Buried deep within the jagged mountain ranges and bordering the Land of Earth, far from the prying eyes of the Five Great Nations, was an undisclosed cavern.
The only light came from a few flickering torches mounted on the walls.
Jasper stood still, his usual arrogance tempered by the weight of the moment. Before him, the ground rippled like water. Two large, flytrap-like extensions emerged from the soil, followed by the black and white visage of Zetsu.
"The preparations are complete," Black Zetsu rasped.
"Finally," Jasper muttered, crossing his arms. He tried to project boredom, but that was far from the truth. This wasn't a game anymore. The safety nets of the Leaf Village were gone, and he was standing in the dark with monsters. "I was waiting here for days."
"You're quite impatient," White Zetsu chirped. "Most your age would never get this opportunity."
"Just get on with it," Jasper replied.
Zetsu rose fully from the ground, holding a bundle of black fabric. He extended a pale, vine-like arm, offering the garment to Jasper.
Jasper took it and unfolded it, letting the long, black cloak cascade down. The red clouds stitched onto the darkness were the iconic robe of the Akatsuki.
He slipped his arms through the sleeves and zipped it up until the high collar obscured the lower half of his face. It fit perfectly.
"And this," White Zetsu said, holding out a small, porcelain pot and a brush. "The ritual."
Jasper extended his hands. He watched as Zetsu carefully painted his fingernails a deep, bruised purple. It was a strange tradition, almost vain for a group of S-rank murderers. But Jasper knew the significance of uniformity in a group of individualistic sociopaths.
Finally, Zetsu produced the ring. It had the kanji word for shō (青) and was teal in colour.
Last Jasper recalled, this ring was first worn by Deidara, then later by Kaito (Arthur). Even now, it was still difficult for him to comprehend how Arthur had managed to both kill Deidara and join the world's most powerful criminal organization.
"Your position is settled," Black Zetsu stated upon seeing Jasper slip the ring onto his right index finger. "You replaced Arthur, so do not fail us as he did."
"I won't," he said, admiring the ring. "I'm not a snake like him or Orochimaru."
"That's good to know," White Zetsu replied.
The transition into the organization hadn't been seamless. Neither was it like the recruitment of Itachi Uchiha. There was no grandeur or battle of wills to prove his strength. Instead, it had been a bureaucratic nightmare of suspicion.
Jasper's mind drifted back to three days ago, just outside the borders of the Land of Rain. He had arrived at the rendezvous point expecting to see Pain. Instead, he had been met by Sasori of the Red Sand, encased in his hunchbacked puppet Hiruko, and Zetsu.
There were no pleasantries or recruitment pitches. Neither did they seek to reward him since he had been the one to kill Orochimaru.
"Strip," Sasori had growled from within his wooden shell.
They had scrutinized Jasper from head to toe, checking for wiretaps, seal tags, and hidden transmission devices.
But a physical search wasn't enough. The Akatsuki had bled too much recently. They had lost Deidara, and the betrayals of Orochimaru and Arthur had left the organization paranoid.
"We require insurance," Sasori had stated, emphasizing Jasper would be branded with a seal.
"And if I refuse?" Jasper balked.
"Then you die here…" Sasori simply replied.
It was a test of resolve. If Jasper walked away, he was a spy. If he fought, he was an enemy. If he submitted, he was a tool. This was the long game, so he reluctantly agreed.
They placed a seal on the back of his neck—a tracker and a kill switch that would detonate if he attempted to remove it or if he entered specific restricted areas without authorization. Essentially, it was a leash.
Jasper shook the memory away. He was in now. He was officially a member.
"Where are the rest?" he asked Zetsu, looking around the empty cave.
"The leader is busy," Black Zetsu said, sinking back into the earth. "He does not meet with new recruits anymore. Especially not ones who have shaken hands with Leaf shinobi."
"You'll have to wash off that 'Will of Fire' before you see him again," White Zetsu giggled.
With that, the creature vanished into the ground, leaving Jasper alone in the flickering light.
A grinding sound echoed from the shadowed entrance of the cave. Heavy footsteps approached—clack, clack, clack. From the undergrowth, the hunched form of Hiruko emerged.
The voice that came from within was deep and raspy. "We've got work to do…"
Jasper adjusted his collar, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. "Alright, dude. No need to be so grumpy all the time."
Sasori's metal tail snapped forward, embedding itself in the rock wall inches from Jasper's head. Stone shards rained down onto Jasper's shoulder.
"Do not speak to me with that insolence, brat," Sasori hissed. "I didn't want a loud-mouthed defect from the Leaf as a partner. Just be happy our leader refused me turning you into a puppet."
Jasper didn't flinch, though his internal alarm bells were ringing. "Noted."
"The Akatsuki has extreme enmity with your former village," Sasori continued, retracting the tail. "Arthur's war cost us, and the mercenary market is drying up."
"Yeah, I heard… The nations are afraid to hire you—I mean us—because of what happened."
Sasori turned. "You killed Orochimaru. That's the only reason I accepted you. And know this: If you slow me down, you become part of my collection."
Jasper let out a small, dry chuckle. He had almost forgotten how dangerous these people were. In a game, they were bosses with health bars. Here, they were sociopaths with instant-kill moves.
"Understood," Jasper said.
They exited the cave, stepping out into a grey, overcast afternoon. A light drizzle began to fall, turning the dirt route into mud.
After an hour of trekking in silence, Jasper's patience began to fray.
"Say, Sasori," he began, trying to sound casual. "When are we gonna have time to go to the Rain Village?"
"Never," Sasori answered without breaking stride.
Jasper stopped. "What?"
Sasori stopped as well, turning his masked face toward his new partner. "You heard me. Our missions are given to us by secret intel drops or through the astral projection of the rings."
"If you've got a problem with that," Sasori added, the killing intent leaking out like cold air, "I won't mind telling the leader that you're not interested anymore."
Jasper swallowed. He knew that was a warning not to speak out. In the Akatsuki, "not interested" was a synonym for "deceased."
"I was just asking because I needed to restock on supplies," he said, raising his hands in surrender.
Sasori grunted, turning back to the road. "Then keep your mouth shut until we arrive at our destination."
Jasper followed as the mud squelched beneath his boots. Already, he was starting to regret this. The isolation was absolute. He couldn't verify anything if he was kept in the field permanently. And with a seal to track his movements, he was already proving to be a failure as a double agent.
✟
Thousands of miles away, in the heart of the Land of Rain, the sky wept.
The water slicked the industrial pipes as steel towers pierced the skyline. Inside the tallest tower, in a room illuminated by a single, dimly lit bulb that swung from the ceiling, three figures sat in silence.
Pain was in the center, Konan to his right, and to the left, sitting with one leg crossed over the other, was a masked man in a black robe: Obito Uchiha.
"We've successfully recruited Jasper," Konan announced. "He's paired with Sasori, and they're currently moving toward the Earth border." After a moment of contemplating, she continued. "I don't quite agree with the decision. You two seem to value him a lot for some reason."
"It's because of his ancestry," Obito revealed, dropping the Tobi persona entirely. "The Ōtsutsuki are the progenitors of chakra. That makes his ancient potential worth our time."
Pain nodded slowly. "And since we've already branded him with the seal, we'll be monitoring him."
Now the topic shifted to the man still being talked about by the whole shinobi world.
"Have we found his villages yet?" Pain asked.
"Not yet," Konan answered. "We used the coordinates from Lars' memories, and I sent a paper clone to scout the location in the Land of Birds."
"And?"
"Nothing," Konan said. "Whatever entrances were there... they're just empty fields now."
Lars Alexandersson, a strange anomaly that Arthur had befriended. The Akatsuki had intercepted him during the war and had extracted his soul using the Human Path. They had read every memory, every conversation he had ever had with Arthur.
"It seems that whoever's left," Konan admitted, "they placed extra levels of security."
"Interesting," Obito declared. He leaned forward as the single eyehole of his mask narrowed. "Even after being captured, he set up contingencies."
Obito was genuinely impressed because that level of anticipation rivaled Madara's own.
"Intelligence confirms he's no longer in the custody of the Leaf," Konan added. "We should find out where he's being held and take him out. In case he escapes."
"No," Obito said. "We would be wasting our time."
"Why's that?"
Obito explained, "Ever since that war, the Five Great Ninja nations have taken extra precautions. He stood up, walking to the edge of the balcony where the rain fell in sheets. "Not even I can get in anymore."
Both Pain and Konan were now surprised. While they didn't understand the legitimacy of Obito's Sharingan abilities, they were aware that it allowed him to teleport to almost any location. For his Kamui to be blocked was no laughing matter.
Obito clenched his fist. He was unaware of the deepest irony: he thought they were guarding against "Madara." He didn't know that otherworldly shinobi knew exactly who he truly was.
The only logical conclusion he could make was Minato's revival. Him and the fourth Hokage had fought, so he believed that Minato had revealed the nature of that night, leading to extra security measures. Arthur's war only escalated things.
"So we can't risk a direct assault on the Leaf right now," Pain deduced. "Not with the fourth Hokage revived and their forces on high alert."
"We would lose," Obito admitted.
"Then what's the directive?" Konan asked.
"We continue with the plan," Obito said, turning back to the dark room. The lightning outside illuminated his mask for a brief, terrifying second. "Let the world think we're afraid. And while they're distracted with the war's outcome, we'll finish the Moon's Eye Plan."
Outside, the rain intensified, only to water the seeds of the nightmare to come.