It was ironic, how each step he took towards dealing with them permanently made him worry and fear even more. He was getting closer and closer, but that only meant that his enemies would go even more difficult to take out. Pain would get his puppets set up once more and Eiji would have no idea which was which. Konan might be desperate enough to pull out her nuke option the next time they faced each other. Obito might do something drastic now that Eiji was making himself more of a nuisance than the Uchiha probably expected him to be.

And Zetsu… Well, Eiji didn't know much about him, of course. However, he had little doubts that the plant guy was as dangerous as the rest, if not more so. He had vague notes about him being very connected to the absolute shitshow that was the ending of the series. However, he didn't know precisely why or how he was involved. That made him even more dangerous than the rest. Better the devil you know and all that, after all.

To make things worse, he had no control over when he'd get to fight them. Things would be much easier if he could just go and find the remaining Akatsuki members. However, that wasn't the case. He was stuck just waiting for them, sitting on his ass until they decided to show their faces somewhere. Furthermore, he had to pray that he'd get to be close enough to reach them, which was difficult.

He could already see them attacking outside of his range. Big as his range might be too, considering that Eiji had proved he could dash all the way to a different Elemental Nation. He probably wouldn't go to such extremes again unless he absolutely needed to, like with Naruto, but Akatsuki couldn't know that for sure, and that was what was important. Anything that might buy him more time would be welcome.

Eiji needed time to get around his new… situation with his arm, or lack thereof. He needed time for his allies to try and get information about Akatsuki. He needed time to prepare his team. His enemies wouldn't stay still during that time, but the peaceful passage of it would still offer a measure of relief.

"Not as bad as I expected," Kabuto said then, snapping Eiji out of his thoughts, as he finished his examination. The younger boy took a deep breath in and then let it out.

"But worse than we hoped, I'm guessing," he said, offering a weak reassuring smile towards the mednin. It wasn't Kabuto's fault that he was getting worse and worse the more fights he went through.

"Ten more years off of your future," the ex-spy told him bluntly, because there was no point beating around the bush. Eiji nodded at that, leaning his head back and closing his eyes for a moment. "If you'd just let me start working on something to improve your condition-"

"Focus on getting better, Kabuto," Eiji told him, opening his eyes again. "Once Akatsuki is dealt with, we can focus on whatever we want. Hell, I might just outright retire after that. I want all efforts put into ending this shitshow so we can finally breathe easily."

"I understand," the silver-haired boy acknowledged, even if he looked like he wanted to argue that quite a bit. Eiji appreciated it, but there was really no point in starting to look for a solution to lengthen back his lifespan. For all he knew, Eiji wouldn't even survive long enough to use it. Akatsuki could end him in a number of ways. He needed all efforts to be put towards that and nothing else.

"Anything else to say?" Eiji asked, bringing his arm up and passing his fingers through his hair. "I have a date to get to."

"I can work up a puppet arm to… replace yours. You can learn how to control it easily enough, I think. At least considering your progress regarding everything else," Kabuto told him with a wry smile. "I'll fill it with wires, I assure you. It won't help you cast Jutsu though. There are techniques that allow you to do so with only one arm, but I'm not familiar with those and neither are the rest of the team."

"Anything we can do on that front?" Eiji questioned then. After all, that was the absolute worst part of losing his arm, psychological stuff notwithstanding. Not being able to use any Jutsu that he hadn't mastered to the point of being able to use sealessly was almost crippling. There were some of those that could be very necessary in the future, and that meant that he needed to get those back, and soon.

"Well, the big villages have some of those for sure, but it'd take time to get the information from Konoha to here," Kabuto explained and Eiji grimaced before sighing. Yeah, that sounded about right. They'd have to send a message with a bird and then the information would probably be sent with a team of Genin or Chuunin, depending on how important that information was regarded. The latter was his guess if not Jounin. Regardless, it'd be a while before he could get that and then he'd have to practice, which would take more time. "We could try asking Suna but…"

"Yeah," Eiji agreed. Suna was welcoming towards them, both because Temari had been part of the squad and Eiji was a friend of Gaara's and people knew that. Besides, those two had also left it pretty clearly where they stood in regards to Eiji too. However, that only stretched so far. The more they pulled on those strings, the more likely the people of the village would start turning on them. "Guess I'll have to manage with what we have and send a message. How soon can you have that arm ready? Maybe get a simple one done fast so I can start practicing?"

"Or maybe not," a new voice said from the door. Kabuto tensed at the arrival, which was understandable. They were in a guest house provided by Suna and nobody should be just entering the place. Moreover, the voice wasn't one of his squad… At least not the actual one.

"You almost scared Kabuto to death, Temari," Eiji greeted with a smile, having picked up on her approach with his threads. The girl just grinned wider at them.

"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?" she asked, making the mednin's eye twitch. With that said, she then threw a scroll at Eiji, which he easily caught with his remaining hand. "It really happened," he heard her mumble from where she stood, her eyes on his empty sleeve. "My people told me what they knew, but it's… difficult to believe."

"I'm not invincible," Eiji told her with a wry smile.

"You aren't, and we knew that. But now we believe that… I don't know if that's a good thing though," Temari said before pursing her lips. Then she shook her head and continued. "Anyway, that's what we have on casting Jutsu with only one hand."

Opening the scroll, one of the first things Eiji saw was that it was specifically tailored to someone missing an arm. It actually went as far as describing how much of the arm the person should be missing, otherwise the techniques wouldn't work. Eiji's best guess was that it took into account the altered chakra network of the person after having a chuck of their original one taken away. Interesting that, since it explained why people didn't just use this method to cast Jutsu even without losing an arm.

"Thank you," Eiji told her, smiling at the scroll before closing it again.

"Don't mention it. I just had to ask a few people and I got it, no trouble whatsoever," Temari waved off with a smirk, leaning against the door frame.

"I meant for coming all the way here," he said with a chuckle. "The team was half dead when they arrived here. You are not that far behind, so I'm guessing that you spoke with your brothers, maybe inform everyone of what happened and then rushed here," he hazarded, making her look away. If that didn't mean he was right, then he didn't know what did. "So, thank you."

"I want to make a puppet prosthetic arm," Kabuto told the blonde then, drawing her gaze towards him. "I'm guessing Suna has records for that kind of thing. I'd appreciate some help with that."

"I can get you access to the information. Hell, I'll talk with some experts that could do it for-"

"Kabuto makes it," Eiji interrupted, making both of them turn towards him. "He's my medic specialist. It's not that I don't trust Suna's people, but I'd prefer not to have to wonder. Besides, that way he'll know what to do if something happens to the arm," he explained, drawing a slow nod from Temari.

"Sure, I'll just get them to help Kabuto then," she agreed easily. Then, she seemed to grow… awkward, glancing away from them and out of the window. Eiji could also see her fidgeting with her clothes. "I also wanted to ask… Well… If I could, you know…"

It was distinctly strange to watch her be so nervous and unsure. That just didn't align well with the picture Eiji had of Temari in his head. She'd had moments like that before, sure, but never quite this bad. He had to wonder what could possibly make her act in such a way.

"If I could join the Squad once more," she blurted out, resolutely not looking at them. That made Eiji and Kabuto look at each other, both of them grinning, if slightly more subdued in the latter's case. Then again, Kabuto only seemed to be expressive when he was smirking like a villain, so there was that.

"Sure," Eiji replied simply, making the girl blink. She didn't otherwise react, as if she couldn't fathom that it'd be that simple. He had to wonder if she had been expecting some sort of heartfelt welcome or some more resistance to her coming back. Either way, it was not gonna happen. "For the record, you are stuck as a Squad member for life, even if you leave to do other things from time to time," he added, making the blonde blink again.

"Poor girl, doesn't know what she signed up for all the way back when she joined you the first time," Hachi commented in his mind and he had to agree. Then again, judging by the way her lips formed a wide grin, Eiji guessed she wasn't too distressed about that. Good thing too. It'd be very sad if she weren't committed like that.

"I guess that's it on that front," Temari said then, looking distinctively shy. "Now, I guess we should be going to get you that information?" she asked then, turning towards Kabuto. Eiji got the impression that she wanted to get away from the "embarrassing" situation.

"Quite possibly," Hachi agreed, although she sounded distracted. Probably by Tsuchigumo if he had to guess. "You are right. Good luck on your date," the twin said before retreating fully into the mindscape. Kage, for his part, had already done so some time before then to practice Senjutsu.

"And you have a date to go to, so, good luck," Kabuto reminded him, as if it were necessary, before moving to leave the room.

"Good luck," Temari echoed, giving him a wave and a smile as she left.

"See you later," he called as they went further and he stood up from where he'd been sitting. "For training!" he added then and he was sure he heard a yelp and a curse from Temari. She'd stumbled on something and almost fell down. Yeah, it'd be fun to bring her up to speed, Eiji was sure.

[}-o-{]

"So, twenty less years, huh?" Tayuya asked, pushing around her food a bit before taking a very small piece and placing it in her mouth. She'd been doing that ever since the topic of his medical check up came up. Well, it was less "came up" and more "fuck your concern and tell me, idiot" kind of deal.

"I did tell you we could just leave this conversation until after the date," Eiji said, eating some himself. He gave a wry smile back towards her glare.

"Shut the fuck up," she grumbled. "I have a right to know this shit. The sooner the better, that way I can get over it faster…" She trailed off, looking to the side. "At this rate you'll catch up to me, idiot."

"If it's any consolation, we are almost done with the list. I might not get worse than you," Eiji said, the reminder of her similar condition making him push his food around for a bit before he took a deep breath in.

"We won't live as long as normal," Tayuya said then. "Four Eyes told me, if we do manage to recover some years, it won't be completely."

"He told me something similar, but then again, ninja aren't expected to live all that long, are they?" Eiji replied with a shrug, trying and failing to smile. Instead, all he got was a bitter grimace.

"We will though," Tayuya countered, with such certainty that Eiji was surprised. "I lived all my life thinking that I'd die any day. Now… Now I think I'll live, and I want to keep thinking that."

Eiji remained silent after that statement, simply staring at his girlfriend. She wasn't looking back though, instead seemingly finding her food exceedingly interesting for some reason. Still, he considered her words and he looked up. Ever since he'd set himself in the path he was following, he'd always thought he might die in any of the fights, against any of the Akatsuki. All it would take was an unlucky moment and he'd be done for.

The closer he got to his goal, the closer he was to living his life peacefully. He could almost taste it now, he could almost envision it and… And it looked glorious. He so wanted to make those dreams a reality.

"It'd be nice," Eiji said then, nodding and eating some more. He didn't really taste the food though, instead, his mind focused on dreams and hopes for the future. "You know, Naruto told me that he remembered all the things he wanted for himself when he was about to die."

"What'd Blondie think of?" she asked, her usual bite missing from her tone.

"He thought about his girlfriend and the future he wanted for the two of them. He thought of me and that our children wouldn't get to play together. He thought of our group of friends and how he wouldn't see them," he explained, and he wasn't even sure what kind of expression he was making. That wasn't something nice to remember, but it held some sweetness nevertheless, morbid as it might be.

"His brats would be a complete nightmare. Then again, her plant of a girlfriend might just be enough to calm them down," Tayuya pointed out with a slight grin. "I'm not sure you are calm enough to calm ours down though."

"Oh?" He paused, giving his girlfriend his full attention. Apparently, she hadn't realized what she had said, because it took Tayuya a second to react, her face becoming as red as her hair.

"What?!" she all but shouted. "We are together, of course I'm considering a future, idiot. It's not like I'm fucking pessimistic and think we'll break up any moment. If I were that damn unsure, I wouldn't even be here, dumbass," she defended herself.

"I didn't say anything," Eiji reassured with a slightly wider smile than before. "Imagine the faces people would make when they hear about it though," he pointed out, drawing a snort from his date.

"Red Nose just might have a heart attack," Tayuya commented, making him chuckle. "And just about everyone will be worried they'll have another you coming to mess things up."

"One with a touch of your wonderful personality and more inclined to illusions," Eiji added with a grin.

"Yeah…" Tayuya agreed, her voice trailing off and her smile dropping slightly until it almost vanished entirely. "Do you think it's possible?"

"Definitely," he replied without a doubt. She asked if it was possible and it was. It was also possible that she'd get tired of him. Maybe it would be him that would break things up. It was possible that one or both would die. However, that happy ending was a possibility too. If Tayuya's thought process was anything like his, that was enough. There were few certainties in the world they lived in, so maybes were all that they had to work with.

"I think I'd like to see that," Tayuya said, continuing to eat, this time more animatedly. "You said you wanted to be a Jounin sensei if we survived all this shit."

"I did," he confirmed. "Although, with my little stunt," he continued, signaling towards his new forehead protected on his empty sleeve. "It might be off the cards. Although, I have somewhat of an idea that might allow me to do something similar."

"Hm, you'll have to tell me about that sometime," Tayuya mused out loud, almost distractedly. "Sounds boring as fuck, but we've had enough excitement, maybe. I think I'd like to just… travel and play music and shit. Not have to be afraid of what fucker we'll come across."

"Traveling, teaching and playing music," Eiji summarized with a hum and a grin. "I can get behind that. Sounds like a fun time."

"Of course it fucking does. I came up with more than half of that," Tayuya scoffed. Eiji just chuckled and shook his head. Yeah, it definitely sounded like a fun time.

Now he just needed to make it happen.

[}-o-{]

"And that's that," Kabuto announced, pulling his hands away while Eiji looked at his "new arm". A temporary fix, for sure, and it showed. The thing looked like it had been taken straight from a wooden mannequin. Kabuto had made it in less than a day, simply making the structure of it so he could have the arm already and practice with it.

They were still discussing how they'd build what would actually be a more permanent version, or at least a more combat oriented one. Eiji had the feeling that they would be building a whole series of the things if he didn't find another solution to his problem. As it was, he'd have to learn how to puppet the thing from the start, which made him really thankful for his system and all the experience boosts he had piled up so far. They'd certainly come in handy to get used to his new "limb".

Channeling his chakra as Kabuto had instructed him, Eiji focused on the crafted item. His energy flowed into the thing, like veins extending through the wooden forearm all the way to the fingertips. He reached the points his teammate had told him about and then softly, hesitantly, he pulled.

And the index twitched.

[New Skill Acquired: Puppet Mastery Lvl 1]

He didn't stop there, slowly but surely shifting all the articulations on the thing, looking for any problems or things that might have to be addressed. The only "issue" he found though, was that it worked better than his arm. All parts twisted and turned further than his human arm could or should. It wasn't bad per se, some might even call it good, but it was a little unnerving to him at that very moment. He wanted to fool himself into believing he was somewhat whole again, but those details reminded him that he wasn't.

"Can you make the next one act more like an actual human arm? I know it's more practical to have joints rotate more than they should, but…" Eiji trailed off, unable to find the words to properly describe the feeling. Or maybe he was afraid of sounding like an idiot, because it certainly felt like something stupid to complain about.

"Weird as fuck?" Tayuya suplied from where she stood, with the rest of the team and Naruto looking at his new arm. "Certainly looks freaky to me and I'm not the one wearing the shit."

"Yeah, that," he agreed, giving his girlfriend a grateful smile to which she rolled her eyes.

"I can make that," Kabuto nodded, readily giving in to his demand without even token resistance. Eiji wondered if that was expected or something, but he refrained from asking. "We can discuss that some more later- For now, do you want me to work on that one to put those limitations on?"

"Nah, it's fine. I'll deal with it while you work on the new model," Eiji waved off, his lips pulling up as he was able to do so with his left arm once more. It probably looked really strange, to see the mannequin-like limb instead of a human one, but it was still better than nothing, that was for sure. "I have my own stuff to work on."

And wasn't that the truth? The skill he'd just gotten had been added right next to the other one that he had to work on. Both were priorities for the moment. If anything, the other one was even more important than manipulating his new arm. After all, the arm wasn't really necessary, it was just to give himself some peace of mind.

On the other hand…

[Single-Handed Seals Mastery - Lvl 5

Increase the skill of the user to use Jutsu with single-handed seals.

Usable Jutsu Ranks – E and D.]

'I really need to level this shit up, I need full access to my repertoire and I need it yesterday,' Eiji thought to himself. The only good thing about his situation was that he could now more or less let loose with Tsuchigumo and that was quite the card to now have available. She more than made up for the Jutsu he was suddenly unable to use anymore, except maybe the Void Genjutsu, but still. It'd be that much better if he was in his original condition instead of having been crippled at the same time as that option became usable.

Tsuchigumo barked determinedly in the back of his mind and he smiled softly. Yeah, she had his back. He needn't worry as much as he was, but that was what he was good at, he supposed. Being concerned for the future was almost part of who he was at that point, with how long he'd spent like that.

Eiji watched from the corner of his eye, how Jirobo left the room with an excuse about training. Soon, Fu followed him and Kabuto said he'd start working on his next arm. Temari commented about having to check on how Suna was holding up without her brother around, something she'd done ever since she arrived, really.

He knew, though.

They were leaving on purpose.

"I had to have a few talks this past few days," Tayuya commented, as one would the weather. Which immediately meant that she was up to something. She never talked that casually. "And I think I have some decent plans for today's date."

"That's nice," he replied with a soft smile. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, first of all, Bimbo Number One suggested someplace to get dinner at," his girlfriend started explaining and he settled where he sat, idly moving his arm around while he listened. His eyes never left her though, and she knew she had his attention. "After that, the rest of the team helped pick nice place to walk by on our way back too."

"Sounds nice," he said, nodding.

"That's not all though," Tayuya pointed out and he blinked. Her expression then shifted to something he could only describe as predatory. He blinked again. "That's just the start of our night, Fearless Leader. Only the start."

Somehow, her expression grew more pronounced. Eiji was almost worried by the way she was looking at him, like a cat would a particularly tasty-looking mouse. Instead of that though…

Instead he grinned right back at her.

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