Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters
A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed...I think I was just depressed 'cuz my Spring Break was over. But I'm better now!
Chapter 8: Torture and Other Unpleasant Things
Uchiha Itachi stared down at the man bowing at his feet and hid the disgust he felt.
Stupid nobles, he thought, disregarding the fact that he came from a noble house himself.
All the Akatsuki member had done was quietly ask why his partner, along with several other missing nins, suddenly disappeared from several of the noble's so-called 'safe houses.' Although, Itachi could care less about the other missing nins, his 'commander,' so to speak, preferred to hire the exiled ninjas for Akatsuki's more banal jobs.
Like threatening stupid nobles, Itachi groused. (A/N: love that word…'grouse.')
The man immediately began to apologize and babble. Itachi had no patience for such actions and sternly repeated his question.
"Why did Kisame disappear?" he asked. "You promised a safe haven."
"It was safe, my lord," the man sniveled and bowed lower.
"I went to the location," Itachi calmly stated, leaning against the wall. Damn Akatsuki cloak weighs a ton. I should have let Sasori make me a new one instead of keeping my winter cloak, he complained to himself.
"And?" the noble asked.
"Kisame wasn't there. But the chakra signatures of two hunters were."
"Are you sure, Itachi-sama?" he asked. "The house is close to Konoha. Perhaps hunters from that village took your friend?"
"He's not my friend," Itachi corrected. "And Konoha shinobi are no match for him—hunters included. No, the ones who took him were Aitou and Zannen."
The noble's shaking got worse as the Sharingan user stated the names of two of the best hunter nins on the continent.
"Those two are a nuisance, but they are worthy of my time," Itachi said. He took out a map and spread it on the table, next to the map that showed the location of every safe haven the noble provided.
"What is that, my lord?" the noble asked, finally getting up and standing across from Itachi.
"It's a map indicating when and where your hideouts were attacked," he answered, boredom evident in his voice.
The noble squinted in the lamplight and pointed to a blue mark on Itachi's map. "I don't have any property in that village."
"No, you don't," Itachi responded, looking at the date next to the mark.
But that's where people reported seeing Sasuke, Itachi added to himself.
He'd always kept tabs on his brother. It gave him a perverse sense of pride to see how far the boy had gone in his quest for power. When he'd read the report on the battle in the Valley of the End between Sasuke and Naruto, he practically shook with excitement.
He now read it every night before going to sleep.
But after their encounter in the woods almost six years ago, Sasuke had disappeared. Itachi knew that he hadn't killed the boy. He was sure that he would know when his own brother was dead.
Finally, he heard a rumor about Sasuke in Wind Country. After that, sightings of the teen became regular occurrences. However, Sasuke never stayed in one place long enough for Itachi, Orochimaru, or even his friends from Konoha to find him. And he never left any clues to where he was headed next.
It amazed Itachi that the younger man seemed to disappear and reappear at totally random times.
Or seemingly random.
It never occurred to the elder Uchiha to compare the recent raids on their hideouts to the sightings of his brother until Kisame looked at his map for directions one day.
"Look here," the Mist nin had said. "You said that someone saw that brat two weeks ago, right? Well, last week Aitou or Zannen, can't remember which bitch is which, raided the safe haven in the village three towns over."
Itachi almost kicked himself for not seeing the connection sooner.
The elder brother took the opportunity to look back at Akatsuki's files on the known movements of the Suna hunters. For the past three years, whenever Sasuke would appear, one or both of the hunter nins had a mission near the village or town the Uchiha was seen in.
They were either chasing Uchiha Sasuke or he was somehow helping them.
Since Itachi couldn't see how helping the two hunters would aid Sasuke in his quest for power, the Akatsuki member was sure that they were after his brother.
But why would Suna hunters be after Sasuke? Itachi wondered. He's a missing nin from Konoha. They should be the ones after him.
It only took a few moments' thought before Itachi realized that the hunters were probably under the orders of the Kazekage. Although marriage to the female demon vessel had calmed him, Itachi was doubtful that Gaara was 'calm' enough to let the boy who'd attacked him go. Sasuke wasn't as…personable…as Naruto and probably pissed the redhead off on many different levels.
"You have two new properties," Itachi noted, bringing his attention back to the matter at hand.
"Those belong to the dowry my wife's family gave me," the noble said. "I haven't had time to set them up into the system yet."
Itachi noticed that his brother was seen in a village near one of the new properties the week earlier. If the hunters kept with their normal pattern, they would appear in two days, at the earliest.
"While I look at this, why don't you tell me anything of interest?" Itachi commanded absently.
The noble wracked his mind for any gossip or news he'd heard. He'd do anything to get back into Akatsuki's good graces. It was a miracle that he was still alive when one of their members was taken from one of his safe houses.
"Well?"
The noble jumped.
"The Kazekage's wife is pregnant again," he said.
"I know that," Itachi said. Too bad that her brats aren't demon vessels, also, he thought. Akatsuki will need as much demon chakra as possible for the jutsu to work. (1)
"She's expecting twins."
The dark-haired man straightened from his position and stared at the noble.
"Really?"
The noble nodded.
"Hn."
"The sister of the Kazekage's wife was banished from Suna," the noble remembered, since they were on the subject of Suna.
"Hn…"
"They say that Temeki-san is furious with Kinabuhi-sama," the noble added, he could tell that the news intrigued the man since he didn't tell him to shut up. "She's in Konoha with the Kazekage's blood sister as a handmaiden. The rumor is that she hates the Kazekage's family now."
Itachi made a few new marks on his map and stored the noble's information away in his mind. The time was getting close and he knew that they'd have to gather the demon vessels any way they could.
Exploiting a feud between sisters would definitely be a tactic he could use to capture both Kina and Gaara.
A cold half-smile graced Itachi's lips as he prepared to leave. He looked over at the noble and frowned. The dark-haired missing nin debated whether or not to share the next piece of information with the noble, but finally decided that it might shock a reaction from the man.
And it's fun to mess with people's brains, he laughed silently.
"There is a flaw in your network," he said. "People have gone missing from your safe houses and have reappeared dead. Suna reaps the rewards of all of this."
"W-what?"
"The Kazekage knows where most of your safe houses are," he elaborated. "And he's sending his hunters to collect the bounties. Pretty soon, the others will catch on and they'll be after you."
Itachi almost smiled at the frightened man, but again the disgust he felt at the man's weakness kept him from doing so.
Instead, he just turned around and left.
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Hyuuga Tenten looked around the living room and shuddered. Everything in the place was pink. From the curtains to the couches, hell, even the coffee table had pale pink lace on it.
What is with Shikamaru's mom and pink? she asked herself.
"Frightening, isn't it?" a voice said from behind her.
The weapons mistress jerked and turned around to see a very tired and dirty looking Temeki walk into the room.
"Temeki!" she said, automatically placing her hand on her stomach. "You scared me."
The light blue-eyed kunoichi frowned and stared at her friend. "You're losing it then, Tenten," she said. "Either that or I'm getting better."
"That might be it," Tenten laughed. "But Neji and Naruto snuck up on me the other day, too. Neji says that my attention span has shortened considerably."
"Considering your situation, I'm not surprised," Temeki murmured. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I came to visit you, but Nara-sama said that you were missing," she said.
Actually, she said that you went on another idiotic rant about Suna and disappeared for a week, Tenten admitted to herself.
The other woman nodded and smiled at Tenten with understanding in her eyes. The Suna kunoichi knew exactly what her hostess thought of her.
"I was on a mission," she told her friend. "I just got back."
"A mission?" Tenten repeated. "For Suna?"
"Of course. I may have argued with my sister and knocked the Kazekage into a wall, but I'm still a Suna shinobi," Temeki answered.
"Oh."
"Why don't I clean up and then we'll go out for some food?" Temeki asked.
Tenten's stomach chose that moment to let out a huge growl and she nodded sheepishly. "Sounds good. You can tell me what exactly is going on between you and Sakura." She noticed the slight blush on the other woman's face and she instantly perked up at the possibility of new gossip.
"Tenten?" Temeki said. The kunoichi looked up from her perch on the couch and stared at the girl standing in the doorway.
"Yes?"
"Congratulations on your pregnancy. I'm sure that Neji's beside himself with joy."
Tenten smiled. Although she hadn't told anyone but Neji and Tsunade, she knew that Temeki would notice the difference right away. She was almost as skilled a medical shinobi as her sister Kina.
"Arigato, Temeki-chan."
"Dinner's on me. You're not craving any French toast, right?"
Tenten laughed at the oblique reference to Kina's now famous craving for the breakfast food. If she thought that it was odd for Temeki to joke about her sister—the sister she was currently supposed to hate—the weapons mistress kept the idea to herself.
"No," she smirked. "For me, it's miso ramen."
"Naruto must love the new you."
"Go ahead and bathe," Tenten shooed her out of the room. She laughed again at Temeki's parting shot.
"We're not going to Ichiraku!"
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Kisame knelt in the center of a large room. Seals covered the floor and bandages marked with Tsunade and Jiraiya's blood wrapped around his arms and were tied to the walls of his prison. He didn't know how long he'd been there, but he only had minimal feeling in his arms. The position he was in forced his legs to become numb on their own.
The Akatsuki member looked up as the door opened and revealed two of his captors. Even though they wore the masks of ANBU warriors, he recognized the blonde hair of the kyuubi vessel. However, he frowned at the pink-haired woman who accompanied him.
"We've come to ask you a few questions," the demon brat asked. He stood in front of the bound man and placed his hands on his hips. The woman simply walked around the seals and stood behind Kisame.
"Why should I answer any questions of yours, gaki?" Kisame spat. (2)
The blonde merely tilted his head and looked at his partner through the slits in his wolf mask. "Ikasu?" he prompted.
Kisame felt the woman, Ikasu, place her hands on the exposed skin of his wrists. He shuddered at the feel of her callused fingers on his skin. It had been a long time since a woman had touched him. The Konoha ANBU smelled of lemons and mint. He loved lemonade.
"If you don't answer the questions Nonki has for you, then I'll have to hurt you," Ikasu said.
"As long as you mean it," Kisame growled seductively. "But I can think of a few other places you can put those hands of yours, Ikasu-chan."
Ikasu stiffened and clamped her hands painfully on his wrists.
Nonki noticed and shook his head. "You really shouldn't provoke her, Kisame. Women can be scary when they're angry."
"Wimp," the shark-like man smirked.
"Masochist," Ikasu murmured from behind him.
"Yes, ma'am," he agreed.
"I'm tired of playing around," Nonki decided. "Where are the other Akatsuki members?"
Kisame shrugged. "Here and there."
"Where was the last known location of your partner, Uchiha Itachi?" Nonki demanded.
"And why should I tell you?" he replied. "And he's not my partner. We were just heading in the same direction."
"And which direction would that be?"
"Eat shit and die, kitsune," Kisame snarled. He then spat on the floor in front of the blonde.
The man knelt so that his wolf mask was on the same level as the missing-nin's face. He then shifted his gaze to the woman standing behind Kisame and nodded.
Kisame felt pain radiate from his hand and run up his right arm. He looked at his right hand and saw the glowing green hand of Ikasu. Her index finger lightly rested on the outside of his wrist.
"I just severed the tendon of your extensor carpi ulnaris muscle," she softly whispered into his ear. "You won't be able to change your grip on that huge sword of yours unless it's repaired within the next hour. If you're lucky." (3)
"Where was the last place you saw Uchiha Itachi?" Nonki asked again.
Kisame looked at the ANBU member and growled. They might destroy all of the muscles in his arm, but his punishment would be worse if Itachi found out that he'd given Konoha any information.
Nonki sighed and nodded again at his partner. Ikasu silently prayed for strength and placed her hand on the inside of Kisame's wrist. She concentrated her chakra into a needle-like point and touched her first two fingers to his skin.
He barely kept in his scream of pain as his hand and forearm convulsed.
"That was your pronator quadratus," she said. "You won't even be able to lift a pair of chopsticks without having them wave around like a flag. Now answer our questions or you'll never get the use of your hand back." (4)
Ikasu hated this part of being in ANBU, but her mission was clear. If the Akatsuki member refused to give them information this way, then they had no choice but to go to Plan B. And both Nonki and Ikasu dreaded Plan B.
Plan B was dangerous for everyone involved.
But Kisame remained silent.
His hand twitched a few times before Nonki stood up and looked at Ikasu.
"He won't answer. We'll have to bring in Ibiki next time," he said. "Make sure that his injuries don't bleed internally and let's go." As the kunoichi followed his orders, the blonde looked down at Kisame and frowned.
"Just because we didn't get any answers this time doesn't mean that we'll stop trying," he told the other man.
"Just because you keep trying doesn't mean that you'll succeed," Kisame answered. "I'll get out of here and once I do, you and that pink-haired bitch are dead."
He watched as the two ANBU walked to the door. As they opened the portal, Ikasu turned around and muttered one last sentence.
"Don't worry about your hand twitching, it's only the nerve endings in your fingers dying."
The metal door slammed on the ANBU and Kisame swore to get his revenge against the Konoha kunoichi.
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An hour later, the metal door opened again. Kisame looked up with pain filled eyes and barely made out a female figure dressed in a dark color and a mask with a single kanji on it.
The kunoichi reached out a hand and the missing nin suppressed a groan as her hand came into contact with his aching wrist. He expected the rest of his muscles to be torn, but instead felt the cooling touch of an experienced healer. When the medic was done, he looked up and asked one question.
"Why?"
"Because you can give me what I want," answered the husky voice of the kunoichi.
"And what's that?"
The woman knelt down and removed her mask. Kisame recognized the features of the Kazekage's sister-in-law. But he was shocked by what he saw in her eyes.
They were filled with hate and anger.
And they were Sharingan red.
"I want to meet Uchiha Itachi."
A/N:
/rubs hands together in glee/
First Kina and now Tenten…a little baby boom in Naruto's world, he he he…wonder who's next?
Things are coming along…
(1) It's not common knowledge that Gaara and Kina's daughter is also a demon vessel. It's not common knowledge that Kina is a demon vessel.
(2) Gaki means 'kid' or 'brat.'
(3) Ain't anatomy fun?
(4) Nothing is worse for a sword master than losing control of his sword hand. And as one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Hidden Village of Mist, Kisame needs his muscles intact.