The soft squelching of his sandals impacting the waterlogged soil underfoot and the familiar sensation of rain cascading down his skin filled Naruto with such comfort. He was glad to finally be home after so much time away; it really wasn't that long, but the detour his mission had taken made it seem a lot longer than it actually was. Either way, he couldn't help the grin that took shape as he and Karin sped through the rain towards the industrialized hidden village with Tayuya still begrudgingly wrapped up in chains on Naruto's back. Upon approaching the village gates, they were met by two gate guards that quickly bowed and stepped aside when seeing the cloaks.
"Lord Naruto, Karin," the two men said in unison as the group made their way through, much to Naruto's clear annoyance.
"You a big shot around here or something?" Tayuya questioned from the sighing Naruto's back with a raised eyebrow.
"Everyone in Akatsuki gets deference from Ame-nin," Naruto plainly answered. "It's just sort of a thing here."
"He is, he just doesn't like to admit it," Karin chimed in, blatantly stepping over Naruto's evasive response to answer Tayuya's question. "Comes with being the child of the Angel of Ame."
"Oh, so you're a nepo baby, got it," Tayuya concluded with a smirk.
A long-suffering sigh escaped him as the other redhead snickered at his expense. The duo and semi-captive entered the city proper, and they quickly made their way towards the tallest structure in the village, Pain's tower. In his periphery, Naruto noticed a paper butterfly flap away from a post in their vicinity, so he knew that Konan was already aware of their arrival. Granted, he figured that Nagato had probably already detected their approach as soon as they entered the bounds of the rain, but he smiled, nonetheless. It was good to be home.
"Hey, shithead," Tayuya spoke up as they entered the tower. "You putting me down any time soon, or are you getting off on this?"
"I don't trust that you won't try to run off the minute I let you go," Naruto casually replied.
"So, you do admit to kidnapping me, then?" Tayuya prodded with a smirk.
"I never denied it," Naruto shrugged, and he continued before she could indignantly respond. "Besides, there's someone you need to meet."
Tayuya groaned in resignation. "Whatever. All I know is captivity, anyway."
Naruto's brow furrowed at that, but he opted not to address it. Finally, they reached their leader's office, and upon sliding the door open and stepping inside, strips of paper surrounded Naruto and began blanketing him almost lovingly. Soon, the top half of Konan manifested beside him with a warm smile and a gentle hand running through his hair.
"Welcome home, Naruto," she said as the blonde in question did not fight her caress whatsoever, and she turned her head to his redheaded companion. "You, as well, Karin."
"Glad to finally be back, Miss Konan," Karin replied with a smile of her own.
"Naruto, Karin, it is good to see you both in good health," Pain finally addressed, drawing their attention to the approaching Deva Path. "I take it both your mission and side project went well."
"Yep," Naruto confirmed with a nod. "The Kiba have been returned to Kiri, and according to Mei, the trade agreement and mutual defense treaty have been finalized."
Then, a triumphant grin developed on his face. "Orochimaru is also very dead, and Pakura went to Konoha to collect his bounty."
That little tidbit piqued Tayuya's interest from her position chained to Naruto's back, but she remained silent, opting to continue listening and gaining information. What she would even do with that information, she had no idea, but it was a habit she saw no need to get rid of. Being silent also enabled her to continue ignoring the quizzical stare she was receiving from Konan with some amount of plausible deniability.
"Excellent," Pain nodded, and the room then fell into silence. Pain's Rinnegan stared right at Naruto and Karin, and Naruto stared right back with his smile still in place. Neither said a word, nor did Konan who, having spent far too long with the two Uzumaki men and quickly picking up on what was happening, observed the scene with resigned agitation.
This drew on for 10 more uninterrupted seconds before Karin had entertained it for long enough. "So… are we just not going to address the elephant in the room?"
"What elephant?" Pain inquired, his usual monotone making it so difficult to ascertain his genuineness. "I see nothing amiss."
"Yeah, what are you talking about, Karin?" Naruto followed up, his far more expressive tone nothing but sincerely inquisitive, and it nearly drove Karin up the wall.
"You are both truly exhausting," Karin huffed, causing Naruto to finally break and crack a smile.
"Welcome to my world," Konan sighed before resting her amber gaze on the blonde. "Naruto?"
"Yes, mom?"
She was momentarily halted by the designation, and she valiantly fought the warmth blooming from within. He was trying to distract her, and she would not let him. "There is a girl chained to your back. Would you care to explain?"
Naruto hummed and stroked his chin, putting on a show of considering the rather simple question. "Not really."
The unimpressed stare he received from Konan was punctuated by a collection of paper fashioning themselves into a roll of newspaper and whacking Naruto over the head.
"Alright, alright," Naruto acquiesced through his laughter. "On the way back from Kiri, Karin sensed a familiar kind of chakra. We investigated and stumbled upon a completely leveled section of the forest; lo and behold, buried under several tree trunks was an Uzumaki out in the wild."
Konan's eyes widened while Pain's Rinnegan shined with intrigue. "Another Uzumaki, you say?"
Naruto nodded, and he dispersed the cocoon of chains surrounding Tayuya, finally releasing her to the floor and onto wobbly legs. Taking a moment to regain her balance and throwing silent curses at her captor, she surveyed the room and was immediately taken aback at the sight of Pain. The myriad of piercings marring his face were unsettling enough, but what really froze her in place was the man's eyes.
"Holy shit…" Tayuya began with growing astonishment. "The fucking Rinnegan is real?!"
Pain's intrigue grew even further. "You know of the Rinnegan?"
"Anyone with half a brain knows about the fucking Sage of Six Paths," Tayuya scoffed, finally finding stable footing after smacking away Naruto's attempts to help keep her upright. "Assumed he was just a myth, though."
Pain simply nodded. "A discussion for another time. Naruto and Karin believe you to be an Uzumaki. Is this true?"
Tayuya frowned at the mention of that name once again. "I have no idea what the hell an Uzumaki is or why they're insisting that I'm one of them."
Pain did not respond to that, instead keeping his rippled gaze on the increasingly apprehensive girl. Suddenly, the door slid open, and another figure wearing the same cloak as the others entered the office. Just like the man Tayuya was speaking to, he also had a pair of Rinnegan and a face full of piercings, but his orange hair was long and silky as opposed to short and spiky. The new arrival said nothing as he approached her from behind, and before Tayuya could do anything, he placed his palm atop her head. Tayuya was frozen in place on contact, and she felt a strange, invasive sensation almost tugging at her soul.
Just as quickly as it began, however, it ended, and the man removed his hand from her cranium. Tayuya regained control of her faculties and fell to her knees in a cold sweat, not even having the presence of mind to swat away the hand on her back from Naruto.
"She is not lying," the Human Path curiously remarked before stepping aside and exiting the room.
"What the fuck??" Tayuya exhaled before looking between Pain and the open door accusingly. "What the hell did you just do to me?!"
"I merely verified your claim," Pain responded, not actually answering her question. "You have indeed never heard of the Uzumaki, but a glance over your chakra seems to lend credence to Karin's suspicions. How curious…"
Tayuya didn't exactly know what to do with that information. Everything that had happened to her from Orochimaru pulling himself out of her cursed seal to being dug out of her wooden grave and promptly kidnapped had been a proverbial firestorm in her brain. She didn't have much time to process any one thing since she was given her mission to capture the Uchiha until she was wrapped up in a chain cocoon, and much of that was spent resting to recoup her energy.
Now, she was surrounded by weirdos in cloaks who were claiming her to be of some special race based on her chakra. If two of them hadn't explicitly gone out of their way to rescue and patch her up, she'd be strongly considering fighting her way out of what looked to be a cult surrounding a dude with a mythical dojutsu. That still wasn't technically off the table, though, but she'd continue gathering information about her situation and go from there before doing anything rash.
"What is an Uzumaki?" Tayuya carefully asked, doing her best to maintain defiant eye contact with the unnerving ripples of the Rinnegan.
"I suggest you have a seat," Pain advised, motioning to the set of parlor chairs in the center of the room. "This explanation may take some time."
Before she could reply, the Human Path reentered the room holding three cups of instant ramen, and Naruto lit up upon seeing the offered dish knowing that they came directly from his stash. Naruto and Karin each took a cup and threw a thanks to Pain before sitting beside each other and digging in, whereas Tayuya warily eyed the offered cup for a lengthy moment until she hesitantly accepted it. She was promised food, after all, and even if it was potentially poisoned, it was better than nothing.
She sat down in the open chair beside the other two teenagers while Pain and Konan sat across from them. Staring down at the hot cup of ramen in her hands, she was momentarily drawn into the aroma carried by the steam. Real food wasn't really a luxury afforded to people in Oto. People either ate what they could scrounge up, or they snacked on shit sandwiches with the rest of the prisoners and experiments. The smell of actual food was an unfamiliar but highly alluring sensation to the redhead.
So, naturally, she started wolfing down the first real food she's had in who knows how long. She noted the small smile on Konan's face in her periphery as she ate, but she paid no mind in favor of food and information.
"The Uzumaki were a powerful clan that, like most, came to prominence during the tumultuous Warring States Period," Pain began. "Unlike most, however, the Uzumaki did not join up with other clans during the formation of the hidden villages; rather, they remained insular and built up their own community separate from the other nations. This gave rise to Uzushiogakure on a small archipelago flanked on all sides by the most treacherous of whirlpools in all of the seas."
Tayuya quietly took in the information as she ate her ramen. Small communities comprised solely of one or two clans weren't exactly unheard of. It hadn't really answered what her connection to all of it was, though, so she remained quiet and allowed Pain to continue his explanation.
"The natural barriers made encroachment from foreign powers too difficult to bother with, which allowed the Uzumaki to flourish in their self-imposed isolation," Pain continued. "This is not to say that they were completely bereft of allies, as, to my knowledge, they did have a fairly close relationship with Konoha due to their ancestral ties to the Senju Clan, for better or for worse. That is neither here nor there, though. What made the Uzumaki so noteworthy were their chakra, vitality, and their proclivity toward the esoteric art of fuinjutsu."
At that revelation, Tayuya paused and lowered the noodles that she was about to shove into her mouth. This was another instance of chakra and hers being "special" brought up, and it was beginning to make her think. Everyone in Orochimaru's forces (those who weren't explicitly expendable, anyway) had some unique ability or characteristic about them that might have been desirable to the snake fuck. Kimimaro, Guren, and Sakon/Ukon had their kekkei genkai, Kidomaru and Jugo were freaks of nature, and Jirobo…
Well, there was an exception to every rule.
Tayuya, meanwhile, couldn't help but think back to the few instances where Orochimaru would comment on the uniqueness of her chakra. She never really thought much about it in lieu of simply surviving his twisted machinations until she explored her affinity to genjutsu, finding that she could effortlessly mold one with merely a whistle. She chalked that up to ridiculous chakra control and any other abnormalities to both the initial and lingering effects of her cursed seal.
"You appear to be having an epiphany," Pain's baritone drew Tayuya out of her musings, and she sent the man a furrowed glare.
"…Uzumaki chakra," she almost tasted the words, "what's so special about it?"
"Our chakra is 'wibbly-wobbly,' as Naruto calls it," Pain explained, ignoring the light snickering coming from the blonde and the soft snort coming from Konan. "Its highly potent composition lends it to taking on unique properties that most others are incapable of manifesting. I'm sure you're well acquainted with Naruto's chains."
"More than I'd like to be," she answered, sending the blonde in question a smoldering glare from the corner of her eye.
"Chakra chains are just one kind of manifestation of Uzumaki chakra," Pain nodded. "They themselves come in two varieties, but that's beyond the scope for now. Not every Uzumaki reaps the benefits of this special chakra, as is the case with most clans with genetic mutations, but it wouldn't surprise me if your chakra had some kind of unique properties to speak of, regardless of how minor they may be."
"Your chakra is heavily saturated with Yin Release," Karin spoke up, earning a confused look from Tayuya amidst the info dump she was receiving, and Karin shrugged in response. "It's not that hard to sense; you're brimming with the stuff."
"How the hell do you know that?" Tayuya warily demanded.
"I'm a sensor," Karin answered, and she grew a bit bashful at the added attention. "Alongside its healing properties, supercharged sensory prowess is how my 'wibbly-wobbly' chakra manifested, I suppose."
"She's being modest, she's the best sensor on the continent," Naruto cut in, causing Karin's cheeks to redden in embarrassment.
"Stop it…" she muttered, retreating into her cloak like a turtle.
"No, you deserve the praise," he insisted. "You're fantastic, Karin."
Tayuya eyed the interplay curiously. She was slowly starting to piece together the dynamic between them. Then, she turned back to the wielder of the Rinnegan (she still struggled to maintain eye contact with that).
"You only spoke of them in the past tense," Tayuya observed. "How'd they kick the bucket?"
"At some point during the Second Great War, the Uzumaki were eradicated, Pain answered with a nod. "Theories range from a coalition of Great Nations working to destroy a potentially significant enemy, an unexpected betrayal from their primary ally, a sweeping epidemic of Ninja AIDS that threw the clan into chaos, and even a surprise attack from the Sanbi or some other massive, unaccounted for creature. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle."
"So, you don't actually know?" Tayuya deadpanned.
In a surprising show of dismissiveness, Pain simply shrugged. "Any survivors of the attack were scattered to the winds, most going into hiding, so I have not been able to get any firsthand accounts from individuals who were present for the extinction. My own parents were killed during the Second War before I even knew to ask of the old village, and by the time I was old enough to even learn of my heritage, Ame had other priorities."
Tayuya slowly nodded at that. She couldn't say that it all didn't make some degree of sense; the clan being attacked and destroyed could possibly explain why her parents were so paranoid in all of the memories she had of them, as fuzzy as they had become over the years. It could also explain being kidnapped and sold into slavery before being kidnapped again by Orochimaru when he could have just as easily wasted her with the rest of the village. Today had already given her way too much to think about on top of the complete mess her mind had already been in.
"I understand that this is a lot to take in," Pain stated as if reading her mind, though given what had been done to her earlier, Tayuya wouldn't put it past him to have done exactly that. "What shall you do from here?"
Tayuya opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. She slowly closed her mouth and slid back into her chair in contemplation.
"I…" she hesitantly began. "I don't know. I don't really have anywhere to go or anyone waiting for me anywhere."
"You mentioned earlier that all you knew was captivity," it was Naruto that spoke up this time, his empty cup of ramen nearly discarded beside him. "I can't imagine that your previous situation was particularly pleasant."
"You can fuckin' say that again," Tayuya muttered.
"I can't imagine that-" Naruto began with a slight smirk until a strip of paper slapped over his mouth.
"Don't even think about it," Konan stopped his joke short with a deadpan glare.
Karin sighed in exasperation at her master's muffled snickering, and Tayuya cast a glance toward the equally exasperated blue-haired woman. "Is he always this much of a shithead?"
"There are two active braincells between the Uzumaki in this room, and Karin has both of them," she replied.
"You wound me, Konan," Pain monotonously feigned hurt.
"You'll live."
"In all seriousness," Naruto spoke up again after prying the slip of paper away, "You're hopefully far away from your previous situation. I don't know your story or just how tumultuous your life may have been up to this point, but I'm more than willing to listen if you're willing to stick around. Genuine Uzumaki are kind of hard to come by, so it would be nice to be around actual family, however distant we may be."
Konan turned a furrowed gaze to Naruto. Extending the girl an invitation to stick around in Ame was a unilateral decision that ultimately wasn't up to him, and he knew that. Curious, she looked to Pain to gauge his reaction (as difficult as doing so was given the Deva Path's general resistance to emoting), and her friend had set his sights on Tayuya once more. He returned the full breadth of his piercing Rinnegan stare to the girl, but she was steadily becoming better accustomed to weathering it. A moment of silence followed with Pain gazing unflinchingly upon Tayuya and the girl maintaining a (mostly) unflappable front.
"What is it that you desire most in this world, Tayuya?" Pain finally inquired.
Tayuya was momentarily taken aback and now on guard. She never told any of them her name. How the fuck did he know-
Oh, right. The mind reading. These people were fucking weird.
She sighed and sat on the question for a bit. Ever since Orochimaru crawled out of her, her compulsory loyalty had all but vanished, and she still couldn't quite figure out why. Ordinarily, she'd just want to beat some trash's skull in and be useful to Lord Orochimaru, but now? The only thing she desired was freedom, which she now technically had. She didn't exactly trust these people, but she also didn't suspect that they'd kill her if she wanted to leave. She didn't get a vibe of forced confinement or servitude from the blonde and redhead despite the kidnapping joke from earlier.
So, if she wasn't bound to them (at least for the moment), and she wasn't in any apparent danger, what did she want to do? What did she desire? What the hell did she even want out of her pitiful existence?
"…I want to kill him," she finally answered, slowly becoming surer of herself with every word. "I will kill him. I will kill Orochimaru and destroy Otogakure."
A pregnant silence followed, and Tayuya's newfound resolve transitioned to confusion as she looked around. Naruto and Karin were looking at her quizzically, but Naruto's sapphire gaze had a sharper edge to it than Karin's. Tayuya briefly wondered what was so confusing about what she said until it hit her.
"Oh, right" Tayuya said in remembrance, and she faced Naruto. "By the way, Orochimaru isn't actually dead. One of his white snakes bit me, and he crawled out of my cursed seal. Just thought you should know."
She was back on her guard when Naruto's gaze hardened, but she was mollified when his body language made it clear that it wasn't directed at her.
"That slimy, little shit," Naruto lamented with a sigh dripping with irritation. "I shouldn't be surprised."
He refocused his gaze on her. "You worked for him?"
"Not willingly." That was a lie, or, at least, it wasn't entirely the truth. It was definitely against her will at the start, and the cursed seal seemed to be locking her into eternal loyalty, but she didn't think it would be fair of her to brush off all of the shitty things she callously did as simply a product of mindless servitude.
"Figured," Naruto nodded, none the wiser to her thoughts. "Do you know where he is?"
"Right now? Probably back at the main base in Oto no Kuni. I don't imagine he'll be there for very long, though, especially if Konoha comes poking around after the Uchiha."
Naruto blinked. "Is that why we found you under an entire forest?"
"Eat a dick," Tayuya grumbled, looking away from the blonde. "I guess that offer for me to stick around is off the table. Whatever; didn't fucking need it anyway-"
"Why would it be?" Naruto inquired.
Tayuya halted whatever bitter string of profanity she was about to unleash as a defense mechanism to look at the blonde as if he had grown another head. "Do you not have a beef with Orochimaru if you went out of your way to kill him?"
Naruto shrugged. "Yeah, but what does that have to do with you?"
It took a few seconds for those words to compute, and even then, Tayuya still could not possibly wrap her mind around the bullshittery coming out of Naruto's mouth. "I was one of his fucking subordinates! I did horrible shit at his command, some of which I can't even say that I didn't enjoy! You're willing to just let me stick around knowing all of that? I could be a spy lying in wait to kill you for attacking my master!"
To that, Naruto simply chuckled, which only pissed Tayuya off even more.
"That is a possibility, yes," Naruto conceded with a tone much too carefree for Tayuya's tastes. "I appreciate the concern, but you're not a spy. I know that you aren't because both Karin and I would've sniffed out any malicious intentions you may have had the minute you had them, and you would've been put on a T-shirt long before we even got here."
"…What?"
Naruto sighed. 'I told you that your old-timey slang wouldn't translate today, Kurama.'
Naruto only received a dismissive grunt from his tenant before the giant fox rolled over and returned to sleep.
"None of us in this room have any particular reason to fear you, either," Karin spoke up, picking up where Naruto left off. "Lord Pain, Miss Konan, and Naruto could each dismantle you in seconds, and Naruto would be between us before you could even send a threatening glance in my direction."
"Oh, really?" Tayuya challenged, considerably offended at the assertion that she wasn't a threat. She didn't appreciate being made out to be a pansy and definitely wouldn't stand for it.
She glanced in Pain's direction, and the sight of the Rinnegan boring a hole back through her made her look away. Alright, she would concede that she probably shouldn't fuck with the dude with the mythical, omnipotent dojutsu, especially if even a fraction of the legends of the powers the eyes granted were true. Beyond even that, his presence was substantially more imposing than even Orochimaru's.
She looked towards Naruto next, and her brain immediately flashed back to the noxious chakra that enveloped him when he heaved those trees off of her without looking like he broke a sweat. Perhaps she shouldn't poke that bear, either.
Finally, her eyes landed on the blank, almost bored gaze of Konan. Tayuya's heated, brown glare matched up against the dull, amber gaze that had already pieced together what was about to happen and was very much over it.
"Dismantle me, huh?" Tayuya began with a puffed-out chest. "What the hell is she gonna do, give me a paper cut- OW!"
Tayuya cradled her hand, covering the fresh wound down the back of it that she had received from the floating paper shuriken beside her. "The hell are you even made of, you 8x11 bitch?!"
"There has been a low yield explosive tag on the base of your spine since you were released from your bindings," Konan finally spoke, the tag in question releasing itself from the gobsmacked Tayuya's back and floating into view. "I placed it there as a precaution in case you showed any signs of aggression. You never noticed it."
"That…" Tayuya nearly sputtered, completely lost for words. "That would've…"
"Crippled you a second time, yes," Konan confirmed.
Well, fuck. She really had been at their mercy the entire time, and they all knew it, so they weren't at all concerned about the situation. They literally sat, ate, and waxed poetic about their dead clan all while knowing that any of them could end her life at any moment if she stepped out of line, regardless of how hard she fought. They weren't even malicious or vindictive about it, either. It wasn't a perverse power play like with Kabuto or Orochimaru, it was just reality for them.
These people were fucking cold… it was kind of awesome.
"So, now that you know you are among capable company," Pain spoke again, regaining the attention of the room, "what comes next after Orochimaru's death?"
Silence returned, and Tayuya was once again left to consider what her life had become. It was a good question; should she actually succeed in killing Orochimaru, what then? Would sort of existence could there possibly be for someone like her?
"…I don't know," she answered as honestly as she could. "There really isn't anything for me anywhere. Life kinda made sure of that."
"This world has done you wrong, then," Pain surmised.
"I guess."
"Would you like to change it?"
Her head tilted in confusion at the question. "Say what?"
"Would you like to create a world where more stories like yours no longer have to exist?" Pain expounded. "A world free of needless suffering, exploitation, and the political calamity that results in entire clans, villages, and sometimes whole nations being massacred?"
"Sounds like a utopia," she skeptically responded.
Pain nodded. "True utopias are fiction. However, we can get close."
Silence reigned once more, and Tayuya mulled over her options. She didn't really have anywhere else to go or anything to do…
Fuck it. What did she have to lose?
"Alright, I'm in," she conceded. What exactly she was getting herself into, she didn't yet know, but it beat what she was doing before and almost certainly beat the lonely, aimless life that was sure to follow if she struck it on her own.
"Excellent," Pain nodded, then he stood up from his chair and walked to his desk.
Tayuya curiously watched him until she narrowly intercepted a black projectile that Pain launched at her from behind his desk. Unrolling what she felt to be fabric, she found that it was a cloak with the same red cloud pattern as the others. Further inspection revealed that it had a hood like Karin's rather than a high collar.
"Welcome to Akatsuki," Pain stated with a subdued flourish. "Naruto, she is your responsibility now."
This brought Tayuya out of her reverie of the cloak and yanked her indignation back front and center. "Wait, what? I'm not a fucking child!"
"He means that until you can hold your own against people of Orochimaru's caliber, you're sticking with me," Naruto clarified, pacifying the girl for the moment. "Luckily for you, we're gonna find out exactly what you're made of and just how far above Orochimaru's level you can get."
He excitedly turned to the other redhead in the room. "Karin, looks like you've got a new sparring partner!"
"…Yay?" she unsurely replied with a wary glance in Tayuya's direction, to which she only sent a quirked eyebrow in return.
Tayuya begrudgingly conceded that it wasn't the worst situation to be in. If killing that pale son of a bitch was the goal, she'd tear herself apart piece by piece until she was built back strong enough to enjoy every last second of his demise. She'd be the judge of whether or not Naruto could actually help out with that later on, though.
"In the meantime," Naruto began, returning his focus to Tayuya, "you said something about a cursed seal?"
Sasuke, guided by Kabuto, meandered through the dark, torchlit hallways of the hideout. The adrenaline of the ordeal had finally worn off, and he was feeling the pain of his snapped wrist. Luckily, Kabuto mended it when he showed up to collect him, but it still hurt like a bitch. The damage to his wrist wasn't nearly as bad as the damage to his pride, though. At least his wrist could be mended, and the pain would eventually subside, whereas the utter embarrassment he was handed in short order by the woman in the cloak would stick with him.
"Lord Orochimaru has been greatly anticipating your arrival, Sasuke," Kabuto intoned in an almost slithery manner.
This dude was such a creep.
The pair continued their trek in silence as Sasuke continued doing his best to ignore Kabuto's predatory gaze on him until they reached a large chamber. On a throne at the opposite wall sat a heavily bandaged man, and the only indicator that it was Orochimaru under those bandages was the pair of golden, snake-like eyes pinning him down from across the throne room.
"Ah, Sasuke," Orochimaru damn near purred. "I've been waiting for you."
"So I've been told…" Sasuke muttered, and he rubbed his eyes again. The stinging sensation had persisted since he watched Sakura fall to her death; he assumed she was dead, at least. Who the hell could survive a fall from that height in her state?
"You've come alone," Orochimaru hummed as he gazed upon the young Uchiha. "I can only assume that the Sound Four have all perished."
"Guren hasn't returned, either," Kabuto supplied, and he was making no attempt to hide the satisfaction in his voice.
Orochimaru's eyes widened for a brief moment. "Hmm, that is curious. Assuming Konoha sent a competent squad after you, I can reason why the Sound Four would be defeated. Guren, however, was no slouch. She could take down most jonin that Konoha would have available with little effort."
"Konoha didn't send any jonin," Sasuke spoke up, earning Orochimaru's further curiosity. "Sakura came after me, but there weren't any Konoha jonin or chunin, at least to my knowledge."
Sasuke's glare darkened. "They hired a mercenary to collect me, instead."
Orochimaru's gaze hardened. "Who?"
"Someone named Pakura," Sasuke responded.
Orochimaru's brow furrowed in confusion. Pakura of the Scorch Release had been thought dead for over a decade. There have been claims of sightings here and there across the continent, but they were largely unsubstantiated. Then again, that was also the case for Naruto, and he was hiding out with Akatsuki the whole time.
"What was she wearing?" Orochimaru probed, looking to rule out the possibility that it was just another person named Pakura.
"Black cloak with red clouds," Sasuke answered. "Not the first time I've encountered one of them."
Ah, it was Akatsuki.
"So, that's where she disappeared to, then," Orochimaru mused. "If Guren encountered her, then she's likely dead, as well. Such a shame. Oh well."
That brought something back to the forefront of Sasuke's brain. "She told me to tell someone named Yukimaru that she's sorry and that it was her. I have no idea what that is supposed to mean, so I'm just relaying the message. When are you going to begin my training?"
Orochimaru silently stared at Sasuke, internally considering what he had just been told and how he could proceed with that information. From Sasuke's perspective, most of the man's body was covered in bandages, so all he could see were two golden, slitted eyes boring right through him. He wouldn't be intimidated.
He wouldn't.
"Kabuto, fetch Yukimaru," Orochimaru finally spoke, and the medic left to do as he was instructed. "We will begin your training at dawn, Sasuke. I may have a slight alteration to your regimen."
The way those last few words slid out of Orochimaru's mouth did not send shivers down Sasuke's spine. They absolutely did not.
Just then, Kabuto returned with a boy around Sasuke's age with long, pale-green hair. His bright, magenta eyes curiously took in Sasuke before darting to the bandaged form of his master on his throne. "You sent for me, Lord Orochimaru? Has Guren returned?"
Orochimaru dramatically hung his head.
"Unfortunately, I have bad tidings. In her efforts to retrieve Sasuke for me, she was ambushed and brutally murdered by a band of mercenaries."
Unseen by anyone, Orochimaru viciously smirked under his bandages when Yukimaru gasped. He added even more sorrow to his tone as he continued the show. "She valiantly fought to protect Sasuke and complete her mission like only my best soldier could, but those savages were too much for her, and they brutalized her."
Yukimaru fell to his knees, and his body shook. "No… no, no, it can't be true. She can't be gone!"
Orochimaru almost had him exactly where he wanted him. It was time to go for the kill. "They even took her body as a trophy to prevent us from giving her a proper burial."
That broke the boy, and the tears began to flow. Vicious conditioning from living amongst the rabble that served Orochimaru meant that showing vulnerability of any kind was a no-no, so Yukimaru's version of wailing was simply tears streaming down his cheeks as he silently knelt, appearing almost catatonic. If it weren't for the minute twitches he'd display every now and then, Sasuke would assume that the boy had shut down completely.
"Who…" Yukimaru suddenly croaked, surprising Sasuke. "Who did it?"
Orochimaru's smirk grew even more wicked. "Akatsuki."
"Akatsuki…" Yukimaru repeated.
Sasuke did not at all like what he was seeing.
"Yukimaru, you've been making fine progress thus far, but it is time to step up your training," Orochimaru declared. "Akatsuki is comprised of many exceptionally powerful shinobi. Not only must you be exceptionally powerful yourself to best serve me, but you must also become powerful in order to avenge Guren by eradicating Akatsuki and restoring her honor. Are you up to the task?"
"Akatsuki…" Yukimaru muttered lowly, but his tone had an edge to it.
"Kabuto, escort Yukimaru back to his quarters," Orochimaru ordered. "The poor boy has a lot to think about, let's give him some time to sort things out."
Kabuto nodded, approaching the young teen still on his knees and helping him back to his feet before taking him away. Sasuke watched the entire exchange with a glare, and he could feel the burning in the back of his eyes intensifying. That boy, Yukimaru, was being groomed to take vengeance for his lost loved ones on a lie. The basis for his desire for justice was built on a fabrication to serve someone else's ends. Even if he did get vengeance for Guren, the sentiment would have been completely perverted by the whims of a third party with something to gain. It wasn't true justice; it was just the snowball effect of white lies to benefit someone else.
Ultimately, though, it wasn't Sasuke's problem. He was there to gain the power necessary to kill Itachi and that reason alone. Whatever was going on in his periphery didn't concern him. He had his ambition, and he would see it through.
The first thing Sakura saw when she forced her eyes open was a dull, white ceiling. As a somewhat familiar sterilized scent entered her nostrils, she gingerly sat up in the bed she was in and took in her surroundings, fighting through the shooting pain in her abdomen. The white walls and buzzing equipment around her indicated that she was in the hospital, but why? She racked her brain for her most recent memories, but everything after leaving the village in search of Sasuke was foggy. A sigh escaped her, and she continued surveying the room. Scanning over the nightstand with a bouquet of flowers on it (probably from Ino), her jade eyes slowly moved across the wall, past the woman in the black cloak staring at her, and finally stopping at the window to take in the blue-
Her gaze snapped back to the woman in the room with her in a panic, and their eyes met. She was unfamiliar to Sakura, which was odd because she would have recognized any prominent figures currently in the village. Green hair with two orange bangs framing her face rested over a slashed Suna headband, which explained why Sakura hadn't recognized her, but it didn't explain why she was in her room. Then, she recognized the cloak; it was the same one on that blonde from Nami that killed off Gato and his army of bandits after Kakashi-sensei defeated Zabuza.
She was still really curious about him; he didn't seem too much older than they were, yet he wielded incredible power even greater than that of the hunter-nin. Even Kakashi-sensei was hesitant about him, but that might have been partially due to having just finished a fight with Zabuza. She had no idea what their relationship was, since her sensei recognized him and even traded a jutsu for a large scroll, and when she asked him about it on the way back to the village, he was really cagey about the details…
She shook her head; she was getting sidetracked. The woman in the room with her was the primary matter at hand.
"Hello?" she tentatively spoke to the woman who hadn't said a word since Sakura had come to.
"Yo," she casually replied, not saying anything further.
"Um, who are you and why are you in my room?" Sakura probed.
"Pakura, and I'm doing Tsunade a solid by keeping an eye on you while she's busy with the Hyuga kid," Pakura answered just as casually.
"Oh…" Sakura responded, not knowing what to make of that. It did help her begin to piece together what happened on the retrieval effort, though, so she decided to fish for more information. "You're not a ninja of this village."
"What gave it away?" Pakura joked. "No, I'm a mercenary. I guess you can say I'm on a diplomatic mission with Konoha."
"Oh, well, why are you watching over me and not one of the nurses, if I may ask? I'd imagine you'd have more important matters to handle on a diplomacy endeavor."
"Tsunade just wanted someone she knew and could trust since she's pretty new here. It helped that I was the one who rescued you."
"Wait, what?"
Pakura took in the genuine surprise on the face of the disheveled, pink-haired girl, and she was silent for a moment. "What do you remember?"
Sakura sat back in her bed and continued parsing through the re-emerging memories of the half-baked rescue mission, and things were beginning to come together. "I remember leaving to rescue my teammate after he left the village, then we were caught in a trap by the team that he left with."
Her brow furrowed as she dug deeper. "After that, one of them stayed behind to drain us of our chakra while the others went ahead, but we managed to escape, and Choji stayed behind to keep him busy while we went after the others carrying Sasuke…"
Her eyes widened, and her gaze became slightly frantic. "Is Choji okay??"
"Finish running through the events first," Pakura instructed. "We can sort the specifics later."
Sakura shakily nodded and continued recalling the events. "Um, we were caught in a web trap after that. Neji stayed behind to hold him off, and Tenten stuck with him initially, but she caught up with us a little later. Then, there was a scramble, and we almost recovered Sasuke, but someone else showed up; a man with a bone kekkei genkai that was way out of our league. Kiba fell into a ravine with one of them and Shikamaru stayed behind to face the other while Tenten and I chased after the one carrying Sasuke."
Pakura nodded and motioned for her to continue, so she ran her hand through her hair to help keep her thought straight. "Tenten and I fought the bone guy after that, then Sasuke emerged from the coffin they had him in, so Tenten told me to go after him while she stayed behind. I really hope she's okay…"
"She's fine," Pakura assured. "Keep going."
That eased Sakura's worries somewhat, but she made a mental note about her assuring Tenten's safety but not Choji's. Nonetheless, she continued. "I eventually caught up to Sasuke as he was rendezvousing with another squad, and I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen…"
Sakura's hands balled into fists around the blanket, and welling tears prickled her eyes. "I had to try to subdue him myself, but…"
Her head hung low, and her fists were shaking. "I couldn't do anything. I was too weak."
"I think I can piece together what happened from there," Pakura spoke up, drawing Sakura's attention. "I fought the woman with the Crystal Release kekkei genkai, and you were riddled with crystal shards when I found you."
"Yeah…" Sakura lowly confirmed. "She stabbed me with a crystal blade and kicked me off the cliff."
"And you survived that fall?" Pakura said with an impressed tone. "Nice one, kid."
"You said you fought the woman who stabbed me," Sakura redirected the discussion. "What happened to Sasuke? Did you bring him back?? And what about the others, are they all okay??"
Pakura sighed, and she gave the girl the most sympathetic look she could manage. This was more of a job for this girl's sensei, but they were most likely out of the village at the moment, so she'd do her best. "Your teammate slipped away at some point during the fight. I could've gone after him afterward, but you almost certainly wouldn't have survived if I did. I had to make a choice: hunt him down or save your life. I chose you."
Sakura couldn't find any words amidst the maelstrom tearing her mind asunder. Sasuke was gone. Sasuke was gone and not only was she too weak to do anything about it, but she also had to be saved by someone who wasn't even from her village. Sasuke was gone right now, and she was only alive because Pakura chose to prioritize her life instead of going after him-
"Hey, you're spiraling," Pakura broke her out of her thoughts. "There's no use agonizing over it. You did everything you could; sometimes, missions like these just don't work out."
Pakura chose not to acknowledge that the "mission" in question was as unofficial as it got and that everyone involved was technically guilty of desertion. Instead, she gazed at the nearly inconsolable girl as she struggled to get ahold of herself.
Sakura had finally regained herself enough to face Pakura. "Why?"
"Hm?"
"Why did you choose to rescue me?"
Pakura leaned back in her seat. "No one deserves to die pitifully and alone with a bunch of kunai in their back, or crystal shards in your case."
"That… sounds personal," Sakura probed.
"It might be," Pakura noncommittally acknowledged. "Point is, you deserve a fair shot at regaining your comrade when you're finally strong enough to hunt him down and subdue or eliminate him yourself. Failing that, you at least deserve an admirable death."
Sakura didn't know what to make of that response, but before she could process it any further, Pakura stood up from her seat and made her way to the door. "Wait, where are you going?"
"I've been away from headquarters long enough," Pakura answered. "You're alive and seemingly in good enough health, so you don't need me watching over you. I doubt anyone in this village put a hit out on you."
Then, she took on a thinking pose. "That said, if someone does, we'll probably see each other again if there's enough money involved."
At Sakura's newly pale countenance, Pakura snorted and waved her hands. "Kidding, kidding. You're just as easy as Maki was."
"Maki?" Sakura questioned.
"Long story," Pakura waved off and exited the room. On her way down the hall, she walked by a downright broken-looking Kakashi on his way to Sakura's room.
"And that's everything we saw."
The currently maskless Obito sat on his makeshift throne in the Mountain's Graveyard hideout and contemplated what Zetsu had just finished relaying to him. Itachi and Kisame did make contact with the Kyubi jinchuriki and gauged his abilities as requested, though he was certain that Itachi was relaying information to the other boy through Tsukuyomi. It mattered not, as Itachi would be dead soon enough, either by Sasuke's hand or his illness. Speaking of Sasuke, the boy had abandoned Konoha and joined up with Orochimaru; that was good. He was succumbing to his hatred, which would make him much easier to manipulate when the time came.
That led them to the more concerning aspects of Zetsu's report. First and foremost, the Kyubi jinchuriki was nearly able to kill Kisame. Kisame wasn't going all out, of course, but it was just added confirmation that his showcase against Yagura in Kiri wasn't a fluke or merely the product of a team effort. The boy was exceptionally dangerous already.
Adjacently, Pakura of the Scorch Release wasn't to be taken lightly, either. That wouldn't really mean much to him ordinarily, but she was often accompanying the Gobi jinchuriki on missions, so any attempts to capture him would in all likelihood put whoever he sent at odds with the former Suna-nin. Depending on what duo he sent, he couldn't be certain that they would survive the encounter if Zetsu's report about her battle rang true. Perhaps, however, her firepower couldn't stack up directly to Deidara's, and Sasori would be familiar enough with her to know how to combat her. He'd put a pin in that for when it was time to move on the biju.
Then, there was the issue of Akatsuki becoming chummy with several villages. Liberating Kiri was one thing, but directly sending a diplomatic envoy to Iwa and potentially engaging in talks with Konoha was an interesting prospect. It appeared that the rogue pair of Rinnegan and his merry band of misfits were hitting the ground running in their plan for achieving peace. What a fool's errand that was. Peace was not possible while people had the free will to be the savages they inherently were. He was getting sidetracked, though.
"What are you thinking, Obito?" White Zetsu questioned, poking his half of their head out of the flytrap encompassing them.
"Akatsuki is swiftly becoming a thorn in our side," he mused. "Not a permanent impediment, but an annoying complication nonetheless."
"So long as they retain the Rinnegan, they are a permanent impediment to our ultimate goal," Black Zetsu corrected.
"And our last attempt to regain them didn't go so well," White Zetsu added.
"You don't need to remind me," Obito grumbled. He wasted a Sharingan using Izanagi to escape the trap they laid for him, and he wasn't going into battle with a miraculously healed Nagato without that extra eye.
Still, Zetsu raised a good point. Akatsuki was in possession of the Rinnegan, ergo they were in possession of the Gedo Statue, and without that, Tsuki no Me could not seal away the biju to revive the Jubi. That would have to be rectified at some point, otherwise they'd just be sitting around with their thumbs up their asses and no actual movements on their plans.
"Akatsuki has at least three jinchuriki in their ranks," Obito mused. "Tsuki no Me will inevitably be in direct conflict with them eventually, but it would be pointless without the Rinnegan, which they also possess."
"Then we should just lay siege on Ame and take them," White Zetsu suggested.
"No, you idiot," Black Zetsu shot down. "They were expecting us the last time, so they'd obviously be expecting a much harsher assault in the future. They'll be even better prepared."
"They also know that we need the jinchuriki alive for the extraction," Obito added. "We could storm Ame guns blazing in pursuit of the Rinnegan, and we'd almost certainly flatten the village in the process and probably obtain the Rinnegan. However, Tsuki no Me would also almost certainly lose all of its members in the process. They'd all be fighting to kill while we would have to keep at least 3 of them alive, which automatically makes it an uphill battle."
"And say that we do manage to kill off Nagato and Konan, take the Rinnegan, and leave with less than half of our roster dead," Black Zetsu picked up where Obito left off. "If even one of the jinchuriki were to die, we'd have to wait years for the Biju to reform, setting us back even further than the three years already necessary for the Sanbi to reform."
"Oh…" White Zetsu muttered. "Things would be a lot simpler if there was another pair of Rinnegan out there."
"Wishful thinking," Obito dismissed. "If my Sharingan hasn't yet evolved into a Rinnegan with all of Hashirama Senju's DNA that comprises my body, then there's no use waiting for it to develop on its own."
"No, no, he might be on to something," Black Zetsu commented. "Maybe yours will not evolve in sufficient time, but perhaps another set might…"
Obito's eyes narrowed at the plant man. "What are you getting at?"
"The only other Uchiha that is fully embracing the Curse of Hatred as Madara had," Black Zetsu nudged.
"You think Sasuke is a viable candidate?" Obito skeptically questioned.
"I think he is the key," Black Zetsu doubled down. "His Sharingan may potentially be even purer than Madara's in its hatred."
"If we stuff him with Asu- Senju chakra, he should develop a Rinnegan in no time once he has his Mangekyo," White Zetsu enthusiastically added.
Obito's brow furrowed, and he focused on White Zetsu. "What was that slip-up, there?"
"Are you really questioning the buffoonery that comes out of this dunce's mouth?" Black Zetsu deadpanned. "Half of it is bullshit, and the other half is horseshit."
"…Fair," Obito conceded, leaving it be for the moment.
"Still, maybe not just Senju chakra," Black Zetsu quickly continued. "If we want to expedite the process, we can graft Hashirama's DNA onto him as well as chakra from the next best thing: an Uzumaki."
"Why an Uzumaki?" Obito questioned. He was following the logic in regard to Sasuke, but adding yet another variable to the equation seemed a bit excessive.
"Uzumaki chakra is naturally in tune with Senju chakra on account of their common ancestry," White Zetsu answered this time. "An Uzumaki's chakra can enhance that of a Senju and vice versa."
"It's why Hashirama married Mito," Black Zetsu chipped in.
Obito silently considered the two's explanation, but it still wasn't adding up. "That wasn't in the stone tablet..."
"Well, you don't have a Rinnegan," Black Zetsu replied. "How would you know what's in there if not all of it is even legible to you?"
Obito was going to respond, but nothing came off of his tongue, and he was left nearly sputtering. "That's… don't fucking gaslight me, Zetsu."
"I'm not, now stop being crazy and focus on the task at hand," Black Zetsu huffed.
"Fine, whatever," Obito sighed. "We have that as a backup plan for the Rinnegan. What about the biju in the meantime?"
"What's stopping you from ripping the beasts out of their hosts and placing them under genjutsu yourself?" White Zetsu asked.
"And just where the hell am I going to store them, Zetsu?" Obito asked in mild irritation as if he hadn't already considered that idea. "Besides, genjutsu are finite unless I'm constantly maintaining them."
"Stash them within the Kamui dimension, you dingus," Black Zetsu growled as if it was obvious.
Obito unleashed a long-suffering sigh. "I can't warp a biju into the Kamui dimension. They are literally too big."
"Well, have you ever tried?"
"No!"
"Then how would you know that you can't do it if you've never even tried before?"
"Zetsu, I fucking swear-"
"I think it's worth a shot!" White Zetsu excitedly cheered. "It's not like you're going blind anytime soon. You can train up that Mangekyo of yours to warp biju away by the time the Sanbi reforms!"
Obito could do nothing but stand in place and silently massage his temples to preemptively fight off the impending migraine.
"You got any better ideas?" Black Zetsu asked rhetorically.
"Fuck it," Obito sighed. "Fine. We'll let Orochimaru groom Sasuke and develop his hatred so that we can snatch him after he kills Itachi, and I'll train my eyes to warp mountain-sized creatures if it makes you happy."
"It does, yes," Black Zetsu stated.
Having had more than enough of this conversation, Obito stood up from his seat and warped away, presumably to the Kamui dimension in order to scale the blocks within and investigate if a biju could be recovered if it fell into the void. Meanwhile, Zetsu sighed and finally relaxed.
"I can't believe he bought that," White Zetsu said. "That was really convoluted, even for us."
"No thanks to you almost blowing it, you dimwit," Black Zetsu growled.
"He didn't suspect a thing, though!"
"Because I successfully tempered his suspicion by reminding him of your consistent stupidity. Regardless, if we can keep guiding him in the correct direction and make him think it's his own idea, we'll be able to revive Mother in no time."
Tenten hated funerals. Granted, so did most people, but Tenten had been to way too many of them before she had even become a full-fledged kunoichi, and the ninja career already guaranteed that she'd be attending countless more for the rest of her life, capping off with her own.
Ordinarily, a funeral service for a genin wouldn't be very big. Their squad mates, close comrades, and any surviving family would certainly attend, but that was about it. It certainly would pale in comparison to the service they held for the Sandaime. However, the funeral for a clan heir was a different story entirely. It wasn't just about a fallen genin anymore.
The Akimichi Clan was out in full force to mourn their fallen clan heir. The clan head, Choza Akimichi, tried valiantly to maintain a strong front, but anyone with eyes could tell that the man was broken. In fact, most of the clan was visibly distressed at the loss of one of their own so early into his career irrespective of being the heir to the clan. Alongside them was the rest of his team who were emotional wrecks, and the rest of his graduating class wasn't too far behind them. She couldn't blame any of them a single bit.
And he was just one casualty of the retrieval effort.
To her left was Neji, currently wheelchair bound as he had very little lower body function to speak of. The final arrow shot right through his back and severely damaged his spinal cord. Once the adrenaline wore off and the enemy was dead, Neji took two steps and collapsed into unconsciousness, only to wake up to find that he could barely feel his legs. He could take a few small steps on his own power, but no more than that without assistance. According to Neji, Lady Tsunade could restore his ability to walk normally with a dangerous surgery like she did for Lee, but his shinobi career was over barring a miracle.
Fucking fuck, man. She pleaded for Neji to survive his fight before and after she left him alone, and the fucking monkey's paw granted her wish in the worst way. Lee, standing to Neji's left, had only recently been discharged, though, and he had been doing everything in his power to keep their spirits up. She was so thankful for that bright, shining ball of unhindered youth sometimes.
As the service drew on, Neji turned his head to face the figure approaching them from Tenten's right, prompting the other two genin to direct their attention that way, as well, and they were surprised to see that it was Gaara making his way toward them. More specifically, he was making his way toward Tenten.
Once he made it to them, Tenten awkwardly greeted him with a subdued wave. She didn't really know how to feel about him; he mangled Lee in a monstrous bloodlust, and then he saved her life with control and focus. It was like he was a completely different person when he wasn't unhinged.
"I don't understand funerals," he dryly stated, clearly feeling just as awkward as she did.
That was enough to break some of the awkward tension, and Tenten snorted. "They suck. That's kinda the extent of it, really. Nobody enjoys it when their loved ones die."
"I see," Gaara mused with a thoughtful look on his face.
He had been making an effort to understand the human experience of late… to varying degrees of success. A recent conversation with his siblings came to mind in which, during an effort by his sister to establish some "sibling bonding," Gaara questioned if makeup was truly a traditionally feminine accessory if Kankuro wore more of it than Temari did.
Putting the memory of his sister's hysterical laughter and his brother crying about war paint aside, he turned his attention to Lee. Another moment passed as Gaara gathered the correct words to say while the three genin silently waited for him to speak.
"I'm sorry," Gaara finally said. "I'm sorry for the damage I did to you during the Chunin Exams."
Tenten wanted to say that she was caught off guard by the apology, but he had already done so to her when they were flying back to Konoha. Meanwhile, Neji was a little less prepared for it than she was, and Lee actually stepped forward to face him directly.
"You do not have to apologize," Lee assured him with a smile. "You rescued and protected my friend, so that makes you my friend, as well, Gaara."
Beside him, Neji nodded in agreement. "We owe you a debt."
Gaara took a moment to compute those words. Friends… that was as foreign a concept to him as anything could be. He knew what they were, but he never would have fathomed having any himself.
He turned to Tenten, and he sent her an inquisitive stare. "Are we friends, as well?"
The snort that left Tenten quickly transitioned into a mirthful giggle, and she offered the redhead a small, reassuring smile. "Sure, Gaara, we're friends."
"Oh," Gaara responded, and he nodded. "That sounds nice."
Yo. How's life?
Yukimaru is aged up a few years for the sake of convenience. He'll be around for a while, so there's that. I'm also playing around with the Uzumaki lore a bit. Don't worry about it, it's fine.
Thanks for reading.
