Chapter TWO
The Northern base was located quite a distance from any major nation. Travel consisted of horseback to the closest town before the rest was done by foot as to not alert any guards that might be on the lookout.
"I never knew there was anything here," Deidara muttered. He swatted at a bug flying around his face. "Really, couldn't the Snake have built roads or something?"
"I think that's the point," Sasori said, rolling his eyes. "You know, it's a 'hideout' for a reason."
Deidara scoffed. "I know."
Sasori could feel Itachi and Kisame staring at them from behind with what he knew was probably confusion and amusement as they shamelessly listened in on their conversation but he couldn't bring himself to care. His neck had been throbbing since the morning and he was willing to bet anything that his Soulmate had angered her attacker again.
Konan, the blue-haired only female of the current generation of the Akatsuki, was relatively silent throughout their travel though Sasori could see amusement dancing in her orange eyes whenever he looked at her. Konan was childhood friends of Yahiko and Nagato, the pair that acted as the current leaders of their group. The three of them had grown up in Rain, one of the poorest parts of the Elemental Nation, and it had been sheer luck that they had been found by a man called Jiraiya, who had great influence over the government. He had seen the talent and potential the three had with their chakra and had brought them back with him to Fire, where they had been given proper training to use it.
Soon, Itachi pointed at something in the distance. "We will stop there for the night," he said. "Tomorrow, at dawn, we will depart on foot towards Orochimaru's base."
The village was clearly wary of outsiders but, despite the lack of their signature uniform, they were let in rather easily. Sasori noticed the way parents ushered children into houses and the subtle glances sent their way when people thought they weren't looking and decided that Orochimaru had perhaps run out of orphan children to experiment on, and the small villages surrounding Sound had become victims of kidnappings.
The Akatsuki had sent ahead men to prepare for this operation and by the time they arrived a temporary base had been set up. It had been stocked up with food and other resources, as well as weapons. From here, Konan would be supporting them with the aid of Zetsu.
As the last of them stepped through the entrance, said man let himself be seen. He materialized in a chair and waved.
Even from his appearance alone, which was one of the most extreme cases of chakra mutation Sasori had ever seen, one could tell Zetsu had a unique type of chakra. The man, two years older than him, could use chakra to camouflage his appearance as well as his chakra signature. Sasori had no idea how he did it, but he acted as their main source of information obtained through spying and infiltration.
The five of them made quick or of settling in, and by sunset, they had once again gathered around a table for final preparations and plan checks.
"The aim of this operation is to track down Orochimaru and shut down any remaining experiments he may be conducting," Konan began. "We will also be looking to rescue any victims as well as rounding up anyone who may be working or him. For tomorrow's operation, our main aim is to find information on the rest of Orochimaru's bases. Your job is to incapacitate any guards he may have around, as well as to destroy the security system. Any ordinary scientists and workers, as well as experiments and other victims, will be rounded up by the rest of our men once you are able to clear the path."
"Are we hoping to keep the fall of this base from Orochimaru?" Itachi asked.
Konan narrowed her eyes. "Seeing how major of a hideout this particular one is for the Snake, it's probably unlikely he won't know or long. Even if we manage to stop all communication out from the base and capture all the men without a single one escaping, he'll probably find out sooner or later."
"He probably knows we're coming sooner or later," Kisame pointed out. "It'd be stupid to assume he doesn't have any countermeasures put in place."
Chakra was a power, a privilege, and those who used it against those who couldn't wield it was already aware of the unfair advantage they had; they couldn't expect people like that to go down quietly. This was especially the case with people who had enough courage to turn it against the law, for they most likely knew how to use it to fight.
Sasori brought chakra to his hands and a blue glow lit up the tips of his fingers. Unlike the majority of the Akatsuki, Sasori had no unique ability. His forte was sheer, unrivaled control which allowed him to do things with his chakra that others could not, but there was no unique characteristic to his powers or anything of the sort.
"Doesn't matter," he said, for the first time since the meeting had begun. "We just have to catch him."
Dawn could not come fast enough for Sasori as he lay on his sleeping bag, waiting for sleep to take him.
He had never been one for prayer, but he hoped that for once in their life, his Soulmate would stay out of trouble. He knew that, from the sheer extent of her injuries, his Soulmate was probably not at fault. Still, the world was vast and there were a countless number of people out there; it was not as though he could go out looking for this mystery figure and save them from whatever situation they were in. That left him feeling bitter that out of everyone, he was the one that had to deal with being connected to them.
He sighed and rolled over. The marks on his neck were long gone and there was nothing even suggesting that there were marks to begin with, but he knew that somewhere out there his Soulmate was probably still suffering from the bruises.
He wondered, not for the first time, how his Soulmate felt, what they thought, when he got injuries of his own. Did they even know he existed? Or did they not even realize his markings among the sea of their own?
When Sasori woke up to no throbbing pain, he almost smiled. Maybe his Soulmate was one of their off days. He had already packed the previous night and he was soon out of his room.
Expectedly, he was the first to arrive in the meeting room, but he did not have to wait very long. Deidara, Itachi, Kisame, and Konan all arrived soon after. Curt greetings were exchanged, an air of tenseness making it awkward to start any friendly banter that might have surfaced on any other day.
The Akatsuki was family. Sasori would never admit it, not if he could help it, but the Akatsuki was a home for him. Before becoming part of it, he had nothing. His parents were missing and sometimes it felt as though his grandmother had taken him in only because he had nowhere else to go.
The Akatsuki was a gathering of those like him, skilled but not knowing what to do with their lives. They had given him a purpose, a reason to live, and it had also given him companions, those who understood him because they were the same. When Orochimaru had revealed himself to be a traitor, the Akatsuki had almost taken the fall. After all, how was anyone supposed to trust an organization that had supposedly given birth to one of the most well known and feared criminals of their generation? In the end, they had been fine. Plenty of people who had been helped by them in the past had supported them, and people like Jiraiya, who had a high social standing within the nation, had taken their side.
Konan clapped her hands together, successfully catching their attention. "You will depart at noon," she said. "I will support as much as I can from here, but on-field decisions will be left up to you."
Sasori glanced out the window; The sun had just fully revealed itself from the horizon. If they kept their travels to a slow pace to not waste any unnecessary energy they would arrive just as the sun was setting.
"Zetsu will act as a communication line between us," Konan continued. She held up her hand to reveal small pieces of paper floating around her fingertips. "These will allow me to track chakra," she explained. "Once in the base, you can use these to locate any people."
Itachi accepted the chakra infused sheets and slipped them into his pouch. "Understood."
Konan nodded. "I suggest you get going," she said. "Remember, this is thought to be a long-term operation, and taking down the Northern hideout is one step among many. There is no need to put yourselves in necessary risk." She paused, and Sasori met her gaze when she turned towards him. "If something is wrong, make sure to tell someone."
Sasori held back the urge to scoff and instead nodded because he did not feel like dealing with another scolding. "I will."
Konan narrowed her eyes at him, perhaps not quite believing him, but she nodded nonetheless. "Pein expects a full report, both verbal and written, once we return," she said. "I wish you the best of luck."
Deidara grinned. "We don't need luck," he said mockingly, but frankly Sasori agreed.
Itachi's illusion over them made approaching the Northern base, undetected, rather easy. There was a rather impressive ward surrounding the main facility itself, though, and one glance shared between the four of them alerted them all that it would be impossible to sneak past without triggering it. Kisame cut through the chakra wall with his sword and Itachi released Konan's paper the moment they passed through the dissipating wards.
From there, there was no need to hide. Itachi cast a huge illusion around the structure to deal with anyone who managed to sneak out past them. Zetsu had already alerted them of the lack of enemy presence outside the hideout and in seconds Deidara had already blown up what was probably the main entrance to the hideout.
They were immediately met with the sound of blaring alarms and Sasori could hear rapid footsteps echoing throughout the dark corridors.
"Let's try not to destroy any data we need to collect," Kisame said with a chuckle, and Sasori automatically turned to give Deidara a pointed look.
The blond rolled his eyes and raised his hands to show that they were empty and free of explosives. "Right."
A set of footsteps steadily grew louder and in the next second, a group of armed men burst out from one of the doors. Itachi blinked, eyes glaring red, and the men froze before they slumped onto the ground.
Deidara huffed. "Is this whole thing just gonna be you showing off your fancy eyeballs?" He asked.
The edges of Itachi's lips curled a little in amusement. "Perhaps."
Kisame grinned and shifted his sword on his shoulder. "So, data is labs and experiment victims in cages?" He asked. "Sounds about right?"
Sasori narrowed his eyes and glanced around. He knew many cases where the environment and the atmosphere affected chakra based experiments. "This base appears vertically tall as it is horizontally wide," he said. "I'd assume any important data, if there is anything here, to be located further down."
"Guarded by Orochimaru's pets," Deidara added.
"We will not attack any experiments unless attacked first, and we will not kill any as long we can afford not to," Itachi said. "Perhaps proper check and tests and revert any damage done by Orochimaru, and we must not forget that most of them were likely unlucky victims kidnapped from their villages or orphans with no one to notice their disappearance."
Deidara's grin died a little at that, and he nodded firmly. "Of course, un."
Sasori watched the blond cup his hands and reveal a handful of small, clay birds. He sent a surge of chakra through them and Sasori watched the birds slowly being to shift, and then flap their wings. "These don't contain explosives," Deidara said. "And their insides are hollow, so they aren't made using a lot of clay. I can make them burst using chakra, and inside is a bit of that knockout gas you shared with me the other day."
"Guess we're going to be seeing more than Itachi's eyeballs," Kisame said, and then gestured with his thumb towards where Orochimaru's men had come from. "I bet there are more that way." Itachi turned towards Konan's confetti, which had been floating around the team since he had first released them, and almost as though they heard his thoughts they flew through the door.
Deidara grinned back. He flung his birds into the air and they caught a nonexisting wind with clay wings. They streaked after Konan's paper and moments later they heard a small explosion, followed by shouts, then harsh sounds of many heavy things hitting the ground, then silence.
"I thought they didn't contain explosives," Sasori muttered, eying the smoke seeping from the doorway.
Deidara shrugged. "They didn't," he said, and at the pointed look he received he grinned. "Just some extra chakra to make sure they exploded without explosives."
Sasori rolled his eyes and Itachi shook his head in exasperation. Kisame merely chuckled, then swung his sword down, knocking the doors off their hinges and flinging them to the side. "Okay cleanup crew," he said. "Let's sweep the place."
Once they actually got to it, they were quick to remove any of Orochimaru's men still up and about. Itachi gave notice whenever someone triggered his illusion outside the base and from the way the Uchiha did not raise any alarm, Sasori assumed none had managed to shake it off. That didn't surprise him in the least; Itachi was not a prodigy for nothing.
Sasori made marks over the map Zetsu had drawn out prior to the operation, making corrections as well as adding in any previously unknown rooms. He noted down locations where data and information had been found, as well as places where the Snake's experiment victims were stashed. They did not encounter many of them, most of them locked up securely and too drugged up to really notice anything. The few that were roaming free were quickly taken out by Itachi, who was careful that they were properly nocked out but completely unharmed.
"That's most of this floor," Deidara said and pointed towards another set of stairs leading further down. They had already roamed through three of the five known floors. Sasori added a few lines on his map to indicate where they had found extra rooms, empty unused labs, before he nodded to show that he was ready to move on.
Suddenly, a burning pain erupted from his hands. His vision actually blurred from the pain and Deidara let out a cry when he slumped against the blond. "Danna!"
Sasori gritted his teeth. Though connected, the pain from injuries usually lasted an instant. For the wound to continue hurting meant that the injury was being continuously pressured, as though whoever had attacked Soulmate had left the knife within the injury. That had never happened before.
At such an inconvenient time too.
He carefully shifted his fingers, the hand his Soulmate had been stabbed through struggling to follow his orders. Another burst of pain soon came, stemming from his shoulder. Deidara carefully lowered him to the ground. Kisame and Itachi crowded around, an eye on him and an eye on their surroundings.
"This is so unlucky, un," Deidara said softly.
"When I get my hands on this Soulmate of mine," Sasori seethed through his pain, clutching at his hands. "I will make them regret even getting a paper cut."
He didn't even consider how he would be taking his words all back, every complaint, every threat and insult, everything, just later that day.
Update my friends~
Darque: MORE TO COME I PROMISE.
Raven: I SEE. WHY YOU SO EXCITED?
Darque: BECAUSE THIS IS FUNNNNN.
Raven: I SEE.
Darque: YAS. SEND ME COOKIES FRIENDS, I LOVE COOKIES.
Raven: Right...
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