Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
November, x788.
"*Sigh* Looks like they forgot to tell me about this." Alfonzo said while shaking his head. "I'm almost certain who's in there. But if it's not them, I'm gonna have a body to quietly dispose of. Actually, now that I think about it, I need to get Obito out of the trunk, too. I hope he didn't scare Grayfia when she went to get Shizuka's luggage."
["Are you stupid?"] Riot asked in an irritated tone as Alfonzo turned around to return to the elevator. ["Lici called your dumb ass when this mother fucker first got caught."]
"Huh?" Alfonzo blurted dumbfoundedly, stopping just as he pressed the call button for the elevator. "Did she? God damn it, I must be really fucking tired if I forgot about something like that."
["Well, other than that little nap, you haven't slept for almost a day and a half."] Bedlam said. ["So, it's understandable."]
"I guess." Alfonzo replied while shaking his head as he pressed the call button for the elevator.
["Fuck that!"] Riot shouted, enraged. ["There's no excuse to forget anything Lici tells us. Now, go upstairs and apologize to her for forgetting and accusing her of not telling your dumb ass about Zetsu."]
["Simp."] Bedlam said while shaking his head.
"Super Simp." Alfonzo added.
["What did you mother fuckers call me?"] Riot asked, his anger growing.
"Anyway, I'm gonna go get Obito from the trunk, give him a little something to eat, and drop his ass off down here." Alfonzo continued, unbothered by Riot's tantrum, as he stepped into the elevator. "Then, I'm gonna go to bed. I can deal with all this shit tomorrow."
["That's probably a good idea."] Bedlam replied with a nod. ["You wouldn't be able to get any meaningful amount of work done if you're like this, anyway."]
["Hey, don't ignore me!"] Riot shouted, though his shouting fell on deaf ears.
Like that, while ignoring Riot, Alfonzo made his way to the garage, opened the S 600's trunk, and pulled Obito out before slinging him over his shoulder. Then he went back down to the hanger and dropped him next to the chunk of metal imprisoning Zetsu. Then, he opened a small space in the metal so Obito and Zetsu could speak to each other.
"Damn, I really am a nice guy." Alfonzo said to himself as Obito and Zetsu glared daggers at him. "You two don't have to thank me. I don't want the two of you getting bored, after all."
With that said, Alfonzo turned on his heels and started walking back to the elevator. And just as he reached the elevator and pressed the call button, thousands, maybe millions, of miniscule sigils were etched into every surface of the hanger.
"Oh, and these are just in case you find a way to break your restraints." Alfonzo said as he, once again, stepped into the elevator. "I just locked the space in the hanger. So, there will be none of those [Teleportation] shenanigans I'm sure you're capable of. Anyway, I'm tired. So, I'm going to bed. Have a good night, bye."
As Alfonzo's last word fell, the elevator doors closed.
Meanwhile, Obito and Zetsu glared at the elevator as if they were trying to set it, or rather the one inside, ablaze with their gazes alone. Then, after a while, they turned their gazes towards each other.
Rather, Obito turned his gaze towards Zetsu. Zetsu, on the other hand, although he could move his eyes and head, to an extent, could not see past the metal encasing him to look in Obito's direction.
"What the hell is going on, Zetsu?" Obito asked, his voice basically a growl as the words left his mouth. "How did you get captured? And how long ago?"
"If I knew how I got caught, I'd tell you." the black half of Zetsu's face replied. "But I have no damn idea. One second, I'm just burrowing under the town. Then, this strange, liquid metal starts crawling all over me."
"Yeah, and no matter what we did, we couldn't get it off." The white half of Zetsu's face said in a grim tone. "After that, when we were completely covered in it, it hardened. And the next thing we saw was here. Where ever the hell 'here' is."
"Damn... I saw the barrier surrounding the town when we first arrived here." Obito said in an irritated tone. "But I never expected him to set up something to stop intruders underground, too. Just how cautious is this guy?"
"That doesn't matter." Black Zetsu growled. "What does matter, is how the hell are we going to get out of here."
'I'll never be able to revive the real Madara if I'm stuck here.' Zetsu thought to himself. 'All sacrificing the Tailed Beasts and Uzumaki brat Madara gave his eyes should be enough. And since I don't have a soul, Ankhseram's curse shouldn't affect me. Madara's plan was perfect.'
"I've been trying to figure that out for almost a week." Obito grumbled. "But nothing I do is working. I can't break this harness. And because its etched with sigils that negate magic, I can't even use [Kamui] to escape."
"How did you even get caught?" The White Zetsu asked curiously. "Don't tell me you stepped into a trap and got your [Kamui] [Sealed]?"
"No, there was no trap." Obito spat through gritted teeth. "But Alfonzo Marcus is a monster."
"What do you mean?" Black Zetsu asked, a note of curiosity in his tone. "Just what happened?"
Though he did not want to think about his defeat, Obito eventually recapped his encounter with Alfonzo outside the Village Hidden in the Mist. And when the two entities that made up Zetsu heard Obito's story, it would be an understatement to say that they were surprised.
"Wait! Wait! Wait!" White Zetsu said in a tone filled with disbelief. "Are you telling me that he attacked you so relentlessly that you couldn't take the split-second it would take for you to deactivate and reactivate your [Kamui] without taking critical damage?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Obito said angrily. A moment later, however, he continued in a defeated tone. "Like I said, he's a monster."
"And the worst part is..." Black Zetsu said in a forlorn tone. "We can't even report this information to the rest of the Akatsuki. There's no way they'll be able to get us out of here."
"Ha!" Obito barked. "Do you think that group of arrogant rogue ninjas will even take his threat seriously? On top of that, they don't even know how strong we are. And the only one who does has a god damn god complex."
"Actually, I think it's a mental illness." White Zetsu said. "I've seen Konan making him take medicine several times in the past."
"Yeah, but that could be for his weakening body." Black Zetsu added. "The Rinnegan puts an immense amount of strain on your magic power and body if you're not an Uchiha."
"That's true." White Zetsu said. "But after taking that medicine, Nagato almost acts... normal... for a while."
"Hmm... Now I see why you thought it was medicine for his mental illness." Zetsu replied.
While this conversation was going on, Obito could only look at the non-human entities encased in metal with incredulity.
"Are you two stupid!?" Obito roared.
"Huh?" x 2
"Why the hell would you two talk about such classified information like that?" Obito asked in a dumbfounded tone. "We're in enemy territory for God's sake."
Just then, the two entities making up Zetsu froze. They had never been captured before, so the situation they were in had not completely registered.
"Hahaha... Oops." White Zetsu said, wanting to scratch the back of its head in embarrassment, yet unable to move. "You're right, Obito."
"But it's not such a big deal." Black Zetsu added. "We're alone in here. No one heard anything they weren't supposed to."
"Do you really think that monster doesn't have anything in here that can record our conversation?" Obito asked in a frustrated tone.
"Now you're just being paranoid, Obito." White Zetsu said.
{"Actually, he's not."} Alfonzo's voice sounded from the ceiling. {"*Sigh* It's too bad the Uchiha stopped you, though. I would have loved to hear some more gossip about such an infamous group of rogue shinobi."}
At that moment, the elevator doors opened. However, unlike what they expected, Alfonzo was not the one to walk through the doors. Instead, it was a tall, silver-haired, red-eyed woman wearing a blue apron dress. Or Grayfia to those familiar with her.
"Why have you sent this woman down here, Master of Metals?" Obito asked in a defiant tone. "I'll admit, she's quite attractive. But do you think we would give you even more information than we already have if you try to honey trap us?"
As soon as Obito's words ended, a magic pressure on par with what Yagura could output fell on him and Zetsu. And without the ability to access his own magic power, Obito felt as though he was being crushed.
Struggling to turn his head towards the source of the magic power pressure, Obito was completely taken aback when he determined that Grayfia was the source of the magical pressure.
"Wha... How?" Obito stuttered with difficulty. "Why would... you be... his maid with your... power?"
"I believe that is none of your concern." Grayfia replied without changing her expression. "The only thing you need to know is that I am here to make sure you get fed. Now, make this easy on both of us and cooperate."
{"Well, Grayfia, I'll leave their meals to you."} Alfonzo said. {"And if they don't cooperate, it's okay if you break a few teeth. As long as they eat, I don't really care."}
"Understood, Master Alfonzo." Grayfia said with a polite bow. "I'll make sure they finish every morsel."
{"By the way, just out of curiosity, who cooked that meal?"} Alfonzo asked.
"It was Mey-Rin." Grayfia replied. "We drew lots to decide, and she won."
In the next instant, the sound of Alfonzo sucking in a breath of cold air could be heard throughout the hanger.
"Well, good luck, you two." Alfonzo said in a tone filled with pity. "But since you're shinobi, you should have some resistance to poison, right? Well, I guess we'll find out in the morning. Oh, and don't worry, if you end up shitting yourselves, someone will clean up after you. Well, good night."
In actuality, Mey-Rin's cooking was not so terrible... any more. But a little psychological pressure never hurt anyone, right?
Either way, Grayfia carried out her duties to feed the two prisoners. Though, Alfonzo was unsure if Zetsu even needed to eat.
Meanwhile, in the forest east of the town, a great number of sheets of paper were seemingly blown in front of a large tree house with the wind. However, instead of continuing to ride the winds, they all gathered in front of the tree house before stacking together and taking a humanoid form.
In a moment, colors began to dye all the paper, and the humanoid shape became more life-like. By the time the process was complete, a relatively tall, about 5'7", amber eyed woman with blue hair styled into a bun, a black labret piercing, an origami rose in her hair, and wearing a black cloak with red cloud patterns stood in their place.
"I need to be quick." The blue-haired woman said to herself as she walked closer to the tree house's door. "I have no idea where Sensei is right now. But the chances of him coming here after being injured during a quest or training are not zero."
Unfortunately for Obito and Zetsu, this woman, Konan, had no idea that they had been captured and were being held prisoner north of the town. Not that it would have made much of a difference. Konan, though a quite skilled shinobi, had no way of sneaking past the barrier surrounding the artificial island at the center of Lake Sciliora.
However, it was also lucky for Konan that she landed in the east forest instead of heading to the town first. Otherwise, she would have been detected by the barrier Alfonzo set up around the town. Add to that, her high amount of magic power, although not as much as Gildarts, Ur might have seen it fit to investigate the visitor.
Deciding to deal with Jiraiya only if he managed to find her, Konan stepped forward and raised her right hand to knock on the tree house's door.
*Knock!* *Knock!* *Knock!*
After knocking on the door, Konan quickly took a step away from the door, as she had once been on the receiving end of the power of the tree house's, Porlyusica's, broom.
*Bang!*
"Who is it?" Porlyusica asked in an irritated tone after flinging the door open with a broom in hand. She then scrutinized the woman standing outside of the door and the scowl she usually wore deepened greatly. "It's you again. Do you have any idea what time it is? And how many times do I have to tell you to find a real psychiatrist to deal with your friends mental issues? This is why I hate humans."
"I'm sorry, Miss Porlyusica." Konan said while bowing her head. "But he's getting worse. Please, I must ask you for stronger medicine."
Hearing that, Porlyusica snorted. Then, she turned around and started walking further into the house.
"Why are you just standing there?" Porlyusica asked in irritation. "Hurry up and come inside."
Quickly following Porlyusica's instructions, Konan hurried into the tree house. She then closed the door behind her. Yet, Porlyusica's next words caused her to freeze once the door had clicked closed.
"This will be the last time I provide any medicine for that friend of yours." Porlyusica said without turning around. "It should be enough to last for about two and a half years. But I don't provide treatment to those who wish to do harm to the members of Fairy Tail. So, you'd better find another way to help that friend of yours."
Although she froze because of Porlyusica's words, she was not surprised. She knew that Itachi and Kisame had attacked Elicia, a member of the same guild as Porlyusica. Instead, the reason for her freezing up was the fact that she had no idea who would be able to provide anti-psychotic medicines on the same level as Porlyusica on Ishgar.
"*Sigh* I understand." Konan replied, her shoulders slumping slightly. "I'll never bother you with his problems again."
Though she did not receive a response, Konan quickly spun around to catch a rather large bottle of pills. And since Porlyusica did not return, Konan correctly interpreted Porlyusica was telling her to leave.
So, Konan once again bowed politely in the direction where the pill bottle came flying from before opening the door, leaving the tree house, and closing the door behind her. Then, she performed a hand sign, causing a pair of wings made from paper to sprout from her back, and flew off into the distance.