Chapter 5 – The Second Ninja War

On a sunny day, a bird dropped down from above the trees to a woman's arm. On its leg was attached a cylindrical case. She removed the case and put the bird in a cage. It was a letter from a neighboring hidden village, and was a classified document. She ran the message to Nidaime Hokage immediately. She found him in his office and handed him the document.

Nondairy Hokage opened the case using a special unsealing jutsu. He pulled out the curled up paper and read it. He frowned and said, "Tell all of the special Jounin leaders we need to have a meeting. It looks like the Fire Lord has declared war on various countries."

War officially began, much to the horror and shock of most of the villagers. Everyone knew about the breakdown of alliances in the various countries, but none suspected diplomacy had broken down as badly as it did. Nidaime Hokage, doing the Fire Lord's bidding, sent out hordes of ninjas out to various areas where the fighting was. There were months of costly battles before Team Sarutobi was called in to help.

They were sent on a mission to keep a supply chain open in Amegakure. The morale of the team was strong. When they arrived at the battlefront, another platoon from Konoha greeted them.

"Hanzo is nearby. Be careful." A wounded ninja said to Hiruzen with a grimace of pain.

"Who is Hanzo?" Jiraiya asked. He winced a little, seeing the condition of the boy.

"He single-handedly defeated the Kage's security and most of the forces here. He's insanely strong."

Hiruzen spoke with his familiar voice of authority, "We set up base camp here. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru will search for survivors and bring them to the medical ninja team. I'll take over command of this base of operations."

The three squad members spread out, searching through ruined houses and buildings for anyone alive. Tsunade and Orochimaru came to an open area where hundreds of bodies were scattered. It was the scene of a bloodbath. Tsunade checked vital signs on several of them, but was unable to find any alive.

"Where did Jiraiya go?" Tsunade wondered aloud. She looked around curiously.

"I don't know, and I am sick of babysitting him." Orochimaru said ruefully.

Unfortunately, they ran straight into Hanzo who was riding on top of a giant salamander.

They fought with all of their power, but Hanzo was too strong. Because the three fought on his level, he spared their lives, but with the proviso that they would be known as Densetsu no Sannin ("Three Legendary Ninjas"). Having no other course of action possible, the three retreated. After getting some distance from Hanzo, they stopped to rest and heal. They located a quiet residential area that had been largely abandoned.

Jiraiya pulled out some food from his pack. A red haired child came from behind some ruins and asked, "Can I have some please?"

Jiraiya asked, "Where are your parents?"

The little boy looked away sadly, "They got killed in the war."

Tsunade and Jiraiya were sympathetic. "Here, have some crackers." Jiraiya said as he opened a cloth and revealed them.

The boy bowed, turned around and said, "Hey, Nagato, Konan, come out! He's not a bad guy."

From behind a dilapidated archway two more children came out. They all ate the crackers. Afterwards, the Sannin started walking away. The boys started to follow them. This irritated Tsunade. She snapped, "We already gave you food! What else do you want?"

The redheaded boy spoke again, "You guys are leaf ninja right? Teach us ninjutsu please!"

The little girl with long black hair smiled and offered an origami flower to Jiraiya and said, "This is my way of saying thanks." She introduced herself as Konan. The redheaded kid introduced himself as Yahiko.

Orochimaru wasn't happy with giving his food away and said, "Why don't we just kill them and be done with it?" Yahiko looked scared. The pale Sannin with green eyes continued, "All these kids orphaned by the war have nothing but pain and suffering waiting for them. It would be much more merciful to just kill them now."

Jiraiya yelled, "Are you off your damned rocker, Orochimaru?" He caught his breath and said, "Look, you and Tsunade go on ahead. I'll take care of them for a while."

Tsunade did a double-take, "Huh?" She couldn't believe Jiraiya would want to drag small children around a ruined village in the middle of a war.

"Just until they can fend for themselves," Jiraiya offered. "It's the least I can do to make up for all this."

Tsunade saw the look on the children's eyes and sighed. This was typical of Jiraiya, and a secret part of her was warmed by that fact. She and Orochimaru decided to let him help the children while she and Orochimaru looked for Hiruzen.

Later on, Jiraiya had dinner with the kids in their relatively untouched house. He showed off how he could cook a fish using his fire Jutsu. Yahiko was impressed. As they talked, Jiraiya started to comment on the war. "The three countries surrounding the Hidden Rain haven't quite stabilized yet, but this can't last forever. I hope by the time you kids get bigger, the other countries will have reached a compromise and we'll all live together in peace."

Yahiko made a face and yelled, "That's crap!" He turned to his friends and said, "They killed all our families. If we're going to 'understand' each other, first we have to make them suffer like we're suffering! Like when they stop a fight because someone got injured."

Jiraiya understood the analogy but didn't agree with it. He silently chewed his food.

Yahiko made a determined face, "I'm going to change it and protect everyone. So please, Jiraiya-sensei, train us."

Jiraiya just smiled sympathetically. After dinner, he reflected on Yahiko's words. As he looked out the window to the devastation outside, Konan burst in the door and yelled, "Jiraiya-sensei, help! Yahiko and Nagato are..."

Jiraiya replied quickly, "Lead the way."

Outside, the rain was pouring down on muddy ground. The two boys were sitting near the corpse of a ninja. They looked shaken, but not injured badly.

Konan ran up to them and told them, "I brought Sensei."

Yahiko had a bloody lip. Jiraiya asked him, "What happened?"

Yahiko paused then said, "The refugees tried to take our money and food." His face turned ashen and then he continued, "And...Nagato, he..."

Jiraiya noticed the dead ninja was a Chuunin from Iwagakure. He thought, 'This guy should have been way beyond these kids' level.' He couldn't help but wonder how they did it. To his shock, Nagato's eyes had a ripple pattern in them. He recognized the pattern as the Rin'negan eye of old legends, a bloodline limit which allows the person who has it to be able to perform powerful techniques.

Jiraiya began to believe Nagato was possibly the one that the old toad told him about in the prophecy. He couldn't believe that a child with such a rare ability was a coincidence. If Nagato truly had the power of Rin'negan, he could possibly the one who would either bring destruction to the world or peace. That type of eye bloodline was known in many legends. It was said to be possessed by the "Sage of the Six Paths" -- the founder of the whole ninja world, whose knowledge and skills gave birth to ninjutsu itself. The eyes were called a tool of heaven itself; a tool of god that would bring salvation when the world was in chaos... or a weapon that would destroy all creation and return everything to dust. Jiraiya didn't believe those stories until just then. But how could he deny it when he was staring straight at the Rin'negan with his own eyes? He decided then to make Nagato and others his students.

"I will teach you." He said to the three. Yahiko was excited.

Later on, Nagato began to talk about the incident with the Iwa ninja with Jiraiya.

Jiraiya said, "What's wrong? You can tell me."

"Sensei..."

"Is it about what happened earlier?"

"When I saw Yahiko get hurt, I got really mad at that guy. Then I blacked out, or went out of my mind. When I came to, that guy was on the ground. I felt so scared and angry." The boy started to look severely distressed then raised his voice, "I must have lost it and killed... I shouldn't have done it! We could have found another way to..."

Jiraiya interrupted loudly, "Nagato!" Nagato quieted down and looked at Jiraiya. Jiraiya continued carefully, "I don't know if what you did was right or wrong, either. But Yahiko survived because of you. Protecting your friend at least was definitely the right thing to do. No one would blame you." He looked down and sighed, continuing, "Being hurt inevitably breeds feelings of hatred towards your attacker, but when we hurt others, we have to deal with their hatred for us and our own feelings of guilt. Knowing what it feels like to be hurt is exactly why we try to be kind to others." He paused. "That's what makes us human."

Nagato thought about all that Sensei said and then asked, "What do I have to do to be like that?"

"You have to grow up." Jiraiya said, mussing the child's hair.

"How can I do that?"

"How indeed?" Jiraiya answered with a smile, "I think you'll need to find that out on your own."

Nagato thought for a moment and then said, "When Konan and I were alone, crying because we were so hungry, Yahiko came and saved us. He even stole food from other people. I just want to keep them safe, no matter what kind of pain I have to go through."

Jiraiya smiled and nodded. He patted the boy's arm and said, "Let's go train."

Jiraiya kept his promise. He stayed with the children for three years. All three were showing real skills, too. They were demonstrating them during a sparring match with Jiraiya.

Nagato had freakishly strong chakra and took out a shadow clone with a deadly wind element Jutsu.

Yahiko, who earlier had performed an impressive water element Jutsu, yelled, "Whatcha think Sensei?"

Jiraiya knew this time would come, so he said, "I think I can go back to my village without regrets."

The three kids were heartbroken. Yahiko murmured, "Wha..?"

"You three have done so well these last three years." Jiraiya said, smiling, "Now it's time you lived your own lives."

Yahiko's face was forlorn. Jiraiya sympathetically said, "Uh oh. Don't cry, Yahiko! Everyone will think you're weak, right?" He turned to Konan and said, "Konan, I can tell that you're going to be a real beauty. Come see me again when you're 18!" His perverted side was tingling and he suppressed a drool at the thought. He continued speaking to all three, "You live in a very poor, needy country. I'm sure that a lot of sad times still lie ahead for it. That's why you three have to work together to change things. I'd say you three have all grown up. Right, Nagato?"

Jiraiya walked away.

Nagato's face darkened and he said, "Thank you, Sensei."