Chapter 11: Encounter

A/N: My grandpa just got out of the hospital after a cancer and 2 days after he was hit by a car. I didn't have the chance to talk to him since he's in China and had been in the hospital since then, but I hope I can do it soon. From what I heard, he has a broken leg, a few fractured ribs, a rather serious cut on his forehead after shattering the window of the car that ran into him and another broken bone that I don't know the name in English. My dad says that he may not be able to walk again.

So I'm kinda very sad right now...

Also, I will be updating one a month, since I'm being overwhelmed by school assignments.

Because this woman is the Angel of Amegakure, Konan of Ame.

Everything suddenly seemed so far away, so distant. The townspeople talking excitingly, the sound of merchants calling out to adults and their children hoping to sell some of their commodity, the laughter of gossiping old women, and in the distance, some little kids running around, playing with wooden swords... it is as if her senses were clouded by a thick mist, covering the world and painting it grey. The only things she can see, feel, hear, is the young woman in front of her.

She had not expected to meet Konan so soon, and seeing her old enemy-turned-friend again, this time as a young woman with an untainted innocence so unlike the fierce woman in her memories, was quite a shock. The blue haired woman looked at her with confused amber eyes, like a cat would watch its reflection in the water.

Naruto suddenly had the urge to hug the woman, both to convince herself that this isn't an illusion and to tell her how sorry she had been, how much of a failure she was, how she had wanted to be there, and how much she regretted to have left her out there on her own, in that place that had been drenched in blood, where crimson rivers had tainted the muddy ground a dark scarlet.

But came the sudden realization that this woman is not the one she once knew, that this woman is not the sister she had lost, and that she will perhaps never be able to apologize for her betrayal. Oh, how much she wanted to tell her that she shouldn't have died on that rainy day, that things were not supposed to happen like they did! It was with much struggle that Naruto, at the last moment, prevented a sob from worming its way out her dry throat. She can feel the moisture in her eyes, the droplets of salty water that she was barely holding back and the aching pain in her chest, the pain that made her heart constrict until only grief and emptiness was left. This time, she promised herself, again and again, this time I will make things right.

A sudden cold gust of wind entered the shop by the opened door, green leaves dancing gracefully in the air, a paper flower being carried away by the breath of nature.

The strange girl and Konan locked eyes, their red and blue hair flowing in the wind like fire and water, and the Uzumaki cracked a smile, one full of hidden regret and sorrow, and her muttered words were lost in the breeze.

Eyes the color of gold widened and pink lips parted in a silent murmur.

Konan.

Somewhere else in the village, another Ame shinobi was wandering around, his bright orange hair attracting the attention of the already gossiping villagers. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, already feeling the beginning of a very bad headache.

The week had been weird and stressful for Yahiko: first Nagato had went pretty much crazy on him and their female teammate, blabbering nonsense for over three hours, then spent the rest of the day in their bedroom with the door locked, and two days later sent him and Konan to this country to look for a person with the only clue that he or she will recognize a message that Nagato shoved in his hand before he literally chased them out of their shared rundown house.

So he and Konan, not having much choices, decided to begin with the smaller villages, and he will take care of the northern part of Kaminari no Kuni, since his teammate's origami will be useless in the cold: she was still not good enough to be able to control the paper when it's half frozen, though she already began to be able to control a paper that was soaked and nearly decomposing to a certain degree. That situation had made the blue haired woman frustrated with herself, as she always felt like a burden to her teammates, even with himself and Nagato continuously telling her otherwise.

They had decided to start with this small village where they had less chance to be spotted by an enemy shinobi and separate in a day, after they get a general idea of what they should be aware of and where and when they will meet. They'll also have to determine how they will communicate, but that can wait for a while.

But unknown to Konan, Yahiko's more than confused state is not only caused by the weird behavior of the rinnegan user; it was because of the few words he managed to catch when he 'accidentally' spied on Nagato.

Flashback

It had been an hour since Nagato had suddenly collapsed on the floor of their modest house, an old building that was barely protecting them from the never ending rain. Konan had been making dinner while he and Nagato were doing the laundry, the three of them just returning from an exhausting training session. When they heard Konan call them, they immediately dropped their chores and went to wash their hands, a habit they forcefully learned after a few 'dates' between their faces and a frying pan, courtesy of their oh-so-gentle teammate.

Yahiko was chatting excitedly with Nagato, who was walking behind him, when he heard the familiar sound of a body hitting the ground. Alarmed, he quickly turned around with a kunai in hand, expecting some sort of attack, only to be greeted by the sight of his best friend lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Konan was already there, so they moved the red head in their shared bedroom, where a few kettles were placed all over the place so that the rain falling from the ceiling will not give anyone a nasty surprise in the morning. Nagato woke up after around half-an-hour, his rinnegan unfocused and glazed over. He soon began to mutter something under his breath, but Yahiko didn't pay it any attention.

Konan left the room and came back a minute later, a hot bowl of soup in hand. She put it on a small table beside the bed, and they left, as they can't do anything to help. They knew that when it has something to do with his rinnegan, they better leave him alone or they will suffer the consequences, not that they like to leave their friend alone.

Now, Yahiko was getting more and more impatient. They already finished eating, and he just took a cold shower, as the pipe that connects their bathtub to an underground hot water source broke again: this had irked him, since he wanted to relax his sore muscles from the intense training session he went through earlier, not mentioning some of the bruises Nagato gave him.

''Yahiko.'' Konan, sitting on the other side of the kitchen table, suddenly said. Her tone had something ominous in it, and Yahiko subconsciously flinched under her stare.

''Yes?''

''Do you prefer the floor or the bed?''

The question has startled the Akatsuki leader; why was she asking him that? No knowing what to say, he stared at the blue haired woman blankly, and she seemed to take that as an answer.

''Good, because you're going to have to wait until Nagato gets better, since I won't have you bother him. I'm going to get some blanket, I'm sleeping here.'' She then left, leaving a stunned Yahiko behind.

She came back after a few minutes, and the orange haired man silently watched her arrange the makeshift bed so she would be comfortable. She then lied down on the white blanket, and paused for a few seconds.

''...Yahiko?''

''...''

''Please turn your head the other way, I'm changing.''

This effectively woke him up from his daze, and he blushed madly, almost snapping his neck when he turned too abruptly.

'Is she...is she actually asking me if I prefer to sleep on the floor or wait Kami knows how long to get on my bed?'

This of course only aggravated Yahiko's foul mood; he was too embarrassed to sleep alone with Konan, and he was too tired to wait to sleep. After another painfully long 15 minutes, Yahiko, who was still shivering from the shower and frustrated by his current predicament, finally let his anger get the better of him.

''That's it! I'm going to check on that bastard!''

Konan lifted herself up, leaning on her elbows, and glared at him with menacing golden eyes.

''Yahiko!''

He stomped off angrily, ignoring Konan's threat about a meeting between his precious thing and a bunch of her sharpest origami senbons. He stopped in front of the old wooden door of the shared bedroom, his hand already on the handle, only to discover that the door had been locked. Now seriously angered, he was more than ready to kick the door open, but he paused when he heard Nagato talking. His curiosity getting the best of him silently pressed his ear against the hard surface and listened.

''That...not supposed...rinnegan...Kyubi...''

Flashback end

Kyubi? He knows that name. Hell, anyone who didn't live under a rock for the past fifty years would know what that name meant.

Kyubi no Youko, the King of all demons, a gigantic fox that was said to able to destroy mountains and create tsunamis with a movement of a single of its tails. And the beast has nine of those, so the fear that often accompanies its name is not the least surprising.

But why would Nagato of all people talk about the fox? Old gossipers he would understand, but Nagato? And what did he mean by 'not supposed'? Did something involving the Kyubi and his rinnegan happen? Will happen?

''Argh, this is getting way too troublesome!'' he suddenly shouted, his hands pulling on his spiky orange hair in a desperate moment.

His outburst attracted some weird looks from the villagers, and in a shop that was on his left, a baby started to cry in the arms of his mother who began to frantically try to calm him down, and the father, having his peaceful dinner interrupted, chose to send him a harsh glare. He apologized sheepishly, and left as quick as he can. The second the angry parents got out of view, he bolted out of the plaza, not wanting to get into even more trouble, which would lead him to a very angry Konan. And an angry Konan is bad. Very, very bad.

It's without any doubt one of the most important things he learned after years of living together, ranking just after the very short list of all the ways he can think of to escape her wrath. Really, the only thing good that came out of this woman's temper is that when she happens to be angry in a life-death situation, the enemy finds out real quick why they should run for their lives. An irate Konan does not exactly control where her hundreds of paper shuriken land. And for an unknown reason, they tend to strike where it hurts the most.

Yahiko shivered slightly at the unpleasant memories, and forced himself to think about something else. He decided to keep running, if only to enjoy the feel of the wind on his heated skin. Dodging villagers left and right, he eventually took a few sharp turns that led him to a system of alleys where most restaurants' back doors were, and he can smell the distinctive odor of garbage and cigarettes, as well as sweat and...eewww, he really didn't want to know what vomit smells like. So he took the wise choice of leaving quickly, but as he was to go back to the main street, he heard a muttered conversation nearby. And Yahiko, being the ever curious person he is, decided to head toward the voices, even if he knew that his curiosity had gotten him in far more troubles than he would have in the past; if only he remembered to be cautious in those situations.

So, going back toward the end of the alley where he was a minute ago, he found himself being able to distinguish a female voice, clearly annoyed, and three male voices. How the hell did he miss this? Following the sound of talking, he got lost a few times when the alleys took some unexpected turns, but he eventually got back to the place where he saw the drunken man throwing up. The volume of the voices told him that they were at the other end of the small street, which means that from their angle, they wouldn't see him even if he stands right behind them. He instinctively suppressed his chakra, and slowly approached the corner. He wanted to do this slowly, even if he knew that they couldn't be more than a few drunken civilians: somehow, he felt the need to be on his guard. Against what he didn't know, but he had come to trust his instinct with the years, and it had saved him more than once during some particularly difficult missions.

The three men smelled of alcohol, and he deduced that they must be harassing the young woman in their drunken stupor. He already stumbled into these situations once or twice in Ame, so he knew that he really should go help the woman by now, but he wanted to see how this will turn out. It won't hurt anyone anyways; he will make sure to step in before anything can happen.

The female looks young, around his own age, with a small built and waist-long black hair; her pale skin stands out even in the dark, and he noticed that something about her seems...off, for some kind of reason he can't find. And her eyes...

'...I think I just saw her eyes flash red... but that's not possible, is it?' Yahiko thought, while rubbing his eyes.

But before he was able to glance again at the scene, a huge chakra blast sent him crashing in the wall behind him.

The wind finally stopped blowing, and I took a dango stick and offered it to the blue haired woman, who simply looked at me, her eyes clearly showing disbelief. She didn't take it, so I put the stick down on the plate. Well, there goes my hope of fooling her into thinking I'm a simple little civilian girl. Not that it would ever work anyway.

I ran in the forest, the sound of my frantic heartbeats masking everything else. She was alone out there. I have to hurry. Why can't I go faster?

None of us spoke for a minute, waiting for the other to begin the conversation. I can feel the waitress looking at us curiously, only directing her attention on the door on her left every 10 seconds or so. Well, I really can't blame her; if I was in her shoes, I would do the same, only with a lot bit more stealth. Then I decided that the awkward atmosphere definitely doesn't suit my current mood, and since I have nothing better to do, I reached for the white flower that was on the ground, lying a feet from where I sat. I touched a petal and I smiled slightly at the feeling of the familiar chakra. I carefully kept my face blank, willing the aching pain in my chest to go away.

''Nice to meet you, Angel of rain.''

I suddenly smelled blood. A lot of it. As I approached the clearing, I saw scorching marks over rocks, trees, and in some areas, the earth was black, the plants burned long ago; kunais and shirukens were all over the place, and I nearly fell in some craters, obvious results of a few well-placed punches. Sakura-nee taught her how to do that, after all.

''Who are you?''

I searched in the bloody piles of corpses, traces of her everywhere. And yet, I cannot find her. I have to hurry, the rain is already erasing most of the blood, and I soon won't be able to collect anything to bring back since the mud will just destroy the scrolls. But then, as I turned a dead Sound shinobi on his back to see if there was anything under him, I saw in the middle of the pool of blood a lone paper flower, perfectly white in this macabre battlefield. My heart stopped beating for a second. Beside the flower was a dark piece of clothing, the edges obviously burned. I took it in my hands, and I immediately recognized the texture of the material.

I chuckled dryly at the irony of this situation. How many times had I said that in the past few years? ''I... I am Mirai.''

I can't be... why? Why her? Why wasn't I only a minute earlier, maybe she would still be breathing then? Why wasn't it me? If it was me, I could have survived this... why?

''How interesting, you call yourself Future? Oh, and I assume that 'Mirai' is just a title, not your name, isn't it?''

On the ground where the piece of cloth lied was a Konoha symbol.

I nodded as an answer, not trusting my voice because of the memories. I never knew that seeing someone who recently died- in my time, that is- will be this painful. Why does it feels like the tears will never stop, and yet I cannot bring myself to let them fall freely?

It was a rule created at the beginning of the war by the Alliance to prevent the enemy from gaining critical information: when a shinobi is certain of their imminent death, they draw this sign to signal their decision to their comrades. The symbol of their village with the kanji for 'last'.

''I see. And do you mind explaining how you know of me? From what I know, Ame and Kumo are not exactly close to each other, and I'm still not that well known in my own country since I gained that nickname only a few months ago,'' Konan said, eyeing me carefully, narrowing her amber eyes.

Suicide by fire.

I chuckled weakly, using the few seconds to compose myself. I placed my right hand on one of the many seals I have on my arms, the one located near my oldest seal on my wrist. I noticed Konan tensing, expecting me to unseal some kind of weapon. I could have, but I instead took out my Konoha hitai-ate, the one Iruka gave me long ago. Hokage-jiji game me permission to keep it, but he insisted on giving me a new one, even if I told him that I don't need it. I know that he wanted to tell me that way to live in the 'present'. Now that I think of it, if I kept it on my forehead during the battle against Madara, then the moment the Anbu found me they would have killed Sasuke and I, since we would be mistaken as spies. Well, looks like my luck came back with me.

Konan's eyes shone in recognition before narrowing again. She probably understood that I came from the same village as Ero-sennin and so I'm not to be considered as a threat, but she still does not trust me. Understandable with the third shinobi war that will begin in a few months, not that anyone except myself, Sasuke and Hokage-jiji know.

But for what we are going to do, I absolutely need her on our side, since if she's with us then Nagato and Yahiko's loyalty is almost certain as well. And I need that loyalty to save them from what will happen in the very near future. So I did the next thing I can think of. I relaxed, letting my eyelids close, and began to absorb the energy around us. The trees, the plants in the dango shop, the rocks, even the birds on the rooftop... I can feel everything so clearly while the soothing energy of nature entered my body, cleaning my chakra pathway and mixing with my own chakra. Not even 10 seconds later, I heard a shocked gasp and I smirked, opening my eyes. I feel so much more peaceful with the familiar sage chakra in my body, finally being able to sense everything around me without relying on my left eye that was currently hidden by my red hair.

''You-! How can you have that?!''

''Ero-sennin taught me.''

There was a pause as she stared at me as if I was crazy, until something clicked in her brain and she rudely pointed her finger at me, her hand shaking slightly. Well, seems like I kept that specific effect I have on people as well.

''Y-you mean... Jiraiya-sensei?''

If not for this situation, I would have laughed at her bemused expression. My lips twitched with amusement when she forcefully lowered her arm with her free hand, and she sighed, letting herself fall on the chair at the other end of the table.

''Let's say that I believe you. What is a Konoha kunoichi doing here? And...no, never mind.''

I can guess what she wanted to say: her face told me all I needed to know. I was again amazed at the differences between the Konan I knew and this younger version. The one I called sister was as talkative as a brick wall, when she was not around me and the Konoha 12, that is, and her emotionless mask was pretty much always on, making it difficult to read her; but this Konan, she's so easy to read it almost scares me. And at the same time, it means that she didn't see the horrors of this world yet, that she can still be saved from the 'future'.

''First, I know of you, Yahiko and Nagato because Ero-sennin has that bad habit of blabbering everything that's on him mind the second he's drunk. Why do you think he always only drink one bottle of saké every hour? To give the time his chakra needed to get the alcohol out of his system, of course. I'm here for a mission, and no, Jiraiya didn't send me. Actually the old pervert didn't contact me for a while, not that I miss him.''

That was a lie: I'm eager to meet him again, I'm just afraid of how I will react when I see him. I mean, how am I supposed to react when the man who died as my sensei and not as the godfather he should have been is alive and not even aware of my existence?

''So you also are Jiraiya-sensei's student, huh? How is he?''

''Alive and kicking. He took on a gennin team a few years ago, and after they became chuunin he went back to travelling to...well, you know.''

Konan nodded to show she understood. ''Well, I'm Konan of Ame, and I'm part of Akatsuki, as you probably already know,'' she began, ''and I'm here on a mission as well, one that Nagato- a teammate of mine- gave me. Yahiko is somewhere in this village as well.''

Well, that information was certainly not expected. Yahiko as well? Well shit, I didn't even think about how to deal with him yet. I can't exactly tell him in his face that he will die and because of it his best friend will become a worldwide criminal can I? I mean, yes Nagato became my friend at the end, but hey, Nagato did kill around three quarter of the population of Konoha before he decided that he should resurrect everyone.

Konan was about to say something else when the wall behind us suddenly exploded, and the blast would have killed us if I didn't grab her and leap out of the way a millisecond before. I just had the time to push her behind me before I felt something extremely heavy hit me, making me fall. I'm not too worried about it: I had much worst during the war, namely when Madara decided that it would be a great idea to try to bury me under the Hokage tower. I can say that it was not pleasant. After the smoke dissipated, I instinctively enhanced my muscles with sage-chakra and pushed the pillar currently crushing me to the side with my arms. Konan was lying a few feet away; she was unharmed, but a debris must have knocked her out if her motionless body is any indication.

I stood up, and the sight that greeted me almost had me throwing up my breakfast.

At the same time, in Konoha, a young chuunin was sparring against a shadow clone in the backyard of his house. He was sweating, his dark clothes not helping him at all, and his mask made breathing difficult; but he would never remove it, no matter what others say. He jumped in the air when his shadow clone threw a few shurikens, and the clone ran at him, trying to punch him while he cannot dodge. But the young chuunin grabbed the fist and used the clone's momentum to kick him in the head, successfully sending the clone in a tree and making it pop.

The boy ran a hand through his messy hair, and began to collect the few dozen kunais and shurikens his clone had thrown at him. he arranged them neatly in the pouches attached to the belt on his hip, and began to stretch. He didn't want to have sore muscles later, since he ran out of the healing balm he always use after training yesterday. A few minutes later, he walked back toward the door of his house, wanting nothing but a cold shower, only to feel the ground shake violently, almost making him fall.

He heard the dishes in the kitchen break, and he understood. An earthquake would have sent him toppling to the ground, and it certainly wouldn't cause the series of explosions that he can hear going off in the village.

Konoha is under attack.

A/N: Hey, do you guys know that the Naruto series will be ENDING in a week? I feel like I'm leaving my baby behind even if I'm not even married yet!

And please review! I mean, yeah I have more views each chapter, but why is the reviews decreasing?