TWELVE
Ame: Part II
True to its name, it was pouring down rain in Amegakure as a small toad leaped up out of the water. When it opened it's mouth a hand popped out then followed by the rest of the body of Jiraiya. The white haired man steadied him self and stood on top of the water next to the toad. He looked up at the large city and smirked. He then dismissed the toad.
"I'm in," he smiled, "That was easier than anticipated. Or so it seems."
Several hours later, Jiraiya found himself wondering around Ame in search of some type of information. It was still raining, so Jiraiya had pulled out a white cloak with the hood pulled up masking his face. He was smart enough to know that any of the Akatsuki members could be found in the small village so he masked his chakra. He continued to look around until something caught his eye. A blonde hair man was standing close by talking to one of the shop owners. Jiraiya was able to see that Naruto was talking sweetly to an elderly lady selling some type of food. Naruto paid for his food then walked away as he waved to the elderly lady.
Jiraiya took this chance to see just what the village thought about the young man he once considered his prized student. He walked up to the elderly lady who was now sitting down.
"Excuse me," Jiraiya said sweetly to the lady.
"Yes, young lad," the lady replied.
"Oh, I hardly consider my self young," Jiraiya laughed, "But I would like to buy one of these dumplings."
"I see," the elderly handed him a dumpling as he paid for it.
"Also, who was that man you were speaking to? The blonde?" Jiraiya asked.
"Oh, that was Naruto-sama one of our village protectors. One of Pein-sama's men. A wonderful young man," the elderly smiled.
"I see. Thank you," Jiraiya nodded then walked away.
000
A young man with orange hair stood up on a high tower with a young woman standing behind him.
"Something wrong, Pein?" the young woman asked.
"Someone has disturbed my rain, Konan," the one referred to as Pein replied.
"I see, an intruder," Konan nodded.
"I'm going to stop the rain, please use your jutsu to find the intruder," Pein said.
Konan nodded and placed her hands together in a ram sign.
Pein clasped his hands together, "get ready."
"Right," Konan nodded once more.
And the rain stopped.
000
Two men were walking side-by-side on a bridge. The rain continued to pour.
"Man, this rain is brutal, huh?" the first man said with the beard.
"Lets get out of the rain and grab a drink or something?" the second man said with the scar a cross his face.
"Their ain't gonna be any bars in this shitty low level slum. Lets head up," the first man suggested.
"Fine, we'll head up to a higher level and get soaked on the way," the second man laughed.
The second man noticed a large sign next to a large house looking building. The sign read "Now open, 'Club Frog' all you can drink special: 500 Ryo!"
"Whew, we lucked out!" one of the men said.
The two men entered the bar and took off their hats and cloaks. A white haired man stood in front of cleaning a glass.
"What'll it be?" the white haired man asked.
"There'll be two of us. We'll have some sake and some snacks," the first man with the beard asked.
The two men sat down at the bar and continued talking.
"Today ain't Sunday right?" the first man asked.
"Nope, something must be up with Pein-sama. He might be heading out of the country soon," the second man replied.
"But it never rained on any other day before," the first man grouched.
"He must have a reason for using so much power," the second man suggested.
"But its practically a hurricane out there!" the first man said.
"Hey! Pein-sama is sacrificing himself for the sake of this village! You can deal with a little rain!" the second man yelled.
"Yeah, you're right," the first man agreed.
"Here you are!" the white haired man interrupted.
"Uhh, what?" the first man exclaimed.
"You have nothing here!" the second man agreed.
"Actually, today we are having a big special in celebration of our store's grand opening!" the white haired man explained.
"Whoa! Really?" the man with the scar asked.
"You men are extremely lucky!" the white haired man smiled as he lifted two fingers in a half ram sign.
There was a puff of smoke and the white haired man transformed into another shinobi. The two ninjas jumped back in reaction knocking over the chairs they were sitting in surprise.
"Who are you?" the man with the beard asked.
"I'll be asking the questions around here," Jiraiya said, "And you'd better tell me what I what I want to know."
On the outside, the bar started to turn into a green and white frog with black stripes. The inside of the frog, the two men were trapped against the stomach wall of the frog with their arms behind them.
"Since I saw both of you draw you kunai, I assume you are shinobi of low-ranking," Jiraiya said to the two men.
"Shit," the first man swore under his breath.
"Where are we?" the other asked.
"Inside my frog's stomach," Jiraiya smirked.
"WHO ARE YOU!?" the bearded man yelled.
"Didn't I say that I'll be asking the questions," Jiraiya said as he pulled out a kunai and held it to the bearded man's neck, "I want to hear about your leader, Pein and one of his men, Naruto."
"We won't betray our leader or comrade!" the man with the scar yelled.
"We'll see about that!" Jiraiya smirked. He pressed the kunai into the man's neck harder to the point where a trickle of blood ran down.
After a few hours of blood and pain, the two men had given Jiraiya little information about either Naruto or Pein. The older man sighed and stepped back.
"You two are tougher than you look," Jiraiya smirked and stepped back. He wiped of the blood kunai and placed it back in his pack, "I'm going to have to use my secret technique."
"Your what?" the scarred man breathed out.
"My secret technique," Jiraiya grinned.
"What is that?" the other man asked.
"I'll turn you into a frog forever," Jiraiya replied.
"I don't care what you do! I will never betray my comrades!" the scarred man yelled.
"Alright then," Jiraiya placed his hand on the man's forehead after making several signs, "Ninpo: Frog Transformation Technique."
There was a puff of smoke and the man was gone. In his place a small frog sat. The bearded man sat there and starred at the frog with fear in his eyes. Jiraiya started making his was towards the other.
"You're next," Jiraiya said.
"Pein-sama lived in the tallest of the western towers or so they say," the bearded man said just before he reached him.
Jiraiya dropped his hand, "Oh? It seems you betrayed your friends quiet easily. But never mind that, what do you mean 'or so they say'?"
The man sighed, "The truth is no one really knows much about Pein. It is said that he is from the Fuuma Clan. No one knows exactly what he looks like and some say he doesn't exists. But in this city, Pein-sama is effectively a god. He over looks and protects us all the time!"
"He is your leader, correct? Why would he need to conceal his identity?" Jiraiya asked.
"For situations like this obviously," the man rolled his eyes.
"Huh, fair enough," Jiraiya shrugged.
"Who are you any way?" the man asked.
"That's none of your concern," Jiraiya said with a stern voice, "Now tell me what you know about Naruto."
"Naruto?" the man raised his eyebrows.
"Yes," Jiraiya nodded.
"Everyone knows about Naruto. He's Pein's right hand man and the most powerful man anyone's ever known, beside Pein of course," the man said as a matter of fact.
"I see," Jiraiya nodded, "What makes him so powerful?"
"He's been able to mimic Pein's powers and he took down Hanzou single handedly," the man grinned.
"He took down Hanzou? By himself?" Jiraiya blinked him surprise, "Wait, you're not in a civil war any more?"
"No, it's over and we won," the man smiled, "that's why Pein and Naruto are legendary. They destroyed Amegakure themselves."
"Impossible," Jiraiya said in disbelief.
"It's true," the man said.
"But regardless of how strong those two are, Hanzou is renowned to the point where every shinobi everywhere knew his name," Jiraiya said shaking his head, "How exactly was Hanzou killed?"
"I told you! We don't know anything!" the man yelled.
Jiraiya sighed.
"Besides Pein and Naruto may be immensely strong but what scary is their ruthlessness," the man said staring directly into Jiraiya's eyes.
"What do you mean?" Jiraiya prompted.
"If anyone threatens their ideas, they are crushed without remorse," the man stated, "Naruto and Pein didn't just kill Hanzou but also his wife, children and parents. He also spread fear into all Hanzou's relatives, even their babies. And then he burned down their houses, and killing all the clients of the village. Everything was reduced to nothing."
Jiraiya stared at the man in disbelief. He couldn't believe Naruto could do such a thing. The sweet boy he used to train turned into a merciless killer.
"They said it was judgment," the man continued, "Exactly like that of a god."
"I see, but even a low ranking ninja like you must know something. What can you tell me about the Akatsuki," Jiraiya said.
"Sorry, I don't know what that is," the man blinked in confusion.
"Alright then," Jiraiya sighed, "This is where our conversation will end. You will be here for a while. I have got something's to do."
The white haired man turned and started walking to the other side of the small room and almost rand into the wall. The wall opened up into a door then Jiraiya disappeared.
"Fuck," the man said, "I'm so fucked if Pein finds out."
000
The rain had stopped in Ame as a little frog made it's way around the river that weaves its way around the village. The frog stops and opens the mouth to reveal a hand, then followed by the rest of the body of the shinobi Jiraiya had been speaking to.
"Hurry back to the leaf, Ibiki will know how to handle that guy," the shinobi said to the frog that only made a slight ribbit in response.
Once the frog was gone, the man turned around and started making his way to collect information. He was underneath a small bridge, standing on the water. He started walking but something stopped him, a thousand pieces of paper came shooting towards him, covering his body.
The man realized he was in trouble, and Jiraiya finally appeared from the shadow of the rain shinobi. Jiraiya blew a fireball at the pieces of paper, which disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving behind a young woman. Jiraiya finally stood leaving the shinobi to collapse in front of him.
"Konan, you have improved greatly," Jiraiya smirked, "and you've grown into one hell of a woman."