December 3, 13 AK
The heavy rain was falling in a steady beat upon the surface, but deep in the caverns beneath Ame the only sign of the torrent above was the moisture in the air and the pervasive chill that never really left.
Despite his distance from the outside world Pain could feel the cold in his bones, the bones of the corpse he was still shackled to, the coffin of flesh that would barely heed his commands to which he remained bound despite his best efforts. The Deva Path was his true body of course, it had been for years, and if it weren't for Konan's tender care the meat would surely have worn away under his disdainful neglect. A wracking cough in the false self was ignored as he focused on the arrival of one of the few subordinates he actually trusted to some extent.
The towering form of Hoshigaki Kisame strode into the meeting room, a smaller figure trailing behind with tasseled grass hat still dripping slightly from the rain. Even though Kisame was the much more visually impressive specimen Pain's attention was drawn irrevocably to the smaller figure, for he could sense an unfamiliar chakra. He scanned the hunched figure dressed in Akatsuki robes with rippled eyes, ready to act in a moment if the Swordsman had somehow been compromised.
"Kisame. Who is this? Where is Itachi?"
The massive fishman smiled brightly, something peculiarly genuine in the expression, and waved a hand towards the newcomer.
"Ahh, well, Itachi decided he wanted to take some leave, spend some time with the family, you know? Health day and all that. But his cousin should fit right in. You've probably heard of him before; Uchiha Hiroki."
The grass hat was pulled off with a flourish to reveal a slimmer figure. It looked like an Uchiha, the hair and eyes were right at least, but there was obviously something beyond that as well, for the skin was a mottled, shifting grey color.
No, Pain realized as he looked closer, that wasn't his skin, that was what was on his skin; a constantly shifting and writhing mesh of microscopic characters and swirls and… Seals. His skin was practically made from fuin. Who would do such a thing? Or, rather (he glanced at Sasori), who could do such a thing?
"Hello everyone! I'm Hiroki, commonly known as the Muse!" -he bowed politely- "Please take care of me."
The Deva Path didn't emote much, but if it did it would have been expressing displeased surprise and wariness. Kisame was trustworthy, but to bring a new recruit directly into their sanctum? This was beyond irregular, and approached dangerously insubordinate, though the irritation he felt was tempered slightly by confusion.
"Ooh! I have presents for everyone!"
He would have sighed if the body he used for these meetings actually breathed regularly. Madara often displayed the same sort of gleeful madness, and he had noted a distinct trend of insanity pairing with absurd levels of power. It would be problematic to remove Hiroki if that were so, particularly with all of those seals of unknown purpose. A large sack was pulled from nowhere, and the new Uchiha began to rifle through it with boisterous movements and occasional muffled thumps.
"Let's see… for Deidara-kun, I have some custom made explosive tags!" -the former Iwa-nin held the slip of paper at arm's length, but seemed intrigued- "they have a protective seal on them so they won't be destroyed in their own explosion! You can use 'em over and over again!"
Hiroki moved over to the crouched figure of Sasori and held out a small potted plant.
"I got you a clipping from a very special tree; I think you could probably use the wood for some pretty amazing things, and it grows really fast too!"
An almost dancing spin took the Uchiha over to the other side of the room, and Kakuzu backed up warily.
"For my new stringy friend, a spool of solid diamond! I wasn't sure exactly how the Jiongu worked, if you ever took a day off from living inside the shell of your old body or whatever, so I figured you might like this to curl up on."
Pain blinked once, a completely unnecessary motion since the Deva Path's eyes couldn't get dry, but an appropriate one as there was now a large spool of the kind used for cables and wires sitting on the floor, glittering in the way only something made of about a cubic foot of diamond can. Kakuzu seemed to be completely devoid of the capacity to speak, and the leader of Akatsuki could hardly begrudge him that.
"For Hidan I have- you're... not Hidan."
It appeared that the newcomer didn't know who everyone was already, for he didn't recognize Kakuzu's current partner, Shishiki. The young Uchiha frowned for a second, looking between the oddly designed white teapot in his hands and Shishiki.
"I had thought to see Hidan here; I made him a teapot from the skull of the High Priest of the Fire Temple… oh well. I suppose you can have it, mister…?"
Shishiki hissed through the hole where his mouth used to be. Hiroki hummed back thoughtfully and set the skull-pot down, backing away slowly.
"Right… ahh! For Konan, loveliest flower of finest paper, I have the complete Icha Icha Box Set, signed by Jiraiya himself. He wanted me to tell you that he thought Hanzo had killed all of you. So… Sorry about that. But, on that topic!"
There was a slightly wet thump as the newest, least sane member of the global terrorist organization dropped a head shaped object at the foot of Pain's dias. Head shaped was apparently an apt descriptor, for it did indeed seem to be a human head, old and slightly decayed, missing and eye and heavily scarred, but somehow familiar.
"You might recognize this guy. His name was Danzo. He was running a secret ANBU division without the approval of the Hokage, and, if memory serves, he was responsible for the death of one of your teammates, wasn't he?"
The ninja formerly known as Nagato stilled, blood freezing in his veins. That man had been there, had been at Hanzo's shoulder when Yahiko died. He remembered that stiff, frowning face, wrapped in bandages, looking down at them as if their dreams were dirt beneath his foot. He had never thought to see Danzo again, never get the chance to completely avenge Yahiko, and seeing him dead brought an icy pleasure to his heart. That single action had just earned Hiroki quite a lot of good will.
"Now, is Zetsu-chan around? I had a really special gift for him; where- there you are!"
The sack clunked along the ground as it was drug along behind the fuin coated ninja, who reached in again to pull out several items as he settled in front of Madara's vegetative abomination.
"I wasn't sure exactly what to get both of you, so I got three things! For White Zetsu; a pair of human leather shoes! I don't know if you really wear shoes very much, but they should be good eating anyway."
The pale half of the dichromatic being exclaimed in childlike pleasure and snatched up the tanned piece of footwear, gnawing on it happily while the darker half shifted distrustfully.
"For Black Zetsu, a mirror! I'll just set it over here, you can grab it later. Oh, were they tasty shoes then?"
White Zetsu had finished eating and was looking at the Uchiha eagerly, nodding and licking his lips while Black Zetsu blinked warily.
"Well, I got one more present for the both of you to share, now… where did I… hmm… down here somewhere… aha!"
Hiroki held aloft a small golden box, turning it slightly to call forth a shimmery glimmer, before gently tossing it towards the split creature. White Zetsu grabbed it out of the air, an expression of simple minded wonder on his face, even as Black Zetsu tried to stop him.
There was a small popping noise of displaced air, and the box and being were gone.
"Phew! Oh man, I was nervous that wouldn't work!"
Pain shifted the full attention of the Deva Path onto the young Uchiha, hand extended to push forth a wave of gravity, slamming him- Hiroki didn't move, not even under the full pressure of Shinra Tensei. He simply smiled slightly sadly up at the nominal head of Akatsuki and shook his head, hair not even ruffled as the raw power of the Deva Path rolled off his skin like water off an umbrella.
"That won't work on me Nagato. Besides, there isn't anything anyone could do to get that thing back now. That was my Mugen Box. Infinite recursive sealing, for it seals itself inside itself. There isn't any conceivable way to get outside, because there isn't an outside. And now the world is just a little bit safer, because that eldritch abomination isn't in it."
There was a barely articulate snarl of rage before an arm materialized inside Hiroki's chest in a gout of scarlet blood. Madara was obviously furious at the loss of his lackey, but the impromptu stabbing barely fazed the younger Uchiha, whose head spun 180 degrees to face the masked ancient with a disturbing ratcheting noise.
"Hello Obito."
Innumerable hands sprang from the slighter figure and clasped onto the secret leader of Akatsuki, holding tight. Pain could practically taste the shock as Madara's phasing technique failed to protect him, the arms of his opponent almost cocooning the ancient to prevent escape.
"Reality Anchors. One, and only one, space time. But that isn't important right now."
There was a gentle sucking sound and Hiroki's forehead split, revealing a pure white eye. A moment later, a thin membrane withdrew from over the young Leaf ninja's other eyes, revealing a crimson Sharingan, and a Rinnegan.
Pain froze, stunned to his core at the sight of the legendary doujutsu in the head of another. How could anyone else have obtained the Sage's eyes? He was the child of prophecy, the one who would bring peace to the world; how could anyone else hope to achieve such a thing without the blessings of the Sage!? If- if his eyes weren't special then… Hiroki spoke, smiling faintly and fondly all the while.
"You are my very best friend. You hold me dear above all other things. My hopes are your hopes, my dreams are your dreams, my values are your values, and nothing in this or any other world matters more to you than me."
Madara twitched, fighting against the edict, but Nagato could see the moment even the elder Uchiha's potent mental defenses failed. The figure relaxed in the grip of the hands clinging to him, which all quickly withdrew.
"Hiroki! It's been so long, how are you?"
The voice from behind the mask was higher, and more cheerful, and a gloved hand removed the orange swirl in the next moment to reveal… a much younger looking Uchiha Madara than Pain would have expected. Hiroki merely smiled at his relative, compassionate and ever so slightly sad as he pulled the man into a hug.
"Hey Obito. I'm doing good, but better now you're here."
All three of the legendary doujutsu stared at the Deva Path over Madara(Obito?)'s shoulder, and Nagato could tell they were looking right at him, even through the corpse puppet. It was a sort of terrifying he had never felt before, a sense of inevitability, like watching a tsunami the size of a mountain coming towards you, but the Uchiha only smiled. There was a gentle pressure on the shoulder of his meat and his attention swung round to see Hiroki already there.
"Don't worry Nagato; everything is going to be alright."
. . .
A/N: One thing I really like about Japanese; characters can have multiple meanings. Mugen means infinity, but the first character, Mu, means nothing (as in the name of the Kage).
Don't worry. Hiroki will fix everything for you. He loves you so.
Thematic Music: Heathens by Twenty One Pilots