Kakazu was lost in thought when he noticed Kanon preparing to leave.
"Hidan-nii, Kakuzu-nii, I'm heading out. Now that the money is in your hands, I'll head back to the organization first."
"You're returning to the base? It's on our way; we were just about to head back and deposit the funds ourselves."
As he spoke, Kakuzu nudged Hidan. "Hidan, go bring in the burlap sacks from outside."
"You bastard! All you do is boss me around! One of these days, I'm going to offer you as a sacrifice to Lord Jashin!"
Watching Hidan stomp out in a huff, Kanon scratched her head and gave an awkward laugh.
"Haha, Kakuzu-nii, Hidan-nii seems pretty annoyed."
"Don't mind him. Our mission is complete as well."
"Oh? You caught them?"
"Yeah, though she's more dead than alive at this point."
Sure enough, following Kakuzu's words, Hidan dragged three burlap sacks inside. One sack showed faint signs of movement, while the other two were deathly still.
"Give those two to me; I'm going to cash them in," Kakuzu said, taking the two lifeless sacks from Hidan. There was no need to guess—they contained corpses with high bounties on their heads.
"Talk about murder for profit..." Kanon muttered, a drop of sweat rolling down her temple.
"Never mind that, Kanon. Interested in joining the Jashin Cult?"
"I think I'll pass, Hidan-nii. We have a mission to focus on."
"Fine, fine. If it were anyone else, I'd force them, but I'll let it slide for Kanon-chan."
Kanon knelt and opened the final, living sack. Her eyes met the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, Fū. Her face was covered in blood, and she looked incredibly frail.
"Hey! At this rate, she'll be dead before you even reach the hideout!" Kanon snapped at Hidan.
"Huh?! Then what do we do?" Hidan grew tense; after all, the order was to capture the target alive.
"Untie the sack. I'll treat her."
Hidan hurriedly undid the bindings. Fū lay on the ground like a dying dog, blood steadily seeping from her wounds.
"You are..." Fū looked up, seeing Kanon's delicate face and the twin tails framing her forehead.
"Don't speak. These two big lugs don't know their own strength."
Kanon extended a hand, and the glow of the Mystical Palm Technique began to radiate from her palm.
"Are you... Kanon Uchiha?"
"I've heard of you..."
"I said be quiet. You're too weak."
Half an hour later, after Kakuzu returned from counting his coins, he asked with a hint of confusion, "What's going on here?"
"Kanon-chan said she was dying, so she's giving her some treatment first."
"Is she really that fragile?" Kakuzu pondered for a moment before deciding to just watch.
Under Kanon's care, Fū's condition improved significantly, at least enough for her to speak normally.
"You... you defected from Konoha to join the Akatsuki..."
"Why? As one of the only two Uchiha survivors, you could have lived a peaceful life in the village. Why run away and play with fire like this?" Fū was baffled.
She had heard rumors about this back in Takigakure, and she had always wanted to ask Kanon what she was thinking. Now that they had met, the question poured out.
"Why? There is no 'why'."
"Hmm?" Fū looked confused.
"Perhaps in the eyes of Konoha, my entire life is nothing more than a comedy."
"You mean... Konoha..." Before Fū could finish, Kanon cut her off.
"It's not that they didn't know, it's that they chose to look away!"
Kanon thought of Kakashi, Jiraiya, and even Naruto. Some might have been in the dark, but in the end, they all turned a blind eye. Why did she defect? Did truly no one understand?
She was hunted like a street rat while Danzo remained untainted, even sending his Root agents to assassinate her. This was Konoha's indulgence of Danzo!
"This entire social system is pathological! The Konoha High Council is nothing but a pack of scum!"
Hearing Kanon's nihilistic declaration, Fū countered, "Then you only have yourself to blame. You should think about why everyone you meet is scum, while I haven't met many at all."
"Because I am the power," Kanon said, standing up and grinding her foot into Fū's face, pinning her to the ground.
"You're just like them."
"The village crushes a person until they break, and then you claim their collapse was a 'mistake'."
"You understand nothing, yet you lecture me. Your mindset is identical to those elders in Konoha."
Kanon's lips trembled. Why? Was she not good enough? No, she had worked hard every single second. She wasn't the one who was wrong, all of Konoha was.
Chakra crackled as Chidori gathered in Kanon's hand. She felt a sudden, murderous urge to slaughter the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki right then and there.
"Whoa! Kanon-chan!" Hidan was stunned. Was she actually going to kill the Jinchuriki?!
"Since you can't seem to find any scum in this life, try your luck in the next!"
The Chidori chirped like a thousand birds, ready to strike, when Hidan and Kakuzu moved simultaneously to restrain her.
"This is an organizational mission, Kanon! She will die, but not today!"
Hearing Kakuzu's cold reminder, Kanon's expression slowly shifted from icy rage back to a forced calm.
"Let's go back together. We're heading the same way."
Kanon's Sharingan spun, the tomoe shifting into the Mangekyo Sharingan. After plunging Fū into a deep genjutsu, she finally regained her composure.
"Let's go, Hidan-nii, Kakuzu-nii."
"You feeling better?" Hidan asked softly.
"Much... There's no point in losing my temper with someone like that."
…
Three days later, the Hidden Rain Village.
Kanon had just arrived when her pupils suddenly constricted. She saw a man in a swirling orange mask!
"You!" Kanon hissed, drawing her Kusanagi Sword instantly.
"It looks like I can finally avenge Izumi-nee today," Kanon said, her expression frigid even in front of Pain.
"Oh my, Kanon-senpai! I'm Tobi! I'm the new guy in Akatsuki! Please be nice to me!"
The outburst left Kanon momentarily stunned. Tobi? Was this really the mysterious masked man from that night? The mask was different, but the aura was unmistakable. So why was he acting like this?
"You bastard! Are you mocking me?!" Kanon's hand flared with Chidori as she lunged at Tobi. One clash, that was all she needed to know if he was the same man.
But as Tobi shrieked and Hidan and Kakuzu watched in confusion, Pain stepped between them, blocking her path.
The Chidori stopped a mere inch from Pain's face.
"Kanon, this is Amegakure."
"I know! But I really, really want to kill this man!"
Kanon thought back to that day when she was six, at the sight of Izumi dying right before her eyes. Her hatred and fury were uncontrollable.
"Kanon-senpai! I've never even met you before!"
"I'm just Tobi, the new recruit!"
Tobi's buffoonish persona was on full display. While the aura was similar, the masked man she knew would never act this pathetic. It was too stupid.
Kanon glared at Tobi before shouting at Pain, "Senpai! Put me on a team with Tobi!"
"Nooo! Leader, I don't want to go on missions with Kanon-senpai! I'm afraid she'll butcher me!"
"Newbie! You better listen to your senpai!" Kanon's face darkened as she puffed out her cheeks, gritting her teeth. If there weren't so many people around, she would have killed him regardless of his connection to the other masked man.
"No way! Tobi is like a high school girl with a crush on Deidara-senpai~"
Kanon's lip twitched. If this actually was the masked man, she was going to vomit from the sheer disgust of it.
Seeing that Kanon's anger had subsided slightly, Pain spoke quickly.
"We will discuss team assignments in three days. Did you bring the Seven-Tails?"
"Yeah, here it is," Kakuzu said, dropping the sack on the floor. "I'm going to deposit the money first."
"Fine. As usual. Kanon, you will handle the administration and security of the village for the next three days."
"Hidan, go gather everyone. Prepare for the Sealing Jutsu: Nine Phantom Dragons. We begin with the Two-Tails today."
"Got it." Even Hidan knew better than to disobey Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki.