Hey guys, here is the next update in my fic.
Enjoy and review
Chapter Eleven
Crimson Rain
The young Fox removed herself from Yahiko's hug. Her tears had long since dried up from crying so much. She looked up toward the man who had been a surrogate uncle to her.
"Where…Where is he?" she asked him.
Yahiko sighed.
"Come with me," he said, "I'll lead you to where he is buried."
Yael nodded.
"Thank you," she said.
Yahiko simply nodded before flying out of the tower into the rain outside, Yael only put her hood up before following after him. The two flew out of the large tower, and Yahiko led her straight toward the side of the village.
It was a wide plain, which was all turning to mud thanks to the falling rain, and Yael blinked noticing that a figure was standing in front of a grave. As they got closer to the figure, she realized that it was Konan, her mother.
The two of them stood behind Konan who was looking at the grave in front of her, not even acknowledging their presence. Yael then stepped forward, removing her hood letting the rain fall upon her face.
"Mother," she said.
Konan glanced back at the voice. It break's Yael's heart to see the sadness in Konan's face, as her red eyes looked at her.
"Yael," Konan whispered.
She approached and took the Fox in a hug, and Yael returned it. She feels the woman's shaking form in her arms, and she simply comforted her best she could.
"I'm sorry Mother," she said, "I'm sorry I wasn't here."
Konan removed herself from the hug.
"It's not your fault Yael," she said.
"But that masked man came looking for me," Yael said, "If I was there…"
"You would have been in that man's clutches," Konan told her, "Nagato sacrifice himself to protect you…his family. That's all you will have to remember of him."
Yael nodded, feeling tears falling from her eyes as she watched the grave that was behind Konan. She approached closer to it, not able to think that the man who had raised her and taken her in is underneath this patch of earth she was looking at.
"He was the strongest of all of us," Yael said, "He shouldn't have died first…He was to protect Ame, bringing peace to his loved home. This isn't fair…it's just not fair."
Her yell echoed around them, as Yael fell down on her knees, putting her fist down on the soft, wet muddy ground. She can feel the rain drenching her more than she was already was. Tears were falling from her eyes, as she clenched her fist in the mud.
Yael feels a soft hand on her shoulder and knew that Konan was the one kneeling beside her, and then felt the woman's arms encircled her form until she was leaning into her, the tears continuing to fall with the falling rain above them.
Konoha
It was unusual for Konoha to be experiencing rain this time of the year. It had not being falling strong but it had started to rain, a light drizzle causing the sky overhead to darken considerably and it had done nothing to help the Hokage's mood.
Sarutobi had been shaken ever since the redhead had showed herself up as one of the legendary Fox Clan. A Nine tailed Fox, after all, the same number of tails of the Demon Fox which had attacked his Village. He kept wondering if he had made the right choice, causing the girl to leave the Village.
Sarutobi was never one to judge with one glance, but he was still a human being and being human means making choices, even if it feels wrong to you. He was still feeling a little afraid of the girl, knowing that she was a Nine Tailed Fox. What if the girl had come back to finish the job that hadn't been done fifteen years ago?
He knew he was been unprofessional about the situation but, even so, one couldn't help but wonder about the, what ifs of that situation…
"Well sensei, you look like you're deep in your thoughts," a familiar voice said.
Sarutobi glanced at his window finding a man seating there. He had long white hair and was wearing a red coat over his green shirt a large scroll, horizontally set up on his lower back.
"Jiraiya?" the Hokage said, "I didn't know you were coming back."
The man called Jiraiya glanced back toward the old man, giving him a grin.
"Well, Konoha is my home no matter how long I stayed away from it," he said.
He stepped inside the office and his clothes were lightly wet from the rain outside.
"I would have expected you to be at the hot springs," The Hokage told him.
"I went there first," Jiraiya said, a wistful look in his eyes, "But…it was all empty. This weather is getting in the way of my research."
The old Hokage chuckled.
"You haven't changed one bit," he said.
"Well, changing is overrated," Jiraiya said, "After all, if I did change, then Icha Icha wouldn't have been created."
The old man shook his head.
"Well, what brings you back here?"
"I have some information that I would like to share with you," Jiraiya told him.
The air in the room was suddenly serious.
"Then tell me," Sarutobi said.
"A rumor that my spy network had picked up," Jiraiya told him, "Well, I don't usually pay attention to them but this one sound legit. The rumor is that Ame had lost a powerful leader figure in the past few days."
"He died?"
"Killed," Jiraiya said, "This leader seemingly had kept the peace within the country. The news of his death could bring about another revolution or a civil war within the country itself."
That caused Sarutobi to sigh.
"The last civil war this place had been during the Third Ninja Wars with Hanzo the Salamander," Sarutobi said, "But he was killed wasn't he?"
"Hanzo is dead," Jiraiya said, "But some of his die hard followers didn't. They are probably going to jump at the chance to seize power."
"Anything Konoha can do?" the Hokage asked him.
Jiraiya shook his head.
"If you send Konoha ninja in, it might be the sparks to start an all out civil war," he said, "The sides might think the other send out for outside help."
"So we can't send them help," he said.
"I said you can't send in full squads," Jiraiya said, "But one or two ninja might do the trick, with me as the first."
"Who is the second?"
"Naruko Uzumaki," Jiraiya told him.
The old Hokage let out a sigh. He should have known.
"You know, I don't really appreciate you taking Naruko along one of your crazy adventures whenever you're around," he said.
Jiraiya smirked.
"I've taught her load every time," He said, "I'm just going to help her hone her information gathering skills. I won't actually have her in the front lines if a civil war does break out. This time, I might even land her a hand in controlling that chakra she had been trying to control with Kakashi."
Sarutobi looked at him.
"Speaking of that chakra, Jiraiya…had they have been any strange rumors about the Fox Clan?" he asked.
That caused some confusion.
"The Fox Clan?" he repeated, "No…not really. Why, did you get some info?"
The Third sighed.
"Just something that had been bugging me for a while," he said.
Jiraiya stared at him for a few moments before nodding.
"Okay, so I have your approval about taking Naruko on this mission with me right?" he asked.
The Third sighed.
"Yes, just don't get her involved into the politics of another country," he said.
Jiraiya gives him a large grin.
"Hey don't worry sensei, she got me to look after her," he said before jumping out of the window, "Thanks again.
The Third sighed.
Telling me not to worry with that big smile on your face Jiraiya, he thought, that is the thing that makes me worry. Even so, I'm sure you can teach Naruko what she needs to know…only if you weren't much of a peeping tom.
Naruko herself was in the training field, going through a taijutsu fight against one of her clones. She had put a good number of chakra in it so that it would last longer than ordinary clones, and since the clone was actually her, she can feel that they were both evenly matched.
As expected, that bastard Sasuke bailed out on me again, she thought, angry at the raven haired guy.
She dodged an attack from one of her clone, and jumped back sending out a few kunai toward it. As she has expected, the clone used one of her knife to block all of the kunai and then her eyes widened seeing a paper bomb attached to one of them…and it was already smoking.
BOOM
The small explosion took place as Naruko was suddenly assaulted by the memories of her clone. Naruko smirked to herself, since she had just tricked her clone into blocking. She moved toward it and went to pick up the fallen kunai.
"Well, look like I missed out on some fun," a familiar voice said.
The blonde turned toward it.
"Pervy Sage," she said.
"Damn it, stop calling me that," Jiraiya said.
"Well went you quit being a pervert, then maybe I'll consider," Naruko told him.
"Not on your life," Jiraiya told her.
"Then you're Pervy Sage," Naruko said, pointing straight at him.
The white haired man shook his head.
"There is no arguing with you is there?" he said.
Naruko simply grinned.
"So, why are you here?" she asked, giving the man a curious glance.
"I've come to take you with me," Jiraiya said, "We're going on a mission."
That caused Naruko to stare at him in surprise.
"A mission? What kind of mission?"
Jiraiya was now looking serious.
"Information gathering," he said, "I'm going to teach you some of those skills. The land of Rain seems to be on the brick of a civil war, because of the death of a powerful leader. It seems without him, they won't be peace in this Land."
"Okay sure, I'll come with you," Naruko said, "I least I'll be kept busy instead of staying in the village…say, Pervy Sage, the old man allowed it right?"
"Of course he did," Jiraiya told her, "You're important to the Village Naruko, I'm not just going to steal you away. C'mon, go get ready, we'll leave soon."
"Hai," Naruko said.
Ame
It had been a few days since Nagato had died, but to Yael it felt like years. The young girl was seating at the spot Nagato used to occupy when he was thinking. She had a large view of the entire Village of Rain in front of her. It wasn't raining now, as patches of sunlight busted through the gray clouds above them.
The young redhead Fox glanced back hearing footsteps behind her.
"Mom," she said.
Konan approached and seated beside Yael.
"How are you feeling?" Yael asked her.
Konan give her a weak smile.
"I'll be alright," she said.
Then Konan's eyes were then filled with tears.
"Just thinking about him…it makes me want to cry," she said, "He had always been the one I could rely on when things get tough. I never got the chance to tell him about my feelings for him."
Yael gave the village a glance.
"I think he knew," she said, "Dad I mean…I think he knew how you feel. Well, even Yahiko could see it. I thought you would have told him while I was gone."
"I just didn't have to courage," Konan said, "and now…it's too late."
Yael glanced at her mother, putting an arm on the woman's shoulders, comforting her best she could. They stayed there for quite a while before someone approached them. It was Yahiko, dressed in a black cloak upon his form, and on his face was uneasiness.
"What is it Yahiko?" Konan asked him.
"I've got some bad news," he said, "It seems that someone had leaked out that Nagato is dead to the Village."
Bad news...What would happen next?
Next time: Akatsuki
Jacques0 out.
R&R.
