A/N: Make sure to reread the beginning of chapter one. I fixed a major problem I didn't quite understand I had at first, so the first half has changed.
I love all of you. I've have been totally obsessing over where people have been reading this story. From the US, all the way over to Saudi Arabia, and even to Mauritius, you guys are amazing. I hope you all are enjoying this as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I have a lot of spare time, right now so that's why I am updating so frequently. My next semester doesn't start till the 22nd.
Obviously this story is AU. Certain things have been revealed, such as four of the five titan shifters, and Reiner and Bertolt have disappeared. Annie is still in her crystal and the last shifter is still a mystery.
This chapter is a bit more fast paced and has more of what you would expect Sasori to do.
Per usual: I don't own either Naruto or SnK. Only this story.
Chapter 3:
Sasori was actually excited for something other than his puppets or poisons, and he was excited by the game with the Commander. Erwin was good, but now he was overconfident. He loved the fact that they thought he was leashed by a seal, which didn't actually do anything but grow and emit small bouts of electricity on command and to be honest it felt almost like a massage. Poor things actually thought it worked and a little acting never hurt a shinobi before but it certainly helped his goals. The puppet master wondered if Erwin would ever catch on to that little bit. Most likely not, but he wouldn't underestimate the man. He would have to be careful because he needed that ploy to work. This wasn't the first time he played an obedient subordinate after all and he was leashed to the man through an idea. Erwin played his hand way too early and now Sasori had everything he needed. He scoffed 'Safe here indeed. What a fucking jackass.'
"I apologize for making you wait. The Commander needed to speak with me for a moment." He said to Levi as he approached the man. Levi just mumbled something under his breath and just motioned for him to follow. The sun was just starting to rise when they arrived at a clearing before one of the large forests, and the 3DMG equipment was out and ready for use.
"Due to your profession, I am going to assume that you'll be able to balance just fine. If you don't, then try not to be noticeable doing your... skillsets." Levi said, avoiding using the words chakra and shinobi. He didn't like the idea of it all too much. "Once you successfully manage to work it, we will go through the simulation grounds later, and I'll demonstrate how to kill a titan using the swords. Hopefully you won't be shitty at this."
Sasori nodded and responded with an appropriate "Hn." The redhead hoped that it wouldn't be like flying with Deidara. If it was, he was going to truly despise this experience. Levi helped him put on the gear properly, and he was ready to go. He looked over to the raven and waited for further instruction. Levi certainly didn't make him wait.
"Whenever you're ready, go. Just beware the momentum you'll gain. I don't want to scrape you off a tree or the floor." Levi said and crossed his arms to watch.
Sasori rolled his eyes and prepared himself to go. Maybe, depending on the amount of control he had over it, he might actually enjoy it. He released the mechanisms and off he went. In those moments he decided it wasn't all that bad, and seeing as the grapples were similar to his old coiled weapon he was be able to move them with ease if it seemed like it would miss. A small twitch here or there and no one would be able to notice a correction if it was needed. Being in control like that felt like being home in his puppet body. The usage of the gas to twirl and move around was easy to use as well. The puppet master was pleasantly surprised that the gear was able to respond to him as easily as a puppet would. He swung around a few more times and landed silently on the grass before Levi.
"So, how did it feel?" Levi asked. He was a bit impressed after all, the redhead took to using the gear like a fish in water. Levi smirked at the sight before him, the man looked truly looked like a teenager at that moment with his red hair tousled from the wind, a slight flush from the adrenalin rush, and an excited spark in his eyes. Too bad Sasori's face remained in a nonchalant expression.
"I dislike flying, but the gear, the gear I can work with." He answered honestly. Oh how Sasori could have fun with it.
"Alright dollface, do it a few more times. Make it feel as natural as breathing." Levi responded and was rewarded with a small eye twitch from the russet eyed man. It was barely noticeable but it would do for now to appease his curiosity about the man reactions. Sasori followed his instructions until the early morning sun was high in the sky. Sasori only stumbled when he wasn't bound by anything in between grapple shots when Levi barked out orders to do more intricate maneuvers, but he quickly overcame most of it merely by stubborn pride. When the puppetmaster eventually got back to his homeland he would be able to do some interesting moves for sure. He'll call them evasive maneuvers if anyone asked him about it.
Levi saw that the man was clearly out of his element but that he learned quickly. Though Levi was having a bit of a crisis, saving the lives of his men was important, and if this redhead could help increase those chances, then fine but fuck, he didn't trust the guy as far as he could throw him. Levi thought they should have tied him up in the brig and left him there until he begged or something. Maybe a bit of torture and pain to get him to talk honestly, then use him for humanity's benefit. Or even better, left him out there to get eaten, but Levi trusted Erwin's judgement so he would play along and see how it goes. He was drawn out of his musings when he heard the shorting out of gas and a curse. Levi's steel eyes looked for Sasori and saw he was high in the air mid free fall, a widened set of eyes was the only expression on the man's face to show the panic he had to be feeling, but Sasori quickly fixed it and twisted in the air to fix his momentum and landed with a soft thump on the ground.
"So, want to grab some tea before the meet and greet with the brats?" He asked after a short moment of silence, ignoring the awkward failing of his use of the gear and his fall that should have hurt. Levi raised an eyebrow but nodded anyway. He could do with a cup of something with a bit more burn right about now.
"People should be up and about by now so we will have to go to my office. We can go through Hanji's lab as it has a back door and we shouldn't come across from anyone, though I assume you won't get caught if we do?" Sasori nodded. "Good. Lets go."
Luckily they got to the building and through the lab with a quick hello to Hanji and dropped off the gear their before they ran into a corps member. "Heicho! We missed Hanji at breakfast this morning and I was wondering if Hanji was with you?" It was one of Hanji's squad members. Levi just scowled. "Hanji is just fine, and ate with me this morning while we talked about some of the crazy experiments you guys will be doing. Make sure you clean that lab immediately. It's filthy. Make sure it's spotless by tonight. Oh, and have Jeager or Kirsten bring me up a kettle of hot water for tea. I'll be in my office. Dismissed." He barked out the last bit of his orders and the man scurried away with a frightened look. When the coast was clear he turned around and saw that Sasori was just leaning on the wall bit further down. The duo walked through the halls for just a bit longer before they arrived to the office. Levi unlocked it and ushered his guest inside before closing it quickly. They didn't need the hassle of their secret being blown because they got careless because they wanted tea.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
Outside, Sasori chuckled. The interruption the brat made was worth every second and allowed him to use a shadow clone to go with the clean freak. He had things to do and people to play with, and now he had the time. They would keep a close eye on him the entire time he was here and he didn't need that, but he needed alibis. How little did they know just how useful they were. The clone would last for a few days as long as it drank the tea once a day to replenish its reserves and he doubted Levi would turn him down. Sasori would have to thank Itachi at a later date for that skill.
The puppet master was hidden in the trees as he changed into a simple black shirt, a jacket with a hood, and his usual blue ninja pants, complete with his sandals. Add a henge to his features and he was now some normal looking kid on the street. With everything complete he set off into town to receive directions to the underground. He played up a lost kid who was trying to make it to the Wall Sina to find his parents as they had been looking for a good doctor. He went to old people and they were ever so helpful. They gave him directions and even wished him good luck.
He calculated that it would probably take him half a day, full speed, to reach the innermost wall and pass through the gate, then he would be free to play around and find people to build his spy network for the next two days before he had to head back. It wasn't a bad timeline. This definitely gave him time to understand his environment to try and understand his opponent.
Sasori paced himself as he headed towards the wall but when he eventually arrived he was a bit in awe to be standing so close to it. He paid attention to the guards, and noticed that they were about to do a shift change. With a glance, he saw through to the other side of the gate. The puppeteer waited for his moment to shunshin through it. It was starting to get dark before that happened and he had already lost his patience. Someone was probably going to die tonight, and now he just needed to pick a target. Some people noticed the boy walking along the streets, but most people ignored him as he wandered through looking for the entrance to the underground. At last he spotted it, some military men were coming up from an entrance. These people were so helpful.
The henged redhead slipped by unnoticed by the group, who had a young boy in chains being dragged behind them. Sasori was actually surprised that the people around them didn't react, not even to look on with an emotion. He had figured that the city was corrupt but he didn't expect to see compliance out and to outright ignore it. These people probably didn't even have to worry their little heads off about the giant man eating creatures outside. 'Ignorance is bliss after all' he thought and moved on. He didn't need to draw attention to himself and interfering would be a waste.
When Sasori actually arrived in the underground he was properly disgusted. He had only really ever understood the negatives of human nature, but at least the slums in his homeland had access to sunlight. These people were filthy on a scale that he couldn't comprehend. It struck an emotion inside of him but he couldn't identify it, was it pity? He had never had any inkling of the feeling before so he just squashed it down. It was unimportant. The lights on the streets where the only ones and it was dark enough that Sasori was able to drop the henge. No one knew him, and anyone who saw him would end up dead, or never remembering what happened to them.
It was two hours into his search was when he finally found his first target, a group of men in a Military Police uniforms. He looked for the leader and smirked. Jackpot. He waited till the man was along when Sasori pounced. Sasori threw a senbon coated in a paralytic poison and when it landed, Sasori used his chakra strings to control the man. The puppeteer walked the man over to him and smiled fondly at the familiarity of what he was going to do. It was only going to take about an hour for the procedure. He walked the man down into a side alley that was completely pitch black. He would have to use his chakra strings as his eyes and a guiding source for the task. He laid the man down and then straddled him before pulling out an ultra thin needed from his arm for the next bit.
"This will hurt a lot by the way. I wish I could crack open your chest and turn you into a puppet but sadly I don't have the time. Good news is that you won't ever remember it!" He purred in the man's ear and chuckled darkly. He used the needle and went through the center of the man's eye to get through to the brain. He poured his chakra down into the brain to setup the connection for information. If Sasori did this right, as it was a relatively new implementation, he would be able to open his consciousness into the man's mind without him noticing and take the information needed before retreating back into his own. The next step was making the necessary seals into the man's brain to make him unaware anytime this happened, and unaware of the information he would be sharing with his new master in person or not. God how Sasori loved sleeper agents. If the connection was ever broken, the second seal would wipe any information about Sasori or what they talked about out of their mind. Whatever happened to his agents after that wouldn't matter. No one would ever be able to trace it back to him.
The next step was to draw out the needle and thread together the wound. The man would be a bit light sensitive for a day or two, good thing they'll probably have him on drugs in a hospital. Finally after the hour was up he pulled back and administered the antidote. Now he had to see if it worked and when it did he smirked. Sasori looked around for something that he could hit the policeman over the head with and finally found a wooden board. He pulled it to him with his chakra strings and then swung, hitting the man several times. He was certainly down for the count, but he would live and recover just fine. "Poor guy must have got mugged." He whispered to himself with a bit of smugness and moved on to rest before finding his next target.
Over the next day and a half he had grabbed another man from the Military Police, a woman from the Garrison, a barman in the underground, a homeless man that lived above ground and a barman in a local and popular bar. Six people would be have to good enough for now. What he really needed was a high ranking official, a captain or a lieutenant, or even a prized commander but that would be greedy. Getting greedy got people caught. He supposed if he headed back now, then he would be able to make it to his clone right after it went to bed. Perfect. Pity the Military Police wouldn't be able to solve the recent cases of muggings in and around the capital.
Sasori henged into a new man in the privacy of the underground before he left. The puppeteer headed towards the gate he entered in but he decided to stop off to the side of the street to flicker through his new puppets consciousnesses for any information before he left. It would only take a minute or two, but he rubbed his eyes to it would look like he stopped with a purpose, but what the puppetmaster didn't expect was someone to interrupt him halfway through it by literally running into him. His eyes snapped into focus while he allowed himself to fall on his backside and to his surprise it was some Military Policemen.
"Watch where you're landing assholes." He snarled and got back to his feet. The man who had practically fallen on him just leered and almost started to speak before he looked off to the side. He went pale in color a bit but he mumbled a quiet threat, saluted and walked away. Sasori was a bit confused by this behavior until he felt that someone walking towards him. He spun and noticed a man with shoulder length black hair and a stubble on his face wearing a Military Police uniform. Sasori stared at the man in confusion as he tried to figure out why he didn't feel him, but he noticed that he couldn't really feel the people around him for the moment before it returned. That seemed to be an undesired side effect of being interrupted in the middle of his work. He would have to work around that complication.
"I apologize for my men, clearly they need to pay attention to where they are landing. Are you alright?" He asked, but all it did was put Sasori's guard on high alert. Perhaps to someone else it would have sounded sincere, but Sasori could practically feel that those words were wrong coming from his mouth. There was something about this man that really set him on edge. It wasn't fear, but Sasori was cautious. Very few people gave him that sort of reaction, but his instincts never failed him. The black haired man had similar vibes to Erwin but had a much more dangerous aura. No, this man he had to plan for so he wouldn't get in the way and ruin his hard work. Sasori contemplated just killing him, not like it wouldn't be laughably easy, but he was sure that it would bad idea in the long run.
"Ah, no it's my fault, I'm sorry, I shouldn't zoned out on the side of the street." He said and shuffled his feet before replying again. "Thank you for apologizing for them though! My parents never made it here, so I have to return home. You're a kind officer, have a great day!" Sasori said and gave the man a soft smile. With that, Sasori turned around, frowned, and walked down the street far away from that man. Hopefully he didn't truly attract the man's attention. Maybe this henge did but Sasori himself, no it shouldn't have, but the man just made a possible enemy out of Sasori. He would worry about it later when he got back.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
Fortunately the trip back was quick and quiet. It still took him several hours but he arrived back on base in time to change and catch himself heading to his room. Luck was on his side because someone had come up to his guard dog and his clone had jumped into the shadows of the ceiling. Sasori dispelled his clone and was given a migraine that almost made gasp out loud in pain. The information download was staggering. He knew who all the brats were, several more 3DMG maneuvers, the odd informative conversation and found that he was headed to the capital tomorrow to be 'fetched'. What swell news. Oi, did his clone really use the Uchiha monosyllabic talking style to piss people off? Sometimes shadow clones were such brats.
"Let's go, unless you are going to clean the fuck out of the ceiling while you're up there." Levi's voice cut through his thoughts like a knife and Sasori jumped down. He could honestly say he was ready to sleep off his headache after he took a shower. He followed Levi quietly nursing his screaming skull, and mumbled a goodnight to the man when they arrived at his door. The puppetmaster didn't have much of a problem with him, and to be honest through the memories he received, they got along well. Apparently Levi was the only one who was actually worth talking to and could enjoy his company. How fantastic.
Sasori was asleep by the time his head hit the pillow, but after what must had been like a few minutes, Sasori opened his eyes to a red and black sky. His eyes widened a bit at the implications of where he was, but the cursing of someone familiar grounded him and let him know he wasn't the only one there. The puppeteer was curious as to how his mind was brought here.
"Danna! Where have you been? I've missed you!" Ah, his brat was always able to pull him out of his musings. Sasori scowled as everything came into focus. Several people were dressed far different from the usual cloaks and hat that they usually wore. So he wasn't the only one to simply be dropped off somewhere that wasn't the Elemental Nations. Voices prattled off while he observed.
"I would really prefer to go back to what I was doing, time is money."
"What the fucking hell!? How the fuck did you fucking do this shit?"
"Tobi is a good boy! Itachi-sempai, Leader-sama, and Tobi managed to link us!" Ah, there was the words he was looking for. Itachi would have provided the mindscape and Pein would have been able locate them in due to his chakra calling out for them. Maybe Tobi's use of the dimension creation to move around would have been the final touches. Thats only a theory though.
"Quiet. All of you. Now is not the time bicker. About half of you are missing. Report. Where are you?" Pein demanded and Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, Konan, and Hidan looked at one another. Kisame noticed that Hidan had blood splattered all over him.
"Why am I not surprised that you are covered in blood?" He asked and Hidan laughed maniacally. Sasori rubbed the space between his eyebrows. The Jashinist always gave him a headache.
"I am killing the undead in some shit city. Man it's so much fucking fun. Watching people run from mindless corpses that want to eat you is hilarious." Hidan said and giggled as he continued. "Apparently it's some sort of virus that kills you and fucking reanimates your body according to some bitch I met. Jashin-sama must be so pleased with my sacrifices!" The albino just kept giggling, but it caught Sasori's attention. Interesting. Konan spoke next, revealing herself to be in a sweater, jeans, and knee high boots.
"I'm somewhere where there are people called superheroes and supervillains. Fascinating things here. I was picked up by an organization that keeps world peace from large threats and I will be probably be working with them until I return, but unfortunately my chakra is limited here. It's there, but it's like most of its blocked off." She said and turned towards Sasori. "You would probably get along with a man who builds something similar to your puppets here. Just more metal involved." Sasori nodded, he probably would have.
"I suppose I'll go next. Similar to Hidan I have encountered a world where humanity is nearly extinct because of giant humanoid man eating monsters. I still have access to all my chakra, though I don't have my puppets. I was picked up by a military group a few days after I arrived. This is much more of a mental battle than it's a physical one. Killing the beasts are the least of my worries." Sasori reported. When everyone took a look at what he was wearing, everyone was silent.
Hidan finally spoke up. "Fuck puppet boy, I knew you were petite but damn, look at the fucking body." Deidara came to Sasori's unneeded defense. "Stop staring at my Danna, shit for brains, un! I'll turn you into my next piece of art when you get back, un!" The blonde threatened but before either could get into it Sasori spoke up.
"Oi, brat, shut up. I don't care about what Hidan thinks about me. Move on." He snapped and rubbed the bridge of his nose again. This was becoming one hell of a meeting. Kisame looked between everyone and shrugged.
"I am in a place called London. I have to use a henge to blend in a bit but working by the this huge river isn't so bad. Good place for rumors I suppose. People like to talk after all. I think the only warning I really got was not to gain the attention of the Queens dog. However that is I don't know but that's it. Nothing life threatening here except that my chakra has been halved. If Samehada didn't need chakra, I am pretty sure I wouldn't have access to any." Kisame said nonchalantly.
"You still probably scare the locals Sushi-kun, un." Deidara quipped and two other members chuckled. Kisame rightfully ignored them.
Finally Itachi was next. He looked healthy, for once, but tired. "People bleed for an iron throne while a real danger grows in the ice. It's petty, but I haven't interfered, I prefer to pay attention to the highest threat. My eyes are pretty much useless here, except for this, but I can still use many of my other abilities." He reported.
Sasori, Itachi and Konan looked at each other for a few minutes while everyone spoke on. They recognized they were missing information. The question was obvious but was incredibly hard to answer, why were they sent to such places. What purpose did it serve?
Soon after the meeting was adjourned, people disappeared from the black and red world. Sasori gave a fond farewell to his brat, stating that art was eternal, not transient, before Deidara left. Soon it was just the remaining three. Kisame just told Itachi to fill him in later, and Hidan didn't really care so he left pretty quickly.
"So anyone have any ideas to why us, and why we were sent to these places?" Konan asked as she crossed her arms. "At first I thought that Tobi must have had something to do with it, but now… " She trailed off and the other two nodded. Itachi spoke up first.
"All five of us have been sent somewhere different, and my only guess is that somehow these places were for a purpose." He said and Sasori sighed. He was drawing conclusions but he still needed a few more questions answered.
"I'll assume we three know the most about one another. From what I know… " Sasori trailed off. He didn't like his line of thinking. "Itachi is sent somewhere where he has to decide what to do with zero expectations, Kisame probably just gets to live happy if he finds someone to kill for, Hidan gets to kill things while actually saving people, Konan gets to help people and maintain peace, and I am defending humans against stupid giant monsters. Doesn't this sound fishy to you?"
Konan was the one to reply. "Maybe there is a lesson here. We can reconvene at a later date when we have more information. After all, the remaining five have yet to go anywhere. Till next time and do please try to stay alive." Konan smiled fondly and left, which left the last two behind.
"Don't be a stranger brat, I do want to know what you're going to do there. I can help if you need advice. It would be a shame if you died out there in a place where no one knows who you are. Let's just hope this isn't some fucked up lesson." Sasori said, voice softer than usual, before he allowed himself leave and sleep peacefully until the morning. He had a ton of things to deal with then.
A/N: Ten points to anyone who guesses correctly where they were sent off to! There is a possibility of those becoming stories themselves, or long two-three shots. Let me know~ I hope you enjoyed!