A/N: For once I have nothing to say... Except that those reading this are fantastic~

Warning: Language, violence, gore, anything else you find need ones.

^v^

"I assure you that our members are of the highest profession," Pein said as they approached the metal door on the lowest underground level of their base. He grasped the doorknob. "They're all equally skilled in intellect and strength, so don't be fooled by appearances," he swung the door open just in time for him and the two behind him to see Hidan let out a roar of anger and flip the circular table they had been sitting at towards Kakuzu in a furious rage.

Kakuzu calmly dodged as a flurry of cards fluttered around the group of six in the room. "It's just a game Hidan," he said.

"Seriously." Sasori sat back and stared at the silver-haired man. "You almost took my out eye."

Hidan flipped him off with a sneer. "Bite me bitch."

Pein looked over his shoulder with a sheepish chuckle. "They're just messing around," he said to a slightly horrified blonde. He coughed before straightening his back and striding into the room with the imposing air of a leader. Immediately all eyes went to him. "Glad to see you've all entertained yourselves in my absence. As your leader-"

"Hey fucker!" Hidan cheerfully greeted, setting the table back up.

"It took quite a while for you to get down here," Konan commented, helping Kakuzu and Kisame pick up the scattered cards.

"He probably got lost," Sasori uninterestedly said, getting out of his chair in the otherwise barren room. He made a beeline for the bags of food Zetsu brought down that had been set on the countertop while they waited for their leader. "Now that Pein's here, we can finally eat."

"I know right?" Hidan shouted, handing a card to Kakuzu who was stashing the deck in his pocket. "I'm fucking starving!"

"When are you not?" Kisame asked, plopping down in his chair once more. "Sasori hurry and bring the food over!"

"Shut up," Sasori said, looking through the bags. "Let's see… tonight Itachi brought a nice variety of burgers and fries. Hooray. We can all get fat and die of heartburn now," he dryly said.

"Fuck you!" Hidan yelled. "I like my burgers and fries!"

"Is there anything else?" Konan questioned.

Itachi rolled his eyes from the doorway which he had yet to get through because of Deidara who refused to take a step into the room. "I got you a salad with tuna and tomatoes Sasori," he said from around Deidara's hair. "And Konan, I bought sushi from a separate store. That's why I took so long."

The group glanced towards the doorway, uttering their thanks before looking away. Only to do a double-take and whip their heads back around to stare at the foreign teen in their midst.

"Itachi?" Kisame warily asked. "Did you dye your hair?"

"And get contacts?" Kakuzu added in question.

Itachi sighed in annoyance, stepping out from behind Deidara to push his way into the room. "No."

Hidan rudely pointed a finger. "Then who the FUCK is that?"

Deidara glared at the finger and contemplated ripping it off. "I'm Iwa Deidara baka," he sneered. "Don't forget it so easily yeah."

Hidan gaped.

"Seeing how you all forgot about me standing right here," Pein said from the center of the room, "I would now like to introduce you to our newest addition to the squad, since your attention has been gathered towards me for once."

"New addition?" Kakuzu raised both brows.

Kisame looked the scowling blonde teen up and down, toothily grinning. "Spunky."

"I didn't know about this," Konan said, accusingly staring at her leader. She was practically co-leader in the force.

"I was unsure up until recently," Pein replied in an apologetic tone. He looked at the others. "The point is, Deidara is now one of us, and I expect you all to treat him so. Sasori-"

The redhead looked at him.

"-I expect you to watch after your new partner. Show him the ropes, kapeesh?"

Sasori hummed in the back of his throat, gazing at Deidara with something akin to boredom. "Understood."

Deidara felt a nerve pull at the dismissive way Sasori had looked at him. What a jerk. But still not as much of a jerk as Itachi! he fiercely thought to reinstate his feeling of dislike towards the raven.

As if reading his mind, the Uchiha glanced at him and then looked away with a large smirk.

Deidara's fingers clenched and unclenched, almost frothing at the mouth. Bastard!

Pein waved for Deidara to step inside and shut the door behind him. "I'll now give you a formal introduction of everyone here," he told the blonde.

Deidara carefully shut the metal door as if expecting it to lock and trap him inside forever, feeling the stares of everyone his back. If he wasn't freaked out before, he most certainly was now. But he put on his poker face, giving Pein a short nod of his head.

Pein proceeded to go around the room in a clockwise order, starting with himself. "I am Nagato Pein. I'm the leader of the force, in charge of negotiations with the upper authorities and our communications. I make sure this squad remains up and running. Over there is Konan. She is co-captain and works undercover in the black market as one of the night city's dealers, giving us information on up and coming mischief makers."

Konan smiled at Deidara. "Nice to meet you."

"Next is Hidan. He specializes in offensive raids and interrogation," Pein said, looking at the silver-haired man. "Quite the dangerous person to run into during the night."

Hidan saluted at the blonde with two fingers. "Welcome aboard fuckin' punk."

"Beside him is Kakuzu. He's our medic and forensics worker."

Kakuzu grunted in greeting.

Pein turned to the side to wave at the next two. "Kisame and Zetsu. Kisame specializes in naval attacks at the docks and port for ships carrying in and works with Hidan on raids on occasion. Zetsu is our…scout, you could say. His skill lies in infiltration and incognito. Be careful, he has a tendency to appear out of thin air."

Kisame grinned. "Howdy."

"It's good to have you here," Zetsu said with a slight nod. "Hooray! Another fucker to mess with!"

Deidara blinked, looking at Pein for an answer.

Pein sighed. "He's also schizophrenic. But you'll get used to it." He held a hand towards Sasori and Itachi. "Finally we have Akasuna Sasori and Uchiha Itachi. Sasori is a blacksmith of sorts- he creates and fixes the weapons we use if they get damaged in a fight. He's a close-range fighter who uses a variety of weapons. And then we have Itachi."

Deidara's nose scrunched up at the name.

Itachi saw and rolled his eyes.

Pein sweatdropped. "A skilled fighter in his own right, but specializes in psychological attacks on the brain. He's very good at psyching out the opponent," he said with a smile.

"Try not to fall behind," Sasori said, picking at his salad.

"I look forward to seeing what else you can do," Itachi kindly said, though his eyes said differently.

Deidara resisted the urge to stick his tongue out, instead scanning the room filled with waiting glances towards him. He then realized he was supposed to introduce himself too. "Right… My name is Iwa Deidara. I make bombs and have pretty wicked aim with firearms. I'm not much for sitting around yeah, but if I have to, I'll do it. But…it's nice to meet you." He lowered his head.

Pein and the others bowed slightly. "Nice to meet you," they chimed.

"And now," Pein straightened up, walking over to give Deidara a seat at their circular table now stacked with food. "We'll eat and then get to your induction," he told the blonde.

Deidara didn't miss the way several force members stiffened and cast him sympathetic looks, Hidan sadistically grinning before absently biting into his burger. It must be one wild induction… Kami-sama help me. He couldn't help but smirk.

It sounded like a helluva lot of fun.

~X~

Pein and Deidara walked side-by-side through a darkened corridor on the second sub ground floor. Behind them they could hear the chatter from the other force members, all in a better mood now that they had eaten food and were going to do an induction mission.

"Although I'm glad you've agreed to join us," Pein suddenly struck up conversation, "I'm curious as to what your reasoning is."

Deidara shrugged, hands in his midriff pockets. "It gives me some excitement to my life. And a- a purpose. Let's just leave it at that yeah?"

"Respected," Pein nodded.

As implied, after eating Sasori had taken Deidara to a bedroom next to his and told him that it would be his room. It had a twin bed, window with no way of being opened underground, a desk with supplies, swivel chair, and walk in closet. The room itself was fairly large, with a wooden floor and white walls. But Deidara promised to change that soon enough.

Heeding Itachi's earlier advice to change clothes for his induction, he had rifled through the closet to find a pair of baggy green kapris, beige belt and white muscle shirt. He had no idea where he was going so he had thrown a light blue, hooded and short-sleeved jacket overtop. His boots had been exchanged for casual running sneakers, although he kept his fingerless gloves on. And for the time being, he had pulled half of his hair into a ponytail. If he let it out, he was bound to get more knots. Deidara didn't doubt that was the same reason why Itachi had his own hair tied back.

"Pein," Deidara said after they had walked along in a companionable silence. "I brought a few things along with me. Is that okay un?"

Pein smiled at him. "It's perfectly fine. You'll find that a majority of us bring our own items along to use. On top of that, everyone who goes into the induction receives a gun."

"A gun? What for yeah?" Deidara actually looked startled. If he was going to be having holes shot into his body…

"Don't be alarmed," Pein chuckled, directing him into the room packed with computers and surveillance cameras. "You'll be perfectly fine."

Deidara looked at the fancy machinery and flashing lights with a raised brow. "Where do you even get this stuff?"

Pein walked over to a screen, sitting down in a swivel chair and typing the password into the computer. "I told you I'm rich," he stated. "The authorities pay a more than generous amount for the work we do during the night."

"How could I forget?" Deidara skeptically asked as Konan came over and grabbed him by the elbow.

"Follow me," she said as the other force members came strode past the room.

Deidara followed obediently. "Where are we going un?"

Konan led him to a room across the hall where everyone else had gathered. It was filled with metal chairs with steel headsets. The others were already sitting in their designated chairs, a few gazes traveling to Deidara and Konan in mild interest before they engaged in their own conversations.

Konan steered the blonde to an empty chair closest to the door. "This will be your chair to use forever more and then some," she pushed him into it with a smile. "Using these, we can put ourselves into a virtual world of whoever's choice. It depends on who's working the controls, and right now it's Pein. Put on the headset like everyone else," she instructed, sitting in the seat next to him.

Deidara did as he was told, eyeing the headset as if it were a hidden explosive before sliding over his face and shielding his eyes from sight. "Um…Am I supposed to not be able to see?" he questioned.

Konan's laughter rang out beside him. "Yeah. That means you put it on correctly. You did better than Hidan on his first try."

"Fuck you bitch!" Hidan shouted from somewhere farther into the room.

"Are you all in position?" Pein's voice echoed from above them.

A chorus of , "Hai", went around the area.

Deidara merely sat there, trying to figure out how exactly Pein was talking to them. He probably has an intercom or something hmm. I wouldn't be all that surprised.

"And yes, I am using an intercom," Pein felt the need to inform them all.

Deidara raised a brow. What a lucky guess.

"Deidara, while you're set up in this system I can hear your thoughts," Pein said with a sigh.

The teen felt his cheeks heat up at the snickers coming from the others. Whoops.

"Alright." Pein pressed the red button, speaking over the intercom to the blonde as he did so. "I'm about to send you guys through. The goal is to not get devirtualized by the other force members, which they can do with their guns."

Oh. I see… that's why he's giving us a gun, Deidara mildly thought.

"Try to last as long as possible. I want to judge your skills for myself," Pein said in an amused tone of voice. "Good luck, Iwa Deidara. See you when you get back."

The last thing Deidara saw was being warped into a sea of colors at lightning speed.