"Something wrong?"
I stared out in the direction of Sunagakure.
Something wrong?
Oh no Jiraiya, everything is wrong.
"Yeah."
Eight Hearts.
Six of which, I had seen before.
Sasori. Itachi. Deidara. Kisame and Samehada.
Tobi.
"The Akatsuki."
"Again?" Jiraiya asked. "It's barely been a week."
"There's seven of them."
He paused.
"Oh."
Could I stop that?
Myself and Gaara up against seven of the Akatsuki...
No. I wouldn't be able to stop that. I wouldn't be able to stop them from taking Gaara.
But I was still going to try.
"Get back to Konoha. I'm going to go help Gaara."
"Wa-"
"Gaara."
The sand twisted and writhed, Gaara only barely being able to stop himself from lashing out.
"The Akatsuki are coming from the west. There are seven of them." He blinked at me. "You might want to confront them before they get into the village itself."
Seven of the Akatsuki in one village?
Nothing good could come from that.
The collateral alone...
"Do be quick about it."
I pressed my left pauldron.
Let's see if I can't buy him some time.
I appeared suddenly, mid punch, directly in front of a speeding Itachi Uchiha.
I caught a glimpse of his eyes widening before he moved, shifting just to the side and dodging my punch.
A moment later, the concentrated gravity pulse slammed into his face, a delightful crack coming as his nose broke, drawing a grunt of pain from him.
I spun, summoning a blade of Darkness into my hand as I attempted to exploit his surprise, aim for a quick decapitation strike-
One which was unsuccessful, as Itachi ducked underneath my Blade and leapt back once he was clear, spinning in mid-air and landing on another sand dune.
"Amaterasu." Itachi stated.
Black flames blossomed over my Armour, burning with dangerous, unnatural heat.
I lunged, completely ignoring the flames.
I leapt, bringing my Blade down-
A massive pulse of power slammed into me, launching me away from Itachi and slamming me into a sand dune, partially burying me in the sand.
I teleported out, turning to look at-
Pein.
Yahiko's walking corpse.
Seven Hearts. An odd number.
Oh.
Oh.
Yahiko's corpse didn't have a Heart. I couldn't sense it.
"I'll admit, I didn't expect that."
I rose to my full height, the flames of Amaterasu still burning around my Armour.
"Gravity manipulation..." I stared at him.
I could... kind of see the threads of Nagato's Chakra, but they weren't very... distinct.
I glanced to the side, noting that Deidara and Sasori were still heading off in the direction of Sunagakure -where a massive mountain of sand was currently building up-, but the other six members of the Akatsuki were still here.
Oh.
"Did you all come out for little ol' me?"
"You're funny." Tobi happily informed me, his voice light and childish.
I turned to look at him, my helmet pointed directly at him.
"Ah, it's you. The other part of the two that tried to kill the Uchiha clan. It's been a good... seven years since the last time I saw you."
"Heh. Looks like somebody has been keeping secrets." Kisame -why was a fish man in a desert?- laughed.
He pulled Samehada off of his back, and pointed the massive, bulky sword at me.
I held my other hand out, another blade of Darkness extending outwards.
This would not be an easy fight.
"What was it that you said last time, Kisame?" I asked. "That the next time we met, you would kill me?"
He grinned, his Heart bursting with bloodlust.
"Yeah. That was it. And you, three years ago, said that you would rip my heart out of my chest and my soul out of my body."
Oh good. He did remember that.
The fires of Amaterasu spread along my twin Blades, slowly burning.
A moment later, the flames suddenly winked out, the Amaterasu vanishing with the same suddenness that it had appeared with.
I shot a glance to Itachi, noting that his eye was bleeding.
"Konan." Pein -The Deva Path, Yahiko's walking corpse- spoke. "Are the preparations ready?"
"Yes." Konan nodded. Paper wings were beginning to build up on her back, lots and lots of square pieces coming and merging together.
"Preparations? I wonder what you have planned..." Well, whatever it was, I'd be watching.
I looked over to the last member of the group.
Hidan.
He was staring at me, his face betraying absolutely no expression. His Heart was similarly cold, with no strong emotions in it at all.
That... was not the Hidan that I remembered.
His Soul was interesting- it seemed as if it was bound to his Body by ethereal chains, anchored in place.
Soul-binding Immortality. Too many of those idiots. Him first.
Him first.
I teleported, stabbing at Hidan with my Blade, who brought up his scythe to block.
Predictably, that didn't end well.
I cut right through his scythe, my Blade digging into his chest.
He stumbled back, and I brought the other Blade up and stabbed it into his stomach.
I idly noted that the other members of the Akatsuki were scrambling away, moving away and expanding into a circle.
Hidan growled as he reached up, gripping the sides of my Blade and pulling it out of him. "Abomination."
I blinked. "Interesting that you would call me that, Jashinist."
I pushed back, digging the Blade back into his chest.
The fuck where the other members of the Akatsuki doing?
They appeared to just be watching, but...
Doesn't matter.
Whatever it is, it poses no threat to me.
He reached into his cloak, pulling out his extendable... spear thing.
"They say that you're immortal, Jashinist."
"Jashin-sama's blessing." He grinned. "Pein says that you're immortal, abomination. I'll guess we'll be seeing which one of us is correct."
My head tilted to the side as he stabbed at me, the retractable spear scraping off of my Armour with a metallic shriek.
"Is that really the best that you have, Jashinist?" I asked. "Because if it is, let me show you what I can do."
My Blade retracted into my hand, right before I summoned the Proof of Courage.
His Soul seems bound to his body.
I wonder what happens when something breaks the bindings.
"Hidan?" I made sure that he was paying attention to me. "Die."
I stabbed-
Hidan screamed-
Lightning crackled-
And the chains broke.
So assured of their immortality. Up until you kill them.
Hidan slumped over, held up by my other Blade and the Proof of Courage.
Hmm.
That was easier than I thought it would be.
I let the Proof of Courage vanish, and remade the previous Blade.
I looked to the right.
And a moment later, I appeared in front of the other members of the Akatsuki, dropping Hidan's corpse to the ground next to me.
"One down. Seven to go."
Kisame gave a grin. "Too late."