I would like to take a quick moment to thank every single one of you guys. When I started writing this story, I didn't really know how people would receive it. And I'm absolutely floored by all of the positive attention this has gotten. I'm very grateful to everyone that has read this story- and I am eternally grateful for all of you that have taken the time out of your day to favorite, follow, and even review. It means the world to me to know that so many people are enjoying what I write.
I just hope I am able to continue delivering good chapters for all of you because, at this point, y'all deserve only the best.
Please enjoy this newest chapter!
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When he began to wake up, it was to the completely familiar fog of a mind put under by some kind of poisonous concoction.
Sasori was a big fan of creating knocking out substances that were capable of helping the Akatsuki bring in bounties that were still breathing. He had been the unwilling test rat in many of those experiments- the bastard either dosed him when he least expected it or handed the substance over to Kakuzu for him to administrate it. More than half of the time, he was fucking killed by the bastard's creation. A quarter of the time Hidan suffered some kind of horrible change in his body that required weeks for his system to properly resolve. A small amount of times nothing had happened to him. He'd only been successful at creating something harmless yet effective a handful of times.
Sasori was good at killing, after all. He was shit, though, at making something harmless. And, in Hidan's humble opinion, he was also a shit scientist. Orochimaru, though, was a rather good scientist. And Hidan was sure that the snake was the only reason why Sasori had managed to finally acquire some kind of success. Without his intervention, Hidan was sure the Sasori bastard would have happily continued creating killer poisons that only served to kill him in the most horrible way.
He appreciated such deaths, of course, because they brought him one step closer to his god; even though having Sasori feel such agony would have been a much more appropriate experience...
Religious validity aside, being poked and prodded in so many different kinds of experiments had aided Hidan in one pivotal point that allowed him to wake up at this moment in time after he had been doused with some kind of powerful toxin by one of the Konoha ninja sent out to apprehend him: he was somewhat resistant to whatever he had been attacked with.
Drowsiness was still clinging heavily over him in that uncomfortable way he had been familiarized to because of all the times the puppet fucker had violated his fucking basic human rights. The fog over his brain begged him to go back to the enticing arms of sleep, but his reasoning was slowly pulling him back to the land of consciousness.
His body, heavy as lead, was being pulled along by two different people. His feet dragged against the ground, leaving the slightest trail in their wake. And his chin was resting sharply against his collarbone- goddamn, the back of his neck was going to be hurting for a week after this bullshit.
Couldn't these assholes at least drag him around by his fucking feet? His neck was real sensitive after all the times the Kakuzu bastard cut off his neck! It would have been much better for him to be dragged around by his fucking ankles- his head was accustomed to the abuse and his neck wouldn't be so fucking stiff.
Even as his brain supplied him with queues of shit he wasn't enjoying, his body continued under the heavy influence of the compound that had been forced into his system. That was a pretty good thing, actually, and he was pretty grateful Lord Jashin had shown him this gracious moment. With his body still incapacitated, he seemed to be absolutely unconscious. But he was awake and capable of listening to the conversation going on around him. And he'd be able to decipher the words soon enough.
With his eyes closed, Hidan was able to envision some of the faces of the Konoha ninja that had been sent to capture him. Their appearance was mostly fuzzy, considering how the knock-out... thing was still working its way through his system. But he could remember some specifics and that made their appearance not as drunken as they could have been.
There had been a woman with pale eyes and she had been the one to dose him with the knock out thing... A spray? Possibly some kind of liquid on a rag? He couldn't remember properly- what he could remember was the feeling of something uncomfortable meeting with his nose and then a sort of burning down his lungs... he fucking hated that puppet fucker.
He only prayed Lord Jashin allowed him to live past that fake immortal so he could piss on his grave.
Slowly, he reconstructed the face of the shinobi that had actively intrigued him. From the beginning of the confrontation, he had struck out in Hidan's mind... why? It must have been because of how he looked. That was usually the first thing Hidan focused on... Right. The guy had been huge and a face so beat up not even his mother would find it easy to call him any kind of attractive.
Lord Jashin could enter his heart.
That's why this ninja had called out to him in the first place. He seemed like the kind of shinobi that had gotten screwed over countless times in his career. He had seemed like the kind of guy Hidan should try and convert to begin learning about the one true god.
That jutsu.
Hidan's memory was trying to make him aware of something. But he couldn't quite put his finger on what, exactly, it was trying to remind him of. What jutsu?
As his brain worked on trying to reconstruct the past battle, the ninja around him were absolutely unaware of his rousing consciousness. Good- that meant that he was doing a good job of not doing anything with any part of his body.
There were soft mumbles all around him. After a few minutes of not being able to understand anything that was being said around him because his brain was not processing the words his ears were catching properly, Hidan was finally able to begin piecing together the sounds around him. And from what he heard, he knew that they were clearly talking about him, even if he hadn't heard his name mentioned.
"-immortal? Sounds like an exaggerated reputation." that voice sounded female... could it have been the pale eyed woman that had hit him with the knock out compound? "At most he's just an idiot with naturally healing chakra and an impressive access to poisons- must be resistance."
"Well, you've seen his chakra's structure, Madoka. You would know better than most if his chakra truly is that odd." this voice was deep and grunted- kind of like Kakuzu, who was an avid hater of conversations.
There was a beat of silence that allowed Hidan's mind to click the voice with a face- the man that had the interesting jutsu he couldn't properly remember. Then he heard the slightest grunt beside him.
"Bastard's heavy." another male voice was the one to speak up now and Hidan's brain reminded him of the fact that there had been more than two shinobi. "But he's still breathing- you sure that dose you gave him was enough to kill him?"
He heard a haughty scoff that sounded as if it may have come from the kunoichi, "Maybe he built up a tolerance to this kind of toxin. It is a common enough fish in Kiri; and there's a similar species by a town near Yugakure."
How many ninja had been sent to apprehend him?
And now that he was thinking about that- why in the world had he not been killed? Why was he getting carried back to Konohagakure instead of getting decapitated in the middle of the battlefield? People tended to go for the kill-shot when it came to him because all of them were truly incapable of understanding that he wasn't capable of dying.
Right... Hidan's brain was becoming much more awake with every second that passed by. Kakuzu was supposed to have informed Konoha about him being actually being incapable of dying to prove he was being genuine in the extension of an alliance. And he was supposed to eventually help him break out of whatever prison the Leaf idiots stashed him in.
Oh! The jutsu that had called to him had been one with an iron maiden!
… At least, Hidan thought that was the reason why he had been so focused on the guy during what he could now remember being a pretty run of the mill chase- no, that's a lie. It had been a run of the mill kind of deal until the scarred man had brought out that jutsu to stop Hidan from utilizing his curse on one of the male ninja that had gotten too close to him... if only he had been a few seconds late, Hidan would have been able to finalize his jutsu and Konoha would have been, successfully, one ninja down.
But that big guy was incredibly quick for someone his size...
A rather large rock knocked into his left foot, eliciting an audible thump from his limp body. He barely felt the impact, luckily, and his body didn't respond to the kind of stimuli that would usually make him shout at whoever was stupid enough to not know how to efficiently carry an unconscious body.
"We're not far from the village. You two take a break- Madoka and I can carry him the rest of the way."
His feet stopped dragging as the people that had been pulling him along actually listened to the big guy and ceased their walking.
"Cute." he heard the female murmur, "Ibiki, you're going to end up lugging him around by yourself. There's no need to try and spare my feelings- I am well aware that you are a giant and I am not."
The iron maiden jutsu... there was something about it that had caught Hidan's attention... but he couldn't remember what, exactly.
Damn. Whatever he had been hit with, it certainly had fucked with his mind in a way not even Sasori's torture instruments had managed.
The children were called back into the room and Kakuzu informed them of the address he would now be living in. Three of them were immediately energized at the prospect of going to visit the Old Man they had kept hidden since they were six years old... all the while Kiba did his best to make sure that his friends couldn't figure out that he had been crying only a few minutes ago.
Shikaku had thought he had a complete understanding of who Kakuzu was as a person. As soon as the Hokage had informed him of the newest ally to reach Konoha with alarming information about the dangers planned for their Village, the Nara had begun to search up for any and all information they held about Kakuzu from Takigakure. It wasn't much, but it certainly painted a picture of a clear-cut old-school shinobi; a cold-blooded assassin with little scruples and absolutely no ties to the world.
He didn't have a complete gauge of how many times Konoha ninja had run into this man because he had not been able to look over the classified files; he would need the Hokage's permission to check over the ANBU reports. But from the documents he had been able to read, he knew that man was older than all active ninja within Konohagakure. He could possibly be closer to their Hokage in age than any other ninja. And he was still active.
One of his clansmen had written a report on this man more than thirty years ago- well before he had even been born- and that report had chilled Shikaku to his very core. "The squad would have been massacred. We only survived because Yome Tsutsu had enough riches to barter for all of our lives. The shinobi identifying himself as Kakuzu is an S-Ranked danger- Konoha must eliminate him."
He had agreed to oversee the first meeting between the children and their mysterious benefactor because he knew that his jutsu would be enough to restrain the man if he so much as looked at the kids the wrong way. With the ANBU operatives the Hokage had dispatched, Shikaku was confident that they would be able to take him down- even if it cost a few lives. There was no way that he could allow anyone other than the Jounin Leader of Konohagakure to oversee such a dangerous criminal.
Because, at the end of the day, that's all this Kakuzu was. He had defected from his home and become a mercenary- breaking laws and trampling lives all in the name of sating his own selfish desires.
But as soon as Shikaku had begun to see how he interacted with the four kids... the clear-cut image of who Kakuzu was began to smudge. The way he had cut Sakura's hair; all the while seemingly explaining to her how unnecessary looks were in her life; had seemed like a man that was at his wit's end with the kid's long hair. He seemed absolutely genuine in his interest in the children's education. And when he had risked his deal with Konoha just to keep his words to Kiba from being heard by Shikaku...
These were not actions of a purely selfish man.
Shikaku frowned ever so slightly as a small voice in the back of his head reminded him of a completely plausible second explanation: these could be the actions of a perfect actor.
Kakuzu was older than him. That age meant he had much more experience than he. The fact that he was a shinobi that had been singled out as dangerous enough to need to be eliminated by one of his clan members... It was highly likely this man knew exactly what to say and how to say it to make people believe he was being honest.
Although Tomoe had cleared him... and the Inuzuka in of the ANBU surrounding them had not once signaled to him that Kakuzu had said anything akin to even a half-truth.
"Alright. Head back to the Akimichi home; all of you." Shikaku cut into the excited chatter of the children, earning a groan from the green haired girl that really should have been wearing her disguise right now. Even though they were supposed to be in a secure location, she needed to form the habit of never getting caught in her true identity.
"You heard the Nara." Kakuzu grunted at them, "March." he instructed in a voice that left room for no argument and, within a few minutes, the children had cleared out and left them alone within the room.
Shikaku took a moment to analyze his adversary. The behemoth of a man was still kneeling on the ground- he hadn't gotten up after his conversation with Kiba. His arms were crossed over his chest and his eyes were closed. If Shikaku didn't know any better, he would assume that the man was relaxing right now. But from the tightness of what little skin he could see of his face, the Nara knew that Kakuzu was on edge.
He cleared his throat before he spoke, letting the Taki native know that he was about to speak.
"The silence jutsu you used with Kiba- explain it."
Part of the agreement with the Hokage was that Kakuzu needed to allow Konoha to know about what he was teaching these children. Unless absolutely necessary, there would be no threat of any Konoha-agents stepping in and stopping his lessons. In part, this had been agreed on because these kids had thrived while they had learned from this missing-nin.
Kakuzu sighed heavily and Shikaku could see his shoulders tense up for a moment, "The Inuzuka are self-sacrificing idiots."
Accurate, Shikaku could concede. But that didn't answer his question. After a few seconds of heavy silence, the other man continued. "He's proud- that kid. And he's put a lot of weight on his shoulders. He was drowning in self-imposed responsibilities he's too young and weak to realistically handle."
It was a well-known fact around Konohagakure that the Inuzuka clan was filled with unnecessary and sometimes damning pride. And it was also very well-known that their members didn't admit to weakness. They only forced themselves to become stronger so they would never have to admit such a thing out loud.
Shikaku closed his eyes.
They all knew that Kiba had been bottling too many things up and dealing with them in an ineffective manner. But no one had dared speak-up and offer a plausible solution. Non-Inuzuka didn't know how to deal with Inuzuka that were weak but couldn't voice out such a reality. And all an older member of the Inuzuka clan would say would be "make the runt get stronger. Easy."
"You heard what you could hear. Anything else stays with Inuzuka and I."
So Kakuzu was telling him that he had just jeopardized his permanence as a free man within Konoha's walls... and all to try and help Kiba deal with the emotional problems no one else was willing to address?
Shikaku breathed in and nodded, "Let's go back to the Hokage."
He hated when he didn't have all of the information necessary to pass judgement. And, right now, he was hoping that the information he had on Kakuzu wasn't enough to pass an accurate judgement... not just for the sake of the Village. But for the sake of those kids that had been condemned to caring about a monster.
He didn't understand the girl's fascination with forcing Naruto into being her friend. But the Old Man had told him that he should allow his grandniece to make her own decisions and fall into her own mistakes- he couldn't protect her from her own decisions and that was a fact he needed to learn early on in life.
Kuzu... Kiba looked down at the ground as he remembered how warm and protective the man's large hand had felt on top of his head... he wasn't a bad guy. And he cared.
Kiba couldn't remember the last time an adult cared enough to try and understand him.
"You should totally come over to my house today! Chouji's the best cook in all the world- no kidding." Fū's loud invitation forced Kiba away from his reverie and he looked over at the girl and the blonde boy she was currently talking to.
Snack-time in the Academy was usually spent with all four of them huddled together and ignoring the outside the world- which was exactly the way Kiba liked it. But right now Chouji was having a seemingly pleasant conversation with Shikamaru and Ino by their desks, all the while Fū was seated right on top of Naruto's desk, with the blonde looking up at her with wide eyes that were much too hopeful for Kiba's liking.
Sakura was sitting beside him, currently reading up on a host of genjutsu that he knew were pretty advanced for their age. Akamaru was reading the book, seated to the right side of her desk.
"Your pack needs to grow as individuals. You've taught them what you can. Let them learn by themselves now."
Kuzu was treating him with a bit more care than Kiba thought he was capable of. His words were not growled or stunted any longer. And, at this point, he was giving a lot more explanations behind his decisions than he ever had before they had been ambushed in their tree house. Kiba guessed that it had something to do with showing him that he trusted him, even though he was still as much a child as the rest of their pack.
"D'you think your guard dog will even let me go?" Naruto's voice was low for him, but Kiba barely had to use any chakra in his ears to hear him. His default talking volume was loud and the doofus barely understood the need for an inside voice. "We don't really get along all that well."
He, of course, didn't like the idea of having Fox-Idiot anywhere near him. The bad blood between them was still very much alive and there was little Fū could do to salvage years of animosity. And for all he cared, Narutard could go die in a ditch somewhere.
But Kuzu was trying to get him to understand that he couldn't hold his pack's hands at all times- he couldn't protect them at all times. It was a thought that sucked, but no matter how strong he became, he couldn't realistically be around to keep them safe at all times. They needed to learn how to fend for themselves with or without him.
The thought sucked. And he didn't like it.
But he knew the Old Man was right... he was right about a lot of things, really.
The girl with the silver hair glanced up and away from the blonde boy beside her, turning her gaze onto Kiba. The Inuzuka sent a stiff nod in her direction, even though he did nothing to wipe away the displeased look on his face. Her smile absolutely lit up.
"You're my friend now! You don't have to worry about Kiba!"
He growled ever so softly beneath his breath as Naruto sent a distrusting glare in his direction. But he soon looked away and towards Sakura, who breathed in deeply and pulled away from her book for a second.
"I'm in the mood for ramen today. Think we can hit Ichiraku's for dinner? The meat lover's is calling to me." she asked, only for Akamaru to jump onto her book as he began to bark at them both.
Kiba smirked softly as Sakura chided the pup for stepping on her precious pages.
It wasn't going to be easy. But he needed to acknowledge that there was a limit to what he could do for his pack.
Ino took a moment to pause and admire Sasuke from a distance before she finished her story on the sensory training her father had subjected her to during the break. While they waited for Ino to regain her sanity, Chouji and Shikamaru finished the homework that had been assigned during the first two periods of class.
"I really don't like doing homework..." Shikamaru groaned as he finished up with his paper, earning a small smile from the Akimichi as an answer.
Even though he didn't like doing homework, he still worked on it whenever Chouji told him it would be a good idea to actually do it. If Chouji wasn't around to convince him to work, he never got around to completing the simple work. But as long as the Akimichi reminded him and worked along with him, he would follow through with it.
It was very silly, really, in Chouji's mind. Shikamaru was a genius. He barely had to contemplate on his answers to get the correct one. And yet he was so lazy he would rather doze than finish something that barely ever took him longer than five minutes.
"Math is one of your greatest subjects, Shikamaru. I don't understand why you always make such a fuss when you have to work on it."
Shikamaru groaned dramatically and slouched in his chair enough so that his back was almost touching the seat and his face was looking up straight at the ceiling. "Because it's all just busywork I don't need. I already understand everything- I don't have to practice to get any better at it."
Shaking his head, Chouji smiled, "If you just did the work, you'd be a top student like Sakura. You shouldn't be content with just coasting in the middle."
Shikamaru raised his right hand and waved his words off, "I don't need to prove myself with grades. As long as I graduate the Academy, I don't really have to worry about rankings or anything. Remember, my plans are-"
"To marry an unassuming woman, have two kids, and live as lazily as the world allows." Chouji finished reciting for him, earning an annoyed grunt from his best friend. "Your plans are solid, Shika. But to accomplish them you don't have to be mediocre."
"But I have to be." with this, Shikamaru pushed himself up in his chair and looked Chouji in the eyes with a look of absolute conviction. "If I overperform, people'll know what I'm capable of. And if they know what I'm capable of, I'll have to live up to their expectations. And, trust me, what I'm capable of will land me in a place of power like my dad- which is something I don't want."
"Shika..."
The Nara frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, closing his eyes and returning to his slouch with a huff of, "Life can get really complicated when you try."
His point of view was so different from his pack's... every single one of them was now upping their training regimen so they could become stronger. Sakura was reading up on genjutsu; they were all going to be running drills to implement stronger teamwork with the newer additions of their pack; and even he was becoming much more serious with medical jutsu.
Their plans right now, at this point in their lives... were the complete opposite of each other.
"So, anyway, it took me a few tries, but eventually I was able to feel something weird in the ground. And when I dug it out, I found out that my dad had buried my favorite set of kunai! Can you believe he did that? I had been looking for those for forever and he didn't tell me he had stolen them!" Ino returned to her story with full force, not skipping a beat as she continued exactly where she had left off.
Chouji chuckled awkwardly as Ino huffed in pure irritation at what her father had done; all the while Shikamaru groaned softly and told her that, yeah, he could believe her dad did that, he was a weirdo.
His hand slowed in what it was writing as Chouji began to think of Shikamaru's last words to him.
Even Ino, with all of her civilian-like preoccupations, was starting to get serious about her own training to become a kunoichi. Sensor training didn't sound easy and she was taking a lot of joy in it. This was the first time; aside from learning how to use ranged weapons; that Ino had shown actual enthusiasm for learning a ninja art.
Shikamaru... he was starting to worry Chouji.
Sakura's mother had almost grounded her when she saw what Kuzu had done to her hair. She had been lucky that her father had managed to talk her down from such a thing- even though he had admitted he too was disappointed she had gone through with such a radical change without first consulting either of them.
Honestly, she hadn't understood why they had been so dramatic about the whole situation. Her long hair had been a bother to her for a while now and the Old Man had made it very clear that she was not going to be the kind of ninja that needed to worry about her physical appearance. She wasn't going to be a manipulation expert, after all. So she didn't need to seem presentable to any degree.
After having to sit through a full scolding from her parents over how impulsive and inconsiderate she had been to cut her hair in such a crude manner, she was subjected to her mother taking scissors to her hair in an 'attempt to salvage' what was left. Because her mother was not a fan of the asymmetrical look of long bangs with short hair, Sakura was forced to cut most of them as well.
So now she was in school with hair as short as Kiba's- which, now that she thought about it, was getting pretty long for what he tended to like. She had an unruly row of bangs above her forehead reaching to just above her eyebrows. And she loved the way her hair now looked. Her mother hated it and had wanted her to try and straighten it before she went to school, but Sakura had messed it up as soon as she was far enough away from her home to not get caught.
After years of having to keep a ponytail in check because of hair that was much too long for her, Sakura felt free. And she knew it was silly to be so caught up on her looks after Kuzu told her specifically that she didn't need to care about them... but she was really happy with her now short hair.
Along with her hair, something big had changed because of Kuzu's talk with her on the day prior. But this was a change that was very important- much more important than some silly hair issues. Her specialization as a ninja had been the main thing Kuzu had talked to her about yesterday... and she was thinking that maybe; just maybe; she was willing to go along with his insane plan.
Not many genjutsu specialists were known to pack an actual physical punch, after all.
Besides, with the way Chouji and Kiba were training, there was some need for their pack to have a long-ranged specialist. And she had the analytical mind to be able to fulfill such a role- or, at least, that's what Kuzu had informed her after he had told her that genjutsu was oftentimes sidelined as a weakling's specialization.
So she would be a long-range support for Kiba's fast and harsh taijutsu. And if ever there came a dire moment that required her to step forward and fight in close up combat, she would need to make sure she left no witnesses...
Sakura gulped at the idea.
Kuzu had been blunt and absolutely honest when he had told her this. From now on, she needed to drop the public interest in taijutsu. For his plan to work, she needed to fool the whole world into believing she was a weak kunoichi that couldn't throw a punch to save her life. And the moment she showed her true colors was the moment she would need to kill to make sure her cover survived.
"Hey, what's that book about?"
Sakura had no idea when Ino had walked up to stand behind her. She had been too busy thinking over the Old Man's cold voice as he informed her that death was a natural part of shinobi life... and it would be part of their lives once they graduated. Akamaru wasn't with her at the moment- poisons were not as interesting to him as genjutsu- so he hadn't been around to warn her that someone was sneaking up on her.
If the Old Man could see her now... Sakura just knew she'd get an earful for having allowed anyone to sneak up on her.
The pink haired girl blinked as she tried to regain her bearings, then turned her face to the side to look at Ino clearly. The blonde was leaning over the bench she was sitting on, bright blue eyes focused wholly on the book in Sakura's hands.
The diagram she was currently on was explaining how a rather beautiful plant, the deadly nightshade, could kill a human in a rather small dose. In simple civilian murders, it was administered by the mouth because the berry was what was toxic. But for a ninja like her, she could make a liquid out of the berries and dip her weapons in it- a kunai or senbon coated in that poison that entered deep enough into the blood stream was enough to kill someone in an instant.
The picture of the plant was absolutely beautiful and Sakura could understand how some people would pick its berries and think they were perfectly safe to consume.
"Deadly nightshade? Why're you reading about flowers?" Ino pressed, sitting beside Sakura without really waiting for an answer. "Y'know, we've got some of those over at my house. If you want, you guys could come over one day to check it out."
Sakura's distrust radar began to ping at that.
With her eyes narrowed, she asked Ino, "Why're you being so friendly? You don't like Kiba and you only tolerate me."
Ino frowned back at her, "Geez, when did you get so blunt?" she soon rolled her eyes, shook her head, and sighed. "I really like flowers, okay? And most people think it's because they're pretty and if you're interested in poisonous plants, us Yamanaka are the first you should come to." after this, she added in a mumble, "And if I want to hang out with Chouji, I have to clear it with you guys so I may as well kill two birds with one stone and just invite you along..."
Sakura blinked, taken aback by the blatant honesty with which Ino answered her question...
And then she smiled softly.
For years now, Shikamaru and Ino had danced around her and Kiba for Chouji's sake. They had only truly hung out with each other because their Akimichi friend was important to all of them. But they hadn't really managed to get along on anything because they were much too different.
But Ino was extending a sort of olive branch at the moment. Her family was renown for the flower shop they tended and her clan was well known for their deadly efficiency. And Sakura was no idiot; the best source of information truly was an expert in the field. Ino knew more about poisonous flowers than her; and she had access to them in real life.
She would have to be a fool to pass on an opportunity to observe a deadly nightshade from close-up.
"Is Friday afternoon good for you?"
Fū was flying high after school.
"And then you should totally come with me to the training grounds on Saturday! I can teach you how to use your chakra to stick a leaf to your body!" she informed Naruto as he followed her back to her house.
"Can't on Saturday." she heard Kiba call from behind them and she turned around, walking backwards, so she could get a good look at him.
Chouji, Sakura, and Kiba were all trudging behind them because they were slow and she was eager to show Naruto her home. Ibiki had allowed them to come over just about every single day of the week and he had never said she couldn't invite her friends over, so she knew that he would have no issue if Naruto came along with them this afternoon.
"Why?" she asked, earning a deep frown from the Inuzuka before he sighed and Sakura answered for him.
"We're already doing something important, Fumiko. Remember what your uncle said?"
What uncle?
She didn't have an un-Oh!
Fū winced slightly at her own forgetfulness, then nodded over at her pack before turning back to her newest friend. Naruto was glancing back at their interaction with confusion clear in his blue eyes.
"Okay, so Saturday's a no-go because I've got something to do. But are you free on Sunday?"
Naruto pursed his lips for a moment as he kept his gaze on Kiba, but soon looked at her and smiled broadly. "Yup! But why teach me how to stick a leaf on my body if we can jump straight into water walking?"
The idea was amazing!
Gasping at how great it was, Fū jumped so she was facing the direction she had been walking, then grabbed a hold of Naruto's left shoulder to shake him a little. "You're so right! I know a good place with a river! We can go there!"
"No you can't."
Okay, Kiba was starting to get on her nerves with all of the no's he kept giving her.
"But the river's perfect! And Naruto's got a point! We should totally go straight into water walking- we're all smart and stuff!"
This time, it was Chouji to explain Kiba's rejection.
"You don't know how to get to safely get to that river, Fumiko." the Akimichi quickened his pace so he could walk directly beside her and Naruto, offering them both an apologetic smile. "The Forest of Death has that name for a reason. Would you mind if I joined you guys? My clan has a pool we sometimes use for physical therapy- maybe we can be allowed to go there for a bit of practicing."
A pool? In a clan compound?
Amazing.
"That'd be real cool, Pork Chop!" she smiled at him, turning to Naruto to egg him on. "We're gonna visit the Akimichi's on Sunday then, Naruto."
"Cool!"
Her body was buzzing with happiness and she couldn't contain it for much longer- once she noticed that they were only a few minutes away from her home, she called for Naruto to follow her and broke out into a full sprint. Naruto shouted out at her that she couldn't start a race out of nowhere, but she merely called him a slowpoke and teased him into catching up.
These days were the best days of her life! She had a family and now, with Naruto, she was going to make even more friends.
She even had her eyes set on her next friend- Shino Aburame liked bugs. And she loved bugs. He'd probably be a really good friend to have too! She just needed to convince Naruto that bugs were great and then they would all be united by their love of insects and creepy-crawlies!
"Is this the murderer you told us would be attacking the town of Midori no Mori?"
Kakuzu grunted as he looked through the one-sided glass that was separating him and his old Akatsuki partner.
The bastard was a sight to see.
"That's Hidan." he nodded stiffly, "What'd you drug him with?"
Even after all the times he had aided Sasori in poisoning the idiot to test out his newest torture devices, Hidan hadn't looked this dazed.
Hidan's hair wasn't gelled back as he liked it to be- now it stuck up in gravity defying directions with a few strands stuck onto his face. His eyes were completely closed and his head hung heavy against his chest. And his body hung heavily from the chains that were holding it up-
"Fugu." the scarred interrogator admitted and Kakuzu balked somewhat at such a thing, "One of the ninja sent to apprehend him wanted to test out your claim of immortality."
Of course they would doubt his words. An immortal ninja? Who would actually be able to believe such a thing?
Kakuzu sighed softly, but gained some comfort from having an understanding as to why Hidan was looking so bad. Human-made poisons were one thing the immortal was able to work out pretty well from his system. But the kind that came straight from nature had always given him more trouble to metabolize. And the poison he had been hit by was known for attacking the muscles while leaving the mind alive.
Hidan must have died at some point as the Konoha ninja brought him back. And he looked like shit because his body was still struggling with the effects of the poison- even now, more than a full day after Kakuzu had told Konoha about his existence.
Well... this certainly complicated their plans.
If this poisoning was anything similar to one Kakuzu had witnessed Hidan suffer through a few months back, his body wouldn't be in any state to travel for at least another week. That one had been from a snake-bite because the bounty they had been attempting to cash-in on was a fanatic of venomous animals. And it had been absolutely annoying to deal with the incapacitated idiot for the next few days.
Kakuzu frowned as he was able to see the barest movement in Hidan's chest- at least he was breathing, no matter how shallow it was.
How were they supposed to get word to the Akatsuki if this dumbass couldn't even escape the T&I department he would be held in.
"I'd appreciate it if you stayed here during the interrogation process. You would know better than any of us when he's lying."
Ibiki Morino- this was the man that had 'adopted' his grandniece. She had told him that he was a good man and he cared a lot about her. But right now all Kakuzu could see was the cold façade of a natural-born interrogator in the environment he was most comfortable within- preparing himself for the torture.
As cruel of a man as he may have been... as horrible of a person as he may have become... he could admit that he had never become monstrous enough to ever relish in torture. He had taken part in it many times before, of course, because he was a ninja that got the job done. But he had never been a big fan of the brutal tactics many Hidden Villages employed to get the answers they wanted to hear.
Torture didn't get people the answers they needed. Just the ones they wanted.
"He won't be able to tell you anything until that poison's left his body." he informed the interrogator, "His muscles are shot."
Ibiki was silent for a few seconds.
Then he sighed, "I'll get an escort for you."
Fucking insufferable poisonous bitch!
Hidan wanted to scream and lash out at the bitch that had hit him with the toxin that had knocked him out. But he couldn't and that pissed him off even more.
He had been wrong. He had thought that he was resistant to whatever he had been hit by- and because of that, he had assumed he had been able to wake up in the middle of the trek to Konoha. But he had been overconfident in thinking that the Konoha idiots would hit him with something basic.
Whatever he had gotten hit by had belonged to some kind of animal.
And he couldn't stand the fact that he was trapped in his own body for the next fucking week because some pussy-ass animal's blood had been injected into his fucking body.
He wanted to growl and spit. He wanted to let Kakuzu know that his stupid plan had fucking failed and they would need to scrap it now that both of them were incapable of communicating with the Akatsuki. And he would have been very happy if he was allowed to spit at the bastard's face because this never would have happened if not for his own fucking overconfidence.
Konoha is docile, the greedy asshole had said; they're proud and overconfident. This will all work out in our favor.
Well it wasn't working out for him!
Hidan wanted to stab someone a hundred different times, but in a shallow manner, to really make their conjoined suffering fucking last.
But now he was stuck in his own mind... and how he hated not being able to do anything.
The worst part was that he could feel his body; even if he couldn't make it do anything.
He wanted to at least be able to huff in frustration, but his paralyzed sack of skin and bones wasn't even capable of performing the simple action.
Although...
Hidan could concede to one thing.
Being stuck in his own body for now wasn't the worst thing to happen to him. No, that had been one of Sasori's shitty concoctions he never wanted to hear of again.
Now he was able to truly look into his mind and memory of his religion... and maybe, in the next few days, he would be able to remember why it was that the iron maiden jutsu used on him had struck a Jashinist chord within him.
Stupid fucking bitch...
Forget Kakuzu's plan. As soon as his body was capable of moving, before he did anything to help the gluttonous asshole and his shitty band of brats, he was going to murder the bitch that had paralyzed his body.
~..~..~
There will be no time skip in the foreseeable future. There're a lot of important things still happening at this point so, even though the kids are only ten, we're going to stay in this time period for a bit longer.
Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter! Please tell me what you thought of this chapter!
