Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction ❯ What a Lovely Turn of Events ❯ Shoto's first mission ( Chapter 4 )

Shoto and Sasuke were currently following behind Hidan and Kakuzu to a collection office. They had stopped at a temple, that Kakuzu kindly demolished, and took the head monk. Shoto hadn't bothered to remember his name. So, now they were heading to the collection office. Hidan was complaining that they should be hunting for Jinchuriki, and after several minutes of whining and trying to talk Kakuzu into dumping the body, Kakuzu snapped.

In all honesty, it was a rather amusing sight to Shoto. Not that her face gave way to that. She looked as calm as ever. The girls had been given new ninja.. uh.. Uniforms? Clothes. We'll go with clothes. Ninja clothes. Anyways, Shoto was now currently wearing a dark blue, long sleeved, v-neck, midriff top, a pair of long black skin tight pants, and a pair of small high-heeled shoes. (Think of Tsunade's.) Her weapon was currently rolled up, and placed on a belt loop at her side. Of course, she wore the standard Akatsuki cloak, but chose to wear hers like Sasuke wore his. Just draped over her shoulders. She had also decided to pull her mid-back length black hair up in a pony tail, to avoid it getting in her way if she had to fight.

After another few minutes of walking, Kakuzu walked up to a... Bathroom? Shoto raised an eyebrow.

"That's a men's bathroom." She stated bluntly.

"Ah, I could take a piss myself." She heard Hidan say as he followed behind Kakuzu. Sasuke shared a look with Shoto, then shrugged and followed the two inside.

Shoto shook her head, and stood at the top of the stairs. Heh, men. A few minutes later Hidan came back out. She looked at him curiously.

"Where are the others?" She asked calmly.

"There's a fucking collection office in the bathroom." He replied sitting down on the stairs and smelling his cloak. "Man, five minutes in that place and my cloak soaked in the smell of piss."

Shoto wrinkled her nose. "Why are Sasuke and Kakuzu still inside."

"Ah, the cheaper fucker had to count the money. I guess Sasuke in hanging around in there for back-up, in case the guy tried anything funny. Not that he fucking would. Apparently, he and Kakuzu know each other."

Shoto just nodded, and sat beside Hidan. Who knew how long they would be in there.

After about twenty minutes they heard someone behind them. They stood up, and turned around.

"It's about fucking time," Hidan started, but cut off when he saw it was not Kakuzu standing there. Shoto narrowed her eyes. The guy had dark hair, and had a similar headband to Itachi and Sasuke. Leaf village? Before either of them could react Hidan had two very large swords shoved into his vitals.

"Gotcha." Another voice stated triumphantly. Shoto whirled around, and there was a boy with spiky hair kneeling a few feet away. He had a hand sign clasped in front of him, and when Shoto followed the shadows she realized they connected to Hidan and her. That when she realized she couldn't move. Her blue eyed widened slightly, but she quickly regained herself.

"You're not a shinobi." The man behind her noted. Shoto remained quiet. "We also know you two travel in pairs of two. Why would Akatsuki recruit someone who isn't a shinobi?"

"Will you get these fucking swords out of me? Seriously, this fucking hurts." Hidan suddenly yelled. The leaf ninja looked at him shocked.

"N-no way." One of the ones stabbing him said.

"We hit his vitals. He's still alive?" The other one questioned.

"Yeah, I'm still fucking alive. Those swords fucking hurt, so take them out."

"Is he immortal?" The spiky haired kid thought out loud.

"Well, look what the fucking genius figured out. Now, can you please remove these damn swords? It fucking hurts with you sticking them in like that."

Before anyone could respond Kakuzu jumped out from the roof of the building, and threw a punch towards the spiky haired kid. The kid jumped away just in time, and Shoto realized she could move. Almost instantly, she pulled her spiked chain off her hip, and with almost perfect aim shot it out at one of the shinobi stabbing Hidan. The guy managed to dodge a fatal blow, but not without one of the spikes along the chain taking a chunk out of his side.

"Damn it!" the guy yelled, clutching his wound.

The man behind Shoto pulled out two blades, and swung at her. From the dust Sasuke jumped out, grabbed Shoto bridal style, and jumped out of his way. Sasuke let her down at the edge of the forest across from the collection office.

"S-Sasuke.." The spiky haired kid stuttered.

"Hn. Shikamaru." Sasuke drawled.

"So, you're with Akatsuki now." The dark haired shinobi with the blades stated. Shoto took a fighting stance next to Sasuke. He was fairly impressed with how well she kept herself composed.

"Yeah, and what of it?" Sasuke asked.

"Who are these people?" Shoto inquired, looking up at her boyfriend briefly. She had been warned never to take her eyes off the enemy.

"Well, Shikamaru over there was a classmate of mine. The one with the chakra blades is his sensei, Asuma. Kotetsu is the one you managed to injure, and the other one is Izumo." Sasuke explained. Shoto just nodded.

"Oh, how fucking sweet." Hidan said sarcastically. "It's like a fucking reunion, Kakuzu."

"Shut up, idiot." Kakuzu snarled.

"Heh, well, everyone just stay out of my way. I got these guys." Hidan stated while pulling his scythe off his back. Shoto and Sasuke looked over at Kakuzu, who simply shrugged as if to say, 'let the idiot go.'

Hidan faced Asuma, and started to draw on the ground with his own blood. When we was finished, Shoto noticed that it looked like a circle with a triangle in it. What the hell? The next thing she knew Hidan was launching his scythe at Asuma, who quickly flipped over it. Shoto watched in awe as the two fought. It was almost like a dance. If not a very deadly dance. Finally, it seemed Hidan got what he needed. His scythe had gotten the tiniest cut on Asuma's cheek. The black haired girl looked at Hidan with distaste as he licked the blood off the tip of the scythes blade. The look quickly changed to one of wonder as Hidan stepped inside the circle, and his skin started to turn black.. And white. White bone-like markings appeared all over his body. As this was happening, Asuma had started.. blowing ashes from his mouth? The man snapped his teeth together, and suddenly it was like they were in an inferno. Sasuke covered Shoto, and she peered under his arm at what was going on.

Shoto was almost certain that would be the end of Hidan. As the flames and smoke cleared she saw she was very, very wrong. There Hidan stood, in the pentagram he had made. He was burned fairly badly, but when Shoto looked over at Asuma.. He had the exact same burn marks.

"Wh-what was that?" Shoto asked, looking up at Sasuke. Everyone else, aside from Kakuzu, seemed very surprised as well.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Hidan asked Asuma. He looked over at the leaf ninja. "Makes you think a little more about the suffering of others."

"What is this..?" One of the ninja near Shikamaru asked. Shoto didn't bother to look in their direction.

"I have already cursed you." Hidan seemed to explain to Asuma. "The ritual is ready. So.. Let's share some pain, shall we?!"

The silver haired missing-nin pulled a pike out from his cloak, and then proceeded to stab himself in the leg. Shoto watched closely, and hearing a cry from Asuma turned in his direction.

'So that's it.' Shoto thought. Apparently, whatever damage Hidan inflicted on himself would then be inflicted on who ever's blood he had taken into his own body. 'That's the ritual.'

Shoto looked over at Shikamaru. He was observing everything that was going on like a hawk. Shoto could see it in his eyes, it wouldn't be long before he figured out the jutsu as well. She turned to Sasuke.

"We did to attack now." She whispered.

"It's better if we don't. I know Shikamaru's jutsu, but I don't know how much it's progressed. As far as the other two, I don't know anything about their jutsu's, or their fighting styles." Sasuke argued.

"Yes, but they don't know about us either."

"You don't have any jutsu.."

"That's not the point!" Shoto hissed.

"You're not a ninja, you have no chakra, and no jutsu. I'm not letting you put your life in danger until we know for sure what the others can do, and who you can handle." Sasuke whispered.

"I can handle myself fine! Chakra or not."

"Give it a rest, Shoto. It would be stupid to just charge in!"

Shoto frowned and turned back to the fight. He had a point. They had no idea what the others were capable of, and Shoto wasn't a shinobi. This sent her mind racing. She would study every scroll and book she could get her hands on. There had to be some way for her and the others to gain chakra, right? Suddenly, her head snapped towards Shikamaru. He had figured out the jutsu, and he was sending his shadows Hidan's way.

Grabbing her chain, Shoto looked up at Sasuke, and then nodded in Shikamaru's direction. Sasuke looked over, noticed the shadows, and then nodded at Shoto. He would back her up. Shoto aimed, and then shot the axe head at the end of her chain towards Shikamaru. He noticed just in time, and managed to jump out of the way. No sooner had the axe head embedded itself into he ground, Shoto yanked it back, and caught it with her free hand.

"For a little girl who's not a ninja, you have some pretty good aim." Shikamaru yelled in their direction. He glanced worriedly over at Asuma. If he didn't do something soon he one called Hidan would kill his sensei.

"How kind of you to notice." Shoto remarked dryly, narrowing her eyes. She threw her axe head again. Only this time, with a slight jerk of her wrist, it flew in the direction of Kotetsu. With his injury, and the surprise attack, he couldn't get out of the way in time. The axe head embedded itself in his gut.

"Kotetsu!" Izumo yelled to his partner. Shoto once again with drew her chain. Sasuke was about to attack Izumo with his Chidori blade, and then..

"SPIKY HUMAN BOULDER!"

Sasuke barely had time to grab Shoto, and jump out of the way of the new arrival.

'Now what?' Shoto thought to herself. Who ever it was unrolled himself. It was revealed to be a very heavy-set guy who had long, spiky hair. Oh joy.

"Hidan!" Kakuzu snarled. "Wrap this up, now!"

"Yeah, yeah. What fucking ever." Hidan replied. He turned back to Asuma. "Well, I guess this is goodbye."

Hidan took the pike, and stabbed it through his heart. Everyone around them seemed to freeze up as they looked at Asuma. Slowly, his eyes seemed to glaze over, and he dropped to his knees. Hidan's skin changed to normal, and he jumped over to where Sasuke and Shoto were.

"Asuma.." Shikamaru whispered. "Asuma.. Asuma, no!"

The boy started running to his sensei. The guy who had just tried to run Shoto and Sasuke over(she later learned his name was Choji), seemed frozen in his place. Suddenly, three more leaf-nin came from the forest. One of them threw some kunai in Shoto's direction. Though Sasuke managed to grab her and jump out of the way, she still got a kunai sliced into her gut.

"Agah!" Shoto cried, her hand flying to where the kunai was.

"Don't touch it!" Sasuke warned. Shoto winced but nodded. She might bleed out if she pulled it out, and the young woman wasn't quite ready to die.

"Asuma-sensei!" A blonde girl cried out. She, Choji, and Shikamaru were ordered to get Asuma and Kotetsu to the roof. They were followed by a man with bandanna. The other two ninja faced the four Akatsuki members, and took a fighting stance.

"Awh, come on leader, we were just about to finish them off!" Hidan suddenly cried out.

"Stop whining and let's go Hidan." Kakuzu ordered.

Shoto looked at them confused.

"Shoto can't travel like this." Sasuke snapped. Kakuzu looked over and gave a nod.

"You and Hidan keep these two distracted, just in case. I'll fix her." Kakuzu stated.

Sasuke nodded, and he and Hidan turned to the two leaf-nin. Kakuzu picked Shoto up, and took her a few feet into the forest.

"This is going to hurt." He warned Shoto. The black haired woman just nodded.

Kakuzu then set to work ripping the kunai out. Shoto winced and cried out. Then Kakuzu took his threads(or whatever they were, Shoto didn't know), and started to stitch up her wound. It was.. Beyond painful. Shoto noted. She tried her best to hold still as the thread wove itself in and out of her skin. There was blood. A lot of blood. When he was finished he called Sasuke and Hidan over.

"Let's get going." Kakuzu said.

Sasuke nodded, and pulled Shoto onto his back piggy back style. Hidan turned to the leaf-nin, who were barely in view.

"Hey, let's meet back here in three days, and finish what we fucking started." Hidan yelled to them. Before they could respond, the Akatsuki members took off.

"Do you really think they'll show up in three days?" Shoto asked.

"Probably. I killed that kid's fucking sensei. He'll want revenge."

"Hn."

On the way to back to the hide-out Shoto learned that Nagato had a type of telepathy that allowed him to contact the members who wore Akatsuki rings. (There were only ten.) They were preparing to seal the two-tails that Hidan and Kakuzu had captured just a few days before Shoto and her friends arrived in their world.

Ah, well, Evelynn would certainly be proud of Shoto's wound.

'Actually,' Shoto mused to herself. Comfortable on Sasuke's back. 'I'm rather proud of myself.'