If you like BNHA check out my ongoing x various reader insert story called Fight or Flight
NOT A FILLER CHAPTER I PROMISE!
Tsunade had just left for the Kage Summit and my stress was through the roof. Gaara also went, Sasori was his guard and as soon as the summit was over, they'd return to Suna for Sasori to talk with his grandmother before he comes back to the leaf. I was sad to say goodbye for now but Gaara needed to go home and be with his people and I hope Sasori can find another reason to live while he is with his remaining family. At least we can resume being pen pals, I always looked forward to getting my weekly letters from the panda boy.
I have no idea what is going to happen next, will Obito declare war or will he listen to my qualms about Zetsu. I don't know if he will try to capture Gaara at the summit or what other Jinchuriki he has managed to catch. He is so deeply in Zetsu's clutches that I don't know if anything I had said or done would change a thing, Naruto changed his mind the first time but I'm not Naruto. I don't know if I can do anything to help Obito.
Pain hasn't attacked the village either and it is making me more and more anxious on what the hell was going to happen.
Not only that, Naruto was sent off to train in Sage mode and then he was going to meet up with Fū and Killer B to learn to control the 9 Tails. After my letter to Killer B was accepted and he was hidden when Konan went searching, the Raikage and Tsunade are in a partial (super fragile) alliance made just to protect from the new Akatsuki.
Gaara refused to join them because his duties as Kage shadowed that of controlling Shukaku so Sasori is acting as one of his primary guards after I asked the puppet to do it (and possibly bribed him with being able to make a new puppet out of my Gaara if he dies before Sasori in the far future—which both agreed to, I'm not that bad). Our one year deal is still standing for now and he's held to his word as have I.
I was broken from my thoughts when a weaker Shark Bomb connected with my face and sent me sprawled into the water. I emerged from the lake and spluttered out a wet cough from choking on water; my cheek was most definitely going to have a nice bruise later. Kisame grinned in amusement as I wiped the hair from sticking to my cheeks and frowned (pouted) like a petulant child.
"Pay attention Little Orokamono, Itachi isn't at full capacity yet and I'm not going to wast my time on a spar with a little brat who can't get her head out of her ass." His dark eyes narrowed in annoyance as he scrutinized why I was being so scatterbrained today. It definitely ruined the intensity and wildness of our normal training sessions, something that aggravated the shark greatly. He wasn't one to waste time on someone not willing to give him an actual workout and make him work.
"Mmm... sorry Kisa-sempai, I'm just worried, something feels off, wrong but I don't know what." I rubbed my burning cheek and let him heave me back onto the surface of the still water. His massive stature was never more apparent than when he was annoyed with me. Sometimes I forget how intimidating he really is and then when he towers over me, I realize how much of a beast (a total loyal yet bloodthirsty puppy) Kisame really is.
"All the more reason to get your shit together, if its 'bout to go to hell like you think...you damn well better be ready to fight your ass off. Stop worrying 'bout things before they come, that's gonna get you killed." He's right, being too worried about the future is going to kill me, I'm living like everyone else now and I need to accept that I'm clueless.
It's been long coming for me to accept that, nothing has gone exactly as planned since the Chunin exams, time to just accept I'm not some future seer anymore. I need to live and train but I can't try to prepare for something I don't know about, being too sure about an outcome will make it harder to adapt when it changes.
"You're right." I groaned feeling like an idiot, all of this stress was not conducive to anything good in my life.
"I know." His blue face morphed back into a cheeky, slightly aggressive grin and I had almost no time to throw up my forearms in a block to defend against the kick hurtling towards my face. The pressure from his kick reverberated through my forearms and I was sent skidding back against the surface of the water. I prepared to counter his next move as he descended upon my form.
I skimmed his arm with a punch, bruising him almost instantly and he knocked me off balance with grazing my shin with a ravenous Samehada. I dropped beneath the surface of the water when Samehada sliced right where my head was a second before and with a forceful pull, I dragged Kisame under the water and pushed back to the surface to try and trap him in a Water Prison. Epic failure. He slammed me in the jaws of a shark, the force of the water on my body like a full body slap from a freaking gorilla.
"Fuck that hurts." Kisame's amused laughter rang through the air as he swung down forcefully, wielding his big ass living blade like it was weightless. "Sorry Samehada." I rolled under the slice and jabbed Kisame's wrist with my heel, chakra running through my foot to strengthen the kick but not releasing it so I didn't break his wrist. He was forced to let go of the hilt of Samehada. As soon as it was in the air, I let my chakra burst from my foot when my kick connected and set the blade out of our battle grounds.
"This is what I expect from you Little Orokamono." Even without his prized 'pet' Kisame wasn't deterred, he was even more excited to continue. His hands wove through signs almost impossibly fast, his chakra bursting out of him and pressing down on the water around me with intimidating force.
I'll never understand how his coils are so developed in a way to hold what feels like limitless chakra without any kind of hax inside of him. If I was more right in the head-and if Kisame was more evil than people think he is— I'd be terrified of the intensity of his chakra and his love for a good battle.
He was going to attack with another jutsu and I had to figure out a way to block the water with my chakra alone, something Shikamaru and I hypothesized this theory and Kisame and I are trying to put into practice. It has mainly resulted in me getting my ass handed to me by my element but I have been seeing a difference and one day I'm going to figure out how to overpower somebody else's chakra in their jutsu and use it against them. Kisame might be the worst person to do it with because of his potency, but if I can manage even slightly with him, I will be able to do it to others.
After training, I was dead tired so I got the man shark carry me to the Uchiha compound He was bruised but he had more chakra left and I was feeling extra lazy. He dropped me on the couch before heading to the kitchen for some food. I rested my head in Shisui's lap, my feet in Itachi's. Itachi was reading a book, unfazed yet paying attention to the loudness from Shisui's animated storytelling and the other members that were roaming the compound.
Sasuke was nowhere to be found, he was probably training in furthering his lightning release. Actually he is most likely hiding from Sai. Ever since the former ROOT joined our squad and decided he wanted to be more normal, he has been attempting to bond with everyone in ways he finds in books. The only issue is he does it at the most awkward times, usually makes something worse than it was before with his creepy need to 'connect' with people, and has no ability to read a room. He is the least socially functioning person I've ever met and I'm surrounded by socially inept idiots.
One of the highlights of my entire life was when Sasuke got a cut and Sai kissed it to 'feel better' after reading about how it was supposed to make it not hurt. Sai was so pleased with himself I didn't have the heart to explain how that was for parents and their children. naruto was too busy gagging and laughing to do anything. It was even better when kakashi egged the behavior on mentioning how it was so 'adorable his cute students were getting so close'. Sasuke had never looked more appalled and confused in his entire life. He's been doing his best to avoid the artist since then.
"He got you good Imouto." Shisui snickered, poking at the bruise on my cheek. I flashed a half-hearted glare in his direction but the eldest Uchiha just grinned at me. I retaliated by licking his arm super slobbery and everything. He grumbled out a teasing whine and wiped his arm against my shirt. "You gross little gremlin."
"Mmm, fix me Shisui-nii." I whined, giving him the best puppy dog eyes I could muster up. He relented almost immediately being the softy he was for everyone he cared about. Shisui's hand glowed a soft green and his warm, rushing chakra flooded the coils on my cheek and he mended the broken cells, the bruise dissipating quickly. Other than Itachi, Shisui has almost perfect Chakra control for an Uchiha and he decided to learn the basics of mystic palm just for superficial wounds when working on missions with his team. "You're the best sometimes."
"I know, I'm pretty awesome. It's why the ladies love me." You'd never know Shisui was possibly the most humble person ever if you didn't know how to look past the blatant flaunting of his 'awesomeness'. Shisui has been so serious since Itachi's procedure so seeing him finally relax again was comforting. I get his need to be strong and take up the role he felt was stolen from him when Danzo tried to murder him but to see him finally relax in the slightest was good. Shisui was as selfless as they come but he puts so much on himself he needs this time to just relax, especially if my gut feeling is right about it all going to high hell soon.
"Yeah, I'm sure thats the reason Fū likes you. It has nothing to do with your big doe eyes, curly hair, and her love for adorable things." He looked completely betrayed and missed the knowing look Itachi shot at the both of us. Shisui flicked my nose a bit harder than normal.
"She does not like me just for my looks!" Shisui realized what he said a second too late and groaned. He may be a genius and hides his feelings with jokes, he was still impulsive sometimes and it was wonderful when he would blurt something out to be right...too bad for him the info I have been trying to get for weeks was finally revealed.
"Ha! But you admit she likes you and you totally like her." I was oozing smugness and anyone near us would be able to tell.
"I hate you." His cheeks were flushed slightly as he narrowed his eyes at me. I smiled sweetly in return.
"I love you too." I lifted my head just enough to fully be facing Itachi, he glanced up from the book to let me know I had his attention. "How's the recovery coming 'Tachi?" I hadn't worked with him since coming home from the war but Tsunade had mentioned his recovery is coming along amazingly.
"Fine, it is not particularly enjoyable but it is effective. With one more week of rehabilitation therapy I should be able to return to all activities with no hinderance." He has been completing his recovery in less than half of what was expected, truly a prodigy in all forms of the word. God help anyone that want's to take him on now. Itachi was possibly the most calm I have seen in years. Though his face was as stoic as ever, the deep frown he wore was gone and his eyes regained a warmth missing since I was a little kid. In Itachi standards, he was glowing.
"You're insane." I muttered in slight awe.
"Hn." Inside Itachi was preening at the attention for how successful he's been. Hearing praise from Sasuke, Shisui, the Hokage, and I (mainly Sasuke though because Sasuke can make Itachi melt if he wanted to) made him feel great.
***
"Hello Harlot, you look like a wet cat, were you drowned?" Sai smiled blankly, I guess that was his attempt at saying something about a person's outfit for the day to compliment them. I ignored him for the time being and just looked in extreme confusion on what the hell was going on and why wasn't I invited.
"What-Who decided this was a good idea?" I was almost gaping at the sight in front of me. Sai, Deidara, Suigetsu, and Hidan were playing Hanafuda and Kakuzu and Shikamaru were in an intense game of Shogi. Those playing Hanafuda were covered in cuts and I was extremely confused, the game was extremely non-violent so them bleeding made 0 sense.
"Kakuzu and I planned to play a game of Shogi after I impressed him with my tactical maneuvers in the field. We decided to test who was smarter, it has been a stalemate as of now." From the kooks of it, the game has been going on for a while, Kakuzu was no idiot. That may be true but Shikamaru was staring intently at the board between them. He was sitting in his thinking position and I'm guessing he would sooner or later figure out a way to win.
"Good to know not all of your friends are incompetent brats." The old miser didn't take his eyes off the game either, I'm slightly surprised he was doing this with no money on the line and he didn't even look annoyed. The irony of them playing games together.
"Fuck off Kakuzu." Hidan yelled to his partner as he dragged me down to sit between him and Deidara. "Sup hot bitch, ready watch me spank these heathens?" He grinned coyly, completely unbothered by the blood dripping down his chest. I shifted under his arm so he didn't get any on me, I washed my own off already and don't plan on getting rid of Hidan's as well.
"Why the hell are you all bleeding?"
"Regular Hanafuda is boring, yeah? We spiced it up so lowest score each round gets to pick a weapon and the highest score gets one throw at everyone else to hurt them as punishment un. Its pretty fun, wanna join?" Deidara looked the least injured of everyone so he was probably winning. He definitely looked smug enough to be winning as of now. Suigetsu was pouting and with the cuts on his skin it was most likely that he wasn't allowed to shift whenever he was hit. Normally he never had any superficial wounds done to him so that made it so much funnier.
"Playing with 5 is never fun though...I have a better game, same rules apply, who's down?" Everyone agreed to play and I taught them to play Nerts. It was a battle and they caught on quickly. Both Sai and Deidara are annoyingly good at the game and were 5 points from winning. Suigetsu was hilariously terrible almost the entire game and Hidan is good but he get heated so quickly he screams more than he actually plays.
I ended up winning in the end but a few rounds I did bad and when I picked my weapon, I chose a pillow for one and a chess piece for another. Never in my life did I think Hidan throwing a chakra-laced pillow would send me crashing into a wall. It hurt more than anyone would admit to the Jashinist.
"Hidan I'm hungry."
"So?" His magenta orbs briefly looked away from the gory movie (that we have all been giving shit to because it was super horribly written), one of his silver brows raised like I was telling him something useless.
"Feed me?" Hidan's cooking was good and I wanted some, plus he was always fun to watch cook and messed around the whole time.
"Fuck off hot bitch." He grunted, cackling when a prostitute was decapitated: 'That's what you get from straying from the ways of Jashin mongrel'.
"But you're leaving tomorrow to go meet your sacrificial quota of the week and I'll be sad so I need you to make us food so I'll be less sad." I was quite obviously being dramatic and he knew it. That didn't stop him from smirking at my attempt, it amused him to no end because he at least knew I was somewhat sincere about missing him, he wasn't one of my closest friends for no reason.
"Don't try to manipulate me, I take orders from Lord Jashin and Lord Jashin alone. I'm not a fuckin' pansy who will do whatever the fuck you want like bomber boy." He gestured to Deidara who was letting me brush his hair. Nobody could blame him though, having your hair bushed by someone else was the best feeling male or female, Hidan was just trying to be an ass as always.
"What?" I scoffed, smiling. "Dei does literally nothing anybody wants." Even Hidan listens better than Deidara sometimes. The blonde is for his art and couldn't care less about what other people ask from him especially if it's inconvenient. I tried getting him to make me food once and he blew up my dresser, I haven't done it since.
"Yeah hmm. Better remember that before I blow your stupid unartistic head from your damn body un." Deidara was one step away from losing it, Shikamaru just looked on in unrestrained annoyance, they were definitely cramping on his nap time. Shika was the most calm of us, he was not prone to picking fights and being surrounded by people constantly cursing at one another was driving him up the wall. No wonder he an Kakuzu got along, they were both old men at heart.
"What's that you damn tranny?" Hidan sneered loudly, his smile holding promises of pain.
"I'm going to murder you religious freak!" Deidara shot to his feet, looking up to meet Hidan eye to eye.
"The sexual tension between you two is suffocating." Suigetsu stated with nonchalance, pretending to be choking on their desire for one another. The air chilled and Hidan and Deidara turned to the swordsman with death in their eyes.
"SUIGETSU!" The water boy shot to his feet and ran, laughing as he skidded around the corner, dodging the scythe and bomb sent to him.
"I did not think they were in a relationship of that manner." Sai looked ready to note that information down, god forbid that's what he imagines a relationship to be like. He'd assume Naruto was in love with anyone and everyone.
"They aren't." Shikamaru cut in quickly, coming to the same conclusion as me. Sai could never think they were together or he'd try and play matchmaking for the worst couples ever...or he'd think anyone he pisses off actually are in love with him.
"Oh..." His mind was trying to process everyone and Shikamaru audibly groaned.
"Don't even try to understand, it's too troublesome to explain." I was happy but there was still that lingering feeling in my gut...something big was going to happen.
***
3d POV
"We have found the location of the missing Jinchuriki."
"Good Zetsu. Where are they now?" Obtio found himself more on edge with Zetsu every day since Hinata had told him that Zetsu was not for anyone's goals but his own. He was searching for the truth but was never postitve, the plant was like a ghost. Everywhere and nowhere, Obito could not find once bit of concrete evidence to support Hinata but he could also never find a reason Zetsu was aiding in the Infinite Tsukoyomi. Black Zetsu is organic, it was created and if Hinata was right, it was planning on betraying his, Madara's goals. That was unacceptable, this world needed to change it's leadership and he'd be dammed if a half and half bastard would stop it.
"Konohagakure. They took refuge there but it seems as though the one tails is leaving for the Kage Summit and the seven, eight, and nine tails have disappeared once more. Obito, you will capture the one tails and his friends will be ours as well." Perhaps Hinata had something right in saying Obito had never thought for himself, he was under the brainwashing of the lead, then under the guidance of Madara, and no matter what, he always has Zetsu bonded to him whispering into his ears. He was leader, he was the new Madara Uchiha and Zetsu could not command him like he was above Madara.
Through their shared link, Black Zetsu could feel the surging insubordination rising within Obito. he had everything planned for his entire lifetime, he was going to bring back mother and having the words of some Hyuga pest change one of his greatest pawns was an annoyance. One that Black Zetsu had already planned to fix. Obito's altering mind, separating from the influence of White Zetsu and the already corrupted Madara just meant he had to be disposed of, he had his new pawn in place already. He didn't even stiffen as Obito kamui'd and slammed him into the wall.
"I am Madara Uchiha, I am the leader of the Akatsuki and the leader of the new world. I will crush the world and everyone inside of it to remake a perfect one for her to live in. I will not be commanded by trash like yourself, you are becoming a nuisance...Zetsu." Obtio's fingers tightered around Zetsu's windpipe, aiming to crush it completely and kill the humanoid creature. If Hinata was right, he needs to die.
"Oh no, this is unfortunate I didn't want it to come to this. We gave you this power, we are the reason you are not buried underground useless and dead. We are the reason you can walk or fight, the reason you can remember poor little Rin and how she was murdered. You are nothing Obito." Pain walked out from the shadows as Obito dropped to the ground writhing in pain. "I told you, he is not for the salvation of humanity. He is not for the goals of the Akatsuki, he is pretending to be someone he is not all for the sake of one dead little girl. "
His deep screams were hoarse and painful and white Zetsu 'tobi' removed itself from being bonded to Obito, reducing him to the shell, the broken boy Madara found him as. All he could think of was how Hinata was right, how he was so wring and was being betrayed by the ones who showed him their convoluted truth.
"Thank you for this revelation. Leave, I will deal with this." Zetsu sunk back into the floor, if he could no longer be the manipulator for Obito, he will directly be the demon whispering in Pain's ear. One or the other, he will use them to bring back his mother, he will accomplish his will.
"He's...using...y-you!" Obito barely managed to grit out from the pain of being separated from White Zetsu after years of the creature acting as his own missing body parts. Pain was not listening, he was too far into the clutches of Zetsu. He was being led to believe that his ideals, the way the world will know pain to finally grow is what Zetsu is aiming for as well.
"Your pain is as great as mine, you understand me and I you... but your goals are wrong. You attempt to bring about justice through vengeance but that breeds more vengeance, I will be god. This world will know pain as I rebuild it into one of peace, the only one everyone will hate is me. I will bind everyone with my pain. Your desires are foolish and thoughtless, your vengeance will never bring about peace. You cannot live if you cannot understand what the Akatsuki fights for." Pain wasted no time in using Shinra Tensei to slam a weak Obito into the wall and to leave him for dead. Konan watched with a heavy heart, conflict filling her to the core.
When Zetsu was sure the pair was gone, he brought himself back to Obito's side. The man was crumpled to the floor, his crimson blood surrounding him as he struggled for breaths.
"You will die without having accomplished anything. You were once a perfect pawn and now you are worthless, useless for being swayed by the words of an infidel. You swore to destroy your home and those who wronged Rin and yet you worked alongside him the whole time. It is so disappointing you ended up dying this way." Obito's eyes were large, his mouth open and gasping for breath as the truth was finally revealed to him. He stilled and Zetsu left Obito to die alone like he should have when he was crushed beneath the boulder.
As Obito lay dying, his life flashed before his eyes and he grit his teeth. He was manipulated from the start by everyone, even the one he blamed, the people he scorned were not the evil ones. He thought of Hinata and how she warned him, of Rin's smile and her always healing him, of Kakashi and his rivalry, of him being the death of Minato Sensei. In his life, Obito had never felt more foolish. His eyes bled to red and he disappeared to the one place he could go to apologize before he met his demise.
A/N: 14 days later! Sorry it's taken so long I was struggling so bad on how to move forward but I've figured it out and when I have down time I'll keep writing. We're getting to the end soon so stay with me. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy even more canon divergence and wildness. Love you!