"You think this'll work?" Shiro wondered, passing through the walls of Orochimaru's hideout.
"It should," Kuroi replied, "Leader-sama told us that Orochimaru is not a sensory ninja and even if he was, we cannot be found while traveling in the walls."
"Only the Sharingan, Byakugan, and Rinnegan can see us when we go through walls, right?"
"Yes, and Orochimaru has none of those Kekkei Genkais."
"Then this mission should be pretty easy."
"Don't get overconfident. Orochimaru must not be underestimated, according to Sasori-san."
"Ah, yes. Sasori-san and Orochimaru were former partners when Orochimaru was in Akatsuki."
"To tell you the truth, I'm glad he left before we came around."
"I agree. He gives me the creeps and we've only met him once."
"Not to mention he's pretty much responsible for this mess. Karasu and Sakan died because of this."
"That bastard…"
"Shh! Someone's coming!"
Kuroi and Shiro froze in the wall, listening to the approaching pair of footsteps. Two figures came around the corner. Both were male and had a rope tied around their waist. Kuroi and Shiro recognized one of them as one of the ones who had accompanied Orochimaru to threaten the Akatsuki, but they did not know his name. He had orange hair that was sticking up in a Mohawk and he towered over the other person. Not to mention, he was terribly fat.
"You took too much time, Jirobo, now we're late for the meeting," the shorter man said.
The fat man, Jirobo, growled, "I needed to feed, Kimimaro, you know I get hungry a lot."
Kimimaro had pale skin with green eyes and two red dots on his forehead. His white hair reached to his shoulders, some tied in mismatching ponytails. Even though he didn't look as strong as Jirobo, Kuroi and Shiro could sense a dangerous aura flowing off his body.
Jirobo and Kimimaro walked past where Kuroi and Shiro hid, disappearing around the corner.
"Do we follow them?" Shiro asked once the two Sound Ninjas were out of earshot.
Yes. Kuroi and Shiro stared at each other since it wasn't Kuroi who answered.
"Who's there?" Kuroi asked cautiously.
The voice scoffed. Really, guys? Paper?
"Oh, it's just you, Tenshi," Shiro sighed in relief, "You scared us for a bit there."
You should've remembered that eating my paper would allow me to communicate with you. Tenshi's voice rang though their minds.
"Heh, my bad." Shiro grinned sheepishly.
"So we follow those two?" Kuroi asked, starting to inch Shiro and himself forward.
Yes, and remember to be extra careful. We don't know Jirobo and Kimimaro's abilities, but they're probably not sensory ninjas. However, there might be more small fry in the hideout.
"Small fry?" Kuroi and Shiro had rounded the corner.
I couldn't think of any other names for them, and they most certainly aren't the big boss.
"We get it, Tenshi, no need to get worked up," Shiro murmured as they neared an occupied room.
I was not worked up. Now, I should leave so you two can do your spying mission properly. I'll be watching though. Be careful!
"He was worked up," Kuroi grumbled as he and Shiro settled down to watch the room's occupants, "And there's the snake bastard."
Sure enough, Orochimaru, Kimimaro, and Jirobo along with a blue-haired, two-headed man and a pink-haired woman were in the room. Fumetsu stood a little off to the side, eyeing the others warily. Kuroi felt Shiro's chakra twitch and glanced over to see his white counterpart glaring furiously at the traitor.
"Calm down," Kuroi whispered, "We're not here to do anything other than spy."
Shiro breathed in deeply, unclenching his fist. Together, they listened in on the conversation between the Sound Ninjas and Orochimaru.
"I will split you into pairs since Kidomaru was killed by the crow," Orochimaru instructed.
The pink-haired woman sneered, "Weakling. I wouldn't have died if it was me."
"Tayuya, a lady shouldn't speak so…" Jirobo began.
"Shut up, fatso!" Tayuya snarled.
The blue-haired man ignored the arguing two. "Orochimaru-sama, even if we come up with a strategy, the Akatsuki still outnumbers us. What are you going to do about that?"
Orochimaru smirked. "Relax, Sakon. I have my jutsu, remember?"
"Edo Tensei?" Kimimaro's eyes flicked towards his master.
"Precisely." Orochimaru's eyes gleamed, "It's a shame I don't have a living sacrifice right now, or I would show you how the technique works."
"Use her." Tayuya jabbed her thumb at Fumetsu, "We don't need her."
Fumetsu whipped out her scythe. "I'm immortal, bitch. You're not!" she hissed.
Tayuya gave Fumetsu a disgusted look. "You may be immortal but if you were blasted to pieces or something, you'd still be useless."
Fumetsu was about to rush forward when Orochimaru stepped between them. "Tayuya, I thought we agreed to accept Fumetsu-kun as one of our own."
"Don't call me Fumetsu-kun!" Fumetsu snarled. Tayuya and Orochimaru ignored her.
"I did," Tayuya argued, "Until her friend decided to show up in our hideout!"
Kuroi and Shiro froze.
"Ah, yes. I was about to bring that up." Orochimaru licked his lips hungrily, "Tayuya, would you like to do us the honor of bringing them out?"
This is bad! You two, get out of there now! Tenshi's panicked voice echoed in Kuroi's and Shiro's mind, but the two clones were too slow. Tayuya began playing her flute, trapping Kuroi and Shiro in a genjutsu and forcing them to walk out of the wall, into plain view.
Orochimaru's grin grew wider. "Perfect," he hissed softly as he began to form signs.
Kuroi and Shiro were jolted out of the genjutsu as they began to be engulfed by tatters of material. Their first instinct was to run, but they were rooted to the ground unable to move. The only thing they were capable of accomplishing was screaming in pain as they were completely covered and everything went black.
"Kuroi! Shiro! Answer me, one of you!" Tenshi yelled desperately, crouching in his room in the Akatsuki base. Itami sat beside her friend, worried and ready to comfort him if he lost control.
Footsteps echoed in the hall and Konan and Pain appeared in the doorway a few seconds later.
"What's going on?" Pain demanded, taking in the scene as Konan strode over to her apprentice's side.
"Kuroi and Shiro aren't replying Tenshi's messages. We lost contact with them just a few seconds ago," Itami explained.
"Are they…?" Konan asked softly, making sure Tenshi couldn't hear her.
Itami bit her lip.
"Hey, fuckers! I heard someone yelling!" Hidan appeared with the rest of Akatsuki on his heels, "What's going on?"
Pain sighed. "We might have just lost another two members."
Hidan's jaw dropped to the ground. Deidara pushed his way to the front. "How can you be sure, hmm?" he demanded.
"We lost all contact with Kuroi and Shiro," Pain told them.
"Was it Orochimaru?" Itachi asked quietly.
Pain nodded. "It seems like it."
"He was using Edo Tensei," Tenshi whispered dully, standing up, "I could see it from Kuroi's and Shiro's eyes."
"Who did he resurrect?" Pain asked gently.
Tenshi shook his head. "That, I couldn't see. Everything went dark. I did get some of Orochimaru's plans though."
"Go on," Pain encouraged.
"He said that he was going to divide these four people into pairs," Tenshi reported, "I remember their names: Jirobo, Tayuya, Sakon, and Kimimaro."
"Leader, those four are part of the Sound Ninja Five," Zetsu informed Pain, "The fifth one was Kidomaru, the one who fought Karasu."
Pain nodded. "Anything else?" he questioned Tenshi.
"Fumetsu will be part of the enemy."
Hidan gnashed his teeth. "I will deal with that traitorous bitch!" he stated.
"It's probably best if you do," Pain asserted, "You are immortal, so you can withstand Fumetsu's curse-jutsu."
"And Pain?" Tenshi wasn't done with his report yet.
"Yes?"
"Orochimaru plans to use Edo Tensei against us since we outnumber him."
Pain blinked. "Thank you, Tenshi."
"All of you are dismissed," he addressed the Akatsuki, "I want Konan, Itami, Tenshi, Itachi, and Sasori to report to my office to discuss further plans."
"So kind of you to join us, Karasu." Orochimaru gave the deceased clone a sick smile.
Karasu stared back coldly, her eyes bearing black sclerae, the mark of someone summoned by Edo Tensei. "I just couldn't refuse a chance to watch the old snake die," she retorted icily.
"Show some respect to Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto snapped. He had arrived to watch the Edo Tensei technique.
Karasu rolled her eyes. "I thought that the sayings were always about showing the dead respect, but I guess you don't do that. Especially since you perform your sick experiments on corpses."
Kabuto took out a kunai and, in one fluid motion, sliced off Karasu's arm. To the surprise of the others in the room (expect Orochimaru and Kabuto), no blood poured from the wound. Instead, the arm reformed from the same tattered material that made up Karasu's resurrected body. In seconds, the limb had become as good as new.
"Manners, Kabuto," Orochimaru reprimanded softly. Kabuto backed away, muttering an insincere apology.
Orochimaru circled Karasu. "I must say, Karasu-kun, I'm glad you're not wearing that awful cloak of theirs." It was true. Karasu wasn't dressed in an Akatsuki cloak, but rather in a dark red cloak with a hood.
Karasu said nothing, but merely turned her head to follow Orochimaru.
"I suppose I should get you caught up in the recent events," Orochimaru sighed, "Let's see…the clone of Hoshigaki Kisame died shortly after you did, Fumetsu-kun here has joined our ranks, and the clones of Zetsu were used to bring you back so you could experience war."
Karasu's gaze became a glare. Orochimaru chuckled.
"My, my. You look even more like Itachi-san when you glare," he observed, "Back to business. You and Fumetsu-kun will be a pair. The Immortal Duo. What do you think?"
"I think you have a death wish," Karasu stated calmly.
Orochimaru laughed. "Coming from the one who's already dead."
Finally, a new chapter! I had a severe case of writer's block for this. My apologies. But I'm back now!
REVIEW, EVERYONE! I MADE THIS CHAPTER LONGER TO MAKE UP FOR LACK OF UPDATES!