Chapter 2: Okami
For hours, the three of them hung out on the balcony of their hideout. Yahiko paced back and forth across the balcony, waving his hands animatedly in the air as he described what his dream of a peaceful future entailed. The rusty metal railing dug uncomfortably into Nagato's backside yet he didn't dare to shift from his position for fear of inserting himself in the trajectory of Yahiko's wide arm movement. Despite being the quietest of the trio, Nagato was simply content listening to Yahiko ramble on and nodding at appropriate intervals. Under the curtain of red hair, a small smile graced his lips.
Yahiko's ramblings became background noise as Konan turned to look at the city. From their vantage point at the top of the highest tower in Ame, they were afforded the view of the entire city. Despite the heavy downpour, Konan was still able to make out the distinct outlines of every building, of everything ranging from the small quaint shops in the center of town to the manufacturing plants on the outskirts of the city to the high rise apartment complexes.
While Yahiko continued to ramble on about his vision of the future – something Nagato and Konan had heard at least five times by now – Konan entertained herself with a butterfly race. She sent her origami through the harsh downpour, enraptured by the prospect of which one of her origami would reach the other tower first. The weight of the raindrops weren't enough to slow down her origami butterflies; they all reached the finish line at the same time. No surprise, considering they were all controlled by the same person.
"I believe in us!" Yahiko finished, pumping his fist into the air. "We're already doing so well. Maybe in a couple more years, we'll be large enough to make a difference!" Hope shimmered in his brown eyes.
"We already have over a hundred members," Konan informed him. "And our influence hasn't expanded outside of Ame yet. I think once we start reaching out to other lands, we'll become even stronger."
"That's the hope," Yahiko said. "I was recently talking to Kie and he mentioned that we should start recruiting from the Land of the Myst. There are a lot of small civilian villages scattered about and I think even if they aren't shinobis, their resources could be invaluable to us."
Nagato hummed in agreement. "I heard they were experiencing some turmoil lately too."
Yahiko nodded. "Yeah. Kie mentioned that some of the politicians have hired mercenaries to keep the villagers in line. Their towns are suffering from poverty, yet the rich only get richer with corruption…"
"Are we going to help?"
Yahiko's instant "of course" didn't surprise Konan. She didn't even know why she bothered asking the question when she already knew the answer.
Konan didn't have any objection towards the idea, but Nagato did. It was the reason why Nagato and Yahiko worked so well with each other; Nagato always served as the voice of reason whenever Yahiko was too impulsive.
"Is that wise?" Nagato questioned. "If we step in to help, we'll be taking the villagers' side. We're still embroiled with our own civil war in Ame…I don't know if we have the manpower to fight both battles."
"I know," Yahiko acknowledged. "That same thought crossed my mind when Kie made the report. But I just can't stand idly by knowing that our neighboring towns are suffering. Some of our very own members left their families behind in those towns to come to the village to search for career prospects. We can't just let them fend for themselves.
"I'm not cruel enough to turn a blind eye to their situation." Poignant silence hung over them, just like the stormy clouds that blanketed the entire village of Ame.
Konan took a step towards Yahiko. "I'm with Yahiko on this one. Our manpower may be stretched thin if we do this, but I cannot bear the thought of more children becoming orphans just like we were."
Her amber eyes flickered down to her outstretched hands. Once delicate hands became marred with coarse skin, the aftermath of suffering too many paper cuts from her origami training. Her skin never had enough time to heal before another injury appeared, yet that never stopped Konan from training until she finally mastered her origami jutsus.
And her motivation? Her fuel? The simple desire to become stronger, to use that power to be able to protect the weak from violence and corruption.
"We didn't train this hard to become cowards," Konan murmured. "There are hundreds of other people looking up to us. What kind of example would we set if we turned our backs to those in need? Wouldn't that defeat the very purpose of the founding of the Akatsuki?"
The corner of Nagato's lips tilted upwards.
"So what's the plan?"
Yahiko and Konan exchanged knowing glances before they broke out into huge smiles. Despite the dreariness of the rainy weather, the brightest of their smiles were more than enough to pierce through the gloomy overcast and cast a ray of hope onto the suffering civilians.
The only noises that could be heard was the incessant pit pattering of the raindrops making contact with the hood of their ponchos and the sound of water sloshing as they trudged their way through massive puddles and muddy roads. Yahiko led the group, with Konan and Nagato flanking his side. Kie fell slightly behind the trio, only speaking up once in a while to mutter directions to Kato.
Compared to the rest of the towns scattered across the Land of the Myst, Kato was by far the largest of them, yet it was nowhere near as populated as Ame. According to Kie, who had spent a couple days snooping around the town, Kawabata Masanori had taken advantage of the turmoil from the Third Great Ninja War to usurp the peaceful town. Now, Kato citizens were under his strict regime, kept in line with fear and force.
Coming from a wealthy background, Kawabata had more than enough funds to hire mercenaries to keep the citizens in line. Once his ruling was established, ridiculous taxes were imposed upon the citizens as their source of funding, leaving most in a poverty-ridden state. None of them had a choice. If they refused to pay, they would be killed. If they paid, their money went towards paying the mercenaries…who carried out Kawabata's orders.
It was an endless and unbreakable cycle. The only way out was external force. However, regardless of the current state of affairs, Yahiko never went into a situation intending to fight. Peaceful negotiation was always his go-to approach and only if they refused to listen, Yahiko would resort to force for the purpose of self-defense.
One time negotiations usually weren't enough. It had taken Yahiko three or four different attempts before he was able to convince the first wave of Akatsuki members to join them.
Since today was their first visit, Yahiko brought more men than he usually did. Out of precaution, since he wasn't aware of how volatile Kawabata's personality could be and exactly how much manpower he had.
When the Akatsuki reached Kato, Yahiko found that his precautions were completely unnecessary. Their group hardly needed to venture very far into the town before they were greeted with the sight of a man lying face down in the dirt. Kie stepped forward, squatting down to place two hands by the base of his neck.
Kie shook his head. "This man is one of the mercenaries for hire." One of the citizens killing him was likely, yet the clean slit to the throat told Yahiko that the perpetrator wasn't an ordinary citizen. At the very least, whoever it was must have had some form of shinobi training.
"Lead the way to Kawabata," Yahiko instructed. Kie nodded, moving to the front of the group to take the lead. Nagato and Konan followed him while Yahiko lingered behind to order two of the members to stay behind to guard the citizens. Whoever it was…was likely a formidable opponent. Yahiko wasn't so keen on taking any chances, especially not knowing what the perpetrator's intentions were.
Within a few minutes, Yahiko easily caught up to the front of the group.
It seemed that every street they turned on, there was at least one dead body. More often, there were two or three, and the bloodiest scene consisted of six people. Kie confirmed all of the corpses to belong to the mercenaries.
It was reassuring to know that none of them were civilians, yet that reassurance was short-lived. Who was killing them? Seeing six dead shinobis in one area only reaffirmed Yahiko's speculation that a formidable shinobi was behind this.
Would they even be his match? Were they working towards the same goal? If so, Yahiko hardly approved of his methods.
There was really only one way to find out. Yahiko only hoped that they hadn't arrived too late, hoped that the perpetrator was still lingering around Kato. Or at least hoped that Kawabata was still alive so Yahiko could proceed with his plan to negotiate with him.
The moment they turned onto the street to Kawabata's house, goosebumps appeared all over his arms and made all the hairs on the back of his neck stand. A massive wave of killing intent exploded into the air, the hot rippling energy clashing with the rain droplets that hung in the air. The droplets quickly evaporated, morphing into mist.
Yahiko wasted no time in sprinting towards Kawabata's house. Two sets of footsteps followed closely behind him.
Somewhere along the sprint, the hood of his poncho slipped off of his head, subjecting Yahiko to the harsh downpour. His hands reached up to brush the matted pieces of hair away from his eyes. In doing so, his pace slowed marginally. That was quickly rectified as a sharp spike of chakra prickled at his senses, igniting his sense of urgency once more.
Yahiko barrelled through the front door, arriving just as the mysterious shinobi was about to slit Kawabata's throat. Sobbing pleas escaped from Kawabata's lips as his hands desperately clawed at everything he could get ahold of.
The shinobi stopped his movements, craning his head to face the source of interruption. Him.
Yahiko firmly stood his ground. However, he couldn't deny the unsettling feeling that crawled up his skin when the shinobi looked at him with a piercing dark gaze. A porcelain mask covered his face; the mask marred by streaks of blood belonging to those he had slain. From head to toe, the shinobi was covered up: starting with the hood that covered his hair to the cloak ending just at his ankles. There was absolutely nothing distinctive about his appearance, save for the intricate blue markings that formed a pattern akin to that of a wolf on his mask.
The shinobi must have deemed Yahiko to not be a threat because he simply turned back to Kawabata. He went in for the kill a second time, his attempt thwarted when Yahiko shouted for him to stop. By now, Kawabata was reduced to a puddle of a sobbing mess.
"You're the one who killed everyone out in the streets, right?" Yahiko demanded. The shinobi simply shrugged, as if to say "so what if he had?"
"What's your motive?"
"To eradicate corruption." Yahiko blinked in surprise. Maybe his height should have tipped him off, but he certainly wasn't expecting the voice to resemble that of a boy entering his pubescent years.
A boy, possibly younger than Yahiko himself, already bearing such a burden upon his shoulders. Already becoming a heartless killing machine that all shinobis were raised to become.
"Corruption?" Yahiko echoed. "There are many ways to resolve corruption beyond violence. Killing him is not the solution." Kawabata nodded vigorously in agreement. If Yahiko was right, then hopefully the boy would still be at an impressionable age. Maybe his words would get to him.
"He rules the village with fear and force." The shinobi's voice dropped low. A threatening tone was laced between his words. "At the town's lowest point, he saunters in and overtakes them. Instead of helping them, he beats them down instead. Suppresses them. Extorts money from them. All while he's getting richer, everyone is suffering from poverty."
A poignant pause, before he continued. "Now tell me, do you think a man like him deserves to live?"
No, was Yahiko's instinctive answer. Killing Kawabata was the easy route to take, trying to reform a man corrupted by greed would take much more time and energy. Yet, Yahiko formed the Akatsuki on the basis of utilizing peaceful methods for change.
Sometimes, violence was inevitable. However when Yahiko had a choice, even if the choice involved more time and effort, Yahiko would choose the peaceful method every time. He couldn't condone the shinobi's method, even if they were after the same thing.
"No matter what he has done, killing him isn't the solution," Yahiko lectured. "And besides, who is to really decide who deserves to live or die? All of our moral compasses are tainted in some way."
"Mine never existed," the shinobi grounded out harshly. Moving too fast for the eye to see, the shinobi slit his throat in one swift movement. Yahiko hadn't registered what happened until he saw Kawabata's body sink down to the floor. Blood streamed down from his open wound, staining the frontside of his white tunic.
The kunai clattered noisily to the floor. The shinobi brushed his hands together, as if cleansing his own hands.
"How could you do that?" Yahiko shouted in an accusatory manner. "Who are you to decide who deserves to die?"
"I have heard about you and your organization. You think your methods of obtaining peace without violence are much more righteous, but there's no such thing in this world as righteousness and justice. You are still too naive."
"Then what?" Yahiko yelled, angered by the implication that he was still a naive child. He'd seen too much bloodshed to still have the label of "naive" slapped onto his face. "Do you suggest fighting violence with violence? If someone killed my parents, then I should go kill someone else's parents and make them an orphan too? If that's your suggested approach, then the cycle of violence will never end. There will always be someone killing for the sake of revenge."
"Revenge," the shinobi murmured, as if he was testing the way the word flowed from his lips. "You're right. I'm out for vengeance. That's my only purpose in life." With that, the shinobi turned to leave, no longer wanting to entertain Yahiko's argument. Unfortunately, Yahiko wasn't quite willing to concede yet, even when he felt Nagato's hand on his shoulder. A warning to not push the boy too far.
"You're an orphan too, aren't you?'
When the boy's steps halted and his movements froze, Yahiko knew he was right. Taking advantage of his momentary hesitation, Yahiko plowed ahead with his spiel.
"We're orphans too. All three of us," Yahiko admitted. "Our parents were killed during the war. We grew up scavenging for food on the streets. We learned shinobi arts in hopes that one day our power can be used to protect, not to kill. I don't know your story, or what you have gone through, but I can sense that you have a kind heart. Even if we disagree on the methods used, you can't stand seeing people in positions of power take advantage of the weak."
"Kind heart?" the shinobi scoffed. "I don't have a heart."
"That's what you want to make yourself believe, so that it's easier to kill. It's easier to squash down the remorse and guilt. You've built a steel cage around your heart to keep the emotions out, but I know that you have a kind heart. If you didn't, you wouldn't have stuck up for these villagers. I don't know where you're from, but judging from the fact you're not wearing a poncho, I know that you're not from this area. If my assumption is correct, then it's unlikely you have a connection here, so that means you acted to save people you don't even know. Am I right?"
"And so what if you are?" the shinobi drawled.
"Then you should join us," Yahiko stated firmly. From behind him, Konan let out a soft gasp of surprise. "We are the Akatsuki. We seek to obtain peace. I believe your strength can be better used to protect the weak."
The shinobi cocked his head to the side. "An interesting proposition, but I don't believe that you'll ever agree with my methods and I don't intend to change." He tipped his head in respect. "However, I do respect your ambition…"
"Yahiko," he supplied.
The shinobi nodded. "I have a feeling this isn't the last time we'll meet, Yahiko. Call me Okami."
Okami. Wolf. What a fitting name.
"If you ever change your mind, you can find us at the highest tower in Ame," Yahiko informed him. Okami dipped his head in acknowledgement and gave them a mock salute before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
Leaves? A Konoha shinobi?
When Okami left, Yahiko let out a breath that he hadn't even realized he was holding in. Nagato immediately accosted him, asking why Yahiko had been so reckless.
"I don't think any of us would have been his match. We're lucky that he decided to leave," Nagato was saying, but Yahiko wasn't really listening. No, his mind was already whirling with the possibilities of how well Okami could fit into their group.
They were after the same thing. Why not join forces?
During the entire walk home, Yahiko didn't stop brainstorming a long list of reasons why Okami should join the Akatsuki.
Eleven year old Cat was walking soundlessly through the Anbu Root headquarters when he felt something nudge his ankle. Glancing down, Cat made out the features of a very familiar dog.
After sweeping the vicinity for any other signs of life, Cat kneeled, placing one knee onto the ground. With the help of his teeth, Cat easily peeled off his Anbu issued gloves. Fingers now free of the thick fabric, he made quick work of untying the knot on top of the dog's head. Cat pulled the string loose, hand outstretched to catch the falling scroll. The moment the scroll touched the palm of his hand, the dog vanished into a puff of smoke.
The scroll stashed safely into his weapons pouch, Cat continued down the hall keeping his steps at a normal pace regardless of his burning desire to read the message. Once Cat found himself embroiled in the darkness of an obscure corner of the Root headquarters, his fingers reached to fish the scroll out of his pouch.
Two simple kanjis told Cat everything he needed to know.
Dango. Noon.
With the message burned into his mind, Cat activated the seal in the top right corner of the parchment and sent the message up into flames.
All that remained was a pile of hot ash, the remnants of the disintegrated message.
A/N: Hi again!
Pre-brainwashed Akatsuki meets Kakashi :)
Thanks for reading. Until next time!
-MM