AN: So, this was originally going to be one chapter that ended on a cliffhanger, but I decided to just make it all one chapter. So, enjoy this one, mega chapter! I haven't written one of these since…Chapter 38. Feels good.
Cat Beats: Haha, thank you! I'm trying to make them as…human (?) as I can. It isn't going to be just mission after mission. Just in the beginning to try and pad out the timeline and establish the organization for later when the established canon makes an appearance. Or should I say "canon".
magmo22: Long time no review, my old friend! 2020 has been a year but I'm glad you're back!
As much as I like bitch Orochimaru, he (she) obviously did a lot for the Akatsuki which is why the organization and Sasori warmed up to him eventually so enjoy bitch Orochimaru while she lasts. So in like…last chapter, haha. You'll see what I mean in this and the next chapters. Anyway, onto your questions! And I can answer them since it'll involve no spoilers to this fanfiction. Despite all the liberties I am taking (especially later on, holy shit), it'll still follow canon.
The plot is going to play out as it did before Madara or Obito were introduced: Kyuubi attack happened how it was explained in the beginning, so one angry Bijuu. Uchiha Massacre happens except it's just Danzo because Danzo was the mastermind of everything (in the anime at least, ugh). No Obito, no Madara. And yes, Itachi is an Akatsuki member! He ain't going anywhere so do not fret on that! Seriously, I cannot imagine the Akatsuki without him, haha. I've got an entire arc planned for him too. As for Zetsu, there is going to a person she does start to favour later in the story and it's based on my OTP. But like the summary says: it's just puppy love. Also, thank you for pointing that out. I seriously hafta update that summary since it's more Akatsuki based now.
So, Madara and Obito are not pulling the strings this time. However, doesn't mean there isn't someone else instead -wink wink nudge nudge-.
Enjoy.
p.s. no beta, too lazy to edit. Excuse any jank.
Warning(s): Language (High), Violence/Fighting/Blood (High), Genderbend (Low)
…
Wasteland
The Akatsuki Arc
Chapter 48
"My, that could've gone a lot worse." Orochimaru stated as she thumbed through the paper payment of their latest bounty. It was her first payout, and she could see herself getting used to this.
"Aye, coulda gone a lot better too!" Sasori grumbled as Hiruko's heavyset plastron lumbered ten steps behind her.
"Pardon me, but I did not expect him to run."
"But didja 'afta cut off 'is legs?"
"No, but yes. Just be thankful they took the bounty in two pieces."
"Mmmhmm. Jus' sayin' in the future, I'd rather 'and over bounties in one piece, aye?" Orochimaru didn't reply to his nitpicking of her, much to Sasori's irk. He did not like being ignored. "Aye?" Nothing again.
At this, Sasori paused to glance back at his partner to find the Sannin standing in place, golden eyes narrowed at nothing and expression gnarled with intense thought. Faskom, her fashioned boa snake had woken from its comatose state and had puffed out his purple feathers while purple tongue tasted the air. Sasori hearken the obvious as he erected his tail, the metallic joints clanking against one another in mimicry of a rattlesnake. Currently, they were stood knee deep in dark backwoods—a perfect place for an ambush.
An ambush, it wasn't though—at least, not as first. Yes, there was people in the trees but instead of attacking, one of them leapt down, obscuring the path of the two. They were clad in armour with silver hair sticking out from behind a hound mask. Orochimaru recognized this mystery person immediately.
"Oh! Oh, Kakashi-kun, is that you? What a surprise this is!" Orochimaru clasped her hands together while cooing at the teenaged boy behind the mask.
"Oi, ya know this pommie?" Sasori asked, despite the fact she had just said this person's name.
"Kakashi-kun was my student." Orochimaru explained though Sasori will still lost. "What're you doing out here? Saying hello to your favourite teacher, hmm?"
"I'm here for the handoff." Kakashi answered curtly, speaking moreso to Sasori than Orochimaru.
"Hn? Collection? Wut fuckin' handoff?"
"Of Orochimaru as per the Akatsuki's agreement with Konoha." Sasori and Orochimaru exchanged looks. This was the first either of them had heard of this.
"Konoha? Wut are ya fuckin' on 'bout? We ain't handin' 'er over to Konoha!" As much as he would personally love to.
"There must be a misunderstanding."
"Reckon we kill the twerp?" Sasori purposed, his tail already cocked and locked for shanking.
Before Orochimaru could say anything, whether a "yay" or "nay" to the idea, a kunai imbedded into the ground between the Akatsuki and ANBU captain. The immediate area bleached white from the ensuing flash tag, then came down a rain of aerial weaponry meant to sunder and slice. However, when the light flickered out, it let on the dirt and the male target peppered with kunais and shurikens. Unfortunately, Orochimaru has disappeared. This by itself influenced a few of the attackers to leave the safety of the treetops to investigate while the others stayed high up to survey for their prime target.
The Black Ops approached the lone fallen subject who was slumped and motionless, his hunched back dressed up with their blades though no blood to be seen oozing from his injuries through the black fabric of his cloak. However, their inspection was interrupted by the faintest of noise and their captain among them barked at them just as a number of large, white snakes breached the earth behind them.
One ANBU was caught in the neck by one of the vipers then coiled and crushed by its massive body while the other Black Ops juked past the striking serpents. However, in their distraction, they failed to notice the "deceased" subject picking himself up until there was the flash of silver and one of the men belched blood into his bird mask as a metallic scorpion tail was punched through his back and out his chest in an explosion of blood and cartilage. The boots on the ground that had survived the back-to-back surprise attacks quickly threw down smoke bombs to block the vision of their targets in a double-edged sword tactic as they themselves could not see also.
Despite this, they could hear the telltale whistle of the tail cutting through the air and were able to avoid further attempts of it hitting them from the miasma with them returning fire. Once they had fled to the outside of the smoke cloud, the smog was turned poisonous with a few handsigns with the intention of not killing of whomever was on the inside of it but incapacitating them. However, the blind stabbing didn't cease and as they again went to dodge, one of the ANBU caught his foot on a branch. Except, it wasn't a branch but a snake; a purple snake beetling from the ground with its body wrapped around his ankle and knife-este fangs punctured into skin, pumping his bloodstream with a paralyzing poison. Due to this, he couldn't evade with his comrades and when scorpion tail thrusted from the violet mist again, it went directly through his skull.
Now just the two of them left, the ANBU captain cast a fire jutsu which ignited the cloud and caused it to explode, turning the surrounding forest into wooden shrapnel and rock buckshot. They leapt outside the blast radius, into the trees, and waited for the dust to clear—but it didn't. Instead, the grey smoke turned a pitch black and expanded out like a swarm of bees, angry and buzzing. The two ANBU evacuated to higher ground, but the black cloud hunted them with a quickness and caught one by the leg, swallowing him while his captain desperately tried to pull him out and spat fire at the particles, but it was fruitless. The wolf man was gulped down by the darkness and his captain and last man left listened in mute horror to the gruesome crunching of bone and wet bloodletting as he was crushed within.
He launched himself to the tree next over to outrun the plague and as he did, he landed on something soft but with a sickening crunch and when he glanced down through the slits of his fox mask, he found himself standing on the body of one of his men; slaughtered and hung up like an ornament. He scanned the other branches and saw them painted red with blood and decorated with bit and pieces that were the ANBU once stationed here—all dead. He was the last.
Suddenly, the branch and cadaver he was stood upon gave out, sending him crashing to the ground with his dead teammate landed on him. As he pushed it off and straightened himself up, the black cloud was inches from him. He drew a kunai and lifted his hand in preparation for a hand sign, but it didn't attack—or, it didn't have the chance.
"Don't you harm a twee hair on his precious head, Sasori!"
Immediately, the murk dissipated and imparting the cause of it being a puppet as the black substance fled back into its razored maw, like the suckage of a vacuum. Sasori begrudgingly deactivated the Third Kazekage and Orochimaru pushed past her partner, fanning the white smoke from her face as she approached the last ANBU who instantly crumpled onto his backside and hands in the midst of her intimidating presence.
"So, Kakashi-kun." She cooed at her old student, hunkering herself down to eye level with him. "I just have a few questions and then you may leave. How does that sound, hmm?" The white-haired Anbu identified as Kakashi did not reply as if even his own tongue was paralyzed in fear. "Obviously, it was Minato that sent you lot, but I'm curious how it was you found me? You mentioned something of an 'agreement', yes?"
When Kakashi didn't immediately answer her, Sasori huffed. "'e ain't gonna speak. We should just kill 'im. Maybe torture 'im too?" He said, waving his tail but was shushed by his female partner. Mainly because, Kakashi made the decision to speak.
"We were given your whereabouts." He spoke, curt and quietly, barely audible through his porcelain mask.
"'Our whereabouts'? By whom?" Sasori inquired and was silenced by Orochimaru in favour of her conducting the interrogation.
"By whom?" She parroted his question to the boy, inching closer which made him unconsciously inch back from her. "And do not lie to me. You know better than to lie to me, Kakashi-kun."
"One of your own—an Akatsuki member."
"Wot!?"
"Who was it?"
"I do not know."
"'e's bloody lyin', 'e is!" Sasori exclaimed, lashing the charred ground with his tail, and casting up ashes.
"I do not know! I was not present for the meeting between them and Lord Hokage. All I know is they said the Akatsuki detained Orochimaru and would trade her to us but for payment. They then gave us the coordinates and said she would be handed over peacefully to Konoha by another Akatsuki member."
"An' 'ow much was this payment?"
"25 million ryō."
Sasori whistled, an impressive feat for the likes of a "puppet". "Crickey."
"And you're positive it was an Akatsuki member, Kakashi-kun?" Orochimaru pressed him, gentle yet firm. "Think hard now."
"Yes, they were described as such to me by the Lord Hokage himself. I, however, was not present during the meeting between this Akatsuki and the Lord Hokage. I was ordered in afterward, given the information to find and arrest you. All I know was they were male, no distinguishing features, however. I would have to ask the Lord Hokage himself for that information."
Orochimaru stared hard at her ex-student for a moment too long before standing up and dusting herself off. "Well then, I think that to be everything. You may go, Kakashi-kun."
"Oi, that's it then? Yer just gonna let 'im go?" Sasori asked her in disbelief. "We ain't gonna kill 'im fer pullin' this shite on us?"
"Oh no no no! I'd do no such thing to my favourite student. Besides, he had told us everything he knows, and I trust he has not lied to me. You have not lied to me, have you, Kakashi, kun?" Kakashi said nothing, neither confirming nor denying but she didn't interrogate him further. "Off with you then! Oh, and do tell Minato I said hello, would you? And congratulations on his new baby."
Finally, once her paralyzing glare was off him, Kakashi pushed himself to his feet though didn't flee immediately, scanning his gaze over his dead and desecrated ANBU brethren. Orochimaru understood why and thus, ushered herself and Sasori out of the area for respect towards her student, and also so the corpses may be collected for burial.
"Sounds like someone sold you out." Sasori judged once it was just he and Orochimaru left.
"Yes, yes, it would appear that way, wouldn't it?" Orochimaru nodded, petting Faskom who had gone back to sleep around her neck. "We should report this. Pein best know there is a traitor in the organization."
"Aye."
…
"So, an unknown member of the Akatsuki went to Konoha and in exchange for 25 mil ryō, they traded in Orochimaru. Am I understanding this correctly?" Pein summarized once Sasori and Orochimaru had finished telling him everything they had learned after the ambush.
"Aye." Sasori grunted his testimony with Orochimaru nodding while huffing her smoking pipe.
"Then it that case, we have a traitor is our midst." Pein sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. This was the last thing the Akatsuki needed.
"I reckon it's Kakuzu." Sasori inputted his two cents despite no one asking.
"And why would you say that, Sasori?" Pein inquired of him.
"Whoelse'd ask fer the cash first then fuck off 'cept that ol', green bastard? Whatchu say, Orochimaru?"
"I do not know so I cannot say." Orochimaru shrugged and idly looking over her purple nails which were due for a fresh layer of paint. "How do we know it wasn't you, Sasori?"
"Oi! Whatcha think me daft as to put a 'it on meself? Er to walk me arse into Konoha after the Third War, woman?"
"Maybe."
"Thank you for your input, Sasori, but I do not want to point fingers without evidence. I'll start an investigation into this immediately. Until we can find the culprit, however, it'll be best that you stay in Amegakure, Orochimaru. We don't know whatelse this person may've told Konoha."
"Oh, how cute. You talk like you actually care for me, Yahiko." Orochimaru cooed obnoxiously and the gingered man flushed red, not in embarrassment but anger at the causal slinging of his real name.
"You are both dismissed!" Pein blurted out then swiveled in his chair from the partners before he did anything that he—or the Akatsuki—may regret. Neither offered argument and quietly made their exit after leaving the bounty from their mission on his desk.
Once they had left and he had calmed down, Pein decided interrogations had to be had and thus, called in his first suspect. "Glut."
"Yes, Sir Leader?" Glut finally answered after a minute of silence.
"Would you kindly come up to my office?"
"Sure. Want me to get Kakuzu too?"
"No, just you."
"Got it. I'll be up in a few."
It was longer than a "few" as a half-an-hour later, Glut exited the elevator and walked up to Pein's desk, bowing politely with Smidgen climbing and standing on his shoulder in order to do the same. Afterall, he was her superior also in the mouse's beady, red eyes. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Yes, thank you for meeting with me, Glut. I just have a few questions." Pein ushered at one of the two chairs situated at his desk and taking the hint, Glut sat himself down in one of them, getting as comfortable as one could in the bucket seat. "Can you account for your whereabouts this last week?"
Glut stared at him, obviously bewildered by this out-of-blue question "M-My whereabouts? Like, the whole week? Uhh…I was here? In Ame. I can't tell you everything I did though or where I was. Only left once on mission with Kakuzu. He can tell you that."
"And you two were together the entirety of this mission?"
"Yes…well, except once. It was after the mission and Kakuzu wanted to deposit the bounty we just did in the bank like he always does, but I was tired, so he left to the bank while I came back to Ame."
"By yourself?"
"Yes"
"Leaving Kakuzu by himself also?"
"Yes…?" He didn't sound too sure of himself, a fact Pein picked up on but did not let on.
"Therefore, neither of you cannot account for the other's whereabouts after this mission?" Glut, looking obviously uncomfortable with the interrogation, shook his head, casting droplets of sweat as he did. "And you came straight back to Ame by yourself?"
"Y-Yes. You can ask the guys at the gate. I had to sign in with them just so they could open it."
Pein nodded and scrawled down the other ginger's answers so he could easily substantiate them later. "Thank you, Glut. That is all. You may leave."
"Sir Leader, can I ask what this is about?"
Pein saw no harm to sharing. "Konoha ambushed Orochimaru and Sasori on their back from mission because an unknown Akatsuki member traded her into them."
Somehow, Glut's pale face paled further. "W-What?"
"Yes, so I am just interviewing each member of their whereabouts this past week. I am making no accusations and you are no more a suspect than anyone else is, Glut. Now, you may leave."
Glut did just that, though looking much more confused than when he walked in. As much as Pein wanted to immediately call in his prime suspect, Kakuzu, he wanted to check over a few facts first. "Konan?"
"Yes, Pein?" Konan instantly countered as if she had been waiting for this call. Afterall, she couldn't remember the last time she enjoyed the entirety of her day off without him barking in her ear.
"I know it is your day off, but can I ask a favour of you? Would you kindly go to Heaven's Door and request a copy of this week's traffic daybook?"
"I can try. Why do you need the Heaven's Door logs?"
"I'll explain once you've brought them to me. I just want to check the whereabouts of our members this last week."
"Very well. I'll go over there now. I can't guarantee it'll be as easy as asking, though. You know how Kojima is, especially with you and I." That was the understatement of the century.
"That I do. Thank you, Konan. And please, take as long as you must." That meant, "as soon as possible" in Pein's language. Konan was fluent in it.
"I shall."
…
"Pein? I've got the daybook, as asked." Konan said as she entered the office and placed the handwritten duplicate in front of her partner's face as he glared at the paperwork which was neverending. He was starting to remember why he disliked Jiraiya's written assignments for them so much.
"Did you? Perfect." He placed down his pen, taking the chance to rest his cramping hand to look over the newspapers his partner had handed over. "Kojima didn't give you too much hassle then?"
"Oh no, he did. He went on how Heaven's Door is his business and we're overstepping—that we're worse than Hanzō and Amegakure was better off with him. You know how he is, Pein," That he did. "Anyway, he wouldn't let me have the daybook or take it to have it photocopied, so I had to copy it all by hand on old junk mail they had. That's why it took awhile." She sighed, exhausted from the interaction with the bullheaded old guardsman that had a hate-on for them ever since Hanzō's execution. "Now, are you going to tell me why you needed these logs?"
"Konoha took a hit out on Orochimaru." He replied casually as if speaking of the weather while thumbing through the papers in search for two specific names.
Konan would've been horrified, if she cared an inkling for the Sannin, which she didn't. "Can't say I'm surprised about that, but I don't understand what the logs have anything to do with it."
"According Orochimaru and Sasori, the ANBU they interrogated claimed a member of the Akatsuki was the one to trade her in for 25 million ryō."
And there was the surprise. "What?"
"Yes."
"Who was it?"
"That's what I'm trying to learn," Pein mumbled, Rinnegan scanning the last page until finally— "So, it appears Glut was telling the truth."
"Glut?"
"Yes. I asked him of his whereabouts this last week and he said he only left Ame on mission with Kakuzu. However, after that mission, they went their own ways; Glut came back to Ame and Kakuzu supposedly went to deposit the latest funds into the Akatsuki's offshore bank. There is an entry listing them as having left together and here, I found the one saying Glut came in by himself and then six and half hours later is when Kakuzu arrived." He pushed the paper towards Konan to say while rapping a red manicured finger next to each man's name. "So where was Kakuzu during that time?"
"It depends how long it may've taken him to get the bank and back." Konan said.
"That is true, but what I do know is that bank is located in the Land of Rivers. He could have easily made the travel to Konoha then back to Ame. No one was with him to confirm his alibi."
"Neither with Glut." She inputted.
"Yes, but these logs confirm Glut came back to Ame and then did not leave again. So, I cannot see him making it to Konoha and back to Ame before Kakuzu. That is, unless there is two of him."
"Yes, that is true also."
After giving it a thought then another, Pein made his decision. "We'll just have to speak to Kakuzu next." He said to which Konan nodded in agreement before going to seat herself at her desk. Despite is being her day off, she wanted to see this enigma through like the murder mysteries she frequently watched with Zetsu. "Kakuzu."
"Hn?" Kakuzu grunted at him through the telepathic connection.
"Would you kindly come up to my office?"
"Now?"
"Yes, immediately. And just you, please."
"Sure, sure. I'll be there soon."
Another half-an-hour later and the elder entered, acknowledging Konan with the barest of glances as he walked her by before sitting himself down at Pein's desk, having to cram himself that wasn't so much a bucket chair but a thimble to him. "Thank you for coming for such short notice, Kakuzu."
Kakuzu folded one leg over the leg with arms crossed. "I take it this is important?"
Pein nodded absentmindedly. "Yes, that it is. Kakuzu, tell me: what were your whereabouts last week?"
Kakuzu piqued a dark eyebrow. "My whereabouts?"
"Yes."
"I don't know. Here? Glut and I had a mission and that's it. I can't tell you everywhere I was though. I had breakfast and trained with Zetsu one or two days but fuck if I can tell which ones. Ask her. Her memory is better than mine." He shrugged, thinking nothing else of the question. Wasn't like he'd bullshit about leaving Ame since it was documented, he knew that.
"So, until your mission, you were in Ame?"
"Yes."
That checked out as Pein searched through the daybook again. From what he saw, all Akatsuki members were in Ame until being sent out on individual missions. "On the mission, you and Glut were together the entirety of this mission?"
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes suspiciously as the other man. This was all starting to become a little too familiar for his liking as he started to get flashbacks of Taki. "What the fuck are you getting at?"
"Please, just answer my question, Kakuzu."
"Yes. We were together the entirety of the mission."
"All of it?"
"Yes!"
"So, neither of you were separate of each other?"
Kakuzu was started to get heated now, which wasn't a hard task to accomplish. "Yes! That's what I just fucking said!"
"During or after?"
"No—not until after."
"What happened after the mission?"
"I went to go deposit our bounty in the bank, but Glut didn't want to. Said he was too tired. So, I went to the bank and he went back to Ame." Kakuzu huffed, biting back a "the lazy bastard".
"By yourself?"
"Yes."
"Leaving Glut by himself also?"
"Yes!"
"Therefore, neither of you cannot account for the other's whereabouts after this mission?"
At this, Kakuzu slammed his hands on Pein's desk, causing a white flurry of paperwork and while Konan flinched at the thunderous bang it caused. Pein, meanwhile, didn't even blink. Afterall, this wasn't the first time he had faced the elder's outbursts and lived to tell about it. "Is this a fucking interrogation? What do you want out of me!?"
"I'm only asking you questions, Kakuzu. This is not an interrogation."
"It sure as hell feels like it! This is there an endgame in this?" Kakuzu snarled, huffing and puffing like a bull at the colour red.
"If you must know, Orochimaru and Sasori were ambushed while on mission by Konoha after being informed by one of our own. I'm just trying to learn the whereabouts of all members so they may be eliminated as suspects."
"So, you are accusing me!"
"I never said that."
"Then just fucking ask if it was me!"
"Very well. Was it you, Kakuzu?"
"No, it damn well wasn't!"
"Then that is all. Thank you, Kakuzu. You may leave." Pein said and politely indicated at the elevator in the background.
That didn't have to be said twice as Kakuzu did just that, but not before standing up with such force that the chair was sent crashing and tumbling against the metal flooring, causing an earsplitting screeching as it traveled. He then marched to the elevator and punched the keypad until it came up to take him out of this damned place.
"So, Kakuzu and Glut's alibi match. However, that doesn't exclude either as suspects." Pein said to himself, rapping his pen against one of his lip piercings with a little tinging noise of metal on metal. "I suppose the last question is: where is the 25 million ryō?"
"That's the 25 million ryō question, isn't it?" Konan said lightheartedly, getting up and turning over the marooned chair back to its place beside its twin before seating herself in while she and her partner discussed the findings thus far of their investigation.
"If it was Kakuzu, he could've deposited it in the offshore bank."
"Oh Pein. If Kakuzu did do this, and I'm saying he did, do you seriously think he'd put it in the Akatsuki bank? How would he explain the sudden appearance of 25 million? Especially to you?" Honestly, she just didn't want to believe it.
She and Kakuzu may've not always seen eye-to-eye, but she held no ill will towards the elder. In fact, she held in high regards due to his extraordinary success with Zetsu's upbringing. Yes, it had started off so bumpy and as worse as it could be, but he had turned it around and made a remarkable young woman. With Konan's help, of course. He couldn't get all the credit. Due to that, she didn't think for a second he'd be as idiotic as to sell Orochimaru out to Konoha, he had too much to lose—the Akatsuki, the money, Zetsu. He wouldn't piss that all away on petty revenge and a fast paycheck. Would he?
"I do not know but we cannot exclude anything and Kakuzu is the only one with direct access."
"Then perhaps we should check? To be safe?" Konan purposed much to the leader's nonverbal agreement as he nodded.
"Yes, as we should. If the 25 million was put into the Akatsuki's bank, then the transaction would have been documented, down to the penny and minute. I'm positive on that as I get mailed the statements every month." He said, waving his hand at a drawer in his desk that held such statements.
"And if it is there?" Konan was nearly too apprehensive to ask due to implication that 25 million ryō may be there, an implication she disliked the thought of. What an oxymoron, though. She may've found the only time she didn't want 25 million being dumped in the Akatsuki's lap.
"We'll get to that when it comes," He said vaguely, disliking the possibility as much as she because while he and Kakuzu may not be the best of terms, he couldn't deny the fact that the old man was the Akatsuki's greatest asset. Plus, he didn't want to believe Kakuzu may've done such a thing, despite his obvious and vocalized hatred towards Orochimaru. Though, so did everyone. "Unfortunately, we cannot wait until the end of the month for the statement to be sent in, so we're going to have to go collect it ourselves. Kakuzu may be the overseer of Akatsuki funds, but if anyone else can get into that bank, it would be me as I am the account holder. I do have you as my secondary, Konan. So, would you kindly go out to the Riverlands for the budget?"
"That I can," She agreed without a moment of hesitation, if just to make or break this case. "However, it may take a few hours to a day to get there and back, depending on where in the Riverlands it is."
"The address is on the bank is on the invoices. Here." Pulling open the drawer, Pein plucked the latest bank statement off the top of the piled inside and passed it over to his female partner. "Do you know where that is?"
Konan read over the tri-folded piece of paper then shook her head. "Sadly, I do not. I have never been out that way so I may take longer just to find it."
"Hmm. Perhaps we should send Glut with you."
She quirked an eyebrow. "Glut?"
"Yes, he is partnered with Kakuzu and I believe they go to this bank together after missions most times so if anyone would know where it is, it would be him."
"Would that be a smart idea? Afterall, he is under just as much suspicion as Kakuzu is." She pointed out, literally so as she used the paper while handing it back to him.
"That is true, yes, but he'll only be escorting you there as he is the only other one besides Kakuzu to know its location. That, and I'd rather have this solved sooner than later. Besides, between you and I, you could easily overpower him if something were to happen. People get desperate, afterall."
Pein was correct in that. If Konan was accompanied by Kakuzu then it may be a matter of life or death if he got desperate. Glut, on the other hand—well, he technically wasn't even considered a "shinobi" due to never graduating to Genin because of the "Bloody Mist" laws. So, if there was anyone in the organization that she felt no threat from, it was him. Worst thing he could do to her is pickpocket her, maybe.
"Very well," Konan said, standing up and pressing out any creases in that slacks she had thrown on for this meeting. "I presume you want this do ASAP?"
"Yes please. I'll call Glut to meet with you at the manor." With that, Konan walked to the elevator to leave while Pein rang the cat burglar. "Glut?"
"Err, yes sir? Got more questions for me?" Glut answered, immediate this time. His voice was anxious.
"No. I need you to escort Konan to the bank—the offshore bank. Would you kindly?"
"The bank? Why? Did something happen?"
"Glut, I ask you do not ask questions. Konan is going to meet with you at the manor and you are going to take her to the bank for me. Would you kindly?"
"Err…sure, sure thing, sir." It didn't sound like a "sure thing" to Pein, but he didn't press. Instead, he ended the telepathy call.
For now, his hands were tied until Konan got back with the affidavit so that left nothing to do but his favourite thing in the whole, wide world—paperwork. 'Oh, joyous times, what a time to be alive.' He thought. If he'd known this was in his future, maybe Nagato would've gone on to be a dog walker instead.
…
It wasn't until next day that Konan returned with statement in hand and Pein expected her to tell this grandiose tale of how everything went to shit while she was with Glut. Instead, she handed over the letter, looking none the worse for wear or having her features ruffled. Just stoic, as she always was when it was just she and him.
"So, I take it that all went perfect?" Pein inquired curiously, taking the sealed envelope that had the bank's insignia stamped on it.
She shrugged, brushing back a few strands of blue hair from tickling her bare shoulders. "Yes, it was nothing special. Glut was anxious but not for why you may think. He figured out why we may be looking in the bank and feared for Kakuzu. Never thought Glut much cared for him but obviously I was wrong."
"They've been partnering a little over a year now so it is natural one may develop care for a work partner." Pein speculated. Though the same could not be said for Kakuzu towards Glut.
He used a letter opened to cut through the envelope, subconsciously preparing himself for whatever he may read within. Konan felt the tension suffocating the oxygen in the office and sat herself down, physically bracing herself with hands clasped in faux prayer in her lap. With a pace that could be described as agonizingly slow, he pulled the bill out and opened it to read. Amber eyes desperately read his features for the ittiest, bittiest hint of what he may be seeing but Pein was dead-faced and Konan could read nothing from them. Even the Rinnegan, the only physical connect Nagato had through Yahiko, betrayed nothing.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity wrapped up in seconds, he slid the statement over to his partner who snatched it up with such a franticness she cracked her nail polish on the metal surface of his desk with a cringing squeal. And—there it was. Konan slumped in her seat. She couldn't describe what she felt currently. A part of her still didn't want to believe it but there it was in black-in-white and written out.
"Kakuzu, would you kindly come to my office? Now."
When Kakuzu came in, it was while expecting the same bullshit today as yesterday and so, he wasn't the happiest camper. A fact he didn't try the camouflage as he walked into Pein's office, hands balled, and jaw clinched behind his face mask. The only inking he may've gotten that this may be regarding something else was Konan, crumpled in a chair and shaking her head with a parchment clenched in her hands.
"Hello, Kakuzu, I have but just one question for you," Pein opened and snapped his fingers, rather rudely as Konan until she handed the budget over. After which, he extended out to Kakuzu. "Can you please explain this deposit on the latest bank statement?"
As much as Kakuzu wanted to call his bullshit because the latest statement wasn't due for another one to two weeks, he decided to entertain him as he wrested the paper from the other man to read himself. Once his bloodshot eyes landed on the deposit of 25 million ryō written out at the bottom, all he could was exclaim "what the fuck?".
"So, maybe I ask where that 25 million came from?" Pein asked, knowing well where the hell it came from.
"I don't fucking know!" Kakuzu said, shaking the paper at him.
"Oh, but I think you do."
Immediately, Kakuzu narrowed his eyes into a glare at the ginger, taking that remark as an accusation. "Do you now?"
Pein nodded, once again unintimidated by the felon's poisonous looks and venomous tone he had taken with him. "Yes. You see, that 25 million ryō is the payment Konoha made to whomever turned Orochimaru into them. So, how did it end up in the Akatsuki's bank?"
"I sure as hell didn't make a deal with Konoha and I sure as fuck didn't put that money there!" Kakuzu roared to which Konan flinched, being seated only inches from the man and thereby in the middle of whatever may start.
"You are the only person with access to that account outside myself and Konan so whoelse could have do it, Kakuzu? I implore you!" Pein matched his yelling, a frightful thing as his voice echoed off the metallic walls of the office like a clap of thunder.
"I don't know but it wasn't fucking me! This has been faked!"
"Impossible, Konan herself went to the bank to collect it and it was sealed. Are you implying the banker faked it then?"
"Maybe!?"
"And why, Kakuzu, would he or they fabricate 25 million ryō into our bank account? Hmm?"
When Kakuzu didn't immediately reply to that ludicrous suggestion, it was then Konan jumped in, literally as she leapt from her seat in Kakuzu's defense as she positioned herself between the two arguing men. "Pein, please think this over. This is all as ridiculous. I am having a hard time believing Kakuzu would do something so absurd. We need more evidence!"
"I have all the evidence I need, Konan." Pein told her darkly.
It was then the elevator chimed and Konan glanced over her shoulder at who may be walking in at this, the worst to of times. When she saw who it was though, she gasped out loud and backed down. Hearing this, Kakuzu too looked over out of curiosity and much to his utter confusion, those who stepped off the elevator were two Akatsuki members whom he'd never seen before in his entire career with the organization. He only knew them to be Akatsuki due to wearing their trademark black cloaks. However, one of the men was a gigantic, but idioticly smiling man with a flesh-coloured, spiked head garb much like Kakuzu himself while the other could only be described as grumpier, older version of Pein. However, the eerie part was that both men were littered with black, facial piercings much as like Pein himself. Not just that, but they had the Rinnegan too.
"Kakuzu, would you be interested in one last interrogation to clear your name?" Pein purposed and Older Pein stepped up, staring calmly at Kakuzu with his hands tucked into his sleeves, not unlike a priest.
"Fuck you! I'm not about to confess to a crime I never fucking did!" Kakuzu barked at Pein in what could be perceived as his typical bullheadedness when reality was, Kakuzu knew whatever he said in his defense wouldn't matter because his superior had already decided his guilt. Yes, this was Taki all over for him.
"Very well," Pein snapped his fingers and this time, it was the Smiling Pein that stepped up. "Then Kakuzu, as consequence of treason against the Akatsuki and its member, Orochimaru, you are hereby expelled from the organization and per your contract, to be handed over to Takigakure for your bounty of 500 million ryō."
"Pein!" Konan gasped.
"Wha—" However, before he could say anything else, Kakuzu felt a hand land on his shoulder and looked over to find the owner of it to be Smiling Pein, which he shrugged off while turning around to face him.
"YOU ARE UNDER ARREST. COME QUIETLY OR THERE WILL BE TROUBLE." Smiling Pein said, his voice robotic and crackling as if he was more machine than man. He tried grabbing Kakuzu again, but his hand slapped away. When Kakuzu did so, there was a metallic clang, substantiating his theory. "YOU NOW HAVE 15 SECONDS TO COMPLY."
"Fuck you!" Kakuzu snarled and hardened his hand with his Doton, seeing the fight on the horizon. A fight to the death it may be.
"YOU HAVE 5 SECONDS TO COMPLY. 4. 3. 2. 1. I AM NOW AUTHORIZED TO USE PHYSICAL FORCE." Kakuzu didn't give him a chance to use "physical force" as he immediately slammed his brass fist into his dumb, smiling face.
There was loud, hollow thunk from the impact and despite the strength behind it, it failed to even budge the Pein duplicate a step; it hadn't even wiped that stupid smile from his face. Seeing this, Kakuzu leapt back, creating an opening between him and the two doppelgangers. Konan tried to intervene but was caught by the arm by Pein's Naraka Path who shook his head at her with that deep-seated frown to indicate she was not to interfere. Kakuzu, meanwhile, squared off with the Asura Path as the two stared each other down, waiting for the other to make the first move. Finally, it was Kakuzu to do so.
He shrugged off his Akatsuki cloak and flexed his rugged muscles until the threading stringing them together snapped and his muscles and shoulders ruptured into a denotation of groping tendrils. Hundreds of thousands of threading poured forth through from each stitched bicep and his back, casting a pitch-black tsunami. His masks were washed off with the inky tide and gnarled the torrent into bastardized versions of themselves, lengthy and lanky and paralleled the heads of a twitching hydra. He hadn't used his Kinjutsu since that night in Takigakure when he murdered the elders. It had nearly killed him due to the fragility of his dying heart but now, with four, healthy hearts behaving as backup generations, there was none of that instant fatigue or weakness he had experienced before. It was glorious and this was just a pseudo version of it too. No one could survive it, not even a machine.
The Daora head stretched its fibrous neck and opened its gaping mouth, launching an air bullet at the Asura Path while the Amatsu head slithering towards him like a serpent. It gurgled and spewed a gush of water to sweep his feet out from under him. Meanwhile Teo and Rājan supplied Daora with backup, belching fire and lightning that when mixed with the air jutsu, caused an explosion that engulfed Asura and quaked the office causing the metal planning to screech and bend. Naraka used himself to shield Konan from the fireball while Pein made no attempts at protection, staying seated at his desk. Instead, looking into the explosion.
It took a manner of seconds for the black smoke to thin in the enclosed space but once it did, Kakuzu was horrified to see that not only did Asura still stand, but he hadn't laid a dent on it. If anything, it appeared to have made him malfunction him as his head jerked to the side over and over disturbingly with the squealing of gears like a glitched animatronic. His neck twisted around at an angle only owls were able and from its shawl peeked an eye and the downward corner of a mouth. With a crack, the smiling face disappeared to the back of his own head and from underneath the mask a new, angrier face clicked into its place.
"I AM NOW AUTHORIZED TO USE DEADLY FORCE. DEAD OR ALIVE, YOU'RE COMING WITH ME." Asura broadcasted.
Lifting an arm, he grappled his elbow with his hand while balling the other into a fist. There was an expulsion of smoke and flame before his hand was launched from his wrist like a rocket towards Kakuzu. However, instead of punching him as predicted, it flew upwards where the hand then clamped onto Rājan's neck. By the time Kakuzu had spied the tendril connecting the hand and the odd, egg-shaped devices dangling from it, it was too late. The missiles ejected and struck the elder in a series of tiny but devastating explosions that engulfed him. It only took seconds until all the shell castings were spent. Afterward, the magnet in Asura's wrist drew back his hand as it snapped back into place, flexing his fingers. He waited to observe the damage done.
Rājan had been obliterated as it laid, decapitated like a hydra's head in a puddle of blood pumping from its critically injured heart and its porcelain oni mask in pieces. While it was the only casualty, the others hadn't escaped unharmed with their masks cracked and Amatsu's head handing on by a literal thread. Kakuzu, on the other hand, had lived the onslaught, having casted his Doton to take the impact of the explosions. This displeased Asura if it wasn't obvious by his frowning expression.
"I AM NOW AUTHORIZED TO USE LETHAL FORCE. ALL INNOCENTS ARE TO EVACUATE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY." He blared, as if what he used before was not considered "lethal force". Konan knew exactly what was coming.
"Pein, no! You're going to kill him!" She yelled at her partner, trying to wrestle herself away from Naraka but he held her with a borderline bruising grasp. She could've easily fought him off but that would've put her directly in the middle of it. Pein said nothing and by then, it was too late.
Pulling the scrawl from his bald head, Asura's skull parted open into a star-shaped pattern and the glass dome in the middle started to emit a bright blueish glow as it gathered chakra. Kakuzu wasn't have this though as his last three hearts attacked, pelting the machinal man with fire balls, wind blasts and high-pressurized water. Even after taking off an arm and shaving the fake skin from the metal underneath, it did nothing to stop as the cannon in Asura's head finished charging and fired. The blast was huge, on scale of an attack from the likes of a Bijuu and all Kakuzu could do was trigger his kinjutsu and brace himself as it washed over him, drowning him a blinding light.
It punched through the metal wall of the tower as if it were paper and sliced through the Amegakure sky, much to the panic of its citizens walking the streets below. It a brief yet devastating jutsu as only a second or two later, the cached charka ran out and the beam flickered out. What was left was a grand hole in the office and Kakuzu, face down on the floor and smoldering, hair and skin alike; his hearts disintegrated and tanned flesh a bright pink after the blast had melted through his earth style; the only reason he hadn't been vapourized too. Yet, remarkable, he was alive, having survived the cataclysmic jutsu on the heart in his chest alone.
The panels in Asura's skull folded back into place over his bald head and his angry face was swapped out for his default, smiling once more. "THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION. HAVE A GOOD DAY."
At this, Naraka finally let Konan go and she ran to Kakuzu, falling to her knees next to him. She immediately went to check his pulse but paused, fearing that touching the raw burns may hurt him. She had to do it anyway and was relieved when she felt a pulse. It was weak, but it was there. That's all she could do for him before being pulled away by Pein's bodies so they may detain him, stabbing him with the black rods so when he came too, he could not use his chakra for easy transportation.
"Nagato! How could you do this to him!?" Konan bellowed, orange orbs burning from the aftermath of Asura's jutsu.
"He started it, I ended it." Pein simply said with a shrug and hand wave that also dismissed his other selves as they finished up taking the proper precautions and left so they may go back into stasis. Konan and whatever other choice words she may have for him were then disregarded as he phoned the other members. "Sasori. Orochimaru. Glut. Can you all see me at my office? Thank you." While waiting for their arrival, Pein surveyed the damage done to his office by his demon body, more concerned over it than Kakuzu. It was going to be so expensive.
Orochimaru and Sasori were the first to make their entrance, chattering to each other of the cause of the explosion they had heard from the manor. "Oi, we 'eard an explosion an'—oi, what the fuck!?" Sasori exclaimed as first he saw the giant hold now decorating the organization leader's office wall then next was Kakuzu, slumped unconscious next to Pein's desk and peppered with chakra rods. Konan was hunched over him, having fetched a medical kit, and was applying ointment to his burns before they became infected from the open air.
"What happened here?" Orochimaru parroted him, equally if not more confused on what it was she was looking at. Place looked like a warzone, but it explained the cause of the explosion.
"Ah, Orochimaru, Sasori, I'm glad you're here," Pein greeted this with uncharacteristically jovial tone. "I have found the culprit responsible for selling you to Konoha as being Kakuzu." He ushered at Kakuzu who wasn't exactly in a position to preach his innocence at the moment.
"I knew it!" Sasori boasted as if he was the one to crack this case.
Orochimaru, on the other hand, was skeptical, a fact she didn't keep hush-hush. "And you're sure it was him?"
"Yes, we found the 25 million ryō Konoha paid him upfront in the Akatsuki bank account, which will be given back to them, mind you. It'll be easily made up by his half billion ryō bounty. I want you two to take him to Taki immediately so we may collect."
"You got it, boss." Sasori cackled as he shuffled over to Kakuzu, ignoring Konan's ire while Orochimaru stayed back, still trying to process it all.
Just then, Glut walked in and was froze in his tracks upon seeing his partner, visibility wounded and fallen. "W-What happened!?"
"It would appear Kakuzu was the one to tell Konoha of me." Orochimaru said while rubbing her chin but by her tone, it sounded as if she didn't even believe what she was saying.
"W-What? But he didn't—h-how d—?"
"Glut," Pein spoke up once seeing the other gingered man. "Congratulations, you are the Akatsuki's new treasurer now that Kakuzu is no longer with us." Instead of being happy with his impromptu promotion, Glut just stared at him wide-eyed with mouth gaping. "I want to take Kakuzu off our account and put you on. So, would you kindly go to the Riverlands to fetch the paperwork to do so?" Glut didn't agree or disagree. He just nodded then turned back to the elevator to leave again, looking shell-shocked as he did.
Despite Konan's protests, Sasori and Orochimaru gathered Kakuzu up, mainly Sasori, and hauled him into the elevator so he may be taken to Taki. Pein knew what was coming next and mentally steeled himself for the hell of the woman's fury—and what a fury it was because the moment it was just she and he left, Konan's hand came across his pierced face with the sound of thunder.
"Konan…" Pein tried to get out but she didn't give him the chance.
"How could you, Nagato!?" She screamed in his reddened face, caring little at the moment that this was her childhood best friend who she promised her life to, through thick and thin, for better or for worst. It made it sound like they were married but they might as well be. "You didn't have to do that to him!"
"I don't know whatelse you expected me to do, Konan."
"Maybe investigate who really did this?"
"I got all the evidence I needed to make a judgement and so I did."
"And what are you going to tell Zetsu?!" Once she made that statement, she slapped a hand over her mouth. Zetsu…she hadn't once thought of her during this whole thing. When the girl learned of what happened to Kakuzu, she was going to be devastated. "Zetsu…we have to tell her!"
"And we will, after she returns from her mission." Pein said, seating himself in his chair so he may search through a drawer in his desk.
"No! You have to tell her now!"
"After her mission. It is much too important to pull her from now." He found what he had been looking for and pulled out Kakuzu's original contract with the Akatsuki which the leader promptly shredded apart and threw the pieces into the trash.
Konan opened her mouth to despite her further, but knew it was a losing battle, no matter how much she shouted or pleaded him. It was impossible to wait until Zetsu got back from her mission. It could be days and by then, Kakuzu would've long been sold off to Taki and likely executed. She had to know immediately. If only there was a way Konan could tell her right now. If only she could call her…wait, wait a minute. A lightbulb moment.
"Pein." Pein glanced up from the paper he had distracted himself with to look at Konan to find her staring at him, arms crossed. "I'd rather not argue you until I'm blue in the face so explain to me why we cannot tell Zetsu now that Kakuzu is being taken to Taki to collect on his bounty?"
"Because she if she learns Kakuzu is being taken to Taki, she'll try to cut off Orochimaru and Sasori and I'd rather she not be hurt trying to save him. Also—" He idlely responded then stopped himself, suddenly wising up to what Konan was doing but by then, it was too late. The cat was out of the bag.
He glared at his partner, tight-lipped and scrunching the parchment in his hand. "Konan…" She just smiled at him.
…
It was an hour later that Zetsu burst into Pein's office, having used her Mayfly to get back to Amegakure from her mission in Highlands in record time. She bent over, hands on her knees while panting and wheezing from her frantic sprint through the village.
"Zetsu, why are you here?" Pein automatically despite knowing why exactly she was as he gifted Konan a dirty look.
"Sir…Leader…I…what is…what happened to Sir?" The teenager pushed out between heavy breathes. Konan got up to make sure she was okay.
"What happened to Kakuzu is of no concern to you. Why is it you abandoned you mission?"
"I heard…he was taken to Taki? Why?" She ignored his question in favour of her own.
"Konoha attacked Sasori and Orochimaru. They told them that an Akatsuki member sold her to them and Pein believed it was Kakuzu despite insufficient evidence. They got into a fight and Kakuzu was injuried before being taken any by Orochimaru and Sasori. They're going to turn him into Taki for his bounty." Konan summarized, not leaving out any of the little details. Afterall, she deserved to know exactly what happened and what Pein had done.
"W-What? I…I have to get to him!" Getting up, Zetsu pushed herself from Konan in the director of the elevator.
It was this which spurred Pein to stand from his desk, slamming his hands down onto it. "Zetsu!" She paused in her step, if just to listen to what he had to say. "If you go after Kakuzu, I'll consider that to be insubordinates and you too shall be expelled from the Akatsuki!"
"Pein!" Konan gasped at the threat of inhumane punishment.
Zetsu was quiet as she didn't answer him, neither did she back off immediately like he thought she may. Finally, after a minute, she spoke. "Sir Leader, if I may?" She turned to face him, granting him such an evil eye that Nagato shuddered. "Go fuck yourself."
Konan gasped again at the explicit profanity from a girl that never said so much as "hell", while Pein just stared at her, awestruck and for once, speechless. Zetsu didn't apologize either as she fled into the elevator to leave so she may catch up to Orochimaru and Sasori before it was too late.
She just hoped she would be able to stop them, for Kakuzu's sake.
…
AN: Tadaa! So much drama, so much suspension! Y'know, I didn't let how this chapter was feeling but the ending was like, bam! I'd say this is favourite yet of this arc and it's only going to get better from here. Hope I did well on writing the fight scenes too, they are and always will be my weakness. Also, everything is going to be explained next chapter.
Chapter Fun Fact(s): Pein's Asura Path is based heavily on RoboCop while the interchanging on his head to express emotions is after the Mayor of Halloween Town from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Kakuzu's jutsu is known as Earth Grudge Corpse Dragon, which is named after Nakarkos, an elder dragon from Monster Hunter. "Nakarkos have also been observed replacing the skulls of its tentacles with body parts from other monsters, giving it a wider range of elements and tools it can use…"
Next Chapter: Desperation.
Until Next Time.