Why did cuddling puppies make my writing go all weird(er)? o_O Okay I swear on everything cute, fuzzy and/or Bishi, that this is only HALF filler, we finally make it to Konoha! 8D
Thankies: QueenofFanficworldlovegunner, Yuti-chan, Lycan723 and an annanymous (CFS), um gotta say, Pain/Dei, not really up my alley, but if you are you can go ask Stephfarrow she's good at that stuff :D
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto Masashi Kishimoto does!
Only 3,000 words T_T *sniff*
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Madara hummed lightly to himself as he watched his reflection in the water of a clear flowing stream, behind him stood the two looming statues of the first hokage and himself. He pulled a loose string sticking out of the new 'half' mask he wore over the left side of his face taunt and slip-knotted the end.
After three hours of thinking and finally coming up with a less than solid game plan, He came to the obvious conclusion that his bright orange mask was too suspicious, and so was his cloak and ring. so he ended up mutilating a spare mask that he kept in his dimension, taking off his ring, wrapping the more important, small items in his cloak and leaving them in a good place. Beside the feet of his statue at the Valley of the End, as long as the cloak didn't somehow get dragged into the water he figured it would be fine, that's what he hoped anyway.
The feeling of the rain and wind hitting his face was so new and weird, that he thought up a plan B just in case he couldn't go through with this one.
How effective could this -he ran his hand over the smooth edge of where the mask and his met- be anyway? He still looked like an Uchiha -even though he deactivated his sharingan- and that was the problem.
He might be mistaken for Sasuke or Itachi or worse. That would hardly be a good thing.
His voice was the one that came up with the 'Cast a genjutsu on yourself so when other people see you you'll look different,' Madara figured it was worth a shot.
He hacked loudly into his hand, he wouldn't cast it right now though, later would be better. Preferably when his lung wasn't trying to crawl out of his body.
'But what if we run into,'
"LATER!,"
'FINE! Kami calm down,'
The Uchiha snorted, standing up and waving his hands to fling the water droplets off. Not that it would do any good considering it was still raining, but he did it anyway.
"OOOII! TOBI!," he blinked, that voice, he looked back over his shoulder.
In the distance, running towards him was a blue dot.
Actually, no, scratch that, slowly walking up to him with wide eyes was a blue shark man.
'Same impact,'
"Uh...Kid?," Kisame blinked at the sight of the mysteriously ninja's face and immediately felt a shiver go up his spine, he seemed familiar somehow, the pale skin, the black eye, like a ghost from the past, like... Itachi
Creepy.
"Kisame-sempai?," Madara said with surprise, not even caring that Kisame was gapping at his exposed skin.
'Wonder what kind of mission brought big blue all the way out here,' The voice said.
Madara muttered a 'yeah' as he looked past the shark ninja, waiting to see the familiar blank expression toting face of his student, but it never came, it was just Kisame,"Kisame-sempai, where is Itachi?," he asked.
"H-he had to stay back at camp, he's been feeling a little weak lately," Kisame rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, a light purple tint on his cheeks, "I had to carry him to our rest spot after our mission,"
'Seems little 'tachi isn't going to last much longer,'
Madara agreed..
Itachi wasn't physically strong enough to fight off his illness, if it wasn't for the medication and his eagerness to prove something, there was no doubt he would've croaked years ago, and Madara counted his blessings every day that the young Uchiha hadn't.
Itachi had an amazing talent for planning and strategy, where one thing failed him always found a way to make up for it.
Like when he sought out the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki just after 'Tobi' joined the Akatsuki, that was little more than a back up plan just in case his illness took him before his brat Sasuke could watch him die and head back to Konoha a hero.
Madara used his ability, since he was the complete opposite of the young Uchiha, he tended to set a goal and just shoot for it until he hit it, if he happened to think of something that could easily get him to it then that was what he would go with. (A/N:Much like the authoress and her Porno-style pacing XD How does a Panda fit in? Panda handyman)
He rarely thought of plan B's, which was why he was so eager to have his current rescue mission strategy go smoothly.
If it didn't he'd finally know for sure if he should start taking tips from Itachi, the Uchiha pouted and crossed his arms, at that moment he completely forgot the Mist ninja was there and that he didn't have his full mask anymore, that meant the swordsman could see his pouting and glazed over eye.
Itachi was such a boring child. Always was, always has been. No sense of fun or adventure, he didn't even like finding pictures in the stars! Yes Madara liked laying on the grass and finding constellations, it was second best to inarizushi, third to sleeping.
It was a shame he hadn't been able to go shape hunting in a while, he really needed to get rid of that excess stress building up.
"Kid," Kisame's sudden voice snapped him out of his little expedition into monologue village, he noticed the blue mans hand was in his face,"You okay?," Kisame let it fall back to his side.
The Uchiha stared at him quietly for a second before beaming a bright smile,"Tobi's fine Kisa-sempai!,"
'Yes but how is Madara?,'
"Shut. Up,"
The Uchiha noticed the rogue mist shinobi glancing to the side back in the direction of the way he came,"Kisame-sempai has to leave now?," he asked in a sad 'Please don't leave me there are wolves', tone.
'You have me,' The voice said.
"I hate you, I like Kisame,"
'Asshole,'
Kisame chuckled lightly,"Yeah I do, Itachi asked me to bring some firewood back to camp over an hour ago,"
Tobi giggled, "'tachi's gonna be mad,"
Kisame waved his hand in dismissal,"Nah, he was almost asleep by the time I left," he frowned,"I will hurry though just in case,"
"Good luck Kisa-sempai!,"
"Thanks kid," Kisame chuckled at the ravens enthusiasm,"Good luck on your mission too,"
"Tobi doesn't need luck, Tobi has this," 'Tobi' tapped the side of his head.
The two said their ''fair wells'' and the ex-mist ninja was gone.
'Blue seems pretty happy,' The voice said,'He and 'tachi must be good friends,'
Madara rolled his eye,"Please, Itachi is nothing but a selfish brat sometimes, I know it wasn't as easy getting him to stop and rest as Kisame made it sound," he said rubbing his cheek, he never had to actually smile when he acted like Tobi, his cheeks hurt.
'First hand experience I assume?,'
"Training accident when the brat was six," Itachi was talented, no doubt, but even a professional had to deal with the occasional mishap.
That particular day Itachi was in the old unused Uchiha training field not far from the estates main house, his father led him out there blind folded, handed him a giant knife the same length as his thin arm, put a chakra seal on him and told him to make it home before sunset or else he wouldn't get any dinner that night or the next.
Madara had watched his little descendant survey his surroundings, map out every little detail like a trained tracker ninja, work out where he was surprisingly fast and head home.
Only his father, being the cruel bastard he was, had set up a few ''obstacles'' for his son. Madara to this day didn't understand Fugaku's thinking at all.
One of the traps was a wire tripped kunai trap, there were only a couple and the firing mechanism made a grinding sound a good ten seconds after Itachi stepped on the heavy wire so he had no trouble dodging them.
The senbon trap however was a completely different story. It looked like rain there were so many needles and the trap itself was motion sensitive. poor kid never had a chance of getting out of that without a few ''battle scars''.
That was the one Madara didn't get, the Dick Uchiha himself wouldn't have been able to escape that, how could he think that a six year old could? Talented or not it didn't seem logical.
The elder planned on leaving the bleeding boy alone, he was keen on keeping his cover, but when Itachi started to quietly cry thinking he was going to die, he knew he wouldn't be able to.
Madara changed his appearance with a simple genjutsu and pretended to be a lost traveler. He ended up leading Itachi home by the sleeve of his shirt -since he almost racked the old man when he tried to pick him up- and left him at the front gate, making sure that Fugaku wasn't watching, the kid was pretty small, he needed all the food he could get.
Years later around the time Itachi became an ANBU, the prodigy fell out of a tree, that's right, the all mighty Itachi Uchiha fell out of a tree.
Madara didn't know why he fell, Itachi refused to tell him, pulling a kunai when the masked nin tried to push the issue.
Offering a hand to help him up and not mentioning said issue again was pushing it apparently.
Maybe the outburst was because the younger Uchiha practically hated his teacher with a passion only an Uchiha could understand or maybe he was just pissed at being thought of as weak. Either way, he ended up limping home by himself.
'That was both long and boring,'
Madara 'humphed',"Pft whatever," Like he actually cared what he thought about himself, he blinked, that didn't sound crazy at all.
'Ah, you're like a broken record,' The voice said spazztically, 'I don't miss Deidara, I don't care, I'm an impassive jerk off, oooooooooo,'
Madara's expression hardened as he clenched his teeth and started walking, not thinking a single thought or showing that he heard his subconscious at all.
'What you're just going to ignore me?,'
"..."
'You seriously want to do this? You're even more talkative than I am,'
The Masked ninja simply grunted.
'Fine then go for it, you'll crack soon enough,'
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"Sempai," Deidara -who was sitting on the bank of a crystal clear river sculpting one of his little birdies- looked up at his partner -standing beside him- at the sound of the playful tone.
"Hn?," he grunted with a bored expression.
"Hold these for Tobi," The masked ninja tossed a roll of bloody bandages that smelled of sweat onto the blonds lap.
Deidara picked the roll up with his finger nails, groaning in disgust,"UGH!," he tossed them into the water, they floated on the surface for a bit before sinking.
"They're just off my forehead sempai," Tobi said chuckling.
"O-oh," Deidara sighed in relief, "Thank Kami-sama," he didn't have to burn his cloak!
Tobi plopped down on the dirt beside his sempai and started to pull off his sandals.
"What are you doing? yeah,"
The masked ninja beamed,"Tobi's gonna catch some fish to eat!," he said, rolling up the legs of his sweats and lowering himself over the edge of the bank, he gazed over the sudden steep drop strait to the bottom.
He could see catfish resting on top of the thick underwater plants.
Nice and plump, they would be great roasted over a fire with a few wild herbs and mushrooms.
The Uchiha was almost drooling just thinking about it.
"You could go back to the village, yeah, if you take off your cloak the ANBU wouldn't even suspect that you of all people were an Akatsuki," Deidara closed his eyes as he rested his cheek in the palm of his hand, his elbow propped up on his knee.
"Tobi thinks Deidara-sempai is underestimating Tobi," Tobi pulled off his gloves, he balled them up and threw them randomly over his shoulder, not really caring where they landed.
"Deidara thinks that Tobi deserves to be underestimated," the iwa peeked open his eye when he heard a splash, he sighed and shook his head.
Madara swung his arms to push himself deeper into the water as he dived toward the bottom of the lake
'And now we shall make many fishy friends, catch them with our bare hands and we'll spark up a fire with some flint and get to work! Did you sense the sarcasm there, cause I meant it,'
If the sarcasm effected the Uchiha at all, he didn't show it.
Once at the bottom of the river Madara slipped the scarf from around his neck and tied one end onto a bulging tree root sticking out of the muck, he caught one foot under the root to keep himself from floating back towards the surface as he tied the other end around his free ankle.
The scarf and root acted as a chain and anchor, keeping Madara submerged but letting his hands stay free and open to catch whatever fish happened to swim by.
Nothing to do but sit-well-float and wait.
TIME SKIP!
Up on the bank Deidara was lazily watching the tall water reeds sway in the wind, he yawned and gazed over the edge of the shore, taking interest in the little turtle resting on a stone underwater, it hadn't moved a single time in the past thirty minutes.
He was starting to think it might've been dead.
'Don't turtles breath air?,' he thought curiously. His eyes widened for a moment. Tobi breaths air too.
When was the last time Tobi surfaced? How long has he been sitting here for? Thirty five minutes?
So Tobi's been under for...Thirty minutes?
Yup, Thirty.
Shit.
He quickly stood, ignoring the sudden dizzy feeling as the blood drained from his head. Deidara unsnapped his cloak and pulled it off, letting it fall and crumple up wherever/however it wanted.
He didn't care if it got wet or wrinkled, he didn't care if Konan stabbed him a million times over with those paper birds of hers, because nothing she could do to him could ever compare to what Pain would do to him if Tobi died.
Seriously, Deidara happened to LIKE having skin. He thought it was his best feature, next to his hair of course, like a field of golden wheat (A/N Woah, fangirl moment o.o)
"TOBI!," He shouted, hesitantly putting a foot in the water, "TOBI!,"
"Sempai?," He flinched and looked over his shoulder.
Tobi wasn't in the water. He wasn't dead, he wasn't drowning.
He had a string of fish thrown over his shoulder, one hand on his hip and he was almost completely dry.
It looked like he'd been out of the water for at least twenty minutes.
"Tobi? yeah," The Terrorist slowly sat down on the edge of the bank.
"Why did sempai jump into the water?," he gasped playfully, squatting down beside the livid ninja, "Did sempai want to play with the fishies?," he asked.
Deidara's shoulder sagged,"YOU'RE AN IDIOT!," his hand collided with the side of his partners head.
"WHAA!," The masked ninja cried, falling to the ground, he dropped the line of fish to grasp his ringing ear.
"You scared the crap out of me! hmm," Deidara said pulling his leg out the water to stand,"I thought you were-..." he trailed off.
Tobi pulled his hand away as he tilted his head, "Sempai thought Tobi was what?,"
"Nevermind, yeah, it's nothing,"
The raven flinched away and dipped his head, expecting another blow.
"Come on,"
He opened his eyes and stared at Deidara's outstretched hand,"Eh?,"
The blond scoffed,"What, you think I'm going to let you out of my sight after what you just pulled? yeah," he smirked, "If so, then you're an even bigger idiot than I thought,"
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In Konoha, Tsaunde, Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura and Shizune all stood in silence. The two chuunin Kotetsu and Izumo stood at the door with their heads down.
"I can't believe this," Tsunade breathed.
"They were all captains too," Kakashi shoved his hands into his pockets.
"There's only one person that could take out so many people at once," Only one person who could kill an army of ANBU.
Naruto's sad gaze dropped,"...I know,"
"Then you also know what must be done," A small nod was the lady Hokage's only response,"Call Yamato and Sai, you're mission is to find him," she said.
Sakura nodded,"Yes ma'am," She heard the fabric of Naruto's shirt crumple as Kakashi placed his hand on the young ninja's shoulder.
"I'm sorry Naruto,"
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Somewhere outside of the village, creeping through the trees with his chakra masked, was Madara, his eye fixed on the ground below him. What was on the forest floor? None other than the entrance to underground prison, hidden within a genjutsu that only he (or a Hyuuga) could see through.
There were several guards, but most of them were stationary, either sitting on the ground playing Shougi or napping in one of the warm sun spots.
The few that were doing their jobs were the youngest of the bunch, the greenies, the rookies. The ones that wouldn't stand a chance in hell if someone like Madara attacked them.
Then again, none of the ANBU stood a chance against the Uchiha. They shouldn't feel bad about being weaklings.
Bugs, caught in a spiders web.
The elder leaned himself against the tree trunk, he wouldn't have to wait much longer for sunset. He figured that would be the perfect time to strike, right in between the twilight and the rising of the moon.
Quite symbolic if you really thought about it.
And he did, because he could. Madara hadn't heard a peep out of his subconscious in the past hour, was that good? Of course it was!
Silence, peace, valuable time to doze and day dream.
Though he knew he shouldn't get too used to having a quiet mind, the voice would break soon.
'I know you're mad at me, but at least hear me out,' What did he say?, 'I promise I won't bother you again,'
Madara's eyes followed the guard as he passed, "Fine, make it quick,"
'Fine then SHUT UP,' The voice barked back.
The Uchiha growled.
'Isn't it annoying having me around? isn't it annoying having to look for Deidara? isn't it all just soooo Kami-damn annoying?,'
The ninja blinked in a mix of surprise and confusion, 'You pretend to be serious, you pretend to be everything you say you are, you aren't Demon Eyes Madara anymore and soon enough you won't be Tobi either, so who will you be? Deidara will hate your guts when he find out you're an Uchiha,' Madara opened his mouth, 'I'm not done,' he closed it.
'He;ll hate you and he'll be hurt that you lied to him. Regardless of what you do or say or think ,you do love him,' The Uchiha watched his hand pick at the bark of the tree, 'No, watch the camp,' Madara obeyed.
'Frightened men trying to convince themselves of their convictions, a frightened man, trying to convince himself, he's right,' Madara started a retort but the voice continued,' You're a sad, bitter old man who can't run from his problem and is stuck between a rock and a hard place. You're a terrible person and a sad excuse of a warrior, for you life is all about winning, but it's the game that matters ,'
The voice kept its word and went dead silent after that, though Madara was happy to finally have it gone and be able to pick up his pace, its words still faintly echoed. It was like his head had pushed out the little nuisance but it was still screaming.
What did it matter -it didn't-. There weren't any distractions, he was more then prepared to raid the base.
The Uchiha grinned, watching the guards leave as the shift changes began, "Here I come," in the end, it's the one who remains standing that is right.
(WOOT! PLOT!)
TBC:
This Saturday is my birthday! :D I got a German Shepherd puppy, his name is either going to be Tobi or Hannibal XD. Thank you for reading please review!