Far From Home
Chapter Fourteen
Zetsu cursed angrily as he wrapped the wound under his ribs tighter.
"Damn that Sasori!" His Darker Half cursed.
"I'm going to kill him when I get the chance." His Lighter Half agreed.
He had been surprised to see him working with Orochimaru. Realizing the danger he was in if he hung around the former Suna nin, he had tried to move discreetly through the walls so he could get out and warn Konan, but Sasori had known he was there the whole time and had stabbed him with that poisoned mechanical stinger of his.
Then Sasori had unleashed a female puppet of Zetsu's kind, the first the half plant demon had ever seen and chased after him with it. It had unnerved Zetsu to be matched on his own ground, something he had never had to deal with before.
The puppet plant demon could go underground just as he could, could use thorny vines to fight and bind, just as he could and the puppet also had another trick up her sleeve, she could use special pollen to arouse his mating instincts and it had almost been the death of him.
Fortunately, the plant had neutralized most of the poisons the Puppet nin used and had speeded up the healing process. Unfortunately, his position as a spy had been wrecked and he knew he couldn't go back while that unappetizing little shit was still there.
"Soon. We'll be there soon." His Lighter Half said soothingly.
Severus had cast a translation spell on that book that the white haired man had given him. He flipped through its pages until he caught sight of Konan, than he continued to read on about the other members. What he saw was cause for concern.
They were frightening, each member had been a powerful force to be reckoned with all on their own. The fact that this woman and her companions used to work with the leader of Otogakure made him wonder just who's side she was on.
The leader of Otogakure himself had him gaping. The crimes he'd committed alone were enough to turn even Moody's stomach. Not even the Dark Lord himself had experimented on human beings. The fact that this Orochimaru and this Madara Uchiha had found ways to recycle their souls in a far more, time-efficient manner than the Horcruxes made him fearful of how unstoppable he would be if such knowledge ever got into his hands.
The Edo Tenshi and the red head's creation of battle puppets made from the bodies of his defeated opponents made the Inferi seem crude and primitive in comparison. Damn! What was wrong with these people? They were more than just criminals, they had been comprised of a group of psychopathic mass murderers! And those who weren't labeled deceased, were marked Kill on Sight.
Alastor Moody walked up to Severus, looking grim.
"We've lost five order members, two of em were Aurors, four of em were murdered in their homes and we've got no way of knowing if Tonks is among the living or not." He rubbed his face.
"So that was the plan." Severus said just as grimly, "Distract our lovely little murderers while those mangy jackals pick us off."
While Mad-Eye was used to Severus' vitriol, there was something about this particular tone of voice that set off warning bells.
"Now Severus, they're just doing there duty and we're damned lucky to have them on our side."
"Are we?" He asked. "Tell me, did you see the destruction these people caused? I thought they were supposed to be discreet but-"
"Course I saw it! I was there wasn't I?" Mad-Eye countered.
"No. You saw nothing!" Severus interrupted. "You saw the aftermath! You didn't get to witness the entire spectacle. Let me tell you," and here he lowered his voice, "these people are as much a danger to us as they are to these Oto ninja, perhaps even more so. Look at what I found, page 78 under a translation spell, this woman and her colleagues used to work right alongside this Otogakure leader lunatic and all of them are marked Kill on Sight! Now, use your keen Auror senses and tell me that doesn't raise red flags?"
Moody was than surprised to see the reptilish resemblance of the leader of these ninja as he perused the book. Orochimaru, Kisame, Hidan, Kabuto and Konan were all marked for death. Hell the entire organization had been marked for death! He bit his lip anxiously when he read about this Orochimaru's abilities to recycle his soul every four years.
"And you would do well to continue to be wary of us. Complacency and complete trust are not virtues among shinobi." Konan said from behind them.
Both men whirled around.
"Feeling better I trust Konan?" Asked Severus archly.
"I am well enough." She replied in a neutral, yet slightly condescending tone of voice.
"Are you sayin we can't trust you?" Mad-Eye Moody demanded.
Konan looked wearily at them.
"Whether you choose to trust us is up to you. I am simply saying that to trust anyone completely is foolish and nothing more. But understand that if we were working with Orochimaru you would have been dead a long time ago as there is no reason to have drawn the battle out for so long."
Mad-Eye was torn between approval of her self-confidence and deep suspicion of Severus's discoveries.
"I need to ask you about this body switching jutsu. Is it possible for Lord Voldemort to learn it?"
"No."
"How do you know this?"
"There is a reason we are trained so young Severus, if left untrained until puberty, our chakra coils will go to waste because they will be too small to accommodate the proper amounts of internal energy needed to form jutsu. If this Lord Voldemort were trained at the same age as the rest of you, just before puberty than his coils would be too small to be able to form even the simplest of jutsu, let alone a dangerous and complex one such as transferring the soul and suppressing that of the host's. You also need to be extremely physically fit, since chakra is a combination of physical and spiritual energy."
Both men looked relieved and Mad-Eye was intrigued. Could it be possible that a wizarding child trained at a younger age could become as powerful as shinobi?
"What about this Sasori? Can you handle him or is he too much for you?" He asked snidely.
"Akasuna no Sasori is a dangerous opponent. His presence changes the dynamics of the playing field drastically." She admitted, "He is crafty and knowledgeable, but if there's one thing I've learned it's that any shinobi can be defeated."
Then she turned towards the Auror.
"Moody-san, where is Kisame?"
"He's downstairs sleeping." He asked.
She nodded her head and walked out of the room.
"I'll keep an eye on her." Mad-Eye said.
Severus nodded.
Kisame woke up with a start to see Konan standing over him.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"Zetsu must have been either captured or killed." She replied. "Otherwise we would have heard about Sasori's alliance with Orochimaru."
"Yeah, I was thinking that earlier."
She gave him a look.
"After you passed out." He amended.
"So how are we going to spy on Oto when Sasori's probably killed Zetsu and can turn any of your Sleeper Agents against us?" He wondered.
"We'll figure that out soon."
She paused.
"It seems that Severus and Moody are suspicious of our motives as well."
"That a problem?" He asked.
She thought for a moment.
"For now, no. If they want us gone we will leave. If they try and betray us…"
"We kill them." He finished.
She nodded.
"In a half an hour we are going to call a meeting, the Double Agent and the Auror have discovered the reason behind Oto's large scale attack."
"And that is?"
"To distract us while they went after five more members. Four confirmed dead, one missing."
"Probably dead."
"Possibly, possibly not. The missing one is a descendant of the Sukinshifuta clan, so she may have escaped, though it's more likely that she was caught so Orochimaru can use her as part of a breeding program."
"Yeah, that crazy bastard wouldn't miss out on an opportunity like that." He muttered.
Konan said nothing.
"You should go change. Don't wanna frighten the civilians now do you?" He grinned.
Konan's lips twitched in an almost retort, but she refrained. The same, cold, silent specter of a woman he'd always known. Kisame wasn't sure to be glad that they were getting the old Konan back or not. Nah, these wizard types were good for her, got her to open up a bit. So long as she was herself on the battlefield and in the ol' war room it didn't matter how she acted.
Konan and Kisame listened to the Aurors' reports and Konan gave her opinion on Tonks' possible status.
"If Orochimaru's gotten wind of her then she would be too valuable to kill. He might torture her for information on the whereabouts of others like her. But he will not kill her."
"What makes Tonks so special to the enemy exactly?" Asked Perseus Stillwaters.
"Her Kekkai Genkai."
"English please?" Severus said.
"It means her bloodline trait." Kisame supplied. "She's got the ability to change her appearance at will right?"
"Yes." Said Severus.
"That's because Tonks is a descendant of the Sukinshifuta Clan of Yuugakure."
"So…there's a whole clan o' people like Tonks out there?" Asked Hagrid.
"There used to be. They were originally made to be the perfect spies and assassins. But the last of them were wiped out forty years ago by their home village who feared they would turn against them and no one would even realize it." He said with a hint of bitterness in his voice. "So using her to revive the extinct clan would be beneficial to any village."
Almost every jaw in the room dropped open. To have that sort of thing hardwired into your genes, to be trained to be the best of the best and then to have your existence wiped out because the very government that used you had grown afraid of your power? Of the possible what-ifs?
"There is also the possibility she managed to escape." Konan replied.
A flare of chakra caught her attention, though she appeared to have all of it focused on Dumbledore.
Kisame shifted to a more defensive position.
Arthur Weasely walked in and Konan saw the grayish veil of genjutsu surrounding him. Masata. The flash of chakra had suddenly become very familiar and before her brain caught up with her body she flung two kunai and was stabbing a third through his heart.
The Order interrupted into screams and yells.
"Arthur!"
"What the hell?"
"Has she gone mad?"
"She's lost it!"
Molly Weasely stared at the body of her husband.
"Shh. Shh. It's alright Molly, look. This is not your Arthur."
Kisame had never heard her speak so gently before, as though she were soothing a frightened child.
At that moment Arthur Weasely stepped in.
"Good lord what's happened here?" He asked, blanching when he saw the dead body blocking the doorway.
"Arthur!" Molly Weasely flung herself in his arms and held him close, body trembling.
Crisis averted her voice became sharp and commanding.
"Kisame!"
"I'm on it." He split himself into three clones and went off to search the building.
"Dumbledore-san, Moody-san, Shacklebolt-san, you need to get them to a safe place. Security has been breached and my spy has been compromised."
They nodded.
Only one person was capable of tweaking the Sleeper Jutsu. Akasuna no Sasori. Her feet flew but wherever she looked he was nowhere to be found.
After confirming that he wasn't here, Konan regrouped with Kisame.
"Where is Hidan?" She asked him.
"Little bastard is using up all the hot water." He complained.
At that moment, Zetsu arrived.
"Zetsu!" Kisame cried out.
"Konan…"
"I'm going to kill Sasori for poisoning me."
Konan reached into her pocket for the Bezoars she had lifted from Snape.
"Here, eat this."
"What is that?"
"It removes all poisons. It cured me as well."
Zetsu opened his mouth reluctantly, for all he knew, she could be trying to finish him off for getting caught. It was a common practice to destroy a failed spy in most villages.
"Rest now Zetsu-san." She murmured as Kisame lifted him on the bed.
"One of us needs to get back to the client."
"I'll go." Kisame said.
If anyone attacked, Konan was strong enough to fend them off and she had Hidan there as well.
He caught up quickly with the rest back at the castle.
"You need to find a more secure place for the Order." Kisame told Dumbledore.
"I have one." Sirius growled, looking very bitter.
"Grimmauld Place, it's the perfect place for us to set up shop as its completely unplottable and uses old protection magic that most people don't even remember exist anymore."
Sirius looked up to see the questioning look in the shinobi's eyes, but neither of them said a word.
Remus knew how badly Sirius hated his family home.
"Thank you Sirius." He said, gratitude thick in his voice.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't mention it and I mean that literally!"
Remus laughed a little.
"Should we head there now?" He asked Kisame.
"No. They'll be expecting that and we need to wait for the others."
"Where is Konan and Hidan anyways?" Asked Hagrid.
"They're waiting to see if they can ambush pursuers." Kisame lied smoothly.
"Man these wizards may be pussies! But they've got the best showers ever! I was in there for damn near four hours and the water is still hot!" Said Hidan happily as he marched down the stairs.
"Hey! What's wrong with the Venus Fly Freak?" He asked.
"He is resting." She said. She was pretty upset that he had spent all his time in the shower when he could have prevented Masata from entering.
He either didn't notice that she was angry with him or he simply didn't care. Konan had never been entirely sure which.
"There was an Oto ninja here." She said.
"Really?" He asked, looking surprised.
At least for the most part he was easy to read.
She reminded herself that she had to be straightforward with him.
"Do not let your guard down again Hidan-san." She said severely.
"Psh! Hey what about you two? You fuckers should have felt him a mile away!" He snapped.
She pointed to the corpse on the floor.
"We did sense him coming and I took care of it."
"Whatever." He grumbled.
She held back an angry sigh. He was absolutely impossible, it was no wonder Kakuzu had constantly griped about him.
"Where did everyone else go?" He asked.
Absolutely impossible.
But she answered in an even tone, "Kisame went with them to discuss finding a more secure area.
"Oh. I guess I didn't think about that." He said sheepishly and Konan found her lips twitching with amusement in spite of herself.
"Hey Konan! When can we get the fuck outta here?" He wondered.
He's like an impatient child. She thought. It was no small wonder that Kakuzu had also shared laughs with the others at his expense.
"Till this is finished. But you know you don't have to stay Hidan-san." She said quietly.
"Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna stick around too much fucking longer."
She blinked. Had it really been that long?
"Ah. Your pilgrimage to the Temple is drawing near."
"You mean you actually remembered?" He sounded as if he wasn't sure whether he should be confused or impressed.
"How could I forget?" She reminded him, a ghost of a smile hovering around her face.
He had nagged and pestered either her or Pein for days on end whenever it was time to make his journey to the Temple.
He leaned forward and kissed her hard on the lips.
Konan was momentarily too shocked to stop him and when it wore off, she pulled away and punched him hard, not feeling particularly sorry about it when she saw the gleam of obnoxious mirth dancing in his eyes as he wiped the blood from his lip.
"It's been fun Blue, but I gotta go."
"You know where the port key is." She told him frostily, crossing her arms.
"Yup!"
"Oh and Hidan-san."
"What is it babe?" He asked.
"If you ever do something like that again, you will get a kunai through the eye."
"It's a date." He said snickering.
After he'd left she muttered irritably to herself. They were short of people as it was and Hidan had left. Not that she expected any of them to stick around forever.
"I saw that."
Zetsu. This time she did sigh.
"If it bothered you, we could go after him." Offered his Lighter Half.
"Let it be Zetsu-san." She said.
"Why? Did you enjoy it?"
Had it been anyone else asking the question, Konan would have exacted respect in a very vicious fashion. As it was, this was Zetsu, who had no experience of such things and was always very curious about things which he knew nothing about. Konan felt a surge of pity for him. But Zetsu disliked pity and so she gave him none.
"No. He did it to annoy me and for no other reason." She answered honestly.
"Ah." He murmured. Wondering if Konan would punch him if he attempted to kiss her.
"What are my orders Konan-san?" He asked. After all, his human part was rather grateful that she didn't attempt to have him destroyed for having his cover blown. Neither Pein nor Madara would have tolerated such a thing.
At the moment, Konan didn't care, but she said in a slightly weary tone of voice.
"Just rest and regain your strength Zetsu-san."
"I'd regain my strength faster by eating." He said, eyeing the dead ninja hopefully.
"If that is what's needed."
There was a pause as he glided towards the corpse. Gold eyes burning into hers.
"Konan."
"Mmm?"
"Don't let these people weaken you too much."
Where did that come from? She wondered.
Zetsu sometimes gave completely non-sequitar answers and as she glanced at him, she realized that he was expecting an answer for what he considered his sage advice. Dealing with the split mind of the Plant Demon Shinobi was always tricky to maneuver, but she'd always thought she did reasonably well.
"I was already weakening before I came here Zetsu-san." She murmured. "I believe," and here she cringed inwardly, "that I was always the weak link of Akatsuki."
"If that were true Konan, then you wouldn't be alive now."
And what, she wondered, did that make some of the most powerful ninja in the world that she had worked with for so long?
"Do not mistake it for being a better shinobi than they were." His Darker Half growled.
His Lighter Half explained. "We will all kneel to death someday."
He sounds like Hidan. She thought ruefully, but paid polite attention regardless. Zetsu had always been alarmingly honest for a Spy Master.
"Understand that we are alive, because we did not suffer delusions of grandeur as the others did. That is why they fell as shamefully as they did."
Oh but she had. She had suffered under the delusion that Pein was unbeatable, had suffered under the delusion of peace throughout the shinobi lands by force, which was not true peace at all. Had suffered under the delusion that they could kill Madara Uchiha and gain control over the organization. She had been so blind and naive and foolish, in many ways she had fallen far more shamefully than the rest had.
The weight of her blind stupidity and deeply buried despair swirled heavily around her like fast rushing floodwater and she sank into the chair, wondering if this was what it felt like to drown without dying. She felt exhausted, totally drained and wondered how other shinobi dealt with this day in and day out.
"You know, your hair wasn't the only reason they nicknamed you Blue." Said his Lighter Half thoughtfully.
She slanted her eyes towards him. "I'm well aware." She said sardonically.
The conversation faded away into the crunching of bones and the fainter sound of sharp teeth ripping flesh, leaving Konan to ponder what they were going to do about finding a suitable spy.
Authoress:
Thanks to TskenRaider and Ri696q
For correcting me about Edo Tenshi
and for telling me the name of Orochimaru's jutsu.
Poor Konan. She just seems so depressed in this fic.
But I'm sure plenty of people would get tired of it.
And wasn't that a lovely way to end the chapter?
I'm sure you're all starving now. And to all the people who keep telling me that this has gone from drama to action; Yes. I know. I intended it to be that way.
They're the Akatsuki people! Isn't their bad-assery half the reason we fell in love with them? Besides it's not like they're going to beat the
Sound ninja by showing off their mad dancing skills!
*Pictures that very scenario and cracks up*