"Huh, it's been a while since we've all 'met up' together." The voice held a grin, a visible maw filled entirely of sharp shark teeth belonging to the tallest member in the secret organisation of Red Clouds and Black Skies. The six rainbow-silhouettes of each member stood around a bonfire placed on a large, round stone. Each member would be undistinguishable if not for their voices, unique eyes and their varying body sizes.
"Perhaps we should do a meet up, eh Sasori?"Kisame's question was directed to the shortest member of the group due to his hunchbacked nature. Sasori's face was unseen, hidden beneath a large straw hat; long strips of string shrouded his face further from sight, concealing his identity.
"Do not be foolish Kisame."Sasori's voice came out as a deep guttural growl, a large segregated tail moved threateningly behind him. "Meeting up together would only draw unwanted attention from unwanted people."
"Sasori is right, Kisame."
All heads snapped towards the calm voice. A pair of purple ringed eyes met theirs, making some of the battle hardened men shiver slightly. The legendary eyes, the Rinnegan, roved across their unseen faces, almost as if he was taking in his subordinate's concealed features.
A frown, hidden by her high collar, sprouted on Pain's lieutenant's face. The group had exponentially changed after Yahiko's death. Nagato had become so obsessed with wanting to unite the world, to continue Yahiko and their dreams; that he had started to invite S-Ranked Criminals into the group in order to reach the goal faster. The end game of obtaining every single Bijuu and drawing them out, creating the Juubi and then controlling the world with an iron fist, destroying anything that disagreed or clashed with his ideals of peace.
"So, what's the occasion this time?"The voice came from the owner of yellow slitted eyes, both of which had a noticeable and distinct purple marking around them. Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin, owned that specific pair of shifty eyes.
"We have good news."Pain said, noticing that the members suddenly grew interested. "We have located our last two potential recruits." His eyes went over to Zetsu's who nodded his head inside of the Venus flytrap member that surrounded most of his body. One of his mismatched yellow eyes belonging to the white side glittered with untold glee, the white side cleared his throat in an attempt to sound professional like Leader-sama.
"Well! We have found the potential last two recruits!"
One of every member's eyebrows rose up high showing their disbelief at how slow Zetsu was.
"Yes. We know that."Orochimaru answered, sounding rather irritated by the organisation's spy's idiocy, making White Zetsu laugh awkwardly.
"Yes. Er, well—"Zetsu coughed in his fist, "The two of them share something in common, immortality!" Orochimaru's eyes widened inconspicuously, immortality was just the thing he was looking for."The first one we found rather interesting due to the fact that he integrated (what was it?)It is reported that he has managed to find a way to implant large black sentient wires into his body. Right, right. Large black sentient wires."White Zetsu chimed un-helpfully.
"What's so special about that, hmm?" Kisame asked with a tone of interest in his voice. Sasori too, was intrigued by how he managed to do so and if it was replicable in his current wooden body and his puppets. Such an ability was useful to him, if the wires really were sentient, they were capable of defending themselves while he could use the concentration once used in protecting them in controlling other puppets, maximizing his potential in battle. Yes… this man intrigued him.
"Apparently the wires are capable of detaching his limbs and using them and the wires themselves as weapons, (stop that you idiot) sewing back his limbs if they are dismembered, (You fool, I said stop!) stealing the hearts of his enemies and granting him the use of their elemental affinity alongside special moves limited only to the wielder of this Kinjutsu." Throughout the explanation, White Zetsu was waving his arms around wildly and shaking them to show what he meant whilst Black Zetsu was scolding him via harsh whispers heard by every member.
"Interesting. I assume these stolen hearts are what grants him immortality?"
"Yep, yep, yep!" Zetsu cheered as Orochimaru guessed correctly, "Of course, destroying every heart will cause him to die shortly after their unfortunate destruction." Orochimaru hummed, storing the fact away for later use when the time came to defect and obtain samples.
"Wait, wait! I haven't even gotten to the best part!" He took a deep breath, preparing to surprise the other members. "He's the son of the Yondaime Hokage who recently defected from Konoha following the slaughter of the Uchiha Clan. (Oh come on, I wanted to say that!)"
Every single member's, save for Zetsu (who was still arguing with himself) and Pain, eyes opened wide in surprise. The son of the Yondaime Hokage had defected? And killed off the Uchiha Clan? Even Orochimaru, who hated the Yondaime with a burning passion, had not expected his son of all people to have betrayed his family and Konoha. He would have assumed that the boy would follow in his father's footsteps and become the next Yellow Flash after the Yondaime's retirement. The child of a Kage defecting was practically unheard of! Many would groom the heirs to their seat, who would more than likely be children of theirs, as the picture perfect Kage their village wanted to see in times of strife and peace. Orochimaru now had a new person on his shit-list, the boy had wiped out most, if not all the Uchiha?!
"What about the next guy?"
Kisame asked, hoping that the son of the Yondaime Hokage would challenge him to a fight. The idea of fighting an immortal that was trained by the fastest man alive really made him excited and blood thirsty. Unknown to him, a malicious and hungry grin had managed to worm itself onto his face, making Orochimaru slightly uncomfortable as it seemed Kisame was grinning at him due to them standing opposite from one another.
"Actually,"Zetsu's eyes made their way to the most silent and their only female member, Konan. "You might be interested in this one, Konan-senpai! It's a girl!" Konan merely gave a soft grunt, acknowledging the fact with only a minute amount of interest.
Undeterred by her response, he continued. "Not much is known so far about her…"Zetsu trailed off, tapping his white hand against his white face in a thoughtful manner. "Her name is Higan and she's part of a cult cleverly titled—"White Zetsu covered his mouth in an attempt to hide his snickering, but managed to mumble the name out through his growing laughter."—Jashinism."
"Pfft, Ke-ahahahha!" Kisame broke out into gut-wrenching laughter, palming his head at the name of the cult. He managed to stand back up, towering over everyone else, wiping away an unseen tear out the corner of his eye with his finger. "That—"He breathed out one last chuckle,"iscomedy gold. They couldn't think of anything cooler?"
"I know rig—back to the details(aw, you're no fun.). It is reported that she was part of an experiment by other members of the cult, Jashinists," White Zetsu and Kisame sniggered. "Who apparently managed some sort of ritual to connect her to Jashin himself. It is not known if she can actually speak to him or her or if she just receives thoughts and suggestions from the dark deity."
"Deity or not, no one will be able to stand against The God."Pain murmured pride fully, his arrogant, yet calm façade of being above everything else coming into place. Zetsu nodded sagely, but Pain was unsure if it was mocking or truthful, he could never tell with the spy that had appeared one day, pledging loyalty to them.
"Anyways, she was last seen re-visiting her home town of Yugakure. We'd like to assume she isn't there for a 'friendly' visit. It is easy to spot her due to her silver hair and large red three-fanged scythe."
"So, who's going to go and invite them into Akatsuki?"Sasori asked with more than a hint of interest in his voice. He certainly wanted to send the invitation, and if he declined, Sasori could easily gain a new puppet with a unique and never before seen ability.
"We will not be inviting them yet,"Pain answered smoothly, confusing many of the members. "Zetsu has informed me that they will be meeting paths soon. It will be convenient to invite the both of them at once…"
"And if they decline?" Orochimaru's voice questioned, clearly feeling unsure of the leader's decision. His ringed eyes were gone, eyelids shutting over them and hiding the piercing gaze from view.
"Make a bet with them, or challenge them will suffice... If they still do not cooperate, then they are of no use to me."Pain said with finality. The members mentally nodded, each understanding the necessity of silencing any recruits that turned them down. If word spread of a group capable of fighting destroying villages banded together, the Five Hidden Villages would willingly band together in order to bring them down which would set them back by at least a decade. They did not, however, catch the way Pain had said his sentence. That they were merely pawns to his cause of uniting the world under one single flag. It did not matter to him if they at the end survived or not, it only mattered if they died before completing their goals.
"What are we supposed to do for now?"Sasori's voice raked across their ears, Pain's head turned to his, acknowledging his answer.
"Continue with collecting assets for the group. Until we have completed the group, we require more funding from bounties and jobs. There will be no use in starting trouble with villages while we are underfunded." He turned to Orochimaru, "I trust you will assist in building more hidden bases?" The serpent master nodded, aware that the question the leader asked him was rhetorical. Unfortunately for Pain, he could not read minds and was left unaware that while the funds had been used to build hidden bases, the hidden bases all belonged to Orochimaru.
The image of Pain and Konan flickered briefly before disappearing completely. The other members followed in their suit, vanishing one by one until only Zetsu remained.
A sly grin formed on the visible half of his face.
"Heh. All the pieces are falling into place…"
Then he too, vanished, leaving the stone room barren with the exception of the bonfire. The bonfire slowly decreased in life, the ashes glowing dimly, almost sadly, before spluttering out without a sound. One might have thought it was rather ominous, in the darkness as the flickering flames died out, one would have pointed it out, that it seemed like a bleak metaphor for the future but would have later shrugged it off, thinking it was merely their imagination running wild.
"Are you sure we can trust Zetsu?" Konan asked Nagato through a mutter, her golden-amber eyes staring out into the raining city of Amegakure. Pain kept quiet for a minute, turning around and started heading towards the door to the basement of the tower they resided in. He turned his head, glancing at her from over his shoulder.
"For now? Yes. But soon, he and the others will all prove to be obsolete to us and shall have to be disposed of."
Konan did not oblige him with an answer while Pain took his leave, going down the spiraling steps, deeper into the building where he kept his other Paths. Konan simply continued to watch as the rain hit the streets and filled canals of Ame, pitter-pattering as they collided with the concrete floor and the citizens of the grey skyscraper infested village. She closed her eyes, enjoying the breeze and chill of the afternoon —it was hard to tell, with dark grey clouds blocking out the sun- rain on her face, her shoulder-length azure hair shifting gently with the wind. Soon there would be light at the end of the tunnel, the rainbow that would come with the sun after the downpour.
She was sure of it.
Rather, she had to assure herself there would be.