A/N: Not in the mood for speaking. That's why this chapter is being published late. Enjoy.
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Konan
Based on the scant information Itachi had brought back, Konan tentatively concluded that Sakumo's group was well and healthy. So she turned her attention to her mysterious, probably vampiric new contact. She messaged them a greeting, of course. It was only proper manners. Then she explained in greater detail what her group's plans were. This required her to describe who they were planning against. Konan found herself running calculations to determine how easily one could use her descriptions to identify Tobi/Madara/whatever his real name was in case he turned out to be harmless. Her stomach soured. Why am I going to such effort to protect the man who killed me?
Soye responded promptly. We will require a physical description so that this person may be slaughtered whenever they appear.
Konan sighed. It is likely that his world clone will be harmless. I do not want an innocent man to be slaughtered for a crime that was technically committed by someone else.
Why do you want to protect a dangerous criminal?
Not a dangerous criminal. An innocent. If he carries out similar activities as his original, I will gladly turn over to you every bit of information I have.
By the time you know whether he is dangerous or not, he will have infiltrated the ranks of the vampires if he's as good as you claim.
Konan exhaled slowly through her nose. There are risks. Yet I must take them.
Why?
He was a member of my group.
Konan put her phone down and sighed. That would allow him to be identified very easily. The vampires would know who he was as soon as he attended the first backyard meeting. Hopefully the size of the target she'd just painted on his back was countered by increased willingness to let him be on Soye's part.
The reply she eventually received was not reassuring in the slightest. I see. Nothing more was said after that.
Konan's mind threatened to fill with all of the negative scenarios that phrase could indicate, so she fled her room in search of Hidan. He would keep her grounded. She found him in the backyard, reattempting to spar with Kakuzu. It was going well so far. Kakuzu was flexibly shifting his iron skin around to different areas of his body, and Hidan was maneuvering quickly in an effort to surprise him. Kakuzu must have been spending chakra to increase his speed. It was worth it in a fight against someone like Hidan.
Hidan sprang away from Kakuzu, ending the fight. "I'm getting too into this," he said. Kakuzu nodded. Of course; if he gets too excited, he may accidentally channel chakra into his scythe. That would probably make it capable of cutting through Kakuzu's iron skin.
Konan came down from the porch. "Just as well. May I borrow you for a few minutes?"
"Sure." Hidan sat on the porch. Kakuzu walked into the forest. She had planned to go inside, but since nobody was in earshot the porch should be a safe enough place. Konan sat beside him. Hidan lay his scythe down carefully and yawned. "Ahh. I'm so fucking into this. I should have suggested we learn martial arts together a long time ago. Why didn't I?"
"The quantity of things that are only obvious in hindsight cannot be described."
Hidan growled. "So what'd you wanna borrow me for?"
"I need you to prevent me from spiraling into anxiety. I have just revealed to the vampires an extremely obvious identifier that will make it easy to for them to spot the man from my world who we have been making plans against. However, that information might also make her more willing to hold back from killing him, at least for a little while. Did I do the right thing?"
"Would that little while be enough time for you to do anything?"
"Yes. Do not ask me what I mean by this, but it can only occur at such a time as I have control over the situation. So in that delay, I will be able to find out conclusively if he is or is not harmless."
"Then yeah. Totally worth it."
Konan sighed. "Thank you."
"What are you gonna do about your other problem?" Hidan asked.
"My other problem?"
"The fact that you can barely talk about him with anyone else. How are you gonna make plans all alone when you can't tell even me enough about him for me to help?"
Konan rubbed her forehead. "I am aware. This need to calculate what I can afford to reveal… It is tiring. I find myself hoping he shows up soon so I can put an end to it. So I can finally know what the truth is. So I can stop wondering why I am spending so much effort to protect the man who killed me."
Hidan put an arm around her shoulder. "I got an answer for that."
"You do?"
"You're a protector. An angel. Protecting innocent people is what you do."
Konan stared at him. That was the exact opposite of everything she believed about herself. But she was unwilling to challenge him, and as she considered his words a set of long-buried memories rose to the surface. Wasn't that what she had wanted to be in the beginning? Wasn't that what she and Nagato and Yahiko had proclaimed that they were? Wasn't that what they used to do? A long time ago, before…
A phantom rope tugged at her wrists. She brought her hands into her lap to banish it.
Kakuzu came out of the forest. "Are you done borrowing him?"
"Yes," Konan replied. Hidan took his arm off her shoulder and picked up his scythe. As he and Kakuzu resumed their fight, Konan wondered about time. Time seemed to be an immutable force, destroying all that came before in a way that could never be undone. But was that true? Or was it possible to turn back time, to reverse all that had been done until the original substance was recreated in all of its purity? Can I go back to before that day?
She had never dared to wish for that before. This new hope opened up worlds for her. In her mind, she saw the sun rising on a distant glowing horizon. If I can, what will I do with it?
Sasori
His workshop would have looked like chaos to anyone else. To Sasori, it was perfect. It was a living, breathing system, where everything moved into place depending on where it was needed. He perceived the arrangement of the tables as an extension of his own mind. Like a spider's web. Hadn't he read somewhere that a spider's web could be thought of as an external brain of sorts? He made chakra netting and observed the similarities between it and a spider's web. Maybe spiders were what he emulated.
In the shed, time did not exist. There were only endless arrangements and rearrangements. When he had to consult his laptop for how to install a certain part, which he did frequently, the clock in the bottom right corner annoyed him at first. Then, as he got deeper into the flow, he ceased to notice it.
The shed was much quieter than the auto shop. It was cleaner. Not one thing touched his skin that he did not intend. It smelled nicer; all wood and sweat and age. Its lighting was gentler. In other words, it was heaven.
He tested the cable mechanisms in the legs again. He did not know how many times he had already done this. He did not know how many more times he would do it in the future. Using his strings to control the leg, they worked well enough. He began to attach metal plates to the legs.
He had many thoughts for the body. First and foremost, it was modeled after a beetle. But something this big and heavy obviously would never fly. That left a lot of room for alternative possibilities. Perhaps he could attach a shield to its back to hide behind? Or something to spring him through the air? Or maybe just thicker armor - he would never want something to happen to his creation, after all. Bugbear. His name is Bugbear. Sasori smiled.
He nearly had the inside of the body all figured out. His problem was figuring out what to put in it. Such a massive body had to contain something, but what? Poison? Nah, not my style. Shockers? I'm the source of all the electricity, so that would drain my chakra. But it would allow me to use my chakra to shock my enemies, which is an ability I currently don't have. Hmm. He had already run wires beneath the cables in the legs. The wires led to where the claws would attach. He had the battery on the same table as the legs, ready to be hooked up to them for testing purposes. He planned to attach the claws and then call Hidan. But the amount of extra wiring he would need inside the body was very little, so this didn't solve his main problem.
He had designed redundant systems in case Bugbear was damaged. Extra thick armor. But it couldn't be too thick, because Bugbear needed to be able to support his own weight. Air pockets? Absolutely not. Air pockets inside a metal structure mean areas of potential insurrection. I need to fill him with something. But what?
Sasori had had a brainwave that morning. Deidara had mentioned that Laurie was coming over today for sparring. That got Sasori thinking about Deidara, then about Deidara's spiders, and before he knew it he was designing interior compartments that could contain and deploy storage seals. Many of said seals would have to be empty for now because he had no other puppets. But some of them could be filled with ordinary materials, like sand to make a slick surface easier to walk on or a chemical that would react violently with another chemical when they were released in combination, like a bombardier beetle. Storage seals! That was the key! Using them, he could fill Bugbear's body with literally anything.
After attaching metal plates over the most sensitive parts of the legs, Sasori added the claws. They were just pointy bits of metal, newly hollowed out so a wire could run inside. He squirted in a quick-hardening resin to insulate the claws from the rest of the body, then delicately used tweezers to fit the exposed end of the wire into the hole and slot the claw in place. This procedure was repeated for the rest of the claws; 3 per foot. He picked up his phone and called Hidan. "Hey, Hidan, I need to electrocute you for a bit."
"Okay!" A couple of minutes later, Hidan knocked politely on the door of the shed. He sat down on the stool in the corner and removed his cloak. "I've never been shocked before. Let's see what it's like!"
Sasori attached the leg wires to the battery. He took one of Nagato's black rods from his pocket. My rods, now. They're attuned to my chakra. He had not hooked up the motor to the battery, so he had to pick up the leg and press the claws into Hidan's skin. Then he picked up his rod, channeled chakra through it and sent a burst of electricity through the leg.
Hidan's breath froze in his chest. His eyes grew distant. A few seconds later, he blinked and forced himself to breathe again. "Whoally shit."
"All right," Sasori said, smiling. He returned the leg to the table and unhooked it from the battery. "I need to check all of the legs, mind you."
"Okay," Hidan said. "I'll wait here. It was like…" He put a hand on his chin and made a thinking face. "Like all of a sudden half my body decided to do stuff without me. And my mind, too. They were just totally ignoring me, the assfaces."
Sasori repeated the same procedure for all the legs, testing each leg as soon as it was completed. Hidan got shocked each time. "Now that I know what it's like, I don't think I like this," he said.
"Is your heart still beating?" Sasori asked.
"Yeah, but it's not happy."
"Eh, you're immortal. You'd do fine without it. If it helps, I can pay you for your services."
"How much?"
"Two gyros."
"And a box of soft shell tacos."
"And a small box of soft shell tacos."
"And potato wedges from that chicken place."
Sasori looked up the various menus online. "You are costing me 60 dollars. Four electrical shocks, fifteen dollars a shock…" He drummed his fingers on the table. "You do have a monopoly on the guinea pig market, since you're the only person around who's immortal, so I'll consider that rate acceptable." He checked the time on his laptop. "It's a good time for a break anyway. I'll go with Deidara and get it now."
Deidara and Laurie had arrived and were chatting with Kakuzu. Kakuzu told her he had just called Nagato and Yahiko, and they were on their way back from the sunning place now. Itachi was sadly not available for at least an hour or two. "Oh, right, because of that thing," Deidara remembered. "Well, Itachi has those eyes, so he would be out of your league anyway unless he held back. Nagato and Yahiko are the ones who really need it, yeah."
"Excellent," Sasori said. "Dei, I need to borrow you. More precisely, your owl." When they had gone some distance away from the others so he would not be besieged by orders, he told Deidara how he had promised to pay for Hidan's services.
Deidara's stomach made sounds. "I'll pay the difference for a large box of tacos," he said.
"Acceptable. Don't tell anyone or they will all hate me."
Yahiko
Laurie had decided to pretend she was their instructor, apparently. She had them stand next to each other, back straight and heads up, and asked them what they knew already of martial arts. Kakuzu watched from the porch, smirking.
"It is an important component of many eastern religions," Nagato answered, "practiced as a form of spiritual communion with the universe. Can be used to defend yourself, but that's not the main purpose."
"Correct!" Laurie said. "This is not a class on how to beat up your enemies. What I am teaching you is control over yourself."
Really? I learned all that at the same time as Nagato, but didn't really understand until just now. Yahiko relaxed. He had been less than enthusiastic about interrupting his healing practice to learn fighting moves. But according to her, that wasn't what he was doing. Control over myself. That sounds nice.
Laurie had them spar against each other just to show her what they could do. Yahiko and Nagato had little idea how to fight, so they just threw themselves at each other and hoped their bodies would know what to do. They did. It was a strange feeling, being possessed by one's own muscle memory. Yahiko gasped as he reflexively threw a punch that Nagato reflexively dodged. I'm not in control of my own actions! Is this what Hidan feels like? They kept sparring until neither of them could take it anymore. At that point, they staged coups for control over their own bodies and jumped back, shaking.
"That was freaky and weird," Nagato said. "We'd better practice until that doesn't happen anymore."
"Agreed," Yahiko panted. "Laurie, um, our bodies know how to fight but we don't. Can you start with the basics?"
She showed them proper form for a punch, stances, basic blocks, how to kick and how not to, etc. Nagato and Yahiko tested them on each other. This time, there was no unnerving feeling of possession. They were both able to relax and enjoy it. As they learned to work with their muscle memory instead of fearing it, their fighting improved significantly with no actual change to their skill level.
Laurie joined in, sparring with one or both of them, whatever she felt up to. Yahiko discovered, to his shock, that he was better than Nagato. Laurie repeatedly asked Nagato, "Do you have legs?" Nagato blushed and admitted that he did. He was obviously trying, but struggled to maneuver well. He blamed this on needing to stay still to use his push and pull jutsus effectively. Laurie had him practice his blocks, and he was significantly better at those.
When they all got too hot and tired to continue, they joined Kakuzu on the porch. He shook his head. "You two could never be pure muscle or weapons specialists the way Hidan and I are. You need jutsu to keep up. It's obvious."
"I agree," Nagato said. "I don't feel right, not using my push or pull jutsus."
"I feel like I'm just not…enough. I mean, like, I can move around, block and throw a punch. But my blocks aren't blocky enough and my punches aren't strong enough and I can't move fast enough. It feels like all of that is missing something."
"Water," Nagato said. He touched one cheek. "Speaking of which, I've never tasted anything so delicious. I must be dehydrated."
"Practicing without using your magic is still probably good for something," Laurie muttered.
"Yeah, I'm sure it is," Yahiko told her. "Thank you!" She smiled.
"I could probably combine it," Nagato said. "What would happen if I used push or pull techniques while moving? Could I use my own body as a gravitational slingshot? That would be really cool if I could."
"Let's try it! When we're not tired."
Much use was made of their storage seals. "Gotta resupply over dinner," Yahiko said while chewing on a brownie. "Needs more vegetables in the mix."
"I agree," Nagato said. "I vote for broccoli."
"That's exactly what I'm craving!"
They high fived each other. Laurie congratulated them on their healthful tastes. Kakuzu seemed surprised. As Nagato was describing to Laurie what they had stocked their seals with so far, Hidan came up. Nagato cut himself off midsentence. "What the hell?"
Hidan hadn't put his cloak back on. "Helping Sasori test some shockers," he chirped. He wiped a trace of something off the corner of his mouth. "Totally worth it. Didja miss me?"
"No," Kakuzu said.
"Aw."
Deidara bounced in after him and asked Laurie, "Are you guys done training? How'd it go, yeah?"
News was shared both ways. Hidan voted for broccoli, which was enough for everyone to consider the decision made. It was published in the group chat: We're adding vegetables to the food seals tonight. 3 of us have voted for broccoli, so that's what everyone's getting.
Kisame replied, Thank the gods. I'm all for a dinner planned by other people. You guys are not going to believe the day I've had.
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A/N: Loving these new action-centered chapters. Looking forward to more of them.