's shoulders go stiff and knives drop into the Jonin's hands. "You can't be serious, he looks like a scrawny little shit!" He cackled like it was a good joke, but Nanami's lips didn't even twitch.
His laughter petered out.
"Yea, alright. Fucking spoil sport." He acquiesced after another split second of silence. "So he's the one then," The group of leaf-nin all shifted, absorbing the Nara into their midst and bringing him to the back of the group, the three others (and one dog) presenting a united front.
A weak one, but united all the same.
Hidan really, really wanted to kill them; his usual appetite for blood only bolstered by Nanami's killing intent rolling around the field like heavy fog in water country.
"So what do you wanna do about it. You got stuff to do-" another quick glance above the trees, "-should we kill him now or later?" Because of course there was no question, Nanami clearly wanted him dead and Hidan was only too eager to give her the opportunity to slaughter the boy.
A shuddered went through the group in front of them at his words.
For a split second, Nanami looked torn, and Hidan wasn't sure why.
"Where is Beating Hearts?" She asked instead, and his brow furrowed at the deflection.
"He went to intercept the other team."
Her hair, feather braids and all, flung to the side in a wild arc as she snapped her head to look at him, eyes startled and fearful.
"Kakashi and Naruto are there!" She hissed like that should mean something to him. Her left hand grasped the handle of her kusarigama, and she unsheathed it in a motion Hidan thought might have been on reflex. The chain rattled, and apparently that was enough to set the leaf-nin into motion.
In a millisecond they flickered up into the trees and moved away from them at a hard pace; making a bee-line towards the direction Kakuzu had set off.
Hidan's knees bent in preparation to leap after them, only to have Nanami bar his way with a little arm.
He looked down at her in confusion, and she looked up at him with a torn expression.
"I know I can't stop you." She whispered, and Hidan could hear the worry in her voice. "But please, be careful- Kakuzu is going to need backup. If it looks like things are going south," She took a watery breath. "Please just run." The last part came out as a broken whisper, and Hidan knew just as well as she did that he didn't run from anything.
He was immortal after all.
Hidan didn't say anything; he thought her worry was unnecessary, he could handle himself. (But he supposed if you could see the future or whatever the fuck it was that she did he might feel the same way about things.)
Regardless, he really wanted to lop those kids heads off.
His tongue tracked a wet line across his lower lip in anticipation; he could taste their blood on his blade already.
His face slipped into another vicious grin, but Nanami only gazed back at him with resigned eyes.
"Be safe." He heard her say even as he took to chasing after the brats with a loud whoop of joy.
He couldn't wait to teach these brats the true meaning of suffering.
A Really Long AN:
So I tried super hard to do Hidan some justice here. Really dig into the way he thinks through the eyes of someone who believes suffering is a blessing, but it's difficult because, well… Hidan is batshit y'all. Like, genuinely nuts. 15 gallons of crazy in a 10 gallon hat. (you get the point) So it's difficult to make sense out of something that clearly makes no sense whatsoever. But! I did try, maybe i'll expound more on that later. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this point because I wanted it to come out well. (I love Hidan, He's fascinating to write.)
We will get to see Nanami's perspective in the next chapter, including Shikamaru's. (and maybe Ino too just for a reference point idk yet honestly.)
Kakuzu will be coming around soon as well and I expect things are going to turn into a clusterfuck sooner rather than later. It's kind of difficult juggling so many different things going on at once, but it's a fun challenge. I'll do my best to not leave behind any of the characters I've included in this arc and make sure they all get an appropriate amount of verbiage and screen time.
Some of y'all might have noticed that I took the advice of a couple of my reviewers and looked up the episode where Sasuke fights Orochimaru (and wow, canon really just dropped Orochimaru off the face of the plot, it was kind of lame actually) Though I promise this was only for the purpose of finding out what his weakness was. For the most part; this arch will be nothing like canon, nor the Fire Temple arch. (If you couldn't tell already there a bit of mushing together going on)
Please let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions to add to the story, they are always welcome! I'm not 100% happy with this chapter, but at least it's done now and we can move forward to more interesting things. I'm super excited for what I have planned for Sasuke, I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on including him in the story so it's been really motivating to do something fun with him. (Poor, poor abused Sasuke can't seem to get a break)