30

Chapter 30: twenty-nine: and it hides even colder secretsSummary:

In which a shaky alliance is made, but only time will tell how that'll turn out.

Notes:

I do not own Naruto. I do, however, own Chiyuki, any original characters, and this story's plot.

Chapter Text

(Y'know, a couple of people mentioned how odd the time skip between chapters 27 and 28 was, and now that I think about it, it is odd. Thanks for the heads up <3)

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Becoming Hokage 101

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Section Six

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Chapter Twenty Nine

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Nagato remains quiet for a long time after I finish my story.

It could have been minutes or hours later that he decides to speak up. His poker face is nearly indestructible, but there are hints of disbelief and confusion in his expression.

"You genuinely believe this to be the truth. You're either schizophrenic, or-"

I smile sadly, bitterly, wondering if things would be easier if I truly were schizophrenic.

"You weren't born with the rinnegan." I whisper, and the man stills. "One day you woke up with it, and neither you nor your parents knew how or why."

"How-"

"Konan gave the Konoha Sannin a flower made of paper wrappers to express her gratitude after they gave you food."

"That's-"

"You all wore frog suits during your time with Jiraya-"

"Enough." His voice rings out clearly, ice cold, and terrifying. Nagato narrows his eyes at me, and I can feel his fury and confusion, can nearly feel the rinnegan user struggling to keep a hold of his emotions.

Ultimately, though, I'm not afraid. As I told my story and explained about the world I used to live in Before, an unknown weight slowly evaporated from my shoulders, until I felt strangely light and free.

I'd never told anyone about this. Not my brothers, not Kakashi, and definitely not my parents. It'd been a burden I'd had to bear alone, and now that it's finally out in the open, now that I'm finally not the only one who knows about all the horrible things that are bound to happen, now that I'm not the only one with the weight of the future on my shoulders-

I smile.

Free, unhinged, unbothered, and unapologetic.

"You know, I never told anyone else about this."

Giddiness overcomes me, and I can't help but smile wider, closing my eyes to enjoy the feeling a little bit more.

'Honestly, if I die here, I won't even be mad. I'm just glad I'm not the only one, not anymore.'

On an uncharacteristic display of raw emotion, Nagato spends a couple of seconds looking at me with wide, lost eyes. Then, he leaves the room, and I'm left on my own for the first time in three days.

Only then the stupidity of my actions catch up to me.

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Some time later, the three Ame orphans enter the room again, and I pause in my meditation.

"Hi." I smile, and Nagato's left shoulder twitches - which, well, might as well be a full-body flinch.

"Can you tell them as well?" He asks instead, with a low voice and eyes that can't quite seem to hold mine.

I blink, quite frankly surprised. "I thought you'd have told them."

His shoulder lifts up slightly in a half-shrug. "It's not my tale to tell."

I can't help but widen my smile at that, even more convinced that they're not bad people at all.

'Victims, all of us. Victims of a system that takes and takes, and gives only pain and grief in return.'

"I'm thankful you respect that, I really am. But three is a bit of a crowd, don't you think?" I shrug, fiddling with the necklace Tsunade gave me. "It's not exactly something I want a lot of people to know about, you know?"

Konan and Yahiko stare at the awkward interaction with unreadable faces, not speaking once.

"It's not that I believe you'll go around telling people about it, but." I shrug again, helplessly. "It's just that the more people know about something, the more likely it is to spread."

The red head nods once, stilled and robotic. A part of me whispers that he's lost, and that he just doesn't know where to go from here.

'Well, finding out that there's someone who knows your deepest secrets would do that to me as well.'

"I can answer questions you might have, if you want? But I'd like to be able to choose whether or not I'll answer it, depending on the question." I suggest after an awkward pause.

Yahiko's stare bores into mine. "And if we still want you to answer it?"

"Then you might as well kill me." I reply immediately, even if a cold sweat runs down my back.

'Even if I were to die here, the seed of change has already been planted. Danzo is already out of the picture, and Orochimaru's been branded an enemy of Konoha's. That's basically half the battle won, right?'

Right?

Besides, with enough time to ponder over my actions and the time I'd taken to just beat myself over it, resignation was the only thing left. The matter of the fact was that yes, I did something awfully stupid, and no, there was nothing stopping Nagato from spilling the beans aside from his morals and beliefs.

'Gods, if I get out of this alive, I'm never telling a thing to anyone else, ever again, I swear.'

"Why tell Nagato?" Konan asks instead of answering, eyes darting from one person to another.

"Because the rinnegan can easily tell whether I'm lying or not, and you three are so hand in glove with one another that I figured it'd be enough if I only told him."

That immediately raises Yahiko's hackles, making him narrow suspicious brown eyes at me. "What the fuck, how do you know about the rinnegan?"

I shrug, not willing to tell the orange-head that he was a fictional character in my previous life. He looks like he'd get a lot more offended than Nagato did. "I just do."

The man makes a frustrated sound, and Konan takes charge before he's able to do anything else.

"Alright, we accept. Nagato?" She asks in a low voice, and her companion nods slightly.

'Welp, seems like we're doing it, then.'

"How much do you know about Shimura Danzo?" The woman questions, orange eyes focused on me. Behind her, Nagato and Yahiko stand still and tense next to each other, like a strung bow that's about to snap.

"Where do I even start? Well, Danzo was an old man who thought he had to do everything in his power to 'protect' the village-"

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I easily lose track of the days. Konan and Yahiko come to my room in odd intervals to ask questions about anything and everything. Sometimes they leave with more questions than answers, and sometimes there are no answers at all.

I freely answer everything they ask about their time with Jiraya - which isn't a whole lot, but it is something. I keep my mouth shut about more personal details, like the fact that my father and Danzo were on the same genin team, as well as how exactly his plans were found out. Naturally, I don't say much about myself either, or the people around me. Never once do I mention the fact that my name used to be another one, and that theoretically I'm not just 12 years old.

Nagato is the only one who knows all of that, and as miraculous as that sounds, it remains that way.

As the days slowly blend in together, Nagato starts to treat me - well, not kindly, but better. He gets me three meals a day, which consist of watery porridge and a piece of bread, and sometimes he even brings a small onigiri. He lets himself show more emotion, though not as much as he'd show Konan and Nagato.

When I'd asked, he shrugged and replied with the faintest tint of pink on his cheeks.

"It's a heavy burden to carry by yourself. I just… sympathize with that."

Every once in a while, he'll ask me about my life Before, even though there's a lot of it I've already forgotten.

"How is it possible to live in a world without chakra?" The red-head had asked me one day, a confused furrow to his eyebrows.

"It just… was." I hum, trying my hardest to explain the concept of a world that had almost nothing to do with the world as Nagato has always known. "We were extremely reliant on technology - electronic things, like TVs and such -, but chakra as we know it didn't even exist."

His eyes widen slightly, and for a second he struggles with his curiosity versus the need to keep a distance. "How?"

"So chakra is basically the manifestation of your life energy, right?" I wait until the rinnegan user nods, kind of looking like he wants to correct me. "I know that's not quite it, but humor me. In the world I lived Before, chakra was a term used to refer to energetic points in your body. I've forgotten exactly how it was viewed, but it was completely different from how we see chakra here. For one, jutsu didn't exist."

"Impossible." Nagato mutters, brows furrowing even more.

"Oh, it was very possible. No one was able to walk on water, for example. I mean, there was this one guy, but-"

The Uzumaki suddenly raises a pale hand to stop me, and I click my mouth shut. A few seconds later, Konan and Yahiko enter the room, and to their credit they don't stare suspiciously at the sudden silence.

Not anymore.

"Alright, Iron Demon, let's negotiate. Sounds like you're more important to Konoha than we'd initially thought." The orange-head grumbles, sitting on Nagato's right with a huff. The woman sits gracefully on Nagato's left, looking - resigned?

I raise an eyebrow, glancing at the rinnegan user questioningly. His answer comes quietly, almost hesitantly.

"They threatened us with a full village invasion yesterday."

This time, both my eyebrows go up near my hairline, and I bite my lip.

'That's one hell of a bluff. I'm certainly not gonna tell them Konoha doesn't have nearly enough manpower to do that, though.'

Could we cause a lot of damage and kill a lot of people? Yes.

A full village invasion, on the other hand? Not very likely.

"Oi, Nagato-!" Yahiko yells, putting a heavy weight on his companion's shoulder. His friend, however, only sighs and gently but firmly takes the hand off his shoulder with a squeeze.

"Did we not agree to negotiate, Yahiko?" Nagato asks almost softly, a look of near endless patience in his eyes.

'Oh? Oh?!'

The orange-head opens his mouth to complain, only to be cut off by Konan. "The truth for the truth. Isn't that what we agreed upon, Yahiko?"

Under the combined stare of his teammates, the man deflates like a balloon, a pout on his lips. The blue-haired woman sighs again, this time fondly-

'Holy shit, are the three of them-?!'

"What's with that look, huh?! Ain't never seen a poly relationship?!" Yahiko inflates once again, defensive and embarrassed at 'being caught'. The kunoichi exhales heavily, closing her eyes as if to ask the gods for patience, and Nagato looks like he's one breath away from throttling his companion.

"No. I'm sorry for being rude." I reply honestly, briefly wondering how much of people's personal lives was never even mentioned Before. "I think it's wonderful, for all it's worth."

The orange-head chokes on his next breath, speech dying on his tongue. Konan and Nagato glance at each other briefly, then back at me, something new shining in their eyes.

"You're surprisingly accepting of the situation." The kunoichi muses as her posture relaxes a fraction.

"No one has ever been this honestly accepting." The rinnegan user adds, an odd tone in his voice.

"I- it's not a big deal, is it?" I shrug, getting embarrassed for some reason. "Life gave you lemons and you three made lemonade, right?"

"Indeed." The orange-eyed woman hums, the smallest of smiles playing on her lips. From his position next to Nagato, Yahiko's decided that the best way he can contribute to the conversation is by being silent and ignoring his red face.

"Well, now that we have your blessing-" The Uzumaki states flatly, and I nearly choke on my saliva. Did he just make a joke? "-let us start negotiating."

I sit a little bit straighter and nod, showing them that I'm willing to cooperate as much as I can.

"Initially, you were brought in as the Akatsuki's bargaining chip." Konan states, freely using the name of their rebel group. "We weren't aware that Hanzo's schemes with Danzo were supposed to have stopped a while ago."

I furrow my eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"We thought that Konoha as a whole was in on it. Hence, we kidnapped you to try and have the upper hand in future negotiations with Danzo." Yahiko explains, seemingly recovered from his outburst.

"I'm sorry, but what did you mean with 'the schemes were supposed to have stopped'?" I ask, not really caring about the bargaining chip thing. Something ice cold runs in my veins instead of blood, mouth dry as a desert.

'It can't be-'

"You say that Shimura Danzo has been killed over two years ago, but either he isn't as dead as you think, or someone's kept his schemes going this whole time."

Nothing but static registers in my mind, a low but shrill sound that emcompasses me and prevents me from thinking logically. While it feels like my limbs have been turned to ice, my head feels hot and heavy, suffocating me inside a cage made of lead, dragging me down down down down-

"Chiyuki." It's the first time any of them has called me by name, but the fact doesn't quite register in my head. A red blob of hair moves in my direction and puts a hand on my shoulder after half a second of hesitation. "Breathe."

Air forcefully enters my lungs, as if someone had ordered it to. A pair of rinnegan eyes stare at me, and I wonder-

"Danzo is dead." Someone speaks in a near desperate tone, dry and scrappy like sand. Belatedly, I realize it was me. "I- there's very little chance he's alive."

'There's no way. Fugaku would have him burned to ashes with the Amaterasu. Shikaku is smart, he'd have double checked if Danzo was still alive-'

Somehow, instead of it being the truth, it sounds more and more like I'm trying to convince myself.

"Is there anyone who could have done it in his place?" Konan asks softly, a hint of worry in her orange gaze.

I try to swallow past the lump in my throat. "There shouldn't- actually, there is. There might even be two of them. Maybe more."

I clench my fists as Koharu and Homura's faces appear in my mind, immediately suspecting them.

'They're the only ones who might have known about Danzo's schemes. They might not have enough leeway to run ROOT right under the Hokage's nose, but they do have enough freedom to not have their actions blatantly questioned. Who's to say they haven't picked up Danzo's slack?'

Unbidden, the snake Sannin appears in my thoughts, face enraged at being denied the Hokage's seat.

'Hell, there's an even bigger chance that Orochimaru's been the one doing it. He certainly is smart and cunning enough to disguise himself and try to make Hanzo think the Akatsuki's plotting against him.'

"Chiyuki?" Konan's low voice snaps me out of my thoughts, icy hot rage washing over me. Cold logic overcomes hot panic, and I exhale loudly.

'No time to wonder about the whos. Let's just focus on the hows.'

"What exactly has been going on? Have there been threats?" No one even blinks at the 180 my behavior does, even though Nagato remains closer to me than his companions.

"A couple of years ago, Nagato got attacked on the outskirts of Rain country. We later found out that they were sent by Konoha, in an attempt to aid Hanzo." Yahiko replies, a hard look on his face.

"It wasn't Konoha." I retort immediately, refusing to let them believe the village had anything to do with it. "That was ROOT, the special black ops under Danzo's command. They had as much emotion as a stone wall, right?"

The redhead close to me nods, still keeping his gaze on me. "They weren't particularly skilled. Their chakra seemed muted, as well."

I nod, glancing at Yahiko and Konan. "Has someone named Kanzo approached you yet?"

The orange head makes a sound of surprise while the kunoichi nods. "Last month. He claimed that Hanzo would be willing to negotiate with the Akatsuki, but when we approached him, we were ambushed."

"Soon after that, our intelligence found out that Hanzo had a temporary alliance with Konoha." Nagato adds, a pensive look on his pale face. "We thought that it was a scheme to get rid of the Akatsuki before we became a bigger problem."

Koharu and Homura may be assholes, but they know they stand no chance against Minato when it comes to who's going to be the next Hokage. They might not like the fact that Fugaku is the interim Hokage, but even they can't deny that the only reason Konoha hasn't burned to the ground in a civilian war is because of him.

They love Konoha, in their own twisted way. There's no way they'd blatantly try to get caught up in the middle of something that might backfire and harm the village instead.

'So that slimy snake thinks he can fiddle while Rome burns and then show up like a messiah? Is that all he's able to think of?'

"There's no way the current Hokage would have done that." I shake my head, suspicion towards Orochimaru growing more and more.

"How do you know that?" Yahiko asks, understandably suspicious. I shrug in what has become my go to response when I don't wanna answer something.

"I do have an idea of who it might be, but it's nothing certain yet. I'd have to strike out the other possibilities, first." I run a hand through my hair, noting idly how dry it is.

"We do not seek a fight against Konoha." Nagato states after a moment of silence, and both his companions nod grimly.

They might not have the full picture, but somehow they still believe Konoha has enough manpower to invade Ame and kill indiscriminately. The main reason why they haven't simply thrown things to the wind is because civilians would get caught up in the conflict, and it was never the rebel group's intention to involve non-shinobi in the fighting.

'Either way, it's good that they think like that, because it means the other villages might also think that way, so if I can turn it around while still making them believe Konoha has the upper hand-'

"What about an alliance?" I blurt out before I can stop it, and all three ninja blink, surprised. They look at each other briefly before Yahiko answers.

"That would be… ideal. Would Konoha be willing to fight against Hanzo, though?"

"Hanzo's alliance with whoever is pretending to be representing Konoha is shaky, at best. They don't trust each other and are constantly checking up on whether the other tells the truth or not. If the interim Hokage proposes an official alliance with the Akatsuki, Hanzo will cut off all contact with the other party before it's even properly announced."

"How can you be so sure of that?" The orange head grumbles, and I give him the dryest, most tired look I can muster up.

It's not that I don't understand where he's coming from; hell, in his place, I'd be suspicious as well. It's just that, at this point in time, isn't it better to just accept that I just know things and move on? I'm exhausted, dirty, constantly peckish, and all alone in a foreign land surrounded by people who might as well kill me any moment.

Give me a fucking break.

"Do you want an alliance or not?" I snap, against my better judgment. Yahiko seems like he's about to say something, but Konan's sudden hand on his shoulder makes him snap his mouth shut with an audible snap.

"Chiyuki's knowledge has proven correct so far, and Konoha is willing to invade Ame to get her back." The kunoichi says, not unkindly. "It's safe to say she's, at the very least, politically important enough to them that they'd risk losing a part of their shinobi forces to rescue her. Her words do hold some weight."

Something bitter and gray wraps around my throat and squeezes, but I force myself to shove it aside.

'Now is not the time for my conscience to make an appearance.'

"That being said, I also can't help but wonder how it is that you can speak as if you're the Hokage himself." The blue haired woman murmurs, face carefully blank. "I'm not doubting the truthfulness of your statements, I'm just curious as to whether or not you'll be able to hold to these claims."

"Negotiate with Konoha yourself, then." I retort, crossing my arms over my chest. "They reached out and are waiting for an answer, aren't they?"

The three Ame shinobi glance at one another again, seeming to have an entire conversation with their eyes before Nagato turns to me.

"Will you act as an intermediary?"

"If he stops asking me how I know stuff." I nod at Yahiko, who immediately clenches his jaw.

It's an unreasonable request.

I understand his point of view, and I'm aware of the fact that I'm asking for a lot. Despite it all, there's still a need to make sure they continue to think Konoha has the upper hand, and that Fugaku's threat to invade Ame is not unfounded.

My skin crawls with the intensity of Nagato's focus ('I wonder if he knows-') but I stubbornly keep my gaze on the orange head, knowing it's a decision no one else can make but him.

The fact that the Akatsuki has been treating me fairly well is a heavy weight on the scale. Politically speaking, their unwillingness to hurt me speaks a lot for their willingness to sit and negotiate, which is a lot more than can be said of Kumo, for example.

They'd absolutely display my mangled body in their gates just to piss Konoha off, without a doubt.

"Fine." The man all but spits out, willing me to drop dead with the force of his snarl.

'I'm not scared of a glare. If looks could kill, Orochimaru would have done it a long time ago.'

"Alright, then. Contact Konoha, and tell them you'd like to negotiate."

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"Suna thinks you might be related to the Kazekage."

What.

"Word of what happened at the Chunin Exams in Konoha travels fast. The main concern is how you suddenly wielded a weapon made of iron without a summoning scroll."

"I suppose that was my mistake." I murmur, and Nagato lets out a tiny huff.

"You're an odd one."

"Can you blame me?" The Uzumaki has nothing to say to that, and thankfully keeps his mouth shut.

It's only Nagato's conscience that's still keeping Konan and Yahiko in the relative dark, and even though they clearly have some objections to that, they respect him enough to leave it at that.

We've been dashing through the trees for a couple of hours now, and the scenery is slowly starting to look more recognizable. From my position at the rinnegan user's back, I start to notice things I otherwise wouldn't, had I been hopping trees myself.

'I do understand that Konoha has given them a time limit to get to the meeting point, but getting a piggyback ride from Nagato has definitely been the surprise of the month.'

It does make sense, if only a little bit. My chakra is still sealed, which means I can't hop trees like ninja do, and I've lost a significant amount of weight during my stay at the outskirts of Ame.

'Which barely amounts to two weeks. Funny, it felt like a lot more than that.'

(Konan had looked at me with a hint of regret in her eyes, murmuring that they hadn't been able to feed me anything else. Apparently, Nagato had given me onigiri originally meant for him, which opened a whole other can of worms.)

Three chakra signatures flare after another hour of travel, ones that I recognize quite easily.

I'm only happy to see two of them.

Seven people land in a small clearing at the same time; the three Ame shinobi, with me hanging off Nagato's back, and three of Konoha's jounin.

"Would it hurt for you to stop getting into trouble?" Ensui's drawl is like music to my ears, and that earns him a small smile.

"It's a conspiracy." The Nara scoffs, but my attempt at humor doesn't have its desired effect.

Next to him is Shizune, who'd been busy day in and out with the hospital. Since she took over as the director and with Fugaku's approval, the building had undergone a major renovation, more staff had been recruited, and the population's survival rate had gone up exponentially - both civilian and shinobi alike.

Standing in front of them both in a loose triangle formation is Jiraya, who seems to be struggling with keeping his emotions in check. His eyes meet mine for a brief second before he turns his incredulous gaze to Nagato.

Never let it be said that Fugaku isn't a menace. The rescue/negotiation team couldn't be a better one.

Jiraya, who seems to be the leader of the mission, is one of the Sannin and knows the three Ame shinobi personally. His role here, rather than intimidation or negotiation, is more of a personal one, and I suspect Fugaku wants the Sannin's presence to make negotiations easier.

'Tsunade must have spilled the beans, then.'

Shizune is the world's best medic-nin second only to Tsunade herself, and that's a huge feat. If I was hurt, there wouldn't be a more qualified person to treat me.

Last, but definitely not least is Ensui, a Nara of frightening skill and intellect. His main role here is probably to lead the negotiations and use his shadow jutsu to try and get me back, should push come to shove.

(The fact that Tsunade and Shikaku are far too important at the village to be sent to a mere rescue mission is something I refuse to take personally.)

It's Ensui himself who takes charge not a second after he realizes Jiraya won't.

"You said you wanted to negotiate, so here we are. Let Chiyuki go and we'll hear your terms."

Yahiko steps up, automatically presenting himself as the leader. "She is unharmed, and her chakra is merely sealed."

Which basically translates to 'we'll still be keeping her, so deal with it.' To his credit, the Nara doesn't even blink.

"Your word means nothing to me. Let our medic-nin check her." I wisely remain quiet, even when Nagato's eyes flicker up to me. I stare back at him, barely refraining from raising an eyebrow.

'I did say I was gonna act as an intermediary, but I need to understand where Konoha stands, first. Chill.'

The redhead stares at me for a second longer before he turns back around, a tiny huff leaving his lips.

Jiraya watches the interaction with eyes, unblinking eyes, before he seemingly snaps out of it.

"I don't think it's an unreasonable request." The Sannin interjects, trying to defuse some of the tension. His dark eyes go rapidly from Yahiko, to Nagato, me, and Konan, then he repeats the action again and again. Finally, his gaze lands on the orange-haired man, who looks like he's swallowed a sour lemon, but nods nonetheless.

"The medic-nin can approach."

That's all Shizune needs to come closer, steps graceful and unhurried. She stands next to Nagato, who makes no motion to put me down, and activates the diagnosing jutsu with a flick of her hands a second later.

"Hi." I whisper, wanting to hug her and reassure her that there's really nothing wrong with me. The black haired woman manages to give me a look of fond exasperation despite her obvious worry.

"Hi, yourself." Is all she says before the soothing feel of her chakra washes over me, fresh and clean like mint. After a few seconds, she steps back and gives me an unreadable look before going back to Ensui's side.

"She's slightly dehydrated and has lost some weight, but there are no signs of physical injuries." The medic-nin reports swiftly to the Nara, who remains silent.

'The fact that I'm not physically hurt doesn't mean much when they don't know if I've been mentally abused or not.' I muse to myself, catching Ensui's gaze and blinking one eye. As I'd expected him to, he nods, catching the meaning behind the disguised wink and realizing that the Ame shinobi really haven't done anything.

"Why don't you state your terms, then." In a true Nara fashion, Ensui shoves his hands on his pockets and slouches, giving the impression he just wants to get things over with and go home. The fact that it's phrased like a suggestion doesn't help the tense atmosphere, though - if anything, it only serves to worsen it.

"Sarutobi Chiyuki has mentioned the possibility of an alliance between the rebel group and Konoha." All three Konoha ninja turn incredulous eyes to me, but I keep a serious expression on.

"I think you'll wanna hear about this." I say criptidly, keeping my eyes on Ensui. He stares back for a second before giving Yahiko a nod.

"Someone claiming to be a representative from Konoha is making deals with Hanzo to get rid of us." As expected, the three Konoha shinobi stare incredulously at each other, then back at me.

"Nagato fought a few members of ROOT a while back." I add quietly, letting the information soak in. Ensui immediately connects the dots and curses under his breath. Jiraya narrows his eyes at me, probably wondering how the fuck I know about this, but I merely hold his gaze and silently dare him to question me outloud.

He averts his gaze first.

"Ame is a village with many civilians. If Konoha allies with our rebel forces, we'll be able to take Hanzo down and finally bring some sense of dignity to our village. After Hanzo is defeated, we'll aid Konoha in whatever way we can." Konan speaks for the first time, voice low but strong. "It is not in our best interest to fight Konoha."

"Why hasn't Hanzo dealt with the rebel group already?" Shizune asks no one in particular, crossing her arms. "If you're such a bother to him, wouldn't he have found a way to deal with you a while ago?"

"We didn't want his position, at first. We just gathered shinobi who were willing to fight for peace, until our forces became so big he started to feel threatened." The blue-haired woman answers coldly.

"There aren't many shinobi who are still loyal to Hanzo, as many of them have switched over to our side. If it weren't for the fact that he's strong enough to take on Konoha's Sannin by himself, we would have dealt with him already." Yahiko adds, a hard look on his face.

Ensui looks over to Jiraya, presumably to check whether this info is accurate or not. The Toad Sage sighs heavily but nods, dragging a hand down his face.

"It's not a bad deal." The white-haired man says, avoiding eye contact with the Ame shinobi.

The Nara shinobi hums. "And if we refuse?"

"Ame may not be as strong as Konoha, but it doesn't mean we're pushovers. If we're going down, we'll make sure to drag as many people as we can with us." Yahiko crosses his arms, tense like a coiled snake ready to strike. Then, he glances at me, still piggyback-riding Nagato. "The Sarutobi Princess included."

The air turns impossibly more tense, killing intent being thrown around like free candy. The Konoha shinobi keep staring at each other for a while, deciding on their next step.

"Konoha aids the rebel group in killing Hanzo and dealing with the aftermath. Ame, in exchange, will ally with Konoha until the end of the war. These are our terms." Konan tries to defuse some of the situation, proposing a clean-cut deal.

The matter of the fact is that the Akatsuki is pretty strong as it stands now, even if the majority of its original members haven't been recruited yet. Yahiko and Konan are obviously strong enough on their own, but Nagato is a force to be reckoned with, if only because of his mastery of the rinnegan. Before, they didn't have much involvement with the Third Shinobi War because they were busy enough with internal affairs in Ame and all, but if Konoha had their support, it might just mean the war will end that much sooner.

It's actually not a bad deal at all.

"Konoha reserves the right to send whoever we want to aid in killing Hanzo. After that, we will choose when and how this alliance will be announced. You'll meet up with our Hokage to discuss the details, and Chiyuki comes back with us today. These terms are non-negotiable." Ensui finally says, staring at Yahiko with dark, dark eyes.

The orange-head grits his teeth, glancing at Konan and Nagato. When his two companions say nothing, he turns briefly to me, an unreadable look in his brown eyes. I blink, confusedly, not quite knowing what he wants from me now.

"Fine." The man finally spits out, a sour look on his face. "You have yourselves a deal."

The Nara shinobi nods and glances at the Toad Sage. "Jiraya-sama will contact you shortly. Shizune?"

Said woman walks towards Nagato once again and easily plucks me out of his grip, making quick work of my sealed chakra as soon as she's standing next to Ensui once again. In a matter of seconds, I'm finally back with people I can (mostly) trust, and part of me finally relaxes.

After a couple of seconds of re-adjusting to the chakra flowing freely through my body, I belatedly realize I can only sense three hums of iron other than my own. When I look back, the three Ame shinobi are no longer there.

"Well, then. Shall we go home?" The black-haired medic-nin gives me a soft, kind smile, and I melt in her arms.

"Yeah. Let's go."

.

.