a/n: Howdy folks! I'm back again. This is the seventh chapter. Well, this should actually be still part of the previous chapter but I decided to separate it. Before I forget, I thank wikipedia for the information of Akatsuki and the others. I would like to remind that I do not own Naruto, the poem, and the like, but I do have the right of ownership on SOME of this story's plot and subplots. And yes, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT! Anyway, without further ado, I give you chapter seven.

I've set forth
And can't stop yet
Because of a promise to meet again
Looking for hope is like the many ships
That I have crossed a wide, endless ocean.
The color changes.
Towns, and crowds of people.
The smiling faces pass and go beyond
The soft lighting of the street lamps.
I want to feel again
The warmth of your cheeks through my fingertips.

Chapter Seven: Fair Share of Sadness

"To be able to make a human corpse, eh?"

His purple eyes made it tell that my idea played in his mind. He let out a few hmmm and sighs while he scratched his chin and his forehead. "I like your idea, Orochimaru," Was all he said. I was the one doing all the talking explaining to him my idea. I was so nervous that a few of my words stuttered, but he still liked my idea.

"Using the basic elements of the human body and combining them together using a set of hand seals, I might be able to create a human corpse. And attaching the soul, it would be easy using again a jutsu I made a few years back."

He nodded in approval. He told me not to use it yet on the person I wanted to revive. He told me to have patience because then was not the time.

I waited like what I was told to. For years, I kept silent. I was asked to keep quiet. I wasted my time in the laboratory testing and perfecting my plan. I amused myself listening to Sasori's sad past as well as his sweet moments. He sometimes wept and often told him my past and that I understand him. He would often tell me his dream after this thing we were doing was over.

He told me that his parents would live not far from him. He, his wife, and children would live in a bungalow adobe and sell puppets for children. His wife, Mizu, he often bragged to me, would be as beautiful, no matter how wrinkled and old she was, as she could ever be; the most beautiful woman in the world. He told me that they need not wear ninja suits but wear comfortable desert clothes. Yes, it might have been his perfect world.

But sometimes, he would tell me how he and his wife first met. He would describe to me her beauty. But, I think Hakucho is prettier, of course.

"We got teamed up once in a class A mission. And we were close ever since then. She was a beautiful woman with eyes blue as a clear sky. Her light brown hair would often dance while she was walking; just like the ocean waves. Mizu, her name fits her perfectly. She gave me a daughter as lovely as she was. And thankfully, the damned Kazekage didn't kill Ame…my daughter. The monster raised her like she was his daughter. I guess I'll never have a chance to hold her or hear her call me papa."

Years later, I found out what happened to Sasori's bloodline. But, I will never have a chance to tell him that, but even if I did have the chance I will never tell him. It would only break his heart. His daughter gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Both of them died tragically. But, I heard that the girl had a son, a little boy with eyes with the same expression as his great grandfather's. I saw that boy a few times during my stay in Sunagakure. He was often quiet much like his grandfather. Sasori would have been proud of him if he knew the truth.

Sometimes though, I end up telling him my life. He is one of the few people who knew my past. He would usually just give me a sad smile and reminded me what I was doing. And soon after many months of making the jutsu for the human corpse making, I successfully made one. I prepared the basic elements on the table, accurate to the microgram. I performed the seal I arrange to release the right amount of energy. I was worried that something might go wrong, but things went smoothly. A human corpse, in the likeness of the third kazekage, it was my first dummy. I asked Sasori to attach the kage's soul using a justu I made during my early research. Still, something went wrong.

And even though, the body did not disintegrate, the soul was not rigidly attached. We still had to use a talisman for a longer duration, nevertheless, the soul attachment was far from permanent to long lasting. I theorized that attaching a soul would require a lot of charka, much more than a human's charka capacity. I reported my findings to the leader. He was more than pleased hearing that the artificially made human was almost complete. He suggested an idea that would attach firmly attach a soul to the body.

"Demons," he said, "tailed demons. I have Five-tails. Care to give him a shot?"

We decided to test it on one of Akatsuki's dead spies. The leader chose one under Sasori, the previously dead, Kabuto Yakushi. Of course, he wasn't dead when he arrived at my lab. I would say he was on a critical condition. His body was nearly torn into shreds. Sasori did not care anymore what was to become of him. The nin from Suna said that I could do whatever he wanted with the boy. Before the silver-hair boy died, I asked Sasori to put the boy's soul into one of his puppets. I prepared again the necessary ingredients and made a corpse that resembled the young Akatsuki spy. I channeled the source of energy from me to Leader. It worked. It was a success. However, the power of Ichibi was half depleted. I thought that Leader would scold me but he was contented and his fondness for me grew even more.

He then gave each of us a task: to gather all biju. Those demons, they would be used to revive all what Akatsuki has lost. Leader also said that the tailed beast will also be used for the sanctification of the world. The sanctification of the world, you see, is what Leader has planned to end all wars. It is like getting rid of weeds, he told me. In order to totally remove all weeds, you do not just pull out the roots because there are still other weeds that grow. You have to destroy each weed on the face of the planet.

Searching for a tailed demon was what preoccupied almost five years of my life. Of course, I still spend half of my days in my lab perfecting my immortality technique. Around that time, Sasori and I drifted apart because we had our own ambitions, both somewhat the same however. He slowly transformed himself into a puppet, according to him, making him immortal. I, however, was a perfecting a technique that will fuse my soul and mind into a human body without the use of the Buji's powers. I was partly successful eventually. I was able to create a jutsu to fuse my soul into an already hosted body for a considerably long period of time. I was able to do it thanks to the boy I resurrected, Kabuto.

He was a bright boy around the age of thirteen when I met him. A genius, I have to say. He was an expert medic. He allowed me to take a glimpse on his past and he was forever debt for what I did to him. He was found by Sasori when he was just three and owed him a lot. He indirectly said that his loyalty and respect has shifted from Sasori to me. Kabuto acted as a spy in Konoha during those times. He was under the care of a medic in Konoha from which he learned his healing skills. He was ordered by Sasori to keep an eye for talented ninja. I never really realized it then but the boy wanted to be my follower. Perhaps one of the reasons why I did not notice it was because I was too frustrated about not being able to persuade a genius prodigy from Konoha, Kakashi Hatake.

Kakashi was the only son of Konoha's white fang, Sakumo Hatake. The great ninja was scorned by his fellow ninja after failing a mission. He was dishonored by his fellow ninjas eventually killing himself. That was fuel to start the fire of the orphaned boy, Kakashi. I failed to get the boy. He would have been the perfect right-hand man.

But, after overcoming my failure, I knew Kabuto was more than willing to help me. He assisted me in my every Body transferring technique.

Sasori did not accompany me anymore in my voyages so Leader told me to have Kabuto brought with me. It was during those voyages that I met a lot of people. These people became my subordinates who helped me in my conquests. A few of them are Jirobu, Kidomaru, Tayuya, Sakon and Ukon, Tayuya, and Kaguya Kimimaro. They were ninjas from different villages with exceptional abilities who seemed to have lost their way.

Although I did not bother to know their past, they looked up to me like a father especially Kimimaro.

Kimimaro, however, I knew a little of his family background. He came from the clan who can manipulate their bodies' skeletal frame. The Kaguya clan was wiped out when they attacked the Hidden Mist Village and were slaughtered. Kimimaro was the most powerful member of this clan, so he was locked away in a steel cage for most of his life, released only to fight other clans. He retreated from the fight with the Mist Village which is why he is the only survivor. He had an illness probably hereditary. It was the reason why he died when he tried to kill the demon vessel. It was tragic but I have to move on.

Soon after, I had a lot of followers; if that is what I can call it. I realized that I need to shelter them somewhere bigger than my lab. It was in one of my voyages that I found a small piece of land, a few hectares big. I called that place Otogakure.

Years ago, back when Hakucho was alive, we went on a class C mission to the Rice country to escort someone. And in our stay there, I heard the most beautiful song I have ever heard. Hakucho sang that song beautiful while she plucked the shamisen. And she even taught me that song.

"It took one look
And forever laid out in front of me
One smile and I died
Only to be revived by you
There I was
Thought I had everything figured out
Goes to show just how much I know
'bout the way life plays out...
I take one step away
But I find myself coming back to you
My one and only, one and only you"

Funny it may sound, but when I arrived at the place a few years after, I heard the wind hum the same sound. And on windy nights, when I go outside my quarters, I hear the wind hum the tune as if Hakucho herself was singing that song. The Hidden Village of the Sound; that name fits this place perfectly.

While I busy establishing my village, the Hidden Village of the Leaf had lost one of its greatest assets. Almost the entire Uchiha clan was massacred leaving on two survivors; the two brothers namely Itachi and Sasuke. The older one was said to have slain the entire clan keeping his younger brother alive for unexplainable reasons. The elder was a prodigy unlike the younger who got his standing in class from sheer hard work. Itachi was already somber person when I met him. Knowing his past made his outlook reasonable.

As I had witness earlier in my life, the Uchiha clan tries to maintain the bloodline pure through marriage among its clan members especially the main branch. The family arranges marriages within itself giving the children no chance to choose their partner. It was a sad fate experience by clan head. Itachi, he told me his story, was not willing to accept such fate prepared for him by his parents. He was human; he had a heart. He was a teenager with a lot of acquaintances in the village. And it was no surprise that he became interested to a talented ninja around his age. Though the Uchiha never told me anything about this woman, he told me what happened to his girl.

"I came home from a mission." Itachi told me. "And it so happened that my best friend had just returned after successfully completing a mission. He gave me the bad news. She…she died in that mission or so that was what he wanted me to believe."

As you may know, when the Uchiha clan was alive, they mostly dominated the council of Konoha. They made important decisions and usually decide which ninjas to send on a particular mission. They most send out their own to increase family income. And as I have known from Itachi, the mission the girl was sent was assigned by an Uchiha, specifically his father. Itachi thought that it was just a tragic incident and did some digging. He found out later, and so did Kabuto while he was staying in Konoha, that the mission was to keep the blood of the next generation of the Uchiha pure. In other words, the mission was to eliminate her.

Itachi was shocked after knowing the truth behind it. He lost his own self and sought one thing: revenge. He killed the man that killed the one he loved and he also killed the clan that hid the truth from him.

"That clan was selfish." He sighed instead of cry or laugh with hatred. "All they cared about was being powerful. They didn't care about others. My blood that rushes to my veins sickens me; this clan is a disgrace to Konohagakure."

"You what did you gain after all this?" I asked because I had nothing else to say because his story is somewhat similar to mine.

"The Mangenkyo Sharingan." He sighed. "but it is not enough to bring her back to life."

He smiled and he never talked to me ever again.

I have seen a lot in this world; some to be rejoiced about while most to be sympathized with. Each of us has his own experiences, both happy and sad. Sometimes, it feels you cannot move on no matter hopeful the future may seem. The world we are moving in is a mixture of happiness, despair, anger, hopefulness, hopelessness, and dreams. We should arm our hearts and strengthen our minds.

We must placidly amid the noise and haste. We must remember what peace there may be in silence. Let us speak truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive people; they are vexations to the spirit. If we compare ourselves with others, we may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than ourselves. We should enjoy our achievements as well as our plans. We must keep interested in our own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. The world is full of trickery.

We need to be ourselves. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. We should nurture strength of spirit to shield us in sudden misfortune. But we do not distress ourselves with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, we should be gentle with ourselves.

I am are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; I have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to me, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Whatever my labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with my soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

We must strive to be happy. Remember, nothing is perfect. The world isn't perfect, but it is there for us just trying the best it can. And that is what makes it so damned beautiful.

a/n: okay, I did not expect this chapter to come out this way. But technically, I think it's a bit okay. I wanted to expand the part more on Kabuto, the sound four and Itachi, but I figured not to. And besides, I am planning to right a bibliography fic on Itachi. Anyways, I hope you guys and enjoy this chapter…See you! Got to go! Don't forget to review!