"Nah, this is serious. Who the heck is he?! I trust Teruya-san but there's something unsettling about him!" 

Rin sighed, "You just contradicted yourself." Obito shut his open mouth with Kakashi nodding his head in agreement, "For once, I agree." 

It was a funny scene. It was the first time Obito had been so badly injured to the point that he'd have to stay at the hospital for a few days. Rin was doing slightly better than the boy for she had gotten away with only minor fractures. 

"You guys don't believe me? Well you should! Why wasn't Kakashi there atleast?!" The Uchiha let out a frustrated sigh, still trying to convince his friends about the fact that the Uzumaki was acting weirdly. 

"Well unlike you, I was busy training." Kakashi replied and Obito gave him the stank eye, but he didn't say anything. The room went silent before Rin laughed, "I actually thought you'd say something Obito." 

"I've decided to change for once." he admitted hesitantly, seeming shy. "So anyway, forget about Teruya. Did you see the old creep?"

"Old creep? Who?"

Rin's eyes widened as she gasped, "The Sandaime?!" 

"Huh? What?! No!" Obito exclaimed at the unexpected answer. The girl let out a relieved sigh, "Phew, I would've scolded you if it was!" 

"I meant Danzo." Obito whisper-shouted, glancing at the door cautiously as if someone would enter. 

"Danzo-sama? What about him?" Rin questioned. 

"Yeah, that guy. Teruya-san told me to keep a close eye on him whenever he stepped near Uchiha territory."

"Pft, and you said that didn't trust him." Kakashi muttered but Obito just ignored him. "Anyway, I haven't seen him in a while. I usually see him when I go to the Mission center but its been 4 days since I last saw him." 

"I do admit he's been the topic of discussion these days. Especially ever since Minato-sensei has taken over as Hokage." said Rin. 

"But Minato sensei is not officially the Hokage right? It'd happen after the war negotiations are over." 

"Hmm, yeah. But why are we talking about him?" 

Obito breathed in as he let the serious atmosphere settle down. "That guy, I happened to have come across a conversation that was happening near the forest behind the Uchiha territory."

Kakashi scoffed, "How cliché it is of you to be eavesdropping on a conversation that happened to happen in your backyard." 

Rin chuckled, "Oh let him talk. His whole life is a cliché." 

"Oh well, agreed." Kakashi muttered under his breath before Obito continued. 

"...we will inform of this to Danzo-sama. Your involvement in shall be kept a secret and no soul shall ever learn of it. Amegakure will soon bathe in the blood of the Akatsuki."

Obito on hearing the conversation immediately felt like he was intruding onto something very sensitive. An issue a thirteen year old kid shouldn't know of. But his feet were stuck to the ground. As if heavy weights were chained to his feet. 

"Make sure you keep your promise." an old familiar voice grunted, and the masked man only nodded. 

"Yes, Danzo-sama." 

And that was the end of the conversation. Obito had his breath held the whole time. He didn't want to miss out any words and wanted to squeeze in every bit of information he had just heard. Like what the heck, it was a beautiful day and so he'd decided to practice some genjutsu.

Luck or not, he managed to eavesdrop on one of Konoha's most mysterious man.

'Frickkkk I gotta visit Teruya-san right now!!'

With a swift change in hand signs, Obito had disappeared into a whirlwind of leaves and found himself somewhere a bit closer to the newly built apartments that were very close to the park. With the intent of relaying this information only to Teruya-san, he rung the doorbell and waited as he breathed heavily, catching his breath. 

The door clicked open and Obito flipped his head upwards, expecting to meet with the same violet eyes that always screamed 'I'm dumb but i could kick your ass' and shining blonde hair with flaming red growing on his crown. 

But no, he met with a scroll that poofed into his face, surprising him. He let out a small shriek as he unconsciously caught the rolled up paper in his hand. Seeing that it seemed harmless, he unfurled the paper. 

(And yes, he forgot to question how the door opened when he rung the doorbell.)

To whoever reads this,

I'm out on a mission. If I'm urgently needed, use this note to send a message.

Teruya :) 

Obito groaned in annoyance. Of course how could he have forgotten?? Teruya-san was out on a mission, somewhere in Amegakure where his assistance was needed to fight back the enemy. 

"Ahh shit, this is so annoying!!" he screamed in frustration and turned on his heels to leave. 

(He never noticed how the door closed on it's own once again.)

"Typical Obito," remarked Kakashi. Obito could only give a faint smile. "Nevermind. I told you guys so I should tell Teruya-san once he's alright."

"Why wait?"

At the sound of the new voice, a cold chill ran up the spines of the trio as their heads turned to the source to meet eyes with someone they would only ever read in textbooks.

Obito was the first one who managed to not slip on his words when he opened his mouth, "J-Jiraiya-sama...?"

***

"Do we launch the attack now, Danzo-sama?"

The aged man who had but only one eye to see with and one hand to use, was sitting in his office, sitting as if waiting for something to happen. 

"Is Hanzo ready? Is that so called organization at the meeting point?"

"Yes, Danzo-sama." replied the masked figure. Danzo sighed before getting up from his seat, eyes set like hard steel. 

"Yes, commence the attack." 

***

"Hanzo-sama, we received a message from Danzo to launch the attack." a female voice said quietly, as she stood beside Hanzo, soaked in the shower of rain that Amegakure was experiencing. 

"Those kids haven't arrived yet, but they'll come. We wait until they arrive. Is our hostage doing well?" he questioned and the female nodded. 

"Okay, you may leave." 

And as the girl disappeared, the man was left with a foreboding feeling of disaster. As if something uncalled for was going to happen. 

***

"So this is what the kid wanted to tell me the whole time!" uttered Jiraiya as he was painting seals on his scroll. He was going to reverse summon to Amegakure. It was a long distance but it had to work. It couldn't fail. Not now. 

As Obito retold the story to the great Sage once again, the old man clicked his tongue in realization. 

"So that's what Teruya has been trying to tell me the whole time! And I thought the kid was joking about having a meet up in Amegakure! The Akatsuki..." Jiraiya muttered as a faint memory of three kids popped up. 

Kakashi eyed the old man, as if asking whether he had to inform of this to someone. Jiraiya turned to face the silver haired kid and said, "Tell Minato to send some back-up to Amegakure. He should know about the spot. Tell him it's near that cliff." And without a second to spare, the old man disappeared into thin air. 

Obito and Rin flinched in surprise as the old man disappeared. 

Kakashi too, stood frozen there for a few seconds before the information got through his brain.

"I'm leaving." 

With those simple words, the Hatake jumped out the hospital window as Rin and Obito stared at the window Kakashi had just jumped out of.

***

"No Yahiko! Don't! Just let me die!" 

The poor and desolate voice was drowned in the sound of the unforgiving rain, loud and thunderous. It was the usual weather in Amegakure, but today for some reason, Nagato felt like it was different. A change was happening. 

The orange haired male, in a dilemma of what to choose, turned to his friend Nagato, who was still deep in thought even in such a situation. Yahiko wanted to laugh. Of course, that's how it was. Nagato still managed to let that bad habit appear and in the worst time possible.

"I gave you an option. Now choose!" Hanzo exclaimed, grabbing Konan even tighter by her neck, making her cough. The young female wanted to grab Hanzo's hairless head and slap his face. He was supposed to be their hero. Someone who wanted peace.

That's what Akatsuki stood for too! So why was he so dead set in wanting to kill the small group?

But before she could come to a conclusion, the movement of her orange haired friend Yahiko was dangerously close to the kunai held by Nagato. 

Her eyes widened as she was about to witness the suicide of her friend, who had come to an extreme conclusion. But she was in for a surprise when the grip on her neck loosened and flaming red fire came at her, but that was before she was quickly taken by a hand and escaped the hold of Hanzo. 

"My students! Why are you not greeting your master? After coming such a long time, I'm starting to crave the ramen we used to eat in that small house!" 

That voice was like a ray of hope for the trio. A voice they never thought they would hear again. Nagato, Yahiko and Konan all turned their heads upwards to look at the source of the voice. But all they could see was the white unruly hair of their master before he was gone. 

Yahiko's eyes widened in surprise. "Jiraiya-sensei?! What is he doing here?!" he exclaimed, not aware of the kunai that was held so dangerously close to his skin. He let go of the knife as he met eyes with his friend, Konan, then Nagato. 

They too were surprised. 

And it happened all too quickly. 

* 

managed to squeeze out a chapter. how was it? spicy enough or too mild? or no salt? 

written; tuesday, 23 november, 2021

published; tuesday, 23 november, 2021

:)