Author's Note: You know, I feel bad that Akatsuchi hasn't done much. But, the dynamic I've created is just so focused on Onoki, Kuro, and Deidara more than Akatsuchi.
Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Naruto, the world, or the characters. All of these belong to the creator Masashi Kishimoto.
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Chapters 7
Clarity
She tapped the walls and hummed, the sleek grey metal cool against her skin. The old woman quietly laughed as she tapped the wall again and again. Her mind fractured yet whole. Thin fingers fidgeted as they poked the stone for treasure. There were so many… so many guests visiting her. The excitement made her feel young and free and everything wonderful in the world again. The old woman wobbled from side to side in a faulty step dance. Her arms were wide like a rising bird's wings.
The revelry was halted when a shallow knock reverberated past her. She turned, yellow teeth like sunlight for her expected visitor.
"Darling?!" The elder shrieked before falling silent. It was only that dark haired girl. Disappointment made itself known in her stomach as she huffed back to the stoney tree-like pillars. A sharp spike on pain shot through her skull and she coughed, slapping her forehead. The elder blinked while silvery strands of hair blanketed her vision.
Was she forgetting something?
"Not important!" The old woman shrugged and spun around again and again and again. "Ha! I need to find-Darling?" She yelped as another sound was heard some way away. No, it was only the girl again. Cracked lips parted in a scowl.
She scratched the wall and giggled, eyes glazing over as she drowned in another mental wave.
—
Kuro forced herself to ignore the old woman as she sought Onoki out. She found the Tsuchikage sitting near Akatsuchi, absentmindedly staring at the opposite wall. He slowly turned to look at her as she approached.
"Grandfather…?" Kuro quietly asked, sitting next to him. She folded her hands over her lap.
"Kurotsuchi. You want to talk about why your reflection wants me dead." Her grandfather bluntly intoned, face apathetic. The kunoichi softly sighed, yet nodded. Onoki was painfully direct and to the point at times.
"When… when I looked at the light I remembered that day in your office. When you told me you wouldn't tell the truth about Deidara to the village." Kuro started, watching as Onoki drew his fingers together. His brow furrowed as he mentally relived the memory. "I was so mad at you back then, you know?" She cringed, recalling her exact wording.
"You said you hated me." The Tsuchikage sombrely noted.
"I didn't mean it." Kuro hurriedly reassured, raising her hands as a placating gesture.
"I know, Kurotsuchi." Onoki nodded.
"But, I wanted you to hurt when it happened. I was just… so mad at you. And myself. I hated what was happening to him… I guess some of that resentment still exists in me… I'm sorry…" The young woman apologized in a low voice. She twiddled her thumbs as her grandfather loudly exhaled.
"You have a right to be mad at me." He comforted, calmly meeting her eyes.
"I don't want to have to ruin anyone like that in the future, grandfather. If I become Lord Tsuchikage-" Kuro expressed, watching her reflection in a kunai.
"You'll lead how you want to lead. I'm not infallible, even the hardest of stone cracks sometimes. Maybe you'd do things different? Maybe you'd be the same. But, you just need to learn how to make the tough calls as Iwagakure's leader. And it has to be your call." Onoki calmly lectured, closing his eyes. "But, it'll be a different world when you succeed me, Kurotsuchi. Let's focus on our current dilemma for now." He chose, signalling the conversation's end.
—
Deidara cheerfully hummed, teeming with frenetic energy as he worked on his newest creation. He was looping a noodle-like thread around an arm before she arrived. The girl didn't bother hiding her presence, footsteps sounding like drums as she stalked towards him. The criminal smirked as she leaned over his shoulder with a wild grin on her face.
"Hey-o, Deidara!" Kurokuro giddily chirped, forcing him to stand. The girl's hair seemed even crazier than before, her eyes pulsing with excitement. The robes of Akatsuki hung loosely to her form, though she'd cut a sleeve off to mimic her uniform.
"Kurokuro, hm." The blonde casually greeted, matching her odd smile. He swiftly wrestled his grip out of her arms and turned, to her visual disappointment.
"What 'cha doing?" She curiously pried, moving closer to tap the clay model. However, he kicked her hand away. Instantly, the two were in fighting stances, their visible insanity mirroring each other. "I want to help you so bad! I can't wait until I can kill you and fix everything! I really, really, really, really want to kill you…" Kurokuro drawled, her eyes dazed as if in a puppet-like trance. Her body being the puppet, and her unhinged vengeance the strings that guided her.
"I'd like to see you try, hm." Deidara taunted as they circled the statue.
"You will! You will! I can't wait until that stupid, horrible old man has been ripped to shreds!" She chanted, as if possessed. "And then I'll kill you, and then that damned coward, and we'll all be free and have paid for what happened to you! Isn't that wonderful, Deidara?" Kurokuro celebrated with a small twirl whole folding her hands together.
"Sure, hm." The blonde began to nod. "The whole 'gramps dying' sounds great, hm. Kuro too! Just not me, hm." Deidara smirked, twisting his fingers back and forth. He briefly pondered what Kurokuro meant by what happened to him, but his mind pushed the wonder aside. A glint flashed through his pupils. It was all too enjoyable toying with this version of Kurotsuchi.
"That's okay! You don't have to agree with me by then!" She spat back, a vicious tone to her voice.
"I can't wait to blow you both you to pieces, it'll be a masterpiece! Because art is an explosion!" Deidara cackled, allowing sparks to flare from his palms.
"We all need to pay! Pay! Pay!" Kurokuro uncontrollably giggled, still spinning before she fell to the ground in a fit of laughter. "Pay with our lives… pay with their lives… pay with their…" She mumbled before suddenly shaking her head, a moment of clarity breaking through to her mind.
"Where you going, hm?" Deidara distantly prompted, his back already turned away and to his work. She turned towards him, her clear eyes vaguely similar to the calculative mind of the real Kurotsuchi.
"Grab your friends, we have some special guests to visit."
—
The others were still asleep by the time Kuro saw Deidara. She was leaning against the flat stone, the sound of gushing water nearby. The kunoichi slowly rubbed the worry from her eyes before standing. Afterwards, she stealthily made her way towards him. Her friend was agitated, his hands fighting from his weapon to his head. He paced along the cave muttering to himself about sections of the cave-like a lost traveller.
"Down by the-no, that wouldn't work! What about-no! Dammit!" Deidara went, kicking a rock until it shattered into small, sad pieces.
"A lot on your mind, huh?" She noted, watching as he jumped, startled.
"Kuro, hm! I… yeah. I've been trying to figure out another path where you guys can tunnel out. But, Akatsuki knows most of the outer ones already, hm. How's your head?!" The blonde asked, playing with his hands as they talked.
"Fine. When… my reflection came alive it hurt for a bit. And I kept seeing the images that I saw while looking at the light-" Kuro started to answer before being cut off.
"Images, hm? So, you see things too?" Deidara questioned.
"I did see my older memories. But, it wasn't like how you described it. I only saw one, and I could feel how my reflection felt for a moment before snapping out of it." She clarified with a shudder, recalling the horrible feeling of rage her reflection had.
"Hm." The reflection nodded. For a while they just stood there, meeting each other's eyes before turning away. Her eyes wandered towards the blue lines that freely shown on his arms. She felt her face harden at the scene. Her stomach felt queasy with worry over what would happen to him. Eventually, Kuro worked up the courage to speak the question overpowering all her thoughts since the fight.
"What will happen to you if Akatsuki's Deidara is killed?" She pressed, grabbing his shoulder. Pointedly, she did not say the 'original' Deidara.
"I'll disappear, shatter into a million little pieces I guess, hm." The blonde casually answered as if speaking about the weather or the news stunt he'd pulled. Quickly, the shinobi fled from Kuro's grasp as she gasped.
"Then why do you want to kill him so badly if that kills you too?!" Kuro demanded to know, a desperate look on her face.
"I don't want to die, hm! But… letting him leave and hurt others is worse…" Deidara explained, looking away. "My turn, hm. Why didn't you attack him earlier? I gave you an opening, hm!? He pushed, staring her in the eyes.
"I didn't want to kill you, okay!" Kuro grumbled, not bothering with any attempts to avoid it. "Deidara… I… Onoki… Akatsuchi… we just got you back. I didn't-I don't want to lose you again!" She defended, holding her face in her calloused hands.
"That's the problem, hm! You can't fight him without thinking of me! Of what you did…" He retorted. "Kuro! There's nothing, NOTHING, you can do to change what happened! You messed up, fine, hm. But, you need to focus on what's going on right now! It's the now that'll become your memories. So, do something about what you can change, hm! And what we can change, is stopping me from hurting anyone else, hm!" Deidara panted, taking a few steps back.
"I-" Kuro tried to argue, but the words died on her tongue. "That's… that's what you really want, Deidara?" She mournfully asked, feeling water drip down her cheeks.
"It is, hm." He resolutely answered, not a single doubt on his face. Kuro opened her mouth to speak but the floor suddenly shook. Her hand flew to her mouth upon turning towards the tunnels.
The old woman screamed.
—
"Gramps! Akatsuchi! Wake up!" Kuro screamed as she held off her reflection, inwardly recoiling upon seeing her wear Akatsuki's cloak. "Do you have no shame?" She seethed, pouring ash from her mouth. However, the copy merely jumped to the side to avoid it. She seemed unnaturally gleeful at her words.
"Nope! I have so much shame it's practically tearing me apart from the seams! But, at least I'm admitting to it! Unlike the coward you are!" Her reflection scorned while aiming her attacks at the sleeping men. "But…" She drawled in a knowing voice. "I'll get to you later once the old man's taken care of, kay?" Kurokuro went, lifting herself up with a pillar. Kurotsuchi matched her moves step for step.
"What's going on… Kuro…?" Akatsuchi drawled, finally awakening from his slumber. His eyes may as well have bursted out from their sockets upon seeing the reflection in the cave. Furthermore, as the Kiri nin were already parrying the rest of Akatsuki.
"Protect Lord Tsuchikage! He's its target!" She warned her friend who nodded at once. Meanwhile, Kurokuro tilted her head at the referral.
"One, 'it', you think so low of me?" The reflection singsonged after attempting to bypass Kuro's defence of stone. "Two! Don't call that horrible old man by title, coward!" Kurokuro demanded as she threw everything she had into fighting. As if she didn't care about her own existence. Despite wielding the same skill set, Kuro struggled to fend the girl off.
Elsewhere, a similar engagement was being fought between Deidara and his reflection. Though, Kuro was too caught up in her own battle to focus on their quips and jabs. However, she was forced to when Akatsuki's Deidara launched himself to the ground with a menagerie of clay explosives. The floor cracked, and shook with the force of his insanity.
Until finally, the stone gave way and they tumbled down.
There was a large cavern underneath their base. They landed on a circular stone platform with numerous intimidating pillars surrounding. A glowing fall stood in front of them, just far enough away that their reflections were hidden. A strange artifact lay atop the fall, lodged in the rocks but its glowing light made it plain to see. The water formed a basin below the platform. The group barely had time to study their new setting before the fighting resumed.
Kuro jumped on her reflection before she could tackle Onoki. They wrestled and rolled on cold stone before Kurokuro freed herself.
"Come on! Running away? Who's the coward now, huh?" Kurotsuchi taunted to stall the reflection. Kurokuro stilled, glancing to her and than at Akatsuki's Deidara before casually shrugging.
"… Fine then. I'll take what I can get." Kurokuro smiled, raising her blade high. "Coward." She insulted while charging forward. Kuro pulled the stone up as the reflection grew closer. Afterwards, she slide atop of the raised mound to try and get Kurokuro from the back. But, the reflection already had a pooling well of lava for her and Kuro narrowly avoided the flames, tips of her hair being singed in the process.
They continued on almost equal terms before Kurokuro glanced to see if Onoki had an opening, unknowing creating one herself. Kuro seized her chance, plunging her kunai into Kurokuro's chest. The reflection gasped as blue lines raced from the wound and danced across her body like paint to paper.
"Kill… them… make them… pay…" She madly begged, digging her cracked fingers into Kuro's wrist. However, those proved to be her final words as her body went up in a pulsing blue light. Kuro sighed, dragging her hand across a sweaty forehead.
"Kuro!" She heard Deidara scream, and sharply turned just in time to see his original dragging him towards the falls. Her heart dropped in her chest as she went white. Before her mind could catch up, her body was already rushing towards him. Kuro already had an idea of what the criminal was going to go.
"Heh, say goodbye, buddy, hm!" Akatsuki's Deidara taunted with a grin as they grew closer and closer to the fall.
"No!" Kuro screamed as the blue lines on Deidara's body seemed to grow faster and faster across him. His eyes however, still held the resolute defiance of a mountain to the storm. With a final shove, Deidara and his reflection were thrown through the glowing waterfall. The lines cracked, and fizzled as water raced across them. Soon, both Deidara and his reflection squeezed their eyes shut as the latter's body began to glow.
It happened in an instant.
Kuro watched, too far away to intervene as two turned into one. A Deidara landed on the other side of the fall, soaking wet and gleeful. He wore Akatsuki's signature cloak. Her legs turned to jelly and she fell to the ground.
"That. Was. Annoying, hm!" The criminal snarked before meeting her gaze. "Hey, Kuro! It's still me, right, hm?" He smiled, taking slow yet eager steps toward her. Shakily, Kuro rose to fight him, the quicklime already forming in her hand when the blonde inexplicably froze. They stood there, like two stone statues on display as their comrades fought. The white of quicklime and clay ready to entangle themselves in the same combat.
"What… are you waiting for, huh?" Kuro whispered in a deathly voice. She hid the grief well.
"Kuro…?" Deidara whispered, the smile peeling from his voice, leaving a mound of despair in its place.
"Deidara…?" She repeated, though not daring to lower her guard. Suddenly, her former comrade's body arched backwards as his hands flew upwards. "Are you-" The kunoichi began when he started yelling.
"Stop already, you damn-This isn't me! Stop! I can't! Stop!" Deidara fought, as if caught between two selves. Perhaps he was. Anyways, soon clarity fluttered into his blue eyes and he looked at her.
It happened in an instant.
"RUN!" Deidara screamed, lifting his hands high with a torn look on his face.
The light faded as the ceiling fell.
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Author's Note: I thought this chapter would be longer, but well fight scenes… are a thing. So, this chapter is titled 'Clarity' because it's basically clearing things up, Kuro is having a heart to heart with Onoki, Deidara, etc. On another note, the rest of the Akatsuki reflections aren't really going to be mentioned next chapter. My plan for them was to have Kisame's reflection kill them all because Kisame would agree with what his real self was doing. However, reflection Kisame would then be killed by either Ao/Akatsuki Kisame. But, I couldn't really figure out how to merge that reveal and explanation into this chapter.
Anyways, next up will be the epilogue. Which in turn will be up next week!