Chapter Text
The gentle chime of the bells on Otoyo's sugegase is carried by the breeze. It's the only sound heard here, even their steps are silent.
Kakuzu glances down at Budo walking quietly on the ground. The black fox stays near its mistress, sniffing the air nervously.
Otoyo stops, she lifts her head to look around. ''There's not even birds here.''
''No. It's completely empty.'' Responds Kakuzu gruffly.
Otoyo smiles, her black teeth reflecting the dim light of the area. ''Mmmh. Now I'm really curious.''
Kakuzu makes an aggravated sigh and follows his partner deeper in the bamboo forest, or what is left of it. They are in the Land of Hot Water, in the south of it, near Take no Mura. The area surrounding the village is a thick bamboo forest, sprawling for kilometers. It's known for its high-quality bamboo and lush wildlife.
This part of the forest is particular. Very particular… It's ominous to say the least. The bamboo is grey and brittle, and some of it turns to greyish dust as the wind blows. The soil is oozing mud, the air is thick like an invisible miasma permeates the atmosphere and it's eerily silent.
The sky is overcast, where the sunlight is filtered by clouds, making the whole scenery only a palette of greys. The only colours are their Akatsuki cloaks, Otoyo's bandages and his eyes.
They walk on the sinuous road, waiting for a sign of life, but nothing. Even Budo doesn't sniff or hear anything alive around.
''Are you expecting one of those madmen?'' Asks Kakuzu grimly. He's on alert. This dead forest inspires nothing good.
''I would like that.'' Responds Otoyo.
''Why? The villagers told us they were all insane.''
Otoyo chuckles and shrugs. ''I want to know what they saw.''
They came to Take no Mura for a bounty. The bounty had been relatively easy to kill, and Zetsu came to collect the corpse, but had no other mission to give them at the moment. Otoyo and he were ready to depart from the Land of Hot Water after supper.
They spent the evening in an isolated Izakaya, and Otoyo was not shy to speak with farmers and villagers despite looking like a witchy woman.
When Kakuzu met Otoyo for the first time, he knew he was dealing with a fan of the occult. Her head, upper face, and eyes were covered in bandages full of spirits' names in black ink. Her teeth were black, her arms were covered in more bandages and ofudas. Her back was tattooed with an oni and prayers. She wasn't religious, but she believed in witchcraft and things that could not be explained by mere chakra manipulation.
Kakuzu was indifferent toward her. She wasn't hostile to him compared to his first Akatsuki partners. The first was a man from Hidden Grass named Godai. Godai only joined Akatsuki for fame, and was quickly disillusioned when he figured out they were acting in shadows and were making everything they could to be unnoticed. His bitterness and anger were lashed out at Kakuzu, which prompted his death after another unnecessary taunt.
Konan and Pain had shaken their heads, but didn't sanction him.
Yamino had been his second, a sturdy moustached man from Hidden Stone. Yamino never liked him, unpleasant in the first hour, and only agreed to join Akatsuki to escape yakuzas. The idiot attempted to assassinate him while he slept for his large bounty. Kakuzu killed him without an ounce of remorse, and Pain didn't bat an eyelash at his partner's death, judging Akatsuki’s cohesion was worth the price of Yamino’s death.
Otoyo came from Hidden Lock. She was incredibly talented in dissimulation; she could blend in the shadows undetectable. Her specialty was summons. She had multiple and could invoke them for every situation. Budo was her main one; a black fox wearing a kitsune mask, it was her familiar. It was trained to fight and distract while she would be hidden in the shadows to strike. She didn't care where they were going or who they were killing; she just wanted to collect people's summons to have an army of her own.
They worked well. Otoyo was more often than not away from his masks attacks.
Kakuzu quickly learnt Otoyo liked ghost stories; she was not shy to ask people in hotels to tell her their best. She would reward the civilians or shinobis that had interesting stories with trinkets and scrolls she rummaged out of bounties. And sometimes she would investigate those stories herself.
He had admonished her about sneaking out at night to go visit a haunted temple or a supposedly cursed house, but she always came back, chuckling like a little girl. She was a S-class missing nin after all, the ghosts needed to be S-class as well he presumes.
The farmers of Take no Mura slouching at the Izakaya all had the same story: the bamboo forest. In the middle of the forest was a farmer named Ibaku. Ibaku's harvest had been destroyed by a flock of locusts, and the bamboo was struggling to give healthy sprouts. Rumors were running that he wanted to invoke a god to help his harvest.
It was a starry night in the middle of spring, a light bolt crossed the sky and destroyed a part of the bamboo forest with a din so loud it was heard to Hidden Steam. A team of shinobis from Steam had been sent to investigate and see what happened to poor Ibaku since the man had been silent since the light bolt. They didn't come back. Not yet.
Weeks followed, and the forest became grey. Nothing would grow around; the bamboo was etiolated and brittle like thin clay, animals would run away, and birds would fly away. Voices and cries of pain were said to be heard in the depths of the night. The people living near got sick, the water was soiled. Farmers and travellers steered clear of the forest after many disappeared.
Then the Steam shinobis came back. The team, consisting of eight chunins and two jonins, had been consumed by insanity. They were mad, violent, and incoherent. They were chanting about a Jashin, a god. They had jutsus unlike anything ever seen before, acquired in their disappearance.
Three of the shinobis had been killed after the carnage in their wake, but the rest escaped, never to be heard from again. The part of the bamboo forest had been abandoned, and rumors of an angry god cursing people inside were running mills around.
The farmers at the Izakaya had been whispering and nervously glancing around in case one of those made men would burst out of the trees, and Otoyo had practically been sprinting to the bamboo forest. Kakuzu begrudgingly followed her because they needed to stay together; Pain's order.
The treasurer got to give it to the farmers and travellers, the forest had something very lugubrious. The silence was unnerving, and the lack of life couldn't be compared to a devastated battlefield; there was no chakra lingering, and it was too organic despite everything decaying.
As they carry on, the ground becomes striated by cracks, like an earthquake had happened. There's specks inside, black glass, and rocks that look volcanic. No insects. The air gets thicker as they approach what Kakuzu deduces is the epicenter of this 'curse'. He still has no explanation, but Otoyo began rambling about yokais and whatnot again.There's a half-clothed skeleton between the grey bamboos. Then another one. A Farmer and a merchant from their clothes. Otoyo stopped in front of one of the skeletons to inspect it.
''Broken bones, a lot of ligaments have been cut off. Violent death.'' Says the Lock kunoichi.
''Let's continue.'' Responds Kakuzu gruffly.
Budo is looking from left to right like he's sensing something watching them. Kakuzu can't sense anything with his chakra.
There are slabs erected in between the wilted bamboo, etched in a tongue Kakuzu doesn't understand. It doesn't look like any autochthon writing he knows.
A couple of meters away, there are the remains of a farming house. The foundations are bare, the wooden walls are splintered, scattered around like the house was hit by a blast. The inside of the house, now visible from the destruction, is covered in reflective black rock. The scene is peculiar; there are black crystals having grown inside the house like moss. There are curved pieces of… something, like a shell. It's not wood, it doesn't look like a rock, but it has a visual nacreous texture. The house is surrounded by cadavers of various states of decay.
It smells fecund in here, not a terrible smell but one that is so overwhelmingly cloying and wet and organic compared to the arid forest that Kakuzu is thankful for his mask. He can't help but notice the lack of flies or any necrophages around the cadavers.
''Well… I understand why no one wants to come here. It's gloomy.'' Says Otoyo, smiling with all her teeth. ''It must scare civilians.''
''Steam didn't want to investigate further either.'' Responds Kakuzu, crossing his arms.
''They must be chasing the crazy nins.'' Otoyo enters the ruined house without a care in the world. She crouches and breaks a piece of black crystal. ''Looks like onyx…. Oh, it's gooey.''
Kakuzu frowns. Otoyo's hand is covered in black slime. She puts the rock into a pouch and immediately changes her bandages. She crouches once more and attempts to collect the more nacreous rocks, but it crumbles in her hand like iridescent sand.
''Is there chakra?'' Asks Kakuzu. He feels none.
''Not that I can identify.'' Responds Otoyo, rubbing her hand on her pants with a pout of disappointment. ''I'll do some tests on it. I'll ask Sasori as well.''
''Have you seen the pillars?''
''Where?''
Kakuzu leads his partner to the pointy slab he saw earlier. Otoyo hums, smiling, tracing the symbols on it with her bandaged fingertips like a caress.
''Sigils… I think I saw them in a ritualistic book.'' Says Otoyo with visible enthusiasm. ''Look on this side. There's kanji.''
Kakuzu looks. «Good Harvest. Plentiful.»
''The sigils… I think they are a summons. They tried a ritual to call some good fortune from the gods. Then it went back in their face...''
''We've lost enough time.'' Cuts Kakuzu.
''Aren't you curious to know what happened? What they called?'' Otoyo’s voice is almost singing from excitement.
The only reason why they were still here was because he thought it was indeed peculiar. However, staying and investigating was going to be a waste of time; there was nothing but decay here. Everyone was dead, and clearly the soil was infected by whatever that black quartz was. Until Otoyo figured out what that black onyx was or deciphered the sigils, it was trivial to stay and poison themselves.
''I don't care. It's too late to do anything.'' Responds Kakuzu. ‘’Write down the sigils if you want. We’re leaving.’’
Otoyo makes an annoyed huff, but she follows Kakuzu as he walks away. It was already planned that they would travel south to reach the Land of Fire. It’s important to stay on the move as S-class missing nins, and then it will allow them to join the Land of Rain if they don't receive another mission soon.
They climb a mountain as the sun is setting. The soil and bamboo slowly become greener as they get farther from the decaying bamboo forest.
Kakuzu looks back when they are on the peak. The last rays of the sun illuminate the grey bamboo forest in the middle of all the green. And in the bamboo, there is a pattern.
It couldn't have been seen from inside the forest, but from above, the bamboo had been cut off into intricate circles, like a crest or a symbol. The largest design was a circle with an inverted triangle inside.
Otoyo whistles, seeing the bamboo circles as well. ''They really wanted to be noticed by the heavens, did they?''
Kakuzu shakes his head and presses on.
====
They enter a decent village on the Land of Fire's border near midnight. They are welcomed with neons for izakayas and pachinko rooms, placards for large laundromats and konbinis with sweet liquors tantalizing them.
Kakuzu is surveying for a decent inn or a quiet hostel. His eyes are drawn to two figures with large, clouded coats in the darkness of a back street.
''There they are, danna.'' Says a young man with wheat colored hair.
''Ah, Sasori-san.’’ Greets Otoyo, her teeth reflecting the light of a red neon. ‘‘And you must be Deidara-san.''
''Yes, un.''
Kakuzu quickly assesses Deidara. It's the first time they meet. Short, wheat blond hair, blue eyes and an easy smile. An appearance that makes it all too easy to underestimate, but Kakuzu damn right knows this brat is fearsome. Earth chakra.
''What brings you here?'' Asks Kakuzu. It would be a stretch to say fate brought the four of them to the same village.
''Zetsu charged us to give you the next mission scroll.'' Responds Sasori, his voice muffled inside Hiruko.
''Who's that mutt?'' Asks Deidara with a voice cracking from puberty.
''Budo, my familiar. Do you have one, Deidara-san?'' Asks Otoyo happily. Budo makes a happy chirp, bending its back in a play pose.
''No.''
''Ah, still only me and Itachi-san with summons.''
The atmosphere shifts, and Deidara's murderous intent is let loose. ''TCH. Right. Itachi-san.''
''You have a bone to pick with him? Already?'' Chuckles Otoyo.
''A problem with that, lady?''
''I mean, I fail to see why Itachi-san provoked you. He is usually quite passive.''
Deidara's hand disappears into a pouch, his uncovered blue eye full of fury. Hiruko twitches.
''Deidara.'' Cuts Sasori. ''Leave Otoyo alone. She's the only one who has honour in this forsaken group. This is Kakuzu, our treasurer. Try to get on his good side; it will reward you.''
''Whatever, un.''
''Sasori-san, before you go. I have something I would like you to analyze.'' Asks the kunoichi.
====
Otoyo comes back disappointed; Sasori's hasty analysis revealed nothing extraordinary, and told her he could make a deeper analysis back in Rain, but it was clearly only to have Otoyo off his back.
Kakuzu is reading in bed while the Lock kunoichi changes her clothes and pets Budo. He didn't need to stay alert about his partner compared to his previous ones, it was a plus.
The sound of a biwa outside accompanies their night routine. Their next mission is in the Land of Water, it is infiltration and information collection. Usually, these missions are Itachi's specialty since his genjutsu makes everyone speak, but Juuzo must have adamantly refused.
They can torture if necessary.
''Want to take the infiltration part?'' Asks Kakuzu.
''Anything for the mission to succeed, Kakuzu.'' Responds Otoyo, beating her pillow into submission, with fresh bandages on her head and arms. Budo curls in the triangle of her legs.
Kakuzu nods. He stares at her for a moment. He feels back in Waterfall, with a teammate who wants to actually work with him for the best results of the mission.
It wasn't immediate. It took some weeks for Kakuzu to notice Otoyo had changed.
At first, she had been withdrawn, her demeanor subdued. No more questions or conversation with strangers in the villages where they stopped to rest. It was followed by nightmares violent enough to wake Kakuzu up with her noises. She would growl and whine like an animal cornered, trashing against her sheets like they were chains. Missing nins often were wracked with nightmares and regrets from a past life, but it was new for her.
Then, she began to space out. She wouldn't answer, she would walk aimlessly, and it would take Kakuzu shaking her shoulders to get her out of her trance.
Next was the unpleasantness. Otoyo would be irritated by their contracts, by the bounties, or their few allies on the way. Until she openly hated him, as he had wronged her terribly in some way.
Kakuzu was getting immensely annoyed. Otoyo was hindering their teamwork with her baseless scorn. She hated how meticulous he was with their plans or his money; she hated how he spoke, his confidence, or even how he chewed while eating. It was ridiculous.
She was speaking in his back with the other Akatsuki members. No one liked each other in Akatsuki, but no one was stupid enough to attack him. No one knew the secret to his immortality; he even managed to keep it a secret from Orochimaru.
However, the worst was that she refused to answer what made him so unlikeable now. Otoyo made sure to avoid him whenever she could.
It's when Budo began to whine and cry at his mistress that Kakuzu figured there was something very wrong with the kunoichi. It wasn't just a bout of sudden capriciousness, no, Otoyo was becoming a dangerous liability by her fragile mental state, either from the lack of sleep or some untreated trauma.
Budo had once collected him in the night, waking him up by pulling on his shirt. Kakuzu followed the fox to Otoyo having a terrible nightmare. She was crying, the bandages of her face wet, and her fists clenched until the bandages ripped.
Kakuzu woke her up, ready to fight her if she was mad at him. But she wasn't; she was disoriented, but grateful. It surprised Kakuzu to see Otoyo back to her more conciliatory self.
In the morning, the hostility was back.
Kakuzu jolts awake. Something nipped him. Budo is aggressively scratching on his sheet, barking as much as a fox can. It's the middle of the night, and he can barely discern its kitsune mask in the moonlight. The fox is incredibly agitated, pulling on his shirt with its teeth.
''What's the matter, mutt? Is -?''
The walls and his bed suddenly burst into flames with a loud crack. Kakuzu shouts, his arms and back burnt in the walls of flame now rising from his bed. He jumps away, throwing his shirt on the ground as it caught on fire.
His senses are on full alert, searching frantically for the source of the attack. His vision is engulfed in flames of unnatural speed, and the sound of cracking wood and fire is loud enough to make Kakuzu's ears buzz. He coughs from the smoke rising; the window wall is burning vividly. This isn't a mere fire; it's a jutsu.
His water mask forms above his shoulder, and he blasts a passage in the wall of fire to get outside, spurred on by the pain and the need to find his attackers to kill them for the affront. He grunts as his shoulders and neck ache from the burns. Budo follows him, whining.
Kakuzu searches for Otoyo with his eyes. They have to identify their attacker and report to Pain if they are compromised.
It's the chaos outside. There are at least thirty villagers trying to put out the fire with buckets, and a lone shinobi is attempting to put out the fire with water based jutsus. The fire is roaring despite their best efforts. Cries of pain echo in the street from people with severe burns. A man runs out of the hotel on fire from head to toe with a shrill wail of dismay. He collapses with a cry of utter agony as he rolls on the ground in an attempt to put out the flame devouring his body. Kakuzu can see the charred, black flesh and smell the poor bastard writhing on the floor while civilians attempt to save him by dousing him in water.
People are panicking, the fear and anguish from relatives trying to save their loved ones inside before the hotel collapses.
''DIE! DIE DIIIIIIIIIIE!!!''
Kakuzu roars with rage when a kunai is stabbed in his upper back. The kunai is quickly pulled out by his enemy, and his back opens to release the remaining masks, ready to reduce his attacker to ground meat.
Otoyo is panting like a beast behind, her hand holding a paper tag with «fire» written in bold ink, her other hand with a kunai dripping with his blood. Her bandages are gone, and Kakuzu can see her icy blue mad eyes staring at him, her killing intent loose and directed at him and only him.
Otoyo tried to kill him.
Then it dawns on Kakuzu. She hid paper slips in their bedroom before escaping. She tried to burn him alive.
Kakuzu shouts in fury, seeing red. His wind mask blasts in front of him, destroying two houses in his path. Otoyo is propelled back, violently hitting the ground, and her knee is bending unnaturally. Kakuzu jumps on her, his hands around her neck.
The villagers yell in panic from the attack, torn between helping the poor souls inside the hotel or escaping for their lives from the two shinobis duelling.
''HOW DARE YOU!!??'' Shouts Kakuzu.
Otoyo screeches like a banshee despite being violently strangled. She is completely demented, and she scratches Kakuzu's face like an animal. He's old enough to recognize when insanity has taken its toll; she cannot be resonated with. He lifts a hand infused with Earth Spear and smashes it down on her face. The dull crack of her skull resounds, and her hands slump beside her body.
Then she doesn't move anymore.
Budo approaches Otoyo, making a pathetic, sorrowful wail before disappearing in a puff of smoke, the contract between them nullified.
Kakuzu is practically growling with rage above her corpse. His back and shoulders hurt like hell from the fire and stab, and he knows it's only because of the fox that he's not more grievously wounded. He wouldn't have been killed outright, but it would have neutralized him for Otoyo to give the final blows.
He collects the scrolls on her, her coat and ring. There's a wet pouch in her pocket. He looks inside the pouch, wondering if it's a vial that broke. It's the onyx from weeks ago. He had forgotten about it.
Kakuzu decamps in reflex once he hears the hotel they were resting in has collapsed. The flames rise in the sky, and there is a wave of scalding air in the street. He looks at the villagers crying and sobbing near the hotel, praying to the gods for the people inside. The smell of smoke begins to be suffocating.
''Kakuzu.''
Kakuzu turns around to see Zetsu on the street corner, unfazed by the chaos beside them. He never liked how Zetsu had a sixth sense about the death of Akatsuki members, seemingly always there, but never intervening.
''She tried to kill me.'' Says Kakuzu acidly. He feels silly having to defend himself, but it's the third partner he kills. Pain might raise an eyebrow this time.
Zetsu blinks, neutral. He looks at the corpse further, then at Kakuzu. ''You'll tell that to Pain. You have her ring?''
Kakuzu nods. He wants to go away from this village before he blasts it to pieces in anger. He hands the ring to Zetsu along with the coat.
Zetsu's yellow eyes fall on the onyx in its pouch. ''Where did you find this??''
Kakuzu frowns. It's the first time he sees Zetsu emoting an expression. His voice was surprised, hasty. The white side is indifferent, but the black side is staring scornfully at the onyx. ''We collected it a couple of weeks ago in the Land of Hot Water.''
''She had it on her?''
''Yes.''
Zetsu snatches the pouch. The crystal begins to crack in his hand, then turns to dust. ''You did well to kill her. I'll cover you with Pain.''
Kakuzu blinks in surprise, but before he can ask Zetsu what this is about, the plant man disappears into the soil with Otoyo's corpse.
The Waterfall nin glances one last time at the destroyed hotel, seeing a medical nin attempting to save the burn victims, then walks away.