Naruto did not fidget under the strange, unnerving gaze of the man in front of him. He did not try to hide behind the cloak of the kind woman with blue hair, either, and if anyone tried to claim that he did, he'd deny it.
"Konan, may I ask what this is?" the orange-haired man with rippled eyes asked the woman, whose name was apparently Konan.
"A child, Nagato," Konan answered matter-of-factly.
"…Indeed, I can see that." The man's tone was so dry that even the wary 8-year-old could pick up on it. "Allow me to rephrase; may I ask why you brought a child to the tower?"
Naruto was growing more apprehensive by the second. The man with freaky eyes and hair that looked suspiciously like his own didn't sound too enthused to have him around, though it was hard to truly tell with the lack of vocal inflection he was hearing. The multitude of piercings marring the man's face wasn't helping to ease his nerves at all. However, he was drawn out of his dashing hopes when he felt a soft, lithe hand glide through his hair, and he felt a little bit better.
"I found him alone in the rain far from civilization on my way back to Ame," she began with a glance downward at the boy in question, then she hesitated before looking the man in his rippled eyes. "He reminded me of us."
"I see," he responded with a pause of his own. "What do you intend to do with him?"
"I believe I can help him, that we can help him, like what Sensei did for us."
"Would it not be simpler to have him enter Ame's ninja academy?"
"I am not so sure about that," Konan replied before taking out a small storage scroll, and unsealing it revealed the large mass that was the Scroll of Seals.
The idea of fitting a giant thing into a smaller thing with a single poof and then pulling it back out when you needed it was so entrancing to Naruto, so much that he couldn't curb his excitement before his mouth took the reins. "How did you do that?!"
He immediately bit his tongue and minutely flinched despite himself. Logically, he knew that Konan wouldn't lash out at him for his excitement like some other adults would when he made it impossible for them to ignore him, but the instinct to retreat was still fresh. It hadn't been that long since he had left the village, after all.
"You have nothing to be apprehensive about," he heard her attempt to ease his worries, which surprised him because he assumed he had been able to remain subtle about it. His bright, blue gaze met the soft amber that was keenly observing him, and he saw more of that unfamiliar emotion in her stare. He quickly regained himself.
"Um, how did you fit a huge scroll like that into such a smaller one?" Naruto hesitantly repeated.
"It's a storage scroll," she explained, unrolling the item and showing Naruto the seal matrix scribbled on the parchment. "It utilizes chakra through a practice called 'fuinjutsu' to seal things into spaces that they wouldn't otherwise fit into."
She had almost lost him, but he managed to stick with her words long enough to make sense of the explanation through context clues. "So, basically, that ink on the scroll makes it bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?"
Konan considered the rudimentary summation for a moment before she nodded with a soft chuckle. "I suppose that's one way of phrasing it, but it's a tad more complex than that."
That didn't matter. He was close enough, so he'd reward himself for it anyway.
Only then did he notice that the man Konan brought him to was busy reading the giant scroll in silence. His face was expressionless, but Naruto could see his freaky eyes scanning over all of the information inside. Naruto wasn't sure how he felt about him rifling through his one-way ticket to becoming a powerful ninja worthy of everyone's respect and acknowledgment, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn't have to wait very long for the man to speak up, though.
"This is an interesting development indeed," he mused to himself before turning his strange eyes onto Naruto. "You're from Konoha?"
Naruto tentatively nodded at being addressed for the first time by the man, doing his very best to maintain eye contact with a man who could pass for the Shinigami himself.
He considered the young boy for a long, quiet moment. "What is your name?"
It was almost as if a switch had been flipped, and Naruto plastered on a bright grin and thumbed his chest as an automatic response left his lips. "It's Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki!"
Naruto could've sworn that he saw the man's eyes widen for a mere fraction of a second before they were back to their normal, unnerving impassivity as if nothing had ever been amiss.
"Tell me, Naruto Uzumaki, what is your dream?" he asked, taking the young boy off guard with the seemingly random question. "What is it that you desire most in this world?"
The phrase, "To become Hokage!" almost left his lips. Old habits truly were doomed to rough, violent deaths. Defaulting to that response was just second nature to him. He'd become Hokage so everyone would have to acknowledge his existence without having their arms twisted. He'd scream it to the heavens for anyone who would listen, and then he'd make it a reality.
Except he wasn't in Konoha anymore.
He had left the village behind, and with it his dreams of becoming Hokage. The road to acknowledgment was but a fading memory in the void. So, with that harsh reminder, what exactly was his dream now? What did he even want in this world beyond just survival?
An uncomfortable frown marred his features as he gazed down at the ground. Be it a moment of weakness or a moment of actual clarity, he had abandoned his greatest dream and left for greener pastures. He was driven to that point, and that fact alone was worth analyzing. He looked back up at the man who was peering down at him expectantly, and he finally found his nerve.
"Konan said that you want to change the world," he slowly began, drawing a curious look from the man. "If that means that I… that no one has to feel that pain, loneliness, and hatred again, then I want to help."
Naruto's eyes glimmered with a fierce determination. "I want to help you make a better world."
The man was silent, as was Konan behind Naruto. Naruto kept up his determined presentation as long as he could, but the longer the silence drew on, the more difficult it was for him to maintain his façade. He was eventually saved by the pierced man's deep voice finally returning.
"I see," he slowly nodded before looking toward Konan. "I believe that I see what you see."
He turned his rippled gaze back to Naruto. "The path to a better world will be treacherous. As you are right now, you would surely not survive it, so you will undergo rigorous training. It will be both mentally and physically taxing on you, as you will have to become powerful and capable enough to combat the bad actors that stand in the way of peace, and there are many. Are you willing to endure that strife to make that better world a reality?"
"I'm ready for whatever you have to throw at me," he nodded, the determination returning tenfold. "I'll do whatever it takes."
"Then welcome to Akatsuki, Naruto Uzumaki."
Jiraiya had no idea what to expect from the prospect of seeing his estranged students once again, particularly with some of the knowledge he has of them and what they've been up to. From thinking that they had been killed by Hanzo to learning that they had been alive all this time and had killed Hanzo in a violent uprising (as well as some other concerning things about them), he knew immediately that he needed to see and speak to them in person. However, now that he was in front of one of them…
"So…" Jiraiya lamely began as he followed Konan down a long corridor, "how have you been?"
"Sensei, I appreciate your attempt at filling the awkward silence, but small talk is torturous," Konan dryly responded without turning back to look at him as she led him towards Pain's office.
"Noted," Jiraiya lamented with a quiet sigh.
The two continued their trek in silence as Jiraiya pondered the curtness he was receiving from his former student. He admittedly wasn't expecting gifts and champagne, but he certainly wasn't feeling particularly welcome thus far. He just hoped that this wasn't a sign of things to come with this reunion, but he ultimately wasn't that naive.
Eventually, the two reached a large door at the end of the corridor, and Konan opened the door to reveal Pain staring out of the window upon the drenched city under his command. In the center of the room away from Pain's desk were two parlor chairs facing a third with a small table separating them, and Konan wordlessly walked to one of the chairs and sat down, resting her cold, amber gaze on Jiraiya upon doing so. Pain finally turned to face the new arrival, and Jiraiya's breath hitched once again.
Gazing before him was the legendary Rinnegan, just as it had been so many years ago. However, the man wielding them wasn't Nagato…
"Yahiko?" Jiraiya asked in confusion. "Naruto said you were dead. Why do you have Nagato's eyes?"
"Yahiko is dead, Jiraiya-sensei," he answered. "I am Pain."
Jiraiya thought back to what Naruto had mentioned in the bar, and he started to put the pieces together. He looked back at Pain with a frown and motioned to the body standing before him. "What's the meaning of all of this, Nagato? This is incredibly macabre."
Rather than answering immediately, Pain slowly made his way over to the open seat beside Konan and sat, staring the Toad Sage down alongside his longtime friend. "Have a seat, Sensei."
While hesitant at first, Jiraiya knew that any attempts at gaining the information he sought weren't going to go anywhere if he didn't try to meet them halfway despite the undertones of hostility he was detecting. Opting to go along with it but remaining vigilant, he took the open seat across from the two living war orphans. As expected, a tense silence fell over the three, but the Toad Sage did not waver for a second.
"Why are you here?" Pain questioned, finally breaking the silence.
Jiraiya tilted his head at the question. "I assumed Naruto would have told you exactly why in his message to you."
"Naruto did send a message to inform us of your impending arrival," Pain confirmed, his tone as unreadable as his face. "He also noted, should I choose to kill you, to keep his room out of the crossfire. He is very protective of his things, which I can certainly understand."
Pain didn't allow the man a chance to react to that last bit before his tone somewhat darkened as he spoke once more. "I want to hear it from you. Why are you here?"
Jiraiya gazed back at the two for a long moment before he finally responded. "For so long, I thought you all were dead. When I learned that you two were still alive, I had to come see for myself."
"Then your mission is accomplished," Konan curtly interjected.
"I suppose I have my work cut out for me," Jiraiya sighed. "I get that there's probably a lot of remaining soreness after my rather abrupt departure all those years ago."
"You abandoned us," Konan corrected.
"I couldn't be there forever. I wanted to train you three to be able to protect yourselves."
"And do you see three of us?"
The silence that followed was far more tense. Jiraiya had no response to that, as the unfortunate reality of the world pained him just as much as it pained them.
"Yahiko's death is not Jiraiya-sensei's fault, Konan," Pain broke the silence once again in an even tone to the woman beside him.
"Yes, I know that," Konan bit back with a concoction of frustration and self-loathing breaking through her mask. "It's mine."
"Konan-"
"You can insist forever that it isn't, Nagato, but the fact of the matter is that it is. We thought we were ready, but we weren't… I wasn't. Had I been able to defend against the trap, Yahiko would still be with us."
"And it was my kunai that struck Yahiko down, Konan. If you bear any responsibility in Yahiko's death, then I bear just as much. The true fact of the matter is that the only perpetrators of Yahiko's demise were Hanzo and Danzo."
Jiraiya, despite not at all wanting to interrupt their moment of impromptu therapy, chose this moment to interject at the mention of Hanzo. "What exactly happened to Hanzo, Nagato? Only recently has any news about Ame one way or the other come out, so most of the continent is under the impression that the place is still locked down and trapped in a civil war."
"He is dead," Pain answered matter-of-factly.
"Someone like him doesn't go down easily or quietly," Jiraiya insisted. "The world should have heard about it."
The ripple pattern of the Rinnegan bored through Jiraiya as a brief silence followed the question. "The thing about shinobi, Sensei, is that no matter how powerful, wise, or feared you are, we all bleed the same. When one loses enough blood, they die. Some people, however, bleed more than others, so it can either take more time or less time for them to finally bleed out and be free of this mortal realm."
Jiraiya warily gazed at the pierced Rinnegan wielder as he spoke, not entirely sure where this was going nor liking the picture it was painting.
"Should one person bleed out, they will die, and that is the end of it, correct?" Pain asked the Toad Sage.
"Where are you going with this?" Jiraiya cautiously asked.
"The truth is that it isn't," Pain continued, not appearing to acknowledge the question. "It never is. When you strike one down and bleed them out, their blood will strike back to bleed you out in turn, and then your own blood will return for retribution. It is the unfortunate reality of confusing vengeance for justice that triggers the vicious cycle of hatred that we live in."
Pain's gaze lifted from Jiraiya as he stared upward at nothing in particular. "History dictates that the cycle is inevitable, but I believe that it does not have to be immediate. So, in order to prevent their blood from striking back, you must eliminate the stains of their bloodline before they have the opportunity to seek their justice."
As the metaphor sank in, Jiraiya found himself growing pale. Nagato didn't have to outright say it; the implications were clear, and they were grizzly.
"So, you asked what became of Hanzo," Pain finished, returning the piercing glow of the Rinnegan back to his former sensei. "There is your answer."
Yet another uncomfortable silence fell within the room, and this one was even longer than the others. Jiraiya sat in his seat and wrestled with the thought of the boy he believed to potentially be the Child of Prophecy driving an entire bloodline to extinction out of revenge, regardless of how he rationalized it. Gamamaru foretold that the Child of Prophecy would either bring the world to prosperity or to its destruction, and the way this was going…
Konan, meanwhile, snapped her head towards Pain and shot a narrowed glare at him. "Is this what you've been rehearsing all day?"
"Irrelevant; you have no proof," Pain quickly responded, pointedly keeping his head straight to avoid her glare.
The dread developing in the pit of Jiraiya's stomach halted at the interplay between them, and he gratefully felt some of it begin to diminish. That display at least showed that there was still some humanity left within them despite it being buried beneath a mountain of, well, pain. He knew what sort of insidious damage enough pain could do to someone; he and his teammates were the poster children for it. If Tsunade could be helped, then perhaps Konan and Nagato could, as well?
"What is the goal of Akatsuki?" Jiraiya posed to the two, regaining their attention.
"Our goal is what it has always been," Pain began. "It is the same desire that you instilled within the three of us: peace."
"I hardly see how murdering those whose activities you disagree with achieves peace," Jiraiya bluntly challenged. It was a harsh rebuttal, and perhaps it was a bit unfair to characterize it that way, but he felt he needed to put their convictions over the fire to get to the heart of the matter and see if their path to peace was truly feasible. Then, he'd be able to make a decision about how to proceed.
Konan tensed, but she kept a lid on her indignation. Pain, meanwhile, simply hummed.
"Our methods were forced to evolve, but our end goal remains the same," he began. "Akatsuki wishes to create a world free of unnecessary bloodshed, suffering, and corruption. These are, of course, lofty goals, but we do not intend to do so alone. Our involvement in Kiri, for example, was motivated by a desire to build lasting diplomatic relations with a non-genocidal regime, and the missions we take across the continent in smaller nations only further that desire by building even more connections. The ultimate end is eliminating the disruptors that bring about discord within the nations and pave the wave for establishing a peaceful status quo by being its mediator."
Okay, that was quite a bit for Jiraiya to take in. It was clear that they had thought a lot about this, but he wasn't entirely convinced. The idea of mediating for a peaceful world sounded nice, but just how feasible was it without causing a ton of bloodshed and twisting the definition of peace into something totally warped?
"You're thinking much too loudly, Jiraiya-sensei," Pain acknowledged, and the Toad Sage cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. "I do understand your probable concerns. The true crux of it all is that merely seeking peace is only chasing a nebulous specter. 'Peace,' stripped of its literal definition, means something different for everyone. The connotations are determined wholly by one's interpretation based on personal experience, culture, and individual morality. Peace for Hanzo meant total subjugation. Peace for Yagura meant casual bloodshed amongst allies. Peace for Orochimaru meant freedom to cause untold suffering on the innocent for selfish gain."
Jiraiya silently mulled over his words as Pain took a momentary pause, and he returned his rapt attention when he spoke again.
"What these all have in common is suffering," Pain continued. "True peace is subjective, but pain is universal. The one thing that connects us all is a shared understanding of pain, particularly the pain of war. Those who know such suffering intimately are able to understand what peace can be, rather than what they selfishly believe peace should mean for them."
"So, what, are you planning on introducing the world to a pain so great that they behave and never go to war again?" Jiraiya joked, now having a far better understanding of what their ethos was.
"That was once on the table, but we decided against it," Pain answered, ignoring Jiraiya's eyes going wide as he stood from his seat. "Come, Sensei, there is something I wish for you to see."
Konan's brow furrowed in confusion until she realized what he was planning, and she grew a bit alarmed. "Nagato, are you sure about this?"
"Yes, Konan," Pain nodded. "For Sensei to truly understand our convictions, he must see the full picture."
Konan wasn't entirely sure if she agreed with that, but she decided to trust her friend's judgment and follow him out of the door to where she knew he was headed. Jiraiya, on the other hand, was more than confused about the sudden request, but he wouldn't turn down the opportunity to learn even more about them, so he followed closely behind.
"Again."
"You are overworking yourself, Tenten."
"Neji, for the last time, I need to improve, and if I can't adequately dodge or block more than half of your 64 Palms, I'll never achieve that."
Neji sighed. "Fine, but I can only keep blocking and unblocking your tenketsu so many times before I cause permanent damage."
He stepped over to his downed, frowning teammate before kneeling and reopening her tenketsu for what felt like the fifth time that morning. Tenten had been training like a woman possessed since her return to the village, and when asked why, she would only say, "Because I AM worthy, damnit!" and wouldn't elaborate any further before throwing herself even harder into training. Guy-sensei applauded and shed tears over her newfound youthful vigor (whenever he wasn't on missions or checking on Lee, anyway).
That led them to this particular training session in which she insisted that he, quote, "beat her into the fucking ground until she learned to dodge or counter." On top of that, she forbade herself from using any ranged weapons/attacks and limited herself to only blocking and countering with escrima sticks. Even more, she had taken to wearing leg weights in the vein of Guy-sensei and Lee, alongside electing to further her exploration into the Eight Inner Gates. Their sensei had introduced the subject to all three of them, but only Lee had ever actually taken to it.
If Neji was being honest, she was beginning to frighten him, but he would never admit that.
"There is no shame in not being able to evade the Hyuga's signature technique, you know," Neji attempted to assure her as he reopened the last of her tenketsu.
Tenten sighed and sat up, sending her teammate a thankful nod. "I know, I just can't waste any more time being mediocre. I need to get stronger yesterday."
"What is it specifically that you're training so hard for?" Neji questioned, hoping to get more out of her this time than the usual response.
"I'm gonna force Lord Jiraiya to take me on as his apprentice, and I refuse to take no for an answer," she declared with the fiercest conviction that the Hyuga prodigy had ever seen from her.
"…How exactly do you intend to accomplish this?" Neji hesitantly questioned, a bit concerned about whether or not his teammate was suffering from a concussion.
"By becoming even better than you," she said with the utmost seriousness.
Neji opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out. He sat in thought for a moment before closing his mouth and nodding in acceptance. "Valid."
It was certainly a lofty goal to accomplish, not to toot his own horn. It wasn't that he didn't have faith in his teammate's acumen, but Lord Jiraiya was one of the Legendary Sannin, and they didn't just take apprentices willy nilly. The only known apprentices of the Sannin were the late Yondaime, the proctor for the second stage of the Chunin Exams, and the woman who had been seen with Lady Tsunade in the hospital recently; Shizune, he believed her name was.
Going by the chatter he was able to pick up from some of the jonin in the branch house, Shizune was apparently in the running for Hokage, but she was also losing out to the pig in the betting pool. Neji wasn't entirely certain how trustworthy that information was.
"Alright, that's enough sitting around, let's get back to it," Tenten declared as she dusted herself off and returned to her feet, her escrima firmly in her grasp as she entered a defensive stance.
Neji merely sighed in resignation before he entered the Gentle Fist stance and activated his Byakugan. However, something caught his attention, and he placed his hand up to signal for a pause to the spar. Tenten relaxed and gazed at him quizzically as Neji stood still, looking right in her direction but not actually looking at her. She was used to Neji focusing on things directly behind him via his Byakugan without physically turning, so the blankness of his stare no longer unnerved her.
"There are interlopers on our training ground, though perhaps not intentionally," Neji stated. "They appear to be in distress. Shall we investigate?"
Tenten blinked in surprise. "No offense, but I never pegged you for a Good Samaritan."
"After the conversation my uncle and I had about the truth regarding my father, a few fellow clansmen in the branch house have been helping me 'mellow out', so to speak," Neji explained as the two made their way over to the interlopers. Once the group was within earshot, the two entered the trees above to get a better look, and they were surprised and confused to see a few of the rookies from the Chunin Exams having a rather heated discussion.
"Sakura, this is fucking insane. You can't just leave the village without permission! They'll declare you a missing-nin!"
"As crazy as it is for Ino to be the voice of reason, I have to agree."
"Bite me, Shika."
Tenten threw Neji a sidelong glance, to which he nodded in acknowledgement.
"I can't just sit around and let this be!" Sakura fired back. "I tried to talk Sasuke out of leaving, but he's not thinking straight. We have to find him!"
"Then why don't we just inform the Hokage?" Choji supplied, his bag of chips noticeably absent.
"What Hokage??" Sakura pressed. "Missions are handed out at the missions desk, all of our sensei are gone on patrols because of the invasion, and there's no one in charge to organize an official rescue operation! The more time we waste trying to go through official channels, the more distance Sasuke creates between himself and the village!"
Sakura sighed, and she faced Team 10 with equal parts exhaustion, determination, and desperation. "He knocked me out last night, but when I came to, I didn't see or hear any chatter or activity surrounding him leaving, so the village likely still doesn't know. We can do this, guys! We can hunt him down and incapacitate him, then we bring him back before anyone even realizes he's gone!"
"Sakura-" Ino began, but she was cut off.
"I'm going with or without help," she resolutely declared. "I've already lost one teammate; I refuse to lose another."
Tenten sent another look toward Neji, and Neji returned the look as the two engaged in a silent conversation.
"This isn't our problem."
"Neji! They're rookies!"
"And?"
"And we can't just let them get themselves killed out there! We have to do something!"
"What do you suggest we do? Guy-sensei is out on a mission."
"We tail them and ensure that they don't get in over their heads."
"Tenten-"
"It's what Lee would do."
Neji closed his eyes and sighed. "Fine. We'll tail them and bail them out when they inevitably run into trouble, and then we'll bring them back. Perhaps we may also retrieve the Uchiha along the way, but the priority is bringing these four back."
"Three," Tenten corrected. "Apparently the blonde one is staying behind to tip off her sensei when he gets back from his mission, but the other three are going on ahead. Probably gonna grab someone else along the way, they mentioned someone named 'Kiba'."
"I know I will regret letting you talk me into this," Neji lamented before the two flickered away.
The two founding members of Akatsuki led Jiraiya to the bowels of the tower, weaving through a maze of corridors dressed with pipes of all sizes along the walls. Apparently, it was part of a complicated system Ame implemented to collect and treat the rainwater for use by the village's inhabitants. The Toad Sage was surprised to learn that Ame was the leading exporter of freshwater in the region given their placement between two exceptionally arid nations.
Eventually, the group reached a large, dimly lit room with six empty pods. Jiraiya didn't know what to make of the strange sight; he had no idea what those pods could even be for, but he had accepted early on in the meeting that Nagato was a strange man.
He was drawn from his thoughts when a shrill, mechanical whirring filled the room from the corner, and out from the darkness stepped a large, crab-like contraption with a gaunt, shirtless man strapped within. Jiraiya's eyes immediately landed on the familiar head of red hair and glowing pair of Rinnegan peeking through the crimson curtain, and he was dumbstruck.
"Hello again, Jiraiya-sensei," the real Nagato greeted.
"Nagato…" the Toad Sage breathed out, and then his head snapped back to look at the orange-haired man standing behind him with Konan. "But, why do you have the Rinnegan, too? Who the hell are you??"
"I am Pain," Pain succinctly replied.
"He is Pain," Nagato dryly confirmed, all the while Konan was massaging her temples.
"The Rinnegan is a very powerful dojutsu possessing a great many abilities," Nagato continued, completely undeterred by Jiraiya's growing confusion and Konan's equally growing exasperation. "As you can see, my physical body is frail and largely immobile as a result of Hanzo's treachery with assistance from Danzo. Pain is an extension of myself that oversees Akatsuki and Ame in my stead."
"Right…" Jiraiya mused, still struggling to wrap his head around things. He looked back at Pain. "Is he sentient?"
"No, I am not," Pain responded, confusing Jiraiya even more.
"Pain is literally an extension of myself," Nagato continued. "I control Pain's every action and word, and I am aware of any stimuli Pain encounters."
"I do not act without his explicit direction, as I am literally him," Pain concluded.
Jiraiya stared blankly between Pain and Nagato, who only offered blank stares in return. Finally, he turned to Konan, who looked positively done with all of this.
"…Is this a regular thing?" Jiraiya questioned the thoroughly exasperated woman.
"He does this from time to time," Konan explained with a long-suffering sigh. "You just get used to it."
"Right…" Jiraiya simply opted to nod and move on, turning back to Nagato and motioning to the massive walker he was situated within. "How did all of this happen?"
"The day Yahiko perished," Nagato answered, bringing the somber mood back to discussion. "Prior to then, we were reaching a zenith in peaceful discussions with Hanzo."
"However, Konoha meddled, as they are wont to do, and Yahiko paid the price for it," Pain spoke up in continuation.
"As did my legs," Nagato finished.
The room was silent, which has become a common theme for this interaction. Jiraiya's expression was nothing more than forlorn as he stepped forward to regard his former student more closely, getting a good look at exactly what he had become in his absence. It was worse than 1000 stabs to the heart for the man.
"I'm sorry," Jiraiya quietly spoke. "Truly, I am."
"Do not agonize over it, Sensei," Nagato assured. "The reason I brought you down here was to showcase the true breadth of our mission. So many innocent lives the world over are destroyed because of greed and the lust for power. The whims of powerful men disconnected from reality result in the ruin of those drowning helplessly within it. This is what Akatsuki seeks to eliminate. So long as there are those who crave suffering, turn a blind eye to suffering, or exploit suffering for their own ends, no true semblance of peace can exist."
"Fighting fire with fire to achieve peace is a dangerously slippery slope, Nagato," Jiraiya warned.
"Oftentimes, the best way to kill a forest fire is to start another fire," Nagato countered. "Let the fires cannibalize the oxygen in the area until they both burn out."
"And how many will still be suffering along the way?" The Toad Sage rebutted. "How many people will fall into the cycle of hatred against you as you kill those close to them that were standing in the way of peace, justifiably or not?"
Nagato sighed, and Konan could hear the exhaustion bleeding into his tone. "I am not a god, Sensei. I cannot just snap my fingers and make all of the hatred in this world vanish. I cannot plunge the world into an infinite genjutsu where there is no hatred to speak of. This shinobi world is ruled by hatred and the suffering of others; we are just trying to make the best of a bad situation and help the reformation process along all the while."
Konan was shocked. Despite his afflictions, Nagato was always self-assured and firm in his convictions, a stark contrast from the timid boy she once knew. She supposed that they all had to grow up very quickly, even more so after Hanzo's betrayal changed them, and Nagato most of all took on a lot of Yahiko's traits in order to do right by Akatsuki and Ame as their leader.
It had been a long while since she had seen Nagato look this human.
Jiraiya released a sigh of his own. "I understand, Nagato. Konan. I agree that there is entirely too much hatred and pain in this ninja world of ours, I just haven't quite yet figured out how to go about addressing it. But I truly believe that one day, we will all learn to understand each other and live in harmony. That's the dream I live every hoping to achieve. That is what keeps me going."
"And what are we to do until that day comes?" Nagato questioned. "We cannot just waste away until the populace abandons their hatred."
"We can't just arbitrarily decide who gets to live or die to achieve that ideal world, either," Jiraiya countered.
"It isn't a perfect solution, but right now, it's the only one that anyone has," Nagato stood firm.
There was a brief silence in which Jiraiya wracked his brain for any sort of counter to that, but much to his dismay, he came up short.
"Yeah, I suppose it is," he quietly lamented.
"Would you rather we decide by committee?" Konan dryly quipped, attempting to break some of the morose tension in the room before it could fester. It was merely supposed to be a brief flicker of levity among the malaise.
Jiraiya, however, perked up with an idea. "Actually, yes. That's not a bad idea."
Konan furrowed her brow at him. "I was being facetious."
"I know, but I'm not," Jiraiya replied. "You mentioned earlier about diplomacy amongst the nations being the ultimate end goal. Well, I happen to be the newly appointed Hokage, and I wouldn't mind getting a piece of these budding diplomatic bonds you've been building."
Jiraiya took a bit of pleasure in the perturbation present in both of their faces.
"You could have led with that, Jiraiya-sensei," Nagato deadpanned.
"I needed to be absolutely sure of your ideas of peace," Jiraiya responded. "They aren't perfect, but they're not inherently malicious or overtly destructive. I'm more than willing to assist in seeing it through, provided there's ample communication before you do anything drastic."
Nagato remained silent, his rippled gaze shifting to Konan. Their eyes met, and a silent conversation happened in that moment. Jiraiya merely watched on as the two nonverbally deliberated; he was taken back to the days of old where he and Tsunade would have such similar discussions on missions that would generally end in him getting socked in the jaw for thinking something lecherous.
Eventually, Nagato turned his gaze back to Jiraiya. "That… can be discussed. Akatsuki is an independent entity, and there will be no explicit committee oversight. However, prior communication of any significant activities can be discussed."
"Fantastic," Jiraiya declared with a bright smile. "Man, I can't believe I just kickstarted diplomatic negotiations between nations completely on my own. Maybe this whole Hokage deal won't be so bad."
"Go home, Sensei," Konan bemoaned with patience wearing as thin as a sheet of paper.
"Alright, alright," Jiraiya acquiesced with his hands up in mock surrender. "I know I've long since worn out my welcome."
He turned to exit the room, but he stopped before reaching the door and turned back to his former students. "It was good to see you two again, despite the circumstances."
Upon receiving three nods, the Toad Sage left the room to begin his long journey back to Konoha. The two living founders of Akatsuki and the Deva Path stood in silence as Nagato watched Jiraiya make his way back up the tower through the eyes of a hidden chameleon, and once the man was out of the tower, Nagato relaxed and sighed. His body was then enveloped with a puff of smoke, revealing a much less-decrepit Nagato in his place.
"I hate maintaining that transformation," he lamented before kicking his perfectly healthy legs through a panel at the bottom of the crab walker.
"It was necessary," Konan supplied. "There's no need for him to be aware of your full capabilities, especially considering that he was gauging if we would be potential enemies."
"Indeed," Nagato nodded, and a mischievous smirk found purchase on his face. "Nonetheless, I did enjoy messing with him."
Upon the Deva Path's nod in agreement with Nagato, Konan had finally endured all of his antics that she was willing to, so she turned around and made her way towards the exit, much to his amusement.
"I am forever thankful for Naruto's idea to use the Naraka Path on myself. He inherited his resourcefulness from you, you know?"
"Shut up, Nagato."
The hiss that escaped Orochimaru as the water of his shower cascaded down his decaying arms could be heard several hallways down from his personal chamber. As if his situation wasn't already bad enough, being forced to emerge from Tayuya's cursed seal with the single white snake as a vessel left him substantially weaker. More pressing was the acceleration of the necrosis in his arms after the event.
Naruto Uzumaki. That was the name of the blonde piece of fucking shit that was responsible for his current state. If Sarutobi's soul wasn't in the belly of the Shinigami, he'd cast Edo Tensei to beat his ass a second time for the pure bullshit the old fuck put his arms through. Uzumaki, on the other hand, would earn a fate far worse than any perpetual torture the Shinigami would force his soul to endure. Orochimaru would get every pound of flesh he was owed and then some for the little self-righteous cunt's transgressions against him.
Naruto Uzumaki would pay. He'd slip some information to Danzo about Konoha's wayward jinchuriki purely out of spite. He didn't care what the crippled rat would do with it so long as Naruto Uzumaki burned. Not only him, but the rest of Akatsuki would burn, as well… as soon as he got into a decent fucking vessel.
"KABUTO!" Orochimaru shouted, knowing the weird little fuck was always close by plotting his demise. He'd have to do something about that at some point, but Kabuto was much too useful to kill for now.
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto answered from right outside the bathroom door. Creepy little fuck.
"Where is Sasuke?!" he furiously demanded. "This vessel is failing at an exponential rate! I must do the transfer within the hour!"
"Erm, the Sound Four have not yet returned with him, my Lord," Kabuto hesitantly responded.
Orochimaru's growl could even be heard over the sounds of the shower, and Kabuto began to grow a little nervous on the other side of the door.
"Uh, sir, you know I'd always volunteer to be your next vessel if you truly needed it," Kabuto floated the idea past the door.
'And have you flip the transfer on me in my weakened state like the Kyubi brat did so you can steal my knowledge and abilities? Absolutely not,' Orochimaru internally scoffed before responding aloud. "That won't be necessary, Kabuto. You are more useful to me alive than as a vessel. I need Sasuke, and I need him now, so if you must drag Kimimaro out of his bed and send him to ensure Sasuke gets here, do so!"
"As you wish, Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto responded, then he hesitated. "There is the slim yet existing possibility that Kimimaro's body fails completely, and he dies before making it back to Oto with Sasuke."
"Then find Guren and tell her to round up her squad of failed experiments to accompany Kimimaro with the recovery effort, and unless she wants me to slit that bastard child of Yagura's throat in front of her, she'll get off her crystalline ass and get me the fucking Sharingan!" Orochimaru shouted back, swiftly losing his patience with the conversation in the midst of his excruciating pain.
"Right away, Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto answered, and Orochimaru heard him shuffling away.
The pale man sighed as he twisted the faucet with his tongue. In the back of his mind, he knew that he would have to switch bodies before Sasuke got to the base, but he was hoping to hold out as long as he could. He knew that Kabuto would prepare one of the prisoners for an emergency transfer just in case, regardless.
This would all be worth it when he was finally in possession of the Sharingan. Absolutely no one would be able to stand in the way of his pursuit of knowledge. No one would ever dream of opposing him.
Pakura opened the door to the Hokage's office and stepped inside with a wave, but rather than the older blonde she was expecting to see, instead was Shizune sitting at the desk and slaving away at a criminal quantity of paperwork.
"Oh, hey, Shizune," Pakura greeted with a bit of surprise. "I figured Tsunade would be the one manning the ship until Jiraiya returned."
"She's still in surgery right now, so I'm the designated paperwork mule for the time being," Shizune lamented.
Pakura hummed. "Is she working on that Tenten girl's teammate?"
"Mhm," Shizune confirmed with a nod. "How has your stay in the village been?"
"It was exactly the vacation I needed," Pakura answered with a grateful sigh, then her brow furrowed. "Honestly, though? It's a little bit concerning how much they just let me roam around."
"There's a standing order amongst the ANBU to not bother you while you're here," Shizune responded as she stamped another document. "With the invasion reducing our manpower, all hands are on deck to keep up a strong front for the other villages and secure our borders in case of another enemy encroachment."
"Holy shit, they gave you a security briefing, didn't they?" Pakura laughed, recognizing that particular jargon from her time in Suna's ANBU.
"End me," Shizune drawled.
Then, the door opened, and TonTon entered the room with another stack of paperwork on her back and a loud oink to get Shizune's attention.
"Fucking hell," Shizune moaned as she face-planted on the desk with Pakura trying (and failing) to suppress her laughter.
"Um, Lady Hokage??" came the call of two frazzled looking chunin as they hurried into the room and saluted in front of the desk.
"I am not the Hokage!" Shizune shouted in frustration before quickly recomposing herself. "Yes, Izumo, Kotetsu?"
The two perpetual gate guards played a quick game of rock-paper-scissors to determine whose fate was sealed by having to deliver the news, and Izumo was the unlucky sucker to have to explain.
Izumo sighed in defeat, then he straightened up. "Well, this morning, the barrier around the village clocked six chakra signatures leaving the village's walls. Given the amount of people already out on missions lately, six seemed like a lot to depart at one time, so we cross-referenced with the entry logs at every gate, and everyone who had left on a mission this morning had already been accounted for."
"Okay," Shizune cautiously acknowledged. "Where is this going?"
Izumo faltered, so Kotetsu came to his rescue and picked up where he left off. "Inoichi Yamanaka had returned from a mission a little while ago, so we decided to go to him about it since he's the best sensor in the village. Coincidentally, at the same time, his daughter was giving him some… distressing news."
"Spit it out already," Shizune ordered, breaking away from her typically mild tone in her waning patience.
"Some time last night, Sasuke Uchiha abandoned the village," Izumo picked back up. "This morning, a group of genin, his classmates, left to hunt him down and bring him back."
Shizune stared blankly at the two chunin uncomfortably shuffling in front of the desk. The silence drew on for a few painfully long moments before Shizune finally spoke in a tone as blank as her expression:
"Thank you for informing me. You're dismissed."
Upon the dismissal, Izumo and Kotetsu made themselves scarce with such speed that a passing observer wouldn't be blamed for mistaking it for the Yondaime's signature jutsu. Meanwhile, Shizune's head reintroduced itself to the desk, and a muffled, long-suffering sigh reverberated through the wood.
"Pakura, can I ask you for a favor?" Shizune asked after bringing her head back up and massaging her temples.
"…So long as I'm being paid, sure," Pakura answered, having a decent idea about where this was going. Akatsuki didn't work for free, after all.
"I figured," Shizune huffed, and her eyes landed on the document at the top of the stack of paperwork that TonTon brought in. Grabbing it and scanning over the page revealed that it was a report from the T Department about the Suna-nin that were captured during and after the invasion, as well as a report on Temari's activities while under surveillance within the village. She stared at the document for a long moment, then she looked up from the page at Pakura gazing quizzically back at her, and then she looked back at the document once more with a slowly brightening expression.
"You know, I think I have an idea."
A group of seven Oto-nin sped through the forest towards the border of Hi no Kuni. Five of them were chatting excitedly amongst themselves about finally being sent on an important mission for once; the rare times that they were let out from their cages were usually for bloodsport brawls or simple search and destroy assignments. It was never anything worthy of the time of someone that wasn't explicitly disposable, and they all knew that they were very much disposable.
The remaining two, however, were deathly quiet, and each for vastly different reasons. Kimimaro didn't particularly enjoy mincing words in general unless it was to eloquently articulate how far beneath him his opponents were before disemboweling them, and his sickness had only exacerbated his proclivity for silence. His condition had deteriorated so violently that he was only able to move on willpower alone, though that didn't make him any less deadly. His sole focus was completing his likely final mission for Lord Orochimaru before he took his last breath.
The last Oto-nin was enduring a different brand of internal turmoil. Where Kimimaro's was physical, Guren's was mental. She had been fiercely loyal to Lord Orochimaru ever since he found her and taken her in (after slaughtering and pillaging her entire village, but that was irrelevant). Her unique kekkei genkai intrigued him enough to train her to see exactly what her abilities could blossom into, and she returned his generosity with her undying servitude far better than that slimy weasel, Kabuto, ever could.
She begrudgingly accepted that Kabuto was Lord Orochimaru's righthand, even if his true loyalties were always dubious at best. Kabuto was a very skilled and dangerous individual, marginally her superior in combat and blatantly her superior in the medical and scientific fields. She could swallow her pride and live with the fact that Kabuto was far more useful to her Lord alive than dead. She was to be Lord Orochimaru's next vessel, anyway.
Well, that was what she assumed, at least.
Kimimaro had fallen ill to a terminal case of Shinoberculosis, so his status as the next vessel was null and void as his incurable condition worsened. Logically, she would be next in line as the most powerful and eligible soldier, right? It only made sense that Lord Orochimaru would desire her unique abilities and sturdy constitution in lieu of Kimimaro, and she would gladly accept the honor of bestowing her body to him.
And yet, here she was retrieving the Uchiha brat to fill that very purpose, and all he had was a kekkei genkai that was only marginally less unique than hers. Lord Orochimaru had even already marked him with a cursed seal, so he was very much invested in having the boy around for the long haul. And that was the thing, wasn't it? Everyone seemed to have been marked except for her, and whenever she asked about it, she would always be told that it wasn't particularly necessary for her.
She didn't know if that was because her loyalty was already well-assured or, the more insidious possibility, that she was never in line to be a vessel to begin with. Instead, she was merely a useful tool, barely ranking above the grotesque expendables that were accompanying them in practical importance.
She didn't like to think about that, so she wouldn't, despite how pervasive the treacherous thoughts had become of late. No, she'd do her job and complete this mission, deliver the Uchiha to Lord Orochimaru, and get back home to Yukimaru. The little scamp was making great progress in his training; he'd be slaughtering whole villages under Lord Orochimaru's orders in no time. Hell, they could even make a mother-son day out of it-
Wait, what? No, she couldn't be thinking of that, especially during such a crucial mission. Besides, she murdered Yukimaru's biological mother in cold blood, and the boy was still none the wiser to this very day. She didn't deserve to designate herself as such. That sweet boy deserved so much better than her.
"Alright, brats, here's the deal," Pakura exhaled her irritation in front of Konoha's main gate as three Suna genin (in name only, honestly) stood at attention before her. "I'm being hired to hunt down and retrieve Sasuke Uchiha as well as the collection of genin that ditched the village in their own hunt for him. You all will be my backup as a way to work off your POW status. Understood?"
The three Suna-nin in question, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara, each had different responses. Temari, knowing full well who she was standing in front of as well as their precarious situation, nodded in assent without hesitation. She couldn't become Kazekage as either a POW or a corpse. Beside her was Kankuro, who was still a bit pale and wide-eyed at the sight of the long-thought-dead war hero (who had apparently gone rogue and joined a mercenary group? He'd have to investigate that a bit further), nodded shakily in understanding. He wouldn't blow his shot at leaving a shitty cell and going back home.
Gaara, on the other hand, wasn't feeling as cooperative. He merely sent her a disinterested glare and folded his arms. "And what's to stop us from abandoning you and returning to Suna on our own volition?"
"Gaara!" came the frantic whisper-shout of his older sister upon the boy's casual disregard of the S-rank kunoichi in front of them. She and Kankuro were rightfully afraid of the monstrously destructive power their brother wielded, but it wasn't as if he (or the beast within him, for that matter) hadn't ever been subdued in the past. Their father used to do it on a semi-regular basis, and it quite literally happened during the invasion at the hands of a legend of Konoha and an ANBU with bullshit wood powers. If anyone could probably be capable of taking Gaara down if he was to act out, it would be an equally known legend in her own right.
Pakura, meanwhile, blinked and sent the redhead a long, quizzical look. "…The immutable fact that I would hunt you down and kill you before you even reached the border. I thought that was obvious?"
"Do you truly believe you're capable of such?" Gaara threatened with a darkening tone, sand collecting at his feet and the beginning traces of bloodlust trickling out of him where he stood.
Temari and Kankuro were sweating bullets now. This was already shaping up to be a disaster that torpedoed any chances of freedom they had, but pacifying Gaara when he was insistent on something wasn't within their capabilities. Pakura merely sighed.
"Gaara, please-" Temari began, but all activity ceased when a second Pakura placed a hand on top of Gaara's head from behind, completely bypassing the instincts of his sand defense. The three seriously taken aback siblings looked toward the original Pakura, but the woman flickered out of existence, revealing herself to be an afterimage of the true Pakura holding Gaara at her mercy.
"I have no reason to believe that I'm incapable, if that answers your question," she spoke up casually as her palm glowed a faint orange, causing a jagged sheen to develop down Gaara's forehead. Only when the kanji for love carved into his brow had a crimson shine to it did she finally remove her hand.
"What… w-what did you do to me??" Gaara damn near hyperventilated at being accosted and seemingly neutralized so easily. Temari and Kankuro were just as curious, though they'd have to pick their jaws off the ground to express it.
"You cover yourself with a protective layer of sand," Pakura pointed out with a bored tone. "I superheated it into glass. You are quite literally a glass cannon against me. Let's not go down this road, Gaara. It wouldn't be my first battle with a rampaging jinchuriki, and the few that I spar with on a regular-ish basis are substantially more powerful than you."
Gaara was struck silent at the several revelations. Pakura had exploited a weakness that he wasn't even aware of, one that would have left him completely at her mercy had she opted to encase his entire body in a layer of glass. She was also apparently used to fighting people like him, and she's familiar enough with it to gauge his power against her own. More importantly, that meant…
"…There are others like me?" Gaara managed to choke out.
A smile broke through her impassive façade, glad that he had taken the bait. "Mhm. Eight, actually. I happen to know a few."
"And they're strong?" Gaara asked, almost unsure of his words. When Pakura nodded, he took a moment to organize his tumultuous thoughts, but one question finally came together. "What makes them strong?"
"Besides an absurd amount of training?" Pakura snorted. "Having something to fight for. Having something to live towards when the world doesn't give you much to work with. Having people to protect and that protect you in return."
Gaara was beyond perplexed, as if he truly could not fathom the concept. "But… how can you find any meaning outside of living for only yourself?"
"That's a difficult question," Pakura mused with a forlorn sigh. "About 15 years ago, I was asking myself the same thing. Even the obvious answer of, 'you don't,' wasn't particularly satisfying because even living for only myself didn't give me any real purpose. I was just floating around with no discernible destination or reason to be. I would've preferred just being dead."
Despite the moroseness, a small smile developed regardless. "The truth is that I got lucky. I happened to stumble upon some people who were just as lost, just as broken, and just as motivated for change as I was. When your home casts you out, you make a new one. So, I made a new one with people I'd do anything for. Luckily for you, yours hasn't cast you out entirely just yet. Your sister over there really cares about you, even if she's too much of a pussy to say it to your face."
Pakura and Gaara ignored the indignant squawk from Temari and snickering from Kankuro that was followed by the loud, metallic thunk of a war fan hitting a skull.
"The others like me… can I meet them?" he asked after a brief silence, a flicker of something foreign to the siblings entering his tone. Was it hope?
"You know, I think I can make that happen," Pakura chuckled before walking towards the gate. "We can discuss it later, though. We've wasted enough time as it is. You three will focus on collecting the genin while I retrieve the Uchiha. Makes things simpler. Sound good?"
Two attentive nods and a tentative one was the response she received, and upon her signal to move out, the group dashed into the tree line.
I had a bit too much fun writing Nagato and the Deva Path speaking in tandem.
I originally wanted to get to the end of this portion of the narrative in this chapter, but it was becoming a bit long as it stood, so I opted to end it here and be able to devote a bit more time and detail to what's directly to come. It's probably for the better, as I'd rather the next few scenes not be rushed, and I don't want a chapter to balloon to 15K if I can help it lol
Next chapter is already being written, expect that sometime soon.
Thanks for reading.
