Start From Naruto: Shino the Dominator

Back in the forest.

Maintaining her neutral expression, Konan stared at Venom, her voice holding a touch of indifference as she offered Venom an enticing proposition. "If you join us, the Akatsuki, you can have all the food you desire."

Venom's tongue slithered across its lips, a hungry glint in its eyes. "Delicious, unique food... I'm interested."

Konan continued to speak as if the "food" they spoke was just normal, everyday needs.

"Rest assured that within the Akatsuki, we possess a plentiful supply of unique varieties in our storage. But, if you want to partake in our valuable stockpile, you must contribute your fair share of work. Prove your worth, and we can provide what you want, dead or alive."

"Good, as long as there is food." Venom emitted a malevolent chuckle, its buff body seemingly shrinking inward as if being absorbed.

When the last of the black tendrils merged back into the layer underneath, a figure was revealed. Tobey, with his eyes closed and a fully intact body, now stood in Venom's place.

With an arrogant flick of his hair, Tobey opened his eyes, a smug expression on his face, "Hey there, how about you join me and we can go for a swing? I'd love to shoot you some time."

"..." Konan remained unaffected by Tobey's advances, maintaining her neutral expression as she disregarded his remark.

Kisame, unable to contain his dissatisfaction with the turn of events, voiced his complaint, "Well, this is a letdown. If this was going to be the ending, you should have made your presence known earlier instead of hiding."

Konan didn't even bother to look over at Kisame as she calmly responded. "I had no desire to expose myself earlier and be on the receiving end of vulgar antics."

Tobey, overhearing the exchange, pointed a finger gun at Kisame. "Emotional damage!"

Kisame's sharp teeth clenched, squeezing a growl out from his throat, "She's talking about you, brat."

Tobey simply blinked before flicking his hair once again, a smug smile on his face. "I don't see the part where that's my problem."

"Arrogant brat, it seems I'll need to teach you a lesson." Kisame's hand tightened around his Samehada, ready to draw the mighty weapon.

Just when the tension in the air was about to spark a battle, Itachi intervened, "Kisame."

Kisame glanced over at Itachi, to see his unwavering crimson Sharingan fixed on Tobey, who had begun to dance once more, seemingly unfazed by the brewing conflict.

Hidden Underground Base.

Shino's eyes darted between two screens.

On one, a first person view of Tobey's flamboyant dance routine captivated the attention of his audience, while on the other...

A third person view was captured by his bugs hidden within the forest, showing an idiot standing frozen in place in between the Akatsuki members who were observing him as if he were a monkey in a zoo.

A sense of disappointment clouded Shino's blissful expression. He could only helplessly shake his head and command, "Karina, activate the bug network to break him out from the genjutsu."

Karina nodded repeatedly, understanding the urgency of the situation.

[The clone's chakra disturbance network has activated. The bugs will break SPS Clone Tobey out of the genjutsu.]

Back in the forest.

When the bug network within him rioted, Tobey found himself momentarily disoriented by the abrupt transition between his energetic dance and stationary stance...

Shortly after, an uncomfortable feeling welled up in Tobey's throat and he gagged, and gagged until... a crow drilled out from his mouth!

The dead crow fell to the ground, gradually fading out of existence, yet the crow's "aho! aho!" could still vaguely be heard in the background...

Yet, Tobey stood upright without any embarrassment over his gaffe, as if it wasn't him that just spat out a crow.

Running a hand through his hair, he turned his attention to Itachi, his face brimming with mocking defiance. "If you keep staring at me with those eyes, I might just have to put some dirt in your eyes."

Itachi was completely unaffected by Tobey's threat, silently regarding Tobey for a moment before closing his eyes, a gesture indicating his unwillingness to engage in a verbal exchange with the impulsive youngster.

Kisame, ever the instigator, couldn't resist chiming in with a mischievous grin. "Brat, provoking Itachi-san is unwise. You may come to regret it in the end, not even knowing how you died."

Meanwhile, Konan silently observed the rowdy banter with her neutral expression.

Not wanting to waste more time, she calmly issued a command, "Take him to one of our outposts where he would receive his uniform and have his nails painted. Kakuzu, brief him on your mission. I'll go report to Zero."

Flutter. Flutter. In a flurry of dancing paper, Konan broke apart and flowed away, her reminder still echoing in the air, "Do hurry up so you won't miss the upcoming meeting."

Seeing Konan departed, Tobey couldn't help but yell out, "But what about my staff pay?"

Kakuzu's sharpened nailed Tobey in place, uttering with an unmistakable hint of dissatisfaction. "You still need pay outside of corpses?"

Tobey smirked and clarified, "That's the pay for the other guy. Personally, the only thing I can count on is cold, hard cash and nothing else."

Kakuzu let out a low chuckle, "I can't agree more, but..."

Kakuzu's eyes narrowed dangerously, scoffing with some superiority, "I won't say anything about the other guy, but you can't even last a minute against me. Do you think you deserve any form of payment?"

Tobey's eyes bulged in dissatisfaction, "You're as annoying as my damn door! Fine, I'll give you front row seat to the world of pain!"

Without warning, Tobey swiftly fired a barrage of spider web bolts towards Kakuzu! "Now dig on this!"

Kakuzu effortlessly swatted away the webs using his tendrils. "Brat!" His anger began to boil, ready to teach the young upstart a lesson.

However, Konan's voice reverberated through the forest once more, quelling the rising tension. "Enough. You will receive your salary, but don't expect much unless you work hard."

"Thanks, hot legs!" Getting his demands met, Tobey's grin widened and he flicked his hair in a show of satisfaction. "That angelic rich woman has been added to my new list of favorites."

Seeing the happy Tobey who now took another split of "his" money, Kakuzu casually strolled past him, leaving a bone-chilling threat hanging in the air.

"Brat, time to go for your initiation. Let's see if you can outlast my previous... 'partners'."