Chapter Text
The thing about the Northern hideout is that it's the most dangerous one out of all of them. Orochimaru’s most dangerous test subjects were locked away here, and we had to find Jugo amongst the hundreds of cells. However, with Karin and me here, finding him wouldn’t be that hard. On the way to the hideout Karin and Suigetsu still bickered here and there and Suigetsu kept wanting to stop to rest, not used to walking since being stuck in a tube.
As we got closer to the hideout Suigetsu stopped again irritating Karin and I noticed that there was nobody around which was strange. “Where’s the guy who is on watch?” I ask nobody in particular to catch everyone’s attention. “You're right that’s strange.” Karin said and we found the watchmen severely injured close to death but still breathing.
“What happened?” I asked him.
“Kentai?” He recognized me and glanced at the others. “Help me. I-It all started with the rumors that Orochimaru was dead. The prisoners went wild At this rate-” These end up being his last words as he dies and his body lays lifeless. Examining his body I notice a curse mark on him in the second state.
“Guess we better hurry.” I said and we continued to the hideout finding dead guards and escaped prisoners everywhere.
“Guess there's no way we can tell which one is Jugo. Eh, Sasuke?” Suigetsu said.
“Karin, is Jugo among them?” Sasuke asked her, pointing at a group of prisoners.
“He’s not.” I answer and she glares at me. “I believe Sasuke asked me!” She says annoyed.
“And I have eyes none of them are Jugo.” I headed off in the direction I remember Jugo’s cell last being; Suigetsu and Sasuke following me.
“What a pain! Just wait a bit!” she said frustrated as she caught up with us.
“Karin which way?” Sasuke asked Karin as we got to a hall with a left turn.
“Why're you ordering me around, huh?” She said annoyed.
“Can you just hurry and check? That's the ability you pride yourself on, right?” Suigetsu said, pissing her off and she pointed straight ahead.
“That way.” I raise an eyebrow at her knowing that Jugo wasn’t that way sensing his chakra myself but say nothing. I followed Suigetsu and let her underestimate me for a while longer. Suigetsu never notices that they aren’t with us and I split off from him and let him figure out on his own that he’s not going the right way. I beat Sasuke and Karin to Jugo’s cell and wait for them to show up arms crossed leaning against the prison stone walls.
Growing impatient I decide to open his cell door but stop as I hear them approaching and Karin freezes when they turn the corner. “What but how-” She starts to stutter and I smirk arrogantly at her.
“Did you forget? I also have sensory abilities. I may not have been born with them like you but they’ll do.” I said and she glared at me going red in the face. “It’ll be years before I let you get one over on me.”
“Where’s Suigetsu?” Sasuke asked me and I shrugged.
“Probably still wandering somewhere just now realizing Karin messed with him.” I activate my sharigan and start to open Jugo’s cell door but Sasuke stops me and insists on opening it himself. Karin and I step back and let him open it and when he does Jugo in his impulsive killer state bursts out of the cell with a ball and chain around his ankle attacking Sasuke and slamming him back into the wall.
“This is what I was afraid of.” I said as I placed my hands on the floor to manipulate the stone around us to wrap around Jugo halting his movements. As the dust clears we see Jugo trapped in the stone and Sasuke in his half-curse mark state blocking Jugo’s attack.
“Now, now Jugo calm down. We’re here to release you” I reason and Sasuke agrees he’s only here to talk.
“Release me?”
“That’s right, I’m here to take you out of here.” Jugo laughs manically at our words insisting that he can’t leave since Kimimaro is gone. He breaks himself out of the stone and charges towards me and I quickly evade him moving further down the hall.
Changing my approach I use my sharigan and attempt to trap him again this time in wood and as I do, I wait for him to make eye contact with me so I can trap him under a genjutsu until he calms down. Doing well to avoid the wood he continues attacking me and I continue evading them causing the walls around us to collapse. Better to take this fight elsewhere to avoid the hallway collapsing I lure him away.
As I try to distance myself from Jugo, I can hear the ball and chain he’s dragging along behind me and quicken my pace. Coming across some stairs I go up them in an attempt to lose him but he keeps up. Glancing behind me I see him manipulate his arm preparing to attack me again and start to use my curse mark to use my body to block his attack. As his attack is almost a hair away from connecting a blade suddenly blocks it and an arm around my waist pulls me behind them. Confused I looked over expecting Sasuke but was surprised to see Suigetsu.
“Oh it's you.” I removed myself from his arm
“Not the thank you, I was looking for but I’ll take it.”
“Sorry, I was expecting Sasuke.” I shrug.
“I swear you and that woman when it comes to Sasuke.” He mutters.
“Don’t compare me to her-”
“You, who are you?” Jugo asks catching our attention and we focus back on him.
“Stay out of the way Suigetsu, I can handle this.”
“Right. Suigetsu we’ve fought before. I remember now.” Jugo said preparing to fight him and Suigetsu got ready for another attack. “Stop, Suigetsu.” Sasuke orders as he appears along with Karin.
“This guy is dangerous, Sasuke.” Suigetsu reminds. “We didn’t come here to fight.” Sasuke said frustrating me as Jugo wasn’t giving us a choice.
“Since you’re so insistent on how you want this done. Why don’t you deal with him then.” I told him.
“I highly doubt anything you have to say will get to him. The only thing he understands is force.” Suigetsu said attacking Jugo and they went head to head. Sasuke orders them to stop which proves futile as they continue.
“They’re not listening.” I said tauntingly and Sasuke inserted himself between them using white snakes to halt their movements. “Do you both want me to kill you? Is that it?” He says to them bringing the fight to an end as his words were not an empty threat. I glance over at Karin seeing that dumb smile on her face and grimace at her just knowing what she’s thinking.
“Ew, I can smell your desire from here.”
“Oh what do you know?” She counters but I ignore her. Jugo who is now back to normal begins screaming as he hides himself in a random cell.
“Well back to where we started.” I said going to open the door but Jugo yelled at me to stop begging me to just lock the door. “Can’t do that Jugo. Orochimaru is gone, there’s no reason to keep you here anymore.”
“I think he’s frightened.” Suigetsu said and I shook my head.
“He’s scared of what can he do. Jugo knows what he is, but he can’t help it.” I explained knowing his condition.
“I don’t wanna kill any more people. If I go outside this place, I will. I’m begging you just leave me alone!” Jugo insists. “Kentai, please make them go away!”
“Jugo, if you stay here you’ll die. Orochimaru is gone remember.” I look at Sasuke wondering how badly he wants this and reading my expression he answers my question by approaching the door.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be your cage, Jugo. I can keep you under control.”
“What can you do? The only one who can make these urges stop is Kimimaro.” Jugo said catching Suigetsu’s attention.
“Wait isn’t Kimimaro dead?”
“Very, because of us.” I answered remembering the last time I spoke to him was when Sasuke and I were attempting to escape the Land of Fire.
“Wait, Kentai.” Jugo said my words gaining his attention. “Is the one with you Sasuke Uchiha?” Jugo asks me.
“Yes. He was with me when Kimimaro came to get us for Orochimaru.” I answered and hearing Jugo’s chain moving around I stepped away from the door. The door cracks open and he finally comes out. “I’m sorry Jugo that Kimimaro had to sacrifice himself for us when he was so sick.”
“No, Kimimaro went willingly to sacrifice his life for you and Sasuke.” He said and I smiled sadly at his forgiving tone. He agrees to join us trusting Sasuke and I to control him and we leave the hideout together.
Regrouping outside Sasuke finally explains his intentions to the others of why he brought together a team. Explaining his plan to kill Itachi and letting them all decide now if they’re still willing to stay.
“That’s right Karin, didn’t you say that you had something else to do?” I asked her wondering what her excuse would be this time.
“Well ugh, on second thought that other thing isn’t really that important.”
“Karin, just be honest would you?” Suigetsu starts wanting Karin to admit her true intentions of sticking around. She of course denies his claims and they start to go back and forth resulting in Karin throwing a punch which Suigetsu blocks with his water.
“Alright, Suigetsu this is starting to get old.” I said putting a stop to their bickering.
“Alright, alright. I’m sorry truly Karin. But I’m not going anywhere. I’m sticking like glue to Kentai and Sasuke. Jugo what are you gonna do?”
“Kimimaro considered you his reincarnation, Sasuke and sacrificed his life to protect you and Kentai. So I wanna see what kind of shinobi you really are with my own eyes.” Jugo said more to Sasuke than me.
“Then it's set, from this point on we move as a team and will be known as Hebi.” He said and although I held my tongue I still didn’t like the name. “The Hebi has one goal. Itachi Uchiha.”
Concluding our team meeting we venture on to the old Uchiha weapon store hidden in an old city ruins to get supplies for our journey and eventual fight with Itachi. On the way, I stuck close to Sasuke creating a distance between us and the others to inform him of the last piece of information I was holding onto. “Now that that tedious task of recruiting is over, I have one last thing I kept from you but I swear this is the last secret.”
“What is it?”
“I have a spy in the Akatsuki that can lead us straight to Itachi.” I began explaining everything from the beginning from the clone experiment to the change of appearance however leaving out the part where she fell in love with her partner.
“So the spy is you?”
“Yes and no. Our mental link was strong initially but has become non-existent since we’ve been apart for so long. We used to meet up occasionally to keep me updated on the Akatsuki and finding stuff on my mother’s clan but it's been harder to contact her.”
“How reliable are the updates if she isn’t completely under your command?” Sasuke asks doubtfully.
“It sounds like it but this last meeting she brought me useful information. Hidden scrolls of the Akashiya clan and information that the Akatsuki have almost captured all of the jinjurki which means we need to get to Itachi before they get the last ones.”
“How can your clone get us to him?”
“The Akatsuki communicate through some psychic link through their leader and always know where each other is. Now that everything is set, all Akira has to do is give us Itachi’s location, and then I’ll have no need for a spy anymore.” I explained.
“How do you get rid of the clone?”
“She’ll have to die.”
“And if she doesn’t comply?” He counters.
“It's not an option. Besides she knew this from the start.” I said firmly but seeing how she’s changing I know getting rid of her won’t come easy. “She set up a meeting with me and at this one, she’ll give us Itachi’s location and after that, I’ll get rid of her.”
“What if she’s lying?” He asks and I scoff offended.
“Oh come on, she’s me…Okay, I see what you mean.” I said realizing I am the definition of a pathological liar at this point. “So far she’s been giving me solid information, nothing bad has happened yet.” I said telling a half-truth. The side effects of the serum were only getting worse the more I met with her but without being around to supervise her constantly I couldn’t predict how much worse it's gonna get so I had to kill her sooner rather than later.
“Whatever leads us to him. That’s all that matters.” Sasuke said trusting my plan and I smiled.
“That’s all that matters.” I repeat.
After stocking up at the store we head toward the meeting sight but Sasuke still wants to be cautious in case this is a trap has the others go search for intel on Itachi. Still not telling them about the spy I have in the Akatsuki we give them a rendezvous point near our meeting point. After scattering we walk through the forest to the meeting sight into an open area within the forest and I sense Akira’s chakra and that weird blonde guy Deidara’s chakra, and my worst fear came true.
She set me up for a trap. Clay bombs litter the air above us coming straight for us and I lean into Sasuke’s side and manipulate my hair to shield us as the clay detonates around us. After the last explosion, I return my hair to normal and as the smoke clears we’re face to face with Akira and Deidara.
“Who’s this guy?” Sasuke asks his eyes changing to the Sharingan and I do the same to mine.
“Her partner in the organization…” I pause briefly not wanting to say these next words but I know I have to. “And her boyfriend…she’s fallen in love with him and lured us into a trap.” Sasuke glances at me surprised but then glares coldly at them.
“Watch him carefully, he’s a long-distance fighter that uses chakra-infused clay to create detonating bombs.” I informed him.
“The Sharingan huh? You were only able to kill Orochimaru thanks to your Uchiha blood.” Deidara said not hiding his resentment for us Uchiha. I sensed another chakra nearby and looked over to see a guy in the same Akatsuki robe with an orange mask and glared at him.
“It's not just them.” I tell Sasuke and he looks in the direction that I am seeing the masked man. The man suddenly rushes backward in fear at our ‘scary’ gazes and it makes me question what this guy is hiding under that phony goofball persona. And also question why he seems familiar as if I’ve seen him before.
“Akira enough with the act and tell us where Itachi is.” I order. “I’m done with following orders it's time I do what I want for a change.” She said coldly and I sighed frustrated.
Sasuke losing patience uses his teleportation jutsu to attack and appears in front of them but Deidara and Akira evade his attack moving to the tree behind them while Tobi collapses onto the ground behind slashed by Sasuke’s sword. However, as I watch the entire interaction I notice something off with the masked man knowing that Sasuke’s blade never came in contact with his body. Yet pretends to have been wounded as he gets back up with no injury to himself. Even with my sharigan I could not understand what type of jutsu he used to counter Sasuke’s attack but knew it couldn’t be copied and would be wise to keep an eye on him.
“What are you doing Tobi? Don’t let your guard down just because he is a kid!” Deidara lectures. “His teleportation jutsu makes it too fast for both of us!” Tobi says.
Ready for a fight Deidara warns Tobi to stay back as he releases a bunch of miniature clay bombs into the air at Sasuke and I. Through the eyes of the Sharingan watching them fall it looks like tiny blue rays of chakra coming at us. Always liking to observe before getting involved I wanted to figure out a weakness to his jutsu besides the obvious method of breaking his arms as it would be difficult to get close to him with Akira sticking close to him.
Sasuke uses Chidori needles pinning each bomb to the trees and ground which end up falling around Tobi causing Deidara to be unable to set off the bombs as Tobi calls his name telling him to wait. With him distracted Sasuke gets the upper hand and appears behind him.
“Behind you!” Tobi warns him and without looking back he tosses a bomb straight behind them setting it off and creating a cloud of smoke. Deidara and Akira appear unharmed out of the smoke regrouping with Tobi. Sasuke comes out unharmed as well returning next to me.
“This fights in our favor.” I tell him as we watch Deidara put his hands into his pouches full of clay preparing another attack. “Watching his hand signs it's an earth-style attack. So the clay should be vulnerable to our lightening.”
“We don’t know that yet. His partner being in the path of the explosion is the only reason they did not go off. We need to see him use it more.” He said and nodding my head I prepared for the next attack as Deidara created two deformed creatures out of clay.
Both creatures coming at us I take out a kunai and use it to slice at the center of one of the creatures to cut it in half but instead, it becomes stuck in its body and I quickly put distance between myself and it. Continuing to come at me I use a lighting stream to slice the creature but instead of falling limp on the ground, it stands back up as Deidara continues feeding both halves of the body clay creating more of them.
“Not done yet.” He taunts and growing annoyed I look around and see how Sasuke had produced a bunch of miniature clay creatures due to his sword slicing them up. Figuring the end goal was to detonate them as we fight I use a substitution and quickly disappear into the tree line hiding my chakra to keep Akira from sensing me as I go closer to them. As I am he finally sets off the clay leaving a cloud of smoke where Sasuke and I once stood but using a substitution as well Sasuke escapes the attack.
While creating something else out of clay I sneak toward a tree near the three members and hide myself within the tree. Following the chakra source I manipulate the roots of the tree underneath the ground to stretch beneath where they are standing. Deidara creates a huge clay dragon prepared to take flight and pick up the pace before they do. Just as Deidara is atop the dragon I force the roots out of the ground and trap one of his ankles and Akira and Tobi’s bodies in the wood and drag them towards the tree line. Deidara quickly breaks my hold taking flight on his dragon and cutting my losses I focus on the other two.
Tobi using his strange ability frees himself of the wood making it go straight through as if dragging nothing. This time I catch on to his trick although he does it instantaneously it seems he teleports his body at an insane speed but that wasn’t it either. I knew if I had the time I could figure it out but instead chose to deal with Akira and drag her into the forest, draining her chakra as I am.
“Enough Kentai let me go! I promise I won’t fight back, so let me go.” She yells as I bring her to the base of the tree. Partially revealing my upper body from the tree I bring her face to face with me and I begin to believe her words as I see she wasn’t using the Sharingan.
“You know this jutsu takes a lot of chakra, so I’m gonna need all I can get.” I said not completely trusting her and continued draining her chakra.
“You’re not gonna win. Deidara’s out for Uchiha blood and his attacks can have a blast radius of more than 10 kilometers. Not even you are fast enough to escape that.” She warns.
“Alright tell me this. Why doesn’t Deidara despise you if he hates us so much?” I ask and she looks away from my eyes unwilling to answer.
“You never told him who you really are, did you? You never used the Sharingan around him? Not even once?” I taunt. “You make me look pathetic. Letting love distract you from your mission. What you forgot my hatred for Itachi as well?”
“Never doubt my hate for Itachi! He took away my family!” She shouts triggered by my words bringing some part of me out and meets my eyes again.
’Got ya.’
“It's time you remembered why you’re here in the first place.” I tell her trapping her in a genjutsu before releasing her from the wood. Removing myself from the tree I return to the fight but freeze along the tree line seeing blue lights of chakra scattered beneath the ground and see Sasuke in the middle of it in his curse mark state. Deidara had created a minefield and Sasuke had set off one of them injuring his leg.
“Such a pain.” I complain. I prepare to test out my theory of lighting nullifying his bombs but Sasuke beats me to it. Deidara launches a clay bomb at Sasuke detonating it as it reaches him. As the huge cloud of smoke begins to clear Sasuke’s sword flies through the air and lands in the ground right on a landmine but it does not go off. Looking closer I see lighting coursing throughout the blade which causes the bomb not to explode proving me right. However, it was too early to celebrate as Sasuke had used his wings to protect himself from the blast greatly damaging one of his wings. So focused on the fight I’m surprised as Tobi is also at the treeline with me cheering on Deidara.
“What a freak.” I comment as I go into my curse mark stage growing wings myself to fly in and grab Sasuke. As I move toward him Sasuke suddenly moves for his sword and lands on it using it to launch higher into the air, allowing his Chidori stream to reach Deidara and pierce one of the dragons' wings taking it off. Causing the dragon to lose balance and descend toward the ground
Since Deidara was so focused on Sasuke I used the element of surprise to attack him from behind and take out his arms. Flying in the air toward him I summon two large shuriken blades and force them directly at his arms pinning him against his dragon. Unable to move he makes the mistake of glaring at me and I place a genjutsu on him before flying away and letting him fall onto the minefield igniting all the bombs and I regroup with Sasuke who had retreated to a nearby tree.
“Where’d you go?” He asks as he returns his body to normal.
“I was dealing with Akira.” Deidara flies out from the smoke made by the explosion on a clay bird and is revealed to still be alive, arms intact, but robe gone possibly left behind in the explosion.
“Did you kill her?”
“Not yet. She needs to tell us where Itachi is first. She’s so sickeningly in love with this guy that she refuses to use the Sharingan around him. I placed her under a genjutsu for now, I’ll release her once we deal with him.” I explained.
Becoming desperate he takes the clay from his pouch and starts to eat it, warning Tobi and Akira to run not knowing Akira is no longer here. “This guy is insane.” I said as he spits up the clay onto the ground and creates an enormous clay replica of himself. “We need to move.”
Seeing the cloud of blue chakra in the air I quickly summon Kai. Quickly getting on him I tell him to fly behind Deidara and stay at the same level as him since he made sure to keep himself outside of his blast radius. “When did you put him under a genjutsu?” Sasuke asked me as we flew through the air.
“Just before he fell out of the sky. Good thing too, look at these miniature bombs he created.” I point out. It's like his bombs have polluted the air that when focusing on the birds I could see the bombs coursing through them.
“Anything that breathes the air has his clay bombs in its bloodstream.” Sasuke said and I nodded my head as we watched him set off his Karura.
“No wonder his friend ran off so quick.” I comment as we see everything living disintegrate into nothing.
“Now Sasuke, before he realizes.” Going back into curse mark mode he flies off of Kai and pierces Deidara with the Chidori purposefully missing his vital organs.
“But I saw you both die from my C4?!” Deidara said dumbfounded.
“Now tell me where Itachi is.” Sasuke orders but Deidara’s body suddenly turns into a clay clone and the real one appears from within his bird beneath Sasuke grabbing onto his leg.
“As if I’d neglect training to counter the Sharingan. This time, it's over!” He declares producing another clay bomb from his mouth. I fly off Kai and go towards Sasuke and grabbing onto attempt to free him from Deidara’s grasp but both get trapped inside the C4 bomb. “Sasuke, the bombs-”
“I know, it's inside you as well.” He said as I released him
Looking at each other we could see the miniature C4 bombs in our bodies. “This is gonna suck.” I said using lighting I course a stream of lightning through my body wincing in pain as I did. Sasuke gets us out of the clay with his Chidori and we fly out and head for Deidara.
“That lighting attack won’t reach me at this distance.” Deidara says setting off his C4 and falls into the forest slamming on the ground believing he has won. We find him in the forest and Sasuke returns his body to normal and punches him from behind.
“But how?!” He looks at us in disbelief. Realization sinking in as he sees the lightning aftershocks still coursing through us. “You? You figured it out.”
“For someone who trained himself to fight against the Sharingan, you should know not to openly weave your hand signs in front of us.” I said.
“Don’t pretend to be so cool! Those eyes, that overconfident look irritates me!” He shouts and Sasuke seeing this fight as good as over returns his eyes to normal.
“Deidara!” Akira calls out running toward him taking him into her arms and I roll my eyes.
“Oh great, she got out.” I said not sure if we could take them both on with how low our chakra was growing especially mine. “It’s over Akira, just tell us where Itachi is.”
“No. Whether I do or not. You’re still gonna kill me.” She said not taking her eyes off Deidara. Listening to her my eyes widened in shock realizing how she was willing to die for him no matter what. Just like I would for Sasuke.
“It's no use, she’s made up her mind.”
“My beautiful Akira, are you ready to see true art?” Deidara asks her and she nods her head looking at him lovingly as if this was their last moment together. Placing one last kiss on her lips he tears off his shirt revealing stitches along a portion of his chest.
“Sasuke. She’s willing to die here with him. We need to go now! He’s going to use his body as a bomb.” I said as we watched Deidara tear the stitches off his chest revealing another mouth. Before he starts to feed it clay I take Sasuke’s hand and start to run but remembering his injured leg I fly into the air as I am still in my curse mark stage.
“You can’t outrun this! This explosion covers a ten-kilometer radius!” Deidara shouts after us. “Now tremble in fear!” Kai catches up with us and I tell him he’s dismissed as not even he’s fast enough to get us out of here.
“Kentai, he’s right we can’t outrun this.”
“Sasuke do you trust me?” I asked him as I took my other hand and bit down on my thumb drawing blood.
“With my life.”
“Good.” I let go of his hand letting him fall and with the last of my chakra quickly do a summoning. Orochimaru’s favorite pet Manda appears beneath us and I glance behind me and see the blast coming quickly at us.
“Suigetsu, please don’t let me down.” I whispered to myself as Sasuke and I hid in Mada’s mouth and quickly transported us using Manda’s body to protect us from the blast.
Returning my body to normal I feel the exhaustion set in. As we sit and wait I notice the link between me and Akira fade before feeling nothing almost like an empty feeling somewhere in the back of my brain.
Suigetsu using the summoning scroll we gave him summons Manda and we come out of his mouth. “Woah you two are a mess.” Suigetsu said.
“You damn brats! How dare you use me?!” Manda complains with his last breath.
“Oh just shut up and die already.” I said ignoring his words.
“You did this to me! How dare you.” These are Manda’s last words before passing.
“Wasn’t Manda Orochimaru’s favorite pet? You know you ought to treat animals better Kentai.” Suigetsu said but his words sounded far away as crippling pain runs through my head and a ton of voices suddenly fill my head almost as if screaming at me.
“Kentai?” Suigetsu calls again as he and Sasuke look at me worried. He calls my name again attempting to touch my shoulder but I slap his hand away and hold my head as I scream in agony and fall to my knees. As if watching a movie all of Akira’s memories return to my head as if they were my own. I seemingly relive and see everything she did and felt. Hearing multiple voices those from the tailed beast, members of the Akatsuki, and those that she battled and killed. Her memory and love for Deidara hitting the hardest and knowing he’s dead I became overwhelmed with grief.
“Make it stop! Make it stop!” I pleaded as I fell to the ground tears spilling from my eyes. Suigetsu kneels next to me attempting to pick me up and the last thing I see before blacking out is Jugo and Karin standing over me worriedly and Sasuke struggling as he attempts to come near me still recovering from the fight.