Hours Later, Alvarcus's Room
I'm laying on my bed and blankly looking upwards. I'm not even under the covers or in pajamas. I'm still in full mission gear. I'm not focused on anything either, I'm not even thinking at all. I'm just laying there. Doing absolutely nothing. Simply letting everything that has happened today sink in.
Hours pass and I don't move. I'm barely breathing and blinking.
"I guess I finally have lost that last shred of humanity." My voice breaks the hours long silence. "I don't even feel bad about my actions. Not one morsel of regret. I enjoyed that. I had fun. So much for that speech to Maiko yesterday, I'm no better than Orochimaru now."
"I wouldn't go that far, you have such potential." An unknown voice says from my couch.
I lazily tilt my head towards whoever has snuck into my room. I can't bring myself to care right now. If they attack me they die. Until then I'm not moving.
The unknown voice belongs to a man. He's wearing an all black cloak with a high collar. He has very short black hair. And an orange spiral mask. The unknown man isn't an unknown at all.
"Hello." I greet him warmly, as if he's an old friend that I haven't seen in years. "Are you here to kill me?"
"Kill you?" He says in mock shock. "No. I've come to see you. Everyone else won't quit talking about you, I've come to judge you myself. You've become quite popular among my group. There's even a betting pool on who will run into you next."
"Oh." That's strange. They shouldn't care about me. "And what do you think of me?"
"You can become great." He confidently says. "But Orochimaru will only get you so far."
"True." Orochimaru will only get me so far because I'm going to kill him. "But he can get me S-rank. That's all I need."
"Of course he can." He spreads out more on my couch, he's lounging like he's at home. "Orochimaru is very skilled himself and the rate that you grow is exceptional. But what do you plan to do once you have achieved S-rank? What then? Kill him and take over Otogakure? Burn the village that branded you a missing nin to the ground? Or will you wander around without purpose? Without direction?"
"I've never really thought about it." This feels like he's recruiting me. That can't possibly be happening. "S-rank has been a dream of mine since I first picked up a kunai. But I've never thought about what I would do next."
"I can offer you a purpose." He is recruiting me. What the hell? "But I won't tell you what it is, you have to pass a test of mine. It's to see if you're worthy of joining my cause. Orochimaru has a ring in his possession. It is a very special ring, one that has 'void' engraved upon a blue signet. Find the ring and make it yours. Wear it upon your left little finger and eventually all will become clear."
How very interesting. Though it was never confirmed or explained I've always thought that the rings were how the Akatsuki had their mass meetings. The rings are all linked together and project an astral image into a specific location to enable long distance communication. They also double as something like a phone, Pain can call anyone wearing the rings and the two of them will be able to hear each other. I think it's how they coordinate themselves so well, they have nearly instantaneous communication. It also explains why the rings didn't matter to Tobi when he took over the Akatsuki, if he wanted to talk to someone he can just teleport to them.
"What if I find my own purpose?"
"Then don't put on the ring." He shrugs in indifference. "I will not force this choice onto you, it's one you have to make yourself. But know this, if you put on the ring before you make your dream a reality I will kill you. I do not allow the weak to join me."
"I won't wear it." My words are spoken with a sense of finality. "I forge my own path in life. I will not bend to your will. I will not bend to anyone's will. Even now I am only using Orochimaru, he has a purpose. Once that purpose is fulfilled he will be discarded like my home village."
"That only makes me want you to join more." The true leader of the Akatsuki says as space itself distorts around him. "You will never see me again unless you wear the ring. I will not waste my time and effort on an asset that will not be profitable."
"Say hello to Kakuzu for me. He's the only one of you that I like." I say as he starts to be sucked into the tear in space. "Although you're the only one who hasn't -"
"Goodbye Muffins."
"FUCK YOU NOW I'M NEVER JOINING!"
He vanishes into the swirl, leaving me alone again.
"So." I say out loud to myself. "That happened."
I've always held the notion that Tobi or Obito or Madara – fuck it he's Tobi for now – would appear before me but I never thought he would do it with an offer to join the Akatsuki. I've always thought it would be because I've messed up and he found out that I know too much about his whole operation and then he'd kill me.
Guess I was wrong?
Instead he wants me to get Orochimaru's ring and wear it myself.
He wants me to join the Akatsuki.
...
"I'm almost back!" Naruto shouts as he's giddily hopping in place. "I can see the walls! The walls! Finally!"
"Alright brat, calm down." Jiraya smiles down at his student. Today is the day, they've finally made it back to Konoha.
"I have so much to tell everyone!" Naruto is basically vibrating in energetic joy. "I should take them all out for ramen! That's a great idea! Then we can catch up and I can see Teuchi and Ayame too!"
"Ah. Right. So about that." Jiraya turns away from Naruto in shame.
"What about that?" Naruto gets serious for a moment. "If this has been some elaborate prank the entire time I will get revenge. You'll never see another bath house. Ever."
"NO!" Jiraya reels back in fear. "Nothing so severe! It's just you're not going to be staying in the village that long."
"What? I thought you were going on some long and dangerous mission?" Naruto questions. "Is it going to be short or something?"
"I am. It's also life threatening, don't forget that! But you're supposed to be out of the village. It's going to stay that way. You'll barely be here overnight."
"That sucks." Naruto shrugs. "But I can still take everyone out for dinner or something. Check in and say hi and all that."
"Yeah... you can't do that." Jiraya bluntly says.
"What?" Naruto seethes. "Why not?!"
"Kiddo, right now there are only three people who know you're coming back. Tsunade, me, and you. And only three others are going to be added to that list. Three very trustworthy people who will be your teammates. We're sneaking into Konoha, I'm dropping you off, you're getting a mission, you sleep for the night in a very safe place, then you leave on the mission. You don't have time to socialize and the fewer people who know that you were here the better. We can't afford to broadcast your location. You're progressing rapidly but you're not a match for a S-rank threat."
"Yeah well you're not a match for a S-rank threat!" Naruto throws an insult at his teacher.
"Uh... I am a S-rank threat?" Jiraya says in confusion. "Some S-rank shinobi aren't a threat to me, that's how good your sensei is. Or did you forget that Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki ran away when I showed up?"
"Hey look! I can make out the front gates!" Naruto points. "Look how pretty it is with the sunrise coming over the Hokage Monument. Konoha I've missed you!"
"Oh that reminds me." Jiraya snags the back of Naruto's shirt before the latter can run off towards the gates. "We're taking the backdoor."
"Wait there's a backdoor?" Naruto looks up at Jiraya in curiosity. "How come I've never heard about it?"
"Because you're still a gennin." Jiraya drags Naruto off the road to head to the secret entrance. "While I am one of the Legendary Sannin. I know about all the backdoors."
"There's more than one?"
"Kiddo we're shinobi. Of course there's more than one."
"Right. Stupid question."
...
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