DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Mito speaking to Kurama in her mindscape," etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

"Guess I still have a few tricks I can teach you," Minato teased with a broad smile.

Mito took a deep drink of her water and would have to agree with that. It had been thrilling to spar with her father. He was simply too fast, though. She knew that he'd been going easy on her when she was a little kid and now felt like she was so far behind - so far out of his league. "I almost had you, though."

Mito knew that she absolutely had not. He had been holding back tremendously.

Minato barked out a laugh and then lay down, spreading out on the grass. He wasn't sure he could get up and walk away from this little spar as a Hokage should! His daughter was even better than he'd heard. If you'd really fought me, Mito, I think you could have beaten me. Not that he was going to admit that. "You've got a hundred years before you can challenge me."

"Oh, please don't say that," Mito begged. "Ero-ojii said that SO many times when I was little."

"He said the same thing to me. –He still does!"

Mito became a little outraged on her father's behalf. "That old perv's a liar. There's no way he could take you."

"I don't know, Mito," Minato sang truthfully. "Although I'm supposedly proficient enough in it, I've hardly used sage mode and he has no problems with it. WELL, aside from the toadlike features he sports." Especially his nose.

Mito hummed. "I can use Hermit chakra." She waved him off when her father looked so excited. "It takes me too long to mold it, though. Asuma-nii can do it, too." Kinda. Asuma was too lazy - or what he called "reserved" - to go all out most of the time but Mito had heard from Chiriku that Asuma had used Hermit mode a couple of times before he left the capital.

"Reee-eally?" Minato asked, terribly interested. "It takes me far too long to mold nature's chakra, too."

Minato had a few opportunities to see Asuma spar with Kakashi, Gai, and Shisui since he came back from the capital - the young man was very impressive and another wind user! - but he hadn't known that he had other, interesting techniques than what he'd seen. He also didn't know that he or his little girl was capable of working with a type of chakra he didn't know a whole lot about. Hermit chakra was more in the monk's purview than something ninjas engaged with. He observed his daughter and realized that she was already cool and looked like she could take on the world again. "Honestly. Uzumaki vitality just isn't fair."

Mito grinned. "You do look pretty worn out."

"I am your father and Hokage," he said pompously before rubbing her hand. "You're very good, Mito. Very, very strong."

Mito flushed. "I don't know about that."

Minato hummed but knew he was right. He'd like to think that his win (and it could've very easily been his loss, he told himself,) was due to his speed and experience but Mito was pulling techniques out of her arsenal the way Kakashi did: powerful techniques. Over the years, he'd sent her a multitude of jutsu scrolls - including everything of Lord Second's that he had access to - but he hadn't realized that she had such a knack and possible love for ninjutsu. –That she would've mastered so many of them.

"Tou-shan, I wanna be a music-playing girl!"

"Your daddy LOOOOOOOVES the flashy jutsus, 'ttebane."
"Flashy's kinda dumb, Tou-san."

Kushina had laughed her pretty little ass off.

Turning down the precious voices from his past, he looked toward his beautiful, grown-up daughter and was, once again, amazed by her strength and courage. Minato knew that every generation outclassed the one before it and was just about to say that to Mito but he would have to admit that he didn't use many of his jutsus against her. Hopefully, he could still teach her some things.

He also knew that Mito, on the other hand, hadn't gone after him with one of her vicious, earth-splitting punches or kicks. –Although he had felt a few boulders and a tree whiz by his cloak and hair before he teleported away from them. She had also gone toe-to-toe with him in using fuuinjutsu as she battled. "You didn't use your chains to pull at my chakra."

"I wasn't going to do that," she said quietly.

"Do my reserves really seem that pathetic to you?" he teased. He was mostly teasing.

"No way," Mito exclaimed, hoping that his guard hiding in the trees hadn't heard him even imply such a thing. He was the Hokage and the strongest shinobi in existence! "Your reserves are proven through my hair and especially through Naruto's, ne? Otherwise, both of us would be redheads." She shook her finger at no one, reciting what she'd always read and observed by heart: "Only better reserves can hope to win over clan genetics."

Mito wasn't sure that was QUITE true in her father's case, though. One: Uzumaki reserves and genetics were unbelievably strong. In fact, as far as she'd seen, the only ones who could rival them that she had studied were some Senjus. Second: she knew better than to ask but after spending some time in Lightning Country as a little girl, she'd run into two members of a very reclusive but "high-powered shinobi clan" there. I thought Jiraiya would have a stroke when he saw us together. Although both boys she'd spoken with had darker skin, their hair and eye coloring were exactly like her father's and Jiraiya never would tell her who they were.

She'd asked her mother once if the Namikazes were from Lightning Country and the Uzumaki native looked like she'd swallowed one of her father's toads.

"Ah! Please don't ever ask about that, 'ttebane! Especially don't ask your father about being foreign. Oh, he's such a pain! I was foreign: keyword being 'was.' What's wrong with foreign?!"

"I suppose that's true," Minato sighed. "Although I do wish one of you had a full headful of your mother's beautiful red hair."

"Yeah," Mito agreed. Perking up and refusing to go down that sad road, she asked her father if he'd like her to carry him back to the Tower.

"You're still such a brat." He didn't move to get up just yet, though. Didn't she realize how darn old he was?! –He probably should let her carry him back and stick a gravity seal on her just to punish her for being so cheeky. "Speaking of brats or simply generally insufferable people - not that I'm putting you in the latter category, of course - we have a council meeting tomorrow."

"We? …Oh. Oh, no."

.

Mito ran a mental checklist over her body, wondering if Tsunade had broken her bones when she'd hug-attacked her. Her godmother had been much more reserved when she saw her the last time but she supposed that she had been in the "Bloody Mist" and that, maybe, Tsunade had been worried.

As decent as some people were there, Mito still got why Kiri was called that and probably would be for a long, long time. Some of their shinobis were bloodthirsty and batshit crazy. Was it bad that she was glad that the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist were down a fair number of swordsmen? No, Mito thought it helped her sleep at night to know that some homicidal maniacs weren't around anymore.

Shizune had given her a quick hug and had apparently perfected her sweet, big-eyed innocent act - although there were other people around them. Shizune used to be a quiet but incredibly snarky girl when they were alone and very young; Mito hoped that Shizune still held that fierce cunningness within her that she remembered so well.

"How are you feeling? How is your scar? Were you treated well in the Bloody Damn Mist?" Tsunade continued peppering her goddaughter with questions without giving Mito an opportunity to respond to any of them. "You weren't hurt or violated, were you?! Did you - quote, unquote - violate anyone else? –You should NOT do that unless it's fully consensual. Have you gotten yourself a man yet?"

"STOP! Good God, woman: I'm fine!" Why are you asking such awful and embarrassing things?! People could hear her: Tsunade was always so loud!

"Excellent. So you're finally home, huh?" The Slug Sannin began darkly chucking just to get a rise out of Mito for a second. "We'll have to celebrate! Tonight the drinks are on me!" Shizune groaned and rubbed her face but Mito was all for it. "What do you think of Naruto? –That kid's a horrible brat."

Mito glared at her but realized that Tsunade had said what she did about her little brother in a fond way rather than being mean. Good tactic, considering that I'm here, old woman! "I want to talk to you about that - but not here. How did your vacay go?"

"Wonderful! But it wasn't nearly long enough!"

Shizune, behind her aunt, shook her head and looked quite pitiable. Mito laughed at her.

"Ha! Now that you're here I can take off for longer next time. What the hell are you wearing, anyway?" Tsunade asked, looking at her goddaughter as if she was covered in mud.

Mito gulped; surely Tsunade wasn't serious. She and Shizune were dressed in the same style and although professional, Mito was not really digging it. "My Jonin uniform?"

"At the hospital?! And with COMBAT BOOTS?"

"Oi! These are my fancy high-heeled combat boots," Mito countered as she kicked one and then the other behind her. Her boots were even shiny!

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Tsunade somewhat teased. "No makeup, wearing clothes that don't differentiate you from any other Jonin." Not that Mito needed to wear makeup - aside from covering up the little white marks on the top of her cheeks, maybe.

Mito tried not to pout and wound up scowling. "I had on lipgloss before and um. I'm… distinguishable enough already."

"Not to our patients and guests! Off with you! Go put on appropriate clothes!"

"...Gotta be fucking with me," Mito muttered as she ignored the older woman and tried to sneak away. Unfortunately, Tsunade was technically her boss while she was on duty at the hospital and it appeared that she was serious. "I guess I can put on a kimono." Or something kind of like one. "I've got my entire wardrobe on me."

"Don't forget a haori."

"Haori?! I have a VEST, for gosh sake!" Mito was not making rounds while pretending to be Tsunade!

"Then you can wear a lab coat." Tsunade drew back her head in silent chuckles at the sneer on her goddaughter's face. She knew that Mito had a "thing" about not looking like a nurse or lab technician. "Your choice."

Mito stood up to her full height, allowing her to stand much taller than her godmother ESPECIALLY with her completely awesome heels on. Crossing her arms over her chest, she felt the need to go over a few things. Respectfully and without violence for now. "I am a Jonin combat medic. I have run my own lab for more than ten, and infirmary for the last six years that I was in the capital. I have…"

"Are you challenging me?!" Tsunade's eyes had narrowed dangerously.

"On dress code? Certainly. On other things? …Quite possibly!"

"Drrrrrama," Shizune sang. Mito winked at her, destroying the tense mood. "Aww."

"Forget it," Tsunade said with a wave of her hand. "You two are no fun. I'll kick your ass later and you can count on that happening if I catch you working at the hospital in those clothes again! Now: report!"

"Hai," Mito groaned before beginning a walking tour of the patients that had been processed since she arrived. Sure enough, they stopped at the staff locker room almost immediately so Mito could change.

.

Later that night, Mito looked around the izakaya they were in, wondering if it was built by a ninja considering how lit up the corners were at this time of night, how each seat was constructed so that one could see over the backs of the booths, and angled and positioned to allow easy access in and away from the tables and more. Reaching out her senses, she was relieved that Naruto-chan was with her father yet saddened that she wasn't with them.

"What's on your mind, brat?" Tsunade asked. She slugged down some sake and couldn't help but smile as she watched, for the first time, her goddaughter do the same. Mito didn't seem to enjoy the taste of it as she did. That was probably for the best, Tsunade figured.

Mito put down a silencing seal and sucked down another shot. Hot sake kinda sucks. "I've been trying to figure out a way to deal with the Kyuubi's chakra within Naruto." Back at the hospital, Mito had explained what happened when she finally first met - sort of - her little brother.

"Maybe adjusting YOUR seal is the answer. –So that it's less reactive with his."

Mito grimaced, hoping so much that something like that wouldn't be necessary. "Tou-san said that Naruto's seal was unusually tight considering how long it's been. …I guess it loosened a very TINY bit when we came into contact and… I um - asked the Kyuubi if he could reason with his other part: the part that's in Naru, I mean." Tsunade's mouth dropped open.

One of Mito's eyebrows eventually rose and rose as the other one began to twitch. "You're gonna catch flies if ya don't shut your mouth, 'ttebane."

Tsunade snapped her jaw closed for less than a second. "That's dangerous! HOW is that even supposed to work?" As if the Kyuubi no Yoko would help either of you do anything other than release itself and then destroy us all!

Mito shrugged. "I was thinking that maybe one of your memory transfer or mind-linking jutsus could help."

Tsunade barked out a laugh and continued chuckling. "Those jutsus aren't mine; they were senseis. I can seal a memory away but Jiraiya and Orochimaru-TEME were the ones who tried to mimic the Yamanaka jutsus when they became aware of sensei's jutsu." Mito shuddered and Tsunade bobbed her head in silent agreement. She'd utterly decimate a Yamanaka's body before one of them ever had a chance to infiltrate or destroy her mind. "You really think you can communicate with what it called 'mindless' chakra?"

"What he said doesn't make sense," Mito felt. "I mean, Kyuubi-sama is a being - a manifestation - of chakra. I know this would've been easier had I not… unintentionally interfered with the twin seals Ojii-san sort of came up with: then Naruto and I would have yin and yang halves that were completely separate from each other. Chakra is chakra, though, and even the relatively insignificant chakra that was sealed into Sora-kun seemed to have a consciousness. I swear I even saw the fox's head floating in and around that boy when my chain hit him."

Tsunade stared at her for some time before knocking back more happy juice. She was going to need a lot more of it. "What?"

Mito balked at her godmother's deadpan response and flagged down a waiter so she could order something like she had the other night. Tapping her seal once, she requested something good. "Can you make me something dry and strong?" She was drinking with Tsunade so "when in Konoha" and all that… "Make me something big, strong, and dirty. Olives: I like olives! Or limes!"

"You like everything," Tsunade groused, remembering Mito's appetite as the waiter ran back to the bar. She was glad that she made Mito pay for her own dinner. Drinks were on her but not the food; not with the way this brat ate.

Mito reengaged the silencing seal. "You sure we can trust what we ingest here?"

"Yes, brat," Tsunade sighed. "You're in the village."

"Right," Mito drawled. There was no place truly safe. "So how did Pervert-ojii's mind-link jutsu work?"

The Slug Sannin tapped a perfectly manicured nail on the table. "You never wanted to learn a jutsu that manipulated the mind before."

"And I still don't," Mito affirmed. "Well, I still need to practice working more on the brain - I don't have a terrible amount of experience with brain trauma although I did help some people out at the capital. And we had some elderly monks that I treated."

"That's what I said! I didn't say anything about manipulating the brain!" Tsunade would admit (to herself) that she was, perhaps, a bit of a hothead. Oh well; sake could help with that.

"I just did! I was clarifying 'mind' and 'brain' for you!" Mito's hair had started crackling with chakra again, making Tsunade laugh at her. "Oh. …That's so embarrassing."

Tsunade let out a long, loud sigh. "I'll summon Katsuya so she can meet up with the toads and find Jiraiya. I'd feel better about him teaching you the jutsu although you could ask your father. –I've never seen him do more than seal memories away but he might know more. Jiraiya, though; he might have other ideas on what you can do with Naruto."

"Thanks, Obaa-chan."

At that same time in another country, a pervert sneezed as he looked up into the rain that was pouring down, soaking the nearby village of Amegakure. "What a mess."

.

Pein was NOT amused. "How long will Madara require to recuperate?"

Kisame hummed and pretended to know. "Six months?" He held up his arms in surrender when he felt the anger simmering in the Akatsuki's so-called leader. "I can't say for sure," he grinned, showing off his sharp teeth. "He's in a safe place for now and Zetsu-san assured me that he can heal him. –Can't say I've ever had a leg ripped off before." And I sure as hell would've remembered losing my balls.

That "fox woman" as they'd agreed to call her was in for a world of hurt!

"Who did this?" the pierced puppet asked. Who could defeat Uchiha Madara? –Or Uchiha Obito: whoever he may really be.

"Another Tree-hugger, believe it or not. She goes by the name Fox." Yes, Obito had told Kisame the probable identity of the Leaf woman who had attacked them and she took Samehada but he also requested that he keep it quiet for now. Kisame could only guess that he planned to kill her himself. I would torture her endlessly if she'd done that to me. He wanted to do that right now! Obito had said some other odd things while in a pain-induced rage - and as he'd nearly bled out - but after being somewhat stabilized, the Uchiha had STILL requested Kisame not tell anyone. He insisted that he not tell "Leader-sama" who Fox was, especially.

"Fox?" Pein repeated while observing the shark-like man closely. "Learn what you can about her. For now, you'll be paired with Uchiha Itachi until Juzo returns"

Kisame wanted to groan: another damn Uchiha. Obito was different from most of the accursed and no-fun clan but Uchiha Itachi was widely known to be the clan's heir. And another damn Tree-hugger! "Is he as good as they say?"

"He killed the Mizukage and half of his clan."

"Hmm! Did he now?" Kisame asked pleasantly. "I suppose that will do then."

Nagato glared at the easygoing but brutal nin. "Why did Zetsu-san not inform me of Madara's setback? And where is your sword?"

"Yare, yare," Kisame laughed - forcing himself to do so. "That's why I told him I'd come to you directly. I need to go retrieve my things. I was in a rush, you see, to get Madara-sama to safety." He did not need to inform this god-complexed and insane but powerful jerk that he'd lost his sword to the same woman. And to my kohai, Mangetsu: that little shit!

"Good," Pein said as thought more about it. He'd ask Zetsu for more information regarding the kunoichi and the battle that must have been waged as soon as he chose to make his presence known to him again. For now, he'd allow Zetsu to heal Madara. The man is old and/or was once crushed: battle injuries were bound to happen to mortals such as them.

There was also time before their ultimate plan could begin to fall into place and Madara said that he'd ultimately be required to fully achieve it. "You made the right decision. Retrieve your gear and report back in a week."

"Thank you, Leader-sama!" Kisame left after offering a bow of respect.

Pein, aka Nagato, had a gut feeling that he was being manipulated and lied to. But then again, Hoshigaki Kisame was agnostic at best and a heathen at worst. Nagato was a solitary man and aside from dealing with his underlings through his puppets, had become accustomed to being respected and revered like the god he was. "Aside from Konan, of course…"

He looked up as paper butterflies descended, forming into his friend's clone in front of him. Speak of 'The Angel' and she will appear. "Konan-chan. Do you have news?"

"Yes," Konan said almost breathlessly. "We've had reports and it's clear, Nagato! Jiraiya-sensei is here - and he's asking questions."

Nagato sighed; today was a strange day. "Allow him to believe that Ame is still under Hanzo's iron fist."

Konan wasn't sure that she understood. She thought that Nagato wanted to offer to bring him into their organization. "Nagato?" And did he really mean for her to speak with their sensei?! – How wonderful.

"Learn how amenable sensei might be to our ideals - along with any other intelligence you can obtain from him. He may share our ultimate goals but we should be careful of him."

Konan nodded, her mind still reeling. "You wish for me to meet him?"

"Where is he now?"

"Outside of the village." The redhead held up his hand to stop her from leaving or saying anything more for the moment. A small, childish part of him was afraid that Konan would attempt to leave him behind. "Do not tell him of me - or of how you are known within the village." With "Madara" temporarily out of the game, the Akatsuki would need more powerful members as they'd been weakened. Nagato saw that his best friend was clearly disappointed. "I will consider it more. We may have opportunities to see him in the future, Konan."

"As you wish, Leader-sama." Her paper clone separated into hundreds of tiny, fluttering origami cranes that swirled down a few flights of stairs until she found her original.

The real Konan smiled a short time later after the rain let up - despite the fact that she thought putting something past her old sensei would not be easy. A kind and easygoing man or not, Jiraiya of the Sannin was a cunning, powerful, and famous shinobi. And there he is, standing below me, just as big and tall as I remember him being.

Konan's clone appeared in front of the Toad Sage while he was attempting to infiltrate her village. "Not here, sensei," she whispered. Jiraiya had clutched his chest and if she wasn't mistaken, may have had tears in his eyes. She disappeared in a kaleidoscope of paper butterflies but left one piece behind. On it was written an address in nearby Kusa.

Jiraiya took off at top speed to meet her there.

"I can't believe it," he breathed hours later. Konan had made him wait but seeing her was certainly well worth it. For more than one reason. He allowed himself to be emotional, however: just for now. "Konan-chan," he breathed, "I… I thought you'd died!"

Konan smiled at him serenely. "Am I to take it that you're glad to see me then, sensei?"

Jiraiya ran his hand through the top of his hair and laughed awkwardly. "Always! ALWAYS, Konan-chan!" He really wanted to gather his former student up and give her a giant hug. "I - I have so many QUESTIONS, heheh. How are uhh…" How do I ask if Nagato and Yahiko are alive? Those three kids were all that each other once had.

"Yahiko-kun was killed by Hanzo-sama, sensei."

Jiraiya felt sick, part of him wanting to collapse the way that he had when he'd errantly learned of his students' supposed deaths years ago. "I'm so sorry, Konan-chan. I never should have left you three."

"We knew that you needed to return home, sensei." She finally couldn't stand it any longer, trembling a bit as she awkwardly reached out to pat his arm to comfort him.

"What happened? –-And how is Nagato-kun?!" The way Konan winced made him think that he'd misunderstood when Konan had only mentioned Yahiko's death. "I'm sorry, Konan. I'm so, so sorry. I should've investigated and checked in on you three long ago."

"Stop, sensei," Konan said, feeling guilty for misleading the man - and wishing that he had checked on them. She had planned to leave her old sensei with ambiguous and confusing ideas regarding Nagato - quite fitting for the kunoichi that he once trained - but this (unthinkable) idea would have to do for now. It made things easier in a way: she hated lying to her sensei but the security of Ame's people and the Akatsuki was too important to take any chances. Solemnly, she told the story of how Yahiko had ultimately saved her but didn't expect the questions that he asked her during and after that part of their conversation.

- "So you two finally got together then?" –Konan thought she might actually cry.

- "Is Hanzo harming or threatening you again? You can tell me if someone is hurting you!"

- "Would you like to come with me to Konoha, Konan-chan? I know Hokage-sama would welcome you!"

- "Konan… Can you tell me about what you're wearing?"

The last question seemed particularly odd to the kunoichi but then again, as their waning time together passed, Jiraiya seemed increasingly suspicious: more than she would've guessed. Konan was sure that she was being careful… Perhaps it was simply paranoia on her part.

She was proud of what her robe represented, though. "Yahiko founded the Akatsuki as a way to organize and train our people so that they could lead their lives safely and in peace… After all that Ame has been through - thanks to the Five Great Shinobi Villages' wars - Yahiko, Nagato, and I felt that we owed it to the other children of Ame - and to our children's children - to train them to protect themselves."

"And to fight Hanzo?" Jiraiya asked in just over a whisper.

Konan tried not to become irritated but it was difficult. The Akatsuki had never sought war with Hanzo the Salamander. "We have only ever desired peace." Over the following few minutes, Konan explained the red clouds that covered her raincoat.

"I see," he said after a few silent moments. Looking up, he grinned at her - glad that she had been as forthcoming as she had. "So all of you wear these? The entire Akatsuki army?"

Smiling serenely but shaken, Konan stood up to go. Something was off here; Jiraiya seemed to know something that Konan did not. "That's not your concern, sensei. It's been wonderful seeing you again."

"I - I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he replied in a rush, sheepishly grinning and still trying to figure out what was going on here. It looked like he would have to further investigate things with this "Akatsuki" on his own. "It really has been wonderful to see you again, Konan-chan. You've grown into the beautiful and charming kunoichi I always knew you would be."

Konan shook her head but felt her cheeks warm slightly: it had been a long time since she'd received a compliment like that. It almost sounded 'fatherly,' if that's the right word. "Thank you, sensei." She turned to leave but couldn't help but give him a small piece of potentially lifesaving advice. "Do stay out of Ame, Jiraiya-sensei. No one enters Ame without Leader-sama knowing." She raised her hand to wave. "I don't want anything to happen to you. ….Until next time. Ja!"

"'Leader-sama?'" Jiraiya gawked when he was sure she was gone. He found that title gross - especially after what Hanzo had done to his students. "Shoot!" He'd also meant to hand her a first-edition copy of The Tales of the Gutsy Ninja that he'd brought along just in case he really found his old students.

Maybe seeing so many of her deceased teammates' words in that book would have hurt her, though.

Nagato listened to Konan's report and took several minutes to consider what she'd said. "I know how fond you are of sensei, Konan, but part of me questions whether or not it would be easier to simply eliminate him."

Konan couldn't believe that he'd just said that for a variety of reasons - although she was, by now, very accustomed to hiding her emotions from her best friend and leader. She later thought of how sad that might be. "If we take action against the Toad Sage, we might have the Yondaime Hokage and Konoha declaring war on us."

Nagato groaned and rubbed his eyes. The last thing Ame needed at the moment was trouble with Konoha - again. The last thing the shinobi world needed was the mass-murdering speed of light known as The Yellow Flash. The tailed beasts, together, would provide more of a legitimate reason to seek peace than simply a single man thought to be the world's most powerful shinobi.

I am no mortal shinobi. "A better option would be to surprise Konoha when we are ready. …You don't believe that Jiraiya-sensei was 'just passing through' then?"

Konan slowly shook her head. "Namikaze Minato is Jiraiya-sensei's only other living student. When sensei told me that he 'wanted to check up on ol' Hanzo,' I didn't sense any deception in him but he's a very experienced shinobi and spymaster. Sensei would report to his Hokage, ne?"

Nagato tried to lean back more into his carrier. "True. And he'll report you being here."

Konan blinked away a glare. "I made sure he believes that my loyalty is to peace and the people of Ame. –And my unwavering loyalty is to you, of course."

"But he thinks I'm dead." He wondered if Konan had let anything slip. She was normally a very careful woman. "Are you sure of that?" Sensing a sudden disturbance in the rain, he clicked his tongue. "Doesn't he know that curiosity killed the cat?"

"He came back?" Really, Konan stated it more than she posed her words as a question. She shouldn't be surprised - and she really wasn't. It was simply a hassle. Sadly.

"I have a mission for you, Lady Angel. Have Tada-san's troops set up in Hanzo's old space; he'll know the formation and security system that Hanzo used… "

Later -

Jiraiya had earlier waved and watched as his kunoichi student sunshinned away. Konan's alive, he reassured himself for the hundredth time. She was obviously hiding something, though, and Jiraiya wondered exactly what she'd gotten herself into. Trekking toward his campsite, he summoned a toad whom he'd planned to help him infiltrate Ame.

If what Mito said was correct, there was obviously a link between Konan, the mysteries of Itachi, and Obito.

Wandering the streets of Ame only brought more questions. The citizens seemed to be doing well enough despite the constant rain. People adapt. God, he had hated Ame when he'd had to fight in the war here, and he didn't remember it ever raining THIS much when he was here with the kids he took on.

Talking to one merchant after another, he found the concept of their "Beautiful Lady Angel" suspicious. Was Konan the head of a subversive group? And considering the testimonies he was given…
- One elderly civilian woman described Lady Angel as capable of traveling on "the wings of butterflies from the heavens."
- "Oh no, sir! Lady Angel is just as human as you or I although she certainly is divine!"
- "She always takes time to leave precious little origami creatures or flowers for the children."
- "She and pain saved us." –Jiraiya wondered how pain saved anyone, at least in the way the toothless old man said it. He knew old folks usually hated and complained about pain all day and night.
- "Hanzo? –You certainly aren't from around here, are ya? Friend."

Jiraiya was waiting to toss a couple of young ninjas he was tailing into his toad so that he could interrogate them when a group of Jonins dropped from high above him, letting their previously hidden chakra roll out as they did so. He gave them a big, goofy smile, (chastised himself for getting caught,) and made himself look as simple as he could. "Evening, boys!"

"Jiraiya of the Sannin, please come with us."

They know who I am. "Fine, fine. How's old Hanzo doin'? –Ah, you seem to know my name…" He winced when they cuffed him although he knew that he could get out of them easily enough, "so what's yours?"

They didn't respond. But they did take him to Hanzo's HQ.

Tossed into the traditional structure, on his face, Jiraiya knew that Minato was going to figuratively kill him for getting caught if Hanzo didn't literally do it this time. He rolled over and sat up, noticing that the sun was going down in the distance. It was only the second time he'd seen the rain let up in Ame but he'd have to observe the village more for a while to see if his guess was right. Or I can use Sage Mode if that damn salamander doesn't get me first.

Konan's words rang in his mind:

"Do stay out of Ame, Jiraiya-sensei. No one enters Ame without Leader-sama knowing."

Konan may have tried to warn him but Jiraiya had a job to finish. He also wondered if a group of shinobis could pull off a "sensory rain" jutsu: who really knew? He hadn't heard anything about Hanzo in years. Fortunately, the Ame leader was staying in his own lane and not causing any trouble outside of Ame. He stood up and got knocked down again.

"Look at you, manhandling The Great Toad Sage," he trolled before becoming far more serious. "So are you gonna take me to Hanzo or what?" Another few Ame shinobis passed messages on small trays from where Jiraiya assumed the secretive, paranoid leader of Ame was hiding. Before he could ask what was going on or observe them more, he was being pulled out. –And eventually thrown into a cell. "Dammit."

He sat in a sealed cell for two days. Through the cage bars, he saw that the rain never stopped. He was fed well and the cell wasn't all that bad but he hated not being able to use his chakra. –Not to mention that sitting in a cell on his ass wasn't getting him anywhere. "What a drag." He jumped when a toad popped up. The toad looked around and gave him a sour look.

"What nonsense have you gotten yourself into now, Jiraiya?!"

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah. I'm waiting to see Hanzo, I suppose!"

"Hanzo the Salamander?" the toad hissed in alarm. "Great. Tsunade contacted Katsuya and wanted to get your opinions on something about a couple of seals. -She said you were needed in Konoha."

Jiraiya frowned, considering what it would be. His eyebrows shot up behind his hitai-ate. "Not those twin seals! …And how are you here? The walls have chakra suppression seals…"

"Yep, those," the toad interrupted, meaning Mito's and Naruto's seals. "And we're both chakra AND blood-bound, Jiraiya! And you're a seal master, for Sage's sake!" He was glad that Jiraiya looked properly scolded. Jiraiya could overcome the seals in this cell!

"I haven't gotten much more intelligence since I've been here, I guess; I've been listening to the guards but Ame ninjas don't talk much. Can ya get me out of here?"

"I'll reverse summon you." The toad poofed away, and Jiraiya soon followed him.