Rainstorm Chapter 14

*Interesting*

And, back again for another update! Thanks for all the support last chapter, and the chapter before, and chapters to come! Follow, fav, and review if it appeals to you!

Side note, this chap was actually started a long while ago, but I got writers' block (and, a week after writing this note, I got sick).

Disclaimer: I own some stuff, Naruto not included.

It took Kushina one minute flat to drag Nagato halfway across Konoha and into an area of town with a large, but not intimidating wall around it, like the Hyuuga compound, but much, much larger. The Uzumaki pulled her cousin through the gate marked "Uchiha" and tore down the market-lined street, quickly dodging out of any passerby's way. Nagato, resigned to his fate, merely let himself be dragged. Before he knew it, Kushina was banging her fist against a door, the sharp sound reverberating through the crowded streets.

The houses in this Uchiha "District" were designed much like the others in Konoha; they were all connected, and lined the roads indefinitely, like two-story walls of windows and the occasional door. Each house looked the same, with green roofs and tan walls, and a spread of curtained windows next to each entrance.

It took a moment, but eventually the door cracked open. A tired, female voice came from the shadows. "Yes?"

"Mikoto, it's counseling time!" Kushina pushed the door open more, her eyes still flaring with anger at the Ame trio. The redhead stepped inside and roughly threw Nagato in front of her. Nagato, not expecting the sudden yank, tripped over the bottom of the doorframe and fell face-first onto the ground, grunting as he hit the wooden planks of the floor.

As he struggled to get up, Nagato heard the voice that answered the door hum and then say, "Interesting…" with a tone one might use to describe a book.

"Mikoto, you know how you said I could talk to you if I had problems? Here's a problem."

"What, was he peeping on you or something? You know, I expected you to bring Minato if that was the case, not your cousin…" A gentle hand firmly lifted Nagato's chin up to where he was face to face with someone he didn't recognize, Mikoto, kneeling in front of him. The girl had long black hair that draped down to just below her shoulders, but when the light hit it just right it turned slightly navy blue. She wore a dark blue sweatshirt and grey sweatpants, and she wore no shoes since she was inside her own house. Her eyes had small dark circles under them, and her entire wardrobe made it seem like she had A: Just woken up, after noon, and B: She wasn't planning on going anywhere, or having visitors. However, when she locked her black eyes with Nagato's he knew she was alert; her eyes analyzed him, seemingly taking him apart in her mind. It was slight, but Nagato noticed a quick intake of breath when she saw his eyes.

"GOD NO, MIKOTO! Why would you even think of something like that?! Now I can't get the image of Nagato stalking me out of my mind… ewww…."

The black-haired girl wasn't listening to her, however. "These eyes are… interesting…" Mikoto straightened and offered an assisting arm to Nagato. When he took her hand, she pulled him up quickly, and went right back to staring at his eyes.

Not into his eyes, just at them.

Kushina hadn't noticed this; she was focused on the problem at hand. "Well, as I was saying, we-"

Mikoto held up a finger and shushed the Uzumaki, not breaking eye "contact" with a very nervous Nagato. "Kushina, quiet, please." The Uchiha crossed one arm across her chest and began rubbing her chin with the other hand. "So… What does your dojutsu do, exactly?"

"Umm…" Nagato stuttered, not sure exactly how to respond. He knew his eyes did something, but it was always out of anger and was never exactly the same thing. With the kids at the Academy, there was a rush of energy out of him in sphere; with Onoki, the myriad of all elemental juts with no chakra exhaustion, and the absorbing of jutsu. "Well… a lot of things, I guess… I- uh- don't know the limits, exactly…"

A slight widening of her eyes was all Mikoto showed in response. "Hmm… We'll listen to Kushina's little problem, and then you'll tell me everything those eyes can do." The black hair girl twirled to face a smoldering Kushina and flashed a bright smile. "Yes, Kushina?"

"I get Kushina can overreact at times, but geez! The conversation had barely started and BOOM! There she goes, taking Nagato with her," Yahiko grumbled from his seat on the couch. He was lying down and throwing a ball he had found earlier up into the air and catching it unconsciously, occasionally dropping it and muttering a "thank you" to Konan when her paper retrieved it for him. Kushina's outburst had left him more confused than anything. He had known she had a tendency to become over-attached to people, but her reaction ten minutes ago had been extremely odd, even for her.

Yahiko moved his focus from the ball in his hand to Konan, expectantly awaiting a reply. When he noticed the girl seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, he continued with a sigh. "Screw it!" The orange-haired preteen pulled back his legs and jumped up, landing on the ground and smiling to himself. "Nagato can handle it! He's the best at calming her down, anyways!"

As soon as Yahiko jumped, Konan started, snapping her eyes onto Yahiko and nearly falling out of her seat, like she had forgotten he was there. Yahiko took one look at the shocked girl and decided against trying to hide his mirth, bursting out in a fit of laughter. Konan, after shaking her head a bit, glared indignantly at him, but they both knew it was all in good fun.

"Sorry, Yahiko… I might have zoned out," she murmured with a slight smile.

Yahiko waved the apology off and went around the room gathering seemingly random stuff. "It's all good! Besides, we're going to start a game!"

The fact that he said "game" when he was rummaging through the knife drawer in the other room caused Konan to question his motives. "And, if I may ask, what kind of game are you considering?"

"A challenge! For all of the genin of Konoha!" Yahiko's attempted 'dramatic pose' was ruined by the fact that the numerous items in his arms broke his balance, causing him to have to drop a few things (including, but not limited to: butter knives, empty ramen cups, one chopstick, and one of his old Academy written tests) as he attempted to regain balance.

After Konan had finished giggling at the boy's antics, her quest to figure out what the challenge was continued. "A challenge? And what might that be?"

"That's going to be the best part! I'm going to make the first challenge, but the first person to 'win' that one gets to decide what the next challenge is going to be!"

"So, these challenges can also be dares? Basically, the previous winner gets to make the rules?" The concept was great, but there had to be a limit on what the challenge was… right?

"Exactly! The only rule is it has to be inside the village at all times! Other than that, go to town! Creativity is awesome!" Wait, was that Nagato's journal?!

"Yahiko… Nagato will kill you if he sees you with that! He made sure we knew that his journal was off limits!" Konan knew this was a bad idea. Anything involving breaking one of Nagato's rules was a bad idea. Konan knew she could be a bit of a stickler when her rules were involved, but Nagato was a different story.

Well… if Yahiko put the journal down, she might just have to look through it. To make sure none of the pages are missing, or course…

Yahiko looked at the little brown book in his hand and shrugged. "Eh, it's not like he writes anything interesting in it, anyways. I've read it like six times now, so no 'super-secret crush' to report or anything. Honestly, the kid's a bore." A dangerous glint appeared in Yahiko's eyes. "My challenge is great! I'm going to take Nagato's journal, and all this other stuff, make a pile, and they have to dig through the trash and dangerous, sharp objects to get the journal! Then, to complete the challenge, they have to bring it to me without Nagato knowing!"

"You know, let's just skip the pile of garbage part," Konan said slyly as a whirlwind of her paper slips tore the book from Yahiko's hands and brought it over to her. "I'm going to do a little reading, you can have it back later. Just assume I won and clean up whatever you got out! Besides… I expected more from you! With all this stuff, can't you think of something a little more creative than a pile?"

"Bu-but… bu-bu-but…. My challenge! It was supposed to be… my… challenge…" Yahiko's sputtering only served to lighten Konan's mood. The only word to describe the boy who was hunched over with one finger limply in the air in protest of her actions, combined with a quivering lower lip and shining puppy-dog eyes was 'cute.' Hilariously so.

Of course, she hadn't forgotten about her challenge. She would make a creative one up. After she finished reading. Konan just decided that Yahiko's denseness was causing him to miss something important in the journal, and she was going to find out what.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was having a bad day. Well, all days that involved Hideki were bad, but this one could be considered worse than usual.

"So you beat up five new genin today?" These events were no longer shocking; they were more annoying than anything. There was one time Hiashi's father, Hiroshi, came in demanding that Hideki was given his own home, as far away from the Hyuuga compound as possible. Apparently he decided to 'test his skills' against his clan head, and would come back for more every time the pain from the Caged Bird seal wore off. The Hyuuga standing in front of him inside his office had a problem with abusing power, like his annoying perseverance to the seal. It wasn't like the seal couldn't completely incapacitate him easily, he just shook it off so quickly.

"Yeah, that sounds about right!"

And a huge issue with giving respect where it's due.

"Why the hell am I still considering you for ANBU?"

The black-haired teen smirked knowingly. "Because my raw strength makes up for any and all negative behavioral traits!"

That was true in some regards, but not in others. It wasn't his strength, per say. It was his use of it. Grudgingly, the Hokage had to acknowledge Hideki was well suited for assassination missions. His style of using his kekkei genkai made him very mobile, and any one attack from him could destroy someone's innards. Alas, he used a lot of chakra, quickly. If he couldn't kill his opponent with his first blitz, he would tire. Maybe he should just let Danzo break all of his bad traits out of him…

Or, maybe not. It was his current mindset that made him a good candidate. The arrogance would have to be toned down, but otherwise, the Hyuuga's lack of caring about what he did to other individuals would probably save him from loss of morale common among assassins who regretted what they did.

"Sometimes I really hate you, Hideki." Sarutobi sighed and took a drag from his pipe.

"I try my best! Now, when do I get the mask?"

'Don't kill him, don't kill him…' it took the Third Hokage ten seconds of silence to stop his urge to hurt the boy.

"You should consider being more respectful, Hideki. Who knows, one of these days I might just have you relieved from active duty. Or send you on some D-ranks." Seeing his arrogant smirk falter slightly was enough to let Hiruzen know he still had some control over the teen. "Anyways, you'll be given the mask right before you start the mission, tonight, at midnight. You've read the brief, I assume?"

"Yeah, solo, in-village assassination. I'm assuming you chose me because I know the target fairly well?" Hideki's white eyes narrowed inquisitively, but they were alight with a flame of eagerness.

"Your relation to the target has been taken into consideration, yes. You know his style of fighting best."

"Heh. Old Haru was never really a good sensei, anyways. It's kind of poetic, isn't it? A student killing his teacher with their own teachings… yes, this is going to be fun!"

"So… you're mad because Nagato and his friends will be leaving the village, right, Kushina?" Mikoto held up her hand before the Uzumaki could respond, and then pointed her analyzing gaze towards Nagato. "And you're more confused than anything. You, for one, don't think you're leaving the village anytime soon, nor do you know exactly how Kushina came across the information."

"Hey, I told you Minato show- TOLD me!" Kushina shot an accusatory glare at Nagato, who flinched slightly, but didn't back down. Mikoto just sighed and pulled the light blue blanket she was wearing like a cape closer around her shoulders before continuing her tentative job of piecing together the truth from both sides. It seemed she found another kink in Kushina's story.

"You nearly said 'showed.' Care to explain?"

Kushina went wide eyed and tried to cover her mistake up with a nervous giggle. "What? No, no, he just told me about what he figured out! Ehehehe… hehe… heh…"

"Kushina."

"Fine, fine! I was showing him some of the seals from my clan, and he was taking to them pretty quickly so we went and… tested... them."

Mikoto leaned forward inquisitively. "Oh? And what exactly did these seals do? Also, I thought you tried to avoid Minato as much as possible. When did that change, hmm?"

"Uh, well…" Kushina's face became flustered as she tried to piece together her story. "The seals were… for spies…. Umm, one of them, when put on a wall, let you hear through it… So we tried it… on- uh, the Hokage's office, right as Nagato's team was reporting in… Then Yahiko asked when they could go back to Ame, and got really mad when Lord Hokage tried to keep him here…" Kushina looked away from Mikoto's impassive gaze, trying to avoid the discomfort. "As for Minato… he's a cool guy, actually… really good with fuinjutsu, ya know?"

While on the outside Mikoto merely hummed at her answer, the Uchiha's mind was working. 'Now, why would Lord Hokage's office be so poorly guarded that a genin could put a simple seal on the wall, and have it work, of all things?' She shook her head when she realized questioning the Hokage's security was useless, and turned her attention to Nagato. "So, what would your goal be when you return to Ame?"

Nagato froze up now that the attention was on him, quickly recollecting his thoughts and composure. "Well, we plan on taking over Ame and bringing peace to the village. Right now, Amegakure is in the center of most of the Great Nations' conflicts, and is being torn apart by wars that are not its own." Nagato paused, looking down and taking a deep breath. "We want to be strong enough to keep any more people from being drawn into this cycle of hate!"

The emotion in his last sentence stunned the others in the room, only slightly, however, before Mikoto recovered and continued her investigation. "First: To be strong enough, you must be alive, and know the extent of your powers," the black-haired girl said pointedly, looking at his eyes. "Second, what will you do after? Will you lead Ame as a trio? Surely, your ideals can't all be the exact same over so many years? Politics can drive even the closest friends apart…" she added bitterly, seeming to fall into her own thoughts as she mentioned the last part. She shook her head to regain her thought process, before moving on. "What I mean is, each of you trying to lead one country will cause more pain than it's worth. Just… take that into consideration."

From what the Uchiha girl could see on Nagato's face, he wasn't buying it. Or, at least, he was denying the fact. He didn't seem enlightened to the situation, he seemed more… neutral. Like separation from his friends wasn't comprehendible. Mikoto sighed as she realized she had just pushed her own problems onto him, completely ignoring the fact that he could be different.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm a bit of a pessimist when it comes to politics…"

"No, no… It's fine. We'll figure it out; there's no separating us!" Nagato grinned slightly, and his Rinnegan eyes were steeled with determination to face a problem that wouldn't come for years. Kushina grinned at her friends futuristic planning; she even considered laughing when she remembered how many times he erased and rewrote his essay on tactical planning when they were in the Academy.

"Well, now that we figured out one problem… Kushina, what's up?" Mikoto's voice hit a caring tone that hadn't been present for the entire meeting, surprising the Uzumaki girl.

"What do you mean?" Kushina replied, looking honestly confused.

"Well, I can't say I know you perfectly right now, but… You've just been a bit more jittery since about a week ago, especially when relationships are involved. I remember you panicking about how Yahiko's team was doing on their mission, how you thought they might have died. Before that, when we talked to each other on breaks in the Academy, you never had panic attacks like that over anyone, even when you were talking about how Mito was doing."

'There!' Mikoto found it! Inwardly praising her budding detective skills, the Uchiha saw the brief flicker of sadness in her friends eyes. No… it was deeper than sadness. Grief, that was what it was. Mikoto had started entertaining the idea the Kushina's change of mood had something to do with Mito Uzumaki when she mentioned the possibility of Yahiko's team dying, but she didn't have a chance to test her theory until now.

"That old Uzumaki only died a little while ago, right?" The Uchiha took the girl's silence as a yes, but was stopped from continuing when Nagato interjected.

"Wait… back out our house, you said, quote 'It's been so boring since Mito died.' That makes it sound like it happened years ago, and she was an Uzumaki! Why didn't you let me meet her, then?!" Nagato's face turned into a snarl, and his eyes smoldered with anger.

Mikoto would have face palmed if it hadn't required her moving her arm outside her cocoon of warmth that was her blanket. Kushina lied to her friend, who happened to be an orphan, about his family?! She was almost tempted to let Nagato vent on her, but when she looked at the poor girl she seemed to be at the verge of tears. 'Oh, right. She's still in mourning. It's only been about two weeks or so, right? I'd better stop this before any friendships destroyed.'

"Please, calm down, Nagato. It wasn't right of her, no, but you need to take the higher ground here-"

"NO! This was my FAMILY! She just let me go on believing that there were no other Uzumakis! Maybe I would have liked to, I don't know, KNOW I HAD MORE BLOOD RELATIVES IN KONOHA?! Did Mito even know I EXISTED?!"

Kushina couldn't speak. First Mito threw a huge burden on her, and then Nagato blew up at her… She couldn't take it, not now. Not as her body was still adjusting to her new guest. She stood up abruptly, knocking the chair she was previously sitting in on the ground. "I-… I'm sorry, okay?!" Tears falling from her eyes, Kushina ran, opening the door before dashing out and slamming it shut. Before Nagato let his rage take the better of him and followed her, Mikoto had crossed the short distance between chairs, placing a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Stay here for a while, Nagato," the Uchiha commanded firmly, but the effect was almost comedic as she attempted to keep her blanket on her shoulders with only one hand. "You're both having polar reactions; it wouldn't do you any good to be in each other's company now. Please, just sit here and I'll go get some tea, okay?"

Nagato growled, "Fine," and slumped in his chair, resting his face against his right hand.

'Kami, Kushina, why'd you leave me with the angry one?' Mikoto telepathically asked her friend. With the usual lack of response that came with asking rhetorical questions in one's own mind, the Uchiha sighed and braved her next challenge: Making tea without dropping her blanket.

"Okay kiddies, listen up! Today's mission is simple! You're going to help me with my research!" Jiraiya gave an inspiring thumbs-up and a shining smile, but that didn't seem to help his students' moods. Azuma, a fairly dark skinned boy with short-cut black hair and ever-squinting eyes was gazing at his sensei with something akin to disgust. Ah, puberty. Or, in this case, lack there-of.

Hiro, a somewhat pale boy with yellow eyes and dark hair that reached down to his shoulders, shared his teammates sentiment. Damn it, when was his team going to grow some balls?! Yahiko would have gone along with this easily!

Minato surprised him, however. "Sensei, how exactly are we going to help you?"

Interesting. The blonde was showing no outward interest, instead opting for the passive aggressive route of making a show of taking the mission as only a mission. A true closet pervert! Ah, Team Jiraiya had hope yet!

"Thank you for asking, my good student!" The white-haired Toad Sage pulled out three small notepads and pens, giving each set to his students with care, as though they were the most expensive and fragile jewel of all time. "These are your weapons! Your target… the ladies' bath house! Your goal is to find a vantage point, and take notes on whatever you see, without being seen yourself! If you are seen, you fail! This is a test of stealth! The punishment… I won't stop the mob." Jiraiya nodded and gave a quick, lazy salute to his genin. "Good luck! Meet back here in three hours!"

The three genin were left staring at the smoke leftover from Jiraiya's shunshin.

Hiro groaned. "You know, why does he make us do this instead of teaching us the Shunshin no Jutsu he uses to get away from us?"

Azuma seconded his teammates opinion. "He could also teach us a really cool ninjutsu if he wanted to. However, he leaves us with 'stealth training' so we'll do his research for him."

The Namikaze didn't comment; he just turned and began making his way back to the village from their training ground.
"Hey, where are you going?" Hiro called after him.

Minato waved over his shoulder, not bothering to turn around. "I have a mission to complete. If you don't want to join, I can do it myself."

'I wonder how my little genin are doing…' Jiraiya thought to himself with a slight giggle. Hopefully they knew how to take proper notes…

He entered the training grounds to be greeted by a sight of three very different genin. Hiro looked like he had just been beaten by an angry mob (which he probably did).
Azuma looked completely fine, but his notepad didn't even look opened. Jiraiya doubted he had even tried… Oh well! All the more reason to tie him to the post!

Minato was the only one who stepped forward and voluntarily handed him his notebook, the others following his lead.

"Mission complete, sensei. I hope you find my notes acceptable."

How the Namikaze got full height, weight, eye color, blood type, etc. of all twenty-one women in the bath house at the time would puzzle Jiraiya for the rest of his life.
The fact that he had a perfect, full-body drawing of each of them was something the Toad Sage never questioned. He just accepted the unexplainable miracle with a bloody nose.

Author's Notes: AND THERE WE GO! Boom, 4k words. Short by most FF writer's standards, but it's longer for mine, and I plan on increasing the word count for the rest of the chapters. I hope you understand how I worked with the personalities here, specifically Yahiko, Nagato and Kushina.
Kushina is dealing with a rather decent death and is a bit vulnerable right now… but why didn't she tell Nagato about Mito? Hmm… questions…
Nagato is obsessed with his friends and family; they are his lifeline. If he learns he's been in a village with someone in his family and his friend/cousin didn't even think about telling him, of course he'll be pissed! That, on top of the fact she had snapped at him, first.
Yahiko has his mind outside of that problem right now. As he said, his logic is "Nagato can deal with this, I need to get my mind off of it…" He's basically avoiding the problem while it isn't in front of him. He doesn't know anything about Mito, remember.

As for Minato… the boy has skill.

That's it for now! I will try not to get sick this time!
Later,

Nayod.