CHAPTER 02

A lone figure standing over the Village Hidden in the Rain, as if he is always watching over the villagers. Ever since Hanzo's rule had ended, the Rain Village felt quite secured and peaceful under their 'God' and 'Angel'. The village had been the battlefield for many wars and was plagued by it. But even after experiencing such tragic events, the village was now finally stable, which was all thanks to their mysterious leader.

It was not raining that day. Rather there was no reason for it to be raining, since it was a weekday and Pain did not have any business outside of the country. All movements of the members of the Akatsuki were conveyed to him by Konan. She would leave paper clones of herself in various hideouts and work as a source of communication between the Leader and the members. Even if Konan never complained about the job, it was still very exhausting.

"The Five Tails is on a mission alone and its host's location has been pinpointed." Konan said as she walked up to Pain, who was still looking straight ahead.

"Who two, except Sasori and Deidara, are the nearest to the Five Tails' location?" Pain spoke in a monotone. He shifted to look back at Konan, who had closed her eyes.

She was meditating and searching the locations of other teams. Not only was she fast, but also accurate in tracing the whereabouts. She gradually looked up to Pain and spoke, "Hidan and Kakuzu."

"Good. Inform them of their mission to hunt the Five Tails." Pain again started to look at the town. "And, as for Sasori and Deidara, I have another mission for them."

Sasori walked ahead of his partner, who continued to follow him with a perplexed expression on his face. Even when the puppet master was inside Hiruko, his senses did not dull. He was aware of every step that the blonde was taking and could predict every thought he might be thinking. No wonder Sasori of the Red Sand was a frightening opponent in battle.

He finally stopped when both of them were in an open space within the hideout. He slowly turned to face his partner. On the other side, Deidara's mind was going in circles. He wasn't sure what Sasori was going to do, rather he had no idea what all of this was about. He was nervous, that much was sure.

"Summoning Technique" Sasori finally spoke and when he did, he was going to summon something? The smoke had enclosed the whole area surrounding the puppet master.

Deidara jumped backwards to create an appropriate distance between him and his partner. He lifted his hands in a guarding position, just in case something suddenly emerged out of the smoke. But using this technique would mean that Sasori wants to fight him, right? Why would he search for an open area in the hideout, if not to fight? He decided to remain quiet and let the events unfold as they please. However, as the cloud of smoke lessened, Deidara was dazed. "W-what?"

A display of various kinds of ninja. No, they did not demonstrate any signs of life in them. Puppets? The blonde knew his partner was a strong puppet master, but he did not anticipate him having so many puppets. Most of all, every one of those puppets seemed extremely strong and almost real, even if they showed no living signs.

"Do you see all these puppets, Deidara?" Sasori paused for a moment, which made his partner even more anxious. "All of them used to be human; they used to be ninja. But they faced me as their opponent and now they are mere puppets, a part of my collection. Only they know of my real face, which means that, if you want to know what I look like, you'll have to face me in battle and then become a part of my collection. Only then will you know of my true identity."

Sasori was annoyed. His partner was a kid; a brat who did not understand a single thing about art! Yet he continued to babble about art being transient. If not about art, it wasn't as if he was cooperative or very respectful. He would rush ahead, face all opponents by himself and in short, he was just unsuitable to be his partner in the Akatsuki. Heh, if it was in Sasori's power, he would not even admit kids as inexperienced and stupid like him. But he knew that the blonde was strong. Well then, adding him to his collection would be perfect. The brat would get to see his face and Sasori would get another strong puppet, simple.

"Shall we start then?" Sasori said in a mocking tone.

Deidara was still in shock. His curiosity was high, but fighting Sasori of the Red Sand over it? No matter how much confidence the sculptor had on himself, he did know Sasori was stronger. Facing him in battle would be pointless, but nonetheless, it actually excited him on the inside. Whenever he came against a strong opponent, all he could do was smirk at the thrill of the battle.

"Bring it on, hm!" Results of the battle were not of Deidara's concern anymore. All he knew that he was going to fight and survive. No way was he going down that easy! But just as he dug his hand in his clay pouch, he heard a noise.

Footsteps? Who?

Konan stood across the two artists, staring at them. She didn't even say a word, yet the both of them stopped.

"The Five Tails is already captured. The sealing process will begin after a few minutes. Do not be late." Konan said and then walked away. She never really cared for any of the members. She knew they were going to fight, but didn't instruct them to stop or cease this foolishness. She conveyed the orders and went away. Because of such attitude, no one in the organization questioned her or misbehaved in front of her.

Sasori and Deidara saw Konan leave and withdrew their battle stances.

That had been the perfect opportunity for Sasori to get rid of his annoying partner, but if that chance was already lost, he was not the kind to carry it either way. There will be many more chances in the future; it was not as if his partner was going to change. He put his puppets back to their respective scrolls and followed the path Konan had taken.

Deidara only seemed to look at the both of them walk away. His mind switched topics quick. Just a few minutes ago, he was getting into the battle with Sasori and now, all he was thinking about was how painful the next three days were going to be. Wasn't there a better way to seal away a tailed beast than to circle around and extract chakra? He, instead of following Konan and his partner, went to his room to fetch his cloak.

"Oh well."

A/N: Thank you to all those reviewed this story's first chapter. It was my motivation to quickly finish up the second one. There will be approximately 3-4 more chapters for this story. Well, I would be glad if you all support me further by reviewing this chapter as well.