Chapter 18: Confrontation
The occasional scattering of a stray bug or two and the irritated groans from Hidan were the only noise throughout the entire lair of Yami, formerly Orochimaru's. Yami had returned that night, carrying a scroll under his arm.
"The hell is that?" Hidan strained his neck to look.
"Blueprints." Yami threw the scroll open over a table, tacking it down with a kunai in each corner. He then moved to retrieve the head of Hidan. Hidan chortled his approval as he beheld the blueprints.
"Very, very nice. That form, combined with my current jutsu and immortality, will make me unstoppable! How long do you think it'll take you to pull together?"
"Approximately a quarter of a year, if all goes well. I presume the lair has gone undisturbed, of course?" came the slightly muffled voice of Yami.
"Hell no. Bug chattering everywhere. And while you were gone, the clean up crew came along," Hidan answered with a yawn.
"Clean up crew?"
"Yeah, you kinda killed Kabuto and left his body just laying around. That kind of gesture attracts all sorts of pests," responded the head with a snicker.
"Let's remember who saved who so many times in the past," growled an angry voice from a dark corner, across from Hidan.
"Calm yourself," came another, softer voice, in the same corner. "We owe our host an explanation."
Yami pulled his cloak open. The skeleton that wrapped itself around his body began to unfurl, slumping onto the floor. Within seconds, it rose, creaking forward. It didn't matter though. Before he knew any better, green tendrils emerged from behind Yami and wrapped around him, constricting his movement. The tendrils climbed along the length of the chain and trapped the skeleton as well. Yami strained his neck to examine the tendrils and noticed that they were actually vines.
The softer voice spoke again, "There's no need for that. We're on your side. Put it away now."
The vines drew backwards, releasing the skeleton, then the chain. Finally, they released Yami and drew further backwards. Yami spun around to behold his assailant. The man was unusual, half black, and half white. He had yellow eyes, which differed slightly from one half of his body to the other. He had spiky green hair, but strangest yet was his body. Most of it was in a black cloak, but what was visible was a large, Venus-flytrap-like structure, wrapped around the man's head and torso.
"So, Zetsu survived all these years?" Yami mused, as he took a step backwards, pulling the chain on his arm brace and retrieving the skeleton.
Zetsu's dark-half growled, "It wasn't easy, finding sustenance without being noticed. Orochimaru's lair was full of easy pickings, though. I have to thank you for our last meal." With an awkward motion, Zetsu bowed slightly.
Hidan snickered, "So tell me, how did old Kabuto taste?"
Zetsu shook his head, his light-half speaking, "Wasn't my best meal, but it'll get me by. I see you're constructing a new body for Hidan?"
Yami nodded, looking over to Hidan, "About the rumors. I was only partially right. Pein is dead, but he apparently had a son, who leads the new Akatsuki. Also, there is a Hyuga boy in the ranks, as well as the Kaguya and Uchiha we met with earlier."
Zetsu smiled slightly, his dark-half adding, "And in such a short time, it's come very far, that new Akatsuki. We never dreamed that our fool-proof back up plan would be this successful?"
The head growled, "We? You mean you were in on this?!"
Zetsu nodded, the dark-half continuing, "I was given a mission by Pein before he died. I was to watch over and protect the child he and Konan created, and the bodies of the shinobi they set aside for the child, as well as to watch the progress of Project Kosshi. The three of us were the only ones who knew about it. We even hid it from Tobi."
With a mirthful laugh, Hidan asked, "From Tobi? That doesn't seem like a really hard task, given that idiot's qualifications."
Zetsu's light-half noted, "The truth is, Tobi was the real leader of the Akatsuki. The man you knew to be Tobi was in fact Madara Uchiha, the original summoner of the Nine Tailed Fox. Tobi was just a fake guise."
"Whatever you say. What does it matter if Tobi knew or not?" Hidan asked.
The dark-half of Zetsu growled, "Madara was easily one of the most powerful shinobi at the time. Pein's purpose for Akatsuki was to bring ultimate peace, but Madara was filled with vengeance and hate. We believed that Madara would kill the Akatsuki once he had the power of the Nine Tailed Beasts, and ultimately dominate the shinobi world, and that our mission would have been for nothing. In the time that you, Hidan, and the other 5 Akatsuki who were unaware of our plans caught your Bijuu, Konan remained inactive because she was carrying Pein's child. The current leader of Akatsuki. After his birth, he was placed in a pod, fed and nourished by chakra stored up by Pein and Konan. The same was done for five other bodies who Pein selected to aid the child when his time came."
Yami stroked his mask thoughtfully, "And what of the Kaguya kid?"
The light-half continued, "At first, we were simply testing our capabilities. Kimimaro Kaguya died near the Valley of the End, where I witnessed the fight between the now-leader of the Uchiha clan, and the now-leader of the Hidden Leaf Village. History repeats itself. On orders from Pein, I collected some of the bone marrow from Kimimaro's body afterwards and returned to base, where we worked on a jutsu to produce a living clone. We had him in one of those chakra fed pods, watching him develop, but as time went on, we realized what Madara might do, so decided to set him aside to join the new leader of Akatsuki in this generation. I, myself, am not sure how successful our cloning went. We were never completely sure of the stability of the body of the clone, and I have only briefly seen the Kaguya clone outside of the pod."
"Hey, you fat bastard! How did you avoid being killed, like the rest of them?" Hidan called out.
Zetsu's dark-half hissed, "Continue to insult me and you will spend the rest of your miserable existence in my stomach. The truth is, I was killed, but I am part plant, and as such, able to regenerate, given time. I came back to conscious existence about a year after my 'death.' In another two years, my body reformed completely, and I continued to spy underground, watching and waiting. But now, I feel it is time to reveal myself."
"Well, since you are here, can I rely on you to aid me in reconstructing Hidan?" Yami asked.
Zetsu's dark-half growled, but the light-half spoke up, "Actually, looking at your blueprint, I believe I have an idea that would greatly benefit Hidan's survival rate."
Yami took off his mask and set it on the table. His face was lined with age, with wrinkles under his eyes and on the sides of his mouth. His sclera was black. Slit-like pupils sat in his yellow eyes. A Hidden Sound headband sat just above his eyes. Most intriguing was the right side of his chin and neck, severely burned. His jaw clicked and clacked as he asked, "Share with me?"
"Ew, put it back on!" the head said with a gag.
Neither seemed to hear Hidan, though, as the white hand of Zetsu reached for a pencil and began to sketch on the blueprints.
Next Chapter – One Tail