AN: New chapter.


"You two deserve a vacation."

"What?" Yahiko wasn't the only one surprised at what he just said, Konan turning away from her share of the paperwork to look at the redhead.

"The Hidden Rain can survive without you two for a few weeks. Take some time off, have your honeymoon." Nagato pushed the issue, the biggest workaholic among the three of them advocating a vacation.

"I mean…it would be fun to take a break." Yahiko leaned back in his seat, thought about it. "We can plan something for later. Maybe after the Chunin Exams this year."

"You don't need to wait that long." Nagato reached into his sleeve, took out an envelope. "I've already booked your reservations."

""What?""

"Man, I should've known something was up!" Yahiko was back in their shared room, exchanging his swimwear for his Shinobi uniform as quickly as he could. "Nagato told us to take a vacation? Nagato! He made it so obvious he was planning something and he still tricked us!"

"We still don't know what that 'something' is." Konan could guess. If Naruto was here, if what Rin said was true and Kushina and Minato were both out the village already. "We should send word to Jiraiya."

"Yeah." Yahiko stopped, slapped his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that!" He was quick to bring his thumb down to his mouth, split it open for the blood sacrifice. "Summoning Jutsu!" He brought his Chakra-laden palm down on the floor of their room.

And nothing happened.

Konan put it together only slightly before Yahiko.

"Have fun on your vacation." Nagato clapped both of them on their backs.

"He put a seal on us!" Yahiko's fist met the floor next and he narrowly pulled his punch in time to not go through the floor. "Is he seriously that out of his mind?"

"When it comes to Jade? Yes." Konan walked over to Yahiko, laying a hand on his back. She winced at what she found when she scanned Yahiko for foreign seals. "This is…he knew we would find it. He hasn't locked our Chakra but we won't be using much of it. He's limited our access. And Summoning is completely out of the question."

"Why can't he be this creative when it comes to solving the actual problems we have!" Yahiko felt like banging his head on the floor. Konan patted him on the back, squeezed his shoulder. "You think you can have a bird send a message to the Hidden Leaf?"

It was their best option.

"It won't be easy." Konan lifted up her other hand, the skin of her arm turning into paper and separating. It quickly folded itself into a butterfly as large as a hawk. "With the limits on our Chakra, I'm not going to be of much help on the way back."

Yahiko reached up, squeezed her hand back.

"You know me Konan. I'll get us to the Hidden Leaf. And we can stop Nagato from doing something stupid. Together."

Konan tried not to let the worst-case scenario take root in her mind but…

Jade.

If Nagato was really going after Jade, had some plan he believed would work, then he was putting a target on his back.

Jade wasn't forgiving once she decided you were an enemy. She would destroy anyone who threatened Kushina, who were a threat to Naruto.

'Nagato…what are you even after with this?' She watched the paper butterfly with the message fly out their room. 'I hope we're not too late.'


She was ready to call the mission a bust and return to the village. Too many issues, too much strangeness, and meeting the two leaders from the Hidden Rain was the cherry on top. She would deal with the paperwork for calling it quits early but she needed to get back to the village. Now.

That in mind, Rin reached into her Flak Jacket and drew out the deck of cards kept there. It took her only a second to find Jade's personal card.

"They're not working?" None of the cards worked. They felt like regular paper in her hands, not the strange texture that they had once Jade was finished with them. Not even the trick Jade had told her, holding a card in a shadow, helped change anything.

Now she knew something was wrong.

Jade definitely had Shadowkhan following Naruto but they didn't seem to be around now.

Rin closed her eyes.

"Keep yourself together Rin. Don't lose it." She already had a Shadow Clone rushing back to the village, hoped to stop anything awful from happening by getting back in time. She had another Shadow Clone racing to the resort Kushina and Minato should be at. Going at top speed, leaving this late in the afternoon, the Shadow Clone would be back in the village by tonight. The one she sent would be at Kushina and Minato's resort by tomorrow morning if things went well.

"You've got everything covered." And she had all three of her Genin in their room at the resort, had another Shadow Clone currently scouting the rest of the resort.

After Yahiko and Konan's sudden appearance, she wasn't taking any chances to be surprised again.

"Obito and Kakashi are both still in the village. Jade's got plenty of backup if she can't handle something." Rin knew her teammates were strong. Obito had Kamui and a whole host of copied Ninjutsu, Kakashi had that prodigious talent that had let him make Jonin so young. With those two backing her up, Jade would be fine.

But she still felt uneasy.

She still felt that something was wrong.

A knock came from the door. "Room service."

"Great." Rin rose from her seat with a sigh. She shook her head. 'I guess Naruto ordered something.'

She opened the door to an empty hallway.

No. To mist.

It flooded the room even if she threw herself into action.

The mist was choking, was draining, was making it harder and harder to shape Chakra. Coral still came to her command, shaped itself into a blade in each of her hands. Kunai were stopped, swords deflected by a sudden growth of coral from the floor at her feet.

Red took over her eyes unbidden.

The mist is draining your Chakra.

"I know that!" She felt the Chakra bubbling up from her skin, taking rough shape around her. She could also see it being stripped away right in front of her eyes, wisps of Chakra taken into the mist that was flooding the room. Her Shadow Clone stayed with the three Genin, grabbed Naruto when he tried to run to the door. The window, and wall, was cut out by a pressurized stream of water from the clone's mouth.

The mist only kept growing, was getting thicker the more of her Chakra it leeched.

'Did he plan this too?' Nagato. Nagato had to be behind this. Right? This had to be him.

Her eyes were getting heavy. The mist was clinging to her, was weighing her down. If she didn't get out of here, she didn't know how long she would last.

'But if I leave, they'll go after me. They could go after Naruto…' She tightened her hold on her coral blades. She had no choice. She had to stand and fight.

Red Chakra flared around her. The drain didn't stop but new Chakra replaced what she was losing.

Yes. Stand and fight.

She felt the Three-Tails add more Chakra, helped keep her standing.

'Let's do this.'

The mist grew thicker.

She tightened her hold on her weapons and charged with a shout.


AN: I'm not too good with time. Expect an update a week for 1-2 months.

Review/PM if you want.

Peace.