AN: Here is the conclusion to the last chapter. Again, this was meant to be two chapters in one, but I made it into one, so I don't drag out this "mystery" anymore than I have too. It's also going to be the last intense or dramatic chapter for awhile. But, there is going to be a very, very gruesome scene so you've been warned.
Cat Beats: Yes, I am and thank you! I'm making it my goal that at least this year, I'll get through introducing all the Akatsuki members!
Enjoy.
p.s. no beta, too lazy to edit. Please excuse any jank.
Warning(s): Character Death (Minor), Language (High), Violence/Fighting/Blood (High), Genderbend (Low), Original Character(s) (Mid), Out of Character
…
Wasteland
The Akatsuki Arc
Chapter 49
"Oh, I cannot tell you 'ow long I've been waitin' fer this. 'ow's it feel, bein' treated like a prisoner, aye? Er, should I say, like the prisoner you once was?" The person in question didn't reply, not that they could but Sasori kept going on and on. "I'mma take pleasure in 'andin' ya off to yer death, ya greedy ol' bastard. An' when yer gone, I'mma take pleasure in offin' that woman once an' fer all fer wut she did to me." Again, nothing but it wasn't like Kakuzu could say anything with his jaw deadbolted by a chakra rod.
It hadn't been long into their travel to Takigakure that Kakuzu was conscious again—painful, painful consciousness—and was now lumbering behind Orochimaru and Sasori as they led him on by an iron sand chain latched to his neck as if he were an attraction in a circus. What he couldn't speak, however, he expressed through tempestuous glares and snarling. Orochimaru looked at the elder and gave him what one may describe as a sympathetic smile. He just glared at her too.
They had just made it to the outskirts of the Firelands and looked as if it'd be there and back to Ame within a day. That is, so long as nothing got in their way—or no one, that is.
"W-Wait!" Well, maybe they were a little too optimistic.
From the treeline, stumbled Zetsu, having used her Mayfly to track and catch up to the partners with Kakuzu. Thankfully doing so before it was too late. Immediately, Sasori and Orochimaru paused and Kakuzu signed heavily through his nose with a shaking of his head. As much as he was glad to see her, he hadn't wanted her to see him like this or try to save him, not from the likes of the puppeteer and Sannin who both could kill her and would not hesitate in killing her, as demonstrated before.
"Oi, whatcha doin' 'ere, woman?" Sasori barked, his metallic scorpion tail bobbing against the ground and casting up dirt. Orochimaru, on the other hand, made took no offensive stance like her partner. Instead, standing there calmly with arms folded as she curiously watched the teenager.
"Y-You…you can't take him!" Zetsu babbled on while looking helter-skelter from them to Kakuzu who just stared back with a saddened gaze. "I w-won't let you!"
To this, Sasori had a belly laugh as all of Hiruko quaked. "Tha' so? You an' wut army? Ey? Ya seriously think yer gonna stop us?" He was correct, there was no way she could take one of them on by herself, nonetheless, the two of them. It was a losing fight and all she may be doing is delaying the inevitable while getting herself killed in the process. A waste all around. "Now step aside, woman." Sasori directed the barb of his arrowhead stinger at her but she didn't back down, didn't even back up as she stared him down with a doggedness.
'Zetsu, please. Just leave. I don't want to watch you die.' Kakuzu thought, as if she'd be able to hear him just like the telepathic messages she caught due to Pein's chakra rod. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't but whichever it was, she obviously had an epiphany on just how impossible this scenario was. Instead of fleeing, however, she did something else more drastic.
Reaching up, she proceeded to claw at the back of her own neck where the chakra rod was installed. The black surface of the piercing was too smooth though, making her fingers slip and this, she couldn't get a grasp on it. After a lot of scratching, including the circumstantial grating of her flesh, leaving it raw and bleeding, she judged it as a hundred-to-one task. Even if she did get a handle on it, the rod was cauterized into her skin, so it didn't just fall out. She couldn't just give up, not for Kakuzu's sake!
And so, despite the pain and bleeding, she kept digging, and digging, and digging, until finally, she had scraped all the flesh away from the piercing, letting her grab it. With a yell, she yanked the crimson smeared bar from her neck and threw it away into the bush. Once it was long gone, she depicted the second half of her plan. Everyone watched, flabbergasted (and delighted on Sasori's part), as she proceeded to slam her head against a tree. Zetsu did over and over, ignoring the pain, ignoring the blood, ignoring the stares, she just bashed her head into the trunk over and over until finally, she blacked out and slumped against it, eyes white and unconscious.
Once the initial shock of what just happened faded, Sasori erupted into boisterous laughter as if it was the funniest thing he had even seen, while Orochimaru stared on, feeling genuinely bad for the other woman. Kakuzu was the only one to understand exactly what Zetsu did and backed up as far as the chair authorized.
It was moments later that Zetsu's eyes turned back over and she pushed herself back onto her feet while letting out a low, guttural nasalizing much like a zombie. Once her empty, golden orbs landed on them and canines bared, Sasori's hilarity immediately ended.
"Oh fuck…" He grumbled as it finally clicked with him as to what was going on. Orochimaru, meanwhile, hadn't the slightest clue and just piqued a penciled eyebrow. Kakuzu steeled himself.
Zetsu let a deafening scream that was not that of a human and caused all wilderness within a mile radius to run as birds flee the treetops and mammals to hightail it. A pyretic expulsion of chakra washed over the immediate area and them, crackling as the oxygen itself was burned. That's when Orochimaru saw it—and she understood.
"So, this was what that old snake was speaking about," She said to herself, purple lips picking up into the faintest of smiles. "Interesting."
"Wut the bloody 'ell are ya blubberin' on 'bout? 'elp me wit—" But by then, it was too late.
Zetsu lunged, galloping directly at Sasori and he thrusted his spade in her path to synchronously cut off her path while trying to bayonet her. If he knew anything about this Zetsu from intimidate past experiences, though, it was the bitch was smart. So, as he guessed, she dexterously juked the tail, causing it to temporarily get stuck in the dirt. As she drifted past, her eyes caught Orochimaru who was coolly standing there, despite all this going on, so Zetsu turned on her next. Lurching with teeth gnashing and spittle flying, the Sannin caught her mid-air by the neck, holding the teenager out as she snarled and thrashed.
"Oh no no no. You cannot kill me," Orochimaru told her then leant forward while pulling her in so she may whisper in her ear. "Hi praag zu'u." You need me. Suddenly, Zetsu fell still as her arms fell to her sides.
"Dreh ni vosotiiv zu'u, Sosseprakem." Do not disappoint me, Snakeblood. A deep, alien voice rumbled out of Zetsu.
Orochimaru smiled and let her go, making Zetsu fall onto her feet. Instead of going on with her attack, she calmly turned towards Sasori and leapt at him. Orochimaru dusted herself off and as she did, she noticed Kakuzu glaring at her, having eavesdropped on the entire thing. She just smiled innocently at him.
While Sasori flailed about, trying and failing to stab Zetsu as she attacked him, climbing onto his back at one point and tearing off mouthfuls of his Akatsuki cloak, he had dropped the leash he had been using to pull Kakuzu around, a fact the elder himself saw. He lunged to grab it despite the handcuffs but as he did, a kunai flew out, impaling the cable into the ground and nearly nicking the brunette in the process. He looked up at the cause to see Orochimaru staring at him. She smiled again at him then ushered at the blade with a wink. It didn't take a genius to understand what she was trying to say, and he wasn't going to question her motives as he snatched up the knife. Once he did, she finally stepped in to help her hysterical partner who was currently being comedically ridden like a mount with pieces of fabric fluttered about.
"Oh, Sasori, darling! Here, let me help!" Pulling Faskom off, she chucked the boa at her partner. The snake also landed on his back then wrapped himself around Zetsu, trapping her arms to her sides. Seeing his chance, Sasori lined up his pincer to strike but as he thrusted it at her, Faskom puffed out his feathers and the steel-like texture deflected the stinger to protect her. Further attempts resulted in the same.
"Sasori! Quit trying to hurt my precious Faskom!" Orochimaru chided him.
"Goddamnit, woman! Yer fuckin' snake is in the way!" Sasori growled back.
Zetsu fell off Sasori as she tried wrestling the snake off her and he surrendered as he slithered off her. Once free, a hand grabbed the back of her neck and she discovered herself being carried away from the fight with a briskness. As Sasori turned Hiruko's galumphing frame to find where the girl had tumbled off so he may finish her, Faskom sprayed a thick, black venom into the puppet's face.
"Goddamnit!"
"Oh Faskom, he didn't mean to try and hurt you, baby. Don't be like that." Orochimaru cooed as if this was all her boa's doing when it was actually staged, all of it, and she was the star of this masquerade.
While Sasori was temporarily blinded, Kakuzu ran off with Zetsu with no interference from Orochimaru. In fact, she gave him her blessing with a kiss she blew him. He slapped it away much to her dejection.
Kakuzu ran and kept running, ignoring the hammering his chest from his overtaxed heart and charley horses in his legs. He must've run the length of a marathon, until he judged he and Zetsu were far enough a safe breadth from Orochimaru and Sasori and braked to a stop. He kept Zetsu scruffed as she bucked and snarled and from his pocket, he withdrew the chakra rod he had pulled out of jaw. After lining it up, he stabbed it into the back of her neck where the last one once was, causing new blood to spurt from the depression. Instantly, Zetsu quit struggling as she went lethargic. A second or two later, she groaned.
"S-Sir…?" Kakuzu put her down, balancing her as she stumbled and once, she wasn't going to fall over herself, she threw herself into his arms and buried her face into his chest. He caught her though flinched from the chafing of his burns. "Sir!"
He held her and calmed her by petting a hand through her bloodied green hair, just like when she was a child—a smaller child. "What are you doing out here? What the fuck were you thinking?"
"I-I heard they were take…taking you to Taki, so I came after you!" She said between sniffles and as much as he wanted to chastise her for putting herself in such danger, he was just relieved she was okay—as okay as she could be, that is.
He hugged her close. "It's ok, girl. Thank you. But remember the 25th Shinobi Rule."
Oh yes, "A shinobi must never show their tears during a mission." She was still having difficulty with that one. Hard not to get upset when you thought your caretaker was being taken to the gallows, though. Regardless, Zetsu nodded, chewing on her quivering lip. "What happened?"
"I can't tell you but what I can tell you, is I was set up."
"Set up?"
"Yes."
"By whom?" She stepped back, now taking notice of the burns as his tanned skin was unorthodoxly pink in colour and instantly felt bad for rubbing her face and snot all over them.
Kakuzu used the kunai Orochimaru donated to him to stab at the iron collar around his neck. "Glut." After a few definite jabs, he cracked through it where it fell off and disintegrated back into black sand. He rubbed a hand on his neck and as he did, he noted the omission of hair brushing it. Goddamnit, Pein destroying his hearts and barbequing him alive was one thing, but Kakuzu was going to personally kick his ass for burning off his hair!
The allegation left Zetsu stunned. "W-What? Glut? How?"
"That statement was faked, and I can only think of one person able to do it, so it must've been fucking him."
"But why?" Glut never gave off the impression as a person of malicious intent towards Kakuzu and Kakuzu never did anything to purposely provoke him, at least, not that Zetsu knew or saw.
"I don't fucking know but I'm going to find him and when I do, I'm going to fucking kill him." After taking off the shackles too, he placed his only means of defense in his pantband. Being on only one heart, he'd rather not use his kinjutsu if he could in fear of overloading it and causing himself heart attack.
"He wasn't in Ame when I was there, so he must've left." She sighed, wiping her dribbling face with her cloak sleeve.
"I know exactly where he fucking is."
She blinked up curiously at him, eyes bloodshot. "Do you? Where?"
"If I was Pein, I would've sent his ass right to the bank to get the paperwork to have my name taken off immediately and have Glut's name put on as new treasurer." He explained, waving his hand. "So, our best bet is to check there first."
Made sense to her as she nodded. "But Sir, are you sure you're ok to go?" She didn't know what exactly happened he and Pein, but the fact he was patched with burns and down to one heart had her understandably frightened for his wellbeing.
"I'll be fine, girl. This isn't the worst off I've even been. How do you think I got these scars?" He jabbed a thumb at the stitching threaded through his chest and face. He had the Taki Elders to thank for them.
"I—well, only if you're ok."
"I'm fine. Now come on, I don't want that bastard getting away from us."
After handing over her oversized cloak so Kakuzu had something to jacket the burns, they set out towards the Riverlands. Zetsu used her Mayfly but paced herself with Kakuzu's running so she didn't leave him. It was best they stayed together through this. Unfortunately, that meant a travel that would've taken her a few hours at most took them double that and by then, it was twilight. Kakuzu led them into a station used my travelers to resupply for their trek either to the Firelands or Highlands. It was late too, so there was the fear that not only had they missed Glut, but the bank would be closed for the night too. Unfortunately, the former proved to be true, but they succeeded in catching the manager just as he was locking up the building to leave.
Kakuzu then proceeded to grab the poor man by the collar and slam him into the door, making him drop his bag and important paperwork to fall out, blowing away in the wind. "Where the fuck is he!?" He yelled at the manager.
"I don't know what y-you're talking back!" The confused and terrified manager obviously said.
"Glut!"
"W-Who?"
"Sir," Zetsu said, inserting herself between her guardian and the banker to try her hand at this impromptu interrogation. "We're searching for a man. He had orange hair, a beaked nose, umm…a mouse?"
"O-Oh! Him! Yes! He was here! H-He was here!"
"When!?" Kakuzu demanded, pressing him harder into the door to the point the architecture of it was being chiseled into his back.
The manager's flushed red as it started to get harder to breathe. "H-He just left! He made a withdrawal and left!"
Zetsu quirked her head to the side at this interesting bit of information. Afterall, Kakuzu had said Glut may've came for paperwork to transfer his name onto the account so how could he have made a withdrawal without it? "A withdrawal?"
"How much!?"
"25 million!"
Hearing this, it was like a lightbulb went off for Kakuzu. "So that's how he fucking did it." Finally, he let the man go and he fell to his hands and knees, gasping and wheezing. "I knew that fucking statement was a fake!"
"What do you mean, Sir?" Zetsu asked, not quite understanding yet.
"Glut had the 25 million deposited in this bank but under his own account. He must've taken the bank statement from the 25 million from that account and duplicated it onto a statement from the Akatsuki's account to make it look like it was in there instead. It's so fucking easy, even I could do it. Then he must've swapped out the real one with the fake one that Pein had."
"Oh! I understand now."
It was then Kakuzu's old brain had its second moment of brilliance that night. "He's going to Kiri, that's why he withdrew the 25 million. He's running." The 25 million, of course. Why hadn't he made that connection before?
Ok, Zetsu was lost again much to her frustration. All those murder mysteries marathons with Konan and yet, she couldn't even figure out this mystery. It was making her head hurt, but that could be her self-inflicted concussion. "Back to Kiri? Why wouldn't he just go back to Ame? Pein didn't suspect him for this so he could just go back to the Akatsuki. In fact, he'd have better reason if he's treasurer now."
"Because it never was about that or the money." Kakuzu said, idly glancing down at the manager that was crawling around on the ground between them while collecting the paperwork which had sensitive, customer information on it. "Glut used to run with a thieves' guild back in Kiri before he fucked up and got picked up by the Akatsuki. The only reason we didn't hand his head back to Kiri on a silver platter was because he paid for his life with the 25 million ryō he had stolen from their capital bank, 25 million also stolen from his guild. When we were in Kiri last, a lot of shit went down which ended in us running into the guild leader and she said she'd let Glut back in if he had that 25 million."
Like that, it all clicked for Zetsu and so she excitedly interjected, "So that's it! He must've sold Orochimaru to Konoha for the 25 million ryō so he could go back to Kiri. But he never expected Orochimaru to survive and tell Pein which caused the investigation. He must've panicked and faked the statement to put the blame on you instead so he could take the money and run. Otherwise, Pein would've found out it was him, sooner or later."
Kakuzu snapped his fingers. "Bingo."
"So, we're going to Kiri?" As much as she liked—or may've liked, Glut, she wanted revenge now too, for what he did to Kakuzu and her, by extension. They were a package deal.
"Damn straight. We have to cut him off before he can get on a boat. Otherwise, we'll never get to him in Kiri. Not unless we want to declare war on a guild of hundreds, or so I've heard. Let's go." Kakuzu marched off to leave the settlement since they couldn't waste any time but without checking if Zetsu was behind him.
Zetsu, however, seeing the manager fetching what little paperwork of his as he could, felt bad for him plus the interrogation. Therefore, she gathered a few sheets that had scattered down the road which she then ran back to him. "I'm sorry." She said with a pushed smile while handing them over. The banker just nodded as he accepted the apology, not wanting to anger the six-and-a-half-foot tall man with her again. With that, she ran to catch up with Kakuzu.
…
Getting from the Riverlands to the coast of the Firelands was it in itself a race against the cloak as Glut had a leeway on them and could escape, never to be seen or heard from again—or murdered. Kakuzu and Zetsu traveled all through the night while keeping an eye out for Orochimaru or Sasori who may still be in the region—Sasori moreso. Thankfully, there were on run-ins to be had or further fights. However, they also hadn't found Glut.
Once the coast and by extension the sea could be seen, Kakuzu led them to the ferry they had used to get them to Kiri and back on that last mission. It was privately owned with multiple launches but as they approached, there was no one in sight, owner or customer alike. Kakuzu walked up to the darkened cabin and on the door was a sign that read, "Closed" while on the door itself was painted the times which the business was open.
"Perfect, he's still here." Kakuzu declared, self-satisfied as he crossed his arms.
Zetsu was standing on one of the launches and glanced up from the water where she had been trying to see any fishes swimming underneath. "Huh? How do you know, Sir?"
"Because they're closed from 6 PM to 6 AM. The bank closed at 5 PM. There's no way Glut got here before they closed and could take a boat across the sea. He must be somewhere waiting until morning to leave."
She walked up him to look to read the door herself. "But how do you know he's using this ferry and not another one?"
"Because this ferry is dirt cheap and the cheapest on this side of Kiri. Glut can't pass that up." Afterall, he knew a miser when he saw one, being one himself. "We'll just wait for him here." Zetsu couldn't argue with logic.
While they waited until morning, Zetsu "broke" into the business using her Mayfly and inside, she discovered a first aid that she used to treat Kakuzu's second-degree burns that by now were dry and the inflammation had gone down. Unfortunately, there was also signs of infection which would have to wait to be tended to once they got back to Ame. For now, the teenager lathered them in as much antibacterial as came in the pack and plastered the worst of them in the few bandages inside before putting the first aid back where she found it. At least it had aspirin which Kakuzu gulped down by the handful.
Once morning came, the owner showed up and wasn't surprised to find the two loitering on one of his launches as he often walked into a line of waiting customers. "Hey, you two going to Kiri?" He asked as he walked over to where they were seated.
"No, sir." Zetsu answered him politely, as she had been programmed by Konan when speaking to people.
"We're just waiting for someone." Kakuzu tacked on as he dozed with his chin planted in his hand on his knee.
The old man owner lifted a grey eyebrow at them. "Waiting for someone?"
Just then, Zetsu's whipped around, so hard the cartilage in her neck went off like a gunshot that startled the drowsing Kakuzu onto the fringe of that heart attack. "He's coming." Is all she said but it was all she had to say.
"Let's get this over with so I can take a fucking nap." He muttered as he pushed himself to his feet, his knees cracking as did his neck though he purposely cracked that. "Why don't we go greet him?" Zetsu nodded and the two left to intercept Glut.
Glut, meanwhile, was making his way to the ferry while excitedly chattering with Smidgen about all the things they were going to do once they were back in Kiri and by extension, the guild. Though, he did feel bad for selling Kakuzu out and getting him sent back to Taki, especially after being in a partnership with him after a year. Oh well.
He was halfway to freedom when he heard footsteps walking towards him through the brush, two people, that made him pause. Then, like a nightmare, Zetsu and Kakuzu came into view, none looking too pleased to see him while the ginger went a ghastly white. Even Smidgen went whiter.
"Glut!" Kakuzu immediately bellowed at him, ducking beneath the branch of a tree and pushing on it a little too hard so it snapped off in his hand, making his old partner flinch. "You set me up, you fucking bastard!"
"K-Kakuzu!? I c-can explain. I can explain!" Glut babbled, backing up with his hands outstretched and shaking.
"You can explain it all you want while I'm back your fucking spine over my knee!" To this, Glut didn't try to explain as he so claimed but instead, turned and fled—which may've been the dumbest thing he could've done.
"He's running!" Zetsu exclaimed.
Kakuzu snorted like a bull. "Let him. He can't get away from us." Then went running after him, his footsteps like thunderclaps, and Zetsu tailing him.
Glut looked back over his shoulder to see Kakuzu and Zetsu on him and closing in. He plucked Smidgen out of his vest pocket and threw her over his shoulder. There was a puff of white smoke that once cleared, revealed she had transformed into an exact doppelganger of her human partner. Kakuzu skid to a halt with Zetsu mimicking him and he narrowed his eyes at the physical clone.
"So that's how you fucking did it." He snarled to himself. The Smidgen-Glut clone drew a kunai, prepared to fight in order to save her master. "Girl, go after Glut. I'll handle this rat."
"I'm not a rat!" The clone snapped at him in a high-pitched voice.
Zetsu nodded at the order and hurried past him to do so before Glut had the chance to get away. The duplicate tried getting in her way to interrupt her, but the girl easily bypassed her by using the Mayfly to melt underground, leaving just Kakuzu and Smidgen.
Even in his crippled state, he had no doubts he could take her down. Especially when the rat—mouse, demonstrated no combative knowledge as she went for trying to stab him with the knife. He caught the blade between his fingers, ignoring the blood and biting pain and pulled her towards him where he slammed his head into hers, the cracking of skulls echoing throughout the forest. Smidgen crumbled, dazed, from the devastating blow and once on her knees, the elder grabbed her ugly, little rat-face and snapped her neck. With that over and done with, Kakuzu left to find where Glut and by extension, Zetsu had run off to.
It didn't take long to find them as he stumbled upon a standoff on a cliff. A terror-stricken Glut was standing on the edge, kunai in sweaty hand with Zetsu a few feet from him, hands up in an attempt to calm him so he didn't throw himself over. Afterall, they couldn't kill him if he killed himself.
Kakuzu marched up to where Zetsu was standing and seeing him, Glut directed his trembling knife at the other man. Zetsu turned her head look over at her guardian. Unfortunately, as she did, Glut, being the opportunist he was, saw an opening and snatched it—literally. He grabbed her by the shoulder and yanked her into him and placed the kunai to her throat. Kakuzu instantly froze in place while Zetsu kept her hands up, now in surrender.
"Glut!"
"K-Kakuzu, Zetsu, I can explain! P-Please, let me explain!"
"I know exactly why you fucking did it. Now let her go and hand over the 25 million!" Kakuzu took a step towards him which in turn, made Glut step back, closer to the peak while pressing the knife harder into Zetsu's throat, now drawing blood. It was the realization that if he fell, he'd take Zetsu down with him that made the felon back down.
"I-I never belonged in the Akatsuki, n-not with murderers and…and psychopaths!" Glut prattled on in a psychotic break, eyes wild and face white. "I-I just wanted to go back to Kiri! It w-wasn't supposed to go this way. I was just supposed to get the money and leave!"
"But you didn't expect Orochimaru to tattle to Pein on your deal with Konoha." Kakuzu interjected, finishing his story. Glut confirmed his theory with a nod.
"I n-never meant to hurt you Kakuzu, but I couldn't think of anything else to do! I couldn't let them find the money!"
"Too fucking late for that. Either way, you aren't getting out of this one, you bastard." That went without saying as he was stuck between a rock and a hard place—or a cliff and Kakuzu. He was dying here, one way or another. He saw the writing on the wall.
"I'm sorry, Zetsu, I'm sorry. It was never meant to end like this." Glut whispered to the teenager and when Zetsu felt the blade pressing harder into her throat, it was obvious he had made his decision—and had chosen poorly.
"So I am, Glut." She calmly countered then there was a gruesome squelching and blood spayed from Glut's mouth.
The kunai clattered the ground as trembling hands grappled at his abdomen and large eyes gazed down to where he was impaled on the Mayfly. His bleeding mouth gaped like a fish out of water and he stumbled. Unfortunately, Zetsu didn't have time to deactivate the Kekkei Genkai to detach herself from him so when Glut teetered backwards, she went with him.
"Zetsu!" Kakuzu yelled and launched his hand to catch her but it was too late, and, in his horror, he watched as she fell over the edge with Glut.
Running to the cliff, he looked over to see where they may've fallen, but due to the early morning mist, he couldn't see a thing past a few feet down. All he heard was the splashing of water echoing from far below. He threw himself over too and used his chakra to scale down the rockface. It was a ways down when he saw a lazy river, the water dyed red. He landed in the knee-deep water and trudged through it, downstream in the direction the blood was being streamed. Just a little bit of walking later was when he came across Glut, facedown in the gravel on the bank where he had washed up. He was still alive too by the groaning and laboured breathing. Zetsu, however, was nowhere to be seen.
Turning him over, Kakuzu slammed Glut into the ground, making blood spew from the ginger's lips and drizzle the other man's stitched face. "What the fuck have you done!?" Kakuzu thundered, smashing him into the ground again and smearing the pebbles with crimson.
"Kakuzu…I'm sorry. It…it was never supposed to…end up like this…" Glut kept apologizing as if it made up for everything he had caused. "I'm sorry…" Kakuzu decided he was tired of listening to his bullshit excuses and pulled his arm back, hand balled and prepared to put an end to his miserable, little life. Glut's eyes widened and he let out a deafening scream.
First, Kakuzu thought it to be one of fear as he saw his own death coming for him, but as it kept on and grew louder and louder, the elder realized it wasn't one of terror, but pain. He backed off when Glut started clawing at his own chest, observing as the man dramatically pulled back his cloak and then his flak jacket, tearing at the black shirt underneath and that's when Kakuzu saw it. There was something moving inside his chest, pushing outward against the flesh as if trapped within. Glut's screaming became high-pitched and all of sudden, the object burst from his chest in an explosion of blood—a hand.
The hand grabbed at the open air, trying to get leverage and when it didn't, it then pulled back to brace itself on the ribcage which it pushed out, breaking the ribs and opening up the chest cavity as a second hand extended out. The other hand planted itself on the opposite end and together, they pushed the torso apart with a horrific cracking and snapping of bone until there was the crowning of a head. It was like something was birthing itself out of him. By now, Glut had gone silent—dead silent.
From there, the head pushed out, and then the upper half and then—soaked head to toe in blood and gore—tumbled Zetsu out of Glut's dead body. She rolled onto her back beside him then straightened up and looked down at herself, making a wry face. It didn't take her too long to notice Kakuzu, standing over her and staring, eyebrows furrowed and jaw slack as his brain blundered to process just what the fuck he exactly saw. He had seen a lot of shit in his seventy years on this earth but this? Nothing like this.
"S-Sir! I can explain!" She stammered as she glanced between him and Glut, sounding a lot like the dead man in the process. "I…I tried using the Mayfly when we fell to free myself from Glut, but in the process I…I must've phased into him instead…" Kakuzu said nothing to this explanation, not that he knew what to say to that.
"It…it's ok, girl. Here…let me help you." He finally said once his brain could, well, brain again. He held out his hands to do just that which she accepted, and he heaved the girl back onto her feet. Zetsu dusted herself off, an unconscious habit that did little when bathed in blood. "Why don't you…wash off?" Zetsu just nodded at this suggestion and waddled off into the river, leaving Kakuzu with Glut's freshly flayed corpse.
After pawing at his dead partner's pockets, he located a scroll which had the bank's logo stamped on it, confirming it to be the 25 million ryō. Zetsu rendezvoused with him again after cleaning off as much of the blood as she could while successfully turning the crystal-clear water a bright shade of pink.
It was decided that Glut wasn't worth the hassle of turning over to Kiri for whatever meager bounty he may have on him, so his remains were left behind for the animals to gnaw on while Kakuzu and Zetsu traveled back to Ame to use the recovered 25 million to buy their ways back into the Akatsuki.
And that's how Kakuzu (and Zetsu) killed his second partner: Glut.
…
It took them another day to get all the way back to Amegakure and by the time they did, they stank—Zetsu due to the internals she kept digging out of her pockets and sandals—and were exhausted. Not to mention the fact that whatever jutsu or illusion Pein used to make them impervious to the rain was now gone both as were drenched to the bone and freezing cold. Basically, neither were in a mood for anymore bullshit. So, when they dragged themselves to Ame's front gate just to be denied instead of being let through, Kakuzu lost it.
"What the fuck do you mean you can't let us in!?" He yelled and perimeter partners, Takeshi and Satoshi, shrank in the presence of the mountainous man and his even larger temper.
"We were notified by God not to let you in." Takeshi muffled through his rebreather while his partner more or less sheltered behind him. "I'm sorry, Kakuzu, Zetsu."
"I don't give a fuck what that bastard says! I pay my fucking taxes so you can have this fucking wall, so I have a right as a citizen to be let in!"
"I'm sorry, but—"
"I don't give a fuck! Call that bastard and tell him to let us in!"
"W-We have no contact with God. He only calls us; we cannot speak to him." Satoshi squeaked from behind his breathing hiding place.
"Sir," Zetsu quietly interrupted her mentor to interject. "I cannot speak to Sir Leader either. He isn't answering me." She rubbed at the chakra rod in her neck as the pain kicked off again due to the cold rain washing down it.
Kakuzu squeezed the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb, beginning to feel the symptoms of a headache coming on. Or it may be a concussion from getting his ass kicked a few days ago. "Who the fuck can I speak to then to get this cleared up?"
"I…well, I could see if Kojima may let you in. He's director of Heaven's Door, afterall." Takeshi hesitantly purposed and Satoshi stared at him in horror as if he had just offered them up to the slaughter.
"Then let's do that." Kakuzu said and Takeshi nodded, stepping away to make the call on his walkie-talkie while Satoshi chattered in his ear on how calling Kojima was a death sentence since the man hated being disturbed. "Hmph, Kojima, huh? Thought that guy was a myth."
Zetsu piqued an eyebrow at Kakuzu. "Who is Kojima?" She asked, this being the first time she had heard the name.
"He's the only person from Hanzō's era that wasn't killed off by the little crusade by 'God' and 'Angel'. From what I heard, he was the only person that knew how to run this, 'Heaven's Gate, a fact he used to barter for his life. Otherwise, this wall would just be a hunk of metal."
"Oh, that makes him a myth?" Zetsu inquired, having a weakness for fun facts and history.
"That, and the fact no one has ever seen the guy. Could be a ghost as far as anyone knows." Kakuzu shrugged.
A little bit later and the perimeter patrol came back from their "pleasant" discussion with their boss. Takeshi extended his hand radio out to Kakuzu. "Kojima-sama would like to speak with you." He explained, much to the curiosity of the tanned man.
Kakuzu wasn't sure why he'd want to talk but accepted it, nonetheless. However, before he could speak, a voice crackled through the receiver. "I've got three snipers trained on your location," At this, both Zetsu and he looked up but could see nothing through the fog to confirm or deny these claims. "Now tell me: why should I put the people of Amegakure in danger by letting you in?"
"Because you aren't putting them in danger. We aren't going to hurt anyone; we just want to speak to our superior. Obviously, he knew we'd be coming back since he told you not to let us in." Kakuzu answered.
There was a dismissive huff from the other side. "I don't listen to anything that brat and his little girlfriend have to say. All I heard was two criminals may be coming to Amegakure and so I took the precautions for the village and its people."
Criminals, huh? That's what Kakuzu and Zetsu were to Pein now? Kakuzu huffed back. "We're only criminals because he made us into criminals. You should know how that goes, being an associate of Hanzō." Takeshi and Satoshi, having overhead the blasphemous comment, glared to Kakuzu.
"Never was I an 'associate' of Hanzō," Kojima finally said after a moment of silence. "I was lumped in with him because he employed me to do a job and I did that job, exceptional. So, he made his best friend but never was he my friend," Another moment of silence. "Very well, I'll let you in. But if I find out either of you laid a scratch of Amegakure, I'll hunt you down and kill you myself."
"Noted."
Kakuzu pawned the handheld back to Takeshi as the wall with a deafening shriek and gushing of rainwater, opened up to grant them entrance. As they walked through into Amegakure itself, Kakuzu looked up to see if he could catch a glimpse of this elusive ghost himself, but again, he could see nothing through the density. Zetsu mimicked him, only to immediately regret it as the angle agonized her butchered neck. So, she kept her head down as Kakuzu led them to Pein's Tower so they may have a civilized talk with the God-like figure himself—before Kakuzu punched his teeth in, that is.
…
"So, it was Glut all along then?" Pein said once Kakuzu and Zetsu finished explaining—mainly Zetsu due to Kakuzu's jaw hurting like a bitch after having what was tantamount of a spear stabbed through it.
"Yes, Sir Leader." Zetsu answered, her head down as she kept herself in a bowing position out of respect. Kakuzu, on the other hand, wasn't so cordial nor was he hiding his displeasure with crossed arms and glaring at the gingered man.
"I must say, I am disappointed—disappointed that Orochimaru and Sasori let you get away, disappointed that you killed Glut, disappointed in you, Zetsu, for disobeying me," At this, Zetsu flinched, whether from being on the receiving end of the criticism or her neck. "But mostly, I am disappointed in myself for not taking this investigation further and finding the real culprit. And for that, I am sorry, Kakuzu. You are hereby reinstated into the Akatsuki as a member and as its treasurer." Pein bowed his own head.
"Damn straight!" Kakuzu snapped though was surprised the prideful man apologized at all so he let his guard down, if just a little bit.
"Ummhmm." A fourth party hmphed and Pein searched the source of it only to find Konan staring, or instead glaring at him, with her arms crossed and painted lips so deeply downturned into a frown it was making her piercing bulge out from her lip.
"A-And you, Konan. I am sorry." His female partner appeared to accept this as she nodded and went back to her busy work. "However, that does not mean you are free from consequence," Pein quickly gathered himself as his Rinnegan once again on Kakuzu and Zetsu. "For disobeying my order and the murder of another Akatsuki member, you two are to be put on probation for the next month. No missions, no pay, no leaving Amegakure. Is that understood?"
"Bullshit!" Kakuzu immediately yet predictably barked at the punishment.
Pein frowned. "Is that so? Well then, would you rather I revoke your membership, and have you taken off to Taki again? This time, without fail?" This successfully shut Kakuzu up as he opened his mouth to argue, but instead shut it with stitches cheeks puffed out as he bit his tongue. "Thank you. And Zetsu, what say you?"
"Understood, Sir Leader!" Zetsu blurted out.
Satisfied, Pein nodded and looked over them both, one last time. "Then you both dismissed. And I'll make sure this 25 million gets back on Konoha's hands." He rolled the bank scroll they had presented him on the surface of his desk.
"Whatever. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to the fucking emergency room." Kakuzu walked to the elevator while grumbling to himself about the gargantuan medical bill in his future. Zetsu straightened up, her back making a series of cracks from being bent over for so long.
She tailed her guardian to leave also but then suddenly remembered something mid-way and so paused to face Pein again, thumbs twiddling. "Sir Leader?"
Pein glanced up from his paperwork with pen in hand. "Yes, Zetsu?"
"I'm sorry…for telling you to go fuck yourself." She bowed again; hands clapped together in apology.
Hearing this, Kakuzu's head spun again so fast it was a surprise he didn't break his own neck. "You did what!?"
"It's ok, Zetsu. Just don't do it again." Pein told her and flicked a hand to indicate she may leave. She nodded and hurried into the elevator.
Once inside, Kakuzu grabbed her ear and yanked it. "What the fuck have I told you about cursing?"
"I'm sorry, Sir!"
…
Orochimaru was just tickled pink to have a guest that night—an unexpected one at that too as she opened her bedroom door to greet them. "Zetsu-chan! Hello, hello! What do I own the pleasure?" She cooed at the other woman who standing awkwardly in the hallway.
"Hello, Orochimaru," Zetsu said back but did not bow, neck too sore and the fresh bandaging too tight to do so. Nor did she meet the other's matching golden eyes as she stared elsewhere while speaking. "I just came to ask you a question, if I may?"
"Oh, a question? Yes, yes you may. Why don't you come inside, and we can talk?" Orochimaru stepped aside so the girl could enter and being too timid to say no, especially to the Sannin, Zetsu did so. Orochimaru's bedroom was what she imagined it being, while also being nothing she thought of.
It was dark, the yellowed lightbulbs were exchanged for heat lamps, so the bedroom was bathed in a warm, crimson hue. Her desk was outfitted with expensive looking scientific equipment such as beakers, burners, and tubes bubbling with mysterious liquids, likely poisonous. And snakes, lots and lots of snakes everywhere. There were big ones, small ones, white ones, colourful ones, and one smoking a pipe. Zetsu knew Orochimaru had snakes, because obviously and she had spotted the serpents slithering around the building, but she didn't think she had so many. Perhaps it was a good thing for her that there wasn't a pet tax here.
"Would you like tea? I'll make tea." Orochimaru said, shutting the door behind Zetsu who flinched as if the paper door was slammed as if it was a prison door. "Have a seat."
Zetsu eyeballed the kotatsu where the smoking snake was seated. "Oh, I can't drink tea."
Orochimaru was in the middle of putting water onto boil on the burner. "Hmm? Oh yes, because your Mayfly, yes? I believe have coffee too. Or maybe hot chocolate?"
"May I have hot chocolate?"
"But of course!" Orochimaru started digging through her drawers for said chocolate powder.
With nowhere else to sit, the teenager sat herself down at the blanketed table. The huffing snake exhaled sweet smelling tobacco and greeted her in its mother tongue which she just nodded back, understanding it but unable to speak it. After a few uncomfortable minutes, Orochimaru walked over with two steaming mugs in hand, one of which she put down in front of Zetsu as she sat down beside her with the other.
"So, what was your question?" Orochimaru asked, tasting her scalding tea.
Zetsu blew on her drink which was suspiciously black. "Sir, err—Kakuzu told me that you helped us get away."
"Kakuzu? Oh yes, that I did."
"Why?" Once her beverage was cooled down, Zetsu took a nervous taste and—oh thank god, it was hot chocolate, just dark chocolate.
"Well, between you and I—I didn't believe for a second that Kakuzu was the one to sell me out. I may not know him well, but he comes across as a smart bloke, to me a least. To piss that all away on a wee bit of money? Rubbish, if you ask me." She ushered at the snake who passed her the pipe so she could take a hit.
"So, because you didn't believe he did it, you decided to help him?" Zetsu asked, turning her head from the smoke while biting back a cough.
After taking another puff, she handed the pipe back to the snake and washed down the smoke flavour left on her tastebuds with her tea. "Yes, but no. I couldn't do much, even if I wanted. That was, until you came along. You were the perfect distraction."
"I—thank you for helping him—us."
"Now I have a question for you."
Uh oh. Zetsu tried not to look too scared. "Yes?"
"You and I didn't have the best first impression and it's ate at me something positively awful. But I think I've done well to make that up to you. So, what do you say to a fresh start?" Orochimaru grinned, long canines peeking out from under her purple lip.
As much as Zetsu was still cautious of the elder, whatelse could you do or say to the woman that just saved the life or you and your stand-in parent but agree? And so, she nodded. "Yes, a fresh start."
"Brilliant!"
…
Kakuzu too had a guest that night just as unexpected.
"Come in." He grunted and his bedroom door parted open, showing the mystery person to be Konan.
"How're you feeling, Kakuzu?" She inquired as stepped into his bedroom and quietly slid shut the door. That may've been a dumb question, however, as the man's upper half was plastered with bandages—also a new buzzed haircut.
"Peachy." He mumbled, glaring at his leftover financials while fighting through the migraine so he didn't turn to the bucket of pain killers the hospital had supplied him. It was enough to tranquilize a horse.
She nodded. "I just came to check on you and apologize."
"Apologize? What for? You were the only one to stand up for me to Sir Fuckface."
She tried to fight a smile at the colourful nickname and failed. "Yes, but I could've done more."
Kakuzu waved her off. "Stop it. If you'd done anything else, he may've kicked you out with the rest of us." Konan didn't want to take it that far, but she understood what the older man was saying.
That conversation ended, the origamitress' attention became fascinated by the heavy bookshelves Kakuzu had set up, making his room have the feel of a library as they were stacked, shelf upon shelf with books older than her. Hell, perhaps even older than himself. "You collect?"
He glanced up to catch the woman idly browsing his collection. "Yes. For years now. Most were gifts, though. Don't touch them."
She nodded, not like she needed to be told that, though. She wasn't a child, but it was obvious that's what he thought he as. She read the interesting titles, such as, The Eye of the Damned, or Kingdom of Lies. As she went through, there, amidst the old, leathered spines, she saw an odd book out. Despite Kakuzu's warnings, she pulled it out, just to see what it was. Curiosity killed the cat, afterall.
Kakuzu flinched, startled by the woman's loud gasping and turned in his chair to find her standing there with one of the books in hand—one the books from his private collection. "Hey! I told you not to fucking touch anything!"
"That's the book!" Konan exclaimed as he wrenched it from her then checked it over to make sure she hadn't damaged it in the two seconds she had her grubby little hands on it. "That's the book our sensei read to us as children. How'd you get a copy?"
Yes, why did Kakuzu have a pristine copy of a children's storytime book as old as him in his collection? "I—uhh, I knew the author. She gave me the final draft when she published it." He explained, hugging the colourful cardboard book to his chest as if it was his greatest possession.
"Pein and I have been searching for a copy. Please, may I borrow it?"
"Fuck no, you can't borrow it! This book is worth more than your life!"
"Then may I read it? Just once? I promise I'm not going to damage it, Kakuzu." She bargained. She wanted—no, she needed to read that book. It may explain a lot. "I'll read it here and as fast as I can."
He stared hard at her and for a moment, she thought he may not give it up and she'd just have to find her own print to read. Then after another moment has past them by, he all of sudden pointed at his kotatsu. "Sit down. I'm only doing this so I can stop feeling like I owe shit to you." Konan wasn't going to argue against that logic, so she did as she was told, seating herself at the table and Kakuzu put the book down in front of her with such a carefulness that you would've thought it was made of glass.
While she read through the book, Kakuzu never took his eyes off her. He was basically standing over her and breathing down her neck as he did. Everytime she turned one of the cardboard pages and it creaked a little too loud, she could practically hear the tensing of his muscles. It was as if he saw her as this destructive force that would destroy the text if given the chance—like a child. However, she spoke nothing of this attack of her character and just focused on remembering as much information this children's book supplied. Thankfully, that wasn't too hard a task.
Just as she had turned the last page was the elder snatching it up from under her nose to put it back in its specified spot on his bookshelf. Not before she caught the autograph from the author herself and a cute little message that read, "To the most important person in my life—Love, Yui." plus a smiling depiction of what looked suspiciously like one of Kakuzu's masks.
"Thank you, Kakuzu." Konan said as she got up to leave but only earned a gruff grunt in reply as Kakuzu had gone back to doing—staring at his numbers.
…
"Nagato."
The mere mention of his name made Pein tense as he expected a second, no third—or was it fourth?—tongue lashing from his partner that night. He wasn't exactly her favourite person at the moment. "Yes, Konan?"
Konan sat down in the chair in front of Pein's desk while the ginger tried desperately not to look her in the eye, like one did with a predator. She likely smelt his fear too. "Do you remember that book we spoke of earlier?"
"Book?"
"The one Jiraiya read to us all as children?"
It took him a second but yes, yes he did. "Oh yes! Yes, I do."
"I found a copy."
This prompted him to look up and he was glad to see she didn't look too ready to tear him a new one. At least, not at the moment. "Did you? And how did you manage that?"
"Kakuzu had a copy," She casually said but before he could question the obvious as to why Kakuzu had a children's book in his possession, she elaborated further, "It was the 'real' telling of The Tale of Princess Kaguya."
He quirked an eyebrow. "Real telling?"
She confirmed it with a nod. "Yes. As I read it, I started to remember it because how much you loved that book. Maybe it was because that's when Jiraiya started hyping you up as being the 'Child of the Prophecy'. Yahiko was so jealous of you because of that." She pushed a smile though it was sad one, thinking of her of her told friend despite staring him in face, though no longer his own.
Seeing her sadness, Pein—Nagato did his best to change the subject. "Would you kindly tell me the story? I'm having a hard time remembering it." He wasn't so much, he just wanted to distract her.
"So, it started with the tale of the God Tree. Except, in this book, it was called 'Yggdrasil' which is an old-world term meaning 'world tree'. Well, in The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Princess Kaguya ate the fruit of the God Tree and gifted humanity chakra, yes? And then the God Tree turned into the Juubi to claim its chakra back. It's interesting but in this book's telling, none of that happen. In fact, the God Tree—or Yggdrasil and Juubi were two separate entities. The Juubi was called the 'Nidhogg'. Anyway, Kaguya fell in love with the Nidhogg and as a gift of its love, it gave her the fruit from Yggdrasil that granted her chakra. But it also made she and this Nidhogg one entity. Besides that, the tellings are identical, ending with Hagoromo and Hamura using the Juubi to create the moon and sealing its chakra in Hagoromo which made him the Sage of Six Paths."
"My, that is much different beginning." Pein commented, leant back far in his chair and twirling his pen between his fingers. "But where does this Ragnarök come in?"
"In the 'real' telling, Ragnarök was the term used to describe the fight between the Juubi and Hagoromo and Hamura. It means, 'Twilight of the Gods'."
"Ah, so that was what the snake was speaking of when it mentioned Ragnarök. However, it also leaves a lot unanswered. Such as why it called me a 'False Son'. It also referred to Zetsu as a 'Child of the Nidhogg'."
Konan shook her head. "I don't know, the book did not speak of either of those. All it said was Ragnarök would come again like the original tale with the Children of the Prophecy."
The man nodded and straightened his chair, putting down his pen before he dropped it with his playing. "I could've predicted that with how much Jiraiya spoke of me being a Child of Prophecy. However, if that'll be in my lifetime, it is unknown."
"It made a point of saying this Ragnarök happens every one-thousand years when the Juubi—Nidhogg would come back. Hopefully, it has not been one-thousand years." She pushed herself from her chair, pulling the creases out her cloak and pants.
"Yes, hopefully not."
…
AN: Oh snap, is that a new chapter? IN A WEEK? Yes, yes it is. I've hit a writing high and hopefully, it'll last awhile or just enough to get through these next chapters, especially the next one. Don't worry, everyone, we're past drama. From now and while, in fact. And sorry for the clusterfuck of non-canon lore but it's going to be important, I promise!
Next Chapter: An Old Friend.
Until Next Time.