The rain pounded against the earth, the cold air combined with the pounding rain chilled me down to the bone. The rhythmic drumming sounded heavenly despite the danger of being here.
Something felt odd about the rain though. It didn't feel natural.
"Have you ever been here before?" The toad sage spoke from the inside of my coat.
"There never seemed to be an occasion".
"Just be careful. This place is under constant and vigilant surveillance".
I nodded. We were about 10 km outside of the city. 'Better to camouflage now than in the middle of a crowd'. With a deep slow breath I cut off my chakra flow. This way even if they had a sensory type ninja in their midst they wouldn't be able to snuff me out.
"You seem well versed in infiltration. If I wasn't strapped to you I wouldn't have been able to tell anyone was here".
"It's my specialty, a lot of my missions are infiltration and assassinations". I chuckled looking down at the small toad nestled between my chest and the jacket.
"Were you in ANBU?"
The question caught me by surprise but I didn't have any intention of answering.
"Where is Jiraiya's body?"
"Just south of that tall building at the center of the city. I should also mention that his body fell into some sort of water channel, so it won't be easy to retrieve the body".
My eyes scanned the city skyline. There were many tall buildings that dotted the landscape but there was one that stood just a little bit taller than the rest.
"Listen..."
"Hmmm?" His little head turned up to me.
"If we get caught up in a fight I want you to leave".
After a minute of silence he nodded and tucked his head back into the jacket.
'Body flicker'.
In an instant we were in the middle of a dark alleyway. I had tried to get as close as possible to the tall building, but it was a little difficult to do while trying to supress all my chakra. Traveling this far was dangerous enough. I pulled the hood over my head and slowly made my way south. To my surprise the street were pretty crowded. People buying and selling trinkets, food, clothes, all sorts of things.
It was amazing to see all of this. Everything I had heard about the Hidden Rain village was far from what I saw. It was a city thriving.
I stopped at a food cart to buy a few snacks. There was chatter going on everywhere around me but I had to focus and gather some information.
"Lord pain has been so good to us". My eyes snapped open.
'Lord pain?'
"Here you go ma'am".
"Huh?" My eyes turned back to the young girl in front of me. "Oh thank you".
She had a big smile on her face. There was something off putting about it but I returned the smile taking the bag from her hand. I turned and continued my way down the streets.
'This Pain guy must be the leader of the Akatsuki'.
Suddenly I felt it. Unusual chakra. It felt amplified and unnatural. There were multiple chakras that had this weird aura to them.
'7 of them. But 6 of these had the same chakra. Could it be one person in multiple bodies? Shadow clones? No. That couldn't be '
I turned down an a dark alley and continued towards the tall building.
"Hey toad sage?" I spoke softly making sure that my voice wouldn't carry.
"Hmm?" He responded just as softly.
"How many people did Jiraiya fight?"
"There were six of them. Why?" I could feel his small body move against mine.
"I can feel 7 unusual chakras. 6 of them have the same".
"They must be the 6 Jiraiya boy fought. Do you think it has something to do with their connected vision through the rinnegan".
"The rinnegan? I thought that was a thing of legends"
"I thought so too till I witnessed it with my own eyes, six people with the rinnegan".
"That's concerning... I am not sure how to fight a rinnegan user".
"Hopefully we will be able to slip in and out without any of them realizing it".
I nodded and continued to make my way through the dark alley. This place was like a never ending maze. Everything looped into itself. 'Genjutsu? No there is just something odd about this place'.
After what seemed like an eternity of walking we reached an open area with a pool surrounded by towering buildings. To the far right there was an enormous pipe. 'I could only imagine where that led'. I couldn't see past the first few feet inside the pipe, it was consumed in darkness. There was a soft pitter patter of dripping water from somewhere inside the hole.
"Is it here?" I asked slowly unzipping the jacket that held the toad sage and I together. His webbed feet made a soft tapping sound when he landed.
"This should be it". He hopped over to the edge of the walkway his face peering into the water. His head turned back to me his eyes narrowing.
I nodded. My arms dropped to my sides, the jacket falling away from my body . I softly kicked my heels against the ground, doing so every often as I stepped up beside the toad sage I crouched down and ran my fingers against the surface of the water.
"How are you going to retrieve his body?"
I straightened up stretching my arms above my head, "I was just going to dive in and see what I find". I smiled looking down at the small creature. His eyes stared at me with confusion.
"You can't be serious?"
"Of course. From the sound of it the water isn't as deep as I thought it would be, and it isn't cold either so I'll be able to dive pretty deep. Plus it's better I don't use anything that uses chakra we're trying to avoid a battle".
"You mean to tell me that by clicking your heels against the ground you could hear how deep the pool actually was?" His voice sounded astonished.
I smiled and nodded .
"I can see why the hokage puts a lot of trust and faith in you".
I ignored the subtle compliment, looking over the water I readied myself. "Well no time like the present. And remember if anyone finds us get lost, I'll figure it out from there".
"Mmmhm".
I crouched down sitting at the edge of the walkway, slipping my legs into the water. I pulled the tie that held my shirt together, letting the soft garment fall from my body. All that was left was the tightly wrapped bandages that held and covered my breasts. I slipped into the water emerging myself completely in the luke water. With one deep breath I dove under the surface.
The water felt amazing against my skin. It felt cool and calming.
the deeper I swam the darker it became.
Focusing chakra into my eyes the field turned a deep red. Slowly I turned scanning the dark area. He might not be alive, but I would still be able to sense remnants of his chakra.
After a moments of searching I found the trail. I quickly turned and began swimming as fast as I could. After a few minutes I finally reached the pool floor, but there wasn't anything there.
'He has be to around here'.
Something finally caught my attention. He was hovering just above the pool floor. His body was impaled multiple times with strange black rods. On his face was that happy go lucky smile that he always wore.
'Smiling even in death...He's an idiot for letting himself get killed....His body is still in good shape no real decomposure'.
Pulling his body over my shoulders and onto my back I could feel the lifelessness. 'It wasn't supposed to end like this'.
I started to swim upwards to the surface. Jiraiya's arms were wrapped around my neck and hung over my shoulder softly brushing against my breasts. 'I am sure you would have loved this right about now'. I thought.
Finally reaching the surface of the pool I gasped for air.
"Are you alright?" The toad sage's asked. His voice sounding muffled from the water that clogged my ears. It was raining again, chills ran up and down my spine.
I made my way to the edge of the pool, jumping out I dragged Jiraiya's body along. His body felt heavy. The cold rain felt like shards of glass against my skin. I quickly pulled my top over my shoulders leaving the front portion open.
"Those rods? What are they?"
"The rinnegan users used it as a form of weapon".
"It's more than that.... It has traces of that unusual chakra I felt earlier".
"I couldn't say... Have you given much thought to how to transport him?"
Getting up from my spot I reached for the jacket that was still in a pile on the floor pulling it over my shoulders. "If I tried to summon Katsuyu to take his body it would raise the alarms. I need you to take him with you to Mount Myoboku then to the Leaf".
"What about you?"
"Don't worry about me. I'll figure a way back".
"Good luck child". His small body jumped onto Jiraiya's motionless body and in a puff of smoke the two disappeared.
'Hopefully that release of chakra didn't catch anyone's attention'.
I pulled the jacket closer tucking my wet hair into the back of the jacket.
I back tracked the way we had came. Back down the endless and looping allies, back down the empty streets, and towards the village entrance.
As I approached the gate I noticed six dark figures dressed in black cloaks standing side by side at the entrance.
I wrapped my arms around my body, continuing towards them. With a blink my vision turned red again.
Stopping just a few yards away I could make out the features of the six who stood before me. All but one had fiery orange hair. They all had similar looking black rod like accessories decorating their faces. And all of them had the rinnegan.
"Who are you?" The man in the middle spoke. His voice was deep and melancholy.
A grin spread across my face. "No one important".
The man at the center raised his arm to me, his finger pointing to me, "You will know pain".
Suddenly the 4 others who stood on either side of the man rushed towards me flanking me on either side.
'There goes my hope of avoiding a battle'.
I ducked down just as one of them swung his leg over to land a kick. I swooped his legs catching him off guard. The other reached out to grab hold of my neck but I was able to catch his wrist just in time and flip him over onto his stomach. The forced from the slam created a large crater beneath him. Another ran towards me a black rod in hand. Jumping up I swung my leg around landing a kick to the man's head sending him flying a few hundred yards. The last one a woman, stood in front of me not moving.
'Body flicker'.
In an instant I was behind her, my foot connecting with her back before she could react. She flew forward colliding violently against a nearby building.
'Body flicker'.
I stood back to back with pain.
"Step foot in my village and I will end you"
'Body flicker'.
With a sign of relief I turned to look behind me. I was standing on the outskirts of the village again. The place the toad sage and I had been when I teleported us into the Hidden Rain.
"Time to go home".