Chapter Fourteen: Who Is Pein?
Betad by Carrie2sky

"Something is disturbing the rain . . ."

Minato was once again running in the forest and this time, he was heading towards the Rain Country. It was getting colder and colder the closer he got to the Rain Country. He felt that something wasn't going that well.

A shinobi could be heard roaring with laughter.

The brown haired shinobi laughed as Jiraiya tickles him under the arms. His shirt has been ripped off and was lying on the floor, or . . . on the toad's 'bellyfloor.'

"Here, now spill it!" said Jiraiya smirking as he tickled the man.

"Guh . . . pfft . . . uh . . . ugheh . . ." the brown haired man made a lot of different noises as he tried to not laugh or say something to Jiraiya who just continued to smirk.

"Don't give in! Whatever you do, don't give in!" screamed the other blonde shinobi as he looked in horror at his fellow who tried his best to not laugh.

"I'll never be-betray . . . uh . . . gu . . . heh . . ." said the man who was being tickled by Jiraiya, "My fellow . . . heh . . . pfft . . .!" He laughed again.

"You're a bit tougher than I expected . . . seems like this calls for my secret weapon, huh . . ." said Jiraiya as the brown haired man tried to catch his breath from all the laughing. Jiraiya looked at him with disappointment.

"Wh-what do you mean!?" asked the blonde man who looked at Jiraiya in shock and then at his friend in confusion and worry.

"If you're not giving me anything, then I'll use my jutsu to turn you into frogs!" threatened Jiraiya as he looked at the blonde with a devil's smile and eyes. The men didn't say a thing. The blonde just looked at Jiraiya with disbelief as the other man still tried to catch his breath.

Jiraiya looked at them with a shocked and disappointed face. He thought that it would work on them. "I'll . . . turn . . . you . . . two . . . into . . . frogs . . ." he said as he sweatdropped; looking at a different spot than at the men.

The men didn't say a thing; they just looked at Jiraiya who looked back at them with a nervous face.

"GAHAHAHA!" laughed the brown haired shinobi as Jiraiya tickled him again but with not as much enthusiasm as before. "HAHAHAHA!"

"Just what is it you want, anyway!?" screamed the blonde shinobi as he saw his friend getting tickled again.

"There, now spill it!" said Jiraiya as he smirked towards the blonde man.

"We might be underlings, but we're still shinobi, we'll never betray our comrades!" screamed the blonde to Jiraiya who just looked at him as he continued to tickle the other man. "You can't do anything to change that! Don't you dare underestimate us!" he finished with a really, pissed facical expression.

"Hehe . . . well then I have no choice . . ." said Jiraiya with a smirk as he made a hand seal. Ninja art: frog transformation jutsu!

He touched the brown haired man's forehead with a loud slap.

"No . . . don't!" screamed the man as he felt Jiraiya's hand.

POOF

The blonde man looked at a big cloud of smoke where his friend should be. He was shocked when he saw the smoke disappear . . .

"Ribbit, ribbit!"

"You! How could you sink so low!? How could you!?" shouted the blonde at Jiraiya when he saw that his friend was a big yellow frog now.

"And you are the next in line . . ." whispered Jiraiya as he leant towards the blonde with a scary face.

"Pein-sama resides within the tallest of the western towers . . . or so they say," the blonde supplied quickly to avoid the same fate as his friend.

"Oh? What's this? Seems you betrayed your comrades quite easily . . . huh . . .?" mocked Jiraiya and smiled a crooked smile as he looked at the blonde with creepy eyes. The blonde blushed and looked away as he pouted.

"But whatever . . . what did you mean by 'or so they say?" asked Jiraiya with a serious face.

"The things is . . . nobody really knows all that much about Pein-sama," explained the blonde as if he were talking to a friend rather than an enemy.

"And by that you mean?" asked Jiraiya again with a confused and worried face.

"It's said that his blood is that of the Fuuma-clan . . . but no one knows exactly what he looks like, and there is even those who suggest he doesn't truly exist," said the blonde as he looked down at his feet.

"Ah, but just from strolling about this city . . . almost everyone mentioned his name, and with the utmost respect . . . don't trifle with me now!" Jiraiya bellowed, rapidly loosing his patience.

"In this city Pein-sama is effectively a god . . . whether he physically exists or not isn't of issue . . . he looks over and protects us at all times. From foes and from other things that may be a threat towards our villages and country . . ." answered the blonde with a deep frown on his face, "Events of celebrations, speeches, decrees . . . every one of his words are transmitted through proxy."

"But he's your leader, correct? Why would he need to conceal his identity?" asked Jiraiya, who now had a thoughtful look on his face. He looked away from the man for a moment.

"For situations like 'this' obviously . . ." answered the blonde, still frowning.

"Fair enough . . ." said Jiraiya as he lifted a brow.

"You . . . you're not part of the remnants of the former Amagakure, are you?" asked the blonde with a confused face. "Who are you anyway?"

"That's non of your concern . . . but tell me, just what do you mean by 'remnants of the former Amagakure?'" asked Jiraiya again; a deep frown on his face.

"Heh . . . you really don't know anything, do you?" said the blonde and looked back at Jiraiya. "An outsider, huh . . .? Until just a short time ago the remnant faction would infiltrate us at every chance they got, looking to kill Pein-sama . . . of course such worries are behind us . . . if someone could hope sneak and blend in here it'd be a lucky outsider, such as yourself," finished the blonde with a smirk.

"No more worries? And that would mean just what? I 'have' been told you're in the middle of a civil war," said Jiraiya as he looked at the blonde with confusion.

"I'd expect as much. This country is quite isolationistic, here I'll tell you . . ." said the blonde with a smirk, "This civil war is over with, and we won! And that's the reason Pein-sama is a legend, he destroyed Amagakure all by himself."

Jiraiya looked in shock at the blonde who just had told him that the great Amagakure had been defeated. "Impossible . . ." he whispered, mostly to himself.

"Regardless of how strong this pain may be, Amagakure's leader 'Salamander Hanzou', is renowned to the point that every shinobi everywhere will recongnize the name!" said the blonde and he got more serious for each word he said. "And possessing not only immense power, Hanzou was highly cautious approaching his side being a feat in itself. Personal guards were stationed right by him in twenty four hours rotation, and security was to the point thet even children were searched before meeting him," said the blonde and sighed at the last part.

"And just how was Hanzou killed?" demanded Jiraiya with a growing rage inside him. "What are Pein's abilities?"

"I already told you, didn't I? We don't know anything about him!" answered the blonde.

Jiraiya tried to keep himself calm. He thought back about the Hanzou he had once met.

"This battle, in all likelihood will end in Konoha's vicory . . ." said Hanzou a man dressed as a Rain Country nin. "I'll spare your lives but . . ."

"I don't want your mercy!" screamed a younger Jiraiya who leant against a younger Tsunade. "I can still fight!" he shouted, through the heavy rainfall.

"Jiraiya! Don't!" screamed Tsunade.

"The three of you are strong . . ." continued Hanzou as if he hadn't been interrupted and he looked down at Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru who stood on a bloody War field. "Even within this strife, you survived," he continued. "I, Hanzou, will hereby honor you as the 'Sannin of Konoha.' In exchange for you lives, you shall refer to yourself as such," he finished.

Jiraiya sighed as he closed his eyes. "I can't believe it . . . how could Hanzou possibly have been beaten by one single man?" asked Jiraiya as he opened his eyes again and looked at the blonde.

"Heh . . . this is a god we're talking about, his jutsu are quite fearsome," said the blonde and smiled again. "But the true horror of Pein-sama is not his jutsu . . ." Jiraiya looked in shock and confusion at him. "The true horror lies in his strong and ruthless heart of blades."

Jiraiya was even more shocked and confused than before.

"Those who might threaten his ideals are crushed without remorse . . . he did not kill only Hanzou himself, but also after murdering his parents, wife and children, he extended his terror to all of Hanzou's relatives and friends, even their babies, and then, after burning all their houses, he turned to clients of the villages that maintained connections, killing all . . . everything was reduced no nothing," said the blonde and he seemed both scared and shocked himself that their leader were such a human, if he even was human.

Jiraiya was also shocked at the news and couldn't really believe what he heard. How could a single man do all that and be so . . . horrifying . . .

"It was judgment, exactly like that of a god . . ."

Not far from Jiraiya and the blonde man, Pein was walking inside a building. He touched a wall inside a large room and a huge hole was created out of it. Pein entered and everything was pitch black.

He lay down in a machine of some kind that resembled a bed but when he lay down he fell asleep at once. After that something else was moving inside the room . . .the bodies of six Akatsuki members . . .

"Well then . . . time to hunt the intruder," said another man who also lay in a machine that looked like a bed.

Minato was coming closer to the Rain Country. It was raining very heavily now, but he didn't care, he had to find Hanzou who he knew was the leader over the Rain Country. Or . . .

Naruto lay on the floor. Not thinking about anything: he only felt pain.

His eyes were dull and tears were streaming down his checks. He was dirty and had wounds all over his body. Both fresh and dry blood was on his skin, clothes, floor and the quilt he was lying on.

"He's only a kid! Why are you treating him like this!?" screamed a man in blue clothes to a woman who stood looking at her reflection in a mirror.

"He's not a normal kid. He knows what will happen if he won't behave properly," answered the woman. "He's not like other children."

"But still! He's only a little child! Why are you hurting him so much!?" screamed the man.

The woman was really pissed at him. She looked away from the mirror and locked the man's gaze with her own.

"Because I can," she answered with an evil smile that gave the man in front of her chills down his spine.

"A God, huh?" said Jiraiya and raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly," answered the blonde man who still was stuck in the toad's belly wall.

Jiraiya closed his eyes for a moment. "Well then, what is it this god of yours is trying to do?" he asked. "Low ranking as you may be, you should know at least something, right?"

"It's the work of a god. How could we ever hope to know?" said the blonde with a smirk.

"I see . . . then enough with your god, how about you tell me some relating to Akatsuki?" said Jiraiya and he was really beginning to lose his patience.

"No can do, don't know what it is," said the blonde in a mocking tone and Jiraiya looked at him with controlled calm.

"Note your arms and legs, I've got them restrained so you can't move, but that's not all . . ." said Jiraiya with an evil smile, "I'm also monitoring you pulse. That means when you lie, I know immediately. Now spill it, anything and everything," said Jiraiya and raised his hand towards the man. "If you don't, you'll be dining on flies and other swamp bugs for the rest of your life!"

"Guh . . ." said the blonde. "Go ahead, make me a frog or whatever! I'm not telling one more damned thing!" he screamed and Jiraiya just looked at him. "Even us underlings have our pride, that of a shinobi! I don't have anything else to tell an outsider who doesn't know a thing about our country!"

Jiraiya continued to simply look at the man who now was panting heavily after yelling so much.

"Heh . . . lowly as you are, still a shinobi, huh? Very well, interrogation doesn't fit my personality well anyhow. Our talk will end here, but you'll have to stay here for the time being. Perhaps I'll get the rest of my information from that god of yours," said Jiraiya as he went through a large hole in the belly of his toad. The hole closed and the man was left alone as Jiraiya came into a huge platform.

He made an earth hand seal and a frog appeared in his mouth. It jumped out and a large pillar followed it until the frog and the while pillar was out of Jiraiya's mouth.

"Jiraiya! What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, bringing me out here!? You know quite well about 'Naruto's key." Said the frog and crossed his arms.

The pillar the frog stood on was standing on the belly floor and it reached about four or five metres above the ground.

"Oh no, I'm not planning on more training," answered Jiraiya. "Certain circumstances have me wanting you to stay out here for the time being."

"Stay out, you say?" repeated the frog. "What's going on?"

"I'll be fighting a slightly tough opponent, so . . ." began Jiraiya but got interrupted by the frog.

"Heh . . . someone so strong that you need to let me get away beforehand?" said the frog with a frown and a smirk.

"This is just in case, but anyway, I need to be stamping the storage release order now," said Jiraiya and the big pillar the frog had been standing on, was actually a huge scroll that rolled itself up in front of Jiraiya. Jiraiya held his hand up to the paper, which contained a lot of text and a seal.

He put his hand on a square with burning fingers. "Alright!" he said as he finished.

"And how long will you be?" asked the frog as the scroll closed again.

"I shouldn't be too long, but just in case something happens to me, store yourself with Naruto and . . ." but he got interrupted again and this time by a very angry frog.

"What the heck are you saying!? It's my belly that has the key matching Naruto's hake seal drawn on it!" screamed the frog in fury. "And with each year the fourth's seal weakens! This key was left so that the seal could be reinforced should the need present itself! How could you think of putting such an important key on the very safe it matches!?"

Jiraiya smirked, he was going to scare the frog, just a little bit. "Nonetheless, that key was left behind by Minato himself, at some point it should become Naruto's," he said and tried to keep himself from laughing.

"HE ISN'T READY YET!" screamed the frog and Jiraiya sighed. "Surely you haven't forgotten what happened before when you convinced me to twist the shishou seal just a bit, because I can't imagine you have!" at that comment Jiraiya's face became very serious.

"No I haven't, but Minato's choice to entrust the key's jutsu design is, for me . . . a clear sign that he intended Naruto to one day complete 'that' jutsu," said Jiraiya and wasn't sure if he was going to tell the frog what had happened yet.

"But does Naruto have any need for that in the first place!?" said the frog and he was really mad. "He isn't even capable of controlling the nine-tail's chakra! From just opening the seal a crack, Naruto's chakra was pushed aside, the nine-tail's chakra gushed out, and Naruto was taken over by it. Speaking of the fourth's intentions, it's safe to say that opening the seal more and causing Naruto to fully become the nine-tails would be strictly against them!"

"Minato only sealed the nine-tails yin chakra using the Shiki Fūjin. The very reason Minato went to the trouble of splitting the nine-tails chakra into two, only sealing that yang chakra into Naruto, was so that he could leave it for Naruto's own use," said Jiraiya. "Still, why would one seal the nine-tails chakra in his very own child?"

"Who knows? Perhaps Naruto happened to he his most or only viable option for the jutsu, or of not, surely wanting to leave power behind for one's child is the very definition of parent love," said the frog and Jiraiya smirked which would have caused the frog to raise an eyebrow, if he had had one.

"I am Minato's master, so I know him quite well . . ." Jiraiya answered, which confused the frog; am? "He's not the type to do things without a reason, you see, Minato knows of something, something of grave importance, and if because of that something he chose to entrust the nine-tails to his own son . . ."

"You're just thinking to deep," said the frog, which caused Jiraiya to stop talking for a moment.

"It's said that the nine-tails was a naturally occurring disaster that just happened to strike Konoha," said Jiraiya again. "But recently I've begun to doubt whether that truly is the case."

"Huh?" asked the frog in more confusion.

"I'm certain that it was the result of a very intentional summoning . . ."

"Are you crazy or what!? The nine-tails is an age-old natural disaster that suddenly appears from nowhere when human malice collects festers!" screamed the frog again and Jiraiya was getting tired of its screaming. "Besides, no one could possibly exist capable of summoning something such as the nine-tails!"

"I know but there was one, just one . . ." said Jiraiya and closed his eyes again; thinking.

"Who?" asked the frog when Jiraiya didn't answer at first.

"Founder of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Madara."

"RIBBIT! CROAK! RIBBIT!" laughed the frog as he held his stomach and Jiraiya just looked at the frog in front of him. "Spare me! Uchiha Madara lived at the founding of Konoha! There's no way in the seven hells that he'd been alive just fifteen years ago!"

"Granted," said Jiraiya. "Uchiha Madara having be defeated by the first Hokage at the Valley of the End is something known to all. Still, Minato and I have a really bad feeling about this. It's a premonition that just won't go away."

"What do you mean you and Minato? Minato is dead," said the frog and looked down at Jiraiya.

"Just lets say that if we entrust Naruto with the key, Minato will be there to help out," Jiraiya answered cryptically, and crossed his arms as he smiled a huge smile from ear to ear.

"You're . . . you're telling me that the Fourth's alive?" asked the frog as he pointed at Jiraiya who smiled wider, if that even was possible.

"Yup!"

"WHAT!?"