Chapter Text
“So, chibi,” Hoshigaki begins while others are still ruminating on her speech. “Are you the real leader?”
She blinks and tilts her head at him, bewildered. “No, it’s Obito.”
“It’s Obito,” he reiterates, dragging the words out, before glancing behind her. “Are you sure?”
She crosses her arms. “I don’t repeat myself,” she says coldly.
Madara steps up beside Obito. “It’s her.”
She glances at Obito, feeling her temper begin to rise in fear of his reaction; they are planting doubts of her loyalty in the minds of her pack. Unacceptable.
She has no intention of ruling the Akatsuki. If Obito wants it, it’s his.
Plus, she’s never been so blatantly ignored after a halfway decent pep talk. Unity is hard to breach for S-class missing nin, but she hadn’t thought it flopped that badly.
Obito raises his hands slowly, and she leans closer to him. “Don’t get angry, Ha-chan. It’s a compliment.”
She softens; he trusts her. Actions and words are not the same in the shinobi world, and her chest warms. She watches Hoshigaki out of the corner of her eye, somewhere between spiteful and grateful.
Obito then turns to the shark summoner. “I approve things but she runs me and Madara both, so I’d say it’s her.”
Hakaku is still attempting to understand how they’re complimenting her, though she can admit her social time spent with criminals isn’t exceedingly common. By certain standards.
Deidara jumps to his feet and points at her. “No way! She’s tiny! A kid!”
She watches him quietly before deciding that he won’t actually attack her in the middle of the base and if he does, either Madara or Obito will intercept. She readies her paper jutsu just in case.
Her eyes flicker over the other members, watching how they observe her. Her eyes meet Orochimaru’s slitted ones and she sees some of the intelligence she holds reflected back at her.
Gold eyes blink slowly, and his form comes to life like he’s found an equal dressed as prey, and he’ll try to eat it despite knowing full well it will fight.
Hakaku makes no reaction to the challenge issued.
He leans back into his conference chair- their meeting room is almost as nice as Ne’s which she finds ironic in a strange way- and raises his hand casually. It highlights how fluid his movements are. “I approve.”
Madara and Kakuzu follow, but she isn’t sure what's being approved.
When Obito eye-smiles at her and raises his hand, she hesitantly raises her own. He trusts her; she can trust him. “I approve.”
They’ve gotten five out of nine, the majority, but she isn’t sure if they need more than that.
“Before we continue,” Hidan interrupts. “I want to see what the little bitch can do.”
“You want to spar?” Hakaku is afraid the slightest bit of excitement colored her voice, but who knows when she’ll get another chance. No one here will judge a tinge of bloodlust.
He grins at her, maniacal. “Yeah, squirt. You down?”
She nods stoically, chakra dancing, and follows him without a look back. Her pack can handle themselves.
The walk is short and they enter a large, indoor training room. The others had followed, which was equally fine to her. Obito walks between them. “I will referee this match. Winner will be determined by forfeit or inability to continue. Do not kill each other. Start.”
Hakaku jumps away just as Hidan reaches for the scythe on his back. She sends a shadow clone towards him first and watches.
Close range fighter, sadistic, right handed , Hakaku continues to note his attributes for the first few minutes before he’s able to force the clone into taijutsu and
She could end this quickly with her blood bending, but that seems like such a waste. She activates her paper jutsu and runs forward, small notes falling around him and weaving a trap.
She can take a hit in this form, and she’d rather not chance him cutting her. It seems, from his rants, that he can do something with her blood.
He charges to meet her, and at the last second, she splits herself in half before the weapon can do it for her. A flurry of paper covers his eyes and his scythe continues to swing blindly.
Reforming behind him, she brings her hand into Tiger. Brown eyes are sharp, adrenaline flowing through her muscles, but her mind is undisturbed as she whispers, the breath rising the hair on the back of his neck.
“Kai.”
The ground below him explodes, just enough to send him airborne. She isn’t trying to actually harm him, after all. He transitions smoothly into a flip and she takes the moment he’s distracted to create a paper clone, who immediately initiates taijutsu.
“Didn’t learn your lesson, chibi?” he smirks and she adds cannot read his opponent to her notes. “You’re too small, I’ll beat you in taijutsu!”
Hakaku comes up behind him just as the clone explodes, blinding him again. Within a moment, she’s within his guard, his torso completely exposed as he reaches for the scythe on his back.
Her hands are green with medical chakra as she attempts another jutsu that's still in the works. It’s similar to chakra scalpels, but even smaller so the chakra attacks with pinpoint accuracy.
The technique depends on her knowledge as well, but Hakaku knows the body inside-out. Hidan’s naked torso has only made it easier.
With five lightning quick jabs, his arms and legs go completely limp.
She watches him collapse wordlessly, curious if he has anything else up his sleeve. He doesn’t, but he curses at her with some words even she’s never heard before.
She hears a small scuffle from the audience and Madara yelling, but all her attention stays on her opponent.
After a minute of no movement, “Forfeit,” she tells him. “You can no longer continue.”
“How the fuck would you know you little-”
“This match is over,” Obito says cheerfully, clapping his hands as he pops up between them.
He turns to Hidan smugly. “I’m afraid you’re just going to have to deal with the fact that you got beat by a little girl .”
She places a hand by her hip and her heel leaves the floor. She can still fight, and she wouldn’t mind having Obito next; he clearly needs sense knocked into him. “What did I say about stereotypes?”
A raincloud emerges over Obito’s head spontaneously. “Not to assume things because it will get you killed,” he recites, “Little girls can be dangerous.”
She nods, pleased. Word by word memorization worked perfectly between her and Shisou.
She hears a snort from the audience and this time she looks up without hesitation.
Deidara has a hand covering his mouth as he laughs in a delighted, childish way. He pokes Hidan, “I’m so happy you fought her before I thought to,” he snickers. “Oh my gosh, Hidan, you got your ass handed to you by a chibi!”
“Listen here, you fucking too-pretty punk-”
“I approve,” Sasori interrupts and she glances at the other undecided members.
“Approved!” Deidara agrees, glee lining his entire body, and Hidan mumbles an agreement.
They turn to Hoshigaki and she wonders if the motion will pass unanimously. That doesn’t seem commonplace. She wonders if they know what they’re voting for, because she has no idea what she approved.
She trusts her Uchiha, she reminds herself.
“I approve,” he says and then, “Did you do that on purpose?”
“Do what?” she questions.
“Showcase all his weak spots,” he clarifies and all attention jumps to them.
“Of course I did,” she says, giving him a concerned look. Anyone worth anything could tell. “But only the obnoxiously obvious ones. I didn’t have much time to observe, as Hidan-san is quite the formidable opponent.”
“‘Quite formidable’,” he repeats, an eyebrow raised. “Are you sure? Because it looked to me like you played with him instead of against him.”
“Sparring against someone is no different from a fight between Academy students,” Hakaku lectures; word for word from her Sensei. “Sparring with someone who won’t hold back is more efficient in regard to growth as a shinobi.”
Hidan interrupts from his spot on the ground and she moves towards him to undo the damage, hands glowing green. She ignores how his torso attempts to shrink away.
“Wait, what do you mean? What damn ‘weak spots’?”
“I just showed you where you were vulnerable,” she responds easily. “It's something we do often in Ne to help each other improve.” Stay alive.
Hidan watches her, anger turning suspicion. “Exactly what weak spots did you show me?”
She releases one knot of chakra. “I showed you that you were open when you reached for your scythe, you’re too reliant on seeing the battle, and that you don’t pay your surrounding enough attention when you fight,” she lists. “Do you want me to continue?”
There’s a quiet and Hidan lets out a small ‘yes.’
“Okay,” she complies. “You either cannot or choose not to read your opponent. Why would I engage you in taijutsu after already losing? You’re too arrogant and it mixes badly with your fervor,” she meets his gaze as she unlocks the second point.
“If I hadn’t known you needed my blood, I would’ve focused less on avoiding small scrapes,” she explains. “And when you move between taijutsu and bukijutsu you aren’t fast enough for a seamless transition. You leave yourself open, that’s how I got you at the end.”
A third and forth open easily under her expert hands.
“And your exposed torso is an open target,” she says dryly. “Akatsuki wear cloaks as more than a fashion choice; it serves to hide movements so they’re noticed far too late. Anyone with medical experience could exploit that and it will reveal if you’re injured.”
The fifth chakra block is released and Hakaku leans back on her heel before continuing. Even Deidara hasn’t made a peep since she began.
“Quite frankly, you’re predictable,” she says seriously, “and that is extremely dangerous for our line of work. You’re just lucky no one so far has overpowered you.”
Well, not including myself, she thinks wryly. With intent to kill , she tacks on mentally.
He glances away before his eyes flicker back to hers, determined. She likes that spark, because now he’s going to get even better.
“You talk too much during the battle,” she continues. The longer she goes, the more rigid the rest of the Akatsuki are. They must be close for Hidan to allow for his vulnerabilities to be proclaimed in front of an audience. “In doing so, you reveal information that shouldn't be said aloud, as it’s exposing a weakness, but also because you never know who’s watching.
“It’s fine if you use it as a distraction or to unnerve your opponent,” she placates. “But you must choose your words carefully. Censor yourself.”
There’s a pause, and she isn’t used to speaking this much at once. Her mouth feels slightly dry, and she wonders if that wouldn’t happen if she spoke quickly.
(She knows that even if it did, she wouldn’t change.)
He hasn’t stopped watching her, lavender and fuschia eyes a tornado of emotions she can’t distinguish at first glance. It’s not her job to dissect him, and Hakaku takes some relief in stiffly looking away, resisting the abnormal urge to fidget. Being surrounded by adults who know her abilities and aren’t subordinates is somehow making her more childish.
“That’s all I have,” her tone is clipped. “You’re a good fighter.”
Hidan blinks, “I’m a good fighter?” he repeats dumbly then again, incredulous. “ I’m a good fighter? ”
“Yes,” she says simply, before turning away.
He turns to Obito, “Where the hell did you find her?”
“Shimura Danzo of Konoha,” he responds, voice amused, and Hakaku leans slightly towards him. She hasn’t gotten to cuddle with him like she has with Madara, but she can imagine how heavenly it would be to listen to that voice and feel his chest rumble beneath her.
“And I found Shisou,” she adds. She’s been a bit lost since she got here, but she can at least give her own backstory.
“Very impressive, though I believe none of us are surprised,” Obito replies, patting her head. She knows one of them is a pet between them, but she still isn’t sure if it’s her or him. She’s sure there are times when she’s Master, but there’s also times where he is.
A dilemma for another day.
She turns back to Hidan, who’s still on the ground, slightly concerned but refusing to show it. While in the works, the method is two-thirds complete. “You should be able to move,” she prompts him.
He groans. “I’m good. Just looking at my life choices,” he blinks. “Leader-sama.”
She nods approvingly because respecting Obito is good.
“Hey, Leader-sama,” Hoshigaki calls and she wanders over to examine the seals that cover the training room. “Leader-sama,” he repeats, a bit more hesitant, and she glances up to see what Obito’s done now.
He’s watching her. She clicks her tongue at him and points to Hoshigaki. “Stop spacing out,” she tells him, “Hoshigaki-san is trying to talk to you.”
Even she can feel the surprise, confusion, and mirth of the facial expressions in the room.
Obito didn’t pick up my hesitation during the vote, she realizes, and for the first time actually tries to discern what the vote was for.
It’s just as she realizes and her natural flush drains away that Obito confirms it.
“Hakaku, you’ve been unanimously elected as the leader of the Akatsuki.”
Her eyes are round with horror and she can see the amusement in his eye before he hammers it in. “Kisame was talking to you. ”
“But,” she says and cuts herself off before she starts stammering.
“Ah,” Obito pretends to wipe a tear, “and to think I remember the days when you refused to join.”
As in, this morning.
She hadn’t wanted to lead the Akatsuki. She wanted a place where she could have equals. Teammates, maybe.
[It was a wish she had just begun to let grow.]
This is what you get for not knowing what you’re voting for, she berates herself, internally seething while her face falls into a blank expression, this is what you get for trusting someone unconditionally. Someone who murdered his own clan.
Obito is her partner, but he isn’t more than that. You don’t give unconditional trust to a business-crime partner.
Stupid.
She sees Deidara’s face fall and hesitancy scutter across Madara’s and she registers that they wanted her. They chose her.
So woman up and deal with your decisions, she decides, swiftly killing the wish of friends . She doesn’t need them, and all they really do is give her the tediousness of protecting another weakness. She’s been away from her pets too long.
She already has Ne, so what is Akatsuki compared to that? It’s only eight people.
(“It's a group that can rule the world,” her own voice echoes back.)
“Okay,” she says aloud. “I’ll do my best.”
She turns away from her examinations of the walls. “What do you need, Hoshigaki-san?”
Kisame seems to shrink under her gaze and it seems that she’s accidentally letting out killing intent. It vanishes immediately.
“Just looking for a spar,” he says, “but maybe tomorrow works better?”
She nods in agreement. “I have to fix the training areas and add protective seals around the base.”
Hakaku projects her voice a bit louder. “One last thing everyone,” they turn to her obediently, “If anyone would like to defect, now would be the time. I’ll let you go peacefully with nothing more than a secrecy seal on your tongue, you understand. Just let me know before you go, you have twenty four hours to make a decision.”
She turns and walks away.
“She knows I was forced, right?” she hears Deidara whisper.
“Well she’s giving you a fucking choice,” Hidan snaps back. “All of us.”
If the members continue to debate, she’s out of earshot.
---
Hakaku lays on her bed and wonders how she fucked up a simple information gathering mission this badly. She’s not an amateur, isn’t careless, and yet she’s wound up accidentally acquiring eight new responsibilities who happen to be S-class missing nin.
She sighs, taking her time to decompress and sort through her thoughts. A mind that goes too fast needs moments to reorganize and she understands why the Nara have taken up cloud watching.
She has less than a month until her deadline, and she has the information, but now she’s unwilling to give it. They’re hers.
The math is simple.
I’ve planned to kill Danzo when I return, she considers, so I could deliver the information privately and then kill him? She’s failed her mission, but others don’t need to know, and it’s more about her pride. As previously mentioned, failing this mission changes nothing.
Hakaku has accepted the Akatsuki and needs to make sure they’re safe and well trained, which means it’s time for her to get to work.
Besides, it’s not like she won’t get stronger while training alongside them.
---
No one leaves, and the following morning Hakaku absentmindedly makes breakfast. Orochimaru looks dumbfounded when he passes by on his way to the living room and sits willingly when she gestures to the seats against the counter.
It’s simple fried rice with vegetables and chicken, filling to eat and easy to make in large quantities.
He eats carefully, chewing serenely while Hakaku drinks her four cups of water to start the day.
Everyone’s at headquarters as she decides new missions. She wants them to at least be comfortable in each other's space, but there’s only so much she can do. She’ll send everyone out to collect bounties when she’s gone, with Obito as Acting Leader.
(Despite being the strongest among them, Madara hadn’t wanted a leadership position and she sure as hell wasn’t going to force him after being tricked into a role herself.)
Hakaku is S-class and a leader, but there’s no way she’s going to stop getting stronger. She’s formulating responses they might give if she asks them to teach her a jutsu in the back of her mind mid chore.
She had secured the base and surrounding area earlier and everything is pretty much taken care of until one of them picks a fight. She’s doing some meal planning that she’ll sic on a clone later when she remembers a single loose end.
“Orochimaru-san,” she asks and waits until he looks up. “Do you know who’s the leader of Ame?”
He shrugs, “I don’t remember their name, but Obito put someone in place. It’s a puppet government in regards to us, but they’ll continue to make Ame better- it was something he was adamant about.”
“Thanks.” Konan deserved that much in return for such a valuable gift.
He returns back to his meal. An hour later, Kakuzu creeps out, and slowly after that, the inhabitants trickle awake.
She puts a small note on the food, sets a clone- labeled ‘cooking clone’ in bold letters across the shirt- on food prep, and leaves to train. Her mokuton theory is finished and she wants to get it started.
Taking earth natured chakra in one hand and water in the other isn’t as painstaking as she thought it would be. Her Yin Seal makes her chakra control perfect and earth and water are her natural affinities, but she still smiles when she gets it done in half an hour.
Slowly, she brings the chakra together and melds it, allowing it to mix and create wood. The second step takes longer and it takes hours before she’s able to coax the chakra into the correct ratio, after which she takes a break to eat, reviewing what she already knows.
After her meal, she’s back outside.
---
She flicks through hand signs, attempting to discover which works best with her Mokuton.
Since she was three, Hakaku’s life has consisted of six tasks, five of which are non negotiable to survival. Her extracurriculars include her stolen hours with Shisui and Itachi, and taking missions.
Mostly, she trains. She does katas, endurance, psychology, reading, inventing. She does more than anyone else could do in the same time frame. She does what has been done, and what hasn’t.
She finds training comfortable, habitual, and does not like when others disturb it. She also recognizes that when she’s in a vague shock or disassociating, as she is now to a slight extent, training is a coping skill for her.
Her sudden adoption of Akatsuki and the ideals of world peace combined with her yearning for Itachi and Shisui then meeting the fact that she’s about to be in charge of hundreds of people, Hakaku’s starting to doubt if she’s ready.
She knows she's comparably capable, but is she strong enough to protect them? She can’t be everywhere at once, and she refuses to do things by halves.
Her thoughts screech to a stop.
She hasn’t needed it yet, so it hasn’t been at the forefront of her mind, but it might be perfect.
Hakaku smiles as she solves one of her many problems, and returns to making the tree twist into a drill and go underground.
---
“I have something that, if you would take it, would make me feel much safer,” she announces.
She’s had a spar with everyone who wanted one- Hoshigaki and Deidara, though she suspects the others will ask her eventually- and focused on her mokuton.
There were a few nights where Madara couldn’t sleep and came to her room, where they curled around each other and their chakra slayed each other's nightmares, but the final stretch of her ‘mission’ had gone primarily uneventfully. Her bonds aren’t necessarily strong with the other members, but that can change over time.
Akatsuki is a lifelong commitment.
“I’m not sure when I’ll actually be back,” she continues. “I’ll be passing my orders through Obito.”
She meets each of their eyes. “However, remember this: I’m not forgetting you. I am not ignoring you. I have to take care of other obligations and get stronger, but I’ll stop by to at least say hello every few months.”
They nod dutifully.
“Back to my previous statement, these are what I’m talking about,” she raises a kunai.
“One pulse is ‘come immediately, I’m in battle and I need help.’ Two is ‘someone is fighting and it's getting serious,’” she pins them with a heavy expression, “These are to be used seriously, and if you genuinely feel worried. If I get summoned for a petty squabble,” her lips twist, “no one will come out pleased.”
“I’m making these one of my highest priorities,” she tells them, then softer, “I’ll come if you need help, no matter what.”
“What,” Sasori begins slowly, “are you giving us?”
“My bad,” she grins, “I thought I already mentioned that. This is my Hiraishin seal.”
“I’m sorry,” Hoshigaki says, choked, “Your what? ”
Even Orochimaru’s eyes are round with surprise.
Madara groans, face covered by his hands. “Why are you taking those stupid Senju jutsu? Hakaku,” he pleads, “use Uchiha techniques.”
“Madara,” she parrots. “I don’t have a Sharingan.”
Obito guffaws and Madara’s narrow in outrage and she wonders if maybe she should’ve taken a closer look at the scrolls she pillaged.
“Few Uchiha techniques require a Sharingan,” he scolds. “Learn what you already have, and then I will finish your lessons.”
Hakaku can’t keep herself from bouncing enthusiastically. She disguises it by rolling onto her heels and rocking forward onto the balls of her feet. “Really?”
He nods.
“Deal,” she agrees, passing out the kunai. “One last thing: don’t let anyone outside this room touch the kunais or they will explode.”
Deidara leans forward, “How big is the blast radius?”
She sends him a dry look, but it’s a valid question. “About a mile in all directions,” she says. “It should cover you in a protective seal first, but everything else will melt or evaporate, depending on the substance.”
She puts her hand on his wrist and looks up at the soft cheeked teenager. “These aren’t toys.”
He sobers up, “Yeah, emergencies. I got it, un.”
She smiles, content, and moves on. Once everyone has their kunai, she waves over her shoulder and moves to stand next to Obito.
“Bye, everyone,” she says in her voice that is smooth ice against bird feathers; drawn out, relaxing, considerate. “Stay safe.”
She turns away from solemn, slightly wistful goodbye’s and steps into Obito’s portal. They’re interested in her, but they won’t miss her, the two Uchiha being possible exceptions.
When she steps out, she is in the empty hallway that leads to her apartment.
When she finally returns to Konoha, Hakaku is ten and ten months and Leader of the Akatsuki.