Resurected

Several weeks after the resurrection...

Shikamaru woke with a start, his whole body drenched in sweat and feverishly hot. For the millionth time that week, the shinobi dreamed of a distant time when he was a different man. A man incapable of protecting the one person most important to him, Asuma. It had been five years since the event that claimed his mentor’s life. Five years of night terrors for the shadow user, but they had never bothered him to the extent of these recent visitations. Begrudgingly, he blamed Ren. The boy in question had been assigned to stand guard over the very place that haunted the recesses of Shikamaru's mind. Before Ren replaced the old man, Gun, a shinobi from the south, had watched over the grave of the immortal for nearly three and a half peaceful years. After a time, though, he had decided that his position there was fruitless and abandoned his post. Thus, the job fell to Ren, who after much complaining, agreed to take up Gun's place if only for a years’ time after his promotion. While Shikamaru couldn't hide his concern over Ren being young and inexperienced, the fact that five years drifted by without disturbance had initially put him at ease, but fear had a way of creeping in. It wasn't helping that Ren was supposed to keep in contact and had yet to do so. He was set to arrive at the site four weeks ago and not one letter reached the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Shikamaru rubbed the flesh above his frantically beating heart and sighed. 'Enough,' he thought. 'I've had enough.'

Not so far away, Hidan breathed in the smell of hot fresh ramen and smiled to himself. It had been three weeks since he had freed himself from his prison. Three good (and rather gory) weeks. Not only had he enjoyed a molten shower nearly every night, a luxury he would never take for granted again, he had managed to find all the information he was looking for and then some. Amazing how much people liked to gossip. The highlight though, if he had to admit it, was finally being able to make sacrifices to Jashin, who without a doubt deserved five years’ worth of spilt blood from his loyal patron. He would be lying if he didn't own up to the fact that some of the enjoyment that he got out of his sacrifices came from the killing itself, but that was just a personality quark. It couldn't be helped. And of course, he had been careful. He killed quietly, efficiently, and without witness, knowing it would be in his best interest to lay low for a while, finish healing, and rebuild his muscles which had grown weak from lack of use. The zealot took a moment to think back on the events that led him to where he was now.

During his first week back amongst the living, Hidan was confronted by the news of his organization’s downfall several years prior. While he remained impartial to the whole thing (it wasn't like they were his favorite group of people), he had to admit that his heart preformed a strange little flip at the realization that this is why Kakuzu never came back for him. A feeling, completely foreign to him and akin to something like regret bloomed beneath his chest. Somehow, not that he necessarily cared for the bastard, he felt that he was partially at fault for his partners death. It was along this thought that he was finally swayed into reviving Kakuzu. If he could figure out how to reanimate a corpse, he could atone for letting the man die and get his partner back to top it off. Not that he needed Kakuzu or anything (he had lived on his own before), just that if he had to suffer through the idiocy of this world for the rest of eternity, then he wasn't doing it alone. 'Shouldn't be too hard, right?' He wondered. If he could recreate himself under tons of stone and dirt, then there was no reason that he couldn't figure out how to bring the money grubber back to life. Screw the order of things, it wasn't like his own existence was any more natural than raising the dead.

During his second week above ground, while searching a library in the Land of Fire for information on reanimation, Hidan, completely by accident, uncovered an old article that raved about a doctor named Xian Yin. The man, brilliant but mad, had been sentenced to prison on account of his unusual experiments on the boundaries between life and death. The article had explained that without any hard evidence of perverse practices, the authorities were made to release the doctor and allow him to return to his science away from the prying eye. The immortal stopped at that, uninterested in the smaller and more banal details. What he learned in the first several lines was plenty to go on. So long as the man was alive and still kicking, Hidan was sure that he could get him to revive his old partner. And Jashin had been good, indeed. All things had seemed to work, miraculously, in his favor. Information came to him at the oddest of times and while at moments, the hunt got frustrating or the trail ran cold, Hidan was truly enjoying the chase.

During his third and most recent week after his resurrection, Hidan traveled to the last known siting of the illustrious Dr. Yin. He was sure that his luck had run out the moment that he discovered the man was located somewhere in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, yet upon arrival and farther investigation, no one seemed to pay him any mind. It was on this particular day, the second into his stay at Konoha, that Hidan found himself sitting on a bench at a little ramen stall. The noodles were great, as was everything anymore that didn't taste like dirt, and he slurped on them loudly. He had found out the day before that the witch doctor, as many referred to him in distaste, lived in a hidden compound deep within the Forest of Death. For a moment, Hidan contemplated how he would approach the man, but decided not to contemplate too hard. Thinking was not his forte, nor was careful planning or ingenious schemes. He left those things up to his partner. A partner he was sure he'd see very soon. Tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep, he would find this doctor and demand him to raise Kakuzu from the dead, plain and simple. If the man refused, he would sacrifice him to Jashin and begin searching for someone else, though he hoped it wouldn't come to that. Besides, the immortal would probably sacrifice the guy later anyway, even if he did manage to complete his task, but Dr. Xian Yin didn't need to know that.

Hidan rolled out of bed pretty late in the afternoon on the following day. Sleepily, he donned the black turtleneck, army green pants, and black boots that he had purchased several days ago. It was plain, but that was the point. No need to draw any more attention to himself than he already did. He had noticed weeks back that his silver hair, pale skin, and odd wine colored eyes where reason enough to get a person to do a double take. After he was dressed, he tied the headband that he stole off of the kid at his ‘grave’ site around his arm and pulled his long hair back into a high ponytail. Lastly, and most importantly, he tucked several knives deep into both boots. Damn it all if he didn’t miss his scythe something fierce but for now he would have to make due. The immortal took one last glance around the room, picked up his backpack off of bed and left.

By the time he had reached the Forest of Death, the sun had already begun its decent and while his curiosity was peaking, so was the feeling that this was getting to be too much work. He yawned noisily and stretched out a hand to push some undergrowth out of his way. Suddenly, a thought struck him like lightening, he had no idea where he was going. Hidan groaned loudly but pressed on anyway, he hadn’t wandered around for the last three weeks to quit now. Jashin would guide his steps. The later it got, however, the more humid the forest became, causing beads of sweat to roll down his flushed face. To make matters worse, the sun poked through the canopy of the overgrown trees and brought the forest to life as it danced along the vines and foliage on the forest floor. Beautiful as it was, it only managed to raise the temperature. Hidan released a string of profanities. He had been fighting his way through both plant and migraine for nearly three hours. Finally, though, an opening appeared and spat him out at the edge of a grassy field. Hidan took a look at his surroundings, grinding his teeth in frustration but relived none the less. In front of him, a strange metal dome-like compound sat awkwardly and out of place.

“Finally…” He muttered and wiped the beads of sweat away with the back of his hand. Hesitantly, Hidan eyed the metal door from his post under the shade of a large tree. If he were rude (which he knew he would be as the heat had made him cranky), the man might refuse to hear him out, but the immortal just didn’t have it in him to play nice. ‘Oh well,’ he thought. He puffed out his chest confidently and strolled up to the door, kicking it a few times, then cupping his hands over his mouth and yelling, “Oi! Oi, corpse fucker! Get out here, you have a guest!! OOOOOIIII!” Hidan dropped his hands and pouted at the door. After a moment of silence, he raised his fist to begin banging but was cut off as a horrible metal-on-metal screech nearly burst his ear drums. He glared at the door as it squeaked open to reveal a small man with white hair and deep purple bags under each blue eye.

“What…” The man asked briskly. The kind of brisk that made Hidan’s hand twitch with murderous intent.

“What do you mean what?! What do people normally want when they come to find the guy that can raise the dead? A fucking cookie?” Hidan barked, voice filled with irritation as he forced his way past the old man. Dr. Yin stared at him for a moment, studying the pale hair and violet eyes.

“Come in then.” He stated with a hint of sarcasm.

“Like I need you to tell me, BAAAKAA.”

“Are you albino?” The doctor asked, completely ignoring the insult, and shutting the door behind his guest.

“What?! Where did that even- Ugh!! Look, can you raise the dead or not?”

“Maybe... Come.” He smiled a grim, toothy smile and turned to lead them deeper into the compound. After a moment of silence he asked, “What is it that you are trying to revive?”

“Ugh.” Hidan groaned. This conversation was definitely going to try his patience, but he followed the man none the less. “Not what, who, dumbass. A…” Friend? Partner? Thing? “Does it matter?” He said feeling like he was in an even worse mood than before. “I worked with him for a while, but it would seem that he died while I was…well…away. I guess you could call him my business partner, sort of…we made money on occasion doing…stuff for a certain organization.” The immortal cringed. He sounded stupid. “Anyway, I can pay.”

To that, the doctor chuckled. “And what would you pay with, because let me tell you, the price to raise the dead is quite a lot and most people aren’t necessarily happy with the outcome.”

“Oh, for the love of Jashin, can you just spell things out normally, you shitty old man! I hate riddles.”

“What I am saying is that it is a lot of work. I can, in fact, bring someone back to life but the price is life itself. An eye for an eye, as they say. Or in this case, a life for a life.”

“So you need to take someone’s life to bring him back?

“Among other things, yes.”

“Oh… well that’s easy.”

“Not so fast. It has to be the life of someone he knew, someone close to him. Did he have anyone like that…or just you.” The doctor smiled darkly.

“Hmm. Not that I know of, but my life probably won't work. ”

“And why, perchance, would your life not work?”

“Cause I can’t die.” The man gave him a funny look and Hidan sighed. “Like, I’m immortal. Like, I literally can’t be killed. Fuck, man. I thought you were supposed to be smart.”

“Fascinating… I’ve never used an immortal to raise the dead before… then again, I’ve never met one. Yes…It just might work! I can still probably use you.” Dr. Yin chuckled with a soft sinister laugh and Hidan rolled his eyes at the theatrics.

“So…”

“I can bring him back to life, of course, but I can’t promise that if we use you, there won’t be any repercussions.”

“Eh.” Hidan waved his hand nonchalantly and shrugged. “As I said, I can’t die.”

“It could still harm you… or worse, leave your body as an empty shell. In other words, destroy your mind.”

“Jashin will protect me, and if he doesn’t then I’m not needed anymore.” He said casually. “And I’d rather die than not be able to be of use to him… Anyway, if you are going to do it, which I am assuming you are, I’d like to get it over with sooner rather than later.”

“Yes, we can begin right away, of course. Not many wish to undergo the process, making it hard for me to continue my research. Or, should I say that not many do it willingly. So if you are offering, then who am I to turn you down.”

“Right. Where do we start?”

“I’ll need the man’s remains.”

“Uh…well, to be honest, I don’t know where they are…”

“Where did this person die?”

“It's a long story and I'm not sure about all of it, but his body should be here, in the Leaf Village. At least that is where the attack happened several years ago."

“Several years ago you say. It would seem that if memory serves the only memerable attack at the time was carried out by the Akat- oh, wait! You were one of them!” The old man shouted!

“Huh?”

“A member of the Akatsuki! The bodies, what was left of them after their resurrection, I was hired to research them! They were brought back with by a powerful spell! One that, I am sure, the Hokage wants hidden from the rest of the world. According to my studies, I have most of the bodies here. Though, for years I wondered if the reason that not all of the bodies were reanimated during the fight was because of the extent of Nagato's power. If maybe he could only handle so many lives at once. This has been such a conundrum to me, though now, I suppose, problem solved.” The man laughed loudly. “How truly amazing! How convenient! I have them still, you know. The bodies of your comrades! So this should be easier than I thought!!”

“Hell!” Hidan shouted with a broad smile, the doctor’s excitement rubbing off. “That was easy!"

“Come, come! We must work with haste!” Said Dr. Yin, as giddy as a child over candy. He picked up the pace and led them to the end of the corridor that they had entered several moments before. Eventually, the duo came to an abrupt halt in front of a rusted set of double doors. The doctor opened them to reveal a large room with high vaulted ceilings. Lining the rounded room was one translucent container after the next. Bodies floated within them, suspended in a strange pale green liquid that bubbled and foamed. Papers littered the floor and Hidan had to carefully navigate around them to avoid stepping on anything important. Three metal morticians’ tables were sitting in the center of the room. One lay on its side, abandoned, and a body occupied another, the greyish blue flesh of its chest was pulled back to reveal an open chest cavity. The room was freezing cold, musty, dim, and stank of formaldehyde and herbs.

“Lovely.” Hidan mumbled, shoulders slouching, and face contorted to express his disgust.

“Isn’t it!” The doctor smiled as the immortal contemplated whether or not to tell the man that he was being sarcastic. “Now, over there in those containers against the far wall you will find the remains of your friends. As I don’t know which one you want, I’ll need you to pick him out. Mind you, despite my best efforts, the bodies weren’t preserved well before they were given to me so you may have a hard time identifying him on account of the progression of the rot. Forgive me if I sound insensitive.”

“Trust me, I’ve seen worse.” Hidan responded with a click of his tongue. He approached the containers without any hesitation and began peering inside each one. If Hidan were a different man, he might have vomited, but he wasn’t and so he didn’t. The bodies of his “friends” as the doctor called them had indeed been subjected to ill treatment as bits of flesh hung loosely away from the muscle if it was even there at all. Carefully he scanned each container, looking not only at the disfigured faces but at what was left of the flesh on their torsos. After a few moments of observation he smiled broadly. “You asshole.” He said to the body three containers in. “Oi, corpse fucker! Found ‘im.” The doctor strolled over and squinted his eyes at the remains.

“You know, I am really not all that fond of being called a corpse fucker…" He said lazily. "Are you sure its him?”

“Yea. I’m sure.” Hidan answered, not taking his eyes off of Kakuzu for a moment.

“Wonderful! Then let’s get started!”