Things were looking good, with Zetsu on my side, and with the Akatsuki now working to help find Isshiki, yes, everything was going well.
Even if there was no way to say how fast results would co. But I had faith, faith in Zetsu, he had spent countless years scheming, preparing the world for my return, so he would surely be able to handle sothing like this.
"So," Kakuzu said as he stepped out from around a corner. "You possess the Byakugan as well."
"And you have five hearts," I said, exposing the fact that I knew his secret.
The reaction was imdiate; I could see his muscles tense, or rather, the countless strings of black matter underneath his skin tense and flex. "Even back then, you knew everything," he said, his words not a question, just a statent.
Without even pausing my steps, I just nodded as I neared where he stood. "Indeed, even back then, I knew all your secrets, Kakuzu of the Five Hearts."
I didn't need my Byakugan to see, didn't even need eyes to see the hostility he felt towards at that mont.
A shinobi is only as good as their secrets, or sothing like that.
More so for him, he had gone decades barely losing a heart, until soone suddenly saw through his secret, and he was killed by a bunch of kids.
Though I guess that for him, everyone is just a kid… didn't make his death any more embarrassing.
Naruto barely killed anyone, even people he really should have killed didn't die at his hand, and instead got the good old talk-no-jutsu, but Kakuzu? He died before Naruto could even try to use that.
Indeed, he was soone who was nearly impossible to beat, right up until you knew his secret. More so, since I could constantly see the position of all his five hearts, making it possible for to target them all at once.
Which I guess was why he was so hostile.
It would be more correct to say that he was afraid.
"You..." he said, but I just waved him off.
"I hope we will be able to work together from now on, Kakuzu-san. It would be troubleso if we let our personal history get in the way of the mission. I'm sure Pain wouldn't like that," I said, as I pushed past him.
And with how he just stood there and didn't try to start a fight, I knew that I had him. He could try to kill , but he wasn't sure he would be able to succeed. And even if he did, Pain's punishnt wasn't sothing he wanted to face.
And so, with a flicker of my chakra and the faintest rustle of my cloak, I was gone. A silent, final statent of our new dynamic. He was the veteran, the old hand. I was the unknown, the power he couldn't quantify.
A mystery even he couldn't fully understand, so many Kekkei Genkai in one person, an impossible being, but yet, as living as any.
Still, it would be interesting to be on a team with him. I had no doubt he would hate every mont of it, but at least I could trust that he would put in his fair share of the work, even if just to spend as little ti with as possible.
As for , I had my own plans, things that would be slightly more difficult with Kakuzu around, and Pain giving orders, but with the great spy, Zetsu, on my side, I could deal with him without too many problems.
After all, he wouldn't be able to complain about sothing he didn't know about, and he only knew what Zetsu told him; there was no way Kakuzu would say anything.
Why would he? He would naturally assu that Pain already knew; it wasn't easy for anyone to et him, so it was impossible for soone like Kakuzu to go complain to him.
He would at most bemoan having as a partner and ask for another one whenever he had a chance, but Pain and the others would never know the reason.
I barely managed to suppress my smirk as I imagined poor Kakuzu's future struggles.
...
"What is she doing here?" Kakuzu asked as he looked at Karin, his gaze would have killed her ten tis over if he had the Mangekyō Sharingan.
"She is coming with us," I answered him, though given the intensity of his gaze, I suspected he already had guessed that.
"She will not," he answered. "A child has no place on a mission. If you must, get a caretaker for her. I am not a babysitter." He was very firm about this, as he had always been.
"I wouldn't ask you to be," I replied, a slight smile touching my lips. "But she is coming along, she is my student, and I can't pause her training just because we have been sent on a mission." I explained.
"It's not like I wanna be out there with you anyway, you will likely just get in our way!" Karin shot back, proud, arrogant, and young. But also fully confident that I had her back, so she spoke her mind, she tested the boundaries around her.
Kakuzu didn't answer with words; instead, his response was a kunai sent out from his sleeve at nearly impossible speed.
Still, before it could cross even the halfway mark towards her, it was blasted off course by an unseen power. "That is enough, try to harm her again, and we will see whether or not I can take a heart of yours with my bones. This ti, I won't hold back." I threatened.
Kakuzu didn't bother answering, he just grunted as he turned around and started to walk away. "You better not slow down," he grumbled angrily, but also noting that it simply wasn't worth the effort to fight on this.
Karin just snorted. "I could have dodged that," she said, despite the cold sweat running down her back; she hadn't even noticed him throwing that kunai before it almost hit her.
"In the future, you surely will be able to do that easily, but for now, focus on your training," I told her in a gentle voice.
I wasn't angry at her; this was a good lesson for her. A lesson that taught her that you shouldn't get cocky.
She seed to understand that, as her expression shifted from arrogance to sha. "I know," she said, looking down at her feet, her cheeks burning.
"It's fine, you are young, you will learn," I told her before I finally started to follow behind Kakuzu. "Now, co along, we have a long walk ahead of us, and I fear this ti, we won't be walking at a civilian pace the entire way," I told her.
Indeed, this was our first official mission as mbers of the Akatsuki, and with Kakuzu as my partner, it was going to be an interesting one as well. We were, after all, very different people, hardly suited to be a team, but it was his own fault for killing everyone else he was assigned with.
Sothing he would no doubt soon co to regret.
"That's fine, walking slowly is boring anyway, I wanna do the tree jumping you taught ," Karin said happily as she skipped beside . Her childish joy was a stark contrast to the grim reality of our mission.
I just chuckled as I continued to walk. "Don't overdo it," I told her as we caught up to Kakuzu and started our journey.
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