Whenever the Akatsuki left the base on a mission, they did so in pairs. Sasori was partnered with Orochimaru. Orochimaru was a jutsu specialist, whose goal was to attain immortality and then to learn all the jutsus in existence. He also worked on developing new jutsus for the Akatsuki to use, an endeavor with which Sasori helped him. Together, they developed a technique that allowed an Akatsuki member to "possess" a subordinate, giving that subordinate the member's appearance and the ability to use most of their jutsus. A possessed minion could be remotely controlled by the Akatsuki member, allowing them to combat enemies from a safe distance.
Sasori and Orochimaru also developed a hypnotic genjutsu that allowed one of them to mentally control a subordinate without that person's knowledge. Such a person would be the perfect spy, and Sasori and Orochimaru sent several to each of the five great shinobi countries.
The Akatsuki had numerous underlings, many of whom were mind-controlled by Sasori using this jutsu. An even greater number served the Akatsuki willingly, out of a desire for money and power. There were also three young shinobi whose path to the Akatsuki was more interesting. In many parts of the world, individuals with advanced bloodlines were feared and hated. Some clans would go so far as to exile or kill a child who showed signs of an advanced bloodline. Occasionally, one of the Akatsuki members stumbled across such a child who had been cast out by his or her family. In three instances, the Akatsuki took these children in, recognizing that their powerful abilities would be a great asset to the organization—as would their unquestioning loyalty towards the people who had saved them. Sawada Tobi was found in this manner by Zetsu, Kataoka Akisane by Deidara, and Kaguya Kimimaro by Orochimaru. Of these four, Tobi's bloodline limit was perhaps the most powerful: he could see a short way into the future. He wore a mask with only one eyehole, for only one of his eyes saw the world before him. The other eye was always looking forward, seeing things not as they were but as they would be. Most of the time, he could only see a few seconds or minutes ahead, but even that was a great advantage in battle. He could tell what jutsu an opponent was going to use next or where they would aim their weapons. Akisane's ability, which gave her limited control over the weather, was also quite useful.
In addition to working with Orochimaru on new jutsus, Sasori embarked on another project: building a puppet large enough for him to hide inside. Named Hiruko, it would provide an extra barrier between Sasori and his opponents, and would have strong enough offensive capabilities to dispatch most enemies. Hiruko was one of the most complex of his puppets, and took many months of work to complete. Around the time when Hiruko was nearing completion, Sasori committed a deed that most people would have said was impossible: he singlehandedly conquered a country.
The Akatsuki's base, nestled high up in the mountains, was within the territory of a small and remote shinobi nation, aptly named the Mountain Country. On a global scale, this country was pretty much insignificant. Although it had a shinobi army, this "army" consisted of barely 150 ninja, most of whom were genin or chuunin level. Still, coupled with the forbidding terrain for which the country was named, these 150 ninja discouraged non-shinobi countries from attacking.
The ninja of the Mountain Country tolerated the Akatsuki's presence, generally acting as though the base in the mountains didn't exist. In return, the Akatsuki didn't interfere with the citizens of the Mountain Country, except to buy supplies from them. It was essentially an unspoken non-aggression treaty between the two groups of shinobi. Recently, however, the Akatsuki had been sending teams out on many missions to the other countries, attacking the jinchuuriki they had identified and stealing secret jutsus. The feudal lords of the Mountain Country (all three of them) became concerned that this might draw the attention of the other shinobi countries to their small nation. They were happy to be overlooked by the five great shinobi countries—it meant that they didn't get pulled into those countries' wars.
On one summer morning, Sasori was leaving the base with Tobi on an information-gathering mission to the Fire Country. Orochimaru did not accompany them, since he would have been recognized in his home nation. Sasori would have been perfectly happy to go on his own, but Tobi had begged to come with him as part of his training. Tobi desperately wanted to become the Akatsuki's ninth member, and would generally volunteer for any mission that the Akatsuki wanted to send one of their subordinates on. Plus, Akisane had caught him watching her bathe in a hot spring, and he felt that his continued survival would be best served by leaving the area for a while. Sasori had grudgingly agreed to take him along. Truth be told, the three children the Akatsuki had taken in as subordinates reminded him of his students from the Sand—strong, intelligent, and absolutely in awe of their superiors.
As the two of them descended into the valley that held the Mountain Country's capital city (which was really more like a mid-sized town), they found the three feudal lords standing in the middle of the road, apparently waiting for them. Tobi leaned towards Sasori and whispered in his ear, "This could be trouble. They're going to order the Akatsuki out of their country."
Tobi was right. That could be trouble.
The oldest of the feudal lords, a statuesque man with a long mustache and beard, stepped forward. "We have been hearing rumors about your organization's actions in other countries," he said in a stern voice. "If the other countries trace your people back here, the Mountain Country could be endangered. We cannot afford hostility from the five great shinobi countries. We have coexisted with the Akatsuki for many years, but now we must demand that you leave our territory."
The three feudal lords looked resolute, with their arms folded across their chests. Clearly, they had all agreed on this beforehand. Keeping his face and voice as bland as possible, Sasori replied, "No one may tell the Akatsuki where we can or cannot go. We will remain where we are, and it would be in your best interests to leave us alone."
The feudal lord who had spoken before glowered and said, "This is not a request. We are the lords of the Mountain Country, and we say who may or may not live within our borders. You may abide by our decision willingly, or face the wrath of our shinobi."
Sasori almost smiled at that. Never having fought one of the Akatsuki before, the Mountain ninjas had no idea what the "wrath of a shinobi" could really be like. "It is, of course, your prerogative to attack us if you wish…but I would recommend against that."
Tobi leaned close to him again and whispered, "You're going to be attacked by five ANBU-level shinobi. They're hiding behind that ridge on the left."
One of the feudal lords who had said nothing up to this point now spoke up. "Perhaps, if you are defeated, your companions will be more reasonable." That almost made Sasori laugh. Expecting Orochimaru, Deidara, and Kisame to be reasonable was like expecting the sun to rise in the west. Before Sasori could point that out, five shinobi emerged from behind the ridge Tobi had mentioned and launched themselves at him.
Sasori yanked a scroll out of his pocket and activated it. The Sandaime Kazekage, now a human puppet, appeared between him and the oncoming ninja. "Tobi-kun, hide behind one of those ridges. I will handle this."
"But, Sasori-sama…" Tobi had taken up a fighting stance, and was eager to prove himself in battle, as always.
"The feudal lords believe that the Akatsuki can be pushed around by them. It will only bolster that impression if I allow my subordinate to do my fighting for me."
"Yes, Sasori-sama," Tobi said reluctantly, and retreated behind a nearby ridge.
Meanwhile, the Sandaime Kazekage had opened its mouth, and the Iron Sand poured out. Quickly forming it into kunai and shuriken, Sasori sent it whizzing towards the Mountain shinobi. Two were hit and dropped, but three managed to dodge. One of the remaining three carried a katana, one held a pair of sais, and the third had many kunai and shuriken. Using the Sandaime's ability to control metallic objects, Sasori pulled the Mountain ninjas' weapons from their holsters and turned them on their owners. While the shinobi were busy dodging their own weapons, Sasori summoned a second puppet. This one had been made from a shinobi of the Mist, and it quickly formed the seal for the Suffocating Mist technique. The air around the three remaining shinobi thickened, creating a dense fog. The coagulated water vapor poured into their noses and mouths and down their throats, driving the air out of their lungs and essentially drowning them on dry land. Assuming that he was victorious, Sasori had just returned the puppets to their scrolls when he heard Tobi shout, "Sasori-sama! They've got the country's entire army hiding in the surrounding terrain! They're all going to attack you at once!"
Indeed, shinobi soon began descending on Sasori's position. They had clearly been waiting for the first Akatsuki member who came down from the base, apparently planning to dispose of that member and then march on the complex. Sasori did not hesitate, but pulled out yet another scroll. This one was special. It held not one puppet, but one hundred. These were some of Sasori's finest creations, designed to work together against a large number of foes. Sasori had planned to use them when fighting his designated jinchuuriki. He unrolled the scroll, channeled chakra into it, and was suddenly surrounded by a crowd of puppets.
When Tobi looked back on that event later, he would estimate that it took approximately half an hour for Sasori's puppets to decimate the Mountain Country's shinobi army. The air resounded with the sound of explosions, and jutsus lit up the sky. The ground shook, and Tobi clung to his hiding place, mouth agape in awe. About ten minutes into the fight, he saw a large bird flapping down from the mountains—clearly, the other Akatsuki had noticed the battle going on and come to help. As the bird got closer, Tobi could see Kisame, Deidara, and Akisane on its back. The bird swooped low over him, and Akisane reached down a hand to pull him up.
"What the hell is going on here? Why is Sasori fighting the Mountain nins?" Kisame demanded.
"They want us out of their country. Sasori and the feudal lords are having a…disagreement about the matter," Tobi explained.
"Sasori-danna! Hold on, we'll help you, yeah!" Deidara called down. He had taken to calling Sasori "danna" ever since Sasori had defeated him. It was a mark of profound respect for a man whom he considered a fellow artist and a superb ninja. He held up two clay cranes. Kisame unsheathed Samehada. Akisane looked to the sky, and a bank of ominous-looking thunderclouds began to form.
"It's all right, Deidara-san, I have everything under control," Sasori replied calmly.
"He's right," Tobi said in wonderment. "My gods…he's really going to win. He's going to take down all of them."
And he did. Twenty minutes later, all of the Mountain shinobi lay dead or critically injured. Two of Sasori's puppets had been demolished, and several others had taken minor damage, but Sasori himself was completely unharmed. Deidara's bird glided to the ground near Sasori, and all four shinobi jumped off and ran to Sasori as he returned his puppet army to its scroll. He looked as though he had done nothing more strenuous than taking a walk around the block. "That…that…" Akisane stuttered, apparently at a loss for words.
"Heh, these artistic puppets of yours aren't so bad, yeah," said Deidara. "But how did the fight start? Did they attack you?"
Sasori explained, "The feudal lords of the Mountain Country wished to express their displeasure with our presence and our recent actions. However, I am sure they have no complaints anymore…is that correct?" He turned to face the three feudal lords, who had taken shelter behind another ridge. Now they emerged, their former resolve gone. They were pale and trembling, eyes wide and mouths hanging open in pure shock.
"No…no complaints at all…" one of them managed to choke out, and then all three turned and ran away from the group of Akatsuki as fast as their legs would carry them.
After that incident, the feudal lords of the Mountain Country never dared express any discontent with the Akatsuki's actions again. They slowly rebuilt their ninja army, though all new recruits were given strict orders not to attack, harass, or even annoy any of the Akatsuki members.
The Akatsuki, meanwhile, had enlisted their ninth and final member, a member of the famous Uchiha clan of Konoha. Having learned from their experience with Sasori, none of the Akatsuki objected to Itachi joining the organization at the tender young age of 16. Orochimaru, in particular, seemed very happy to have Itachi as part of the group.
Sasori and Orochimaru continued to work together, developing new jutsus and uncovering many long-lost secrets. One of the jutsus that Orochimaru and Sasori developed together would eventually come to be known as Kuchiyose Edo Tensei: literally, Summoning the Dead. The technique called a dead person's soul back from the afterlife and sealed it within a corpse. The reanimated person would be able to use all jutsus and bloodline abilities that he had mastered while alive. It was a powerful technique, allowing the user to summon some of the most powerful shinobi in history to fight for him. Orochimaru and Sasori demonstrated this technique for the rest of the Akatsuki, summoning the soul of a powerful Leaf nin named Hyuuga Hizashi into the body of a lackey who had tried to betray them. All the members were quite impressed with the results. Itachi instantly copied the jutsu with his Sharingan, and the other members closely observed the seals so that they could begin learning the technique themselves.
"Does the body you use for the jutsu have to be dead?" inquired Kisame.
"A living body could be used, but the technique might fail in that case," explained Orochimaru. "The body's native soul and the summoned soul would fight for control of the body, and the soul that possessed a greater strength of will would win. The summoned soul might be rejected."
"Would it be possible," Deidara wondered, "to transfer a soul from a living body to another body? Does the soul have to be summoned from the afterlife? If you could put your soul into another body when you got old, you would be immortal, yeah."
For some reason, this question seemed to make Orochimaru vaguely uncomfortable. "No," he said, "that is not possible. The soul you use must come from the afterlife." As far as Sasori knew, that was true, but he wondered why Orochimaru sounded so unsettled as he said it.
After the demonstration, Sasori and the other members left the main chamber of the base, where the demonstration had occurred. Orochimaru and Itachi remained behind, talking about something or other. Sasori wandered down the hallway and had nearly reached his room when he was almost knocked over by Tobi and Akisane, who were barreling down the hall in the other direction. "Sasori-sama!" Tobi yelled, "Orochimaru-sama is betraying us! He's going to try and steal Itachi-sama's body!"
Now Sasori knew why Deidara's question had rattled Orochimaru. He had found a way to transfer his soul into another body, and he was planning for that body to be Itachi's. He spun around and ran after Tobi and Akisane, who were continuing to sprint back towards the main room at roughly the speed of light.
He arrived in the huge cavern just in time to see Orochimaru dodging Itachi's Grand Fireball Technique. Orochimaru stuck his hands out in front of him, and snakes poured out of the long sleeves of his Akatsuki robe. They slithered towards Itachi, who jumped into the air and incinerated them with another fire jutsu. Orochimaru then bit his thumb and summoned a three-headed snake that reached nearly to the ceiling of the cavern. One head aimed for Itachi, one for Tobi, and one for Akisane. Tobi's precognitive abilities allowed him to dodge the head easily, and he used a medical ninjutsu to cut its muscles so that it fell limply to the ground. Akisane pulled out the two wakizashis she carried strapped to her back and cut the head attacking her to pieces. Itachi simply stood back and created two Kage Bunshins to attack the snake for him. When the bunshins got near to the snake, they exploded.
While Itachi was dealing with his part of the three-headed snake, Tobi and Akisane had gone after Orochimaru. Tobi had formed chakra scalpels extending from each fingertip, and was swiping at Orochimaru with them. Akisane, meanwhile, was trying her hardest to decapitate Orochimaru with her twin swords. Orochimaru seemed to be taking the two Akatsuki henchmen seriously, as he had pulled out the sword of Kusanagi. Suddenly, Tobi stumbled backwards, bellowing, "Akisane-san! Watch out for your arm!" Just as he said this, Orochimaru saw an opening in Akisane's defense and sliced through her left forearm with Kusanagi. Grinning at her piercing scream, he raised the blade to finish her off—and a sword came out of nowhere and cut through his wrist.
Itachi had run up behind Akisane, caught her with one hand as she fell, picked up one of her swords with the other hand, and cut off Orochimaru's hand, all in the space of a few seconds. In addition, Orochimaru now found himself looking directly into Itachi's eyes. "Orochimaru-san," he said in an icy tone, "if you desire the Sharingan so much, I will show you its true power. Tsukiyomi!"
Orochimaru collapsed to his knees, and his screams were even louder and more agonized than Akisane's.
Itachi had handed Akisane off to Tobi, who was using a medical jutsu to staunch the bleeding from what was left of her arm. Having insured that she was not going to bleed to death, Tobi glared through his mask at Orochimaru, who had finally stopped screaming. "I," he said in a voice that could have made jounins shake in their boots, "am going to kill you." Itachi didn't seem to have any objections to this, because he stepped back out of the way as Tobi formed a seal and charged at Orochimaru. Tobi was so enraged that he ignored the premonition tickling at the back of his mind—and thus was caught completely unawares when Kimimaro darted into the room, removed his femur, and impaled Tobi with it.
Sasori was as close as he ever got to being in shock. Certainly the Akatsuki were a devious bunch of traitors, but they had a common goal. Because of this, he had not expected one of their own to betray them. Besides, Orochimaru was his partner, his comrade. Now his partner had backstabbed them, and two of his subordinates lay maimed and bleeding on the floor. Images of his parents' death, his teammates' death, and the betrayal of the Sandaime Kazekage flitted through his mind. Was everyone he considered a comrade or friend going to either die or betray him? Was this pattern of death and treachery going to continue forever?
Rousing himself from these musings, Sasori summoned a puppet and used it to send a rain of poisoned needles flying towards Kimimaro and Orochimaru. Kimimaro placed himself in front of Orochimaru and deflected all the needles with his femur.
Akisane had somehow struggled to her feet next to Tobi, who was engaged in the rather difficult task of using high-level medical ninjutsu on himself. "Why?" she asked Kimimaro in a hoarse voice filled with anger and pain. "How dare you betray your comrades and superiors? How can you protect that bastard who tried to hurt Itachi-sama?"
Kimimaro regarded her calmly. "When my clan was annihilated by the Mist, I lost everything. I felt like I was dead. Orochimaru-sama gave me my life back. He gave me a purpose. Because of that, I will do anything to protect Orochimaru-sama's dream."
With those words, Kimimaro hefted the barely-conscious Orochimaru over his shoulder and punched the ground. "Dance of the Seedling Ferns!" A wall of solid, spiked bones erupted out of the ground and grew towards the ceiling, separating the Akatsuki from Orochimaru and Kimimaro. By the time Sasori managed to smash through the wall with the Sandaime's Iron Sand, both traitors were long gone.
Footsteps pounded along the corridor as Deidara and Kisame arrived, having been attracted by all the commotion. They halted in the doorway, momentarily stunned by the destruction that lay before them. "What happened?" Kisame asked.
Sasori quickly filled him in on the situation. Both shinobi scowled when he told them what Orochimaru had done. "We should hunt down that bastard and kill him, yeah!" Deidara exclaimed.
"I'm going to strangle him with his own tongue," Kisame growled.
"Hmm," Itachi said thoughtfully, "that may not be necessary. Orochimaru will suffer lingering damage from the Tsukiyomi, and he has been severely wounded as well. And Kimimaro has no skill with medical ninjutsu."
"Even if he does survive," Sasori mused, "there are very few jutsus that can be performed with one-handed seals alone. Orochimaru has always been obsessed with learning all jutsus. To live without any hope of achieving that dream would be worse than death for him. And without the ability to use most techniques, he poses no threat to us."
The Akatsuki members were distracted from their conversation by the sound of two bodies hitting the floor. Tobi and Akisane had both collapsed, and Tobi was now sitting in an awkward half-upright position while cradling Akisane's unconscious body. "Orochimaru won't die," he told them, and then he too passed out.
Sasori walked over to the two young shinobi and bent down next to them. He summoned a human puppet that he had made from a Stone medic nin. The puppet began repairing the gaping wound in Tobi's torso, while Sasori mentally began planning the design of a puppet arm for Akisane. Ordinarily, a subordinate who was mortally wounded would be dismissed as weak. A shinobi who allowed himself to be incapacitated had failed, and deserved no compassion. These two, however, were different. They possessed powerful bloodline abilities that were useful to the Akatsuki. The organization would be deprived of their talents if they died. That was all there was to it. It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that they reminded him of his former teammates, or the passionate determination he had possessed as a young Sand ninja. Certainly he had no emotional attachment to them—they were only subordinates, and he would not be the least bit saddened if they died.
Or so he told himself.
A/N: I'm going away for about a week and a half, so the seventh and final chapter may not be up for about 2 weeks.
I'm not sure exactly when Oro took Kimi in, but if it was when Kimi was a small child, I think it's plausible for Oro to still have been in Akatsuki at the time.
Finally, I apologize to all the Oro fans out there for the horrible beating he takes in this chapter.
