-Some days ago-
It had been more than five months since the Nanabi's Jinchūriki was caught. Toru was doing a lot of things in that span of time. He was actually busy making more medicine for Itachi's illness, plus it began to be distributed throughout Amegakure at a low cost. However, at Kakuzu's request, the medicine began to circulate to the other countries at astronomical costs.
He was also on some missions with Deidara and Sasori, who now consider Toru a great artist and a person of dubious honor. Yes, this guy looks like a nutcase when facing armies by himself, but somehow they managed to find the art in death that Toru talked so much about.
Of course, at this time that wasn't the only thing Toru did. He was also assigned to a mission with Kakuzu and Hidan, though that mission went very badly. Kakuzu managed to get along with Toru, but with Hidan it was the complete opposite. Even these two ended up fighting, with Toru being the victor.
On the other hand, just a few days ago, this guy was on a research mission with Itachi and Kisame. In short, Toru and Itachi didn't talk at any point. Kisame was amused to see this, as he knew what Itachi did to the Uchiha clan and Asahi.
Also, considering that the chūnin exams are long over, Sasori and Deidara have decided to move at last. The target is Sabaku no Gaara, the Jinchūriki of the Ichibi.
"I already told them everything I knew about Gaara. They can use it against him, but I'm not sure how strong the Kazekage must have become in these past two years."
"This is something I have to thank you for. You didn't keep me waiting and that's something I appreciate."
"It's not necessary, Sasori-sensei. This is my job now."
Sasori left first after praising Toru a couple of times. As for Deidara. This one stayed to joke around with Toru for a while, plus he had to test the new explosive clay that Toru modified.
"Now I can leave. Before Sensei gets mad, I'll say goodbye, hm."
"Yes, have a good one, miss."
"Son of a-!"
Toru disappeared in a puff of smoke, fleeing Deidara's wrath.
This guy just stared into the air with a swollen vein on his forehead. Toru always teased him using the same insult, which was already starting to tire him out. Even though Deidara thinks Toru is a cool guy, this is ruined when this kind of thing happens.
Dropping his arms over his shoulders, Deidara followed Sasori and summoned the clay bird.
-In the present-
The unparalleled sound of the rain pounding on the rooftops of Amegakure was deafening. This day the rain was heavier than usual, but that was okay.
...
Toru watched this without his cloak, as Konan was currently repairing it. Because this boy had faced another army of shinobi, his clothes had been damaged quite a bit, so it was time for some maintenance. Konan had no problem helping him with this, as she now got along better with this boy.
They could even talk normally without being silent for hours.
"It's already finished."
Konan stood up from the paper chair and handed the cloak to Toru. He accepted it with a nod, then put on the cloak and consequently the hat that hid his face.
It's about time, there's no doubt about that. Toru had been busy these past few months, so the capture of the Jinchūriki had to stop, but now the show must go on. The hunt had only begun with Fuu's death.
"We should go, Konan-san. I should be watched after all, shouldn't I?" Toru smiled as the glint of death lit up his eyes.
Konan didn't know how to respond to this, so she remained silent and walked to leave the building, but before... the two of them stopped in one place.
...
There was a man with red hair, thin and almost lifeless in his body. He was stuck in some kind of strange mechanism, where metal bars were piercing his back. The man had the same eyes as Pain. Though well, the reason is obvious. This man... is the real Pain.
"Nagato..."
Konan looked at the man and called him by name. Toru nodded his head and gave a small bow. It wasn't out of respect or anything, he just did it because somehow his brain body made him do it.
"Asahi Toru... I see the pain has made you grow up. Right now you will go for the Rokubi, I hope you succeed in your mission. Otherwise, you know what will happen."
"Yes and I understand. Konan-san will accompany me. She's my teammate, so I guess it's okay."
"That's kind of obvious."
Toru sighed wearily. This man seemed wrong in many ways, but he was no one to judge people. If you're crazy enough to try to change the world, then some respect is welcome.
After that, Toru walked out and left Konan next to Nagato.
Konan understood why he finally made Toru see him four months ago. Knowing that Toru is a capable shinobi with great power under his control, at least that's something he could do. Meet the boss basically.
"Nagato..."
"I know what you're going to say... I'm sure of what I'm doing. Go with him... don't let him die, he's our most precious asset in Akatsuki. If we lose him, then we will lose everything we have built. We must not let him turn against us."
"I understand... then..."
"Amegakure remains under my protection. Nothing will happen to this village as long as I am here."
"Thank you, Nagato..."
Pain was something that held these two old friends together. Konan lived for Nagato and Nagato lived for the sake of that pain. Together they try to change the world to avoid what happened so many years ago in the shinobi wars.
...
[Know the pain, feel the pain] That's what Nagato thought when he saw his best friend die in his arms.
-Sunagakure, the next day...-
Descending on the sand of the Wind Country, Deidara smiled and reached out his hand. In front of him stood the mighty Sunagakure, home of the Jinchūriki of the Ichibi.
"The time has come to show the world true art. Art is an explosion and with my new specialty designed by Toru (C5), I will make this fast and glorious."
However, beside him Sasori sighed. It brought back many memories to come back to this village, memories of the past that were like needles in his brain.
"Don't make me wait. You know I'm impatient."
"Don't worry, Sasori-sensei. This will be quick and glorious."
Deidara threw up his hands and chuckled. After that, the two entered Sunagakure. The screams of shinobi being killed echoed through the place.
...
-Border between the Hidden Grass Village and the Hidden Waterfall Village.
Both wearing hats that concealed their identities, the black cloak with the red clouds danced to the rhythm of the wind. Around them the aura of a dangerous chakra hovered and with a smile full of confidence, Toru looked at the road.
It had been a single day since they left Amegakure to investigate the Rokubi. The information didn't take long to arrive. Also, thanks to Toru deploying the Ajisai team, they constantly receive information via Okaminaru.
"There is no indication that other small villages have a Jinchūriki. We have to take geography into account. Konoha has the Kyūbi and I believe Kumogakure has the Hachibi. We already captured the Nanabi of Takigakure" Toru shook his head wryly. The job was going well, after all.
"Uchiha Itachi is the one in charge of the Kyūbi. We still don't have someone to go after the Hachibi."
"Then I'll go."
"That won't be necessary. We still have more members in Akatsuki who will take care of that in the future. Let's continue our investigation. The Waterfall Village is a place we should avoid."
Toru tilted his head curiously. He wondered to himself if Takigakure would have another Jinchūriki besides Fuu, but that would be quite impossible.
"I see. Then we'll have to go through Kumogakure to get to Kirigakure. If in Kumo is the Hachibi and in Konoha is the Kyūbi, we should possibly avoid going through Konoha where they already know me well enough to get to where the Rokubi possibly is."
Konan nodded. Toru was quite intelligent and a quick learner, but that's what makes him dangerous. There's no telling at what point Toru might betray Akatsuki. No, even if that happens, Konan doesn't know when this kid will try to kill her. He is strong, too much and he already proved it. Konan couldn't against Toru if he is out of Amegakure.
Though those thoughts aside, Konan had to find a perfect route to go unnoticed or at least not have many people see them casually passing by.
"Let's pick up the pace" The paper began to encircle Konan and two large angel wings formed behind his back.
"As you command, Konan-san" Being sarcastic, Toru prepared to use the air platforms and move as fast as Konan.
-Three days passed in a long journey until they reached the halfway point-
Pain informed Konan by some unknown jutsu that Sasori and Deidara have captured the Ichibi, and that right now they are heading to the wooden statue to begin the extraction of the Bijū. Hearing this, Toru prepared for this and together with Konan searched for a cave to hide in for the next three days. Taking advantage of this, Toru left a shadow clone outside the cave.
"Again this long and boring process" Toru lamented and went into meditation position. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he found himself in a sealed place where the wooden statue stood.
***
There were only the four of them. Pain, Konan, Toru and Zetsu. The others had barely heard Pain's call for the extraction of the Bijū. The next to appear were Itachi and Kisame, who remained silent for a few minutes until Kakuzu and Hidan arrived.
Thanks to chakra communication, they were able to materialize their silhouettes as chakra holograms.
A few seconds later, Sasori and Deidara appeared opening the seal of the gigantic cave.
"You're late" Pain looked at Deidara and he with a smile replied.
"The enemy was stronger than I expected, but thanks to the C5 I was able to defeat him quite easily."
"I see... in that case, let's start now. It will be three days and three nights, try to protect your real bodies and, Zetsu, use your real body to keep watch."
"Right away."
Everyone after that positioned themselves on the fingers of the wooden statue. Pain looked at Gaara lying in the center of the cave and narrowed his eyes.
"Fūinjutsu: Genryū Kyūfūjin [Sealing Jutsu: Nine Consuming Seals of the Ghost Dragons]"
The mouth of the wooden statue began to glow and Claw's body rose from the ground floating as the light caught him. Nine chakra dragons shot out of the statue's mouth and collided with Gaara.
"Aghhhhhhhh!"
Even while unconscious, Gaara screamed in pain as the Bijū was ripped from his body. Not even the sand tried to protect him, all is lost for him and Toru knew it.
'Goodbye, Sabaku no Gaara'.
Toru stretched out his arms and surrendered his chakra to continue the extraction.
-Hours later-
Zetsu caught something strange with his real body. A group of ninja moving through the trees.
"I see something. There are four shinobi from Konoha. They seem to be quite skilled. One of them is called Maito Gai."
Toru and Itachi looked at each other upon hearing this. While Kisame smiled defiantly, as he thought he had to kick back the kick that man gave him three years ago when he went to Konoha together with Itachi.
Still, Pain wondered who is this man called Might Guy. Itachi answered that question.
"He is a powerful Jounin who uses Taijutsu. It's best not to underestimate him."
"That bizarre beast, huh..."
Itachi and Kisame already knew what they had to do and Pain approved of this. "I'll use that Jutsu, but Kisame will have to give me 30% of his chakra in order to complete the extraction of the Bijū."
"Then so be it."
With that, the silhouettes of Kisame and Itachi disappeared.
-Hours later-
"Looks like the Shōten no Jutsu [Jutsu: Shape-shifting] is over" Pain nodded his head. Itachi and Kisame have managed to buy quite a bit of time and Sasori agreed with this.
"It's surprising, isn't it?"
Toru thought and looked at Itachi, who reappeared next to Kisame.
'It's two days until the extraction is over. Considering the distance the enemy is possibly at, the Fūinjutsu should finish in time. 'Guy-sensei... I would have liked to fight Neji and Rock Lee, but I'm too far away from the statue to be able to take them on' Toru's eyes lit up dangerously. "Looks like you met someone interesting, Itachi, who were they?"
Itachi had no trouble answering. "From Konoha... Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura, the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi and Chiyo from Suna."
Sasori looked a little nervous upon hearing that name. However, he closed his eyes and waited....
It was only a matter of time before...
-Two and a half days later-
"It's over!"
The extraction is over and Gaara now lies lifeless on the ground. Outside, rumbling is heard and the cave is shaking. That means the enemies have arrived there and want Gaara alive, which is now impossible.
"Sasori and Gaara, take care of the parasites out there. Make sure you don't kill the Jinchūriki. The rest of you can leave now."
Toru nodded his head and looked at Konan. However, Sasori asked a question for him and Itachi.
"Itachi. how is the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi?"
"He's the first one who will yell at you" Itachi said as he disappeared.
Toru smiled and looked at Sasori. "Itachi is right. The Jinchūriki is the first one who will yell at you, if he's too reckless he'll also be the first one to attack you. Anyway, he's blond and has scars like whiskers on his face."
"I see. Thank you, Toru-kun. You're always very helpful."
"You're very kind to someone like me. But never mind, see to it that you don't kill Naruto, that's what the Jinchūriki is called. I'll be on my way along with Konan in search of the Rokubi. Good luck, Sasori-sensei... and Deidara, make sure you don't use up the C5 so fast, I won't make any more for you.
Toru gets along quite well with these two. Sasori respects Toru too, plus Deidara no longer hates him like he did at the beginning of it all.
"What!!! I need the clay! I was able to defeat the Ichibi pretty quickly with this!"
"I won't do anymore, I said" With that, Toru disappeared along with Konan's silhouette.
-Later in the evening-
These two shinobi have traveled for a few more hours after the extraction of the Ichibi. Night has fallen and the moon was rising high in the sky. The wind caresses his face and leaves him with a feeling of emptiness.
The two now rested on tree branches, hidden in the shadows. Toru continued to gaze at the sky as he reminisced about the past. A nostalgic smile formed on his face, however, Konan sat down next to him.
This was weird. Konan getting too close to him only meant something bad. This was something he learned these past few months. Konan could sometimes be very kind, but also very scary.
"There's news from Nagato..."
"Nagato-san? What kind of news?"
"Sabaku no Gaara has been revived with an unknown jutsu and Akasuna no Sasori has been killed in battle against Haruno Sakura and Chiyo of Suna."
Toru kept looking up at the sky. He held out his hand and his eyes glowed. 'What an idiot... you allowed yourself to be killed, Sasori-sensei' Toru smiled. It seemed that under that large puppet armor, at last Sasori could rest.
He's not usually a sentimental person, but somehow it felt lonely for that person to die. Still, his heart had already been broken for a long time and one more loss doesn't make a difference, does it?
However, another thought crossed his mind. This was something Toru had intended to tell Deidara and Sasori, but he had forgotten.
...
Still high up in that tree, he looked at his hand and a small flame flared up. Konan looked at it curiously, but without saying a word.
...
'I had forgotten. Today... is my birthday' Toru blew and the little flame went out. 'Happy birthday, Toru-chan'
...
In every memory, in every moment. Ever since that day when his entire family perished because of Itachi. In that lonely apartment in Konoha, with a small cake and a candle, every year, always... always alone. In total solitude, even when his heart screamed that he was suffering, he remembered all his birthdays together with his mother, blew out the candle and said... "Happy birthday, Toru-chan" which was the way his mother always called him.
...
Now... Toru is 16 years old.
To be continued...
______
I went to the movies a rare time ago. And I just have to say... I saw the best Spider-Man movie ever made.