-Fate's Favourite-
Act 2: The Akatsuki
When we first came here,
We were cold and we were clear.
With no colours in our skin,
We were light and paper thin.
-Florence The Machine
For three days she was forbidden to leave the bed she woke up in. Katsumi's orders were strict and there was no talking back or trying to get your way around the situation. According to Katsumi, her body was adjusting to its changes, which meant that her entire chakra channelling system unstable.
It took some time and explaining what chakra even was, but Naruto eventually found out just how bad her condition was when her muscles began burning painfully, and her body went into a painful seizure that last seemingly forever. Not to mention random and very excruciating chakra flares that according to Katsumi were extremely dangerous not only to her but those around her as well.
The fact that she had no memories whatsoever didn't help her to feel better either, especially since every single time she tried to remember anything from her previous life, she only succeeded in giving herself a rather painful headache.
On the fourth day, Katsumi came in early like usual, casting a lingering look at the figure huddled inside the bed covers.
Naruto was a hard person to wake-up in the mornings, something Kasumi had learned the hard way when she had to dodge multiple kicks and punches coming from the still sleepy girl everyday.
"Naruto! Wake up!" Katsumi shouted loudly, shaking the said girl on the shoulder. Naruto mumbled something under her breath, pulling the covers even tighter around herself, her face buried in the soft material.
Katsumi gritted her teeth, closing her eyes in frustration. The dark haired kunoichi swiftly pulled the covers off her new friend, earning a small shriek from the blond as cold air hit her exposed skin. Blue eyes snapped open immediately and glared angrily at the medic as Katsumi gave her a satisfied smirk.
"Get up," she ordered sternly, "We need to go through your daily check-up, and if everything is fine you will be leavening today and starting your training tomorrow."
Naruto perked up, quickly sitting up; her blond hair falling around her, making it look like she hadn't brushed it in weeks.
"Really? I can go?" she whispered, her excitement tangible, a huge smile spreading on her face.
Katsumi rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yes, just don't forget what I taught you in the last few days, alright?"
Naruto didn't reply, she didn't need to. Over last three days, Katsumi had been telling her more about the Akatsuki; the way they operated, their purpose, the people that were in the organization and how to act around certain individuals if she wanted to survive.
The actual Akatsuki only consisted of ten members who all wore rings on their fingers, signifying their membership. Katsumi made it very clear that the original ten were people you shouldn't mess around with at any point in time, especially if you still wanted to find your limb attached to your body the next day. They were all well known and feared S-ranked criminals who were brutal in getting what they wanted, and if they wanted you dead, there was no doubt that they would eventually succeed.
However, there were others who worked for Akatsuki as well. There weren't many, only a selected few who were strong enough to be working under such a powerful organization, but it didn't mean that they were any less dangerous. Each subordinate had to prove their skills and use for the organization before they were allowed to join in hopes that one day they would be able to make the top ranks.
As Katsumi had told her, something similar had happened just few weeks ago, when one of the Original 10 was killed. His name was Sasori and he was a puppet master from Suna. Apparently, he was killed during a mission to retrieve One-Tailed beast, Shukaku. Soon after his death, their leader chose one of the submarines to take Sasori's place and everyone had to live on like nothing happened.
One thing was clear to Naruto:
You were only alive for as long as you were useful.
Katsumi also made it clear that there was absolutely nobody in this organization that was irreplaceable.
Admittedly, she had a hard time trying to figure out why she even joined such organization. Sure, their plan for world peace seemed nice, but their methods also seemed incredibly cruel. They were the type to strike first and ask questions later. Which left Naruto wondering why she wanted to join them right before she lost her memories, she even asked Katsumi but she simply replied that prior to these last few days she never met Naruto before, at least not face-to-face.
"Naru, stop spacing out!" Katsumi snapped, whacking the blonde on the head. Naruto let out a small hiss, sending Katsumi another glare. Even with her anger issues Katsumi was a very nice girl, and an exceptionally skilled healer too.
"I'm just thinking…" Naruto murmured under her breath, trying to ignore the annoying poking and prodding at her body.
The dark haired medic smiled briefly after she finished. "I think you're good to go, just remember don't overwork yourself for the next few days, you're still healing."
Naruto waved off the worried medic and jumped on her feet, flinching at the slight pain that still burned her muscles.
"Who cares? Let's go and find something to eat. I'm starving!"
Katsumi shook her head while heaving a tired sigh but nodded nevertheless, slowly following the happy blonde from the infirmary.
They walked in silence for few minutes, Katsumi watching with mild interest as Naruto slowly took everything in: the surroundings, the smell, and the noises. She could tell by the scrunched up expression, and the rather visible scowl on young girl's face that Naruto wasn't very impressed.
"This place isn't very lively, is it?" the blonde stated dryly, looking around with obvious discontent.
Katsumi chuckled lowly, patting the younger girl's shoulder. "No, this place isn't very lively at all, but you get used to it after a while."
"A while?" Naruto repeated, casting a sideways glance at Katsumi. "Just how long have you been here, Kat?"
The medic's face suddenly turned to stone, her eyes resembling ice – her guard snapping back up full force, and Naruto had an urge to smack herself across the face. After trying to befriend her medic for the last few days, she felt like she just lost the smallest hint of friendship the two may had going by asking that single questions.
"Long enough," Katsumi replied coolly, walking slightly faster ahead. Naruto quickly caught up, biting her lip in discomfort.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," she whispered, staring at the murky ground beneath her feet. "I guess I was just curious, since you know so much about this place."
"Akatsuki is a very dangerous group, Naru," Katsumi explained, her expression darker than usually. "Never show them weakness, for they will attack you like rabid dogs and leave nothing behind. And never, under any circumstances, give them a reason to kill you."
"I wasn't planning on it," Naruto assured her, her eyes sparkling with determination.
Katsumi nodded silently, and led Naruto to a huge set of double doors by the end of a dark corridor. There were obviously people inside, since the sound of talking could be heard before the door was even opened. Naruto felt her interest grow as she wondered was behind the doors.
Katsumi, almost as if reading her mind, pushed the double doors open, entering the huge room before them. Naruto held her breath for a second and then entered after Katsumi, stopping almost immediately after she noticed the sheer size of the room; it was huge. There were at least six huge wooden tables around the room; most of seats were taken as Naruto took the notice of people sitting behind the benches. Most of them witnessing their arrival, sneered, especially at Naruto as they walked further into the room. Katsumi subconsciously moved closer to the blonde, leading her towards the end of a huge room where the smell of fresh food was the strongest.
"This is where we eat our meals, there is around 30 subordinates here, not counting the primary 10," Katsumi told her, putting some food on her plate, passing another one to Naruto. "I'll also warn you now that most of them have not taken well to your presence as you can already tell," she added, her voice dropping to near whisper.
"Why?" Naruto asked curiously, quickly glancing around the room, never keeping her eyes too long on one face. Most were men with auras that leaked of killing intent, and the remaining few were females although she could only spot few, not counting herself and Katsumi.
"It's because of who you are." Katsumi stated, dragging the blonde to the table near the end, mostly hidden in the shadows.
"What do you mean?"
Katsumi heaved a sigh, her eyes moving around the room, taking in the tense atmosphere.
"You're Itachi's student."
Naruto raised an eyebrow, giving Katsumi a strange look. "What does that have anything to do with them glaring at me?"
"You don't understand, do you?" she hissed under her breath, shaking her head slightly. "This never happened before. A member of primary 10 has never taken anyone under their wing before. Most of the people in this room are, to put it lightly, pissed off. They have been training for years to work their way up the chain, and you just came out nowhere few days ago, and Leader-sama is already acknowledging you so highly."
She slumped against her seat. It made sense, of course, she would be mad too if some new person just came out of nowhere and got the special treatment for no reason.
"Not to mention pretty much everyone in this room hates Itachi. However, even though they hate him, they also respect him, because they know that he could kill them in a blink of an eye."
Gulping, Naruto looked up from her food and stared at Katsumi, feeling of anxiety eating her from the inside.
"Is he really that powerful?"
"Yes," Katsumi answered flatly, an all too familiar coldness seeping into her words. "He is a cause of many nightmares for shinobis all over these lands. He is also the only reason why you're still alive."
Naruto blinked. "He is?"
The dark haired girl nodded her head. "No one has tried to get rid of you yet because they fear that Itachi may find out about it. That's why I recommend that you train hard, and gain your skills back as quickly as you can."
"But you just said that they wouldn't—"
"Make no mistakes," Katsumi cut her off, sharply. "At some point in the near future there will be someone stupid enough to go against leader's orders, and when that time comes, you will have no one but yourself to depend on. I told you, never give them a free opening or you will die."
A heavy silence fell over the two kunoichis and Naruto could barely remember how she survived the rest of the meal.
After showing her the room she was going to be staying in, Katsumi disappeared saying she had important matters to take care of, leaving the blonde alone to her thoughts.
Her room was average looking: a bed, a table, wardrobe, few chairs, and absolutely no sunlight whatsoever. The room itself was dull and dark, causing Naruto to shiver and pull her jacket tighter over her body. Sighing in tiredness, she approached her new bed and fell on it, smiling slightly as she bounced few times. Well at least the beds were alright.
She had no idea what she could do to kill time, so she simply laid there, letting her body relax as she began thinking about her none-existent past again. Naruto couldn't get over the fact that she somehow forgot everything about herself. All of her childhood memories, even her own personality – she couldn't remember anything, not even her likes and dislikes.
It frightened her.
What kind of person was she before? Was she nice? Mean? Did she have any friends or none at all? Part of her was too afraid to even wonder but she wanted to know, no matter who she was before all of this, it was still better knowing something than nothing at all.
A sudden crash and shouts outside made her sit up, and look towards the door in surprise. Katsumi had told her that her room was next to Itachi's and Kisame's since they were a team now, and Itachi was her teacher. So Naruto honestly doubted that either of the two men were the ones causing all the ruckus. Pulling her body from off the bed, Naruto carefully walked towards the door and gradually opened them, peaking outside to see people responsible for all this noise.
There was a sudden 'whoosh' of air, and the only thing she saw was someone running past her so quickly that is appeared like a blur of orange, black and red. Managing to blink few times, she heard a sound of footsteps quickly approaching her.
"TOBI!" a loud voice roared, seemingly shaking the very foundation of the base.
Naruto cringed at the angry voice. Katsumi had told her about a guy called Tobi; he was Sasori's replacement, one lucky guy who got chosen as an alternative by the Leader himself – there was no bigger honour for a member of Akatsuki than being recognized like that.
She backed away slightly when she noticed an angry blonde stalking down the hallway, looking so angry that Naruto felt like running away from him so he wouldn't have to direct his rage at her. And judging by the colour of his hair, the black cloak and the fact that he was with Tobi meant that he could only be one person.
Deidara.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
She could almost hear Katsumi's voice in her ear as she told her about the blonde bomber:
"You'll have to watch out for Deidara, since he will most likely dislike you simply because Itachi is your teacher. He hated Itachi for as long as I can remember; however, he may still give you a chance to prove yourself. The first 5 minutes will be crucial, he will either like you, or he will try to blow you up just to piss off Uchiha."
Naruto gulped uneasily, the last thing she expected to happen was her meeting a guy who was ready to turn her into ash if she said something wrong to him.
The said missing-nin seemingly feeling her nervousness, glanced her way, his eyes flashing in recognition.
"You," he snapped, pointing his finger towards her, successfully freezing her in her tracks. Her blue eyes growing wider, she reminded herself that he didn't have any reason to kill her…yet. "Have you seen a guy with an orange mask run past here, un?"
"Erm…yeah," she said, blinking few times, trying to hide her smile at the rather cute 'un'. "He ran past here just before you appeared."
Swallowing thickly, she tried not to squirm under his intense stare – no doubt he was inspecting her, trying to find a good reason to hate her.
"You're the new member, yeah? Uchiha's new student?" his voice was a little sharper, especially when he mentioned Itachi, an undeniable hint of hatred leaking into his voice.
Nodding awkwardly, she took a step away from her door, standing straighter, hoping that this showed him that she was not afraid of him. Even if she was more than aware that she was walking a thin line. She knew that Deidara didn't have biggest reserves of patience and was rather temperamental most of the time.
"Yes, my name is Naruto, but you can call me Naru." she provided, giving him a small, and hopefully, friendly smile. Deidara's visible eye stared at her, almost as if trying to see into her very soul, a smallest hint of a frown adoring his features, showing his obvious frustration about something.
"What do you think art is?"
Ah, the golden question at last.
"Deidara is an artist. You could say he's obsessed with explosives, in his mind 'Art is a bang'. He will no doubt ask your option on art. My advice: be honest. He may be young, but Deidara has a knack for reading peoples emotions extremely well."
"Art is whatever you wish it to be," she described, pulling on a loose strand of her golden hair, leaning against the cold and dark wall. "For some, it can be a song, a play, a story, a memory, a person, rain, moon, starts or even something as silly as love. I guess true art is different for everyone, it depends on how a person perceives it."
Finishing her explanation, Naruto felt another wave of awkwardness come over her, and she rubbed her neck self-consciously, choosing not to look at the other blonde before her. She followed Katsumi's advice, so the only thing she could hope for now was not getting blown to smithereens.
"Is senpai making friends?"
Both blonds turn to stare at the vast blackness before them where a dark cloaked man stood shrouded in darkness, an eerie shadow falling on his orange mask from the light of small torch burning on the wall.
Something inside Naruto suddenly snapped; an unexplainable sense of dread filling every marrow of her body, almost forcing her to turn around and run away. Blinking in confusion, she shook her head slowly, trying to get rid of weird sense of danger that suddenly flooded her body, making her muscles tense against their own accord.
Deidara suddenly sneered at the orange masked man.
"Tobi. I'm glad you decided to join us," he said, a sadistic glint in his eye as he gestured for Tobi to come closer. "Why don't you come closer and meet her too, un?"
Tobi suddenly twitched, happily flapping his arms around he ran towards Naruto, making her cringe back as he snatched her hand in his, shaking it ecstatically.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Tobi and I'm a good boy!" he screeched, cheerfully.
Naruto blinked owlishly, unsure how to respond to man's cheerfulness. It was odd to see someone so hyper and seemingly happy, especially after all the seriousness and death glares she received from others.
"Ano…it's nice to meet you too," she mumbled, feeling uncomfortable since he was still holding her hand in a tight grip, clearly not letting go. She twitched a little, feeling the warmth of his hand seeping through his glove and into her skin. "My name is Naruto," she added, guessing that he wanted to hear her name, resulting in him not releasing her hand sooner.
Tobi looked like he wanted to say something again, but Deidara cut him off. "Tobi, tell me, what were you thinking when you decided to paint my room, yeah?"
Tobi as if caught stealing a cookie from a cookie jar, froze, probably already guessing what fate awaited him. Noticing the murderous look on Deidara's face, Naruto turned to Tobi, who already looked freaked out even with a mask on; it was rather easy to read his body language.
"Tobi, I suggest you run," she recommended, giving the masked man a small push.
Without a second to spare, Tobi took off in lightning speed, leaving a small trail of dust behind him. Still, it was not fast enough as Deidara quickly threw something towards him. She grinned when she realized that it was a tiny clay bird that was quickly catching up to a fleeing Tobi. Before he could even realize what was happening, the birds' body collided with Tobi's cloak, resulting in small but noticeable explosion. Hearing shouts of horror from Tobi, Naruto began laughing loudly, falling back to rest against the nearby wall. Deidara too was smirking, mirth and smug satisfaction shining in his visible eye. His eye suddenly turning to rest on Uchiha's new student, noticing that she was wiping a single tear of delight that escaped her eyes from laughing so much.
"I like you, un." he suddenly said, making the girl halt and look at him, a clear look of surprise on her face. "You know how to laugh, yeah. Unlike that stuck up Uchiha bastard that has a stick so far up his ass he—"
She cleared her throat loudly, cutting him off, and gestured towards a door to her right. Deidara's jaw clenched shut when he realized that she was motioning towards Uchiha's doors. Of course it made sense for her to be living next to her new teacher. With a single nod, Deidara decided to let it go; he was more than sure she got the idea about his and Uchiha's loving relationship anyways.
"So would you like to see how I make my clay art?"
A sudden look of joy painted the younger girl's face, causing Deidara to blink from a sudden change. Never has he seen someone so excited to see his work, it actually felt rather nice. Even Sasori, who appreciate his art more than others, never cared much about his clay work before, mostly because he believed that puppets were a more beautiful form of art.
The girl nodded eagerly and Deidara motioned for her to follow him. On the way there, the two shared small pointless chatter, making Deidara think that maybe Itachi's new student wasn't that bad.
However, he couldn't help but to feel sorry for her. He knew that she was completely unaware of their plan to kill her, and sooner or later it would happen and Deidara felt a smallest smudge of sadness for her. But the real reason why he pitied her was because she was Itachi's student. Everyone knew that Itachi was cruel and showed no mercy, and Deidara was more than aware that this girl would be no different. However he had seen her strength once, back when she was still in her old body. So, maybe, just maybe, she still had a small chance of surviving, no matter how unlikely it seemed.
Because if she didn't improve quickly enough, she won't last a week under Itachi's ruthless training.
Naruto was swimming deep in her dreamless slumber when she felt a mild disturbance in her room. Choosing to ignore it, she snuggled closer to her pillow, a small content smile on her face.
"Get up," a voice ordered, seemingly out of nowhere.
Her body jerked lightly, but otherwise remained unresponsive as she continued sleeping.
"Get up," the voice ordered again, this time a small shake was added. Grumbling in frustration, Naruto pulled away, blindly swatting the hand away from her.
"Katsumi…ngh…five more…minutes…"
She suddenly felt her hand being grabbed into a tight grip and with a sharp tug, Katsumi pulled Naruto from her bed, making her fall on the ground and grunt in pain.
"Katsumi, you bitch, that hurt! Do you know—" she snarled, rubbing a tender spot on her head but when she looked up, the insult all but died in her throat.
For standing before her was not Katsumi, but instead certain crimson eyed Uchiha.
Oh, shit.
"Erm…gomen?" she whispered meekly, quickly pulling herself up.
"Get dressed and meet me in the north training room in five minutes," he ordered, leaving no room for arguments, if his icy tone was anything to go by. With those words he left her room, letting Naruto to take a calming gulp of air.
Well that was embarrassing, she thought dully, snatching her clothes and hurriedly pulling them on. The last thing she wanted was for the stoic Uchiha to come back while she was changing.
After getting ready so quickly that it made the speed of light look slow, she ran towards the training room, silently wondering just how early it was, considering that no one else was around.
She found Itachi standing in the middle of the spacious room, his crimson eyes watching her as she made her way towards him. Suddenly, with inhuman speed, he threw a kunai towards her, making her gasp and dodge, resulting in her falling to the ground heavily.
Breathing heavily, she turned to look at Itachi who hadn't moved a single inch from where he was previously standing. Her eyes moved to look behind her and found the kunai that he threw at her now wedged deeply in the wooden door she stepped through only a minute ago. A silent tremor passed through her body when she realized what would have happened if she hadn't dodged at the last second. Or rather, what would have happened if Itachi actually aimed to kill her.
"W-why did you do that?" she demanded shakily, struggling to stand up, adrenaline still fresh in her veins. He gave no reply until she managed to walk closer towards him.
She rubbed her shoulder absentmindedly, pondering how it was sure to bruise after taking such a fall.
"Because to teach you, I need to know your current level," he replied, giving her a brief explanation. She nodded, and realized that after today, the bruise on her shoulder will probably be the last thing she would need to worry about.
"How about we just start at zero, Level Zero," she suggested, still rubbing her shoulder.
"In Akatsuki there is no such thing as Level Zero." Itachi deadpanned, his cold eye challenging her to say anything else.
Naruto gulped.
"A-alright then, boss, give me your order," she exclaimed, clenching her fists, preparing herself for anything.
Itachi stared at her for a long minute, as if seizing her up, before two words left his lips. An order clear as a day, but not the one Naruto expected:
"Attack me."
AN: Hello!~ How are you guys, hm? This chapter was a bit slow but I wanted to set the atmosphere since living in Akatsuki isin't going to be easy by any means. I actually really dislike stories that make Akatsuki seem like a happy bunch of nice people who sell cookies - they're murders for Christ sake! So, yes, my take on Akatsuki will be slightly darker, but don't worry they will not be torturing innocent people or sacrificing puppies, but they will mean business.
Also, I'm very glad I got to write Tobi and Dei-dei in this chapter, originally they only would have come in around chapter 8-10 but I made a rash last second decision, and I think I made a good choice by adding them in early. Plus, Naru needs at least someone to get along with, so unlike almost everyone else in the base Naru and Deidara will be alright from the the start. ^^
Also, someone mentioned something about Sasuke, and I can tell you that, yes, Sasuke will be in the story but not until WAY later. He will play a major role in the story, obviously.
And lastly, Thank you everyone who reviewed this story, this means a lot to me, so thank you again! Next chapter should be, hopefully, out in the next two-three weeks. But if you review I may try harder to update quicker since last chapter reviews were kinda disappointing... =P
Regards.
A.