How many days had passed since they left Kirigakure? Toru felt that, for some reason, the trip had dragged on too long. It had been a little over a month since they set out on their journey in search of the Jinchūriki. Obviously they couldn't find him, but they got some good information.
"It's this way" Konan guided Toru into a forest between the Fire Country and the Water Country. There, there were two people waiting for them.
Toru was informed earlier about this. Hidan and Kakuzu were the ones who were waiting for Toru and Konan. In front of them was the dying body of a woman with pale blonde hair. She had wounds on hEr hands and Hidan was covered in blood.
This was... a Jinchūriki.
"They came faster than I thought. Let's get started at once. This ridiculous ritual is stressing me out" Hidan grabbed the corpse and placed it in front of the wooden statue that had appeared hidden among the trees.
"You talk about ridiculous rituals and you're the first one to take a whole hour to do your stupid ritual" Kakuzu looked at Hidan with annoyance and walked to one of the statue's fingers.
Hidan clicked his tongue at this. He could have chosen to insult Kakuzu in a thousand different ways, but Toru was here. If he did that, the same thing would end up happening as last time. Toru stepping on his head as he looked at him with those dangerous eyes that somehow sent shivers down his spine.
"Fuck you, Kakuzu. You don't know anything about my religion, you wouldn't understand. It's not even worth trying to lead you down the good path of Jashin-sama anymore."
Sighing as he watched these two immortal guys walking at the statue's fingers, he returned his gaze to Konan. "It's always the same with them. I'm surprised they haven't found a way to kill each other. Even if I cut all of Hidan's death lines, he still doesn't die in the end..."
Konan had already heard this story from Zetsu's mouth, as he looked at them at the time. When Toru literally ripped Hidan to shreds turning him into a pile of minced meat. And, even after he received all those wounds, Hidan was still talking and complaining about the pain. She also had no problem telling this boy a few things. Even she knew a little about Hidan's religion and the strange things it hides "Jashin... that religion has some very shady hidden things. They follow a god that grants them immortality in exchange for sacrifices..." She faithfully believes in Nagato being the god who reincarnated in this world to purge all the evil and suffering, but for Hidan to still be alive after that showed that there was more than one god in this world.
"Immortality..."
Immortality is even something Orochimaru wants and he was partially able to get it. Toru in the end decided not to think about this, for him immortality is nothing more than a stupid curse. Even people in this world get to live an impressive amount of years, so immortality is not necessary even for him.
"Anyway, here we are. Let's start with the extraction of the Bijū. Pain must be waiting for us" Konan spread her wings and climbed onto the statue's finger.
Toru for some reason smiled a little when he saw her up there, maybe because she's a pretty cool woman, spreading her angel wings where the sunlight barely passes through the openings in the leaves of the trees. They were a pretty amazing thing to see and Toru likes to see that.
He held his hat and touched the ground gently with the toe of his foot, a second later, it appeared on one of the statue's toes. Pain's voice was heard after this along with the arrival of the other Akatsuki members.
"Let's not waste time" Toru said and the ritual began.
-Three days and three nights later-
"Then let's go back to Amegakure" Konan looked at Toru waiting for an answer, but that answer was not something she expected.
Hidan and Kakuzu were already leaving, so Toru and Konan had to return to Amegakure, still, Toru came up with something different.
"I'll go with Hidan and Kakuzu-san."
Konan raised an eyebrow at this. "Why?" Pain's order said that she and Toru must return, so this was disobeying the word of god. Yet Toru had a very... simple reason? To explain this.
"Kakuzu-san mentioned a hunt for money. It seems they're going to look for someone important, so I was curious. I've already completed this kind of work with them. Nagato-san should understand my decision. I will return to Amegakure as soon as I finish. And if you're worried that I might betray them, Kakuzu-san and Hidan will be keeping an eye on me."
For Konan, this strange decision on Toru's part came out of nowhere. From one moment to the next he decided that he would go that way without asking permission. But she certainly couldn't refuse. Besides he will be together with those immortal guys all the time, so it shouldn't be a problem.
When Toru came back to look at Kakuzu, he was waiting for him. Maybe he knew Toru was going to follow them, but that didn't matter. Kakuzu respects Toru for being a great source of income and monetary help for the organization, plus he doesn't hate him as much as Hidan.
After this, Konan spread her wings and left without saying anything. Toru nodded his head and walked until he reached the side of those immortal guys.
"Which person are they going to kill right now?"
Kakuzu, looking straight ahead, replied, "As far as I know, the target is a monk. They're giving 30 grand for his head."
Hearing that the assassination target would be a monk, Hidan clicked his tongue. He didn't know anything about this, so he was annoyed by the fact that they had to kill a religious person. "Killing a monk just for money will make you burn in hell."
"Hum... they say that even in hell you can get your way with money. So I can't complain."
Kakuzu's words seemed a bit interesting to Toru. If there is such a thing as hell and you can advance using money, then it would be easy to live in a place like that. Although in his past life Toru did not believe in any kind of god, he could say for sure that in this world such higher beings exist.
He could not complain about that. The existence of gods put all physics and chemistry to ridicule, and Toru defended that with everything he has, but now that is impossible. If you use the energy of your body (chakra) you can control the elements. That in itself in the world where Toru comes from would be something ridiculous and that you would only find in old books, but in this world it is possible. The existence of ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, etc. It is something that Toru still has no logical explanation, but if you involve those gods, it all makes sense.
"In any case, if that person is strong, I would like to face him" Toru looked at Kakuzu and he looked back at him.
At the same time, Hidan had a vein swell up on his forehead. Again he remembered that humiliating day "There goes the smug son of a bitch again. You're strong, we know that. You don't have to be so arrogant or I'll kill you."
In response to this, Toru looked at him with an expressionless face. "Do you want to give it a try" And he pulled the broken dagger out of his right hand.
Seeing this, Hidan's blood froze and he looked away.
"Forget it. There's no point arguing with a heretic like you, it's a waste of time."
Kakuzu found this amusing. It seemed Toru was the only one who could make Hidan shut his mouth for a second.
'This brat is interesting... and more for the big reward they give for him'.
As they walked, Kakuzu remembered that in his Bingo Book was the portrait of Toru when he was twelve years old. There was a bounty of 25 million ryō on this brat's head there. Obviously Toru was not aware of this, and Kakuzu was waiting for some perfect moment to kill him and take the reward, but after learning that this kid defeated the seven tails all by himself and literally leaving the whole place where he fought destroyed, he decided to wait for a better time.
"How are sales of the drug going? The production is not great. But you, Kakuzu-san, are in charge of the distribution in the other countries" Toru was curious about that, as he was the one who delivered the recipe to start with the mass production of that drug to the scientists in Amegakure.
"It is a great success. In Amegakure it is sold at low prices, but in the rest of the world, its price is extremely large, that's how we decided. There are many sick buyers looking to save their miserable lives and they give a lot of money in return. Akatsuki's economy has improved since distribution began."
"I see. That's good to know. At first I was only planning to use it for personal matters, but if it improves the quality of the organization, that benefits me as well. So it works for me, for the time being."
...
The conversation between Toru and Kakuzu continued normally. Hidan kept quiet, holding back the urge to insult them both or make bad jokes. In the end, he couldn't keep quiet and ended up getting hit by Kakuzu.
-Hours later-
[Fire Temple] A large and intimidating wooden door with those letters appeared before them. It had two statues with masks on the sides. The statue on the left had a Tengu mask and monk's clothing, while the right one had a clay bird mask, which likewise had the same clothing as the other statue.
Toru looked this up and somehow felt small before the door. It was somehow a bit exciting. "So our target is here."
"I don't know" Kakuzu clenched his fist and looked at the door. "But this isn't a normal temple, so maybe those 30 grand are here."
Boom!
The door shattered into pieces and the three entered by leaping forward. Toru's eyes were activated. He felt a slight headache and his vision becoming blurry again, but he squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. That made the pain partially subside.
He looked around and saw some monks looking ready to peel.
"Those robes..."
"No doubt about it, they're the rumor men - they're from Akatsuki!"
The monks were startled at the sight of them. They felt a strange sense of danger that wouldn't go away. They backed away and climbed the temple stairs.
"Bah. It doesn't look like anyone here wants to bow to the faith of Jashin-sama."
"Put such foolishness aside, Hidan."
"Hey, Kakuzu-san. Someone with really big chakra is coming out of the temple. Looks like that's the one, doesn't it?" Toru Tilted his head curiously. This man with a shaved head and monk's clothing showed himself in front of the other monks present. He had a noticeable expression of annoyance on his face at the sight of the destroyed door.
At this, Hidan took his scythe and swung it swinging it around, as if he was playing.
Kakuzu also prepared himself for what was coming and Toru used a jutsu to keep his hat in place. Considering that the monks in this place have direct connection to Konoha, revealing his identity could still be a very dangerous thing that would ruin his revenge against Danzo's bastard.
"Haha... looks like we'll have to face another army" Hidan saw all the monks who, instead of being scared, now showed a fierce expression ready to defend against the evil in the world.
To his bad luck, this was not going to be easy.
"You were right, brat. There's the 30 million" Kakuzu was pleased to see the future corpse that will give him a large amount of money.
In front of them, the man whose name is Chiriku, stepped forward and shouted, "I don't know your intentions, however... Go back the way you came!"
Clenching his scythe, Hidan found a reason to kill the monk. So now he already felt a little better about the death of this monk.
"That guy over there is worth thirty million and the scarf on his waist with the emblem of the fire country shows that he belongs or belonged to the Twelve Ninja Guards. If they let their guard down they will die."
"So he's part of those people, huh. How interesting... very interesting..." Toru's eyes rolled softly. He already knew the Twelve Ninja Guards, so he felt a little too curious about this "I think a little flame of curiosity ignited in my brain" He started walking as he climbed the stairs. "Can I fight this monk, Kakuzu-san?"
...
"Hey, brat. I told you to stop going to the fight like that. Last time you left my source of income cut to pieces and it was hard to sell it."
"Don't worry, Kakuzu-san. I'll use my fists this time. It's been a while since I've fought someone strong."
Hidan narrowed his eyes. "You bastard. When the fuck are you going to stop playing the cool guy! It annoys me too much!"
Under the hat, Toru maintained an emotionless expression.
"I must become stronger... more and more... and more... and more... My reasons shouldn't matter to you, mind your own business. If I say I'm going to fight this monk, I'm going to do it" He looked at Hidan and his eyes shone brightly. "If you want to stop me, go ahead. I'm sure I'll find a way to kill you this time."
Kakuzu sighed wearily after that. "Do whatever you want, brat. Just don't damage the merchandise."
"Thank you, Kakuzu-san. I'll try not to get too excited."
Chiriku looked at Toru and his eyes widened with fear and anger. That boy's eyes... they were red and strange like a wild dog's.....
To be continued...