Wow, this came out of the blue, though I'm glad it did. This should provide something more interesting, without having to concern too much with description. Ah well, I'll let you read it, it's what you're here for right? How lame would it be to spoil it in the note? In any case, I'd give this coup a chapter or two more, though I've been saying that to myself for a while now. Eh, anyway. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Well I'm about ready to see more of Sessho- I mean Utakata. Also wondering if we'll get to see more of Danzo's pet heffalump in time.

Hunting in the rain

"Now… find pea-" Nagato began, before cocking a brow in curiosity, "Hm?"

He and Konan both stared as the paper that enwrapped Hanzo's body suddenly ignited, bursting into a column of pale blue flames. Konan stepped back, severing her connecting to the paper before she too was set ablaze.

The paper quickly turned to ashes, scattering on the floor. The smoke and flames served to completely obscure Hanzo's form, though from what could be seen he was in no way reacting to the fire.

"Stand down Konan." Nagato ordered, as Konan began to lower her stance. She looked at him once, seeing the seriousness in his eyes, before obeying. She stood back, staring cautiously as the blue fire lit up her face, "So even such a small salamander can produce that much of the substance. Interesting."

As suddenly as they'd appeared, the flames were gone, leaving Hanzo standing on a circle of blackened wood. He brought his arms together in a seal, running through a series too fast fir the naked eye to make out. He was about to cast his Jutsu, when suddenly Nagato and Konan disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Damn." Hanzo cursed, his hands dropping to his sides. His eyes then shot up, as the room darkened a little.

"Fair attempt, but it will require more subtle measures." the Asura realm said, "And I think a change of pace is due."

Hanzo growled, whipping around and throwing a kunai with an explosive tag straight at Pein, who dodged out of the way. Hanzo used the distraction to run through more hand seals.

"Salamander slime strike!" he called, pulling down his respirator. He opened his mouth and threw his head forward, spitting a large ball of blue mucus at Pein, who had just landed on the floor. Without time to dodge, he was hit head on, the mucus splattering his body in a messy heap. Hanzo then ran for the hole in the wall, tossing another explosive kunai at Pein.

"Hmm…" Pein thought, as he found the mucus too sticky to break free from, "Interesting."

Hanzo flew out of the hole again as orange and blue flames followed him. But this time he clung to the wall, scanning the area carefully. To his knowledge, there were still at least four threats, unless the real Pein was the one who summoned that crustacean. If not, then that threat had been here at the time, but he couldn't be certain now.

He slid down the wall, gradually building speed as he made his descent. A rustling sound alerted him to another presence, and he glanced over his shoulder. He cursed.

Both the Human and Preta realms pursued Hanzo closely. Pein had decided that Hanzo would require more than a single realm, and now chose to test his abilities. His opponent had so far proven to be quite resourceful.

Hanzo ran through his seals again, turning around in the process. He held onto the last seal, the ram, before using the same Jutsu again. His mouth bulged, and he fired several smaller mucus projectiles, aiming for both realms as he repeatedly fired.

The two realms split off in either direction, and flanked Hanzo on both sides. Knowing his attack would be ineffective now, he dropped the seal and kicked off the building, flying down at a much faster speed. The two realms retaliated with the same, dropping of and pinning their arms to their sides. Hanzo watched them from the corner of his eye, before suddenly pulling himself back onto the building. The two realms flew past, doing the same moments later. But before they could turn around, Hanzo was upon them, with flaming blue fists. He threw his fist at the Human realm, counting on the momentary distraction. But to his shock, the Human realm not only blocked the attack, he grabbed Hanzo's fist.

"Gah!" Hanzo grunted, as his hand was crushed by Pein's grip. He quickly pulled away, nursing his hand while glaring at the realms. Seeing the vaguest reflection in the Human realm's eyes, he glanced back. The Deva realm stood behind him, ready and waiting, "So you can summon yourself then?"

Pein didn't reply, he simply watched Hanzo, waiting for the next move. He was curious about what his opponent would do, now that he could no longer perform hand seals.

Hanzo was only angered further by Pein's stoic attitude, but he knew it was too dangerous to try and fight from this position. But he also doubted he cold get out of it easily. He looked around, as he formulated a plan.

"Very well then." he sighed, pushing his respirator back in place with his uninjured hand. He then threw his head down, letting out a harsh exhale.

Each of the realm's eyes narrowed as black smoke suddenly burst from the respirator, blinding them. Deva realm leapt off the building, knowing that Hanzo would be trying to use the smoke as cover to escape. He turned around and watched the cloud, waiting for the first sign of his opponent. He hit the wall of the building opposite, and pressed his back against it.

The smoke cloud rose up, revealing Preta realm first, and then Human. But there was no sign of Hanzo, just a hole in the wall of the tower.

"Of course." Pein muttered, as he once again wondered what Hanzo was up to.

* * * * *

Naruto, Gaara and Haruka walked along the streets, taking their time as they went. Haruka looked around the empty buildings, up to the windows. The civilians were aware that the rain had stopped, but now they also realised that it was safer for them to stay indoors. That was good, though the constantly prying eyes were a little unnerving.

"Damn it, Jirou's sure making progress." Haruka muttered, running a hand through her hair. She then glanced back, looking mainly at Naruto, "We're lagging, you tired?"

"Nah… I'm fine." Naruto replied, though his breathing showed otherwise. All the Kage Bunshin and Futon Jutsu had taken a lot out of him, and his opponents hadn't been keen to let up. As it was, his legs felt more than a little heavy.

"Damn, you're exhausted." Haruka muttered, reaching into her pouch, "Here, eat this."

Naruto stared at the tiny brown pill in her hand, a blank look on his face.

"It's a ration pill." Haruka explained, with patience that according to Jirou meant she still had plenty of energy, "We can't afford to stop, so this is the next best thing."

Naruto glanced up at her, before gingerly reaching out and taking it between his fingers. As he studied it closer, Haruka reached into her pouch again.

"You need one too?" she asked, though considering the way his eyes were, it was hard to tell.

"I don't need things like that." Gaara replied, indifferently. Haruka just shrugged, taking her empty hand back out. She then turned to Naruto, who was still staring stupidly at the pill.

Feeling Gaara and Haruka's eyes on him, Naruto quickly made a decision and popped the pill into his mouth, letting it sit on his tongue. He then realised something, and gave Haruka a questioning look. She sighed.

"Chew it." She said, rolling her eyes. Naruto's expression turned to understanding, and he bit into the pill. Almost instantly, he regretted it.

"Urh… that's bitter." he grumbled, swallowing hard.

"Yeah yeah, suck it up." Haruka replied, turning and continuing, "Now come on."

Naruto nodded, following her as she sped up to a fast walk. But as he did so, he couldn't help but blink. The taste of that pill was still in his mouth, and he had a slight heated sensation in his throat, that was quite uncomfortable. After just a few moments of swallowing, his breath felt warmer as it passed his lips, as if he himself were increasing in temperature. It wasn't until he realised this, that he noticed he was also blinking faster, his eyes darting around slightly. What was going on?!

Up ahead, Haruka increased her pace further, turning from walking to running. Gaara joined easily, and after a moment, so did Naruto. He was surprised by how easy it was to keep up, despite the fact that he'd been ready to fall asleep just about anywhere a minute ago. But now, he seemed to be experiencing an unsettledness, like he just wasn't comfortable being still. A warm sweat began to gather on his joints, where the old sweat had cooled. It was a little jarring, but the longer it went on, the less Naruto cared. In the space of just a few seconds, he'd gone from running to sprinting.

"Hold on their rusher!" Haruka called, grabbing his collar as he passed her, "Don't burn that stuff off before you have to!"

"Huh? Right!" Naruto replied, slowing down a little. Haruka shook her head, she hadn't expected him to have this little restraint, "So how do you think he'll be doing?"

"Knowing Jirou, he's-" Haruka began, before her brow suddenly twitched in annoyance, "Actually, I'd rather not think about it."

Naruto looked at Haruka curiously, she had quite a scary look on her face right now. He hoped for Jirou's sake that whatever Haruka thought he was doing, he wasn't.

"Hey Gaara-san." Naruto said, slowing down to keep pace with him, "You got any more of those containers stashed around?"

Gaara glanced at Naruto, seemingly deciding if he felt like replying. In this case, Naruto was fortunate.

"I do." he answered, looking ahead again, "But it doesn't matter if we can't get close to them. And there are an abundance of Suiton users in the area."

"Oh." Naruto muttered, before grinning, "Well don't worry, I'll watch your back!"

Gaara looked at Naruto with restrained surprise, but the boy was already speeding up again. He found himself watching Naruto's cloak, billowing as they ran.

"He should be around here." Haruka said, looking at the opening to the left, "But be careful, he's got company."

Naruto and Gaara followed her as she came to the corner leading to the next street. She pressed her back against the damp wall, her head close to the edge. Naruto and Gaara stood in front of her, making sure neither could be seen by those in the next street. Then, slowly, they peered around the corner.

Naruto's jaw dropped.

"Aaand, one and two and three and four!" Jirou called, doing squats and other such exercises. In front of him, three enemy Shinobi and a Kunoichi followed his movements perfectly, all of whom wore expressions of pure rage on their faces. Each of them looked desperate to kill him, while Jirou himself seemed to be having the time of his life.

"What is he-" Naruto began, looking up at Haruka, "Huh?"

Somehow he'd failed to notice, but Haruka had disappeared. He glanced around, there was no sign of her. Then, getting an idea, he looked back into the street. Haruka dropped off the wall of a building, flying straight down to her team mate.

"JIROU!!!" she bellowed, smashing her fist into the back of his head, "QUIT SCREWING AROUND!!!"

Jirou fell flat on his face from the impact, each of the other nin staying in perfect synchronisation and hitting the ground as well.

"Whoa!" Jirou cried, looking round at Haruka in alarm, "Careful, you nearly broke my seal!"

"I break more than that if you keep this up!" Haruka growled in reply, "Now get a move on!"

"Ok! Ok!" Jirou hastily said, getting to his feet while maintaining his seal while the others stood too. He then moved through another series of seals, holding the last one, "Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu!"

Naruto watched in wonder as what looked like black hands suddenly spread across the enemy ninja's bodies, heading up to their heads. The hands reached out and gripped their throats, squeezing tight. Each of the nin gasped for air, as if they were really being strangled. Then suddenly, their eyes rolled back in their heads and they fell limp. Jirou released his seal and they fell to the ground, dead.

"Whoa…" Naruto breathed, stepping out into the street. Gaara walked with him as they rejoined Haruka and Jirou, the former berating the latter for acting stupidly.

"Come on, they ganged up on me!" Jirou said, in a poor defence, "Four on one was hardly fair, so I got revenge on them!"

"You're a ninja for crying out loud!" Haruka yelled, "Things aren't supposed to be fair!"

Naruto did what he could not to involve himself in their bickering, but his blood was still pumping pretty fast, and all the yelling was getting him excited.

"Shouldn't we be moving?" Gaara asked, saving Naruto the trouble, "We're not too far now."

Haruka let out a low sigh, before turning to the two younger Shinobi.

"Yeah, we got a job to do." she replied, giving Jirou a side wards glance that made him grin nervously, "Problem is Kohaku's pretty good at masking his chakra, so finding him won't be easy."

"He is probably the stealthiest." Jirou admitted, with a nod. Haruka shot Jirou a dangerous look.

"You. Are . A. Ninja." she slowly repeated, "Don't say stuff like that so casually!"

"Ok, ok, my bad!" Jirou quickly said, raising his hands in surrender, "He'll be heading to the tower, so we'll probably run into him on the way if we hurry."

"Fine, now let's go." Haruka said, in a voice that invited no challenge, and was definitely given none.

* * * * *

It was the Human realm who investigated, nearing the hole and looking within. It was difficult to resist the acrid smell of whatever Hanzo had used to break through the wall. Though whatever t was, it had both burned and melted the wall, the edges had taken on a glassy shine. Pein looked in through the darkness, the smoke rising around him.

He snapped back, just as a blue form darted out of the hole, its powerful jaws clamping on the air where the Human realm's head had been. It was another salamander, one the size and colour of a shark. Unlike Hitokage, this one had visible eyes, these ones dark and fast. And on its back, sitting on a black crest, was Hanzo, and another.

The man who sat behind Hanzo looked like nothing more than a simple guard. His head and eyebrows were shaved, kept clean and unhindered. He wore a tight black uniform, slacks and a jacket. Overall there was nothing remarkable about him at all. What was more, Pein new nothing of this stranger, but there was one certainty. Hanzo was incapable, so this man must have been the one to summon the salamander.

The salamander crawled rapidly out of the hole, clinging to the wall as it snapped at the retreating Human realm. The Preta realm also backed off, keeping a low stance as he watched Hanzo closely. The salamander detected their movements however, and darted downwards to the ground below. It lashed out with its tail in passing, forcing both the Preta and Human realm's to leap off the wall. They both joined the Deva realm on the other building as the salamander reached the ground, before the three of them dropped off the wall themselves. They landed all around the salamander, which whipped its head around and hissed angrily.

"With me!" Hanzo called, planting his hands upon the salamanders back. The salamander seemed to settle, before like Hitokage, it started to convulse, "Katon: Salamander Cannon!"

The salamander's mouth burst open and from it, flaming globs of its mucus fired out, arcing through the air at Pein's realms. Human and Preta both rolled out of the way, while Deva realm leapt up into the air above the beast and it's masters.

"Bansho Ten'in." he called, with his hand outstretched. The salamander and its riders looked around in alarm as they were suddenly ripped off the ground and thrown in the air. Deva realm passed them as they shot up, he landed behind the Preta realm. The Human realm moved in next, jumping into the air as the salamander descended again. With a quick kick, he sent the lizard flying into the nearby building, cracking the walls. Hanzo and his subordinate however, were unharmed.

The salamander landed on the ground, crumpling in a heap immediately. Hanzo and the other leapt off, landing on the ground a distance from the paths of Pein. Hanzo turned to face his associate with his respirator lowered, while the associate looked deep into his eyes. Then, shockingly, they both began forming hand seals, Hanzo borrowing the hand of the person with him.

"What?!" Pein thought, watching closely. He read the seals, his eyes allowing him to see the pattern most could not. He knew exactly what Hanzo was doing, "… but on this level…"

Too interested to intervene, Pein simply prepared for the outcome, waiting until the two finished their seals. Then they bit into the thumbs of both their hands, before slamming them onto the ground.

"Grand Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" they called simultaneously. Then, they both disappeared in a wall of smoke so large, even Pein's bodies disappeared in moments. Though even now, interest filled Pein's mind more than caution.

"It's good that Animal realm remains up there." he thought, as hisses filled his ears, "I will enjoy the view."

Unbeknownst to Hanzo, through the Animal realm, Pein had all the other realms summoned away, leaving the Ame leader and his assistant to the aftermath of their actions. The smoke thinned out into the air, and slowly, Hanzo's Jutsu was revealed.

Salamanders. Dozens of salamanders. Varying in size and colour, an entire colony of the creatures filled the street, their hissing and beating tails was a storm of life. They all turned to the only warm shapes in the area, Hanzo and his assistant.

"FIND THE WARM ONES!" Hanzo yelled, "TRAP ALL WHO WALK THE STREETS, BUT KILL NO ONE!"

The salamanders immediately obeyed, scattering in every direction. Pein watched from above, a frown appearing on his brow.

"This is a problem." he muttered. He had many summoning contracts, but none provided a beast that could take on this number of opponents without endangering the civilians hiding in their homes. The Asura realm was still recovering, he was the only one suited for such a task. Therefore, he had no choice but to try Animal realm.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" the Animal realm called, placing his hand on the pipes behind him. A giant seal spread across the structure, and more smoke appeared. That cloud was soon destroyed though, as what looked like a giant bird burst through it.

The salamanders all turned their heads as they heard the bird's shrill screech. Though none of them could make it out perfectly, its murky brown body possessed three legs and wings, while it dirty yellow beak was almost as big as the rest of it. It possessed the chakra receiving pierces of Pein, and the Rinnegan that came along with it. It darted through the air at high speeds, making it hard for the salamanders to follow.

Pein looked through the eyes of the great bird, controlling it in the same way he did through his realms. The bird circled the tower, taking in the land below carefully. The salamanders quickly lost interest in their distant target, and had continued to storm the streets in a rush to seek heat.

"Hmm… it seems the smaller ones do not require the sustenance of fire." Pein thought, "That is troublesome."

He circled the tower once more, before taking a high rise, followed by a sharp dive.

* * * * *

"Hey Jirou-san, what was that Jutsu you used?" Naruto asked, as the four of them ran through the empty streets. Jirou, who had removed his helmet, glanced at Haruka, but she was too far away to hear. Under that knowledge, he grinned at Naruto with a look of self importance.

"It's just a little something I… "acquired" over the years." he replied, before thumbing himself in the chest, "Inside Ame, I'm known as Jirou. But outside these walls, the call me the "Hiden Thief"!"

"Hiden Thief?" Naruto repeated, with a confused look.

"Yeah!" Jirou replied, "That one you saw there, was one of my prouder achievements, the Hiden Jutsu of Konohagakure's Nara clan!"

Naruto raised his brow in surprise. He knew he had seen that Jutsu somewhere, his old friend Shikamaru's dad had used something like that on him when Naruto had tried to break his grounded son out of his room.

"So you actually managed to get that?!" Naruto asked, recalling how desperately he'd tried to get Nara Shikaku to teach him that. Jirou gave a smug grin, before-

"SHREEEEEEE!!!"

Naruto's eyes flew to the sky, just like everyone else's. Through the buildings to the visible tower up ahead, a giant bird soared around the summit, its monstrous form shocking Naruto greatly.

"What the hell is that?!" Jirou yelled, taking a step forward.

"Hell if I know!" Haruka replied, with equal volume, "Is it a friendly?"

Naruto stared up at the giant bird, when he thought he caught sight of something. He narrowed his eyes, but he just couldn't make out for certain.

"Gaara-san-" he began, looking to the red haired boy. But he was already on it, his fingers held over his closed right eye.

"Give me a moment." he said, pausing slightly. Haruka and Jirou both looked at him curiously, wondering what it was he was doing. After the moment he asked for, his open eye met Naruto's, "It's him."

Naruto immediately looked skyward again, fixing his eyes back onto the bird. Now that he had Gaara's confirmation, those black spots were easier to make out.

"Him?" Haruka repeated, looking between the two, "Who?"

Naruto looked at Haruka in surprise, as he remembered that neither she nor Jirou knew about Pein. He immediately saw the risk of the situation, they thought Konan was their leader, for whatever reasons Pein had. He had to come up with a quick answer, to avoid suspicion.

"God's on our side." he replied, figuring what Konan would say in this situation.

"Moron."

He regretted it instantly. But as luck would have it, Haruka seemed to notice something.

"I can sense Kohaku!" she said, looking down the street, "And… he's fighting something, no, things!"

"Lead the way!" Jirou replied, quickly shoving his helmet back on. Haruka nodded, and the four of them began running again, following her closely. Feeling a sense of unease, Naruto drew Ekokaeten, who picked up on his agitation.

"Relax, this is gonna be fine!"

Naruto nodded, sincerely hoping the blade was right. He wasn't looking forward to encountering whatever it was that caused Haruka to react in such a way.