One Second
Chapter 4
The Ninja

Hello my fellow fanfictioners! It has been a long time and I hope that you all are keeping well!

I started writing this only a few hours ago when the inspiration for this chapter just hit me out of the blue and this is the subsequent fruit of my labours.

And so I present to you Chapter 4 of One Second.

Disclaimer: I do not in any way claim ownership of Naruto/ Naruto Shippuden and any and all characters related to the franchise, it is the rightful property of the creator, Masashi Kishimoto.

I do however claim ownership to any and all OC's used in this story.

"Hi" - Speech

Hi- Flashback (normally)

'Hi'- thought

They say it's the people you think you know best that are the ones that will betray you in the end.

That's a lie.

It's true that it's someone that you know that will betray you.

But all it does is prove that you don't know people at all.

I know that better than most.

He simply stood there.

Watching, it was all he could do now.

He could feel the sharp metal spikes jutting out from the flesh of his back. One of the many prices he had to pay in order to use the terrible power that he possessed.

He was faintly aware of the fact that there was still a very real possibility that he could die from the wounds that he had sustained.

He just didn't care.

The woman he loved was collapsed in front of him, Yahiko's head resting in her lap.

All he could do was watch as silent tears fell down her face, her eyes focused only on Yahiko.

He couldn't blame her.

This was all his fault. It should be him there, dead on the ground.

Shuffling forward he reached for Konan and Yahiko.

They were his family… the least he could do was be there for them.

"You did this…" She told him, her voice cracked with grief and something else far more horrifying.

This girl was proving to be really annoying.

So he did the only thing he could think of in order to get away from her.

He lied.

"Look out!" He yelled, looking over shoulder and pointing frantically.

It was almost comical the way the girl's eyes widened and how she pirouetted on her heel so quickly that she almost fell down to look for the threat she had been warned of.

By the time she realized what he had done, he was already gone in a puff of white smoke, laughing as he went.

He spent the rest of that day walking down the merchant's path. If the signposts were to be believed then it was still more than a days' journey to the nearest roadside inn, a detestable sounding place if the name of the Winking Cat were to be believed. Still an inn was far more preferable than having to waste time setting up camp every night for the next four days.

What made it infinitely worse was that he couldn't even use jutsu to help for fear that someone would see and inform the local shinobi.

Drawing attention was the last thing he needed, especially when he was still so close to Amegakure.

Speaking of setting up camp.

Nagato looked into the sky and judged the time from the sun's position. It was getting late and he was already fatigued as it was.

Making his way into the forest he began the long arduous process setting up a camp by the roadside.

"You know you're really quite persistent… it's kind of annoying." He called out, not looking up from the flames.

He heard a great sigh of annoyance followed by a rustle of leaves as the girl extricated herself from a nearby thicket.

He expected the girl to begin screaming at him or to walk straight up to him and proceed to slap him into unconsciousness.

'Kami knows she could.'

The girl began walking towards him slowly.

'So far so good.' He thought to himself with a bitter smile.

The girl stood before him.
What would she do?

He blinked.

He didn't quite understand what the crazy girl was doing. She was facing him, her form bowed low and her hands stretched outwards and containing something green and rumpled.

"What's this?" He asked, still not quite understanding what was going on.

"It- It's all my money." The girl answered him, her voice shaky.

Peering at the currency within her hands he counted just over 500 yen present.

Snapping his fingers in order to get her attention, he stared into her eyes, asking the silent question.

Why?

"I… I want to hire you."

'Okay… I wasn't expecting that.'

"You want… to hire me?"

The girl nodded slightly, her green bangs swaying slightly with the motion.

"Why?"

The girl cocked her head to the side slightly, as though she didn't quite understand why he was asking such a ridiculous question.

"You're a ninja, aren't you?"

"What makes you say that?" He asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"Your little stunt earlier! Only ninja can use that funny smoke technique." She retorted.

"I'm not a ninja."

"… but you were one once right?" Her tone daring him to say otherwise.

There was a small moment of awkward silence between the two, before Nagato decided to give in and break it.

"… So why do you want to hire me?" He questioned, trying desperately to ignore the triumphant gleam in her eyes.

"I need a guide and a bodyguard to help me find someone." She told him, her tone determined.

"And what makes you think I'm available for any such task?"

"Well are you busy with something else? Didn't seem to be in a hurry to do anything when I knocked you on your ass back in the village."

Nagato struggled to keep a vein in his forehead from popping.

'I don't understand it! I'm not one to get annoyed easily, but this girl!'

"And who is it that you're looking for exactly?" He asked, genuine curiosity gripping him for the first time since they had begun this odd discussion.

"I don't need to tell you that." She replied, huffing and lowering her gaze to the ground again.

Nagato sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

This girl is just unbelievable!

"Okay listen here girl, I've-"

"My name isn't girl!" She spat, glaring up at him, her orange eyes ablaze.

He raised an eyebrow at this reaction.

"Then why don't you tell me your name?"

"…"

After waiting for a moment, Nagato took to his feet, dusted himself off, turned on his heel and began to walk away, fully prepared to put the crazy girl behind him and continue on his way, despite the late hour.

"Fu… you can call me Fu." Her remark was so soft that for a moment he couldn't help but to think that he had imagined it.

Nevertheless he stopped and faced her once again.

"Fu? Fu what?"

"Just Fu."

"Just Fu? Is that your last name or your first?" Nagato wasn't sure why he was even asking.

The girl bit her lip and looked away from him.

"It's the only name I've got." She answered, her tone making clear her annoyance.

So the crazy girl only had a single, one-syllable name.

Figures.

"All right then Fu. Listen closely because I'm only going to say this one more time got it? If you don't answer me then I leave, got it?" He told her, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"Who are you looking for?" He asked, watching her closely.

One second.

In that one second she made a choice. She could have lied.

She could have refused to tell him and continued on her quest alone.

But in the space of that single second, she chose to tell him the truth.

"I'm looking for a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village." She told him after a minute of silence.

"Why?" Strange that he didn't ask who first. Nagato supposed that it was because he was more interested in why she wanted to find a shinobi from Jiraiya's village.

"Because she's my mother."

… Well I wasn't expecting that.

"If your mother is a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf then why are you living as a common street urchin?"

"… Because she left me to die!"

Nagato fell silent, his mind unable to comprehend this fact.

He opened his mouth to ask the question but the most he could muster was a pathetic croak. Taking a deep swallow he tried again more successfully.

"So why do you want to find her so badly?"

Fu marched up to him, glaring at him whilst poking him in the chest.
"So I can show that bitch what she's done to me."

"So this is about revenge then?" Nagato asked, his eyes narrowing in distaste even as the question left his lips.

"No… this is about showing her the truth of what she did, nothing more and nothing less."

Nagato stepped away from her and contemplated the situation.

"500 yen isn't enough to cover this sort of mission. In fact I highly doubt it's enough to cover even a simple D-rank mission and the one you're asking for is at least a B-rank and besides, I'm not exactly the friendliest person when it comes to Leaf Shinobi nor they to me." He told her simply.

"I'll let you off the hook for the bread as well?" She offered meekly.

Nagato responded with a snort of laughter.

"Please."

Nagato felt something twist inside of him when he saw her eyes were glistening with unshed tears.

"Why is this so important to you?" He asked her.

"I don't know my way around. I've never been beyond this land's borders and I have no means of protecting myself from those who would otherwise do me harm."

"You're not answering my question." He barked, his patience dwindling quickly.

"It's because I need to find her! I need to show her what she's done to me! To my life! This is the only way I know of finding any semblance of closure, of finding any sort of peace so that I can finally move on with my life!" The girl screamed at him.

Nagato stepped away from her and knelt in front of the fire. Fu wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to do next so she followed his lead and sat on the ground next to him.

Nagato sat and stared into the crimson flames for a long time, thinking about this abrupt and rather odd situation that he had found himself in.

Silence descended upon the campsite as the red-headed shinobi thought things through.

He sighed before looking wearily at the green haired girl.

"I'm sorry… but you just don't have enough money for me to do what you're asking." He began.

Fu's response was to grit her teeth in anger and prepare herself to curse the ninja for his refusal. Unfortunately for her, he raised his hand to stop her before she could begin her verbal tirade.

"That said, I'm sure that you can pay the remaining fee after we're finished."

She froze, her mouth wide open and ready to spill insult after insult was now silent.

Working her jaw open and close a few times she finally found her tongue again.

"You'll… You'll really help me?" She asked him, her voice small, soft and filled with desperation.

"Against my better judgement… yes, yes I will."

Fu couldn't help it.

Wide smile on her face, she leapt to her feet with a loud yell of "HELL YEAH!" before thrusting the money into his lap and proceeding to dance around the fire excitedly, punching the air triumphantly again and again.

Nagato closed his eyes and pinched the bridged of his nose whilst heaving a great sigh.

'What the hell did I just agree to?'

"This is all your fault!"

Konan's eyes.

He'd never imagined to see that look in her eyes, directed at him.

Hatred.

He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe.

"You killed him! It was you!"

Another accusation, another sin marked upon his soul.

"It wasn't me, Yahiko…" He began, with a weak voice he tried to make her see, to make her understand what he couldn't for himself.

"Liar!"

'Stop Konan… Please… just stop.'

"Konan please! Yahiko-"
Why couldn't he finish his sentence? And why was Konan's arm outstretched towards him in such a manner?

That's when he felt the pain in his left side, it was with muted horror that he saw the kunai protruding just above his heart.

'Konan…'

No, it wasn't possible, she wouldn't!

But she was already reaching into her cloak for another projectile.

"It should've been you! I wish it was you! I wish we'd never met that day in the rain. I wish you'd been dead before I'd ever laid eyes on you, you monster!" She spat, her eyes ablaze with a madness he had never seen before.

Every word that left her lips hit him like a sledgehammer, forcing him to retreat step by step away from her and Yahiko.

It was too much, too soon.

He couldn't handle it.

He ripped the kunai from his body and threw it to the ground, watching as his blood mingled with that of the rainwater.

It was the sight of his blood that snapped her out of it. Her eyes widened with horror as she realised what she had said and what she had done.

"Oh god! Nagato, I-"

But it was too late, he could no longer bear it.

"I'm sorry Konan." He choked out.

She cried out for him to stop but he couldn't.

He turned and ran.

Away from Amegakure, Akatsuki and away from her.

And as the rain beat down upon his fleeing figure, it was truly impossible to tell which the heavens' tears were and which were his own.

So...

Sorry for the long wait! It has been absolute murder trying to figure out how I wanted this story to go but now I have the vaguest semblance of that idea and things can begin moving forward once again ;)

I also know that this chapter wasn't exactly my best work but with luck I will repost it in the future. I guess this one was written just to get me back into the swing of things.

Please don't forget to review! There is no better motivator to write chapters I can assure you! ;)

Well better get back to work!

Until next time my fellow fanfictioners!