Chapter 16: Breaking Point

When an earth-hardened fist came barreling towards him, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, Kakashi did what any reasonable person would: brandishing his sword to slice cleanly through the tendons connecting the arm to the fist. The clenched fist tumbled to the ground, the severed tendons grasping wildly at each other as they tried to stitch themselves back together.

The scene felt so reminiscent of the first time they met.

A rustling noise filled his ears as Kakuzu slowly stepped out of his hiding spot. His other hand picked at the small branches and leaves that clung onto the black fabric of his cloak. When Kakuzu was four steps away from Kakashi, the tendons of his arm had fully reconnected themselves. Kakuzu retracted his detached arm, wrist connecting to his lower arm with a loud snap.

"Why did you attack me?" Kakashi questioned warily. Despite his reservations, Kakashi still felt comfortable enough to place his sword back into its holster. A fight against Kakuzu wouldn't be an easy one, but Kakashi hardly doubted he was looking for a fight. If he was, his opening move wouldn't have been so harmless.

"You know that there's someone out there who is impostering you?"

Kakashi raised a questioning eyebrow. "An imposter? Who?"

"I don't know his name, but pasty white skin, short green hair, and yellow eyes. Does that sound familiar?"

"Zetsu," Kakashi murmured. "There's two of them and they can take on multiple forms. Their default form is a fusion of the two Zetsus, the white and black. They can also exist as separate entities. I fought the white one. His ability is to mass produce clones of himself, and I guess apparently, he can impersonate people too. I don't know what abilities the Black Zetsu has."

"You think he can impersonate anyone?"

"Of course not. If White Zetsu can impersonate anyone, there is no reason he would appear in his true form. I'm guessing that he needs to at least have contact with the person he is trying to impersonate…maybe extract a bit of the person's chakra or DNA? I'm not sure, but if that's the case, we need to devise a method for recognizing each other."

"Why is he after us? Or more specifically, what did you do to turn his attention onto us?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I might have turned him down when he asked me to join his evil schemes. Guess he took the rejection a little too personally."

Unfortunately, Kakuzu didn't seem to appreciate his humor as much as Kakashi did.

"Sasori of the Red Sand," Konan announced as she walked into the room. "One of our informants told us he was the one who killed the Third Kazekage. He has taken his body and molded him into a puppet, so he'll be a dangerous opponent if he is able to wield his Iron Sand."

"Who did Suna elect as the next Kazekage?"

"Rasa. He was on Suna's council as the jonin commander. User of the gold sand," Konan answered. She turned to address Kakashi. "What do you think about recruiting Sasori?"

"What is his goal?"

"To create art."

"And his art is creating puppets?" Konan nodded. "If his method of creating art is by killing people, then I don't think our goals will align. Peace cannot be achieved with senseless killing for the sake of art."

Sitting in the corner of the room, Yahiko nodded along as Kakashi spoke.

"Assassinate him." Silence fell over the room. This was the first time Kakashi had openly ordered an assassination on someone. Time had helped the Ame trio warm up to his methods of maintaining "peace," but hesitation still lingered in their hearts.

The only person they ever killed was Hanzo, but he had tried to kill them first. In their minds, they could justify the murder as a form of self-defense. A "if not him, it would be them" sort of mentality.

Assassinating those who never outright attacked them was something they weren't able to accomplish yet. All of the hit orders that were carried in the Akatsuki's name were executed by either Kakashi or Kakuzu. During this time, the three of them had settled for expanding their group, spreading their name, and constantly looking for new recruits. All necessary backend work, yet the day where they would need to take initiative would still come.

Initially, Kakashi hadn't intended to become a part of their group. Their hesitance would only hold him back. Yet Kakashi sympathized with them to the point where he inadvertently secured their loyalty by saving Yahiko's life. From that point forward, they had become inseparable. Kakashi backed them up when they usurped Hanzo's position, by carrying out the dirty work they refused to touch.

At some point, the Akatsuki would need to back him up. To do so, would mean killing unprovoked.

Kakashi was patient. Instead of running straight to Konoha to demand retribution for their betrayal, he was taking things one step at a time. If he played his pieces right, the corrupted individuals would slowly show themselves, saving Kakashi the trouble of having to track them down one by one.

When that day came, Kakashi intended to strike.

No matter how infallible he made himself out to be, even Kakashi could not take on an entire village by himself. And that was the primary reason why he spent such a painstaking amount of time on grooming the Akatsuki to become a formidable group.

They weren't quite there yet.

"That's fine if you don't want to." Patience. There was still plenty of time left. Kakashi could wait until they found their resolve. "Keep an eye on him. Watch what he does next. When you can no longer stand the senseless killing for his so-called art, then you'll know it's time to intervene."

The Uchiha children weren't the only ones to go missing. According to Inu, children from an orphanage located in a small town had also gone missing. Hinan was barely an hour's travel away from Konoha, a town that Shisui had passed through dozens of times on his many client escort missions.

Shisui responded to Inu's information with skepticism. Inu merely shrugged and told him to check it out if he didn't believe him. Shisui did.

Inu had told him the truth.

The most puzzling part of the revelation was why? Why were children from a civilian town going missing? If the Uchiha children were taken for their dojutsu, for their bloodline, what was the purpose of kidnapping civilian children?

Shisui scoured the Konoha library for any tidbit of useful information he could find about Hinan. When his search turned up empty-handed, Shisui tried asking the villagers about Hinan, hoping a loose-lipped citizen would know something helpful.

Instead of receiving answers, all Shisui got in return were suspicious and wary looks. After the first three failed attempts, Shisui headed back to Konoha. Still no answers. Still back where he started.

Even though it was a shot in the dark, Shisui rummaged through the Uchiha archives. It was no surprise when there wasn't anything to be found – the library was full of books on the Uchiha clan history and the evolution of their bloodline. Those books didn't even mention the Mangekyo Sharingan…Shisui doubted he would find any useful information there.

With his options exhausted, that left him with one last place to check. The Hokage's library. Off limits to the public. Restricted to only those whom the Hokage granted clearance to. And supposedly the entrance to the library was fortified with dozens of protection seals, Minato's handiwork.

There was no way Shisui would be able to break in undetected. However, if there was any bit of information to be found about Hinan, it was there.

When Shisui asked Itachi if he had a way to sneak in, his cousin simply shot him a look of disbelief before he firmly shook his head.

"Why do you need to know? Shouldn't we be more concerned about tracking down Orochimaru's location?"

"We need to know what we're up against," Shisui reminded him. "Remember last time I told you that Orochimaru is experimenting to unlock the Mangekyo Sharingan?" Itachi slowly nodded, still confused where his cousin was going with this. "Inu suggested the possibility that he's going beyond the Mangekyo Sharingan."

"Beyond the Mangekyo Sharingan?" Itachi echoed. "There's another evolution?"

"That's what Inu thinks. I don't know for sure; none of the information in the Uchiha archives mentioned anything beyond the Mangekyo Sharingan. There are rumors that Madara Uchiha was able to achieve the next level of Sharingan, but what Orochimaru is trying to create is beyond that. Something called the Rinnegan."

"The Rinnegan. Does that even exist?"

Shisui shook his head. "I don't know. Apparently the Rinnegan is created by mixing Uchiha and Senju DNA. If those children going missing have Senju bloodline in them…"

"Then we're in trouble," Itachi finished for him. "How can I help?

"Can you help me break into the Hokage's library?"

"Maa, this impersonating trick doesn't work on them anymore," White Zetsu drawled, letting out a small whine. "What a shame cause I finally started picking up on Kakashi's speaking tics. The Akatsuki group came up with a secret code that I don't know about, so I was busted the moment I tried to get close to them. I guess I won't be able to get close to Nagato this way."

"Hmph," Black Zetsu scoffed. "We always knew that it wouldn't be so easy to take down Kakashi. And now that he has officially aligned himself with the Akatsuki and that group is growing…we'll have to count on Orochimaru's experiments."

"If Kakashi doesn't disrupt his progress," White Zetsu chimed in. "If he doesn't want to work with us, fine! Why does he have to be such a thorn in our backside?"

"I have been keeping an eye on him recently. Kakashi doesn't seem interested in Konoha's affairs right now. At the moment, Orochimaru's activities have slipped under the radar, especially after the initial wave of Uchiha outrage has finally died down."

"If you say so," White Zetsu said in a sing-song voice. "What should I do now?"

"Keep an eye on Nagato. If Orochimaru fails, then we'll have no choice but to strike."

After Itachi set off all of the traps surrounding the Hokage's library, a swarm of Anbu seemed to appear out of nowhere. His cousin dove out of an open window, feet sticking along the length of the red wall. All Shisui saw was a shadowy figure streaking up the side of the wall, presumably ready to lead the Anbu on a wild goose chase across the rooftops.

The sound of their footsteps drummed against the tiled rooftops, the reverberation growing fainter and fainter with each second that ticked by.

One minute after Itachi jumped out of the window, Shisui ducked into the library. Hand wrapped tightly around the door handle, Shisui pulled the door shut with a soft creak. Digging for a flashlight in his weapons pouch, Shisui flicked on the switch. A faint beam of light flooded the room, chasing away the darkness.

Aiming the light at the massive bookshelves, Shisui began his perusal of the myriad of titles that donned these shelves. A thin sheen of dust covered the spine of the books, a testament of how long these books had laid here, forgotten and unopened.

The only sounds that could be heard were his soft footsteps as Shisui walked up and down the many rows, and the incessant ticking noise that indicated the passage of every second. Standing on his tip-toes, Shisui nabbed three books off of the highest shelf. Jamming the flashlight in between his teeth, he shone the light down onto the open book, eyes scanning rapidly through the table of contents for anything of interest.

The first two books were quickly discarded. The third seemed to yield more promising topics in the content itself, so Shisui found himself flipping to the middle of the book.

One of the three great Sannin, Tsunade Senju, is one of the last known members of the Senju clan. Those who remained in the village married other clans, effectively diluting their bloodlines. A handful of clan members dispersed to various places among the Land of Fire, the most common destination being Hinan–

Shisui flinched when he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. To his credit, he didn't lose his grip on the book or his flashlight, but chills raced down his spine and sent goosebumps forming all over his arms.

He didn't even notice someone else had been in the vicinity.

"I assume you found what you were looking for?" a familiar voice drawled.

Shisui whirled around, snapping the book shut in the process. Dropping one knee to the ground, Shisui's shoulders hunched forward as he lowered his head.

"I'm sorry, Hokage sama."

"Please stand." Hiruzen's hands gently lifted him into a standing position, despite Shisui's reluctance.

This was an even worse outcome than Shisui had expected. It was one thing to get caught by the Hokage's Anbu and then turned into the Hokage, but it was entirely something else to be caught by the Hokage himself.

And despite having caught him in an incriminating position, the Third Hokage had been nothing but kind to him so far. A swarm of guilt wracked Shisui.

"So did you?"

Confusion morphed across Shisui's features. "Did I what?"

"Did you find the answer that you were looking for?" Hiruzen's eyes fell down onto the book in Shisui's hands. "Ah…the history of the Uchiha and Senju clan. I presume you are looking for some information about your clan?"

Was the Third Hokage giving him an alternative route? Shisui didn't believe that someone hailed as the Professor of Konoha wasn't able to figure out his intentions, especially when this was something he could have turned to the Hokage for help. There was no reason for Shisui to break into the Hokage's library in the middle of the night.

Why hadn't Shisui gone to Hiruzen for help? Why didn't Shisui tell him how he found his sister's body? Why had he kept the information on Orochimaru and Danzo lodged in the back of his throat, on the verge of spilling outward, yet allowed that invisible, foreign barrier to stop him every time?

Hiruzen wasn't in league with Danzo and Orochimaru. If he knew, he would certainly do something about it, right? Hiruzen wasn't the type of leader to write off his accusations as petty or foolish either, even if Shisui had no evidence. All Shisui needed to do was confess. The burden of finding out the truth wasn't meant for two kids to handle. As long as the adults knew, they would take care of everything, right?

So why couldn't Shisui tell Hiruzen the truth?

Why did Shisui find himself taking the opening that Hiruzen had given him?

When Shisui saw the tight-lipped smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, all he felt were waves of disappointment rolling off of the Hokage. Still, Hiruzen didn't pry. He didn't push. Instead, both Shisui and Itachi had gone home that night, their infraction record still non-existent.

The Hokage was disappointed in him. Unfortunately his disappointment was nothing in comparison to Shisui's own. For breaking into the Hokage's library in the middle of the night. For hiding the truth. For staying quiet. For not trusting his own village's leader.

Yet despite the turmoil that churned in his stomach while Shisui spoke to Hiruzen, Inu's warning rang loudly in his head.

Hiruzen is likely to turn a blind eye to their activities.

And for some reason, Shisui found himself believing him, a complete stranger with no reputable background over the Hokage. If anyone other than his cousin knew his secret, they would have been quick to write him off as a traitor to the clan and the village.

Soft, quiet footsteps approached him. Shisui continued to stare blankly ahead of him, absently watching the waves of water gush down the edge of the cliff and crashing into the tumultuous waters below. Tumultuous, just like his current inner thoughts.

Yet despite all of the noise inside of his head, somehow Shisui didn't feel an ounce of regret.

"Did you find anything?" His question was spoken so softly that Shisui strained to hear him over the sound of the roaring water. Even if he didn't catch all of the words, there was only one thing that Itachi would have been curious about anyways.

"I got caught," Shisui responded instead. "The Hokage let me go."

In the dim lighting, Shisui could just barely make out his cousin's eyes widening marginally in surprise before his usual impassive features settled back in.

"Why?"

That was a question Shisui would have liked an answer to, too. Instead, he shrugged as his way of responding and moved on. "Before I got caught, I read that the last descendants of the Senjus are mostly scattered across the Land of Fire, but many of them settled in Hinan."

Itachi let out a sharp exhale. "Then Inu's hunch is right. Orochimaru really is trying to create the Rinnegan."

"Yeah I hate that Inu was right. But then again, I don't think I've ever known him to be wrong. In that case, if we don't hurry and stop the experiments, then we're done for."

There weren't many things that Konan didn't tell Yahiko and Nagato, but her visit to a small town located on the outskirts of the Land of Wind remained a secret. Over the last few months, Konan had done as Okami requested: keep an eye on Sasori. Meanwhile, her vast informant network had continued to grow as more expressed their interest in contributing to their cause. Yet despite their numbers, they were severely lacking in manpower.

Regardless of Okami's initial dismissal, Konan was still convinced that Sasori would be a perfect addition to their group. And that was why when Kie had shown up to deliver his monthly report about Sasori's activities – the former Sand nin had finally emerged from his cave to assassinate a corrupt leader of a small town – Konan received the push she needed to do what she always wanted to do.

Pay him a visit.

Konan wasn't quite sure what she wanted to accomplish with this meeting; her half-baked idea only consisted of the vague notion that she was going to somehow convince Sasori to join the Akatsuki. And then somehow convince the rest of her comrades how invaluable Sasori would be to the organization. A rational her would have mulled over the plan a bit longer, fleshed out the details a bit more, but the irrational her was convinced she had all of travel time to work out her plan.

The words "take me to him," flowed out of her lips before Konan's brain could fully wrap around exactly what she was saying. And Kie, one of the original founders of the Akatsuki and one of her most trusted aides, had learned over the years to never question any of her moves. Kie nodded along to her request and the next thing she knew, Konan was already on her way out of Ame, leaving behind instructions to tell Yahiko and Nagato that she was headed to Kusa if they asked.

For the majority of the way there, Konan was convinced that this was a great idea. She was utterly drawn in by the prospect that she would succeed and the core group of the Akatsuki would gain their sixth member. It wasn't until grains of sand rubbed viciously against the soles of her feet and found its way into every crevice of her clothing did Konan begin to feel a bout of doubt.

In all of the years she had known him, Okami had always been right. Although his judgments appeared to be rash and without explanation, they usually never were. And he had been so quick to write off Sasori's fit into the Akatsuki, what if there was some underlying reason that Konan didn't know about? In all likelihood, there probably was and Konan was simply making a fool out of herself by coming here.

"Konan san, are you alright?" Konan didn't realize she had even stopped walking until Kie's voice snapped her out of her stupor.

Konan nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." That was all the reassurance Kie needed for him to continue leading the way to where Sasori was last seen.

Oh well. She had already come out this way, so the least she could do was at least observe, if not gather her courage to approach him.

Kie led her to an inn located in between a bustling restaurant and an empty bar. The steps creaked and groaned underneath their weight as they steadily climbed to the third floor. Once on the third floor, Kie knocked twice on the third room to the left while Konan busied herself by picking at the chipped paint. Three pieces fell to the ground, standing out against the dark gray flooring, and still no one had answered the door.

"Who's here?" Konan asked, as she moved around Kie to stand on his other side. Unlike the right side of the doorframe, the white paint on this side was hardly chipping at all. In fact, when her fingers brushed against the surface, a sticky sensation clung to her fingertips.

"Kyusuke. He's the one who has been primarily keeping an eye on Sasori."

The sticky sensation was fresh paint. Her amber eyes darted over to the right side of the doorframe, soaking in the desolate state of the chipped paint. If they bothered to paint one side of the doorframe, then why not the whole? Unless painting over this side meant…

They were covering up something that had happened.

Konan's eyes widened in alarm. Summoning her paper jutsu, her chakra molded the paper into the shape of a key. At her command, the tip of the paper inserted itself into the lock, fiddling away to pick the lock open. The moment her ears registered the sound of a soft click, the sole of her foot made contact with the battered door. The door gave way with a loud groan and the two of them bursted into the room.

The entire room had been upended. Clothes were strewn haphazardly every which way. The small desk had been flipped over, the contents of the drawers completely empty. The wooden chair was snapped cleanly into two, with hints of dried blood caked on the edges. The bed had been stripped bare of its mattress. In the center of it was a deep rip, the kind that could only be done by a kunai.

The bathroom was in an even worse state. Splotches of blood were splattered all over the mirror, to the point where Konan saw more red than her own reflection. The bloodshed didn't end there; it was all over the bathroom floor and most prominent in the bathtub. Judging from the streaks left behind, this was where the brunt of the battle had taken place.

But whose blood was it?

Kie bursted into the bathroom, hand shaking violently as he held up a small folded paper. Her paper, the kind that she used for her paper jutsus. The paper she left behind to every one of her informants so they could initiate contact with her if necessary.

"I found this. It's Kyusuke's." That was all Kie could manage to get out and that was all Konan needed to know to identify whose blood was smeared all over the bathroom.

Konan's amber eyes flashed angrily. "'Who did this?"

"I don't know. Kyusuke and I only came to this town recently to follow Sasori and as far as I'm aware of, we didn't really have any contact with any villagers, so I don't understand who could have done this."

"Is this a civilian town?"

Kie nodded furiously.

"Then there could only be one person."

Like always, Okami was right. And Konan was completely foolish in thinking that her judgment had been better than his.

Konan felt absolutely nothing as she watched the pieces of the puppet fall apart after she rammed a paper spear through the core of his soul. Even when Sasori's brown, soulless, and dead eyes stared hauntingly back at her, Konan didn't feel a single thing.

Numb. That was how she felt after her first kill. Even when they killed Hanzo, at the very least, Konan could feel the fire raging in the pit of her stomach, wanting to eliminate the man who worked tirelessly to destroy their village, to destroy them. The man who kidnapped her and set up an elaborate trap to kill the two people she cared about the most.

But back then, Konan hadn't been the one to deliver the final blow.

Konan didn't know what a first kill was supposed to feel like. Despite their desire to not kill anyone, Yahiko and Nagato had both of their first kills long ago. Growing up, the two of them bore the brunt of it, so she could keep her hands clean.

Not anymore.

Her hands were tainted with something much darker than blood. After all, Konan had sought out Sasori with the intent to kill, despite being unprovoked. Even long before Sasori unveiled his fiftieth puppet was Kyusuke's body, Konan had long made up her mind that she was there to kill. Seeing Kyusuke's puppet body only fueled her burning rage.

Even Kie, who was much closer to Kyusuke, didn't attack with the same fervor as she did. Didn't attack with the same ruthlessness or viciousness as she did.

Why weren't her hands trembling? Yahiko's hands did after the first time he lodged a knife into the enemy's chest.

Why weren't her eyes tearing up? Nagato couldn't stop the flow of tears from streaming down his cheeks for an entire hour after he realized that he had killed someone.

Why didn't she feel anything? Yahiko and Nagato always told her that killing someone always hurt, always was laced with grief even though it was done in self-defense.

Did that make her a monster?

Konan raised her right hand, the same hand she used to create the paper spear to deliver the final blow. Although her hand was clean, her eyes couldn't unsee the phantom blood splotches all over her palm, extending up to her wrist and the length of her arm below the elbow.

"Konan san?" Kie couldn't stop the quiver in his voice, couldn't hide the fear swarming in his dark eyes. Fear not because of Sasori…but because of her.

Konan swallowed a mirthless chuckle. She didn't need Kie to perceive her as more deranged as she already was. "Yeah?"

"He's dead."

"I know."

"What are we going to do with his body?"

"Take it with us. Kakuzu will enjoy collecting the bounty on his head."

The twisted expression written on Kie's face was more than enough for Konan to understand everything he wanted to say. And she was glad that Kie had chosen to keep his mouth shut because honestly, it was enough for Konan to silently acknowledge it.

She didn't need the verbal confirmation that she was a monster too.

A/N: Hi again!

Thank you for reading, until next time!

-MM