{It's my birthday bitches}
~
Near the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain, a streak of blue cut through the forest.
Ren moved like a phantom, his body flickering from branch to branch, barely touching wood before vanishing again. He'd been on the run for some time now, pushing himself at full pace to reach Kakuzu's last known location and he was just about to reach him.
His breathing was steady, his eyes locked ahead, every sense focused. He was just about to cross the final stretch when his face was suddenly drained of color.
A sharp pain clutched at his chest. His heart seized mid-beat and for the first time in years, his balance broke.
There was no branch to catch, no grip to steady himself. His body tumbled from midair, crashing through undergrowth before slamming hard into the ground below. Leaves scattered, dirt flew up, and Ren lay sprawled flat on the forest floor.
For a second he didn't move. His body was still, his chest unresponsive.
Then, a sharp gasp ripped out of him. His lungs dragged in air all at once, his eyes shot wide open. He rolled, tried to push himself up, only for his arms to buckle. He landed on his back again with a grunt.
He was panting hard, his breath uneven, sweat dripping off his jaw. It felt like his entire body had been wrung dry, like he'd just survived a battle that stretched for hours.
But it hadn't.
Suddenly something inside him twisted and he felt something come up the throat as he gagged.
Then the blood came.
Ren sat up quickly, clutching his stomach as the coughs tore through him. Red sprayed blood out of his mouth in thick bursts, staining the dirt. With every cough, more poured out with a hot and metallic taste on his tongue, his throat raw from the force of it. His body convulsed again and again until finally, after several seconds, the blood stopped.
His face was pale and his hands trembled faintly as he tried to make sense of the situation.
"The hell…" he muttered between ragged breaths. His voice sounded low and frayed.
He pressed his hand against his chest and summoned healing chakra. The familiar warmth spread through him, steadying his breathing, keeping his body anchored. Slowly, his lungs stopped burning. The pain in his chest dulled. His heartbeat steadied, even if it felt weak.
And then the memory hit.
The rush from his clone spilled into him, all at once. The information of Juichi's fight, the cracked swirl of flow, His own reckless plunge and the sudden disappearance.
Ren sat there in silence for a few seconds, just breathing, trying to keep his head clear as the weight of it pressed down. He wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, smearing blood across his skin.
"…shit."
He exhaled deeply, eyes narrowing. The realization was sharp, like a blade against his throat.
'I should avoid even mentioning this flow thing… at least until I hit Kage-level strength.'
He wasn't stupid. He understood enough from that one reckless attempt. Whatever this "flow" was, it wasn't meant for him yet. He'd only just started scratching the surface, and already the backlash had nearly killed him. And that was from fixing it, not even using it for himself.
Ren's eyes dropped to his chest. He sent a probe of chakra through his body, tracing his insides.
What he saw made his face tighten. His organs were in bad shape, shaken like glass rattled by an earthquake. Bruises beneath the skin, tears along muscle tissue, his body screaming from the strain.
But his chakra network was untouched and clean which was the one relief.
Even if his body wouldn't let him use the gates for a while, even if taijutsu would be suicide in this state, he still had his ninjutsu.
Wind, Earth, Fire, Lightning and even Water made sure that he wasn't helpless. That was something.
Still, he couldn't shake the bitter taste in his mouth. The reality was simple, if he kept poking at something beyond his reach, it was only going to chew him up again.
A flutter caught his attention.
A butterfly drifted down, landing on his shoulder before sliding against his cheek. Its wings shimmered faintly in the dim light, soft yet deliberate.
Ren tilted his head slightly, then raised his hand, brushing its tiny body with his fingertip. His lips curved faintly, but his voice stayed low.
"Don't worry. I'm fine."
This wasn't an ordinary butterfly. It was one of them, from the summoning land so it was intelligent and aware. It didn't need words to sense his condition. And right now, it could see the truth, his body was far from fine. But it stayed anyway, wings pulsing slowly against his skin.
Ren let it linger a moment longer, then lifted his gaze. His senses sharpened, and the faint disturbance ahead made his eyes harden.
On the horizon, he felt it.
A heavy pressure.
Something strong.
Something dangerous.
He sighed once, slow and steady, a bitter smile tugging at his lips.
"When it rains…" His voice was a whisper carried by the trees. "…it pours."
Kakuzu had arrived.
~
Without wasting any more time, Ren pushed himself to his feet. His body still ached, his chest tight, but he didn't let it show. He clasped his hands together and a thin stream of water swirled at his feet.
He guided it carefully, mixing it with earth, scrubbing away every trace of blood that had stained the grass and dirt. The mess he had left from coughing it all out was gone in seconds, leaving the field looking untouched, like nothing had happened there and he also took the chance to clean himself of any dirt and dust.
Once that was done, Ren closed his eyes and channeled chakra inward. A flood of healing energy spread through his body. His insides still screamed with every pulse, his organs a battered mess, but his skin regained its color.
The blood-drained pallor vanished, replaced with a healthier, natural shade. On the outside, he looked like himself again, sharp-eyed, steady with not a hint of weakness. On the inside, he knew better.
Ren hopped lightly onto the nearest tree, landing on a thick branch. He leaned back against the trunk, letting his legs dangle and swing lazily in the open air. For a moment, he adjusted his expression, testing different looks, a faint frown, a slight smirk, a neutral mask.
Finally, he settled into something casual, almost bored, as if he had all the time in the world.
Then, from inside his storage belt, he pulled out a butterscotch cone. The thing looked impossibly well-preserved, like he had gone out of his way to keep it from melting. He held it with one hand, licking it slowly, not hurried in the slightest.
And then he waited.
~
The forest was quiet, but not for long.
A little distance away, the crunch of footsteps pressed against the soil.
A man emerged from between the trees, his pace unhurried, as if he knew no one could rush him. His tall frame was draped in the black cloak of the Akatsuki, its red clouds muted in the dim light. Beneath it, his body was wrapped in a dull, greyish jumpsuit that clung to him, covering even his head.
The lower half of his face was hidden behind a dark mask that cut off just under his eyes. Those eyes, pale, light green, with nothing in them were hollow and detached.
On his forehead, strapped by cloth, rested a slashed headband. The symbol of Takigakure was cut straight through, a mark as clear as any introduction of a missing-nin.
But this wasn't just any missing-nin.
Anyone who had heard even a whisper of the underworld would know him. One of the few rogue shinobi acknowledged as kage-level, infamous not just for his overwhelming strength but for something else entirely.
Once, decades ago, he had dared to hunt a god.
He had tried to assassinate Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage.
Most would call that a death wish. The man was more myth than human, a force of nature wrapped in flesh. But Kakuzu had lived.
That alone became his legend. People rarely remembered that he had failed. They remembered that he had survived. That he had crossed paths with the God of Shinobi himself and walked away.
It was enough to make his name feared across the entire shinobi world.
But in Takigakure, his village of origin, his survival wasn't celebrated. To them, his actions were betrayal, and survival only made it worse. They punished him by confinement, however Kakuzu believed this to be betrayal of his efforts and planned the Jailbreak and then defected the village, taking with him the most prized KInjutsu of the village.
Since then, he'd carved out another identity. Mercenary, bounty hunter, killer-for-hire.
And the one title that stuck the most, the name whispered even by people in far-off lands.
The Heartless.
Kakuzu.
~~~
As Kakuzu kept walking forward, his pace steady and unhurried, he suddenly became aware that he wasn't alone. His eyes narrowed slightly, his instincts honed from decades of bloodshed alerting him to the presence of another. Slowly, he raised his head and glanced in the direction of a tree not far ahead.
Sitting casually on one of the branches, legs dangling and swinging back and forth like he didn't have a care in the world, was a blue-haired brat… eating an ice cream cone?
For a brief moment, Kakuzu just stared at the sight in mild confusion, his mind trying to make sense of it. A battle-field, a shinobi clash waiting to unfold, and here was this child looking like he was on a summer break.
His hollow, pale green eyes sharpened as he thought, 'Do kids nowadays not understand the concept of death?'
Before he could process any further, the brat suddenly raised a hand in greeting, as if they were old friends meeting by coincidence.
"Yo, old man, want an ice cream?" the boy called out cheerfully, voice carrying a playful edge.
Kakuzu shook his head slightly, already preparing to respond, when the kid spoke again, not giving him a chance to get a word in.
"Ah! I see, I get it now. Your teeth must be getting sensitive with age, right? You're probably scared they'll fall out if you eat something this cold. My bad, I was being insensitive."
The boy grinned widely at his own bad pun, like he had just cracked the greatest joke in the world. Kakuzu's expression didn't shift even slightly. His face remained blank, unamused, almost statuesque.
So for a moment, silence fell across the field.
The two of them, separated by what seemed like an impossible span of generations simply stared at each other. One filled with endless, bubbling mischief, while the other radiated an aura of cold, lifeless emptiness.
Finally, the brat couldn't handle the silence any longer. He broke it with an exaggerated sigh and a half-whining tone.
"Oh, come on, you're the villain, right? You should talk more! That's, like, the basic condition of being a villain. You're supposed to arrive in a super cool manner, maybe say some edgy lines, throw insults at the protagonist who then responds in a cool manner of his own. Then, when the fight begins, you're supposed to keep talking. Hell, you're even supposed to explain your strongest technique out loud so the protagonist can understand it and then-"
WHOOSH.
He was suddenly cut off as an earth spear Kakuzu had created and hurled at some point was now right in front of his eyes, its sharp tip ready to skewer his skull clean through.
But Ren didn't even flinch. Calmly, still holding his ice cream in one hand, he raised his free hand and caught the weapon mid-air, fingers tightening on the stone shaft before it could impale him.
With a casual pulse of chakra, he changed the direction of the earth spear then redirected its momentum, twisted his wrist, and then hurled it back at Kakuzu at breakneck speed.
The flying spear screamed through the air, but Kakuzu merely raised a hand. His fingers curled, his skin darkening as he channeled his unique technique. With one swift slash of his hand, the spear was broken clean in half, shattered pieces falling harmlessly around him.
Ren's eyes lit up with interest the moment he caught sight of Kakuzu's arm hardening. His expression shifted into childlike wonder.
"Woahhh, now that's a nice defense jutsu you got there. Mind teaching me that sometime? I swear, I'm seriously lacking in the defense department, you see."
Instead of shutting up, he just kept rattling on, continuing with more nonsense, voice dripping with exaggerated curiosity.
Finally, Kakuzu's patience, thin as a thread, snapped. His voice cut across the air like a blade.
"Shut up. You're annoying."
~~~~~
{Birthday gifts anybody?}
{Ko-fi.com/zeenon}
{Kakuzu is almost 8 time older than Ren, just saying.}
{Also, what do you think actually happened to Ren, and, do you think this would affect the upcoming fight, after all he just lost one of his most usable asset.
And don't worry, I hate weakening the MC more than you guys, so it won't be something harmful, instead, it would be very, very good for Ren to increase his strength.}
{One last thing, what do you think is more important for Ren, looking like he'd win a fight or actually winning a fight? Comment your answers.}
{If you want, you can support me on pat-reon}
{ h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n }
{You know what else}
{STONES!!!!}