AN: And Now, Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming.Taking a break from plot development to give you plot, but it's got action! And fighting! And women!
Cat Beats: Haha yes. I like I mentioned in an earlier chapter, Zetsu's dietary habits are heavily influenced by ghouls in Tokyo Ghoul. Except instead of coffee, it's chocolate milk. Glad to hear the filler wasn't too boring even if it was dialogue heavy. Can't say the next four chapters aren't going to be too different. I've read a lot of great Akatsuki decent fanfics, but they definitely are harder to come across these days. Thanks for the review!
magmo22: Oh, the things between Yui and Kakuzu may be revealed at a later date, I haven't decided yet, and I can do you better than another Akatsuki member easter egg. How about an entire Akatsuki member? In…four chapters, the Akatsuki will be getting its next official member! You just have to be patient for him ;3
Enjoy.
p.s. no beta, too lazy to edit. Please excuse any jank.
Warning(s): Violence/Blood (High), Genderbend (Med), Original Character(s) (High), Language (Low), Out of Character
…
Wasteland
The Akatsuki Arc
Chapter 51
Once her suspension was over, Pein called Zetsu in for a mission, at once.
Upon entrance of his office, Zetsu saw Orochimaru was here too, having also been called in and in her typical, disrespecting self, had her legs kicked up on Pein's desk while huffing her tobacco pipe. This was getting so ridiculous that Pein was seriously thinking of buying a decoy desk for her to put her feet all over instead. He'd have to gather with Kakuzu on that later.
"Zetsu, glad to see you on duty again." Pein greeted the greenette as she awkwardly sat in the seat besides the Sannin. They may've made up, but that didn't mean they were magically best friends, or she felt anymore comfortable around the other woman, for that matter.
"Glad to be again, Sir Leader. So, what is the—" She wasn't able to finish her question as he hushed her by waving her down with a hand.
"I'll explain in a moment, but we have one last person that'll be on this mission with you two," He explained but before she could ask who that was, Pein looked towards Konan who was quietly slaving away at her own desk at the far side of the office. "Konan?"
Immediately, said woman's head popped up and she piqued a quizzical eyebrow at her partner. "Would you kindly join Zetsu and Orochimaru?" While clueless on the why, she did as told, getting up from her desk and walking over to fall in with in line the other women, her heels clacking on the metal flooring. Once standing with them, Pein spoke again. "Perfect. Now, I have a mission—for the three of you."
"The three of us?" Zetsu inquired, glancing between Konan and Orochimaru. Konan looked just as perplexed as she was while Orochimaru was overjoyed.
As expressed by the clapping of her hands, making her purple boa "boa" Faskom flinch and puff up his feathers before seeing no threat and drowsing again around her neck. "Oh brilliant!"
"Yes, because this mission has been specified as female members only," He pulled out a letter from his drawer and laid it out, tapping the paper as he explained. "The Akatsuki has been contacted by another mercenary group. They, and other male dominated groups, have been having issue with a new female mercenary group known as the 'Femme Fatales'."
"My, my, how…creative." Orochimaru dryly said with Zetsu and Konan mutually agreeing with her.
"Anyway, this Femme Fatales have been infiltrating male mercenary groups using their feminine charm and then assassinating them from the inside. Not only that, but they've also been dominating the market with…their sex appeal, stealing clients and putting other groups out of business. So, we have been hired to dismantle them."
"And why haven't they taken out this rubbish themselves?" Orochimaru asked.
"They've tried but cannot locate their base of operations. They've succeeded in taking out a member here or there but never gotten to the center of it and the female members they do pick up aren't telling of its location, nor their leader."
"I understand. So, you want us to infiltrate them then once we're on the inside, take them all out." Zetsu inputted, earning an encouraging nod from her superior, much to her pridefulness.
"Exactly that. They've managed to identify an 'employment' agent of sorts for the Femme Fatales but have decided to stay off her in favour of this idea. Unfortunately, they do not have any female members which to infiltrate with. It appears of the dozen or so mercenary groups which had been contacted on this, we're the first to have not just one female member, but three which to carry out this mission."
"Well, the mercenary line of work isn't exactly the first career choice for women." Konan stated, shrugging. When she little, she had wanted to be a seamstress, like her mother. In a way, she was, but for a mercenary organization. Interesting how things went.
"True," Pein agreed. "I may have not taken on this mission, if these women weren't overstepping in the market. It may not affect the Akatsuki now, but down the line, we may've seen a decrease in clientele so the sooner we take out the competition, the better."
"And where can we find this…employment agent?" Orochimaru inquired, huffing and puffing from her pipe again.
"She's been seen traveling between three outposts: one in the Firelands, one in the Wastelands, and one in the Highlands. Her schedule is in sequence of: Highlands, Firelands, lastly the Wastelands and then backtracks through them. She stays in each nation for a week then goes on. So, if our calculations are correct, she should be in the Firelands as we speak. I want you three to go undercover and speak to her. Do what you must to get yourself integrated into the organization then once you learn of the headquarters or are taken there, assassinate them all. The client has forfeited any and all bounties these women may have so long as they are all dead."
"Bah, it'll be like taking candy from a babe." Orochimaru smugly said.
"When are we to leave?" Konan questioned as he handed off the mission scroll.
"Immediately," Pein confirmed. "But there is no limit on this mission. Take as long as required. Gaining trust and getting yourselves inside is not going to happen in a day. Do what you must. You are dismissed." The three women got up and walked to the elevator to take their leave together.
Once inside the door shut and gears squealed as the elevator descended to ground level, Orochimaru clapped her hands and faced the other two females. "Oh, you do know what this means, don't you?" Neither did and even if they did, the elder didn't give them the chance to answer. "Makeovers!"
"No, thank you. I can do my own makeup." Konan immediately dismissed her, much to the other's dismay.
"Aww, Konan, please? We can make up on lost times we didn't have because Jiraiya didn't like sharing the lot of you with Tsunade and I."
Konan flinched at the casual utterance of her old teacher but didn't give it to the snakewomen's moaning. "No, thank you." She said again, her tone leaving no room for further argument.
"Tch, very well. What about you, Zetsu?" Orochimaru turned her gleaming sights on the girl and Zetsu suddenly wished her Mayfly could phase through metal so she could flee this cramped cage from the Sannin.
"I…uhh, I don't wear…makeup." She babbled out lamely, though true.
"But you have to wear makeup for this mission! We have to be our sexiest if we're going to sway these dames to let us into their twee click."
"I…"
"We're going to have so much fun!" Orochimaru said, basically deciding herself winner in this argument and Zetsu, poor Zetsu was too timid to tell her otherwise.
…
Once back at the house, Konan disappeared into her bedroom and it get herself ready, leaving Zetsu to be dragged by Orochimaru into the teenager's bedroom because as the older woman said, "it had better lighting". Inside, Zetsu was practically pushed onto her bed while the older of them stared her down, rapping her long nails against her chin while humming in thought.
"Now then, I must think how I'm going to do this." Orochimaru uttered to herself, leaning in with her golden eyes squinted at her with intense thought.
"D-Do what?"
"Make you sexy, but of course! We're going to have to buy our way in with our looks, afterall, and no offense to you but…you lack many…feminine qualities." Despite her statement of, "no offense", Zetsu was very much offended. It wasn't her fault she didn't hit puberty until eighteen years of age and had yet to develop any of these, "feminine qualities" such as breasts or curves. All she had so far was the bloodier half of it. "Aha! I have an idea. Oh, you're so brilliant, Orochimaru, I must say! Zetsu, darling, can you take off your cloak?"
It wasn't too big an ask, so she did it, shrugged over the garment that was a minimum of ten sizes too large to make up for the Mayfly, where it puddled around her on the bedspread like an ink spill what she saw professedly pleased Orochimaru. It left her in just a mesh tanktop, Akatsuki issued. "Oh, you're into bodybuilding, I see," She said and squeezed one of Zetsu's muscled biceps, much to the girl's fluster. "Yes, perfect! This is perfect!"
"W-What is perfect?" Zetsu finally decided to ask, being too milquetoast to do so before, especially with the Sannin who she still walked on eggshells around.
"My idea for you! I was wrong, so wrong. You are sexy, but in your own way," The petite woman's face darkened as the implication of being, "sexy". It was like when Yui told her as was beautiful. "You see, there are two types of women that men go for: women they can fuck, and women that can fuck them up, and you are in that latter category. So, we're going to capitalize on that. May I look through closet?"
"O-Ok."
Permission granted, walked over to Zetsu's closet and threw open the sliding doors so she may search inside. What she found was…disappointing. A lot of pairs of the Akatsuki's drab uniform, a jacket and a lot of pink children's clothing. Not what she imagined but she did find what she was looking for as she pulled out a dark pair of jeans, sized to fit a man, a large one at that.
"This will do," She stated and before Zetsu could ask her, "for what?", Orochimaru proceeded to tear the denim on the legs with her bare hands.
"M-My pants!" Oh, Sir was going to kill her! Those were his pants he gave her as a hand-me-down. He said she'd grow into them and despite being unable to wear them at the moment, even after Konan had altered them, she still liked them.
"Here, put these on," Orochimaru threw her the jeans, now sporting multiple holes where the fabric was tattered, including the knees. "Oh, and these." She also chucked her the pair of boots Zetsu wore as part of her civilian clothing.
While upset, Zetsu went to do just that but as she put her hands in the waistband of her pants to push them down, she suddenly became painfully conscious of Orochimaru's presence and paused. "Umm…can you leave?"
Orochimaru turned over her eyes. "Oh darling, we're both women here. You have nothing I haven't seen or don't have myself," She insisted, as if that was meant to magically make the girl comfortable with undressing in front of her. So, when Zetsu didn't budge, the black-haired woman sighed dramatically. "I'm not going to look." To demonstrate, she turned her back to the other, hands planted on her hips as she stared at a wall.
Once she was, Zetsu quickly kicked her pants off in favour of the jeans and pulled on the boots with such a briskness she had never managed in her life nor may never again. As she thought, the pants were baggy and slumped on her hips, necessitating her to pull them up so her underwear wasn't showing. She didn't know if she had a belt either. Not to mention the holes now in them let in a breeze she did not like.
"May I look now?"
"Y-Yes…"
Orochimaru turned and once seeing her, gasped, happily so. "Yes! Just as I imagined. But…"
Oh no. "But what?" Zetsu asked hesitantly.
"Oh nothing, it's just your face."
"My face? What's wrong with my face?"
"It's just too…soft."
"Soft?" Zetsu parroted, feeling her own face as she did. It was kind of soft, yeah. Maybe it was that new face wash she was using?
"No, no. Not that type of soft," Orochimaru said, making the other woman blush in embarrassment for presuming that was what she meant. "I meant you don't have an intimidating look to you. Much too gentle, friendly. You look like you help old women across the street, not a member of a mercenary organization. Hmm…I'll be back."
That said, she did just that, leaving the bedroom and leaving Zetsu to wait for her return. As she did, she went searching through her drawers and closet herself and lo and behold, she found herself a belt, thankfully. It must've come from the, "bag of shit" Kakuzu had given her after cleaning out his own closet. He didn't like the thought of throwing things out and was too paranoid to donate, so he gave whatever clothing and accessories he didn't want to Zetsu instead, insisting she'd grow into them eventually while either totally ignoring or ignorant to the fact she was half his weight and size and may stay so. Dr. Ryu said she may be around five foot two by twenty-five, but that was being optimistic. She'd considered just making it to five feet an accomplishment.
It wasn't too long until Orochimaru came back with treasures held behind her back, a fact that made the younger of them anxious. "I'm back. Now, shut your eyes for me, would you?"
Nope, Zetsu did not like the sound of that, not one bit. "Why?"
"Because I'd rather not poke your eye out. Now if you please?" Orochimaru said again, getting a little snappish in her demand.
Due to this, Zetsu backed down, not wanting to anger the Sannin, especially after experiencing it firsthand and shut her eyes. Though, she kept her Mayfly on standby if things got dicey. A second later, something was pushed onto her face and when she apprehensively blinked open her eyes, her vision was met with darkness.
"There! Much better."
"Wha…?" Zetsu felt up the object on her face, only to find them to be a pair of sunglasses. Not just that, but by the distinct shape of them, they were well-known by her. "These are Sir's sunglasses. How did you—?"
"He let me borrow them." Orochimaru instantly told her but Zetsu knew the taste of that lie due to the fact Kakuzu was currently out heart hunting. That must be why Orochimaru entered her room to grab the glasses, otherwise, Kakuzu would've never let her. Hell, Zetsu didn't even go into his bedroom without explicit permission and god forbid using his things without tell him. Oh, Sir was going to kill them when he got back—Zetsu twice over for the jeans too. "You look great in them. Now, just one last thing."
Orochimaru nudged the napping Faskom. After yawning and blinking his third eyelid over his golden eyes, he saw the woman making a grabbing motion at him. So, opening his jaws, he lurched and spewed out a black gunk into the palm of her hand. She smeared it onto her hands and walked towards Zetsu, the letter of which scrambled backwards over her bed. What was she going to do with that?
"Oh relax, darling, I'm just going to fix your hair."
"With that?"
"Yes. Oh, don't fret, it isn't toxic. Do you seriously think I'd have in my hands if it was? Now come here." All of sudden, she lunged at the teenager before she had a chance to further flee and aggressively, brushed her hands through her hair, the sputum substituting for hair gel and gluing the messy strands back. She stepped back, wiping the leftovers on her Akatsuki cloak. "There! All done!" Zetsu just sat there, frozen in pure horror over the fact she now had snake…whatever in her hair which was going to be Hell to wash out and—why did it smell like fruity cereal?
Seeing an opening, Orochimaru grabbed the girl by the hands and pulled her up to her feet where she marched her in front of the body length mirror besides her closest to show off her handiwork and what Zetsu saw…she didn't hate. In fact, she looked, how would Sir put it? "Badass"? Yes, badass, very badass.
"I'd say this is my best work yet," Orochimaru said, squeezing her arms as she leant down into the mirror's reflection. "Now, let us meet with Konan, shall we?"
"Wait, what about you? Aren't you going to get ready too?" Zetsu asked the elder as she walked to leave her bedroom.
"Oh darling, if there is one thing you must know about me," Orochimaru pulled off her cloak in dramatic show, literally unclothing a violet, floor length sequin dress underneath. "I'm always ready."
With all that said and done, the two stepped into the hallway just as from midway down it, Konan's bedroom door and out stepped the second-in-command of the Akatsuki. She too was in a dress but one of black velvet, the chest tied with lace up to the neck and the shoulderless, long sleeves of dark mesh. The bluette's hair was down with a red rose tucked in it and eyes and lips coloured black, tying the gothic atheistic together.
"Wow…" Was all Zetsu could say.
"Damn, Konan. Where did you get that dress, darling? It's posh!" Orochimaru asked and circled the other woman as she openly fawned over the beautiful black dress.
"I made it myself." Konan explained, letting Orochimaru have a feel of the silk-like fabric. Zetsu, meanwhile, stayed mum on what was just on the woman's hands.
"And how much do you commission for? I'll pay through the nose for a dress like this!"
As much as Konan didn't fancy the idea of designing a wardrobe for Orochimaru, she may consider it if money was involved, especially since she could tax her on it. A, "you tried killing me as a child" tax, if you will. "We can talk about it later." She then turned to Zetsu in her own getup and gasped. "Look at you, Zetsu. You look like the female main of a sci-fi movie I saw once."
Zetsu blushed since being complimented by Orochimaru was one thing but being complimented by Konan was on a whole new level. "I do?"
Konan's black lips tugged back into a smile. "Yes. Very cool."
"Well then, I think the lot of us should head out then, hmm? If we want to catch our little recruiter friend. Shall we?"
After a unanimous vote, the three female members headed out on the mission.
…
It was decided that each woman travel to their destination in the Fireland by themselves for maximum efficiency.
Zetsu used her Mayfly, Konan used her Dance of the Shikigami and Orochimaru, well, neither other woman knew exactly her method travel outside snakes? Whatever it was, it was fast. So much so, despite Zetsu outpacing them both and getting to the outpost in the Firelands in half the time it would've take on foot, she was surprised as only a half-an-hour later, it was Orochimaru that walked out of the treeline, not Konan, dusting herself off and tailoring Faskom around her neck.
"You made it here fast." Zetsu couldn't help but say as the Sannin stood herself by the fallen tree the teenager was seated on while they waited for Konan.
"But of course. I slithered." Orochimaru bragged, much to Zetsu's confusion but for the sake of her sanity, she didn't question it.
They didn't have to wait too long as just minutes later, Konan landed, her paper wings disappearing in a blizzard as the parchment melted back into her skin. Like Zetsu, she too looked bewildered to see Orochimaru had made it before her.
"So, who is it we are looking for?" Orochimaru interrogated Konan as she walked up to unite with them.
"Her name is Hanna," Konan pulled the mission scroll from her person and pulled out a mugshot of an older woman with backswept dark hair that she first passed to Orochimaru. "According to the mission details, she is a scout for the Femme Fatales and has been observed approaching young and attractive women, likely to recruit them into the organization."
"Then we should be the perfect candidates for her." Orochimaru stated despite only matching one of those categories herself and presenting the image to Zetsu who had to push up Kakuzu's sunglasses in order to get a good look at it. Honestly, she couldn't understand how he navigated wearing them. She couldn't see a thing.
"I say we go in and locate her. Once we do, we blend ourselves in until she approaches us. If we approach her, it may make her suspicious. Especially if she's aware of the fact that their members are being picked off."
"And what if she doesn't approach us?" Zetsu questioned, handing the picture back to Konan.
"Then we make her approach us, but of course." Orochimaru inputted, petting her boa.
Konan nodded to substantiate the elder's statement. "We need to do so before she goes to the Wastelands. Otherwise, if she sees us there too, she'll get suspicious and may flee before we can locate their headquarters."
With a plan, the three women walked into the station town.
It was small, dismally small as it was just a dusty outpost between the lands of Fire and Waste, meant to refresh oneself and not to live in. Due to that, there are no houses and little in way of buildings. A bank, a marketplace, an inn, and an outdoor café. It shouldn't be impossible to find one person here nor too long. So, they decided to blend themselves in in the meantime, acting out as passerbyers.
As they walked through the township, Orochimaru and Konan were ab-libbing idle chitchat while Zetsu kept an eye out for Hanna. It wasn't long until they had walked themselves from one end of the outpost to the other where the café was situated. Thankfully, instead of having to circle back around, Zetsu saw their person of interest.
"There she is." Zetsu whispered and Orochimaru and Konan glanced in the direction of the café's outdoor seating, finding it empty except one person—Hanna.
So, they decided to take pause for a drink and observe the woman. Orochimaru and Konan ordered tea from the coffee bar and Zetsu, not wanting to look unprofessional by asking for chocolate milk, decided on the much more professional beverage of…water. Once the owner handed them their drinks, they took them and went to seat themselves at a table within eyesight of Hanna but not too close to cast suspicion. Orochimaru and Konan sat with their backs to her while Zetsu sat on the other side of the table to observe the scout over their shoulder, using the darkness of the sunglasses to disguise the fact she was watching her. Hanna had noticed them immediately.
Zetsu lifted her glass of water to camouflage her lips while she spoke. "She's seen us."
The other two women were currently and deeply involved in a discussion on fashion, the only thing they may have in common, but Konan acknowledged the information as she glanced at Zetsu from the corner of her eye and nodded. They kept talking, and Zetsu kept watching Hanna who in turn, was now watching them. This went on for awhile, so much so that Orochimaru and Konan's conversation had turned to politics to the weather only to circle back to fashion and Zetsu had sucked her water dry in her distraction. Thankfully, before she could get up to get another glass of water, Hanna was up first.
With her glass empty, Zetsu instead grabbed a napkin and used it to dab her face. "She's walking towards us."
This time, Orochimaru confirmed they heard her by patting the girl on the hand without breaking conversation with Konan as the two now discussed the politics of fashion design, a heated discussion at that.
"Hello, ladies," Hanna greeted the three of them, standing at the end of their table while looking them over. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"Oh, hello, hello! We were just talking about the new fall collection by Cacao." Orochimaru said to their guest with Konan nodding silently to confirm.
"Oh! I love Cacao. May I join you?"
"But of course!"
Taking the invitation, Hanna sat in the empty seat next to Zetsu. She made a face at the teenager as she did and while Zetsu felt offended, she didn't let that on. "So, where are you three off to? A fashion show?" Hanna asked, observing the three of them again though in a gesture Zetsu identified as judging whatever level of threat each woman may be to her.
"Oh, do I wish! No, we're just traveling, trying to find whatever work in these trying times." Orochimaru said, sampling her green tea. Zetsu and Konan let her do the talking as she was the most…charismatic of three, so to say.
"Oh, work? I may be able to help you then. What kind of work are you looking for?"
"We'll take anything!"
"What about…mercenary work?" There was a moment of silence and then Orochimaru, barked in laughter while Konan chuckled to echo her. Zetsu smiled though she was lost onto why the question had tickled the elder so pink.
"Oh, darling, we've been in wars," Technically, a half-truth. True, Orochimaru herself had fought in the Second World War and Konan had experience with war-like scenarios, having survived the Second War and led the Civil War in Ame. Only Zetsu had not been directly involved in a war, though, their new friend didn't need to know that. "Just tell us who to kill and you can consider them dead."
"Great, great. I'm glad to hear it. So, I'm part of a mercenary group, a women's mercenary group. Call ourselves the Femme Fatales," Hanna started to explain.
"Oh, I like it!" Orochimaru lied through her teeth.
"Yes. Anyway, we're looking for new members. Would you be interested?"
"Would we be interested?" Orochimaru looked to Konan and Zetsu, obviously directing that question towards them to which they simultaneously nodded at her in agreement before the Sannin looked back at the brunette, smiling. "Where do we sign up?"
"That'll be with me but there's a catch. Before you can join the Femme Fatales, you have to go through a test first to prove yourselves."
"What type of test?" Konan asked.
Hanna folded her arms on the table and leant forward. "If you want into the Femme Fatales, you're going to have to tweeze out a few thorns in our side. There's a bunch of male mercenaries held up in an old barn off the main highway between Konoha and Iwa. Well, they call themselves mercenaries but they're no better than highwaymen. They've been shaking folk down and kidnapping our girls as they try to pass through the area. Their leader is a bastard named Braze. He's got a dog he's obsessed with named Mr. Snuffles."
"Aww, Mr. Snuffles?" Zetsu cooed, earning a dubious look from Hanna as well as Orochimaru and Konan and realizing she was breaking her "badass" persona, cleared her throat to deepen her voice. "I mean…what a dumb name." She chuckled nervously.
Hanna didn't say anything of her slip up. "Kill them all and bring back Snuffle's paw as a trophy. Then consider yourselves members of the Femme Fatales."
"And why isn't this something you aren't doing yourselves?" Konan interrogated the other woman, folding her own arms over her chest.
"We're stretched thin at the moment." Hanna said then explained no further but the Akatsuki women had a collective guess it had to do with their members being picked off by other mercenary organizations whose toes they had stepped on. "So, you in?"
"Oh, we're in!" Orochimaru chirped before either Konan or Zetsu could make any objections. "And when we've taken care of these blighters, where do we turn in this paw to become members?"
"That'll be to me. I'm going to be here for another day before heading into the Wastelands. So, if you've done that but I'm not here, I'll be in the area around Suna."
"No need. We shouldn't take longer than a day," Orochimaru glanced at Konan and Zetsu who nodded to confirm. "Come on then, ladies! Let us do a little…manhunting."
The three women got up to leave but hadn't even made it five steps before being stopped. "Wait!"
They paused mid-step and exchanged glances, inquisitive if they had slipped up and now the employer was onto them as she walked up behind them. Turns out, it was none of those things as she extended a handout. "I'm Hanna, by the way." They let out a collective, internal sigh of relief.
"I'm Shiore." Orochimaru falsely claimed, shaking the other woman's hand.
Konan accepted Hanna's hand next. "Konan." She said, having no need to lie of her identity due no one knowing her name outside Ame and having no entry in the Bingo Book, unlike Orochimaru.
Zetsu decided to take Konan's lead and introduce herself as well, herself since she too had no record which to be tracked and going with her typical 'Akatsuki' may be too obvious. "Zetsu."
"Shiore, Konan, and Zetsu. I'll be looking forward to seeing you all back here. I think you'll make for powerful members of the Femme Fatales." With that, Hanna turned and walked back to the café to wait and seek out any other potential female candidates.
…
"So, are we seriously going to take out this other mercenary group? I could easily enough go in with the Mayfly and grab the dog's paw then get out without any bloodshed." Zetsu said once the three of them were well and out of town, walking down the dusty highway towards Iwa as instructed to go. Though, she died a little inside when thinking of harming a poor, innocent little puppy, nonetheless cutting off its paw.
"Yes. Think of it like this," Orochimaru replied while redoing her purple lipstick and smacking her lips after brushing them over. "It'll benefit the Akatsuki in the long run as it'll mean less competition for us. Just as Yahiko said about these Femme Fatales."
"Pein." Konan firmly corrected her only to be dismissively waved off by the older woman.
"Besides, that Hanna girl said they've been mugging whoever passes them by so the lot of them are wankers, if you ask me."
"Orochimaru is correct," Lord, she hated saying that as the statement left a bad taste in Konan's mouth that she'd have to wash out later. "Not only are they our way into the Femme Fatales, but also it'll be one less organization the Akatsuki has to compete with in the future, no matter how large or small."
Zetsu was satisfied by these answers as she nodded, pushing the sunglasses back up her face as the up and down motion caused them to fall off her crooked nose. "I understand. Then what is our plan? Fight our way in?"
"Or we could seduce our way in just like what these Femme Fatale women are known for." Orochimaru purposed, fluffing up the feathers of her "boa". Zetsu didn't like the sound of that. She didn't know how to seduce, and she didn't think that was something Sir could teach her either.
"I say we weigh our options when we get there. Hanna said they've been kidnapping women off the road so there's a strong possibly they'll try to do the same to us. If that does happen, we'll have to fight our way in." Konan countered, brushing a few strands of stray hair from her face. Zetsu liked that idea better and Orochimaru agreed too, begrudgingly so.
That decided, they kept walking down the highway that interconnected the Land of Fire to the Land of Wind. It was a long walk so Orochimaru and Konan ended up talking about fashion again, discussing their favourite designers and collection while Zetsu silently tailed them, having not one clue of what they were talking about and therefore, couldn't join in on the discussion. It was interesting to listen to, though, and for once, it looked as if the two women may be getting along.
It was a few hours in when the path took a series of twists and turns around a hill that opened up onto a large cliffside, the lip of which had an old, rundown barn, just as described by Hanna. Not just that, but suddenly, there was a lot of people loitering outside it and in the pumpkin patch across the thoroughfare from it—a lot of men, that is. Twenty-seven charka signatures in total, Zetsu numbered. She saw them, felt them, but she wasn't sure if Orochimaru and Konan had as they kept talking and walking.
"I was heartbroken when Vienna was murdered. His label hasn't been the same since his death. He was a genius when it came to combining luxurious classicism with overt sexuality."
"Last I heard, they caught his murderer, but has he been taken to trail yet?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure. I think they still be picking out jurors due to how publicized—"
"Stop!"
Orochimaru and Konan stopped as instructed with Zetsu doing so too as a band of five men approached them, all dressed in shinobi gear with weapons buckled to their hips that they had a hand laid upon. The headbands originating them from a diversity of neighbouring nations.
"Where're you ladies off to?" The head of the pack asked, speaking in a thick Sunagakure dialect as he looked them over from head to toe in a manner not unlike a predator at prey.
"Oh, just out taking a mid-day stroll, is all." Orochimaru replied, gifting the man a friendly yet pushed smile.
"That so? It's dangerous walken out here, all by yourself. Maybe you'd like an…escort?" As he said this, the other men circled the females and closed them in, grinning and chuckling themselves. Konan and Zetsu glared at them and prepared for a conflict.
"Oh no, we're perfectly fine by ourselves. If you excuse us." Orochimaru tried brushing past the head of the gathering but as she did, he suddenly grabbed onto the boa around her neck and used it to yank her backwards. Orochimaru's faked smile fell from her white pasted face as golden orbs squirted into a glower.
"That wasn't a question." He said and taking his lead, the other men drew their weapons on the women. Konan and Zetsu went on the offensive, jutsu and Kekkei Genkai at the ready as Konan's skin paled into white and the teeth of the Mayfly pushed against the inside of Zetsu's skin.
"Let go of me." The brunette cautioned him with a growl.
"Why should I?"
"Because Faskom doesn't like having strangers touch him." Before the leader could question what she was talking about, the boa he had a grip on unfurled itself from her neck, picking up his head to glare at the horrified man with a flicker of his tongue. Then, before he could react, the boa lunged, venomous fangs catching him in the face and wrapping himself around his neck, crushing his jugular before he could scream out and causing his face to turn a dark shade of violet.
The other men attacked in turn with Konan and Zetsu countering them. Konan, using her paper, disarmed two of the men, literally as the razor-sharp parchment sliced through their arms, causing them to fall to the ground in a bloody puddle. On the other hand, Zetsu used her Mayfly to shield herself from the initial blows then lashing out, the spines of her flytrap impaling one of them on it while maiming another. It didn't take long for the other highwaymen skulking the area to notice the fight breaking out and come running to help their friends.
"It would appear we're fighting our way in! You two go in. I'll handle these pillocks!" Orochimaru exclaimed, picking up Faskom off the dead man he had finished suffocating and bundling him on her shoulder as she ran to meet the reinforcements head-on.
After dispatching the last of the introductory crew, Konan and Zetsu did as Orochimaru said and headed towards the barn, taking out whomever was idiotic enough to try and stop them. From the barn, the last of the men burst through the red doors and amidst them was larger male, dressed in Iwa EOD armour and straddling a snarling mastiff.
"That must be Braze." Konan guessed aloud, calling back her blood-soaked paper after sentencing two of the mercenaries to death by papercut.
"And Mr. Snuffles." Zetsu tacked on upon seeing the hellhound he was being carried, the size of a grizzly with a choric underbite. Suddenly, she didn't feel so bad about cutting off its paw.
The last of the highwayman charged them with rabid Mr. Snuffles galloping with Braze on its back. Konan summoned her paper again, shaping it into shuriken and launching them at the offensive, succeeding in stabbing a handful of them. In reply, Braze pulled out a scroll and from it, ejected an outburst of kunai that hammered the paper ones out of the air before raining down onto the two women. Konan swaddled herself from the downpour with a pair of wings that sprouted from her back while Zetsu used her Mayfly. There was a sizzling and they saw too late the hilts of the kunai had been tied with paper explosives before they exploded, engulfing them and the circulating area in a fireball. Braze yanked on his canine's companion's spiked collar to bring it to a skidding halt and he and the last of his men smirked as they observed the leftover mushroom cloud.
All of a sudden, from the black smoke, paper arrows flew out, nailing three of the men in the head, killing them two of them instantly while the third screamed in pain as it had speared him in the eye. Braze growled and was in the middle of the handsigns for an earth jutsu when Mr. Snuffles yelped, and he felt it slump under him. He looked down and found the mutt had caught its paw in the ground, except the ground was actively swallowing it up like a sinkhole. The depression yanked the dog's arm down and Mr. Snuffles howled in what could be translated as pain, foam and spittle flying from its jowls. After much thrashing, it freed its arm out of the dirt, exhibiting a bleeding stump where its paw once was.
"Mr. Snuffles!" Braze bawled and awkwardly leapt down in the bulky suit of armour to tend to his injured pet while the leftover mercenaries tried helping with calming the frantic dog. Just then, he saw movement off to the side and out of the ground popped Zetsu, in her hand, the amputated paw.
"You!" Zetsu looked over at the proclamation just in time to see Braze ordering his men to mass her with Mr. Snuffles charging her at the head despite its dismembered leg, barking and snarling with cherry eyes blind with rage. For extra measure, Braze used a jutsu that caused the earth behind her to raise up, trapping her between it and them. He smirked in premature victory.
"Zetsu!" Konan called to her, using her paper to create a swarm of stinging bees to distract the highwaymen and it worked, for all except the mutt which kept rushing at the teenager.
Instead of fleeing, which she could've easily done, Zetsu stood her ground, pocketing the paw and getting herself in stance. Mr. Snuffles lunged at her, canines snapping for her neck. Just as she had practiced time and time before with the likes of Teo and Daora, both who were approximately the same size, she uppercutted the mastiff in the jaw, causing teeth to fly and it to bite off a part of its tongue. It flipped over itself before crashing back down into the ground, dazed and whimpering from the punch.
"Mr. Snuffles!" Braze cried again but before he could run to the dog, the earth trembled under foot and from it, sprung a giant white snake.
It gulped the yelping hound down whole before disappearing back into the ground from where it originated. Everyone who was witness was speechless at the sudden turn of events. Konan and Zetsu looked over to see Orochimaru walking towards them, looking spic and span as if she hadn't just finished taking out a dozen mercs by herself, except maybe a little irritated.
"Sorry, you didn't need that, did you?" The woman asked them a little too late. They shook their head to indicate not.
"Y-You…you!" They looked over to see Braze leant over the crater on his hands and knees, looking into it while babbling and clawing at the dirt as if to unearth his best friend. He had to angle himself all the way back to glare at the women through the bubbled helmet. "You bitch!"
With a blur of handsigns, he casted a jutsu that caused a pillar of earth to spring up and make itself into a fist before punching at Orochimaru. Neither Konan or Zetsu stepped in to help, knowing well the Sannin could handle herself—and handle herself she did. She took the hit straight on as the strength of the collusion caused the dirt structure to erupt like an explosion. When the dust cleared a little bit later, Orochimaru melted into a mud as it turned out to be a clone.
"My, my, what a daft trick that was," Braze gathered a little too late the woman was standing behind him and he turned himself over to stare up at her as she smiled down at him, canines glistening. "I suppose it is my turn, is it not?"
He tried to get up but that was easier said than done and by the time he had gotten to his feet, she had completed her hand signs and with a clap of her hands, a hurricane-grade gust of wind blew out from her palms, knocking the bandit off his feet and into the same hole the snake had dug out. His screaming could be heard as he fell to his death inside, getting further and further the farther he fell until ultimately—silence.
Orochimaru clapped her hands together and put them on her hips as she peered into the tunnel. "Well, that was fun," She looked to the few unfortunate souls left alive and upon seeing her, the wounded men dropped their weapons and fled for their lives into the barn. That was remedied with a spark of fire jutsu from her fingertip and the old structure went up into flames in seconds, igniting the survivors inside. "Do we have the paw then?"
"Here." Zetsu pulled the paw out to show her, grimacing as the inside of her pocket was left sticky with blood.
"Brilliant! Then let's get back our twee friend, yes?"
There were no objections to that idea so, the three left behind the massacre they had caused as lunch for the crows as they trekked back up the hill.
…
By the time they had walked back to the outpost that Hanna was stationed, it was well into the evening and there was the chance their contact had retired for the night and they have to wait for until morning. Thankfully, if that was the case, there was an inn for them too to rest.
As they made their way back to the café, to their pleasant surprise, Hanna was there, in the exact spot as if she hadn't left it all day or night. She saw them to but didn't stand to greet them, staying seated as they sat themselves at the table with her. Once they did, she glanced around to check no one could overhear them as if they were about make a deal before speaking.
"So, is it done?" Orochimaru nudged Zetsu who was seated next to her and the teenager withdrew the paw, laying it down in front of the recruiter. Hanna inspected it then smirked, huffing a chuckle. "That's Mr. Snuffles, for sure. So, Braze is dead too, then? And his bastard crew?"
"Let's just say, they all fell hard for us." Orochimaru said and Konan and Zetsu looked at her oddly for the morbid pun.
"Thought so. He was stuck to that dumb dog like glue. Well then, I have nothing left to say to you except: Welcome to the Femme Fatales."
"And we're chuffed to be part of it too," Orochimaru said, doing her damndest at enthusiasm. "If I may, are we going to be meeting the rest of these Fatales?"
"Yes," Hanna confirmed, not catching the subtle look the other women exchanged amongst themselves. "I'll take you there myself so you can meet our leader, Aurora. However, the path to our hideout is dangerous, too dangerous to be traversed at night so we'll have to leave in the morning when there is daylight. Do you have money to rent a room at the inn for the night? If not, I can pay."
"We can pay for ourselves." Konan interjected.
Hanna nodded, accept that answer without question, likely to get out of paying. "Then we'll meet back here first thing in the morning. Sound good?"
"Sounds brilliant."
With all that said and done, the women all went their own ways with the Akatsuki women going to the inn while Hanna stayed back, maybe to put in overtime, or maybe because she was suspicious they may kill her in her sleep, either or.
At the inn, they purchased a single room with two beds, as it was much cheaper than three single rooms or two rooms for three beds. Konan and Zetsu shared a bed while Orochimaru had her own as was agreed upon as neither other woman fancied the idea of sleeping with a snake—or her snakes. After washing up, they retired early for the night. They'd need to rest up for whichever way tomorrow went.
…
In the morning and after a surprisingly pleasant breakfast with a lot of talking and even laughter, the three women rendezvous with Hanna again who looked as if she had spent the night at the café as there was no evidence of her leaving.
"All ready?" Hanna asked the three of them to which they nodded. "Perfect. It's going to be a walk to get there and through rough terrain. Heels may not be the best footwear for it." Obviously, she was speaking of Orochimaru as Zetsu had on boots and while Konan's shoes had heels on them, only the older woman was in high heels.
"Oh please, darling. I fought in the Second World War in high heels!" An exaggeration but it got the message across and it wisely wasn't mentioned further.
Instead, Hanna took the lead as they left the dirtball station behind. She led the way they had gone when searching for the barn, up the highway towards Iwagakure. After a few hours of walking, they even passed by the barn except now nothing but a burned husk. Not just that but the fire had spread out, the dead grass and corpses fueling it and leaving it and the immediate surrounding area blackened and smouldering. Mercifully, the cliffsides and rocky hills had contained it and therefore interrupted it from developing into a forest fire.
"Oops." Orochimaru muttered but by her tone, she obviously didn't feel that bad about it as she stepped over a charred skeleton, the flesh having been liquefied off the bones.
Whatever doubts or reservations Hanna may have for them must have surely washed away but if they did, she didn't say it and kept walking. She hadn't been lying about the walking either as they had left the Firelands and intersected into the Highlands were the lush fields and dirt paths were substituted with peddled walkways and craggy land. Even Zetsu found herself struggling for traction with her boots. If she thought that was bad though, it was nothing when Hanna led them directly up a mountain side and the teenager just happened to have a crippling fear of heights. She damned it on falling off a cliff to her near-death after Glut dragged her off with him. It got so bad that in the last leg of it, Konan had to wrap an arm around her and hug the girl to her side as Zetsu was struck with the worst vertigo and nausea imaginable, not helped by the headache she had due to the sunglasses. How did Kakuzu do this? She had to ask him after this was over.
They had made it up the treacherous path and circumscribed the turn it took only to finally see the top of the mountain. Not just that, but at the very top was a castle. It was decrepit and ancient but standing and in one piece, despite however many centuries ago it had been built. For a split second, Zetsu was so impressed she forgot about her illness until it immediately came back, and she had to swallow back the hot bile crawling up her throat.
There were female guards posted at the archway, heavily armoured and armed to the teeth. They stepped aside for Hanna and the guests to enter. From there, they walked into an open courtyard set up with picnic tables and oversaw the valley all the way back into the Land of Fire. It was also littered with rubble where half of the castle had succumbed to the likes of gravity and crumbled down the mountain. The other members loitering around paused in their conversations to judge the organization's three newest members. The Akatsuki didn't let their leering intimidate them and Orochimaru even glared back, making the women look away, quivering as if hit with an unexplained chill.
Next was up a dizzying staircase that led into a hallway of the upper floor. At the end was a pair of grand, wooden doors and two guards standing outside them, spears in hand which they crossed over the doors as they all approached. Hanna fell to a knee and bowed her head to the sentries.
"I request audience with Aurora. I have three new members for the Femme Fatales. They've taken out Braze." She explained, staring at the floor as she did.
"Have they?" One of the watchwomen asked, looking to her other half who nodded. "Very well. You may enter. But only you, Hanna." Hanna nodded and got up.
They pulled back their weapons and pushed open the doors but once she stepped inside, they yanked them shut behind her, so the other women didn't try to get the idea of sneaking in. They decided to wait, not that they could go anything else at the moment. It wasn't too long a wait as just a few minutes later, there was a knocking on the inside of the doors.
"You may enter." They were told as the doors were pushed open again with Hanna ushering them inside on the other side. They didn't ask questions, just prepared themselves as this was as inside as they could get and lined up to enter.
First inside was Zetsu and immediately, she took note of the smallish chamber with a high ceiling which was being backlit by torches. Not an ideal to start a fight but it'd have to do. There were several women socializing with one another dressed in diminishing degrees of clothing, slaves or women of the night, unknown. In the midst of all of it was a crumbling, stone throne with a blue-haired woman seated on it, decked out in whatever and all gold jewelry she must've dug up in the ruins. One could guess this to be Aurora. Konan was in after and finally, Orochimaru.
This mission had gone as perfectly as it could've gone. So, leave it to the very end for something to go catastrophically wrong, and catastrophically wrong it went.
It was after three women packed inside that Aurora, having been distracted by Hanna, looked to her newest members that instantly, her cerulean eyes expanded three sizes larger and she slammed her hands onto her throne as she thrusted herself out of it. "Hanna, you absolutely imbecile! You've brought a man here!?"
At first, Zetsu feared she may be talking of her due to her lack of femininity and boyish looks and so, may have sabotaged this entire mission. But that wasn't the case as instead of pointing the finger at Zetsu, it was pointed at Orochimaru. Immediately, Orochimaru's face darkened, even through the white make-up caked on in and the sneer she made cracked the foundation. If Zetsu wasn't going to puke before due to the height of the mountain, she may now from the way the Sannin's chakra made the atmosphere rancid.
"What the fuck did you just say to me?" She asked darkly and even Faskom reacted to his master's emotions as he puffed up his feathers, clinging them together like coins and hissing.
From there, everything went to shit.
The watchwomen barged into the chamber, spears directed at the Akatsuki while the other women, instead of attacking, panicked and tried to flee, confirming them to be pretty faces and not the likes of protection. The first casualty was Hanna herself, skewered in the back by her own leader with a scimitar as Aurora castigated the dying women for bringing the likes of Orochimaru, the Sannin into her domain. Konan and Zetsu managed the guardians while Orochimaru went head-to-head with Aurora, taking the flagrant misgendering as an execution legal crime.
By the time Konan and Zetsu had dispatched the sentries, more members came flooding in, armed and prepared to draw blood for their organization and lady. From there, the fighting spilt out into the hallway. There women weren't dumb either as close-range hitters took on the Akatsuki women while long-ranger snipers took pot shots at them with arrows or elemental jutsu. There were even medics present which ran to heal whomever they could so they could jump back into the battle. It was decided Konan fight long-range with long-range while Zetsu countered the short-range. Eventually, after Konan had taken out the snipers and the medics, hiding amidst the chaos, Zetsu went through picking off those who remained. Unfortunately, at one point, one of the women had landed a punch to her face, breaking the sunglasses in the process.
"Sir's going to kill me!" She moaned, plucking the broken pieces of lens off the floor before having to abandon the effort as reinforcements came surging up the stairwell.
Konan flew out one of the windows to lure them back outside while Zetsu ambushed the mercenaries in the flight of steps, pushing them backwards into the courtyard where Konan was, effectively pincering them between the two women.
During this, Orochimaru had finished up with Aurora, grumbling as she brushed the blood from the sequins of her dress which only smeared it. "That bitch, daring to call me a man, hmph. I'll have her know; I've been a woman longer than she was alive! Sexier too!"
"Umm, help?" Zetsu called, having spied the dawdling woman.
"Hmm? Oh yes, yes! I'm coming, darling." With Orochimaru's help, she and Zetsu emptied out the stairwell.
Outside, Konan dispatched the stragglers and whomever else was idiotic enough to face her with Orochimaru and Zetsu hunting down anyone left who may be hiding or trying an ambush. As they did, Zetsu ended up stumbling into a treasure room of a type as it was piled high with weapons, armour and whatever over material items they group must've pillaged off the male organizations they had assassinated. Not only that, but she found something else—something worrying.
"Umm…" She mumbled to Orochimaru who was just down the hallway, checking the other rooms for anyone hiding out. "Should do something about this?"
Curious, the older woman walked over, only to find the thing the girl was pointing at was in fact a very, very large egg situated in the middle of the room, nestled in a makeshift nest of coin and jewelry. Someone had even topped it with a crown. "Hmm, I don't thin—" She was interrupted however, by the loud ringing of a bell.
They left to investigate the source and met outside with Konan who was staring up at a bell tower which extended itself from the chamber the Femme Fatale's leader was set up in. Inside, one of Aurora's injured slaves was chiming the large, brass bell. She did so until bleeding out after which, she fell over and out of the tower, dead before her lifeless body struck the ground with a bloody spatter.
Orochimaru scratched her chin. "Hmm, I must've missed one."
"What do you think she was doing with the bell?" Zetsu inquired, looking to the others. "Calling for reinforcements?"
Before any of them could speculate, however, a deafening shriek perforated their eardrums, making them flinch and shield their ears from the noise. They looked to the sky where it had originated only to see something giant flying through the clouds and barreling towards them, only having seconds to get out of the way. Once they did, the creature slammed into yard where they once stood causing more of it to collapse down the mountain side.
"Is that…a griffin!?" Zetsu gasped, recognizing the winged loin-este monster from her childhood fantasy books. Wait, if griffons were real, then whatelse was?
"Who dares intrude upon my nest!?" The griffon roared, cleaving its talons through the soil and spanning out its wings. It was then it noticed the bloodshed as bodies laid peppered about it and narrowed its piercing eyes. "I should have known better than to leave the wellbeing of my child to the likes of humans!"
"What do we do now?" Konan whispered since they were basically backed into a corner or between a griffin and a hard place.
"It must think we want its egg when we don't. Maybe we can explain that to it?" Zetsu suggested. Afterall, she didn't want to fight such a mythical creature, despite the fact it may or may not kill them.
"Where are you!? Show yourselves or I'll tear this place down, brick by brick until I find you!"
Before it had a chance to make good on that threat, the Akatsuki stumbled out of their hiding place with their hands up in surrender. The griffin glared at each of them but before they could defend themselves, its yellow eyes landed on Orochimaru who had trying to hide her face behind her hands but failed. The chimera gasped.
"A Nāga! Come for my egg, have you, egg eater!?"
Orochimaru gasped back at it, a hand at her chest from the insult. "I do not such thing! How brash!"
The gryphon flipped its wings, the gust of wind sending them flying back and crashing against the stone wall of the castle, leaving them gasping for breath as the oxygen was thrusted from their lungs. They weren't given an opening to recover either as the griffin was on them, clawing at the stone structure they were under while screaming. Konan casted her jutsu and bombarded the loin-bird hybrid with paper shurikens but its feathers and fur proved too thick to be penetrated so they harmless bounced off it and fluttered to the ground. Before a second attempt could be tried, the griffon launched itself off the structure and took to the sky where it circled overhead as it searched for a better area of attack.
"Either of you ladies wouldn't happen to know Raiton so we may clip this birdbrain's wings?" Orochimaru called to them which earned a universal shaking of the head. "Brilliant, neither do I."
"So, what do we do? My paper didn't affect it."
"I can't use jutsu and I don't think my Mayfly or taijutsu'll can do anything to it."
"Hmm, I cannot poison it with Faskom either. He may suffocate before he gets through its pelt. And I hesitate to summon any others as they may take us down with the whole bloody mountain."
Suddenly, Zetsu had an idea, as so expressed with a gasp and snapping of her fingers. "Wait! It just wants its egg, right? It can't attack us if we have it so what if we use it to lure it down?"
Orochimaru clapped her hands. "Oh, brilliant idea, Zetsu, darling!"
"If we're going to do that, then let's do it now while it's flying." Konan interjected, sticking her neck out, figuratively and literally as she looked out to see where it was in its cycle.
Once it was in a position it could not see them, they hurried to the treasure room where Zetsu initially found the egg. At the perfect time too as the griffon crashed itself into where they were once standing, scraping at the rock into shaving its fearsome talons and battering the castle with its wings, causing the crumbling building to crumble further, including the room they were in as pieces of ceiling and dust rained down on them. They tried pushing the egg through the doorway but even with the three of them and all their strength combined, it didn't budge. Konan next used her paper to lift it up, but even that had no effect. Not even Zetsu could move it by coming underneath it with her Mayfly. It was just too large and too heavy to be located elsewhere.
"It's no use, it isn't going anywhere." Konan sighed, the sweat dribbling from her hairline washing her eyeliner and eyeshadow down her face in dark streaks. "We can't stay here with it either, not with its parent bringing the castle down on us."
"Whatelse can we do? We can't fight it and we can't run from it. There must be something." Zetsu interjected, sitting down to catch her breath. Orochimaru, meanwhile, was silent as she was deep in thought.
Finally, she let out a grandiose sigh. "Well, there is one thing," She hinted, gathering the immediate attention of the other females. "But I hesitate to do it because you all may think so ill of me for it."
"Why?" As soon as that left Konan's mouth, the griffon drummed itself against the castle again, causing even more of the ceiling to fall in overhead until it threatened to collapse altogether. "You know what? Nevermind. Just do whatever you have to! Quick!"
"Very well. Just, try not to look."
Outside, the gryphon had taken flight again to wind itself up for another and last strike on the artifact when something caught its eye. It was egg and not only that, but it was in the jaws of a large, white snake. However, before it could dive in to snatch its unborn child from the predator, the snake gulped it down, the outline of the egg visible as it slid down the serpent's throat then disappearing down the length of its wiggling body.
"No!" It shrieked and divebombed at the snake, the talons spread open in preparation to tear it asunder to retrieve its offspring before it had a chance to be digested. Instead of fleeing, the snake smiled at it.
Just as the griffin was to impact it, the snake lunged, intersected jaws catching it by the neck, and it was slammed to the ground. The chimera wasn't given the chance at freedom as the serpent coiled itself around it, immobilizing its upper limbs and wings. The griffon kicked at it with its back legs, clawing off the smaller, wriggling snakes that made up the larger reptile and cawed as its bones were pulverized into dust by the immense pressure. As a last resort, it tried thrashing harder, casting feathers and fur everywhere but that did nothing, especially as the snake bit down harder onto its neck through its mane, one of its jaws crushing its jugular. It clicked its beak in its last seconds then laid still, having suffocated to death. The snake disentangled itself from its prey, spitting out the fur caught its fangs. The last thing it did was regurgitate the egg it had swallowed and spat it out over the cliffside where it fell down the mountain until there was the echo of it smashing at the bottom.
"Ok, you may look again."
Konan and Zetsu, having been inside the treasure room the entire time with their eyes covered as instructed, dropped their hands to look at Orochimaru who was looking flustered as she fixed her hair and adjusted her dress where it was crinkled on her hips.
"Neither of you saw anything, did you?" She asked, nervously smiling, and plucking stray strands of black hair from her face, the white foundation of which was starting to melt off, exhibiting the pale skin underneath. Zetsu and Konan looked at each other.
"I did." Zetsu confessed with Konan nodding to confirm also, much to Orochimaru's horror as she gasped.
"Oh! I do not like people seeing me like that! So minging and plug-ugly!"
"I don't know, I thought it was interesting." Zetsu shrugged off Faskom who Orochimaru left in the care of and handed him back to her.
"Wasn't the worst thing I've seen." Konan muttered then turned to look at the dead griffon with her hands on her hips. "I can't say this is how I saw this mission ending either." Zetsu nodded to second that and Orochimaru thirding that.
"I say we get back then. I don't know about you, but I'm knackered." Neither other women knew what that meant but they were inclined to agree.
…
Back in Ame, Konan parted ways to turn in the mission for them while Orochimaru and Zetsu walked back to the manor together.
"I don't know about you, but that mission was exhilarating," Orochimaru said while Zetsu looked over the sunglasses as she tried to think of way to explain herself to Kakuzu for breaking them after he didn't even know they had been taken. "I haven't been challenged like that since the likes of Hanzō. Hmm, or the Mayfly!"
"The Mayfly?" Zetsu uttered without thinking, giving up on a lie and deciding that honesty was the best policy and she'd take whatever punishment Kakuzu had for her.
"Yes, during the Second World War, when we marched on Kusagakure."
It was that inclusion of new information that caused Zetsu stop dead in her tracks. Orochimaru, noticing this, paused too and looked at her curiously. "You marched on Kusa? When? I've never heard or—or read about that!"
Orochimaru, realizing her fatal little slip up, her eyes grew large and she turned abruptly with a hand over her painted lips. "I should not have said that. I should not have said that." She muttered as she walked hastily away to leave but Zetsu was on her trail.
"Wait! Why were you at Kusa? Was it to do with the Mayfly's disappearance?" Zetsu pleaded until getting in front of her and cutting off her direct route of escape. "Please! I just want to know."
"Oh, darling, I cannot tell you that. I'd have to kill you."
"Why? Because it has to do with the Mayfly's extinction?" Orochimaru didn't reply to that but the way she glanced elsewhere but Zetsu spoke volumes. "Please, I just want to know the truth of my bloodline. I won't tell anyone, I promise!" She stared at the Sannin, eyes large and glistening.
After a minute of the standoff, Orochimaru submitted to the infinite power that was, "Zetsu Eyes", proving not even a human god could withstand them. "Very well," She sighed much to Zetsu's elation. "But you are to tell no one of what I am to tell you. Otherwise, I'll have to seal your tongue and it'd be a shame not to be able to speak a word of your Kekkei Genaki, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, I promise. You have my word."
Orochimaru gifted her a laboured smile as she perked her upper lip over a canine. "Meet with me in my room tonight and I'll tell you everything about the Mayfly."
"Everything?"
"Everything."
…
AN: Holy moly was this a chonker of a chapter. It went on a lot longer than I originally planned but once I get to writing, I can't stop sometimes. That, I really, really wanted to get to the next chapter because holy shit, as you could've guessed, it's going to be huge in terms of plot. So much so, the next three chapters are going to be dedicated to it so buckle in.
Chapter Fun Fact(s): This chapter was based on a mission in Dragon's Dogma. In it, there's a band of female bandits that hide out in an old castle on a mountain. You can take female characters up there, but you have to be a female yourself or if you are male or have a male pawn with you, you have to dress them as a woman. Otherwise, the female bandits will attack you on sight. You can do missions for them in which you're tasked with killing male bandit members and there's a group of them residing in an old building off a winding path that attack you if you try passing them. They didn't have a griffon though, but they did have a cyclops that could club you off the mountain to fall to your death. Hated that thing.
Next Chapter: The Truth of the Mayfly.
Until Next Time.