364 Make a Deal
Present Time (Akatsuki's hideout in the Land of Wind)
Yami looked at the entrance of the hideout as he sensed 5 people heading towards him and the other leaf shinobis. From the presence that each person among them held, Yami felt that he couldn't just take them easily as he did with the other Akatsuki members.
Naruto was the first to notice Yami being alert and seeing him in that stance, the two teams also got ready to attack at a moment's notice.
Eventually, the 5 people stepped outside the shadows of the hideout and came out into the open. Three of them were Kakuzu, Deidara, and Sasori which everyone expected but the other two were completely new members. One of them was a Tobi who was wearing his mask and stood quietly while the 5th person was a girl. A beautiful girl with orange eyes, purple hair with a purple flower studded in her hair.
"Two more Akatsuki members. We can deal with them if we fight together." Naruto said as he was about to rush but then he saw the orange-masked man raise his hand like a kid desperate to give an answer.
"May I say something? Me Me…Please" Tobi said with his usual goofy voice. Deidara and the other two looked at Tobi with annoyance since they were told he is just a newbie to the Akatsuki and Tobi's actions up until now only proved that he was a good-for-nothing idiot. The only reason they didn't voice their opinions is because they didn't want to question Konan and Pain's decisions.
"Hey, newbie…why don't you just stand back with us and not piss her off." Diedara scolded in a low voice but everyone heard it. Tobi glanced at Diedara and said "Don't worry Deidara senpai it was Konan senpai who had me do something for her while you all were recuperating."
As he said that a white dog appeared out of thin air in front of him. The leaf shinobis immediately recognized the dog and Sakura shouted "Isn't that Akamaru? Kiba's shinobi dog."
"It's Akamaru? He has gotten so big? He used to be small enough to sit on Kiba's head and now look at him." Naruto said while looking at the large dog. He hadn't met the others since he came back from training so it was a shock to him seeing Akamaru.
"We must rescue him then." Lee said as he looked sideways at the others. Neji turned his head towards him and said "Lee, the fact that Akamaru is with him means that team 8 is being held hostage by him."
"Team 8? Isn't that the squad in which..." Lee was saying when Lee nodded and said "Yes the same squad in which Lady Hinata is in."
Hearing this Tobi again jumped up and down in excitement and said "I have her as well. I can bring out one of her eyes if you don't believe me."
Everyone on both sides except Konan and Yami were shocked to hear such cruel words being said in such a manner.
"Let's not waste time now and get to the point." Konan said in a stern voice trying to establish that she was the leader here. She looked at Kakashi and Guy and said "Not just them but the 3rd Hokage and his team are also in our custody. Their life depends on the decisions that you all make."
"What, even Team Asuma is in their custody? But sensei how should we believe them?" Naruto asked as he looked at Kakashi.
"We will have to take their word for it or they might do something like they threatened with Hinata. What is it that you want ?" Kakashi first explained to Naruto and then asked Konan. He understood that the fact the Akatsuki went to so much trouble to kidnap them rather than kill them, they must have some kind of motive in mind.
Konan was going to speak but Tobi walked forward and said "Konan Senpai let me explain that. Why waste your precious energy talking to them?"
He then looked at Kakashi and said "Kakashi the Copy Ninja...I have heard so much about you...I wanted to meet you for a long time."
Except Yami everyone thought that Tobi was going on with his usual bullshit but Yami knew what Tobi really meant. Those words held a lot of pain inside Tobi as he had a flashback of the night when Kakashi's hand had pierced Rin's chest.
Tobi didn't let his character slip due to the flashback and said "What we want is very simple. Firstly, Turn back away right now and go back to your village. Secondly, the Akatsuki would like to meet with the Kages of all five great villages 10 days later. So, it would be good if you can arrange that....hehe"
Tobi looked back at Konan and asked "Did I miss anything Senpai?" to which Konan shook her head sideways. She herself was hearing these demands for the first time and was shocked as to why Tobi wanted to meet the Kages.
"What about the 2 squads that you have kidnapped?" Kakashi asked. He knew that his hand was already under a rock and it would be nearly impossible to forcibly get them back since it seems that Tobi was using some kind of space jutsu.
Tobi waved his hand as if telling him to not worry and said "They are all healthy under my supervision. I will bring them to the meeting if all the Kages are present. I think that's a fair deal...isn't it?"
"Sensei are we really going to accept such an offer?" Naruto asked Kakashi who himself was lost in thought.
"Sensei we can't trust a single word he is saying? We can't turn back after coming so far." Sasuke said. He wasn't one to back off so easily.
"Mr. Kakashi I would suggest that we don't make any move that would endanger the life of Lady Hinata and the others." Neji requested.
Kakashi was about to discuss with Guy about this when Yami asked Tobi "Why would we go back when you all are here in front of us?"
Tobi giggled a little and said "Did you miss the part where I said I have 2 of your teams held hostage?"
Yami just shrugged and said "I understand that but if they were captured then it means that they weren't strong enough to win so we can just consider them to be dead by your hands. If we look at it that way, we don't see a reason to back off now."
Konan and Tobi were both confused by Yami's words. This wasn't a scenario they had thought about in the wildest of their dreams.
"YAMI, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?" Neji shouted as he held Yami's shoulder and forced Yami to face him.
"You hated her for more than a decade and only got along with her for less than 3 years now, why are you getting worked up?" Yami asked as he squatted Neji's hand away.
This was the first time Yami and Neji had disagreed on something. Naruto immediately jumped in and said "Yami...they are our friends. We can't just leave them to die."
Yami tilted his head towards Naruto and asked "What are you going to say when you go back to the village? That you let the Akatsuki members walk away and let them take two Jonin teams. But there is nothing to worry about because 10 days later the kidnappers will visit our village and even bring the 2 teams with them."
Yami's words were on point and Naruto had no answer to his questions. Konan on the other had lost the cold expression on her face and there was subtle rage on it.
"You shinobis of the big villages behave like you are embodiments of justice but this is your true face. You wouldn't even hesitate to sacrifice your own people for a single minute." Konan said. She was someone who had seen the bloodshed the shinobis of the great villages had caused and how brutal they can be at times.
Tobi didn't want Konan to lose her temper here and escalate the situation so he said "Konan senpai you are right we can't expect much from them but let's hear what the sand shinobis have to say.
Chiyo just glanced at Yami once and said "Since the hostages belong to the hidden leaf I believe the hidden sand has no right to interfere in this matter."
Just as Chiyo finished saying that, Yami unsheathed his sword and sent a wind blade toward the Akatsuki group.
Kakashi was surprised that Yami would attack like this out of nowhere without any provocation.
'What has gotten into Yami? Why did he attack someone who holds our people? Has he truly shed all kinds of emotions and become a real killing machine.' Kakashi was asking himself.
Tobi jumped back as he saw the attack coming while Konan just stretched her hand and a wall of white paper blocked the wind blade's way.
"Is she trying to block an attack with mere paper?" Kankuro asked to which Gaara said "Each of those papers is enforced with chakra so they will stop the attack but not without getting destroyed themselves with it." just as Gaara said, the wind blade was neutralized but the ball was shredded into pieces as well.
'Yami, why do you always ruin my plans? How unpredictable can you be?' Tobi screamed in his mind as he saw Yami preparing for another attack.
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