Konan then blew the second whistle, signaling the time to throw. Tobi handed one of the two dodge balls to Deidara. Zetsu stayed in the back with Sasori watching in wonder if they were going to win with this new team player. Sasori sat on the ground working with his new puppet creation wondering where he should put the defense mechanisms and poisons.
Deidara crafted a clay owl and brought it to life in hopes of getting more of a better attack range. As he was about to hand the dodge ball to the clay owl, he heard Hidan taunting him from the other side. “Hey, Deidara!” Hidan taunted, “The only reason you’re handing that ball to that owl of yours is because you throw like a girl!”
Deidara was furious at Hidan. He wanted to use his jutsu to make him explode right there and now, but he knew for sure he’d be banished to the principal’s office, so he calmed down…... And threw the dodge ball at Hidan’s face!
The dodge ball slammed against Hidan so hard that it made him fall onto the gym floor. Kakuzu was stunned. Deidara had never done that before! Even Itachi and Kisame were shocked. “Oh My God! THAT F**KING HURTS!” Hidan screamed.
All eyes fell on Deidara who had anger filled in his eyes instead of kindness towards the opposing team.
Hidan sat on the sidelines, cursing that he was the first one out. Itachi became worried about Deidara’s anger and consulted his last two members of the dodge ball team. “I’ve never seen Deidara get so angry like that,” Kisame said shocked.
“I know, he is now actually a threat to us other than Tobi,” Itachi explained.
“So, what’s the plan?” Kakuzu said as he stole Kisame’s lunch money.
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it,” Itachi said calmly.
Itachi explained the plan to both and they agreed to it. Itachi’s team had never lost a dodge ball match and they had no intention to lose now. Kakuzu grabbed the ball that hit Hidan in the face and threw it in the air. “Kisame, now!” Kakuzu signaled.
Kisame grabbed his sword and took a swing at the dodge ball as if it were a baseball and hit it over to the opposing side at Sasori. However, the plan didn’t work so well because it hit Sasori’s finished puppet, now breaking it on contact.
Sasori was quiet for a few minutes, but then his face grew red with anger and he stood up and said, “WHO THREW THAT?!”
Kisame and Itachi stared at him with blank faces and then pointed at Kakuzu and said, “He threw it.”
Sasori grabbed the dodge ball that was just thrown and threw it directly at Kakuzu. Kakuzu desperately hit the floor, groaned, and curled himself into a ball after being hit in a place boys would not like getting hit with something. Kakuzu had to be dragged out of the field by Konan and he lay next to the bloody-nosed Hidan.
“Okay, that plan didn’t work,” Itachi said, “So, you have any ideas Kisa-“
Suddenly Tobi hit Kisame in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. “me,” Itachi finished.
Kisame steadily walked over to where his other teammates were sitting/laying and sat down clenching his stomach. “Okay, it’s just me then,” Itachi said to himself, “Both dodge balls are over here, so I just need to get the others out. I have no choice…”
Itachi released the mangekyo and used it on Tobi’s team. Deidara and Tobi snapped out of the genjutsu though. Itachi jumped up and threw both dodge balls. One hit Zetsu and the other hit Sasori. “Bulls eye!” Itachi said, “Got them, two more to go!”
Sasori and Zetsu sat on the sidelines as the only ones that were not injured and cheered for Tobi and Deidara to defeat Itachi. Deidara grabbed a dodge ball and chucked it at Itachi. Itachi was too quick though and caught it. “Sorry Tobi,” Deidara said as he sat on the sidelines.
“Itachi you may bring a player back to your team,” Konan said.
“No, I’m doing this by myself… Especially since they would be of no use to me,” Itachi said closing his eyes.
Itachi grabbed the dodge ball tightly in his hands as he and Tobi both approached the center of the gym. They stared intensely into each other’s eyes and threw the dodge ball.
Both Itachi and Tobi were hit, but the force of the dodge balls wasn’t great, so it caused no damage or injury to either one. “Game over, for the first time in Akatsuki School history, there has been a tie in dodge ball!” Konan announced.
All of Tobi’s team ran over to congratulate and thank Tobi for his work. Tobi was surrounded by his team, but he looked at Itachi with question to why he didn’t dodge or catch the ball he threw. Itachi looked away from Tobi’s stare and walked over to the gym’s entrance waiting for the remaining, non-injured classmates, to join him.
Itachi then glanced back at Tobi and his team. “For now, we have tied, but I will not lose to you new kid,” Itachi said to himself as Konan, Tobi, and the others came to the entrance to leave as well.
