No missions today. No updates from Pain. No explosions. Just... time.
Teriyaki exhaled, arms tucked behind his head as he strolled the halls barefoot, his Akatsuki cloak open, fluttering slightly with each step. This kind of silence was rare. Usually something should've been happening.
He passed by Sasori's room and kept walking without hesitation. He gave him a bad vibe, as if he wanted to turn Teriyaki into a puppet.
Instead, he turned down the eastern hall, heading toward the training arena. He needed to clear his head. And the best way to do that?
The underground chamber echoed with the crash of water as Teriyaki slammed against the arena floor, soaked and sputtering.
Kisame loomed above him, Samehada in hand but not yet hungry. "You're definately worthy," he grunted, offering a hand. "You've got chakra for days, I'll give you that. But your water style's still a little... crude."
Teriyaki coughed, brushing damp hair from his eyes. "I was more focused on snakes for the past year... I feel like there's less point in training my water jutsus these days."
Kisame chuckled, shark teeth flashing. "You don't want to die like a sloth. Water's about fluidity, adapting. You try to force your chakra like a hammer—doesn't work in water. You gotta think more like... soup."
"Soup?"
"Soup."
There was a long pause as Teriyaki stared blankly.
"I hate this analogy," he muttered. But what did I expect from Kisame?
Still, he stood, forming seals again. "Water Style: Ripping Torrent!"
A jet of pressurized water fired forward—but it was slightly off balance. Kisame tilted his head, then smacked the blast aside with the flat of Samehada.
"Closer," he admitted. "But never enough."
Teriyaki collapsed backward onto the wet stone floor, groaning. "Well, that was Kisame..."
Back in the halls, Teriyaki dried himself with a flicker of wind chakra and started toward the mess hall.
He turned the corner—immediate regret.
Hidan was there, shirtless, covered in blood, holding his scythe, chanting strange mantras.
Teriyaki immediately pulled a 180.
I'll take to Hidan another time...
He ended up lounging on a high ledge near one of the base's open caverns, legs swinging off the edge. Deidara sat nearby, sculpting a tiny clay bird that occasionally tried to fly away before he crushed it.
"Bored?" Teriyaki asked.
"Bored," Deidara replied. "Pain has issued a one week restriction on explosions. Art has met censorship."
They sat in silence for a moment before Deidara asked, "Why are you here anyway? You don't seem the type. Shouldn't you be helping Mr Orochi right now?"
Teriyaki shrugged. "Nothing has happened today. I doubt much will either."
Silence settled. 5 seconds passed...
Deidara nodded slowly. "You ever think about how everything we do just... blows up in the end?"
"I try not to think that far ahead," Teriyaki muttered. I'm more focused on my main issues. Freedom... Power... Purpose... Before adding "I just want the freedom to match my power. I guess I'm the opposite of Pain, he just wants destruction.
Deidara smirked. "Pain's goal is one of pure destruction, purely emotional in a sense, I can't really see too much art in that, it just makes him seem immature. Weak, even. Yet I still have to adhere to his rules..."
As Teriyaki was walking back to his room, a small click echoed behind him.
He turned.
Nothing.
Walked faster.
Click click click click—
"Teriyakiiii"
He spun around—Tobi inches from his face.
"GAH—" Teriyaki nearly tripped backward, throwing a kunai on reflex. Tobi ducked. "WHY are you like this?! Why are you so scared of me? It's like you think I'm an entirely different person..."
No way... Why would I think that?
Tobi tilted his head. "Where did you come from anyway? You're new. Like, mysterious new. Are you secretly a clone of Orochimaru? Are you actually four snakes in a trench coat?"
Teriyaki slammed his door shut. "Not right now Tobi, I'm not prepared to talk to you." Just treat him like optional dialouge.
Muffled from behind the door: "Sooo suspicious… So closely tied to Orochimaru... What's under your cloak?"
"Just when is this day going to end..." Teriyaki muttered. He looked in the mirror, his long hair cascading down, his akatsuki cloak ruffled and a little dirty from prior missions.
Then his eyes led him to his curse mark, if he wanted to remove it, he needed Tsunade or someone similar.
If he wanted to live properly in this world, he needed that kind of freedom.
Teriyaki leaned against the windowsill in the west hallway, arms crossed, watching the droplets run down the glass. He could hear the faint rustle of paper from behind him before he even registered her chakra.
"It's raining loudly, it's a surprise to see you're staying in the base despite having nothing to do here." Konan's voice, flat and calm, rolled in behind him.
"I like the sound," Teriyaki replied without turning. "The rain is nice..." Why is everyone suspicious of me? Is Orochimaru that obvious?
Konan stepped into view, her paper cloak fluttering faintly with every step. She didn't say anything for a moment, just studied him.
"You're no longer with Orochimaru," she said finally. "But Deidara says you have emotional ties to him... Even if you're seperated."
Teriyaki smirked, eyes still on the window. "Why trust Deidara? He tried to stick a clay bug on my pillow last night, he's more of a threat than Orochimaru."
Konan's lips twitched slightly, almost a smile. Almost.
"But why trust you? The last thing this organisation needs is a traitor. Like Orochimaru."
Teriyaki didn't flinch. "Have I done anything untrustworthy?"
"Yes." She stepped closer. "You helped Orochimaru fight itachi."
Now he turned to face her. "Let me guess. You think I'm still loyal to Orochimaru even though I obviously had no control over myself then."
"You are his," she said simply. "His experiment. His project. He made you. That doesn't just go away because you wear a new cloak. Clearly you're his pawn, so how can that change?"
Teriyaki tilted his head. "Grab Tsunade or something, I don't really know. I doubt any of you can destroy it, he made it specially for me."
"I think…" She stepped into the shadows beside him, close now, close enough he could see the glint of light on the edge of her paper wings. "...You need to convince him logically to remove it."
For a moment, they stood in silence. The rain was louder now, like it knew something was wrong.
Then Teriyaki scoffed. "You think Orochimaru will have empathy when he enjoys torturing me on the weekly?"
Konan didn't move, but her eyes narrowed slightly. "He is strange, strange enough to possibly agree to your pleas."
"That would never happen... I know Orochimaru better than anyone. He's pure crazy. He would never show kindness if it got in the way of his goals."
Konan studied him for a moment longer, then nodded slightly. "Just remember… Pain trusts you. If you betray his trust, you will die, your usefulness will be negligible."
Before Teriyaki could answer, the sound of wet footsteps echoed down the corridor.
Both of them turned as Kakuzu emerged from the shadows, dragging a heavy sack behind him, his tattered cloak soaked in blood. The metallic smell hit before he even reached them.
Kakuzu stopped in front of them and dropped the sack with a wet thud. It was leaking.
"Don't mind me," Kakuzu said, his voice gravel dragged across stone. "Just collecting this week's bounties."
The sack shifted slightly. Teriyaki wasn't sure if that was nerves or post-mortem twitching.
"You always carry your prizes around the base?" he asked. "Could I maybe do your job and rack up some money?"
Kakuzu looked at him, head tilted slightly.
"If you're going to stare and ask questions, make yourself useful. Or I can make room in the sack for one more."
Konan didn't react. Teriyaki raised an eyebrow, completely unfazed.
"Relax," he said. "Just curious. I doubt I have much worth."
Kakuzu's stitched-up face pulled slightly at the corners, which might have been his version of a grin. "You're wrong. Orochimaru's creations are always worth something."
Kakuzu grunted and dragged the sack away, leaving a faint smear behind him as he disappeared down another hall.
Konan exhaled through her nose. "He's more tolerable when you ignore him, and the foul corpses he brings in here from time to time."
"I never imagined I would be here," Teriyaki said, looking back out the window. "It's surreal almost..."
Konan's gaze lingered on him a moment longer, then turned to leave. But just before she vanished into her signature flurry of paper, she paused.
"Try to convince Orochimaru for your freedom... Or be a lab rat till the day you die."
With that, she was gone—like a note left unfinished in the rain.
Teriyaki stayed by the window, watching the storm roll on.
He wasn't sure what annoyed him more: that she was probably right… Or that convincing Orochimaru was going to be a whole different kind of battle.