"You bastard!" With tears peeking out of the corners of his eyes, Shikamaru stood up and pulled out a kunai, but Toru appeared in front of him and kicked him away from the spot.
"..."
However, something stopped him and hundreds of crows began to appear around Hidan and Kakuzu, even in front of Toru.
He looked up at the sky. "A distraction" And at that very moment he dodged a sword that made its way through the crows that appeared out of nowhere.
Immediately, a girl with brown hair and black eyes appeared in front of him. She held a katana and her gaze was as cold as ice. "Nightmares are what will take you to the realm of the dead" The girl's eyes flashed softly and Toru only shook his head.
"Genjutsu doesn't work on me" But Toru just looked at her raising his hand and then tried to hit her, but another shinobi appeared and prevented it.
Before them, a ninja squadron appeared. It consisted of three Jounin and two chūnin. Among them were Chouji and Hakuto. Hakuto was the girl who tried to use her nightmare genjutsu on Toru.
He looked at this without saying anything, but it seemed Hidan was excited, plus Kakuzu wanted to get that 35 million no matter what.
'Looks like I'll have to use Senjutsu, though it might not be necessary' Still, he adjusted his hat and looked at the shinobi protecting the injured Asuma.
"More sacrifices came in. This is pretty good" Applauding at the spectacle before him, Hidan held the scythe and prepared to fight.
At that same instant, Kakuzu ran to Asuma so as not to lose the 35 million.
...
...
However, the three Akatsuki members stopped dead in their tracks and stared blankly.
'Pain's voice...' Toru sighed. This was the first time Pain spoke directly to him.
He usually usually communicates via Konan, but this time, knowing that Konan wasn't with Toru, Pain decided to speak to him directly.
[Get ready, we're going to seal the Sanbi.]
"What an annoying bitch" But Hidan felt offended by the sudden interruption. Kakuzu got tired of this instantly.
"Shut up already, Hidan."
Kakuzu and Hidan started arguing after that as the shinobi of Konoha looked on.
Pain then took advantage of this to talk privately with Toru.
[When you're done playing with those two idiots, go back to Amegakure. Don't disobey your god's commands]
'Huh... okay... there's not much I can do in Amegakure, but if you say it in that tone of voice I'll have to go."
To Toru, this was a bit annoying. He more or less understood why Pain thinks he's a god, but that "I am pain, I am superior and I will reform this world" attitude made Toru a bit uncomfortable.
Still, he couldn't criticize someone like Nagato (Pain), because he, like Toru, have goals that they want to accomplish at all costs.
"Well, there's no other way. The higher ups are calling us, so we have to go" Hidan put the scythe on his back and looked at the Konoha reinforcements that had arrived. "Don't go too far, bitches. It won't be long before we're back."
Kakuzu looked at Toru. He felt annoyed that now the chance to get that 35 million was gone. So now, all that was left for them to do was to retreat until the Bijū's seal ends.
Toru took a leap and stood up in the air. He looked at the Konoha reinforcements before the wind lifted his hat a little. His body began to disappear in a cloud of smoke as did Kakuzu's and Hidan's. His eyes glittered slightly for death was present. "Until next time, Nara Shikamaru" After that his body completely disappeared along with his two companions.
...
...
'He knows... who I am...' Shikamaru saw that faint flash of monochromatic light under the hat, that light that reminded him of someone, but that couldn't be true. He didn't want to believe that, still, he didn't have time to concentrate on other things. Asuma was dying and Hakuto was trying to heal him.
-Somewhere else-
On top of that steel statue, Pain looked at Amegakure amidst the everlasting rain of the place. Konan was at his side, she had already informed him about Toru's sudden decision.
"Idiots..." Still, Pain shook his head as he thought about those two immortals.
It was time to move on to the next Bijū.
***
In that dark place, the illusory shadows of Akatsuki members reappeared on each finger of each hand of the wooden statue.
Almost the instant they all introduced themselves, a strangely animated voice resounded and made Toru raise an eyebrow at that strange voice he had never heard in his life.
"Hi! Hi! How are you all, I'm new to Akatsuki, it's nice to meet you! You all look really cool, if you ask me!"
Everyone fell silent at the performance of this mask-wearing buffoon. Hidan felt a bit disgusted to see this, he even couldn't help but spit out a few insults for him.
"Hey, 'Boss' - who is this bastard with the voice of an idiot?"
Pain sighed. At the same time, Konan looked at Toru.
If Toru had gone with Konan, surely he would have met this new member earlier, but since he went with Hidan and Kakuzu, all that couldn't happen.
"Hello, Hidan-senpai! I'm Tobi! My name is Tobi! Call me Tobi, senpai!"
Hidan didn't understand why, but just hearing this idiot's voice made him feel indescribable anger. Too bad they are not physically present, as Hidan would have launched himself to kill Tobi on the first try.
Toru thought it was kind of curious though, interesting. "So this is Sasori-sensei's replacement, huh..." He put his hand to his chin and thought for a few seconds.
Itachi looked at him, but he was thinking too much about other things to pay attention to that boy. Kisame was the same way, there were more things to think about besides the new Akatsuki member.
"This fool gives me a lot of headaches. Now I understand how Sasori-sensei felt when I picked on him..." This wry comment from Deidara made Toru think even more.
"Enough of this talk. Let's get started at once. It will be three days and three nights. Make the chakra the same amount as that of the Bijū.
"Understood, Pain-sama!"
"Shut the fuck up, asshole!
Hearing Hidan yelling at Tobi, Deidara couldn't help but feel pleased, because he knew that the anger Hidan feels right now, he has to go through it on a daily basis just because Tobi is his teammate.
After that, Tobi tried to shut up and the seal of the Bijū began.
***
Although it wasn't more than four hours before Tobi couldn't contain himself and was curious to see Toru among the Akatsuki members.
"Hey, hey. You're Asahi Toru?"
Toru, who at that moment had closed his eyes to relax while they sealed the Bijū, opened his eyes and looked at Tobi. He quickly answered him and closed his eyes again. "No..."
Tobi chuckles a little upon hearing this answer. "Don't lie, Toru-senpai. You are very famous everywhere. Your name is on the most wanted list in the whole fire country. how cool, you're cool! I didn't think I could meet you so easily."
Tobi seemed to know a little about Toru, but he didn't care. He was a stranger who had just arrived, just like him a year ago.
"I respect you a lot, senpai. Not just anyone kills over a hundred Jounins without even breaking a sweat in less than an hour. That's an incredible feat and all that happened when you were twelve years old, that's amazing, I'm your fan!"
So far Toru hadn't noticed, as he didn't care much, but Tobi has a mask covering his face. The mask only has one hole to see through, so this got him thinking about how on earth he could perceive depth by seeing with only one eye.
"It's a shame, though. Almost everyone has already stopped talking about you. Hahaha. It's funny that everyone thinks you went with Orochimaru."
Toru folded his arms as he listened to Tobi. At the same time, Deidara looked over his shoulder at Tobi. "Hey, Toru. You better not listen to Tobi or you'll get a hernia from the stupid things he says, hm..."
Tobi laughed as he looked at Deidara. "Don't say that, senpai. I say interesting things, see, Toru senpai gives me the attention you don't give me."
"Ah! Shut up already! This looks like a couples' argument!" Hidan clicked his tongue as he couldn't concentrate because of these three. "If I were in front of you two, I'd kill you right away. I'd leave Deidara-chan alive though, I like him."
...
Toru shook his head. It seemed like he was surrounded by a bunch of kids, though it didn't bother him that much either. He folded his arms and sighed after that. 'He said his name was Tobi. There's something weird about him...' Toru could certainly sense something, but he didn't understand what that was. Although he didn't believe in such things, seeing Tobi he felt... 'A bad feeling.'
This guy's face is a mystery to everyone in Akatsuki. Although Toru had no right to complain about it, as he wears the hat all the time to hide his face. Even this served him well when he went against Shikamaru. But for someone as smart as him, he surely ended up figuring it out.
'Never mind. Sooner or later I'll have to show myself to the world again. Until that happens, I'll use Akatsuki to hide and keep myself protected.'
Once again deep in thought, Toru nodded his head as he imagined and planned everything he would do next, but Tobi's irritating voice spoke to him again.
"Hey, hey, senpai. There's one thing I wanted to ask you. As I understand it, Itachichi slaughtered the Uchiha clan and the Asahi clan. You belonged to that Asahi clan, that means Itachi killed your family. Don't you feel angry about that? Don't you want to kill Itachi and his family too?"
Hearing this, a switch turned on in Toru's mind. He opened his eyes wide and the X showed in front of a blue and red light. Itachi saw this and tried to ignore it.
"Hiiiiiii! How scary!"
Toru had forgotten about that for a few days, but Tobi reminded him. That's why he had that reaction that made Tobi squirm in that place.
"So those eyes if real. They're very pretty, but if you look at me that much they're scary" Tobi raised his index finger as if he was explaining something. His mood quickly recovered and he tried to interact with Toru again.
While this was going on, all the Akatsuki members were watching.
Thanks to Tobi, Hidan and Kakuzu found out a little more about the past of this teenager with a screw loose.
However, there was something that made Kakuzu hold back his laughter. For some reason he remembered something from the past, something from long ago in the early shinobi wars. 'You look a lot like that man' He nodded his head as he remembered.
There was no point of comparison, the two were identical except for the color of the eyes. Kakuzu remembered this with nostalgia, for that man died fighting someone who was much more powerful than him.
"Please shut up..." Toru already had a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead. He got tired of listening to Tobi asking questions here and there. Even he wasn't that annoying when he asked something.
Still, Tobi didn't shut up and continued talking and asking questions.
***
In the place that the three had chosen to hide these next three days, Hidan opened his eyes and looked at Toru in meditation position with his hands together executing the jutsu to transfer his chakra.
At a glance I could see in Toru's expressionless face that he was already tired of listening to Tobi.
Hidan laughed a little at this and returned his mind to the place where the Sanbi was being extracted.
'Hm... at least there's something that can disturb that peace you always walk around with, huh...'
-Four days later
The seal of the Bijū was successfully completed. Tobi and Deidara captured the beast in the wild and brought it to who knows where, thus sealing it and having one less Bijū. There were now three Jinchūriki left in the ninja world.
Kyūbi, Hachibi and Rokubi. That was all that was left, just three more and all the Bijū in the world would belong to Akatsuki.
Right now the Zombie team and Toru are heading to Konoha, as Kakuzu and Hidan want to finish what they started and Toru didn't mind that.
"Hey, Toru..." Hidan kept his gaze straight ahead.
"This is the first time you've used my name, what are you planning?" Understanding everything instantly, Toru felt curious about this.
"When we find those bitches, see to it that you don't get in my way. This is my fight and I want those sacrifices for Jashin-sama."
"It's okay... if you need help you can ask for it."
"Huh..." Hidan sighed and smiled. "Even if I'm really dying, I'm not going to ask for your help.Do you understand, Toru-chan?"
'-chan...' A memory came to Toru's mind. It had been a long time since someone had called him that way. However, his expression didn't change, he remained relaxed and took a step in front of everyone. "If that's what you want, I have no problem with it.
Kakuzu sighed and shook his head. Hidan instead, raised his fist and visualized victory. "You'll see, I'll show you that I can kill those bastards all by myself with my immortality."
To be continued...