Naruto : Venom : Chapter 124

"Currently listed in Konoha's most recent bingo book as a B-rank target. Former shinobi of Konohagakure, rumored to now align with Otogakure. Known abilities: Jiongu, elemental jutsu both low and high level, minor genjutsu aptitude, above average taijutsu skills.

Rumored abilities: Magnet release, flight, storm release. Special Note: Is usually seen in the company of Sasuke Uchiha, see his page before engaging Alvarcus Mar. Where one is, the other is close by. Titles: Heart Thief -and this one is my favorite- Muffins."

...

I whirl around at the sound of that infernal nickname to see something that takes me a moment to fully process.

Kakuzu is idly sitting on a bench going through a small red leather bound book.

Why is there a bench here? Oh, we're in a park. I wandered into a park while lost in thought.

With a sharp snap he shuts his book, which looks suspiciously like a ledger, and tenderly pockets it. Does that mean he memorized my bingo book page? "Come now, I only wish to talk. Your bounty isn't high enough to attract my attention. Sasori did say that you seemed reasonable enough. Also that you were very aware of how outmatched you were."

I narrow my eyes at the subtle threat. The effect is lost since I'm wearing my mask. "And why should I? The other two times I've meet people from your group they've threatened to kill me."

"It's not every day that someone like me makes time for someone like you. So when it happens, you better take the moment." He effortlessly raises up his right arm and out of his sleeve extend black threads. "Especially if that someone has decades more experience than you."

I can't believe I'm about to say this. "Alright, you've caught my interest Kakuzu. What do you want to discuss?"

He eagerly leans closer, even sitting down he towers over me. "Tell me, how did you acquire the Jiongu? No one but I have wielded it for well over half a century."

~That was a good day. After months, years, of Orochimaru trying to bond me to a host I finally found a suitable one.~

The Jiongu and I remember that day very differently. That was by far the most painful thing I've ever experienced.

I coolly flick my Sound forehead protector. "Take a wild guess. You know what village this symbol belongs to."

"Orochimaru. So he did find a way to give it to another, I was always curious about that myself. Only I know the correct bonding process, there's techniques to assure the symbiotic relationship. How did he manage that?"

I shrug. "No idea. I didn't even know there was a bonding process. Besides, mine's tweaked. Orochimaru changed it. I don't even know if it's the same as yours anymore."

"You said he changed it?" Kakuzu appears eager. I can't really blame him, we're the only two people on the planet with the Jiongu. He wasn't wrong when he said that these kinds of conversations rarely happen.

I let out my Jiongu from my fingertips and let it sway in the breeze. "Mine's parasitic, not symbiotic. It's also sentient, it talks to me. A lot. Honestly it gets annoying sometimes."

~Aw, don't be like that host. You know you like me.~

Kakuzu let's out a deep reverberating chuckle. "I always wondered how he'd change it. Should have charged him more if I new he would do something as crazy as that."

"How much did he pay anyways? Always wondered that." I genuinely want to know that. Sure it's not important at all but I'm curious.

Kakuzu simply leans back in satisfaction. "More money than you'll ever see in your life."

We fall into a strangely companionable silence. I never thought that Kakuzu would be this... civilized.

Then out of the blue Kakuzu rises to his feet.

"Thank you for humoring me, it was interesting to finally meet you." He starts walking away. With one final look over his shoulder he says, "Until we meet again Muffins."

And like that all the respect he just earned from me vanished. Fucking Muffins!

As Kakuzu disappears from my sight a familiar weight falls onto my head. "Green, I don't know how you do it but you always get in the strangest situations."

I snort. "There's no need to tell me that." Now for business, this is an excellent opportunity. How often will I meet Akatsuki members and have a chance to send one of my spiders after them? "I want him tailed. I want to know where he goes. I want to know who he reports to and what his tasks are."

"Already done. Once I recognized the cloak I took action. The spiders around here know to follow him and his companion."

"That was interesting to watch." Sasuke says as he walks out from his hidden place in the shadows. "And that was..."

"Kakuzu, arguably the most infamous missing nin from Taki. He's old, super old. Old enough to have battled the first Hokage. Taki isn't even sure he's still alive, he's like their boogeyman. No one has ever proved that he's dead, but a lot of logic says he should be. He's also where Orochimaru got the Jiongu from."

"So he can do what you can." Sasuke looks in the direction that Kakuzu left in. "I can't help but notice you didn't ask about Itachi."

I offer up a halfhearted shrug. "Hey, he's a S-rank shinobi that's more than capable of killing me. Not only that, he knows all of the ways to work around the Jiongu since he has it too, so forgive me for letting him direct the conversation. Plus I do have spiders following him, eventually they'll find out where Itachi is. Their group has to meet up sometime."

"Fair enough. Now you've wandered around aimlessly long enough. Let's get back to the hotel and rest. We have a big day tomorrow."

...

The Next Morning, At the Hotel

"Do I even need half of this stuff?" I mutter to myself as I stare down at an arsenal that Sasuke has prepared for me. "When have I ever used wire before?"

"It might be useful. What if you need to tie someone up?" Sasuke says as he starts arming himself with his own arsenal of various weapons and other deadly tools.

"Hello, Spider Summoner here. I'll just use their webs. It's probably stronger than the wire too." I toss said wire off to the side. "And kunai? Why would I need this much? There has to be fifty here!"

"You can't bring them back to you with your chakra strings. Those you need." He straps a tanto from one of the Root shinobi onto his leg. "Hell I'm bringing this and I doubt I'll need it."

"And why should I bring one?" I ask as I hold my own tanto at arms length in disgust. "I'm not a sword kind of guy."

Sasuke straps his personal sword to his waist, drawing it to make sure it doesn't snag on anything. "Okay, I'll give you that one. Misdirection perhaps?"

"It is one of the best tools a shinobi can use." I go about strapping the blade to my leg. "Who expects someone with an obviously displayed weapon to ignore it and try to punch you in the face? Gotta admit I might enjoy the look of shock on their face."

"Whatever. You ready now?" Sasuke sheathes his sword.

"Yeah. Let's get this over with." We both leave our hotel.

...

At the Stands, Minutes Later

"You're Green and Red?" The Kusa shinobi we've asked for directions calmly assess us. "You're alone? No jonin?"

"She's dead, killed on the way here." Sasuke irritably barks out. "Are you going to tell us where to go or not?"

"Whatever, not my problem." The shinobi says without a care in the world. "Go to the east side of the stands, there's a gazebo there that all of the contestants will wait at."

"Thanks, you were a really big help." Sasuke says with a great amount of sarcasm.

We both leave the shinobi and go to the gazebo. It's large, more than enough to house all of the contestants with plenty of spare room. There's a bunch of chairs and tables for us to use and there's even water for us. It's actually quite nice all things considered.

We're not the first ones there, the Konoha gang beat us. Shino, Kiba, Hinata, Lee, Neji and Tenten are all chatting among themselves. How nice of Tsunade to let Lee's team come and watch him.

All six of them tentatively watch Sasuke and I as we approach and sit down at a table far away from them. Or I think they're watching Sasuke and I, but I have a feeling that they're all watching me.

It's probably nothing, just my paranoia rearing its head.

Sasuke and I sit in silence as the Konoha gennin start whispering to themselves. Unfortunately for them, I can still hear them.

"So this is the infamous Green and Red." Neji idly whispers. "They don't look much different from a month ago."

"That doesn't mean they haven't improved." Hinata jumps in. "Look at Green Neji. Truly look at him."

"Now that's interesting." Neji says.

"What? What is it? Sorry but not all of us have fancy eyes." Tenten angrily whispers. "Come on and tell us already!"

"His chakra supply grew enormously." Neji gives in and shares what he saw. "His dwarfs every other gennin here. The gap is considerable."

"It shines like a beacon, the only other person I've seen with anywhere near this amount of chakra is Naruto." Hinata adds. "I wonder how he managed to increase it so drastically?"

"Does it matter?" Kiba cuts in. "So what he has a bunch of chakra, that's not something that's going to stop Akamaru and I!"

"He does bring up a good point." Shino speaks for the first time. "It is irrelevant how much he has at his disposal, what truly matters is how well he can use it. From what we were told by Ino, he uses his summons and earth jutsu to do battle. Beware of them, even simple jutsu can be overpowered into something deadly."

"How youthful! His progress is inspiring! To advance so much in such little time! It's decided, I'll have to ask Gai-sensei to train me even more!" Lee whisper shouts. That kid is always looking to push himself further.

...

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