Chapter 6

She stared at the ceiling a couple of seconds, then sat up and straightened her position, trying to recall the events that preceded. Her heart was beating fast and loud, as if it wanted break out of her rib-cage. However, the beating was the only thing echoing in her empty mind. Suddenly, realization hit her. Chomei's "room" had literally disappeared in the void and the thought that she might have unconsciously got rid of him terrified her. Panic was churning her stomach, she needed to get in touch with Chomei to put her heart at peace. However, when she closed her eyes, no matter how hard she tried to reach him, she was alone in the darkness of her mind. She clenched her teeth, he was tired, maybe she just needed to try later. But there was something off. Chomei's chakra would normally flow along hers through her chakra channels, but she couldn't feel his warmth anymore. She knew he was inside but at the same time... he seemed out of reach. No matter how deep she looked for him, it was as if something was pulling her back.

Her worst fears came true: this time she was truly alone. Her head started spinning and her lungs were paining as if the room was lacking oxygen. She curled up in a ball as he walls were getting closer and the room tightening. Her thoughts were spiraling and getting out of control when three word popped up:

You. Are. Dying.

No. No, no, no. That's not gonna to happen.

Her survival instincts awoke her - she wouldn't let herself go down, she needed to take back control of herself. It wasn't the end of the world, she needed to be optimistic. This was the most important thing Chomei had taught her, and it had never failed before. First things first: she needed to figure out what happened to her and Chomei to find a solution, and quickly. No one knew when Kakuzu and the other man would come to capture her. At the moment it was impossible to get in touch with Chomei, but she couldn't even summon his chakra and that was a pain. She would be able to face them if without Chomei. If she faced them in her current state, she would put the whole village in danger. Her best option was to leave the village. Once they would discover she wasn't in the village, they would give up and leave. In the meantime, she would find a way to fix the connection between her and her resident.

Yes, I will leave tonight.

Feeling refilled with a new energy, Fuu stood and immediately ran to picked up the red backpack. While thinking about what she would need for her journey, a moment of hesitation braked her as she wondered about Shibuki's reaction. She was leaving for a couple of days without notice, no wonder he would be furious when she would come back, but she had no choice if she wanted to confuse her pursuers. After throwing out all the worn out clothes and damaged weapons and replaced them with new ones. As she dug in he wooden cupboard to pick her savings red purse, her hand fell on the massive volume of short-stories and legends that kept her company in her childhood. The backpack needed to be light, but she was going to spend two or three days completely alone, she needed something to fight boredom, so she ended up mindlessly slipping the book in her backpack.

Fuu headed to the exit, pausing at the door for a couple of seconds to think if there wasn't anything important she forgot to take. Her parents didn't left much after they had passed away, except for some books and the orange hairpin that used to belong to her mother. She knew she would be back soon enough, but the sight of her 'home' let her wonder would she have felt if she left forever. She didn't have any particular feelings towards the small wooden habitation, and a tinge of sadness touched her heart at the reality that, deep down, she would never miss it.

Without pondering too much, she jumped down the cliff that was separating her from the outside world and began to run as fast as she could. The fresh air of the night was brushing away the traces of the sore pain that had enveloped her only moments ago and smiled at the odd sensation of freedom.

****

Kakuzu walked down the stairs, closely followed by Hidan who was struggling to keep his eyes open. Kakuzu decided they would have left after dawn, so they would arrive at the headquarters in the afternoon. The previous evening, he successfully convinced the chief to change strategy regarding the Jinchuurikis, but they needed to discuss it further before informing the other members of the change and put the plan into action.

It had taken him hours of thinking to convince himself to capture the Jinchuuriki regardless and informing the boss of the unsuccessful mission. But then, an idea came up, one that would let the girl live and spare his soul to tear apart from guilt again, but more importantly, the one that would also help put the plan into action.

As the first member of the newly formed Akatsuki, Kakuzu had been well informed of Pain's plan to reach peace in the world. Through the organization, the young man wanted to gather enough power to start a war that would oppose the organization and its followers against the rest of the villages and countries that formed the Shinobi world. A war never witnessed before where 'there would be no winner and where everyone would taste to the pain and the sorrow such violence can bring. It would be thanks to the shared experience that people would realize how wrong was the previous system.' The Akatsuki would then establish a new order where peace would reign across the world. At first, Kakuzu had found the idea utterly ridiculous. Not only had it sounded too much idealistic, but for all the wars he had witnessed throughout his life, none truly brought peace. At least not to all the parties concerned. So that day, Kakuzu had smiled for the first time in decades. The kid's ambitions go beyond imagination, he had thought. However, on the other hand, his plan could really change the dynamics of the Shinobi world, and even if they wouldn't be able to reach peace, at least they could breach an oppressive system that had been ruling the world for too long. A chance for redemption had been offered to him.

Although the older man would never say it out loud, they had build a strong relationship along the years, and for the young leader and his second, the old man was unconsciously replacing the the void let by their previous tutor. This is why, that night, Kakuzu proposed to change strategy regarding the Jinchuurikis, Pein had quietly listened to him. Kakuzu had brought up the fact that their goal was to deprive the Hidden Villages of their ultimate tool, so it didn't matter if they had the Jinchuuriki or the Tailed-Beasts, as it would change the balance of power anyway. Moreover, the meeting with the Seven-Tailed Jinchuuriki demonstrated that there were indeed Jinchuurikis who could exploit the chakra of their Tailed-Beast efficiently, without losing control. To reach such a level, the Jinchuuriki had to go through an intense training from a very young age, and tamed the Beast in those years of coexistance. It was then more favorable to keep the Tailed-Beast inside the same Jinchuuriki rather than extracting it. Having them on their natural form was more likely to backfire. Also, from what he had witnessed, the girl had probably been isolated from society, and it was common knowledge that Jinchuurikis had a bad reputation among the people because they were seen as the incarnation of the monster sealed inside. They were treated as weapons, exploited to serve the military purposes of their country. In that regard, the organization could persuade them to join their cause in order to establish a fairer system.

The leader had remained silent for a moment, then hummed and ordered him to come back Amegakure to discuss the matter further. When he opened his eyes again, his shoulders dropped a tension he was unaware of.

The rest of the night was spent in the quietness of the temple's backyard. The fresh smell of wood and grass allowed him to empty his mind. He couldn't sleep anyway. For age was well known to take this essential need away. But that was a good thing, sleep only brought him more turmoil. He didn't mind it, he deserved no rest anyway.

When the first sun rays appeared, he went to the left wing and knocked at the door of the dormitory room where Hidan was sleeping. The loud bangs had startled the younger man, and it hadn't taken long for him to jump out of the bed and go straight to the door, knowing well the identity of the perpetrator and his motives. When Hidan had opened the door, Kakuzu was already on his way back to the entrance and informed him that they would have to leave soon. Hidan mumbled something then close the door again. Thankfully he didn't have the strength to articulate words so he wouldn't have to start his day with shouts and curses - at least for now. The brat was too ill-mannered.

After almost ten minutes, Hidan showed up at the entrance, trying to adjust his hair back, still looking half-asleep. Feeling frustrated by the way had been woken up, he decided to take his revenge and started complaining about how bad he slept in that dusty room and that he was tired and that he was hungry, and so on and so forth. But Kakuzu preferred to ignore him, and walked down the stairs, not bothering to listen to what he had to say. Seeing Kakuzu's reaction, Hidan quickened his pace to catch him up, then asked how the meeting had gone the night before.

"We will head to Amegakure".

"Yeah, I guessed we would have to go there. We're screwed, aren't we? What did you tell him?"

"You'll know."

"Come on, I'm your partner, I should be the first one informed, d***n! I was with you for this mission, remember?"

"Stop thinking you're the center of the world. You will know when the time will come."

"You really know how to piss me off from the morning, don't you? Can we at least stop somewhere to have breakfast?"

"Mmh"

"Great! Glad to know we can agree on something." It was all it took for Hidan to let silence settle once more on the empty unpaved road.