against the tide - chapter 7
Jiraiya… does not know who the kid is.
Nor his… duplicate standing behind him, for that matter (that mask could hide his face, but not that chakra… It was awfully similar to his own).
But he does know that eye of his was a Dojutsu he'd never seen before in his life- Jiraiya's instincts told him it was something as powerful as the godly Rinnegan. Was this… perhaps-
"I am not the Child of the Prophecy." A rather awkwardly elegant yet childish voice sounded out.
The Sannin startled- How did he-
"I'm not reading your mind either." The child inclined his head. "Well, I suppose I should just explain. I have the eye of a God. It tells me things. Nagato is not the child you're looking for-"
"Hey, first tell me who you are." Jiraiya interrupted, grimacing. The Prophecy was a cornerstone in his life- something he saw as an antidote to the pervasive violence in this world. If it wasn't even Nagato who possessed the Rinnegan, who was that 'child' then just who could it be? "Let's start with introductions, yeah?"
A brief pause and disgruntlement flashed over his little features. "Do you want the information or not?"
Feisty, feisty… This child must be an Uzumaki. That hair and that personality was telling. But that was suspicious anyway- most of the evacuated Uzumaki were hunted down already if not entirely immersed in hiding.
And… everyone knew what happened to Uzushio.
"Now, now, of course I do. But… this is Amegakure. We don't fancy information being tossed around in the open. Just… come in." Jiraiya glanced at his doppelganger suspiciously. "This isn't a conversation we can have willy-nilly."
"…Okay, one way to put it." The kid wrinkled his nose and bobbed his head as he stepped in the shack. "Nagato is here, isn't he."
"You know already, don't you?" Jiraiya eyed the child warily. Even if the kid seemed pretty powerless and non-hostile, he still cared for the Ame orphans. If he wanted to harm them in any way… Jiraiya couldn't afford to go easy on a potential child soldier. "What's your deal with him?"
"I'm an Uzumaki." The small redhead confirmed. "Uzumaki Nagato. He's Kashin Koji, distantly Uzumaki."
"…Okay, Natsuo-kun." Jiraiya wasn't convinced. His doppelganger had Uzumaki blood? No way. He may be an orphan now, but he knew his parents' history. Then again, maybe it really was just a coincidence. As a shinobi, he knew to suspect coincidences, but also accept their existence. "Did you want to meet with your kin?"
"Yes, there are things that need to be done." Natsuo said, frustratingly vague again. That wasn't very Uzumaki of him. Then again, with that eerie thing of an eye, Jiraiya wasn't surprised.
"What about you, Kashin?" The Sannin raised an eyebrow at the man. "Can you talk?"
"I talk if there's someone worth talking to." The goddamned asshole replied. No way Jiraiya even entertained the idea of their potential relatedness: he was more like Orochimaru than him.
"Koji has a bad attitude-" "Got it from you." "-But I'm the one with the information anyway. In exchange for information on the Child of the Prophecy and… any events you may want to know of- unrelated to Uzushio, let me talk with Nagato privately."
"Why should I trust you around them?" Jiraiya prodded. "Clearly you aren't an ordinary child."
"Anyone who survived Uzushio wouldn't be." He dismissed. "Trust me or don't trust me, Nagato's gonna want to talk to the sole survivor of the Uzushio massacre anyway. I'm his family. If you're so suspicious, Koji can stay with you. By myself-" His eye seemed to burn ferociously, a stark contrast to his words- "I'm practically helpless."
Jiraiya felt the hairs on his neck rise. This kid…
He had such a gall. He'd never seen such a fearless child.
His doppelganger eyeballed him and snorted. Weird.
Previously
"…Why are you nervous?" Koji deadpanned.
"I'm not."
"Your heart rate is slightly elevated. You're more nervous than when you saw a bloated corpse."
"I wasn't nervous at all then." Natsuo rolled his eyes.
"Exactly. So what's it now? Are you worried Nagato won't come with you?"
"It's fine if he doesn't. I'm just letting him know." He tilted his head. "Getting him... hooked. I supposed."
Koji didn't question it further. But what else could it be?
"Then what? Jiraiya?" Koji scoffed sarcastically, expecting a scoff.
Natsuo glanced away.
"No way…"
"Look-"
An uncharacteristic smirk stretched across Koji's face. "Are you shy?"
"Look, objectively-" His face was pinkish.
"Oooh, Natsuo-chan is nervous meeting his favourite-"
"Objectively, Jiraiya was a- a popular character. And since I was born before everything started, it hasn't quite hit me yet." Natsuo scowled, almost embarrassed. "But I can't let anything slip. I can't trust this Jiraiya. He's a good man, but his mind is too shaky. I can't tell him everything the way I told you everything."
"And- you can't have too close a connection to Konoha." Koji continued.
The child pursed his lips. "Yeah."
"Too bad for Natsuo-chan- He can't go hug his favourite, beloved Jiraiya-"
"Shut it!"
Present
"You're a-" Nagato's jaw fell slack.
"Nagato?" Yahiko asked in concern as his usually quiet friend lunged forward to grip this new child's shoulders. Konan frowned, not recognising him.
"Uzumaki." Nagato breathed, then smothered him in a hug. "Oh god, oh god…"
Natsuo's eyes widened: while he expected something like this, when it actually happened, he was taken a bit off guard. He'd muted his emotions, pushed back his father's death and his mother's. He pressed down the sound of that child's dying whispers, and pushed on and on because that was what needed to be done.
He didn't know there would be, out here, someone who cared enough for his survival to hug him like that. Natsuo shouldn't have ever doubted the bond of Uzumakis.
His hands gripped back onto his cousin and he let himself bury his face into the other for just a moment, words stuck in his throat.
"Nagato? Wha- Ow!" Yahiko was cut off by Konan's small elbow.
"Sorry." Nagato sniffled and Natsuo blinked at the tears bubbling in his purple eyes. The Rinnegan.
And… an emotional Nagato. He's seen it all now. Quite literally.
Feeling oddly lost, Natsuo waited in awkward silence for the other to collect himself, resisting the urge to shuffle his feet. Now that Koji wasn't here, he was all too conscious about how he was seemingly just a four year old meeting ten year olds.
"You can sense it?" Natsuo prompted, trying to collect himself. "Or can you see it? That we are kin?"
"Both. But none." Nagato laughed with a sob. "I know you. Everyone did. Miracle baby." Nagato blubbered with another loud sniff, hand cupping Natsuo's cheek. "Oh my god…" Then the waterworks began again.
Visual cues must still be very relevant to his literal toddler brain because Natsuo started to feel a scratching sensation behind his eyes. He tried to deflect from crying and asked- "You- You know me?"
Unfortunately, his voice came out small and meek in the face of his bawling cousin. Although the good news was that Natsuo didn't need to try get Nagato attached- He didn't need to play any tricks because Nagato was already his. Through and through. Uzumaki with Uzumaki.
(For now. Because 'Pain' wasn't the same person as 'Uzumaki Nagato'.)
He knew: Nagato would protect him when it came down to it. Nagato would be on his side. He could feel it in his blood.
Nagato let out a watery chuckle, "Yep. We met once, but I doubt you remember. I can't believe you're alive."
"Well there's things I should probably tell you." Natsuo glanced at the other two children warily. He knew the three were close, but perhaps…
"I think introductions are in order." Konan coolly intercepted.
"Right, I'm Uzumaki Natsuo."
"I'm Konan. That's-"
"I'm Yahiko!" The orange-haired boy announced.
Konan's unreadable mask broke into something warmer. "As you heard. And finally, Nagato. Although, you might know each other already?"
"We're cousins." The redhead smiled, "We're both from Uzushio. Never spoken to each other- Natsuo was too young to even recognise me, but back at home, K-Kaa-san said everyone was family. And I can feel it. Natsuo's one of us."
"That's nice." Yahiko said a bit soberly, soft grin on his face. "Do you gotta talk about private things, ah, Natsuo-kun?"
"If Nagato-san trusts you." Natsuo shrugged half-heartedly, feeling both old and young with these jaded children. His plans had crumbled so quickly. He'd originally thought about isolating Nagato and slowly guilt-tripping him into being on Natsuo's side. It was stupid of him, in hindsight.
"I trust them." Nagato's smile was bright and sincere, almost a little flustered. "With my life."
"Aww!" Yahiko snickered, shoving the boy good-naturedly. Konan chuckled, tucking her hair behind her ear as well.
"And don't call me 'san'; we're family. Call me your brother." Nagato offered shyly.
"Alright, Nagato…-nii. I'll tell you all then." For some reason, Natsuo couldn't find it within himself to doubt Yahiko and Konan, not when they seemed so close and inseparable.
He double-checked that Koji's privacy barrier was in place. (Jiraiya was ultimately Konoha's after all. Loyal to default.) Then he dropped the bomb:
"Uzushio has not been massacred."
A ripple of shock was visible throughout the trio.
"Wh-What?"
"Uzushio's still in repair, but we've faked its downfall to prevent the massacre and it's been sealed off. No one outside Uzushio knows apart from me, the man who came here with me, and now you three. And no one can know. Not even Jiraiya."
Nagato was rendered speechless- unsurprising, given the contents of what he just heard.
"Jiraiya is loyal to Konoha." Natsuo continued, "And Konoha had betrayed Uzushio. They hadn't helped us, so we can't trust them, but I need to tell you because you're kin. If you want, I can take you to Uzushio. The three of you can stay there until Uzushio opens its borders again."
"So- So they're still alive?" Nagato's mouth flapped helplessly.
"A lot of them." Natsuo nodded.
"We're not Uzumaki though." Konan probed. "Why are you inviting us?"
"You're Nagato-nii's family." He returned confidently, willing his quickening heartbeat to settle. They weren't villains yet. They never will be. He could trust them. (He'd watched their lives through his eye.) "So?"
"It's a pretty big question…" Nagato considered. "The three of us had plans though."
"That's right. We want to help bring peace to the world." Yahiko declared with a gleam in his eyes.
"You can do that from Uzushio." Natsuo countered. "You should come back with me."
"Natsuo-kun," Konan smiled, warm. "It's essential Uzushio's survival is kept secret until the right moment; our plans clash with the discreteness required for that."
Natsuo redirected his gaze towards Nagato. He really needed Nagato especially, on his side. He knew now Nagato would, but if Natsuo couldn't monitor his growth step by step what if one day...
They were enemies? What if hard times and their arduous mission dulled Nagato's natural affection?
What if 'Pain' was created despite all his efforts?
"You're not coming with me?" He widened his eyes slightly, tucking in his lower lip just slightly.
Nagato winced, glancing at the other two. Natsuo doubled down, gripping Nagato's shirt with his fingers.
"You don't wanna come with me, nii?"
"It's not that!" Nagato burst out, cheeks flushed in panic. "I do, Nacchan. I really do. I miss our family. I miss our home, but..."
Natsuo tightened his grip. "But what?"
"Maybe not this time, Nacchan." Nagato said in a defeated tone, leaning forward to hug him yet again. "I'm so sorry. I have things I have to do."
"They're... really important?"
"Very important. Like what Yahiko said: world peace." Nagato's voice was strained. "But I'll definitely come someday."
"World peace is..." Impossible. Futile. "Super hard."
"Yes, it is. But someone has to try, you know?"
'Not you,' Natsuo thinks. 'Not children.'
Instead, he said aloud: "If anyone can do it, Nagato-nii can. But if it takes too long, wontcha forget to come?"
"Never!"
"Promise?"
"Never. Cross my heart. I will always, always remember our family. When we grow stronger, it'll be way easier to visit each other often too."
He lowered his voice to a shaky whisper, "Nagato-nii, you won't leave me right? Cuz that Konoha man- You promise you won't..."
"I'll never forsake you, Nacchan. Nothing can break these bonds. I'll always be on your side, okay?"
"And me too!" Yahiko added confidently. Konan nodded.
"We know how violence separates people." Konan murmured. "That will never happen between us. We're on your side."
That's what Natsuo was waiting for. "Okay..."