Chapter Thirteen
The sound of someone slowly clapping caught their attention.
Konan turned her head to see two ninja coming from the forest.
Remus noticed that her eyes calmly swept over the white haired man, she didn't seem too surprised to see him. But when the other man took off his hood, her eyes widened a fraction of a second with surprise before she faced them completely.
"So. You've figured it out have you?" The white haired man asked in a congenial tone as though he were making polite inquiries at a social gathering.
Konan brought her kunai closer to her chest.
"Sasori-san. It is a surprise to see you here of all places. I didn't realize you were working with Orochimaru."
The red head inclined his head a margin to the left, his voice as toneless as hers.
"Believe me, I was just as surprised to learn that he wanted to hire me for this job. I would have refused on principal of who it was." Here he shot Kabuto a disgusted look. "But when I heard what the other half of my payment was, I couldn't resist."
"Oh. And what would that be?" Konan asked.
"The prospect of adding some very unique puppets to my collection." Sasori said, his blank face morphing into a beautiful, dreamy smile.
For a moment they locked eyes and Konan understood, giving the ex-Suna nin a barely imperceptible nod.
"I didn't know Orochimaru thought so poorly of us." Said Kisame sourly.
"Why you little traitor! By the time I'm through with you, you'll be nothing but firewood!" Hidan snarled and Kabuto laughed.
"Traitor? Those are lofty words coming from the remaining members of a notorious group composed almost entirely of nukenin. Or didn't they tell you?" He asked the group of wizards.
"Nukenin?" Remus asked, apparently confused by the foreign word.
"Nukenin. Rogue ninja. Each of them have committed serious acts of treason against their village. Shall I tell you more?" He asked and went on anyways at the wizards dumbfounded looks.
"They are all members of the Akatsuki."
"I keep hearing that word being bandied about." Severus said. "Just what is this Akatsuki?"
"The Akatsuki were a group of rogue shinobi bent on complete domination of the ninja world. Their goal was to capture the jinchuuriki. Ninja possessed by nine very powerful demons called Bijuu. They extracted the demon from it's human host and sealed it, waiting until they had all nine so they could unleash them on the world as a weapon. But their plan went up in smoke when the organization was destroyed before extracting the last demon."
He paused for a moment to allow the wizards a moment to absorb the new information.
"Hoshigaki Kisame is the Monster of Kirigakure. He attempted a coup de tat on the Leader of the Land of Water's life and fled his village when the attempt failed. Konan was the right hand of the Akatsuki, while living the double life of a village council member in Amegakure. Hidan is an immortal priest to Jashin God of Slaughter. He became a missing nin after wiping out most of the village of Yuugakure. Imagine that? Your saviors are nothing more but the most dangerous criminals in history."
The wizards stared. "Is this true?"
"Yes." she said simply.
Konan sought out Kisame's eyes, they flickered briefly at Sasori and he grinned.
Kabuto began forming hand seals and the four ninja tensed when coffins appeared from the ground in front of them. The first coffin opened and Konan looked stricken when the tall blonde man came out from it.
Severus saw the look on her face and remembered that the blonde was her lover.
Minerva and Remus saw the look on her face as well and despite the disturbing information they'd received, felt bad for their friend.
After her moment of shock, Konan drew in a deep breath, though her eyes were narrowed in complete disgust as the second coffin opened to reveal a frighteningly tall and intimidating man. She was just as surprised to see Kakuzu there but, this time she revealed nothing though inside her heart was hurting for Deidara. He did not deserve to be used like this.
The blonde raised his head to look at her.
"Konan-chan, long time no see."
"I'll take care of ol Stitch face! It's high time I sent that bastard to hell like I promised!" the Jashinist said, licking his lips with anticipation.
"Hn. You never could beat me while I was alive." Kakuzu scoffed. "What makes you think you can do it now?"
"Shut the fuck up Kakuzu!" Hidan snapped.
Kabuto walked up to each ninja and placed a kunai inside of them, making them obedient to his will.
Konan's hand tightened around her kunai.
"You know." Kabuto said, addressing the wizards with that strange smile on his face. "You wizards don't have much sense."
"And why is that?" Severus snarled.
"Because you are standing amongst six members of the Akatsuki. No ninja ever saw this many in one place and survived."
Remus blanched. All of them? Even the redhead? They were all members of this criminal organization? Looking around at the seven of them, he smelled power on them and psychosis too. They thrummed with it, he could believe that he was in a midst of dangerous criminals.
"The Akatsuki is no more." Konan said. "And it hasn't been for months. You act as if we are still working towards a common goal…Kabuto-san."
Kabuto grinned. "I'm sure. Now if we're done talking, let's get this party started shall we?"
Faster then Minerva could see, the remaining Sound ninja stood in front of her, poised to kill. Konan flickered into her view and she stepped lightly away as the Sound nin drew his large sword against her smaller kunai. The sound of clanking metal filled the air as the two ninja fought. Their speed was so incredible it was as if the two were disappearing and reappearing constantly.
He swung left and she ducked to the right, then he swung the other way and she ducked down, parrying each swing with her kunai then they both leaped in the air and he swung down, she moved her kunai up to block it and leaped out of the way again, causing the downward arc of his sword to hit the ground. They leaped again as soon as they landed and Konan stood on his sword before jumping off only to find Kakuzu at her back.
The stunned wizards watched as Konan was knocked through two trees with one punch. She managed to shake herself out of her stupor and transformed into a group of white butterflies, which split itself around the next tree and flew towards the sky, before forming into a dragon. The origami beast roared before power diving towards Kabuto.
Legs spread wide, Kabuto ducked low, one leg crossed over the other so he could catch Konan with a kunai to her leg. Konan could only smile as sheets of paper fell to the ground and she reformed behind him. He turned and flung a handful of shuriken which she dodged with ease by leaping skywards.
Sasori and Kisame watched with interest as the two battled. With a loud whoop of his own Hidan moved towards Kakuzu.
His scythe came clashing down on the unperturbed man as he turned a strange shade of gray and with one chakra powered fist, sent Hidan crashing to the ground. Hidan got up quickly when Kakuzu was almost on top of him and only got grazed when the man detached his arms.
"Still up to your old tricks ya stupid bastard?" He sneered.
"There's no point in taunting him Hidan, you will no more get a response out of him then you will out of one of Sasori's puppets."
It was one of the techniques Orochimaru developed in Akatsuki and she was sure that the Snake Sennin was somewhere out there laughing up his sleeve. The man loved emotionally charged dramatics to accompany the battles he orchestrated.
"Kisame! Watch out!" She called.
Deidara flung a handful of grasshoppers at him and he only barely managed to get out of the way, cursing wildly as they began tracking him. He remembered this particular form of Deidara's jutsu and taking a deep, calming breath stopped moving as he began working on an idea to get out of this unexpected situation, the clay grasshoppers came closer and with a sudden swipe of his Samehada, he slashed through them, draining them of chakra.
.Konan saw where Deidara was headed and stopped for a moment to watch as he skimmed low over the ground on his clay bird, birds flew from Deidara's hands and in a few flashes of bright light, he decimated half of Hogsmeade, her blue hair was whipping in the wind the explosions had created.
People trapped in the buildings screamed, others caught in the streets were stumbling over dead bodies, trying frantically to get away from the Iwa bomber. She expected him to turn around and smile ecstatically at his work. Those particular expressions on his face were what made him so beautiful in battle. When all that remained was a blank-eyed stare something snapped deep inside her.
Minerva's hand clutched her chest as it beat erratically, she felt as though she were going to have a heart attack and Konan had just stood there watching it happen, looking strangely expectant and wistful at first but then her face twisted into one of cold fury.
Remus saw how many innocent people had been killed and how many more were being trampled in a panicked crush. He began retching violently as the smell of burning flesh reached his sensitive nose.
"Minerva take this." Severus said gently, handing her a bottle light blue potion.
Hidan was getting thrashed by his former teammate, but the Jashinist didn't seem to want to give up. Kakuzu punched him hard and sent the priest rolling over the ground, he was up in a flash and his scythe caught his ex partner's leg and ripped it clean off, where it re-grew much to the Jashinist's disbelieving eyes.
"When the hell could you do that?" He asked in confusion.
Konan shook her head.
Sasori took advantage brought out two puppets and they flew towards the blue haired kunoichi with an eerie clacking noise, reminiscent of chittering insects.
"Your fight's with me Sasori." Kisame said and Sasori smiled. He had not had a chance to relish a fight between equals since the pink haired girl and his grandmother had "killed him."
Sasori scowled as Kisame stared at him, both shinobi were scrutinizing each other. He knew that Kisame could cut right through his chakra strings and drain him and his human puppets of their chakra. He would have to distract him until he could get a clear shot on the Kiri nin. He smiled and shot a wave of white hot flame and Kisame dodged it, knowing that countering with one of his water jutsu at such a close range would create scalding steam, when Kisame moved away from his attack, Sasori shot off several rounds of his poisoned senbon creating a deadly field and Kisame created a water wall and tried to flush some of them off the field so he could get close enough to drain the puppet master of his chakra.
Konan felt her own battle lust come roaring to life as she faced Kabuto but Severus stepped in her way.
"So you won't stop your lover even though he's destroying the town! What the hell happened to doing what is necessary?"
When the woman faced him, Severus finally understood the phrase if looks could kill. Her eyes were murderous now and he had never seen her in such a state, feeling suddenly apprehensive that he'd gone too far, he stepped back, swallowing thickly when she grabbed him by his cloak.
Remus and Minerva flinched at the sight.
"Do not speak of things which you know nothing about Severus." Then in a voice so low that only they could hear she whispered, "You and you the others need to leave this place now. We cannot keep you safe and kill off such high level shinobi at the same time. Go help the villagers."
He maintained a neutral expression though he could still feel her fury pouring into him like a noxious poison and he wondered if she would harm him once this was over…if she survived. Severus was not entirely sure if he wanted them too or not. Perhaps these dangerous freaks would solve both Dumbledore's and the Dark Lord's problem and kill each other off? He fervently hoped so.
Remus suddenly felt himself being swung up on Konan's back and carried off at a breakneck pace towards the burning town, Minerva and Snape were next to him on her clones. They were deposited and the clones dissipated into paper.
"You two will help put out the fires! I will help get the villagers to St. Mungos!" Severus ordered, whirling to find Kingsley and Moody there with him.
Remus shuddered as he cast a dousing spell on a house that was only beginning to burn. Was this what it was like for their ancestors? He could certainly understand why they wanted nothing more to do with that lifestyle, war and murder day in and day out! He fully sympathized with the reason they fled and allowed their skills and talents to weaken and why they adopted such strict policies on magic over the years.
Konan groped at her throat as Kakuzu held her in his powerful crushing grip, it was becoming hard to breathe and her vision burst with white stars against blackness before she managed to bring trembling into a sign and the wood between the Taki nin's hand cracked, she hid in a tree to regain her breath and analyze this surprising turn of events.
Kakuzu was intelligent and wise and physically powerful and that made him one of the most dangerous people Konan had ever met, she glanced apprehensively at the two remaining masks on his back. The man only used them when he was up against particularly powerful opponents and Kabuto had always been particularly talented at proper information gathering, to have learned his jutsu well enough to fight, though this was weaker, slower, and at the moment, incapable of thinking on his own. Talented though Kabuto was, he had nothing on Orochimaru's talent and cunning. The Sennin's tactical genius and intimate knowledge would have made this a flawless performance
Still, Kabuto was very clever and with his medical jutsu attacks he was a particularly formidable opponent and Konan knew that killing or severely injuring him would break the jutsu. Orochimaru must have been particularly desperate to have taught him such a powerful jutsu. One, that he could no longer execute himself. She thought with a slight smile.
Where was Hidan? Ah. The man was trapped in one of Kakuzu's Water Prisons and was struggling to get himself out, so his Water Mask was intact, but she could not tell what the other mask's elemental affinity was, since taking hearts was reserved exclusively for the Wakahisa clan's kekkai genkai and was not something that could be duplicated.
First she would have to dispel the clone that held Hidan prisoner, then she would have to have Hidan get between her and Kakuzu, after that she had to take down Kabuto. She formed a clone to draw off Kakuzu's attack and another to go after the clone, while she positioned herself in place to kill Kabuto.
Kisame had formed a deep pool of water and sent his sharks to rip the puppet to pieces, they grabbed Sasori and dragged him down. Kisame cursed as he saw Sasori's heart transfer to another puppet
The Suna nin charged with a surge of lightning and Kisame only barely managed to escape getting fried. He alternated between shooting off poisoned senbon and lightning, forcing him to watch where he was stepping. Kisame had seen what the sadistic bastard's poisons were capable of and if this was a new one, well Kisame did not want to be the first on the battlefield to see what it did.
Konan cursed as Deidara dropped a few lizards on her, they were incredibly fast and difficult to evade, but she had gotten Kakuzu off her back at least. Her clone was fighting alongside Hidan who was chopping at various body parts and cursing angrily when they grew back. She ducked into the cover of the trees, dispelled the clone that was fighting with Hidan and formed a new one to draw Deidara over to Sasori. The Suna nin's howl of rage told her that she had successfully destroyed a few of his puppets, who had been waiting to ambush Kisame when he got close enough.
She formed her hand and summoned a demon windmill shuriken and flung them at Kabuto who ducked, then Konan formed a flurry of flower shuriken and blinded the medic nin while she guided the demon windmill back, if she timed it right she could cut off his hand and sure enough she heard his cry of pain as the Oto shinobi, Deidara and Kakuzu fell to the ground, the earth melting off Kakuzu to reveal the face of a tall, burly Oto ninja. Deidara's "body" detonated on impact and she closed her eyes and moved away from the burning trees as Kabuto beat a hasty retreat, cradling his severed hand in his one good arm…and yet, there was a smug smile on the bastard's face as he teleported and she wondered what he was up too, but she would have to figure that out later since the fight wasn't over yet, they still had to fight Sasori and that alone was no easy feat.
Sasori surrounded the winded kunoichi with several puppets and Konan was caught in the melee, unable to move away from the poisoned blades, as the poison began to affect her nervous system and she was beginning to run low on chakra, she wondered if today was her day to die. Still, she had no intention of doing so without taking some of his puppets down with her, she slapped explosive tags on them and switched out with one of her clones, her limbs were beginning to shake and she was finding it harder to move, as the small explosion tore them apart.
Sasori snarled irritably as Kabuto told him to retreat and he began backing away from Kisame when Konan appeared behind him. Together she and Kisame took off after him through the burning forest. Kisame dodged a falling branch and Konan had to jump over a log that burst into flame, showering her with hot sparks. The smoke was making it harder for her to breathe as the poison worked its way through her system.
"You ok Blue?" Kisame asked as she stumbled.
"Poisoned." She muttered.
Ahead, one of Sasori's puppets made the sign for a parley and the two nin stopped.
"Good, we can talk here safely." Sasori smiled.
"I need you to two to do me a little favor."
"What do we get in return? The antidote?" Kisame asked suspiciously.
"Of course not. You know how I like to give people a sporting chance. It makes the game more interesting. But I need you to help me take down Orochimaru and Voldemort."
"For your art?" Konan asked with a slight smile.
Sasori returned it.
"That's one reason. Voldemort can do things not even ninja can do and I want him for my collection. I hardly think I need to explain why I want to take down Orochimaru, but I need powerful ninja at my side when I do it. I'll be sending you a little message later on...if your still alive Konan-san." He sneered as he and his puppet disappeared.
For a moment, all they heard was the crackling flame, which lent the forest an eerie glow, finally Kisame spoke.
"Think we should take a chance with the little bastard? He did just try to kill us after all." But he was grinning as he said it, clearly looking forward to the idea of matching wits with the wily puppet master.
Konan felt chills wracking her body despite the intense heat.
"Yes. I believe we should, but keep Hidan out of the know, after all, we should give him a sporting chance."
Kisame let loose a bark of sardonic laughter as they emerged from smoke and steam. The Aurors were busy putting out the forest fire when Konan was stopped by Severus.
"What happened out there? Did you get them?" He asked the now barely coherent Konan.
"No…he got away."
"You've been poisoned." Severus stated, as he observed her weakening body.
He should just let her die, he told himself. She and her friends have caused nothing but devastation and death since they've been here. Before he realized what he was doing, he instructed Kisame to take her to the Headquarters.
"Severus." She said weakly. "You must remove all the senbon, but you must not touch them, the smallest scratch will kill you and knowing him, they are possibly coated in contact poisons."
"What the fuck happened to you?" Hidan asked.
"She's been poisoned idiot." Kisame grumbled.
"Hey before you die, can I kill you in the name of Jashin-sama? It might save your soul and it's not like Zetsu will be able to eat you anyways." Hidan said.
Konan glared at the Yuu nin.
"I'm not even dead yet and I have two psychopaths after my corpse."
Kisame snorted in amusement. "Back off you greedy buzzard." He muttered, as he walked Konan towards the headquarters at a brisk pace. Hidan glowered and turned to follow them.
Sirius blanched when he saw who was coming into the house. He never could get over his fear of Konan and seeing her walking into the house splattered with blood didn't help ease them.
"Oh goodness." Molly gasped as she caught sight of them.
Kisame flopped down on the couch and spread out.
"That was a helluva fight! I'm ready to put up my heels and rest for a few hours."
Konan collapsed on the chair and tried to get her foggy mind into order. Where was Zetsu? He'd had enough time to warn them that Sasori was working with Orochimaru. His absence meant that he had either been killed or captured. She coughed and a mixture of black fluid and blood splattered on her cloak, she was simply waiting for the poison to reach her brain and shut everything off. She recognized this poison now, it was the one that immobilized the enemy so that Sasori could finish them off at his leisure so he could began making plans on turning them into human puppets.
She stared with glazed eyes as Severus held a strange looking ball in his hands.
"Eat this. It's a bezoar and it will nullify any poison." He was saying.
Konan stared suspiciously at it, since for all she knew, the double agent could be trying to poison her instead, but finally she took it with shaking fingers and swallowed the thing.
She sat and dozed lightly on the chair for the next hour and was woken by Albus, who looked very grieved, her ears only catching some of the words coming from his mouth.
"Oto nin…killed…five members…left unprotected…while you…fighting…"
So that had been Orochimaru's plan. She thought as she struggled to keep her eyes open. He had distracted them with one battle on top of another so they could sneak around and kill off more members. The clever bastard. Well, she had survived Sasori's attempt at poisoning her and would look forward to playing his game, but for now she needed rest and judging by the looks of Kisame and Hidan, so did they.