"WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING!?" Sir leader slammed his palm on his desk with a loud 'thump.' Zetsu flinched and stepped back a bit, in the back of his mind he heard the 'know-it-all' snicker of Aku say "Told you so."
The still pissed leader continued on, "You think that we can recruit just anyone off the street? We're not a damn orphanage!"
"I know that sir-"
"Then why did you tell him about us? Why did you get that kid's hopes up?Why in the hell did you put our organization in danger?"
Zetsu stayed silent, truthfully he had no idea why he did it, it was sort of on an impulse.
His thought process was interrupted by the irritated voice of Leader. "What are you going to do about this? I am hoping that you will just kill him and be done with it."
"I agree, besides I'll be able to eat something decent around here," Aku added.
"No, I think that I can help him become stronger, he might become an asset to the group, so please just let him join."
"ABSOLUTELY NOT! Have you seen how weak he is? He barely has enough chakra to make a half-dead shadow clone, and you want me to let that join?"
"Well…when you say it like that it sounds harsh but-"
"BUT nothing! Seriously, even if he had one ounce more of power, it wouldn't matter; he's too damn innocent to be here!"
Zetsu was outdone, and he knew it. There was no reason to recruit him, or keep him a live for that matter.
"…Fine, sir. I'll see to it that he is taken care of." Zetsu mumbled.
"Good, I don't want to see that obnoxious orange mask again, you here me?"
"Yessir…"
"Zetsu-san, Zetsu-san, what did he say!? Am I in!?" Tobi leaned forward on his rock perch and bounced up and down in anticipation as Zetsu slowly emerged from the ground. Zetsu shook his head and decided that the pebble on the left was very interesting at the moment, and decided to stare it down intensely. It didn't help distract him. Tobi gasped and shouted, "Why? How come I can't join?"
"Because Tobi, you… just can't okay, It'd be best if you just forgot about it and went home."
"Or…" Aku added, "You can come over here and let us eat you like Leader wants us to do."
At the suggestion Tobi took a step back and somehow mustered a way to look terrified behind his mask.
"Aku, we're not going to eat him, no matter how hungry we both are."
"Fine, but you owe me. If it wasn't for the fact that he's frikkin' powerful I would've killed him by now."
Aku and Tobi both stiffened at his statement, "What do you mean powerful? You heard what Leader said…"
"What? You can't feel it? That person there isn't the Tobi we met a few nights ago, he's totally different."
The Tobi impostor finally spoke up, taking his mask of slowly. "Wow…I didn't think I'd be figured out so soon, Aku-san sure is smart." Tobi's mask came and showed his full face, or more specifically, his eye.His right eye was a deep crimson red with a kaleidoscope design around the pupil, his left eye was covered in a bandage that circled around his head.
"The person you met last night was who he said he was, but I needed an inconspicuous cover and he fit the part. Luckily for you Aku-san, his body is still fresh, feel free to dispose of it."
Aku wasn't thinking about eating now though, his mind was on only one thing, along with Zetsu.
"If Tobi's dead, then why do you look exactly like him? You'd have to be a medical nin to do those sort of things."
The person just smiled and said, "That's my little secret boys, now, may I speak with Pein-sama?"
"S-sir!" Was all Pein could bring himself to say. Standing before him was the trueleader, whom he hadn't seen in over three years.
"Pein, from my reports you have been running things smoothly. I will continue to let you run the main group for now, as I have other things to attend to." The (true) Leader said smoothly.
"Yes sir." Pein said, shifting his weight uncomfortably. He wondered if it was appropriate to ask what was on his mind."
Seeming to sense his thoughts, the Leader smirked and said, "Yes, it is time."
Pein's head snapped up from the ground and nodded quickly. If it was time; then that meant it was time to recruit some more members, their measly 7 wasn't going to get the momentous job moving.
"Yes sir, I will start with your plans as soon as possible."
"Good." The Leader watched him for a moment then dissipated in a sudden poof of smoke. Pein looked up from the ground and looked towards the door where Zetsu's silhouette could be seen leaning against the paper door.
"You can come in now."
The door slid open and a guilty looking Zetsu shuffled in, not meeting his eyes.
"Sir," he began hesitantly, "who was that? I thought you were the true leader of Akatsuki."
"No, Zetsu. I am not. It is just a cover so the true leader can move around more freely. Sit, let me explain as much as I can."
He sat down on a little pillow and waited for 'Pein' to begin. Pein sat down behind his desk and gave Zetsu a long, appraising look before beginning.
"I can't reveal everything, but you are the only one who'll I'll share some information with. If you tell another soul what you are about to hear you will be killed, do you understand?"
Zetsu swallowed nervously and nodded once.
"Good. First off, the leader has to stay closer to his organization now, but without drawing too much attention to himself, therefore, until the time is right he will be your traveling companion. He will act as if he were the Tobi you introduced me to earlier, you shall call him Tobi as well. He will eventually 'join,' so you won't be with him for too long."
Zetsu sighed in relief, hanging out with a person as scary as that wouldn't be fun. In the back of his mind Aku seemed to agree.
"Now, anything elseyou need to know?"
Zetsu paused, then continued, "Yes, there is one thing, what was with his eye?"
Pein stiffened, then closed his eyes and sighed.
"I cannot say, you're going to have to find out for yourself in your free time." He said simply.
"Alright…"
"You may go, clean up the remains outside of the base before it begins to rot."
I apologize for the month or more wait for updates, but be not weary, the speech season is almost over for me, HURRAH!
I'm thinking of stopping the story here, and if I do I might do a sequel, please review and express your opinions on the matter. I WAS going to have Tobi be his own person, but thanks to the newest manga chapters that's nearly impossible, so I'm going with this.
REVIEWWWWW