DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, FAIRY TAIL, OR ANY ASSOCIATED CHARACTERS

Another short one here, but it's full of exposition and setting up the next arc, so bear with me. I'll also be introducing scenes with other people besides the wizards from now on. The reason I haven't before is simply because it was not needed for the story, and would only prolong it and make the earlier chapters generally boring. This chapter, however, marks the beginning of some of the more major events. Anyways, read, review, and as always, enjoy!

Chapter 19

The sky was a single color, for dark rain clouds stretched as far as the eye could see. The village that it rained on below had earned its name from these such storms. Though nowadays, the rain only ceased when their god of a leader, Pain, deemed it so.

Said leader was lounging on the edge of one of the balconies, allowing the rain to flow down his body, pattering against his cloak. The dark fabric, adorned with the red clouds of the organization that he'd helped found, and was now the sole leader of. His orange hair was matted against his head, the water having soaked it to his scalp. The cold air gave an icy feeling to the piercings that covered his face.

He sat, contemplating life, until his only remaining friend, Konan, approached from behind. "It's time," she said.

Pain rose to his feet and followed her into the dark room where they conducted these meetings. He sat upon a small cushion, Konan facing him. They both made the same hand sign, projecting their consciousnesses to another location, shimmering apparitions taking the place of their real bodies.

One by one, the other members of the organization formed in a circle around them. When they had all appeared, Pain scanned each of them. They had lost Sasori, a huge blow, for the only one ready to take his place was Tobi, who only Pain knew the truth about. Deidara was not happy about being teamed with the blubbering fool, but Pain had better things to do than reorganize their operating procedures because of one man's personal preference.

"There has been a development," he said, his voice demanding to be heard. "Danzo and Orochimaru's alliance was unexpected. Nevertheless, they failed, and in doing so, have hindered our plans. While the Leaf ninja repair their village, they will be more vigilant than ever. It is no longer possible to conduct operations in the Land of Fire."

"Aww, come on! We were just about to head there once we find that Two-Tails chick!" a young man complained. Not much of their details could be seen, but they all knew that it was the loud and outspoken immortal worshipper of Jashin, Hidan.

The figure to his right, another man hailed as immortal, growled deeply at his teammate. "Hidan, shut up!"

"Aw, come on, Kakuzu! Don't tell me you agree with this! I know you were looking forward to capturing another jinchuriki!" Hidan shot back.

"Hidan, SHUT UP!" Kakuzu yelled.

"Silence!" Pain boomed. "Once you have captured the Two Tails and we have sealed her, the pair of you will lay low until new opportunities arise. The rest of you, continue with your assignments. We will reconvene once the Two Tails is in our possession."

The Akatsuki members all disappeared one by one, with Pain and Konan the last to leave. When their eyes fluttered open in their bodies, Pain rose wordlessly, and Konan followed.

"Jiraiya-sensei defended the Leaf village from Orochimaru," Konan said.

"I know."

"He will come here."

"I expect he will," Pain agreed. "But I shall show him the power of a god."

Their destination was ahead, a large metal door. When they reached it, it slid aside for Pain, and the pair of them walked in. Metal lined the walls, and there were several closed containers for bodies. One was still open, the one that Pain moved towards.

"There are rumors that the Leaf village has acquired some new allies," Konan informed.

Pain sat on the tray. "It matters not. The Akatsuki's mission will be completed, and the world will suffer."

He lay down on the tray, and it slid into the wall, enveloping the Akatsuki leader in darkness.

Itachi slowly rose to his feet, feeling the usual stab of pain in his chest. The illness that had been plaguing him was worsening, and its toll was clear on his body. Kisame stirred next to him, twisting his head to loosen the crick that had developed.

"Deidara seems quite irritated, being paired up with that masked fool after all," he laughed.

Itachi remained silent, staring up at the clouds forming overhead. He never made small talk, something that Kisame did very well. The man that resembled a shark had a talent for carrying on a conversation even if the other person didn't respond.

"The trail of the four tails, how cold is it?" Itachi asked.

"Not cold at all, we're closing in on it without a doubt. We may have even captured it already if it weren't for those meetings we keep having to attend," Kisame said, fingering the Akatsuki ring on his hand.

Itachi scoffed. "Our leader. Pain. What does he know of pain?" he asked, more of a rhetorical question.

"Better not let him hear you say that," Kisame chuckled lightly, an amused grin revealing his sharpened teeth.

Itachi dropped his head as the rain began to fall. "Pain is natural to those like you and me. Comrades have been killed by our hands. When all of this is over, neither of us will die a decent death."

Kisame smirked as he stood to his feet, intending to head into the forest behind him for cover from the rain. "You said that to me when we first met. Are you reminiscing, Itachi?" he chuckled.

Itachi's eyes looked sad and forlorn as he stared off the small cliff he sat upon, allowing the rain to anoint him. "Even so, you and I are alike in more ways than one, Kisame."

The former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen shouldered Samehada as he looked down at his partner. "I'm getting out of this rain, you coming, Itachi?" he asked, turning to walk towards the canopy.

Itachi never moved. The rain and cold would worsen his sickness, and weaken him, he knew. But perhaps that was his goal.

Nearly a week had passed since the attempted coup by Danzo and Orochimaru. So far, the village had recovered surprisingly well. All efforts had turned to reconstruction after the battle, with everyone lending a hand aside from the medical units, who were still busy tending to the wounded at the hospital.

Gray, Natsu, and Gajeel had pitched in to help as well. The two dragon slayers' raw strength came handy as they moved around lumber and other construction materials, while Gray created scaffoldings out of pure ice. Said scaffoldings provided cool air around the construction sites so that the heat wouldn't affect performance.

Laxus had been released from the hospital after a few days. Well, left of his own accord is more like it. Apparently, Shizune had tried to force him to stay in bed, but when Laxus refused, she relented on the condition that Laxus never take off the bandages on his arms. They'd been coated with ointment that would speed up the recovery process from the poisoned insects, so Laxus allowed it.

Despite being too stubborn to stay in the hospital, the lightning dragon slayer refused to do any manual labor, simply watching with mild disinterest as his guild mates slaved away. Luckily, the four of them still had apartments, as the enemy hadn't made it anywhere near that area, so they still had places to sleep, unlike some of the less fortunate.

The village itself had made significant progress in terms of repairs in the week that had passed. More progress would have been made had Tsunade not given the order for double patrols at all times. Regardless, the citizens and survivors had no doubt that the village's recovery would be a swift one, and that it would only make the Leaf stronger.

Then, the day of the funeral services came. There had been a mass burial in the village's cemetery, where nearly half the village was now gathered. Pictures of each of the fallen shinobi, many of them the murdered ANBU members, were set up on a dais in front of the amassed crowd.

All adorned with black, the crowd looked as if this had happened before, which, judging by the nimber of gravestones in this cemetery, the wizards had assumed that was the case. Originally, they had intended to skip the services altogether out of respect for these people and their traditions, but they found themselves near the front of the crowd at Naruto's behest.

Kakashi, who'd been released from the hospital around the same time as Laxus, stood next to them with Sakura, the rest of their friends and senseis in front of them. Though one face was noticeably and sadly absent. The face that both Kurenai and Shikamaru never took their eyes off of. The young chunin was rubbing her arm softly, his other wrapped around her shoulders as she wept into his chest.

Gray knew that pain all too well, though he constantly pushed aside the memories. Every time he allowed them in, they brought him to the verge of tears, and he hated feeling like that. But, perhaps on this day, it was acceptable to cry.

When the funeral had let out, the crowds left one by one. The wizards were some of the last out, leaving with Naruto and his friends and senseis. Shikamaru, however, stood by himself in front of the same picture that his eyes had never left. In his hand, he absentmindedly flipped open, lit, and closed a small, silver lighter.

Gray separated from the group and returned to stand silently next to Shikamaru. He scanned the pictures for a few seconds until his eyes came to rest upon the face of Asuma.

"I didn't know him well, but he seemed like a good man, and a great teacher."

"Yeah."

Gray knew that Shikamaru wasn't in the talking mood, but he also knew that bottling it up wasn't good for someone's health. He'd lost his parents to a demon, and his bottled up rage had cost him his master. He wouldn't let someone else go through what he'd gone through.

"How did it happen?" Gray asked lightly.

Shikamaru's hand flexed, grasping the lighter with such force that he threatened to crack it. "Orochimaru."

"I see," Gray said. "And he escaped?"

"Yeah."

Gray nodded. "Well, from the way everyone talks about your intelligence, I'm sure you've already come up with a plan to get him back, right?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Going after him is suicide. He has an entire village behind him. I'd be useless."

"You're wrong," Gray said.

Shikamaru scoffed. "I'm just a useless coward who wasn't even there to protect my sensei."

"That's not what I heard. Gajeel told me that you and Choji fought right next to him the entire time."

"That doesn't mean anything when you come up short when it counts," Shikamaru growled.

Gray nodded, placing his hands in the pockets of his black jeans. "I know what you're going through."

"No you don't!" Shikamaru practically yelled. "Do you know what it's like to have the person who mentored you like a father be taken from you?! Well?!"

Gray smiled sadly. "I do."

Shikamaru's brows came up in both surprise and confusion. "How?" he asked quietly.

"My entire village was destroyed by a monster when I was young, my parents included," Gray began, the surfacing memories already bringing tears to his eyes. "So I went searching for a powerful wizard to train me so I could kill that monster. I found one, Ur, an ice wizard. She trained me and another student of hers for months, maybe years, it was hard to keep track of time when you're living in the mountains. But I didn't think she was teaching us enough, so I tried to master more powerful spells on my own. Eventually, I left to track the demon down, even though she told me not to.

"When I finally found it, it was in the middle of destroying another village. So I, young and foolish, tried to fight it. As you can imagine, I had no chance. That was when Ur showed up to save me. She fought it as well as she could, but not even she could beat it. So she used a spell that encased the demon in a shell of ice at the cost of her life. She faded away right in front of me."

Shikamaru listened with sympathetic eyes. "I'm sorry."

"I blamed myself, just like you're doing now. Even if I did cause it, she willingly gave up her life for me. So don't dwell on the past, it's not good for you, for anyone. I was so angry for so long."

"What brought you out of it?" Shikamaru asked.

"My friends, and my guild," Gray said, placing a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder. "Let it out. You'll feel better. Trust me," he said, giving a reassuring squeeze.

His hand sliding off of the Nara's shoulder, Gray replaced it in his pocket and turned to walk away. As his boots hit the grass, they were matched by the sobs coming from behind him.

After another day of hard work repairing the village, the four wizards were sitting in a booth at the barbecue restaurant, which amazingly, hadn't even been touched by the attack. As they ate, Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray exchanged their usual threats of fighting each other, which would undoubtedly destroy the restaurant, while Laxus simply rolled his eyes as he usually did.

Once they were finished, the tone turned much more serious, though. Even Natsu understood what everyone was thinking, and actually voiced it first. "So how are we getting home?"

"We have to wait for all of this shit to die down around here before we can even think about that," Laxus said. "Kinda hard to look for something when you're getting attacked the entire time."

Gray nodded. "Besides, these people are too busy with their own problems to help us."

"I ain't sayin' we should give up on gettin' home, but what if we help these guys out?" Gajeel proposed.

"Why?" Laxus asked.

Gray nodded to Gajeel. "I see where you're going. He's saying that we should help them solve all of their problems so that they can help us solve ours when all of this is over."

Natsu grinned. "As long as I get to beat some faces in, I don't care!"

"That's quite the enthusiasm there, kid," a new voice said.

When the four of them looked to the side of the table, an older man stood there. His white spiky hair refused to be contained by his forehead protector, and hung down his back in a long ponytail. He wore a mixture of red and gray with a large scroll strapped to his back.

"You guys must be the wizards I've heard so much about," he said. "I'm the Legendary Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, Jiraiya!"

"Right," the wizards all said as they sweat dropped.

Jiraiya crossed his arms, a wide grin on his face. "I used to be on a team with Lady Tsunade," h said proudly.

"Huh? She's that old?" Natsu asked in disbelief.

Jiraiya laughed loudly, as if he were forcing it out of his chest. "That's a good one, kid!" he exclaimed as he leaned forward, amore serious expression replacing his previously jovial one. When his face was mere inches away from Natsu's, he spoke again. "Never ask her age."

Natsu gulped in fear, remembering the giant holes that she'd put in the Hokage's Tower, according to Kakashi. He giggled half-heartedly, placing a hand on the back of his head as the Toad Sage retreated.

"You said your name's Jiraiya?" Gajeel asked.

Jiraiya nodded. "That's right. Tsunade said I should meet you guys, and boy am I impressed. You four have the village in an uproar. Which one of you split Manda in half like a piece of string cheese?"

Gajeel sat back with a grin, both hands on the back of his head. "That'd be me."

"I don't know how you did it, but I saw that sword over the rooftops," Jiraiya said before his eyes swiveled over to Laxus. "And you must be the one who uses lightning, am I right?"

"Hmph," Laxus responded, his arms crossed in front of him as he lounged in the booth.

Jiraiya shrugged. "Anyways, I'm Naruto's teacher and I wanted to thank you for taking care of that idiot. See you!" he said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

The four wizards looked between each other with confused and humored expressions. "I was wondering who Naruto got that idiocy from," Gray chuckled.

Natsu grinned. "Now that we're all full, I wanna race all of you!"

"Pass," Laxus said immediately, sliding out of the booth. Replacing his coat around his shoulders, he strode out of the restaurant, heading back for the apartments.

His guild mates watched him leave, Natsu with a disappointed scowl. "Forget that guy. The three of us, let's go!"

Gray sighed. "Race to where?"

"The top of the tower, duh!" Natsu exclaimed, pointing towards the large, red Hokage's Tower. "Loser buys the next meal!"

Gajeel chuckled, rolling his shoulders to loosen them. "Eat my dust, Salamander!" he said, taking off.

"Hey! I didn't say start yet!" Natsu yelled as Gray passed him.

Growling, Natsu activated his Fire Dragon Iron Fist Booster and quickly caught up to them. They sprinted through town, dodging terrified civilians and children. At one point, they were forced to scale a building to avoid a group of workers carrying lumber. Running for a few more minutes, they finally made it to the courtyard of the Hokage's Tower, and immediately started to climb it.

They didn't bother about taking the inside route, instead using the handholds to climb instead. Unfortunately for the two dragon slayers, Gray had simply made a winding staircase of pure ice and began to run up it, much faster than the dragon slayers could climb. Gajeel and Natsu both leapt backwards to catch hold of it at the same time. They hauled themselves up and began to chase Gray up the stairs, Natsu ahead of Gajeel.

When they neared the top, Gajeel grunted in irritation. "I ain't comin' in last place, Salamander!"

The iron dragon slayer grabbed Natsu by the ankle and hurled him over the side of the staircase. Natsu fell directly towards a glass window, the only one that hadn't been damaged on the whole tower. Crashing through it, he cracked the tile floor, his butt sinking entirely into it. Looking up, he saw Tsunade sitting at her desk, a look of surprise plastered on her features.

Natsu chuckled nervously before extricating himself from the collapsed floor and diving out the window to avoid Tsunade's wrath. The Hokage was about to follow the dragon slayer and beat him to a pulp for cracking her floor until a rustle of paper caught her attention.

Coming from the cracked floor where Natsu had impacted, she bent down and produced a small box of scrolls and loose papers. "Why was this hidden here?" she muttered to herself.

She pulled the entire box out of the small compartment and placed it upon her desk. Neglecting the rest of her work, she read each of those scrolls one by one, every new one making her eyes grow wider and wider. When she finished the last one, she slammed it down on her desk and glared at the door.

"SHIZUNE!"

Itachi's mind wandered as he stared off the edge of the cliff he stood by. Often during these times, he thought of Sasuke and how he was doing, but not this time. This time, he cursed his own existence like he so often did, reprimanding himself for the slaughter of the entire clan.

The sound of sandals hitting the ground behind him drew his attention. "Kisame, you're back."

"That's right," the Swordsman grinned. Using his bandaged sword, he poked the unconscious jinchuriki at his feet. "But having to bring him back without killing him was quite a bother, I'll tell you."

As the shark said that, the light patter of rain began to fall. Before long, it turned into a downpour. "Here comes that rain you were expecting," Kisame said.

"Looks like a big storm," Itachi nodded.

Kisame thrust his sword under the unconscious jinchuriki and flipped it over his shoulder. "Come on, let's go find some cover. Otherwise, we'll catch a chill."

Little did Kisame know, that was exactly Itachi's intention. "Our leader is waiting for word that we captured him. Immediately after we secure and bring him in, the sealing of both the Three Tails and Four Tails is to take place."

Kisame shrugged in a nonchalant manner. "So we make him wait a little before the sealing begins, I mean it's not like it's going to make any difference. The sealing takes a long time anyway."

Itachi unbuttoned his cloak halfway, resting his left arm there as he fell into step with Kisame. Studying the unconscious jinchuriki, he commented, "He's not looking good. You should handle the elderly with more care."

"Heh. You only say that because you don't know this guy," Kisame argued. "Nabbing a jinchuriki who uses the Lava Style jutsu of the Four Tails is way harder than you think. You probably can't understand my pain, having not battled the fellow directly."

"Not that pain, no. But I understand your pain more than most, Kisame," Itachi said.

Kisame raised an eyebrow. "What's with you all of a sudden? You're usually so quiet, but now you're talking about pain more than our damned leader."

"My apologies. We are friends, though, are we not?" Itachi asked.

Kisame scoffed. "Friends aren't allowed in our line of work."

Itachi chose not to comment further, instead withdrawing to the comfort of his own mind. That may be, but I still count you among my friends, Kisame. You were just misguided by the hand that controlled you, he thought.

The pair of Akatsuki retreated into the darkening forest as the first bolts of lightning filled the sky.