-Seven years ago-
"Hello..."
That was the first time she talked to him, to his younger brother Sasuke's best friend. The first impression he had of Kyoko's son was that of a shy and quiet boy, who spoke only a few words, without looking people in the eyes.
Itachi smiled slightly and returned the greeting to little Toru.
"Hello, little Toru, is Kyoko-nee-san home?"
"Yes..."
"I see. Then can you call her? I have some things to talk to her about."
Maintaining his friendly smile, Itachi looked at little Toru, who nodded in response, then entered the house without closing the door. To him, this boy's appearance was much like Kyoko's, with a bit of Kenji thrown in. The way he looked at others and his black hair were very similar to his mother's, yet physically he resembled his father. This made him smile slightly, after all this was like having a second younger brother.
-In the present, somewhere in Amegakure-
But seeing this he could only squint his eyes and sigh softly. That boy who used to look innocent and calm now stood before him with a grim smile on his mouth, his eyes shone with the light of death in them as he took off his hat.
Toru had grown up, he was no longer a child. However, Itachi was quite surprised that this child now looked like Kyoko, he was like a shadow clone of that woman.
"Hello, I'm Asahi Toru, where I come from they call me Shinigami. I hope we can get along" Introducing himself to all the Akatsuki, Toru looked straight into Itachi's eyes, who at the same time returned his gaze, as cold as a large ice floe.
This led him to let out a long weary sigh, before two thorn-like daggers emerged from the sleeves of his cloak. The light in Toru's eyes intensified and disappeared in plain sight.
'¡¿?!'
Itachi opened his eyes and quickly pulled out a kunai from the sleeves of his cloak. At that moment...
Clang!
The metallic sound, followed by small sparks lit up their faces. The Shigan looked at the Sharingan, two strange eyes held eye contact for a second as both ninja struggled holding the sharp weapons in their hands.
"Two years go by fast, Itachi."
"Toru..."
The grim smile on Toru's face made Itachi feel like leaving the place, however, he stayed there only because he had a mission to accomplish.
"Toru, get a hold of yourself."
However, Pain interrupted this encounter with a small sigh as he looked at these two ninja. His face was expressionless, but this was enough for Toru, with a small smile, to keep the daggers in the sleeves of the black cloak.
"Sorry, I couldn't help myself."
Keeping his smile and the murderous gleam in his eyes, Toru took a leap, returning to the left little finger of the large statue's hand. Once there, he deactivated the Shigan and put his hat back on.
"What the fuck was that? Hahaha."
Standing on the left index finger of the statue, Hidan, a man with medium-long silver-colored hair combed back, spoke while chuckling. His eyes were purple in color and he had the collar of his cloak slightly open, showing that under the cloak he was not wearing a shirt. In addition, strapped to his back, a large red three-bladed scythe could be seen. This made Toru raise an eyebrow curiously. This was the first time he saw all the members of Akatsuki, not taking into account Itachi, after all, the last few days he was locked up in that huge metal building, waiting for the construction of his laboratory to be finished.
A few hours ago, Konan took Toru to Pain, who told him that they should meet with the other members of Akatsuki to get to know each other, plus he will finally know what Akatsuki is planning. This left some questions in his head, as since arriving in Amegakure, Pain hadn't said a word about what Akatsuki is up to. But considering that Itachi tried to kidnap Naruto, who has the nine-tailed fox sealed inside him, he could already imagine a bit of what these people are up to.
'That guy... his eyes somehow make me feel sick.'
On the right index finger of the big statue, Deidara, a young boy with blue eyes and blond hair, combed in a ponytail and loose locks which covered the left side of his face, pouted when he saw Toru's eyes, which gave him a strange feeling of disgust that reminded him of Itachi's eyes. For a second he adjusted the protective band on his forehead and tried not to think about it anymore.
"Shut up, Hidan..."
Feeling tired from his teammate's annoying laughter, Kakuzu, a tall, dark-skinned man, the second tallest of all present, glared at Hidan. He wore a white hood and a black mask over his face, and his eyes were the only part of his body visible.
Toru opened his eyes slightly, after all his Shigan detected more lives in Kakuzu, more lives than a normal person would have. This made him tilt his head slightly, after all, he felt curiosity starting to itch in his brain, so he couldn't help but ask unnecessary questions.
"Your body has more lives than it should. How do you do it, did you rip other people's hearts out or were you born that way?"
Everyone in the place looked at Toru, after all, they saw him as a curious child who had just found something entertaining.
"I'd like to know, is it some special ninjutsu, would you let me see it with my own eyes? My daggers are quite sharp, just one cut will allow me to see it all. Then would you give me permission to see all the lives your body guards?"
But after hearing this, everyone stopped considering him a child. Moreover, Toru's words made Kakuzu uncomfortable, who remained silent and with his arms folded. He did not want to get involved with him, as he thought he might kill him in a fit of anger.
While all this was going on, just above the left ring finger of the statue, a pale blue skinned man, with small white eyes, and having strange gill-like markings on his cheeks, smiled slightly seeing Itachi's reaction after everything this new member was provoking. It was kind of funny to see the look on that boy's face, as he seemed like someone unpredictable and strange, like a book sealed in chains. Though he would soon find out that he was quite the opposite.
"Hahaha... what a funny bastard. You're interesting kid, would you be interested in hearing about the Cult of Jashin?"
"Jashin [Evil Heart]?"
At Hidan's question, Toru raised an eyebrow as he did not know about the subject. No doubt he felt it was something boring and unimportant, in the end he was not wrong, after all religions were not his thing, but he decided to listen to Hidan, after all he is also a member of Akatsuki, so now they are coworkers, so getting along and getting to know a little about each other was within what he could do in this organization.
"That's right, you should become part of the cult. I already am, why aren't you?"
"I don't see the need to be in a cult. I have more important things to do, it seems illogical to waste time on something so ridiculous."
"Ridiculous? You damn heretic, you really piss me off. I thought we could get along, but it looks like you'll end up becoming a sacrifice for Jashin-sama in the end. Hahaha... you're going to die and I'll enjoy your pain."
Taking the three-bladed scythe in his hands, Hidan looked at Toru with an arrogant smile. Preparing to kill this boy, he tried to leap to get to him, however, everyone sighed as he felt the chakra pressure from one specific person.
"Silence..." Pain said, which made everyone look at him in complete silence.
Hidan on the other hand, clicked his tongue, insulted Toru and Pain with whispers and returned the scythe to the same place he took it from, strapped to his back.
"Because you are new to Akatsuki, some things have not been explained to you. So, listen carefully..."
Pain took a step forward and looked at the other Akatsuki, who simply kept quiet, as dealing with this man was difficult, so they preferred to save themselves the trouble.
"Akatsuki's goal, our goal... is divided into three stages. The first is to raise money, a stage which we have already achieved. The second would be to assemble the biggest and fiercest mercenary shinobi axis the world has ever known."
Listening to this carefully, Toru couldn't help but think that this was something that all ninja villages had been doing for a long time, however, he would soon realize that this was completely different. After all, he remembered that Itachi and the fish-like man wanted to kidnap Naruto, who has the Kyūbi sealed inside him. This is why he continued to listen to Pain's explanation, as it had already been a few days since he joined Akatsuki, there were many things he didn't know about this organization.
"With the first two stages complete, we will accept all kinds of conflicts, wars, massacres, albeit low budget. This is where the third stage comes in, the capture of the Bijū (Tailed Beasts). We will use each of these Beasts to provoke global conflicts, large-scale wars against entire nations. If this is carried out, these five major nations will collapse and be forced to surrender to Akatsuki. With all stages complete... the result will be... world domination."
'World domination? This... was not something I was expecting. Although it was one of the possible options. If Pain wants to achieve world domination, I believe that would be extremely difficult, even if I take into account the other nations, which I know very little about. Even if I was running all over the continent, the information I managed to gather from all the nations is very little... Well, the only thing that matters to me now is to kill Danzo, after that maybe I'll end up leaving Akatsuki and try to find a quiet life'.
He shook his head as he thought. He now knew that Akatsuki is after the Bijū with the sole intention of acquiring military power. That meant, at some point he will have to go after Naruto due to the fact that he has the Kyūbi sealed.
'Ha~ I don't know what I got myself into... this makes me feel tired'.
Toru understood that this was now his job, and that if he denied, Pain would possibly end up killing him. He has this weird power that prevents him from getting close, so fighting him would be stupid and basically suicide. That's why he had to strengthen himself in the time he would last being in this organization.
"Blah, blah, blah. Wars, pain, power... This is the second time I've heard that ridiculous speech. Let's get it over with already, I don't want to be in this place full of heretics."
"Hidan, shut up before I feel like killing you."
"Even if you tried you couldn't, you fucking moron!"
"You..."
"Fufu, there they go again..."
Looking at Kakuzu and Hidan, Zetsu, a being that has half of its body from head to toe colored black, while the other half maintains a pale white color, chuckled. Around its neck, it appears to have strange green-colored branches that take the shape of a flytrap plant. Like the branches around his neck, his hair retains the same color.
"Hm... now that I've explained this, let's get to the main topic. Itachi..."
"Yes. Kisame defeated the Jinchūriki of the Four-tailed Bijū. In fact, he is already in position to initiate the extraction of the beast."
Looking down, where a short old man with a red-colored mustache and beard stood, Pain closed his eyes and nodded his head slightly. After that, he raised his palm and... "Then let's start with the extraction of the Bijū, the process will take three days and three nights, so, Zetsu, use the clones to guard the entrance. Toru, get ready..."
"Understood, Pain-san" Toru looked at the man lying on the ground. He was bound hand and foot, this made him sympathize with him a little, but since this world is cruel and beautiful, a smile formed on his mouth. 'Three days and three nights... all to rip a demon out of an old man. what does this remind me of? Anyway, it should be interesting."
Sitting down, he folded his arms and sighed in a relaxed manner, for he didn't want to be on his feet for three days.
"Let's begin..." Pain said.
-Four days later-
Looking at the plaque with the Konoha emblem on it, Toru closed his eyes and took a breath of air. At the same time, using the dagger, he drew a line down the middle of the emblem, all this... to show that he no longer had ties to his home village. Now only Toru, the Shinigami of Konoha, remained, although the latter thought that this nickname was too exaggerated.
"Well... then, let's go."
Leaving the room, he looked at Deidara and put his scarf back on. After that, taking the conical straw hat in his hands, he slowly placed it on his head.
"Hurry up, I don't like to be kept waiting."
Right next to Deidara, a person wearing the same hat spoke. He was hunched over and the cloak covered most of his body, only exposing that face that somehow looked fake.
"Sorry, I had things to prepare earlier. But I'm done now, so, let's get going at once."
"Don't do stupid things or I'll blow you up" Deidara said.
"I'm sure I won't do anything like that."
"I hope so..."
And so, these three ninjas walked slowly through the corridors of that large metal building. Now they had a goal to accomplish in the Land of Keys, a goal... that involved wars.
_________
Well, there will be no more power stone goals this week, as I will be busy remastering the first few chapters of this fanfic. We all know that the beginning of this story was a mess until MC got his memories back, so I'm going to focus on correcting all those mistakes.