"I'm singing in the rain~ Just singing in the rain~" I sang with a smile as I spun and twirled in the middle of the non-stop rain of Ame, not caring for the fact that my voice sounded like nails on a board as I continued to dance while chakra covered the entirety of my body.
While I did have sublime control over my chakra, it was not perfect and the new Nagato strived for nothing but perfect, but since I couldn't stay too long in one place lest I want to be found by a shinobi, that left me to figure out a new chakra control exercise while on the go.
It was quite a simple one too, as in I just had to continuously fuel chakra to my entire body like a rain jacket to ward off the water from touching me while also constantly shifting the chakra under my feet to make sure I didn't sink a meter or two into the dense mud and puddles as I kept walking.
It was a bit of struggle to condense my chakra around my body, but by expelling chakra from my hands to cover my upper body and from my feet to cover my lower body, it divided the workload a lot and made it much more easier than trying to push chakra from every chakra point in my body.
Something which I do believe is deemed to be impossible to do unless your family name is Hyuga or Otsutsuki.
'Did I get tired within just thirty to forty minutes? Yep, but with just an hour or two of rest, I was up & ready to continue my journey.' I thought with a grin as I continued to walk, humming the rest of the song under my breath before slowing down and stopping with a frown as I found myself staring at another battlefield again.
After the first day of spotting dead bodies here and there, the sight of them didn't make me nauseous anymore, but I did feel bad for the bodies of the poor souls that were left to decay in the muddy ground.
While I would love to help them, I learned my lesson after seeing an Ame genin being blown sky high when he tried to carry a fallen comrade whose body had been laced with numerous explosive tags, showing me that even though Konoha in the show despite its faults was all peaceful and good…
The Konoha right now was not that Konoha that I knew.
This was a Konoha that was stuck in a war, meaning that the higher-ups would probably kill anyone that didn't buy the whole 'Make Konoha great' propaganda that most countries at war would produce.
'Ah, I'm here for barely a day and already I'm stressed about the future.' I thought with a groan as I began to carefully make my way through the battlefield, making sure not to touch any of the bodies or the area within a few centimeters around before letting out a relieved sigh as I finally made it to the other side.
"Okay, time to continue."
'A quarter of a bottle of water left…' I thought with a frown as I sat in a cave, staring at the last bit of water in my canteen as well as the storage scrolls that still had a lot of canned food left inside them.
These are times where I wish I had another container to boil the water in, but unfortunately, the house didn't have any kind of match and I didn't think to grab a small pot for water, which was a pretty stupid mistake on my end.
'Hah, maybe focusing on just the food wasn't such a good idea.' I grumbled as I closed the canteen back up, looking at the ground before sighing as my idea to try and figure out Earth Style was not the best of ideas considering that I would use dirt and that is not sanitary at all.
"Oi, what are you doing in our cave?" I was on my feet and with a kunai in my grasp as I heard the voice speaking from the entrance, stumbling a bit before frowning as I saw two figures hidden in the shadows of the cave.
"A shinobi…" A girl's voice spoke out softly and I focused my eyes before they widened at the sight of blue haired girl with a paper rose in her hair and a young boy with spiky orange hair.
'Lady Luck, I truly love you.'
"I'm not a shinobi. I just found these." I spoke as I placed the kunai back in my pouch, the boy still looking a bit hesitant while the girl looked relieved as she walked out.
"Konan, you can't just believe everything he says."
"Come on, Yahiko. He looks like he wouldn't hurt a fly, right?"
"Right." I nodded in agreement, raising an eyebrow as Yahiko still looked hesitant before their eyes widened as I pulled out a storage scroll and unsealed two cans of corned beef.
"Uh, if you still don't trust me, I got food."
"I'll take one." That appeared to be all it took as Yahiko walked past a giggling Konan and sat down in front of me, the blue-haired girl not far behind as she sat down next to him before I sat down as well.
"Uh, don't suppose you have a way to open these, huh?" He asked and I simply responded by gathering chakra onto two fingers in the shape of a sharp blade, their eyes widening as I quickly cut off the top of both cans before handing them back.
"You know, you say you're not a shinobi, but only shinobi can use chakra as far as I know." Yahiko spoke with a frown as he tore out a chunk of the beef and ate it up in one bite, his question finally registering as I smiled a d shrugged.
"I've always been able to use my chakra since I can remember, which is why I got such good control over it." I answered while twisting the chakra on my fingers into the rough shape of a heart, making him hum while Konan looked in awe as she continued eating.
"Cool~ Can you teach me?"
"I can't exactly teach you since I don't know how I even awoke it in the first place." I answered truthfully, the orange-haired boy simply grumbling under his breath before we both looked at Konan as she spoke up.
"You should come with, you know?"
"And what would he bring to the table?"
"I can use chakra and there's more food where that came from."
"Well, we're eating first and after that, the three of us are heading to the nearest village."
"He's not hard to convince, is he?" I asked while looking at Konan, to which she simply giggled and nodded as Yahiko glared at both of us before letting out a huff.
"Fine, I'm going alone."
"You don't want dessert?" I asked as I unsealed three cans of peaches in syrup just as he stood up, both Konan and I bursting into laughter as he fell back to sit down just as fast as he was standing up.
"Come on, then! First we eat and then we start moving."
The past month of my life, while dull in terms of getting better with chakra control than I already was, was amazing in terms of finally having people to talk to.
Granted, they were still younger than ten years old, but being orphans inside a war zone forces them to grow up fast and so, it was more like dealing with teenagers that worried only for those they knew and cared about.
I could see why Nagato continued to pursue Yahiko's dream even after he died, though, as it was as if the kid was born with charisma radiating off of him.
Even at his young age, he could attract the masses with speeches to distract them while Konan and I stole a bit of food from the vendors that didn't want to sell to three kids, but when he spoke of his dream to us, it made me respect the little guy even more to see him being this determined even in the bleak situation we were.
We also got a new member of the family, a young Akiba-Inu puppy I named Sesshomaru. The name did confuse and bewilder the other two, but both Sessho and I were happy with the name so we kept it as is.
Now, however, we were on your way towards the next village, having decided to remove our presence from the previous one after Yahiko and I stole a bit too much beef from one of the vendors.
"So, I've already told you my dream, Nagato. Konan isn't a big dreamer either, but I know you are so what is it?" Yahiko asked as we continued walking, Sessho lying peacefully under the hood of my rain coat as I looked at him with a frown.
"I…don't really have one, to be honest."
"Come on, all guys have dreams. It can even be something stupid like world domination or something."
"That doesn't sound very stupid." Konan spoke up with a raised eyebrow, giggling as Yahiko grumbled and huffed at her response.
"It is to me. So, what's your dream?"
"Hmm, I guess if I had to pick one…Happiness." I answered, making Konan blink as Yahiko raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean 'happiness'? Aren't you happy right now?"
"I am, but the moment you guys disappear, I'd no longer be happy. I'm not saying you will do that. I'm just saying that my happiness is dependant on you three being near me and making me happy. I want to get to that point in life where I can still feel like I'd be happy even if I don't have you guys or anyone I care about around me."
"So, being content with your life?" Konan asked and I smiled and nodded."
"Something like that, yeah. It's a bit of a weird answer, but that's just how I feel."
"Huh, didn't take you to be the philosophical type." Yahiko spoke with a smirk before frowning as both Konan and I stared at him in shock.
"What?"
"Did you know he knew such long and high-level words?"
"Not at all. Are we sure this is even Yahiko?"
"Oh, go jump off of a cli-!" Before Yahiko could finish speaking, my eyes widened as I heard a soft whistling coming closer, slowly looking up in horror to see a trio of kunai laced with explosive tags falling down upon us.
'Can we dodge? No, not enough time. Can I push them away? No, the explosions will still kill them. Think, Nagato! Think!' My eyes widened and I prayed to every god I could think of as I desperately raised my hands above my head as if hoping something would happen.
As if feeling my desperation, my eyes pulsed with power right before a shock wave of purple energy flew from the palms of my hands, Konan and Yahiko finally noticing the kunai before all four of us watched in shock as the energy shock wave slapped the kunai back high up into the air before they exploded with a deafening boom.
"Get down!" I whispered frantically as I laid flat while pushing what just happened to the back of my head, the two of them instantly doing so as we heard another distant explosion going off in the background.
However, I was more concerned as the fighting near us had died down, Yahiko ignoring my pointed stare as he stood up and began walking towards the cliff edge near us.
Not wanting to miss out, I cursed my impulsive need to know as I followed after him and looked over the edge, my eyes widening in both shock and awe at the devastation left on the ground as well as the sight of five figures standing in the distance.
Three of them were standing with frowns on one side while a man was staring them down from the top of a giant salamander, Konan gasping softly at the sight as I could feel my heart pounding.
'Almost…it's almost here.' I thought with a grin before my eyes widened once again as the man and salamander disappeared in a large puff of smoke with the other three chasing after him, Yahiko looking excited as he flew up to his face and stared at us.
"That was Hanzo, the leader of Ame! And those were Leaf shinobi he was fighting! Think we can catch up to them and ask them to train us?!" He asked and I frowned as I looked in the distance where I saw large clouds of poison rising into the air.
"It's going to be tough, but I think we can."
"I don't think we should."
"Neither do I, but he's not going to listen." I said while gesturing towards Yahiko, Konan looking at the excited smile on his face before sighing & nodding.
"Fine, let's just get this over with."
"So, Nagato, how did you even do that thing with the kunai?" Yahiko asked as we started walking back to find a safer path down, to which I blinked before giving an unsure shrug as I held my head.
"I have no clue. I just thought about protecting us and…I guess it just happened."
"…You are one weird guy, you know?"
"I don't want to hear that from you." I responded, smirking as he huffed while Konan giggled.
"We're all weird, right?"
"Right."
"Don't you two start ganging up on me."
Three months.
That was how long we've been travelling through battlefields filled with dead shinobi and booby-trapped to high heaven with poisonous gasses & explosive tags.
Not just that, but we ventured a few times too close to the battlefield itself and nearly died if not for the fact that I managed to replicate my little magnetic effect a few times.
It was after the third time when I knocked away an exploding corpse that I finally realised that I was using Almighty Push, i.e. the move that Pain was known for.
…You know, other than Universal Pull & Planetary Devastation.
That made me realize that I was using actual gravity manipulation, but unfortunately, it appears that my gravity powers can only be used to push or pull and/ or create that black hole for Devastation once I really start training in it.
It wasn't a bad thing, but I thought I could do something like Limitless or Hollow Purple, but pushing and pulling matter as I please is a cool thing too.
"Okay, the fighting has died down and we haven't seen any intense battlefields lately so we should be good." I whispered as we continued to stalk towards the next cave we had seen, both Yahiko and Konan nodding as we slowly made our way towards the three chakra signatures I had seen the moment we came into distance of the cave.
"-as though I haven't encountered it yet." I heard a rugged male voice speak up as we entered the shadows of the stalagmites, Yahiko & Konan joining my sides before we made out way through the shadows.
"You mean your destiny?" A soft female voice asked and I smirked as I saw the third chakra signature looking directly at us, surprising Yahiko and Konan as I stood up while gesturing for them to follow.
"You there, come o-Hmm, I see I didn't need to call you out." An elegant yet rough male voice spoke up as the pale-skinned man stared at us, a smile on my face as the Sannin stared at us with a frown while Yahiko decided to take the lead with his usual rough way.
"You got food?" By asking for food.
"No parents?" Jiraiya asked with a frown as he looked around, to which Yahiko simply frowned as I decided to speak up.
"War orphans. It's pretty common around here." I said, drawing their attention and I was thankful for the fact that my hair covered my eyes and the fact that my eyes didn't glow in the dark as they simply looked at Konan and then back at Yahiko while Jiraiya took out a few pieces of bread.
"You do remember we have food, right?" I said while taking out the scroll that was closest to being empty, my eyes widening as I found it sitting open in Tsunade's lap while Jiraiya & Orochimaru hummed as they looked at it over her shoulders.
'…Holy shit! I didn't even see a blur let alone her chakra shifting. Was that a genjutsu? No, couldn't have been! I would have seem some change in my chakra. Wait, that was just pure speed then? If that's the case, we are going to be dead before we even make it a step.' I thought with a horrified look in my eyes before I quickly pushed it back just as Tsunade looked up with a frown.
"This is a Konoha standard sealing scroll. Where did you get it?"
"From the corpses of Konoha shinobi after I killed them when they killed my mom and dad."
"Were your parents shinobi?"
"Civilians. Mom was a nurse & Dad a doctor. They tried to help anyone no matter what village they came from, but your Konoha shinobi seemed to have thought that the help only belonged to them." I spoke and both Tsunade and Jiraiya grimaced as Orochimaru frowned.
"Seems like idiots from that pro-Konoha platoon."
"Yeah, their Jonin commander doesn't have a tight grip on them. For what it's worth, we are sorry for your loss and sorry for taking this without asking." Tsunade spoke as she tossed the scroll back before being surprised as I snorted, caught it and threw it back.
"Eh, there's not much in it and there's more where that came from."
"You can't take those, though! You'll have to pay for that food!" Yahiko quickly added as he finished off the bread, Konan nodding in agreement as Jiraiya and Tsunade smiled.
"I assume you're the leader of your little group, yes?" Orochimaru asked while looking at me and I shook my head and pointed at Yahiko as he puffed out his chest.
"No, we let this idiot rule over us."
"Oi! Not! An! Idiot!" He huffed and I simply sighed as Konan rolled her eyes.
"Sure, you're not an idiot."
"That's right."
"You're an imbecile."
"Ooh~ That's bad coming from her, you know?" I said, Yahiko whining as he stomped his feet before we looked as we heard a chuckle, turning to see Jiraiya smiling while wiping a tear away.
"Ah~ That was quite needed. Thanks for making this old man laugh."
"Jiraiya, you're not even thirty yet." Tsunade spoke with a huff and Jiraiya simply grinned as he stood up and looked at us.
"You kids continue to look after each other and I'm sure you'll become something to this country."
"We could…or you guys could teach us some ninjutsu and help boost us even further?" Yahiko proposed with a grin before whining as Jiraiya simply smiled and patted him on the head.
"Nice try. Chakra isn't something any kid should learn to use and you're still too young."
"Speak for yourself." I answered while leaping into the air, surprising the Sannin at how high I jumped as well as the fact that I flipped around and sat upside down on the cave's ceiling while closing my eyes to not show the Rinnegan.
"…Wait, what?"
"Oh, and for the record…" I trailed off as I opened my eyes just as my hair finished falling out of my face, Jiraiya's eyes widening as my Rinnegan stared directly at him.
"You'll find that I'm not any ordinary kid. So, how about that training?"
A/N: And the story officially begins as the Sannin meet the Rain Trio.
Next chapter, speaking with Orochimaru & training begins!
Also, Nagato may seem OP right now, but that's because he's young & can learn/ figure out stuff really quick.
Also, just you guys wait until he starts inventing jutsu left & right. Then you'll see how overpowered an OP person can become with the most OP eyes in the universe.
…That's a lot of OP-ness for one paragraph & one person.
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
Anyway, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...
Ba-Bye~!