A/N: If anyone catches an age miscalculation or any other error, please tell me. And this story contains spoilers up to chapter 500. So if you haven't read up to there, then don't get after me for being 'wrong'.
Chapter One: A Sunny Day for Picnics
It was cold, wet, and all around just dreary.
Jiraiya hated it.
And it didn't help at all that his stomach wouldn't stop churning. No, he wasn't hungry, no, he ate just an hour ago, and no, he hadn't eaten anything bad. Well, at least he hoped not. One couldn't tell what was bad or not during war anyway; a shinobi was just supposed to hope it wouldn't kill them
No, the wriggling in his stomach could only mean one thing: His kids were in trouble.
He tried to ignore it- really, he did- because his ex-students could handle themselves. If they could take down one of his shadow clones at the age of ten (maybe they were younger, maybe they were older; he never really bothered to ask) then they could surely handle whatever life threw at them. Jiraiya was a Sannin, and shadow clones are an exact replica of the original. Or something similar to that effect. Jiraiya had never been one for theories, anyway. Usually he just did something and hoped it worked.
Jiraiya turned away from his teammates as he retched a few times. Bile burned and stuck in his throat, but nothing left his mouth.
An omen.
"Jiraiya!" his female teammate exclaimed as she moved closer to inspect her long-time friend. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
He motioned her away before wiping the saliva that had trickled down his chin. "I'm fine," he managed to say as he swallowed the bile back down. "Really, Tsunade, I'm okay."
She frowned at him with her hands on her hips. "You don't look fine."
"Trust me, Tsunade," he said with a grin.
Tsunade's frown turned to a glare.
Jiraiya waved her away as he stood. The grin slipped from his face. "Really, Tsunade, I'm fine. But I have to go. My kids are in trouble."
"What kids?"
"The ones you wanted to kill," Jiraiya responded with a pointed glare towards Orochimaru. "Something bad is going to happen to them."
Tsunade gave him a concerned look. "Jiraiya... You know you have to stay here. We have a battle to fight!"
"You'll be fine," he told her coldly. "Nagato is the one that's supposed to change the world, Tsunade. If he dies, this war will never end. Don't you think we've suffered enough?" He gave her a pointed look before starting his journey back to the place he was all too familiar with. When a small, but tough hand grabbed his shoulder, he stopped and turned his head to look at amber eyes. "Tsunade, please, just trust me this once."
"I don't want to lose you, too!" she yelled at him, fury flashing in her eyes. Her hand gripped the material of his black shirt to prevent him from leaving. "You'll die if you go by yourself now."
"Then come with me."
Her eyes narrowed further. "You know I can't do that. We belong here! We have to fight!"
His eyes softened, as if he suddenly understood. "Do we really belong on the battlefield, Tsunade?" Both Orochimaru and Tsunade stared at him in shock. Tsunade's grip on the Toad Sannin loosened. "Saving these kids means saving the world, Tsunade. Nagato has the Rinnengan. He is the reincarnation of the first ninja, the Rikudo Sennin! If I don't save them now, then the world will return to dust." He turned back to face the direction he had been going. "If you want peace, Tsunade... If you want war to stop and your loved ones to stop dying, then let me go."
She let him go.
Jiraiya crouched behind a rock, thoroughly drenched, and watched in confusion as he saw Danzou talking to Hanzou. What could they be talking about? Jiraiya wondered silently; if he spoke, he would most assuredly be killed. Anbu Root swarmed the area. They followed Danzou's orders without question. He narrowed his eyes as the two powerful men walked away from each other. With a sigh, Jiraiya moved back to the rendezvous point and waited.
A small toad hopped into sight five minutes later. Jiraiya picked it up. "What did you hear, my little friend?"
"Hanzou said that if Danzou backed him up in an ambush tomorrow, then he will help Danzou get the Hokage position," the small toad croaked out. "And they plan on using the girl as hostage."
His eyes narrowed to mere slits. "So that's what Danzou is after, eh? Thank you." With a small cloud of smoke, the small toad disappeared. "Take Konan hostage... Interesting."
Jiraiya stared back towards the direction of the two scheming men. Rain still fell like a curtain of grey- when had it not in the war-torn country- and he could not see very far. He needed a plan. A really good one, seeing as he was about to face a throng of a certain branch of Anbu alone. Now, what would Minato do...? Or Kushina, for that matter, he thought to himself as he sat down.
Minato would probably infiltrate the Black Ops and take out Danzou when he least expected it.
Kushina... would probably run in headfirst and make a plan on the spot. And then die.
Jiraiya weighed the two outcomes in each hand. His left hand symbolized Minato; right was Kushina. The lower his hand went, the higher the death rate was. After a moment he looked between his two hands. His left hand was up by his head and his right hand was down by his waist.
Yeah, he was going to do some sort of sneak attack.
Or there was that third option...
Jiraiya weighed his options again. The third one sounded safest, but he could also help infiltrate if his students needed help... He stood up with a grin and started walking.
"You would be dead, you know," Jiraiya said as he snuck up behind his red haired student.
"Nonsense," said the man as he turned in his seat to face the other. Jiraiya gave him a grin. "I knew it was you, sensei."
Two others came into the room. The one with orange hair asked, "Who are you talking to-"
"Sensei!" the girl yelled. She ran to her teacher and hugged him tightly. "I missed you so much!" She pulled away from him, suddenly suspicious. She narrowed her eyes at Jiraiya and asked, "What are you doing here?"
He sobered up, the grin falling from his face as a grave look took the grin's place. "You might want to sit down for this."
Jiraiya told them of how he felt sick and just knew that his kids were in trouble. They all beamed at Jiraiya calling them his 'kids' but stayed silent as he continued with his tale. He did not exaggerate this time. He told them every detail even down to deciding what to do in this situation (yet he subtly left out the part about Konan being held hostage). The three were clueless about who Minato and Kushina were, but did not question him. However, they did question him about Danzou and his Black Ops.
The Toad Sannin shrugged lethargically, bringing a hand up to try to rub the weariness from his face. "I knew he wanted the Hokage position, but I didn't think Danzou would go this far to get it. I mean, how could Hanzou help him achieve this goal? Danzou was supposed to be north of here, last I heard. "
"You're leaving something out."
A sigh escaped from Jiraiya. He knew he would have had to tell the three, but he was still thinking about how to keep Konan safe. "They want to use Konan as a hostage, and I think we should let her be kidnapped." He held up a hand to ward off his students' protest. "Hear me out, will you? I'm going to hide amongst Danzou's crowd and attack from the inside. I'll kill Danzou. Konan, you'll kill Hanzou."
He looked down at his three students as they mulled over the plan. They had changed so much in the six years he had not seen them. Of course he had kept tabs on the three as much as he could, but he was a busy man after becoming the sensei for the child prodigy Namikaze Minato, as well as fighting in the war. Konan was beautiful, just as he predicted, but he was pretty sure she was not eighteen yet, despite the mature air about her. He was proud of Yahiko. The moment he came through the door- and even before that when Yahiko had still been outside- Jiraiya could tell that the young man demanded (but not exactly in a harsh way) obedience and loyalty. He could also tell that the young man would make a great leader for Ame. Jiraiya could tell as soon as the house came into sight that Nagato was there. Power dripped off the Rinnengan user like sweat on a ninja after a hard workout in the middle of the desert.
"How do you expect me to do that?" Konan asked quietly. She tugged on Yahiko's sleeve nervously. "Kill Hanzou, I mean."
Jiraiya took out a short flat blade and held it up for the three to see. "You'll hide this on the bottom of your shoe. When I kill Danzou, you'll kill Hanzou with this. Just use chakra to make it come out and stab him wherever you can. Try to aim for an artery."
"I don't understand something," Nagato said, his voice low in an almost-mumble. He was glaring down at the table. "Why would Hanzou trick us like that? He said he wanted to negotiate peace."
"Hanzou," Jiraiya said as he handed the blade to Konan, "does not want peace. He believes you are in his way. He wants you out of the picture. Yahiko is your leader, correct?" At their silent nods he continued. "He'll want Nagato to kill him, most likely." Nagato jerked to look up at the Sannin and protest, but Jiraiya held up a hand to keep his ex-student silent. "That is what he does, Nagato. Hanzou isn't known for being nice to people."
Nagato scowled and turned away from the others. "Why is it that people...?" He could not finish his sentence.
But he did not have to; the others knew exactly what it was he was asking, yet they had no answer. Not even Jiraiya could provide one for the Rinnengan user.
The heavens poured harshly down around Hanzou, Danzou, and their troops as they waited for Yahiko and Nagato to arrive. The Anbu Root members stayed just far enough back to stay out of the Ame leader's way, but close enough to threaten the other two shinobi when they arrived. Konan, captive of Hanzou, tried to appear like how a hopeless hostage might seem. Her face twisted into a cross between fear and determination. She just hoped that it would not give her away. Jiraiya stood amongst the Anbu Root ranks after having taken out one of their lesser members. He tried to stand as close to Danzou as he could without being detected by said man.
The rain came down harder when the two shinobi they were all waiting for approached. Neither Nagato nor Yahiko betrayed that they knew what was going on. They looked more angry than shocked that Konan was in the hands of Hanzou.
"Your gang," Hanzou announced, pointing a kunai at the two down below, "is a hindrance to my plans. As the leader, Yahiko... you must die. If you don't, then this girl gets it instead. You with the red hair!" Here, Hanzou threw the kunai at Nagato's feet. "Kill him with this and I'll let the girl go."
"No, Nagato!" Konan screamed, more for show but convincing to the shinobi behind her all the same. Jiraiya was quite proud at the emotion she put behind it, considering that it was just an act. "Don't worry about me. Just get out of here, you two!" The blade on the bottom of her shoe silently slid out. It squelched in the mud. No one heard it over the sound of falling rain. Wait for the signal...
A smoke bomb behind Danzou caught everyone's attention. The smoke dispersed quickly, but it was enough to give Jiraiya the leeway he needed.
A sword protruded from Danzou's chest. The hilt rested firmly against his back. The rain washed the blood from the blade in a matter of seconds. Danzou fell, dead, into the mud below created from the constant rain.
Hanzou cried out as Konan stabbed the man in the inner thigh. She hoped she had hit an artery, but she wasn't well acquainted with the body or its blood vessels. Suddenly, she ducked and not a moment too late. A kunai flew past her right where her head had been. However, the blade only skimmed across her captor's neck.
Konan used this to her advantage and slipped away from the man, jumping as close to Jiraiya as she could get. He cut the bonds on her wrists and she nodded in thanks before facing the small army before her. She slid gracefully into her unique battle stance.
"What do we do now, sensei?"
"Yahiko!"
Konan and Jiraiya turned and watched as Hanzou came closer to the two down below. Before the current leader of Ame could pierce the orange-haired shinobi, Nagato jumped in the way of the blade. He grunted in pain, but managed to grab onto Hanzou's hand to prevent him from moving.
"Nagato!" Konan's voice sounds so far away...
"Yahiko," the redhead managed to gasp out. He pulled Hanzou into a version of a bear hug to keep the man from escaping. "Hurry up, would you?"
"This wasn't part of the plan!"
"You knew-?"
"JUST DO IT!" Nagato screamed, cutting off the trapped man. His grip tightened, even though he felt himself growing weaker.
Yahiko pulled out his sword and muttered a soft, "I'm sorry," before stabbing his friend and the deranged leader of Ame.
"No! Nagato!" A hand stopped her from going down to meet her friends. Konan looked up at her sensei to see him shaking his head. "Sensei?"
"We need to hold back the Root members." Tears ran down his face, but it might have just been the rain. When he turned, he saw the shinobi scatter along with Hanzou's men. There was nothing else they needed to do, so he followed Konan down to the two young men. Danzou was dead anyway.
Yahiko held Nagato in his lap shielding the injured man as much as he could from the rain. Hanzou lay in the mud a few feet in front of two, just as dead as the man Jiraiya had killed. "Nagato you stupid idiot! What was running through your mind when you jumped in front of me like that, huh?"
Nagato laughed weakly and blood ran down his chin. "I could only think of, 'Protect Yahiko!' What-"
"But why? You're supposed to save the world!" Yahiko had his teeth clenched as he tried to hold back his sobs. He moved to pull out the two blades, but Jiraiya stopped him.
"That will only make him bleed more."
The Rinnengan wielder was silent and unmoving for a long while. Even his eyes were staring and the light of life had left the rippled-like silver eyes. The three were worried that he had already died. Konan started to cry harder but silenced when she saw his lips move.
"You... were the... one who... wanted... to lead Ame," he said. His breathing became shallow and labored. "You wanted... to lead the... world... to peace."
"Not without you by my side." Yahiko clutched the other boy closer. "You were supposed to stand beside me with Konan on my other side!"
Nagato chuckled, though it pained him. "I was... a terrible... shinobi... anyway."
He blinked when he felt warm water hit his face, too warm to be rain. It was Yahiko's tears. "Don't say that, Nagato! You were a better shinobi than me by a long shot. Please... Don't die!"
"Heheh... I thought... you said that... men weren't... supposed... to cry..."
Konan took one of Nagato's pale hands and smiled down at him as Yahiko laughed pathetically. She turned to look up at Jiraiya. "We have a medic in our group, but it may take some time to locate her. Do you know any medical jutsu?"
Jiraiya sadly shook his head. "That was Tsunade's forte." Gently he reached down and picked up the redhead. "You two try to find her and I'll take him back to the house. I should have made Tsunade come, but... I left a battle to come save you guys."
Konan and Yahiko glanced away, both angry with themselves. "You shouldn't have come, then!" said the boy. He glared down at his clenched hands. "Shinobi are supposed to fight-"
"I'll tell you exactly what I told Tsunade," Jiraiya said calmly. His voice slightly soothed his ex-students' anger. "Just trust me, okay? I know what I'm doing, even if I don't look like it." He paused to gently readjust the dying teenager in his arms. "Do humans really belong on the battlefield? Fighting every day causes damage to the soul." The rain started to slow to just a drizzle, though it hardly mattered since the four were already soaked. "That, in turn, would cause damage to the brain. Humans need to rest, every once in a while."
A long moment of silence passed. Yahiko stood up and nodded at his teacher. "You're right, Sensei."
The older man scoffed. "Of course I am."
The leader nodded to Konan this time. "Let's go find Akisame."
Jiraiya headed straight to the house. On the way he stopped and quickly summoned a toad to find Tsunade. He prayed that she would be able to get there on time, but he feared it would be in vain. Nagato was fading, and fading fast. Several times he was afraid that Nagato had already died in his arms, but then the boy would take a gasping, weak breath. It reassured Jiraiya for only a few minutes at best. Blood still dribbled from Nagato's mouth and poured sluggishly from the two harsh wounds, but he was still alive.
For now, at least.