Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Chapter 9: Compromises
"Let me see this." The leader's swirling eyes set themselves on the booklet that Tobi held up.
Tobi seemed overly anxious to answer his request. Scampering wildly and trailing dust along the short distance between Sasori and Pein, Tobi's timing was very much off, and in an attempt to hit the breaks at the speed he was going, he flew forward, right through the superior's holographic figure.
Pein slowly turned his position to stare at the wrong end of the masked kid sticking halfway out of the ground behind him.
"Over here. Not over there." The dark projection stated indifferently through a coarse voice guided by static sounds.
"J-j-j-ju-just a second!" He squealed in response, desperately trying not to keep everyone else waiting. Flipping up from the ground as if gravity meant nothing to him, he sped again over to where Pein stood waiting with his arms crossed.
Tobi stopped directly in front of him, and bobbed his head down holding the booklet out towards him in a goofy fashion, like he was presenting a gift to God first-hand, even though, of course, this is what Pein viewed himself as. He was one of those self-absorbed types.
Before the leader could respond, Tobi attempted to drop the tiny black book into his hands. It fell right through them, buzzing violently as it left his tall form and hit the ground.
"Tobi, I can't hold it myself, you need to hold it up to me." He explained wearily. He wove both of his arms back and forth over his head, making the buzzing noise of static desperately trying to follow them, to exercise his point further.
"Ah! I! Um! Uh! …My bad!" He squealed again, dropping down for the book that he half-wittedly dropped.
He scrambled back up, holding up open pages to Pein's unique eyes, peering at the characters.
"Did I really…?"
"But-but Leader-sama, don't you remember??" Tobi quickly and frantically cut him off before he could finish. Instantly, he leaned his face in close enough for Pein to see the red Sharingan of his eye through the socket of his mask. "You put it together while Akatsuki was still being developed." An incredibly different voice took over, making it seem as if the entire world had darkened around them. It was not Tobi's voice.
Pein instantly stiffened his stance. He recognized that voice. He knew that voice. Why in the hell was he using that voice?
"Umm…that is correct." He concluded quickly, earning a closed eye from his shorter colleague. While everyone else wearing a black coat with red clouds over it tilted their heads, the holographic projection of their superior slid up beside 'Tobi' and leaned his head in close to his.
"No need to kill me over it…"
"Ahh, well, a little improvisation is a remedy for everything!" He responded in the goofy voice that he became accustomed to using before.
Pein growled. To him, that was as good as teasing him. Who would get so riled up over keeping 'Tobi' in good graces? Surely not a god. But that voice, that commanding voice that he used to carry out orders to his clan's underlings eighty years ago was terrifying. Clinging to that fact, taking orders from him now was just as simple as it would have been back then.
Turning back to Sasori, waiting most impatiently for things to get back on topic, he quickly and easily recited the different Tailed Beasts without the use of the manual that Tobi was holding. Recognizing that he was preparing to do so, Tobi closed the book with one hand, and slipped it into his pocket.
"Obviously it couldn't be Shukaku…or Kyuubi. The Two-Tailed Cat is a demon housed in a woman named Yugito Nii, who resides in Kumogakure, safe inside the Hidden Village's walls along with the Eight-Tailed Beast and his vessel, Kirābī. Obviously, neither could be who you are looking for, because if they had made movements out of the Village Hidden in the Clouds, Zetsu would have been the first to let us know it. They have no relation to Orochimaru or his Hidden Sound Village."
"The jinchuuriki that I'm going after is a red-haired girl that uses powerful genjutsu…through a flute." Sasori explained to him, holding his hands up next to his head as if he were playing the instrument that he was speaking of. "I'd place her as a…high chunin. She isn't quite jounin capable, but that…whatever that thing was inside of her makes everything different."
"Did you see her transform?"
Sasori lowered his arms and placed them back to his sides before bowing his head. Recalling that point almost made him smile. It was almost terrifying. "Yes." He answered.
"Is that the reason you haven't captured her now?"
Sasori stared at the ground to the side of himself before turning back and answering. "The reason I haven't captured her now is because a certain pale man intervened. I don't think I need to go into any riddles."
His superior looked him straight in the eyes. Neither of them would blink.
"Orochimaru."
"Yeah. And two of his lackeys. Both jounin. I could tell."
Pein uncrossed his arms and took steps forward, the sickly colors of faint light around his body rippled continuously. Holding his hand up, he asked, "So what was the problem? Most of us here should think that you would be well above Orochimaru given all of the time you had away from him to perfect your own techniques. He spends his days locked behind a metal door sitting in the dark; you spend your days observing the world."
Deidara snorted back from his seal position from somewhere in the background. "…Sitting in a corpse." He muttered, as if finishing the leader's statement, being absolutely sure for his life to keep his voice just quite enough from his senior.
Still, one should appreciate the irony. Between the two, Sasori and Orochimaru, there didn't seem to be a whole lot of difference. Deidara had never personally met the Snake Sannin – only heard stories. Some of them seemed so unreal to the young artist that it was often difficult to distinguish fact from fantasy. Or stupid rumors. Point was Orochimaru didn't seem like the kind of guy who skips out into a wide-open field and picks flowers. At least not during the day.
Sasori hung his head slightly down and grinned at the leader's statement. It was humbling, but Orochimaru was his senior. His selfish goal to master all of the jutsu in the world as he self-righteously claimed during their time together hadn't yet been accomplished, but he was still very powerful. Not easy to kill. Not quite at Itachi's league, but still a threat on his own.
"…As much as I wouldn't mind believing that for myself…"
He lifted his head back up to stare him right in the eyes.
"…No. …I'm not."
Deidara grinned silently to himself in amusement while he held his handsign and had his eyes closed in concentration. They had stumbled a slight step back in their career goals, and yet he smiled. Only something as great as Sasori admitting something shameful like that would give the result.
His leader gazed at the red-haired artificial youth for several seconds more before turning around and walking back towards the center of the seals again.
"Good call. Here in this organization, being too proud and too confident in your own ability means that you'll die the soonest. Maybe others here should heed this advice as well." His eyes instantly shot to the side, setting the spotlight on someone else.
Everyone else stood facing towards the two with their handsigns held up, but turned their heads to look at Hidan's decapitated body still lying on the ground outside of his seal marker except for his feet, giving the impression that he had fallen forward out of it. A puddle of red was spilt out from where his head would be. It was probably somewhere near, like in the shrubs.
"Hey!! Has anyone here forgotten that I CAN'T DIE??!!" An irritated voice shouted from a ways away.
It was then that everybody knew. His head was in the shrubs.
The whole area around them had already turned into the outpost of some desert of which anyone would mistake was nearby. Where there had been tall grass sticking out of the ground now covered by light brown grains of sand, they looked like shrubberies. Might as well call them shrubberies. Kakuzu can't simply 'negotiate' with anyone without giving an unnatural alteration to the landscape.
"There's still a flaw."
The silhouette moving by itself looked back over at Sasori.
"I still need to find out what kind of Bijuu we're looking at here." He finished.
Pein looked at him. Studying his face for emotion, he responded, "We have an idea of what the others are. Based on your description, the girl couldn't be one of the jinchuuriki."
A wave of discouragement swept over the human puppet. He really thought that he was onto something. Since he didn't even remember if he was assigned a jinchuuriki, if he had the luck to find one, he may as well have it assigned firsthand. If hand-gagging a little foul-mouthed brat was all that it took for him to reach enlightenment in this organization, then it was well worth it. But that dream appeared to now be diminishing. That cuts the pleasure of infiltrating Otogakure in half.
"…Unless…"
Sasori's head shot up. For the first time since he had fought that girl, he was excited. That was two times this week, and within a period of just a few hours. A new record for him. Delighted by the thought that there was an 'unless' in the matter that he swayed over, he leaned in a bit closer.
"Unless what? Tell me."
His superior took quick note of his obvious interest in fulfilling his goal. In a business, an employer looks for something like that in all of his employees. If nobody was interested in taking on tasks, then nothing would get done. And that didn't fly very well with Pein.
Deciding that he had held Sasori under anxiety for long enough, he continued with an amused smirk invisible thanks to the jutsu.
"…Unless…perhaps you haven't noticed any…specific features on her while she transformed…did any tails grow on her?"
Sasori answered him with a singular nod.
"How many?"
"Before Orochimaru appeared and suppressed her chakra," Sasori held up three digits, "I saw three tails. But it looked to me like she might have sprouted more. …And there was this ominous chakra surrounding her, like something out of a nightmare."
They both turned their heads to see the other listeners hidden in the night leaning in to the side to pass whispers to each other while holding their positions. The two-group pairs that were assigned as partners hardly interacted with the others, although the gossip and controversy occasionally left the pairs and spread to the others.
Pein turned back for a moment and continued.
"Then it wasn't the Three-Tailed Turtle."
"Well?"
"What do you want me to say? The only other kunoichi that has a Bijuu besides Yugito Nii had seven tails, and she's dead."
Sasori turned away to gaze to the side, putting his index finger and thumb on his chin in a thinking pose. If the only two kunoichi are out of the question, then what in the hell did he just fight? In total there were of course nine demons, but maybe one may have been hiding in such secret that even their organization hadn't pinned it. If that were the case…
"Excuse me for thinking this, but…" Sasori raised his head. "What would happen…if there were actual ten Bijuu? Ten vessels?"
Most everyone else chuckled silently in the background at the sudden, preposterous notion. Since ancient times, the belief that there were nine great demons roaming the earth had been embraced by humanity, and here this puppeteer places something as impractical as a tenth?
His superior looked at him with a fierce eye. "…What?" He sneered from under his breath.
"I realize that what I propose sounds silly and unreasonable, but in my years of hunting ninja, I haven't seen anything quite like her. If anything, especially a demon, were to hide in the world since time immemorial, then it would be something stronger and smarter than the Nine-Tailed Fox – more careful not to be found, and spending more of its time observing the mistakes that the other Tailed Beasts have made. Look, Zetsu would show you. You recorded it, right Zetsu?" He asked, finding himself getting increasingly desperate with trying to prove to Pein that the girl was in fact a jinchuuriki.
Pein cut him off from getting his answer from the taller Grass nin.
"Even if you believe yourself, you still find that it's just another dead end. One of those loopholes. After the hundredth passing through, you get tired."
"Actually, Leader-sama," Someone started from behind the two. They quickly turned to face a smirking Deidara. "I rather enjoy the theory that my partner is proposing. If I capture this 'demon girl' that even Sasori no Danna could not, then that shall prove for certain that my artistic capabilities are the only true answer. Beauty will, after all, outdo a stale eternity."
Sasori hung his head in complete annoyance. For a second there, he actually thought that his younger partner was vouching for him. What a mistake.
"Deidara, don't get too ahead of yourself just for me…" He muttered.
"No, we will take her." Kakuzu insisted. "Time is money, and money is not something that should be wasted."
Deidara's jaw dropped. "You already took mine, you prick, un!"
"I am the designated Treasurer of Akatsuki. I have been turning criminals and bounties in for funding to this organization before you were growing inside of your mother. I really think you should leave this to my partner and me."
"No, leave this to my partner and me – the real professionals. Profession extends to greater heights than simple mathematics in counting and collecting yen." Kisame protested.
"Ahahahaha!! You got screwed on that one, Kakuzu!" The shrubs shouted up to the older nin. He angrily snapped his head down at it and his eyes gleamed with intense heat.
"Would you like to spend the rest of your immortal life with a gigantic tree growing out of your skull, Hidan?" He sneered, threatening to leave his partner's head were it laid.
There was a loud growl coming up from the sandy bush that used to be ferns. Nevertheless, the silver-haired cultivist was quick to hush up. As much as they hated each other, Kakuzu hated him even more.
Recognizing the appeasing absence of shit coming out of his partner's mouth, he turned back to rejoin the discussion.
"All of you stay out of this. Orochimaru was my partner!" Sasori clarified sternly.
Pein could feel his patience dwindle. Holding a hand to his face, he actively rubbed both of his eyes wearily. They were fighting. They were fighting over a girl. They have a real taste for gold. Whatever happened to the Nine-Tailed Fox that they were just discussing the weeks before?
"Maybe I could tell her jokes!" Tobi volunteered, prancing up and down like a deer that didn't know how to move forward. It slowly screeched to a halt at the enter field staring at him. "To, um…distract her, of course…while Deidara-sempai captures her!"
"This is ridiculous!" Pein shouted in fumes. "We'll have no more of this petty dribble on the unfounded possibility of a tenth Bijuu! Now before we continue, is there any other mythical creature that our chakra-weaving friend here would like to recommend? How about it, Sasori?" He nearly hissed.
The human-puppet looked at him with rough eyes. Difficulty-being time. "No sir, nothing."
"What? Come now. …How about the Sixty-Tailed Beaver?"
Sasori clenched his teeth together. "…No sir, but if I may be so bold, when you said 'mythical' creatures, I would just like to point out that Nine-Tailed Foxes don't necessarily ravage the countryside with their exuberant population."
"Nor do the Sixty-Tailed Beavers."
Sasori hung his head and held his hand up to it. "Ohhh…Christ." He mumbled.
"Jashin!" Hidan shouted up at him from his floral resting spot, intending on correcting him.
"Is a Canaanite religion, Hidan!!" Sasori slammed back at him in response.
"NoOoOoOoOo…!" His voice responded in almost a muffle.
"I've had enough of this." Sasori proclaimed to Pein. "Obviously I can't convince you to see things in my direction. Perhaps the recording that Zetsu has will change your mind. But for now, I'm gone."
He turned away from his superior and began walking his own bath towards Otogakure with the full intent of meeting that strange girl again. Pein cringed through the projection jutsu at the sight of him leaving without permission.
"Sasori!!" He shouted with violence in his tone, demanding his attention.
Sasori stopped. Without turning around or speaking, he just stood there, waiting. Pein spent the next half minute glaring at the redhead's backside, seeing for sure that he wouldn't do anything else.
Between the tense positions in the middle of the entire organization, Pein didn't feel like getting any cold shoulders today.
"You will stay until I dismiss you from a meeting. Is that well understood?" He asked, his voice cold and reeking of bitterness.
Sasori's lazy gaze followed onward towards the north, where he knew a fresh prize was waiting in his former partner's village of Oto. He did not feel like waiting any longer, but he really didn't want to risk becoming a hated enemy of Akatsuki. Nobody really comes back after becoming something like that. In all likelihood, don't piss off someone who is renowned as a god.
Sasori turning slowly back to stare at him with unmoved eyes. "Well it looks like you've finally realized…" He said with marks of amusement.
Pein crossed his arms and lifted an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"
"You've realized…that Akasuna no Sasori is in fact the epitome of pride."
The others looked at him with expressions that seemed to question what he was saying about himself. And he confirmed them all with a blank expression.
"But it's not, as you say, a bad thing. Sometimes the only way to get anything done around here is by being proud. You should be thankful that I care so much."
"To some extent you may be correct, but not if it leads down a false path, or your own destruction."
"Destruction? I've kept this young for over twenty years. What worries you about me so?"
"I don't worry about you. I don't even care if you die…"
The redhead's expression remained unmoved. He didn't care? That's something new. Over past years, members and subordinates had come and gone, some a lot more quickly than others, and nobody had ever seen the mysterious leader so much as bat an eye over it. But that's something that Sasori admired about him. It's one of the reasons why he respected him, and why he accepts him as the only person that he serves under. People…they're nothing more than walking flesh. Bodies used for recycling, renewing, and improving. The wonderful philosophy that he had brought from Suna – the knowledge that humans are imperfect, and that they come with him to reach the perfection that he craves. It's just a hobby that he has, even though not everyone thinks so highly about it.
"…I don't want anything bad to happen to this organization on your account." Then Pein blinked once in surprise. It's interesting that he found he was not giving this lecture to Tobi or Hidan, both of whom constantly required it. Being rash or overactive will see Akatsuki swept off of the world forever.
Sasori closed his eyes and nodded.
"Agreed…I also have a spy already up there working as one of Orochimaru's underlings…so if you'll pardon me…" He purposely dragged on, gesturing towards his intended destination with his arm. He was anticipating an answer.
His superior thought for a moment. Every now and then he would turn his head to glance at Kisame grinning with killer intent holding that monstrous sword over his shoulder, or Kakuzu outside of his seal position, busy sewing his partner's head back in place. He could see Kakuzu cringing through the open part of his mask, no doubt feeling like this was the fifth time this week that he had to put Hidan's cap back on.
Finally, he turned back to Sasori, who had his arms crossed, and an indifferent expression, although he really was trying with all of his might not to make an outburst and perhaps a mad dash for the other direction.
"If you really think your goal is there, then just remember that Orochimaru owns that place. You aren't walking into any low-budget town short on security. You can't take anyone else with you, or you're guaranteed to raise suspicion. Now get the hell out of here, before I decide do unto you what I just got finished doing unto him." He pointed in Hidan's direction, whose head was still half detached from his shoulders. The other half was creeping with laces that Kakuzu produced. They slithered through and through again in his esophagus like a living worm, mending the skin together.
Hidan's slender eyebrows furrowed as he winced in pain. "Ow, ow! Careful, dammit!" He shouted at his partner, who was kneeling over him for the treatment of his wound. A deadpanned gaze was his answer. "I'm not the only one who failed this fucking mission, so why's it that I'm the only one that gets the blade??" He spat out his anger again.
"Right then. I'll go. See you all in a few." Sasori didn't give a specific unit for how long he would be gone. Could be days, weeks, or months. First he needed to earn the snake's trust somehow. He would work out the kinks on the way there.
While he turned around to walk down the hill padded with sand to pay Orochimaru and his pet a little visit, Pein turned back to the two other occupied shinobi. He stared at them for a long time. He stared, and he stared, and he stared. Sensing this, two heads jerked up and sweat-dropped. Kakuzu had just finished poking the tail end of his living lace through the nub of Hidan's neck by the time both of them heard this small inhaling sound.
Both of their eyes widened at the sight of Pein puffing in his chest, inhaling air through his nostrils for an incredibly long period of time. Something told them that old Leader-sama was about to give them both a crippling status with his voice.
When Pein finally stopped, he let out this really slow, really low voice directed at the two of them.
"YOOOUUUU TWOOOOO…WERE SUPPOSED TO BE IN KONOHAAAAAA…" Another incredibly long inhale followed up. "…IN DISGUISE…" Another extremely deep breath. "…MAKING SURE…THAT NOBODY…" The immortal duo's eyes were bugging out in fear. "INTERFEEEEEEEEEERED!!"
Kakuzu and Hidan were almost blown off the ground while Itachi, Kisame, and Zetsu stood calmly to the side watching. Tobi, who wasn't particularly interested in what was planned for the pair, bolted off the other direction, trailing dust.
"Peace! Uncle! Charity!"
"So…I have something especially entertaining planned for you two." Pein's gray swirled eyes lit up in an even darker shadow of the projection cast over his upper face.
"Pein? Pein, was that you I heard shout?" Everyone's attention sprung alive at the recognition of the beautiful, feminine voice from the other side, even if the static of the jutsu did falter it a bit. Only one person in this organization was allowed to call the leader by his name.
They watched him instantly freeze up, caught off guard before quickly spinning to the side to look at an invisible person to everyone else.
"I apologize. Konan. I didn't mean to interrupt your rest."
There was a pause for a minute. Everyone stood still waiting for a response from the woman that they hardly ever talked to, even during a gathering, let alone ever actually seen in person.
"Just ease up for me okay? Take a deep breath." The soft voice buzzed through the jutsu again. It sounded tired.
Pein complied. He let his unique eyes slip closed for a moment as he took breaths not out of total anger or frustration, and resumed.
"I feel better now." He quickly stated.
"Good."
He quickly turned back and stared for a moment longer at the remaining people gawking at him. There was another awkward long pause while the members exchanged glances among each other. Honestly for Konan to speak to him like that in front of the others was nothing short of embarrassment for him.
"…I almost forgot what Konan looked like…un." Deidara squeezed out slowly with a weary glance. "I swear, she only talks to you."
"It's – ahem!" He cleared his throat, being careful not to stutter. Great speakers don't stutter. "It is because I am the leader. All of you must report to me, often directly."
It was Hidan's turn. "…Well what the hell was she reporting? Towel usage…?"
Pein snapped his head towards him. "Don't dig your grave deeper than it already is."
Kakuzu, realizing that the words were ripped from his mouth, just kept silent.
"I suppose in a way, we haven't failed this mission…not truly. Remember what we seek. What 'Akatsuki' seeks. There are too many members here to completely conceal our presence. We run these countries, the whole world, through the checkpoints that we have all across the land. In order to keep them alive and active, we must send spies in to check them constantly. If they found out about this…humiliation, then they would instantly lose all respect for Akatsuki. I am deploying Kisame to check in with all outposts that we have established and rightfully own in the east."
"Well, well, heheheh…where'll I be headed?" Kisame asked.
"Your territory is the Land of the Sea. As I recall, you were once mayor of a small town there. Why don't you pay it a visit?"
Kisame fully exposed all of his sharp teeth in a white, lengthy smile. He remembered the name. It relied on Water Country ninja for the protection of its ports. Now that he really thinks about it, it'd be interesting to go there again and check on proceedings. He had actually heard a rumor while he was in the east that its waters were being terrorized by a sea monster. "Take a vacation…? Never thought of that one, hmhm…I'm sure they'll be just as happy to see me as I'll be to see them."
"Everyone else must act quickly in getting Kyuubi out of the Hidden Leaf Village. I deploy Itachi, Kakuzu, Hidan, and Zetsu. Tobi can go too."
On cue of his name, a head randomly popped out from behind a dune of sand.
"Remember about that genjutsu." Pein reminded Kakuzu, warning him about Gaara. "Honestly that couldn't be more perfect. We'll extract the Bijuu later, when everything is not at risk. Now Deidara will check in between you five and Sasori, since he has the most convenient method of transportation."
"Hai." Deidara responded, preparing to mount his giant clay bird once more.
"A second mistake won't fly by so easily. You're lucky that Konan was here to hold me back. Very lucky indeed. If you go getting yourselves too deep, don't think that I'll be sending her to come to your rescue. It is for the very best that you don't get together in extremely big groups while you're in Konoha. They already know who Itachi is."
He turned around, preparing to cancel off the jutsu, but Itachi asked him one last thing in his low monotone.
"What should we do if the Leaf's shinobi interfere with his capture again?"
Pein spared one last glance over his shoulder. He remembered Itachi and Kisame report about their last skirmish with Konoha's finest.
"…Show them a proper Akatsuki greeting."
With that, the jutsu buzzed with static and dissipated into the air. Their leader was gone, leaving behind six members wearing identical apparel standing around, smirking with cold, new-founded amusement.
Even Itachi.
She was getting close. She didn't know exactly how far, but she was getting close.
The constant jumping and sprinting from the Valley of End was enough to wear even an ANBU officer down, but she knew that she had to keep it up. Speeding past a cave that she distinctively remembered passing on the way, she dashed up to a row of tall trees. Wasting no time to focus chakra into her feet, she shot up through one tree, and out several others, breaking many of the smaller branches to get up. She was getting desperate.
She was the kind of person who wasn't quick to give up on anything that involved her loved ones. Even if that meant staring death in the face, she would do anything that it took to protect them. People would laugh at that trait since she was a woman and didn't look particularly very threatening, but she could fight. ANBU positions aren't given to just anyone. In Konoha, any scum on the street who sees a person, male or female, in gray armor wearing an animal-shaped mask knew when it was time to clear out. Of course it was usually too late for them to make an escape.
Yugao kept her ceremonial mask on; it served as decent protection against the jagged twigs in the trees, but it was getting increasingly hard to breathe in. She didn't want to have to take it off. Coming this far, the enemy could be anywhere, and the moment she gives them a chance to see her face could very well be something to regret later, should she even have any hope whatsoever of surviving the end of her current endeavor.
Even though she was a naturally quiet person, many thoughts ran through her head even while she made her way towards the green landscape.
Hayate…
She didn't want anything to happen to him. She wanted to be there for him. To protect him. Since Tsunade had let her know first hand that he wasn't actually killed by the Sand's shinobi, she had desperately been trying to find out who ever since then. And all sources point to Akatsuki. She knew that much, and now she only needed to figure out which member.
She felt that an answer was quickly coming to her.
She leapt off of the last tree, onto her feet again, and dashed with her arms extended to the sides. She immediately spotted a particularly peculiar area within the wide open field. From her distance it was splotched with brown, like a scab on the green grass. Taking her bets, she stopped where she was.
Briefly pulling her mask back to catch her breath and get a better look, she spotted somebody in the middle of the brown land, sitting on…something.
Realizing that there was now nowhere to hide from whoever it was, friend or foe, she took another deep breath and carefully took steps forward, hoping that her breath would catch up to her by the time she got close enough to actually see who…or what she was dealing with.
"Hokage-sama. You wanted to see me?" Izumo, one of Tsunade's personal assistance asked her from the doorway, peering out from around the corner.
The Sannin turned her head away from the wide window that covered the entire back wall of her office. She had been looking down at the village for a while now, not able to do much about the battles that she knew were raging outside but send the team of elite jounin out and hope for a fulfilling resolution.
Hope for it.
"I'm glad that you came, Izumo." She said to him. She then walked over to the piles of paperwork on her desktop and ran her fingernail through the neatly organized pages, every so often plucking a few selected pages out carefully without trying to make too big of a mess. She knew that the matter was urgent, but making a mess in her office would pose as a threat if she had to document things and send them out to the villages in the other countries with haste, should the Akatsuki choose to eventually attack Konoha. Even though some of the villages were enemies, or mercenaries of enemies, Konoha was still allied with a few others, including the fairly recent alliance with Suna. Those were the ones that would get the delegations.
As soon as Tsunade got the hint that Akatsuki might possibly be acting, she had already made the preparations for a political meeting, one that she had hoped would at least halt their operations for a few more years – decades if lucky. But she never would have expected the Akatsuki to act so…directly.
One of the best when it came to organizing the messenger hawks correctly had to be Izumo. He always had a strong care about his job and how it was carried out, so he was at times even more reliable than Shizune.
Spreading the delegation sheets onto the table, Tsunade swiftly took the stamp press from out of its inkwell and neatly pressed down hard near the corner of each one. She would have one delegation go out to Sunagakure, two to Kirigakure, one to Getsugakure.
Some of the other villages that weren't enemies would have been possible, but Yugakure wanted nothing to do with war, Takumi Village bears a strong grudge against the Five Great Shinobi Nations, and Hoshigakure, as well as Yukigakure are heavily secluded, and not much is known about them. Involving them with Akatsuki would have done little good anyways. Since they are lesser villages, the odds that they would gain much ground with their shinobi or politics were questionable. Best just to leave the quiet ones be.
Really there were only three reliable nations, although Kumogakure had actually crossed Tsunade's mind once or twice. But they were currently looking after two jinchuuriki, and she wasn't too sure if it was worth the risk. If Akatsuki discovered them, then that's chalking two up for the Visitor team.
She took a deep breath. This should be fine for now.
"I need you to deliver these to their assigned villages. This is classified and top priority, understand?" She asked, looking him straight in the eye.
The young man gave her a slightly worried face, but nodded to her.
"Now don't speak to anyone, don't even make eye contact with anyone on your way to the messenger hawks."
As soon as she handed him the documents, he instantly disappeared in a poof of smoke from her office, leaving her to lean back against her chair. What she would give for a drink.
Suddenly, Shizune burst in making her spring up out of her chair from her relaxing state of mind. Her assistant looked extremely happy, or relieved about something.
"Lady Tsunade! You're not gonna believe this! Akimichi Chouji and Hyuuga Neji were found around the wilderness! They're unconscious, but they're alive!"
A smile started across the Hokage's face. Thank goodness the retrieval squad wasn't completely crushed. "Is that so?"
"Yeah! The scouts say that Neji was limping back on his own for a minute, but just collapsed from exhaustion, they think."
Her superior leaned forward and clasped her hands together, her elbows leaning on the desk. "Well they have had a pretty trying day."
"Uh-huh!" Shizune had to agree. Coming back from something like that was almost legendary for a group of genin.
"Also, Inuzuka Kiba was helped back to the village by that weird puppet kid, you know, the one that belongs to the Sand?" Shizune's optimistic face quickly faded. "…But they have yet to find Shikamaru…"
Tsunade closed her eyes. Then opened.
"Seems to me that they'll just have to keep looking. Any information on Naruto?"
Her assistant nodded.
"He was picked up by the jounin squad that you sent out. Actually, they should be arriving any minute now."
That was exactly what Tsunade wanted to hear. If the Akatsuki dug their way to Naruto, then they would have the most powerful monster of the nine. Not to mention she kind of looked to Naruto as a grandson, the little runt. But Tsunade had put full faith in Kakashi, and that, she agreed, was trust well spent.
Getting up from her desk littered with paperwork, she smiled at the surprisingly fortunate turns of events.
"I think I'll go to the hospital and see what I can do to help treat them. They may not be dead, but you never know what kind of infections could come from those scratches." She proclaimed sarcastically, heading towards the doorway.
Shizune laughed.
Tsunade smiled back. "Come get me if anything happens."
It was still dark.
Sasori kicked up a small remaining ligament, probably belonging to a limb of his once-fearsome Hiruko skin. What a mess that girl had made.
He was back at the area where he had first fought with her. He came back for a reason.
He found the inside of the clearing surrounded by trees, some of them still uprooted by Tayuya's chakra, probably never to stand up right again. Walking over near the craters that she had made, something familiar caught the corner of his eye.
He ambled slowly over to it and slowly bent down to examine it. He saw the remains of Hiruko's head, half buried in the ground. It was missing its eye, and much of its teeth. Cracks went up and down all over the side of its skull.
Gently, Sasori tried to pull it out with both hands, and succeeded, although the suddenness had caused the head to crumble even more. He examined it closely in his hands. The other side was almost completely gone, with all of the wood peeled away. It looked even more horrifying than it did when it was in its best shape. Even without eyes, he could still feel it glaring at him from out of the dark, ruined sockets.
'It's gonna be an interesting Christmas this year…'
He took it under his arm and carried it that way while he changed courses, ambling slowly towards the group of shinobi that he and Orochimaru had both left laying there. They were still there, alright. The elite group of Sound ninjas that dressed almost identical to Orochimaru, as well as the two unconscious jounin that he had told his leader about. They wore darker clothing and wraps than the four younger veterans, but they also had those strange purple knot belts that his former partner now likes to wear.
He approached the three people that he was already familiar with. They were still twisted together in a pile, quite uncomfortable. The technique that he wove onto them wasn't completely gone, but the chakra was barely visible. It had already gone through its violet period, and was now the color of the normal, light blue chakra. The static and strings looked just like the ones that came out through a puppeteer's fingertips while they controlled their puppets.
Something caught his eye, away in the distance. The moonlight reflected off of something shiny. Turning his attention on that, he walked slowly up to two thin bars of metal lying on the ground. The girl's flute.
He reached down slowly towards the pieces of the broken instrument, but something else caught his attention, so he stood back up tall again. His eyes thoroughly searched the woods around him, much darker since it was night. But he knew who it was. Of course he wouldn't shake him so easily for the time being.
"Come out, Deidara. Don't hide from your seniors." He called out, his charming voice echoing to the trees.
A distinctive laugh followed, echoing out from the trees, and very soon, a familiar blond-haired man slowly emerged from the shadows with his arms crossed, impressed that he knew it was him. Then again, that was a lousy thing to be impressed for. Since he was pretty sure Sasori was stronger than him, there should be hardly any limits to what he could do.
Deidara had his casual smirk on his face, walking out to him.
Sasori was left to guess that his bird was probably well concealed somewhere in the trees, because if he had been waiting, then there's no way he could have gotten here before he did.
"My, my…" His partner started, surveying the destruction that was once part of Konoha Forest. "Now I'm really, really anxious to view that data that Zetsu has, un."
Sasori answered him with a quiet, unreadable face.
"Just came here to let you know," he continued, knowing that his partner wasn't likely to answer back. "This village is…rather more dangerous than the others for us. The second you fail, you will give me my opportunity. I look forward to seeing which of us will walk away with Orochimaru's head, and which one of us will walk away with the jinchuuriki."
"And just what makes you think I'll fail, Deidara?" Sasori asked, curious to know why his younger partner was jibbing like this.
The other man shrugged. "…Nothing, really. I just thought I'd let you know that you're not the only one playing the game, yeah. And I don't want you leaving that village with a certain special new ladyfriend, hm." He joked.
Sasori raised his eyebrows. "Do you have…any idea how old she is? Do you have…any idea how old I am?" He asked, building an imaginary scale between ages for Deidara.
They looked at each other for a long time, neither one willing to blink. In this organization, and probably most villages everywhere else, blinking more frequently meant that you were the more nervous.
"While you're here, I guess I could use an escort to the village walls. Oto isn't far." A long arm reached out draped in the sleeve of his uniform. "That way." He pointed a colored fingernail between two trees.
"Let's make some…preparations first, before venturing further."
His partner watched as he quickly snatched up the two metal pieces basked in white light. Both parts of the shaft were long enough to point with. So, while holding one piece per hand, Sasori pointed half of the flute at his partner, who grimaced.
"Parts of her flute. It broke. Sad, huh?"
"Orochimaru must be slipping in his selections. He's got a lame sense of art."
Sasori set the flute down at his side and pulled a long scroll out of his back. Setting it on his other side, he spread it out, revealing the characters for something special. An outfit was already sealed inside for a disguise. He was so happy that he would finally get to use it. After constantly wearing the same thing, he had been looking for an excuse to change styles.
"Catch." He suddenly called over to the former Rock ninja.
His partner didn't know what to expect, but he instinctively held his arms out.
Sasori pulled something out from under his arm and lobbed it over to him. When it landed in Deidara's hands, the first things that he saw were the eyeless glare and a horrendous smile of ruined teeth.
"NANI!" He shouted, nearly falling on his back out of grief. "Sasori no Danna! That just isn't fair!" He complained outrageously.
"Just hold it for me. It's a head. It won't bite so long as you don't stick your fingers in its mouth."
While his clearly creeped-out partner turned the head that he was holding to evade its ugly face, Sasori continued his proceedings over to the piled ninja he had left. The first on he saw was Sakon. The silver-haired shinobi's head was still hung down, his long bangs covering his face. Sasori knelt over and grabbed him firmly by the hair, pushing his head up so he could see his face. He looked miserable. His skin was pale, and there was dirt and scratches on various parts. He looked pathetic enough when he came in between the girl and him with such big wounds.
Letting go of the kid's hair and letting his head drop back down, he looked over the others. There was no way that he would be able to carry all of them back to Oto by himself. Especially the really big guy.
"I'll need to get Orochimaru to accept me into his village. I can't simply go sneaking around the whole time. Give me a hand with delivering these three, won't you?"
"But, Master--!"
"Stop calling me 'Buttmaster'."
"…un…"
He got up and quickly moved over to the other two unconscious jounin. He stopped right in front of the two motionless bodies and gazed quietly down.
"I may also…have a use for you two as well." He murmured.
He pulled out his prized pocket watch to again check the time.
'3:26.'
Then he looked up beyond the trees, and into the night sky. Otogakure wasn't far. Not at all. If Orochimaru would leave his village, then it would have to be somewhere nearby. He knew that somewhere behind those walls, that girl was in there, still unconscious. Recovering.
Waiting.
Sasori cringed at the thought of making somebody else wait. Time to get to work.
He took a light step forward to the two unconscious bodies in front, and knelt down over them. It was astounding what useful resources that Orochimaru would just…leave lying around.