Chapter 11 - Steam

"Heathen."

"That certainly doesn't look good now, does it ?" Kisame expects the worst from the huge, grumpy figure; one that is visibly up to no good.

"HEATHEN!" Narikyo slams the ground violently and create ripple on the very earth that could easily be felt from a distance.

"I decided I don't like anything related to this damned Jashin." Kakuzu assumes a defensive stance.

"BLASPHEMY!" Narikyo charges at Kakuzu, most likely to punish him for what he said. But very slowly. Faster than an average human for sure, faster than one would expect from a man of his size, but slow for a Shinobi, at least in Kakuzu's eyes. The latter prepares a net in front of him, as well as his arms. And as soon as Narikyo made contact, Kakuzu went flying back as fast as a rocket.

"Not yet. Lord Jashin wouldn't be satisfied with just this. I need to preach some more" Narikyo turns to Kisame.

"What a troublesome fellow. Let's settle down a bit, shall we ?." Kisame begins weavings his signs.

[Water Style : Water Prison]

He traps Narikyo in the water sphere.

"That ought to calm you down." Or so Kisame thought. But Narikyo forms a fist, and begins moving it in a circular motion. After a few turns, a small cyclone inside the water prison forms. The cyclone gets bigger with everyturn until he eventually stops and winds up a big punch, then throws it, which causes the water prison to be sent flying in kisame's way as a water tornado.

"Good grief. I certainly seem to attract brutes with ridiculous power and terrible intelligence lately." Kisame refers to Guy, with which he still has a score to settle.

"Well. This will be a good preparation." Kisame deflects the water attack with Samehada.

"Terrible intelligence ? Who might that be, Heathen ? I will not take a godless rogue's insult." Narikyo replies in a calm manner, contrasting with his brute force.

"This is not enough. This won't please our Lord." Narikyo looks down on the earth and slams it violently, repeatedly. A crater forms and gradually gets bigger.

"Oi, oi... You still have more in the tank?"

"A soul was on death's door, and death was denied that soul. The god of death demands his sacrifice back."

"So you won't stop until someone dies, huh... Zetsu, can you help ?"

"Yessiiiiiir." White Zetsu forms a clone from scratch and walks it up as best as he could on the ravaged terrain, or the crater that remains of it.

"Repent." Narikyo looks down on the white figure approaching him carelessly.

"I was never the religious typ-" White zetsu gets crushed under the goliath's fist before he could finish his sentence. No change appears in Narikyo's curse marks.

A little further back, Kakuzu tried to deccelerate his flight by holding on to trees or rocks with his wires, after a dozen failed attemps he finally smashes his back on a boulder and stops. He stands up, and shakes off the dirt from him.

"If I didn't use Earth Spear, I would've lost a heart again. That son of a bitch is going to pay for it."

He throws his akatsuki robe and reveals the numerous threads consisting his body, then begins travelling very quickly back to the fight.

Back in the main location, Hidan - still on one foot - begins exchanging blows with Ryume, his scythe against her staff. "You could at least say you missed me, first."

"Forgive me, but I needed to blow some steam. Those experiments were incredibly taxing, you know. Dulls the senses."

"You're right. I needed a bit of action myself, but I got stuck with a money grubbing old man." Hidan agrees with Ryume as her delivers a powerful strike that sends both of them back a little distance. Black Zetsu then appears from a tree bark to remind him.

"Oi. Hidan, we came here to recruit them. If you're getting along enough to have fun, then get to the point and let's get out of here."

"I know, I know. Just trust me and let us go at it a bit, won't you ? I promise I'll make them join us."

On the other side of the battlefield. A huge swimming pool was erected.

[Water Prison Shark Dance] & [Samehada Fusion Mode ]

"Now that is certain to tire you out." Kisame traps the giant in his giant water dome. Narikyo waves, moves, punches around violently, then tries the same tactic as earlier and succeeds in pushing a lot of water away, but Kisame dodges the waves, and takes detours to keep closing the distance on him.

"It's useless. The water follows me wherever I am. You would do well to settle down before you run out of air and tire yourself out. We didn't come here to fight, after all."

Narikyo crosses his hands, and assumes a sitting position. He then speaks underwater - his words forming a bubble - then sends the bubble in Kisame's direction. Upon contact with Kisame, the bubble explodes and he hears, very loudly :

"FINE."

"Good grief. Even that couldn't be delicate, huh. Well, at least this ended without much trouble."

Kisame undoes his water dome and his samehada fusion. Narikyo remains unmoving, as the water gently puts him down on solid ground in his sitting position.

[Fire release : Head Mincing Pain ( Zukokku)]

A vengeful Kakuzu unleashes a destructive attack on the calmed down Narikyo.

[Water style : Water Formation Wall (Suijinheki)]

Kisame forms a protective water wall to parry Kakuzu's attack on Narikyo.

"Please calm down, Kakuzu. We just agreed to end this on peaceful terms. Let's not waste time and energy for futilities and get to the point of our meeting."

"Tsk. That'll be without me. I'll fetch back my robe, I can't stand these two faced fanatics. One day I'll kill them all." Kakuzu, still bitter and grumpy, nonetheless prioritizes the mission and heads back to grab his Akatsuki garment. After a short while, Hidan and Narikyo stopped their hostilities.

"The woman agreed to join, what about you ?" Zetsu asks Narikyo.

"I have no reason to refuse. However, our religion preaches death and destruction. As long as we're free to offer sacrifices to Lord Jashin. We'll help you." Narikyo calmly answers, but his eyes are still flaring, and his skin, black and white.

"Same as Hidan, huh. Then it's decided. You three will most likely operate on a cell of your own.I will oversee you lot for a little while, if you don't mind. Our leader will tell." Zetsu announced.

"Eh, Sure." Hidan agrees

"Very well." Ryume follows.

"Here, take this. Poor bastard came to check on the noise." Kakuzu throws a tied up innocent man to Narikyo's feet. As the latter looks down, Kakuzu throws a punch elongated by his threads and hardened with his technique.

[Earth style : Earth Spear]

Narikyo is sent flying back for a little distance, but his posture has not moved an inch. After his flight stopped, he stood back up, walked to the poor tied up man, and began violently beating him to death. His eyes finally go back to their normal hollow appearance and the marks finally dissapear. Then stands back up.

"We're even now." Kakuzu declares.

"For an old man, you sure hold grudes like a child." White Zetsu mocks him.

"Shut up, or I'll kill you too."

"More importantly, Zetsu. Weren't you supposed to find out where Itachi went ?" Kisame asks.

"I couldn't hide my presence from him and he threathened to kill me if I didn't go away."

"Oh ? Scary."

------------ Outcome ------------------------

Narikyo : Joined the Akatsuki.

Ryume : Joined the Akatsuki.

Random victim : Deceased.

Itachi : Whereabouts unknown.

----------- Chapter 11 : End --------------