Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Between Deception and Truth ❯ Falling Rain ( Chapter 5 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Lord Archive 
A simple caravan run becomes something far more than expected.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 07.13.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 1.2K | Status: Completed
A simple caravan run becomes something far more than expected.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 07.13.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 1.2K | Status: Completed
Between Deception and Truth
Chapter 5 - Falling Rain
By: Lord Archive
Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, all rights reserved. I'm only borrowing them.
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Sakura appraised Jiro and Ai as they started to explain about setting up for a trip with the local farmers to Tsuji in order to trade their goods.
It wasn't hard to see Naruto beneath the girl's face. She was as lively and loud as she remembered the boy being, though Ai's moods seemed more erratic and of a wider range. Still, Naruto was Naruto, even if her old teammate was now a girl answering to 'Ai.'
Jiro, on the other hand, seemed very different than Hinata. Sakura didn't know Hinata very much beyond being the 'shy, timid Hyuuga girl' with a suspected crush on Naruto. Now Sakura knew quite well that Hinata did indeed have a crush on her old teammate, enough of one to go on such an extreme mission. However, starting an argument with her love seemed entirely unlike Hinata, yet it was something Jiro had done. Sakura had a good guess on such a change, ignoring the fact she barely knew him when he was a girl, between having his image changed completely, embracing the mission fully, following the example of his father's behavior, and a huge increase of testosterone-- Jiro could be different than Hinata. Though Sakura suspected that the argument stemmed from the ending of Hinata's crush, frustrations of starting a new life, and being hungry. Sakura certainly got cranky when she didn't have enough food.
Sakura's thoughts and the story came to an abrupt end with a knock on the door. Peering into the room was Kakashi, the white-haired jounin with one eye covered by his facemask who had taught Sakura and Naruto.
Ai leapt up from her seat and pointed. "You're late!"
Kakashi's visible eye gave a false smile. "Sorry. Ran into a few rocks that wouldn't stay put."
"Likely story," Ai groused. "You're ALWAYS late."
Kakashi looked at the girl intently. "Do I know you?"
Sakura's eyes widened, noticing that Kakashi's shirtsleeve had been recently sewed with a bloodstain around the recent repair. She leapt and slapped the back of Ai's head. "Stupid, can't you see he's been hurt recently!"
"What? This scratch?" Kakashi pointed at his arm. "The Stone-nin got a lucky hit, but then he wasn't very lucky at all."
There wasn't much that could be said in response, as everyone knew Kakashi functionally just admitted to killing the Stone-nin.
"Tsunade-sama, I am reporting as requested," Kakashi formally announced.
"Have a seat. I suspect you will find this debriefing quite interesting," Tsunade commented with a slight smirk.
Jiro chuckled lightly, but said nothing.
Kakashi took another look at the girl grinning at him.
"Haven't figured it out yet, have you, Kakashi-sensei? Guess you lied to Zabuza and you can't see everything with your Sharigan." Ai teased.
Kakashi's features hardened as he turned to look at his village's leader. "Tsunade-sama, you didn't...?"
"It was the best way to hide Naruto. Itachi would never think to look for a girl," Tsunade retorted.
Kakashi looked at the boy sitting next to Ai. "And you are?"
"I was Hyuuga Hinata," the boy answered. "Though you can call me Jiro now."
Kakashi stared vacantly. "Congratulations. You've just broken my mind." He then slumped into a chair.
"You haven't heard anything yet!" Ai laughed. "As I was saying before we were 'rudely interrupted,' the village had set up a small caravan to go to Tsuji to trade their goods. Halfway there we ran into a bit of problem..."
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Jiro was initially happy to have some of the local farmers on the caravan as they didn't know anything about him or Ai. That quickly changed with the amount of talking that was being done. By the time they would arrive to Tsuji, the farmers would have a full account of the 'newlywed' couple, painful arguments and all.
"My, isn't that strange. Where did that storm come from?" Terasen commented from his perch at the front of the caravan.
Jiro and Ai exchanged worried looks as the gathering dark clouds spread overhead against the wind.
As if to confirm their unease, two ugly, burley men with large weapons stood in the road.
"We've come to save you a trip. We'll make a great trade for your goods. You leave everything here, and you can go home alive," the larger of the two bandits threatened.
"Please refuse. I wouldn't mind carving me up that piece of ass," the second bandit added, pointing at Ai.
Before anyone could blink, the second bandit had been launched into the air from a devastating series of kicks.
The first bandit took a step back. "What the fuck?!"
"And here I was hoping for a challenge," Ai spat. She took a little longer bringing down the first bandit, but that was only because he managed to block a few of her attacks.
"Damn..." Terasen whispered to Jiro in awe. "No wonder she could crack your face like that. She's one strong girl."
Jiro nodded, sort of wishing that Mokkou was with them to see Ai in all her brutal glory. That would put a damper on the boy's crush.
Rain began to fall from the storm clouds. Jiro at first wondered if the whisper of 'sleep' he was hearing was just his imagination, but the fact that Terasen suddenly fell asleep right where he was sitting told him otherwise. The whisper repeated itself, become more forceful and urgent each time it was repeated. "Dispel!" Jiro commanded, breaking the genjutsu trying to take hold of him.
Ai grinned sheepishly with her wet hair matted to her face. "First time I'm glad to have gone through this mission."
Jiro didn't need her to explain what she meant. Naruto had no ability with genjutsu and would've fallen prey to this attack, where Ai had enough ability to break simple illusionary effects.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Ai cried out, slamming her hand to the ground.
"Oh, nice rain," commented the white and yellow meter tall toad.
"Gamafenton, stop counting the rain drops and tell me how many people are around here!" Ai ordered.
"Eighteen," Gamafenton replied. "Incoming arrow... No, make that twelve incoming arrows." The toad then disappeared into smoke.
Ai jumped away and the area she had been standing was now riddled with wooden arrows.
Jiro scowled. "There's eighteen ninja out there?"
"Not counting the stupid thieves, five," Ai corrected. "Gamafenton may be able to count anything, but he counts everything. He can't tell the differences of anything."
"So those arrows were somehow replicated in air?" Jiro guessed.
Ai shrugged. "Probably."
A crash of thunder and lightning drew their attention.
Cackling with electricity a mere dozen meters away stood a man in combat fatigues, two whips wrapped around his upper body, and a forehead protector marking him as coming from the Hidden Village of Rain.
"What are you doing outside of Rain Country?" Ai demanded.
"I think the greater question is why are there two ninja hiding in the middle of nowhere?" the man retorted. "Or how about I ask you something else, girl? How many times did you sleep with the Legendary Pervert to get him to teach you how to summon toads?"
Jiro held up his hands defenselessly. "He's all yours."
Ai snarled viciously, whisker-like tattoos forming on her face. "You're a dead man." She raced forward with a flurry of punches and kicks.
The man laughed off her attacks, dodging and blocking them with little effort. "And here I thought getting stuck on this stupid mission was going to boring. A simple raid for supplies should've been easy pickings for Ren's team. This may have been a good 'punishment' after all." He then leered at the girl attacking him. "May want to find out what that stupid Jiraiya saw in you while I'm at it."
Ai let out a bestial hiss before launching a clawed strike. Her attack was blocked, yet the man leapt away from her.
"So, the little kitten has claws," the man remarked, looking over his now bleeding forearm suspiciously. "So, you aren't to be taken so lightly." He then pulled out one of the whips. "Let's see if I can tame you."
Jiro didn't like the looks of this. The guy was obviously a jounin. There were few chuunin who could stand up to Ai, and this guy hadn't even gotten serious yet. He forced himself to turn away as two teenaged ninja approached him. The closer of the two was a guy, with a minimized styled of dress that reminded him of Rock Lee. The other one was a girl wielding an umbrella, yet she wasn't using it to keep the rain off her.
As Jiro expected, the boy started off with a kick and went into a series of physical attacks. He was good, but not to the level of a chuunin. Jiro moved to block one attack, but his arm found air while the boy's foot landed into his gut. Jiro staggered back, and briefly saw double. "Cute, using the rain to make a false image."
"Figuring out my genjutsu doesn't mean you've beaten it," the boy retorted.
The girl then spoke up, "All I want to know is if you're from Konoha?"
"Would it make any difference?" Jiro retorted.
"My brother was murdered when he went to Konoha for his chuunin exams. I will see they pay for it," the girl spat.
"Deaths happen in a chuunin exam," Jiro replied with false bravado hoping to intimidate his attackers. "It's part of the 'game.'"
The girl's gaze hardened, while the boy shifted uneasily.
"Let's see you dodge this," the girl hissed. She launched her umbrella into the air and numerous thin metal needles fired from it.
Jiro attempted to leap out of the way, but the boy kicked him back into the deadly rain of metal. He managed to avoid most of the attack, but a few of the needles managed to lodge themselves into his arm. This wasn't good at all. There were five ninja facing them, yet only three had revealed themselves directly. The initial sleep genjutsu and the arrows likely came from the other two, yet he couldn't be certain of that. Though Ai screamed in pain while the man fighting her laughed, he couldn't look away to see what condition she was in. If he was going to help her, he had to take these two down first to make sure they couldn't attack his faux wife.
Ai was not in the same position. With a few Kage Bunshin clones trying to bum-rush the jounin, she took a second to see how Jiro was doing. Her blood boiled in rage seeing the metal needles sticking out of her fake husband's arm, making her remember how Sasuke nearly died in a similar manner. Her vision was clouded red when she gazed at her opponent in hatred.
The jounin's whip cut through the clones attacking him, leaving Ai and a clone she had set in reserve to act as if she was the main body. He then gazed intently at the real Ai. "The more I play with you, the more interesting you get. How did your eyes change color?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but you're all dead. Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ai barked out in anger. Within a blink of an eye, copies of Ai stood everywhere.
The two ninja facing Jiro were immediately swarmed by six clones each, giving Jiro a moment to yank the needles out of his arm. He gazed at the fight and saw the glaring weakness of using so many clones at one time. There was so little chakra supporting the copies that simple hits could dispel them. While the two ninja did take some damage for the assault, they were managing to fight off Ai's shadows even as more clones moved to replace the fallen ones.
"What the fuck is the point of all these illusionary copies?!" cried out a previously hidden boy now trapped within the sea of Ai clones that prevented him from remaining hidden.
"I thought you were a chuunin, Ren," the jounin shouted over the chaos of battle. "This is no genjutsu, but one of Konoha's greatest ninjutsu. These clones are very solid, but they can't take a serious hit."
"Shit!" Ren cursed, having been punched in the face. "NOW you tell me!" He then began to whisper into the rain and the five clones nearest him stopped moving as vacant looks fell over the girls' faces. "Yokujin, clear the field!"
"Yokujin?" Jiro questioned. "So he's the archer."
"Who?" one of Ai's clones asked.
"Ai, watch out! He's going to fire a lightning arrow!" Jiro cried out in warning, but it was too late as two metal arrows shot into the largest group of clones, with electricity arcing between the two metal rods. With a chorus of painful cries, dozens of Ai's clones were destroyed.
"Let me guess, he's the one from the chuunin exams," Ai spat angrily.
Jiro nodded. "Would explain why he's so far from the genjutsu user. He's got no resistance."
"What the hell is going on here?!" Ren demanded.
The jounin laughed insanely while quickly reducing the number of clones with his electrified whips. "Looks like we either found two missing-nin or stumbled upon a Konoha secret. Either way, this mission has gone from C-rank to A-rank."
"All right! More pay!" the mostly taijutsu ninja exclaimed in joy, and got socked in the back of the head by one of the remaining clones.
"You do realize this battle is to the death," the umbrella-wielding girl pointed out. "They can't let us live to tell of whatever secret they're hiding. Gosunkugi no Ami!" The rain around girl briefly stopped falling before exploding away from her as if they were metal projectiles shooting through the clones surrounding her. Against a living enemy the damage would've been too minor to note, but to the clones it was enough to dispel them.
"HA!" the boy laughed. "And you want to kill all of Konoha's ninja!" He then sent a fist into one of the clones, only to find that the body didn't disappear. His arm was grabbed into a painful hold, while a knee into his guy rocked him hard.
"Kage, you moron!" the girl spat, launching a set of kunai at the image of Ai holding her teammate. The boy was released in order to dodge the attack, yet one of the kunai scratched the arm disrupting the illusion and revealing that Jiro had been the one attacking the Rain-nin.
"Sneaky bastard," Kage spat. "Trying to beat me at my own game."
"If you were paying attention, you would've seen the blood coming from his arm," the girl shot at him.
"Quit nagging, Uki. I'll take this guy down, no problem," Kage promised.
Jiro scowled as Kage's formed became blurred with two sets of overlapping images. Each time the Rain-nin attacked, he would seem to be hitting three different spots, making attempts to block him a hazardous affair. His only saving grace fighting these two was that while it was obvious the two had worked together before, they had yet to fully gel together and fight as one. Only one of them attacked at a time to avoid getting in the other's way.
While Jiro tried to figure out what he needed to do, Ai knew what she had to do to win her fight. She had to land a Rasengan on the jounin, but with the guy's whips she couldn't get close enough to hit him. Of the one hundred clones she had made, only two remained. She seethed in anger at her inability to do a damn thing to this guy. She had to take him down hard and fast.
"Ah, there you are," the jounin remarked before wrapping one of his whips around Ai's waist and electrifying her in the process.
Jiro's heart sank hearing Ai cry out in pain that didn't immediately disappear. The real Ai had been hit, and there was nothing he could to help her with these two ninja facing against him. He would defeat them. He had to do it. His mission was to protect Ai. He gave up everything for her, and he would be damned if it all ended here on a road that didn't even have a name.
The cocky grin on Kage's face irritated Jiro to no end. As his glare harshened on the advancing boy, the blurred images faded and the real body solidified. Jiro blocked the incoming punch, and the following kick. Kage's face lost the cockiness and took a hard look of concentration and determination. Jiro knew the boy was trying to reinforce the genjutsu, but he would not let himself see it. As Kage launched into a devastating punch, Jiro ducked under the swing and struck his own blow. He shoved kunai up under Kage's chin, pressing the weapon deep into his foe's head.
Kage's eyes rolled back as he fell to the ground, blood gurgling out of his wound as his body twitched from the damage to his brain.
"KAGE!!!!" Uki screamed. "Damn you, Konoha. Damn you all to hell!"
Jiro saw the rage in the girl had clouded her thinking. This was no longer a ninja fighting her, but a hysterical girl. Avoiding her attacks was far too easy. The tears clouding the girl's eyes was the only thing that made Jiro pause. "You won't have to mourn any more."
"Not until I've killed you!" Uki spat. Her following attack didn't come close to hitting, but Jiro's counter attack found its mark.
Jiro watched as Uki stumbled towards Kage's fallen form and fell upon him in her own death, pierced through the heart by a kunai. The blood stained ninja whispered to the two dead bodies, "I'm sorry."
The jounin gritted his teeth angrily even as he still held Ai in his whip, trying to fry her alive with electricity. "You're next boy."
"I think not," Jiro retorted, his eyes glaring harshly at the jounin.
"What the fuck is with Konoha and weird eyes?" the jounin hissed.
"Chouzen-sensei, look out!" Ren cried out.
The jounin didn't move as the two clones that he had ignored were now behind him. "Thousand years of pain revised!" One of the two clones disappeared as the one holding a spinning ball of chakra reared her hand back. "RASENGAN!" True to the shadow's words, the ball was shoved at the jounin's ass. With a cry of unimaginable pain, Chouzen went flying into the side of one of the caravan's wagons.
"You bitch," Chouzen cursed. He attempted to stand up but failed miserably as his legs would not respond. "I'm going to make you suffer as no woman has ever suffered before."
Ai's body smoked from the burns on her body. She stomped towards the fallen jounin, with each step the red angry scars of burnt flesh diminished in size. "I don't think I'll lose any sleep over you."
An arrow pierced Ai's shoulder, but she merely yanked it out without any apparent care to the injury.
"What the hell are you?" Chouzen demanded.
"You don't need to know." Ai grabbed the jounin by his forehead and smashed the back of his head against a rock repeatedly until the skull had caved in.
Jiro was not concerned with the end of Ai's fight. He knew it was over without having to watch. Besides, they had two more ninja to deal with. He hated the rain as his jutsu relied on sight while Ren's worked with sounds, especially from rain. He could hear the chuunin trying to make him see things that weren't there, but he would not let himself be affected.
Ren pulled out a pair of kunai as Jiro loomed ever closer. "This isn't right. You didn't even try to dispel my genjutsu. You just ignored it. What is going on?"
"I'd tell you, but there are some who could pull that information from your corpse," Jiro retorted.
"I didn't make chuunin just for my genjutsu. I've seen you fight, and I know where your weak points are," Ren boasted, but it sounded hollow.
"I'd hope it wasn't for you pathetic skill in illusions." Jiro's eyes locked eyes with Ren.
Screams retched their way out of Ren's mouth as horrors assaulted his mind. He didn't have long to live in illusionary pain as Jiro took one of the boy's kunai and shoved the weapon into his eye.
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"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Kakashi questioned toward Jiro.
Tsunade held a smug look. "I used an Uchiha as the template for one of the permanent transformation scrolls."
Jiro nodded slightly. "I first activated the Sharigan ability in that battle. It was at its lowest level, allowing me to see clearly what my opponents were doing and amplifying my genjutsu abilities. At that point I could only copy taijutsu, but not an enemy's ninjutsu nor genjutsu."
Kakashi shook his head. "So you lost Byakugan and replaced it with the Uchiha bloodline limit."
Sakura pouted. "Well, it's nice that there's another Uchiha around. And I guess it's a good thing Jiro is functionally gay, otherwise the Konoha council would want to keep Hinata as Jiro." Her joke didn't elicit any response, making her wonder if she stepped into something. Perhaps the council was already trying to marry Jiro off to some girl or something to that effect in order to bring back the lost clan?
"Now can we get back to the debriefing?" Tsunade demanded.
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With the lack of arrows raining down on them, it was clear the archer was running away. Despite the lead Yokujin had running though the forest, Ai proved to be much faster than him.
"What kind of comrade are you to your team?" Ai spat angrily. "You don't try to rescue them or avenge them, but run away like a stinking coward! You're not worthy to be a ninja!"
"Like I could fucking see in that rain," Yokujin shot back, managing to fire off an arrow towards his pursuer despite still running ahead. "Their abilities were boosted, I had to wait for clear shots."
"Still no excuse for abandoning them," Ai hissed while jumping out of the way of the arrow.
"I'm still alive, and soon you won't be," Yokujin smugly laughed, jumping from the edge of the forest into a clearing. He spared a look back towards the trees. "Come on, bitch, follow me now."
"He didn't signal. Fire!"
Yokujin's eyes widened as he spun around. "Wait! I'm Yokujin!" He started to do some hand signals while attempting to jump out of the way of incoming arrows and metal needles, but the swarm of projectiles was too much.
Ai gritted her teeth angrily. While she didn't particularly want to kill the ninja even though she knew she had to make sure he could tell no one about her, it left a bad taste in her mouth that he was done in by so-called 'friendly fire.'
"Ai?" Jiro whispered, approaching the girl.
"There's a Rain-nin camp ahead. We can't let them remain here," Ai pointed out.
Jiro frowned. "It took all we had to take down four of them. I don't know if we can handle another battle."
Ai smirked. "I think I've got a plan."
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"What the hell is Chouzen doing? He was supposed to be leading a team on a simple supply grab, and then he let's one of the genin do something stupid like this. If he thought this mission was punishment..." one Rain-nin grumbled.
"I'd say they ran into difficulties," another responded.
"THAT would be putting it mildly."
The Rain-nin looked up and saw a man with long white hair sitting on top of an enormous toad. One of them asked, "Who the hell are you?!"
"I'm am appalled that you don't know of me. I am Myouboku Mountain's Monk of the Toad Spirits! The great Toad Hermit! All women adore me! I am the greatest writer and ninja!" boasted 'Jiraiya.'
"Holy shit! It's the Legendary Pervert!" one of the Rain-nin screamed in fright.
"Don't call me that!" 'Jiraiya' howled in anger.
"There's no need to get your hair in a bunch," groused 'Kakashi' lazily.
"No wonder Chouzen got crushed. Konoha's greatest pervert AND the copycat, they didn't stand a chance," a Rain-nin muttered.
'Jiraiya' smirked. "Indeed. Now why don't you children go pick up your mess and go home." He hopped off the toad. "My friend will show you where the bodies are, while we make sure this camp is taken down."
'Kakashi' reached for his facemask. "Or would you rather we got... serious?"
The Rain-nin started talking to each other about what to do.
'Jiraiya' looked over at 'Kakashi' and muttered in annoyance, "How long was it before Gai's team gets here? This delay is already costing us time to get to the Sand Village. If we run much later, they might send a search party."
That caused Rain-nin to become even more nervous and they promptly agreed to the functional terms of surrender.
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Tsunade shook her head. "You've definitely spent too much time around Jiraiya."
"How dare they call me the 'Legendary Pervert?!' That's outrageous!" Jiraiya protested.
"From the 'Legendary Sucker' to the 'Legendary Pervert:' Shut up," Tsunade shot at him.
"If you want to replace me full time, go ahead," Kakashi joked.
"I've had enough of being someone else," Jiro replied.
"When was the next event of note?" Tsunade questioned.
Ai scowled at Jiraiya. "Two weeks after this battle, and about a week AFTER my second period, the pervert finally made an appearance."
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Author's Notes:
Coming Next: Chapter 6 - The Pervert's Return
Jiraiya arrives to see how Ai's training is progressing and to help with controlling the Kyuubi within.
As with some of my series, I include an omake, a little extra, that falls outside of the main story. I felt this chapter could use something that Jiro and Ai left out of their story to Tsunade and the others.
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The moon shown high over Tsuji with a faint glow off in the distant horizon, promising sunrise would be coming. There was no sound as two small feet glided over the grass outside the trading town, but the approach was still detected by a teenaged boy sitting on a fallen log.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Jiro questioned tiredly.
Ai nodded as she sat on the ground next to the log. "I always have trouble sleeping after fights like that."
Jiro smiled shyly. "Same here."
Ai gazed up at her fake husband. "You killed before?"
"A few times, actually." Jiro sighed. "The first time was when we were on a mission and got ambushed. Kiba-kun was facing three ninja at once and didn't see the fourth one sneaking up behind him. I only had a second to react, or Kiba-kun would have died." He swallowed hard. "I made his heart explode."
Ai flinched. That couldn't have been easy for Hinata to have done. She had nearly died in a similar fashion at the hands of her own cousin.
"My second kill was much the same, but it was to save a little girl's life." Jiro examined his hands as if expecting them to be dripping with blood. "My third was in a fight where if I didn't kill her, she would've killed me."
"Ah." Ai bowed her head. "Wish I could say my kills were as good. My first one came while Jiraiya left me alone to do some 'research.' I found out there were some bandits terrorizing the village I was in. So naturally, I volunteered to help them. The bandits were little more than thugs with swords and crossbows. They were armed beyond what the village could deal with, but they had no real talent. Still, the bandits were robbing the village of everything they had and killing anyone that defied them." She clenched her hand into a fist. "I defeated the jerks easily enough. And then their leader appeared, boasting about his awesome 'power.' The ass had none. I broke his neck with a punch any genin could've avoided."
"You did save the village, right?" Jiro tried to encourage the girl.
"They certainly called me a hero and praised what I did." Ai folded her arms and seemed to be trying to hug herself. "They made a feast in my honor and all that crap. I wanted to be left alone, so I ditched them." She then let out a long breath. "It was then I was told something that truly helped me. One of the girls from the village found me and thanked me for killing that bastard because the asshole had been raping her. She was fucking eight-years-old." She lashed out with a fist and punched the ground. "I only wished I knew that before I killed the asshole, because I damn well would've done it on purpose then!"
Jiro nodded. "I certainly hold no sympathy for anyone who did something like that. He deserved to die."
"I know. But the reasoning got all fucked up." Ai shook her head. "And it unfortunately lead to my second kill. I went from overestimating one asshole, to underestimating the next guy I fought. I was pulling my punches, not wanting to kill him. But that jerk wanted me dead. I panicked and acted like a stupid student. He skewered me with a sword and I cut open his throat with a kunai. If I had fought him normally, I could've beaten him easily and he'd still be alive, in prison, but still alive." The girl shivered. "And because of that fucktard jounin today, I had those nightmares again."
Jiro slid off the log and kneeled next to the girl, pulling her into a hug. "I know our bad dreams are not easy to deal with, but I'd rather have them than not care that we have taken the lives of others when we needed too. I would rather have blood on my hands than you, Kiba-kun or anyone else I care for in a coffin."
Part of Ai wanted to protest the hug, but the fact was she needed it at the moment. "I guess I should be thankful it's not getting easier for me. I wouldn't want to become the monster Konoha fears I might become."
Jiro nodded and held Ai close to himself through the rest of the night, only to be found a few hours later sleeping against each other by Terasen.
Chapter 5 - Falling Rain
By: Lord Archive
Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, all rights reserved. I'm only borrowing them.
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Sakura appraised Jiro and Ai as they started to explain about setting up for a trip with the local farmers to Tsuji in order to trade their goods.
It wasn't hard to see Naruto beneath the girl's face. She was as lively and loud as she remembered the boy being, though Ai's moods seemed more erratic and of a wider range. Still, Naruto was Naruto, even if her old teammate was now a girl answering to 'Ai.'
Jiro, on the other hand, seemed very different than Hinata. Sakura didn't know Hinata very much beyond being the 'shy, timid Hyuuga girl' with a suspected crush on Naruto. Now Sakura knew quite well that Hinata did indeed have a crush on her old teammate, enough of one to go on such an extreme mission. However, starting an argument with her love seemed entirely unlike Hinata, yet it was something Jiro had done. Sakura had a good guess on such a change, ignoring the fact she barely knew him when he was a girl, between having his image changed completely, embracing the mission fully, following the example of his father's behavior, and a huge increase of testosterone-- Jiro could be different than Hinata. Though Sakura suspected that the argument stemmed from the ending of Hinata's crush, frustrations of starting a new life, and being hungry. Sakura certainly got cranky when she didn't have enough food.
Sakura's thoughts and the story came to an abrupt end with a knock on the door. Peering into the room was Kakashi, the white-haired jounin with one eye covered by his facemask who had taught Sakura and Naruto.
Ai leapt up from her seat and pointed. "You're late!"
Kakashi's visible eye gave a false smile. "Sorry. Ran into a few rocks that wouldn't stay put."
"Likely story," Ai groused. "You're ALWAYS late."
Kakashi looked at the girl intently. "Do I know you?"
Sakura's eyes widened, noticing that Kakashi's shirtsleeve had been recently sewed with a bloodstain around the recent repair. She leapt and slapped the back of Ai's head. "Stupid, can't you see he's been hurt recently!"
"What? This scratch?" Kakashi pointed at his arm. "The Stone-nin got a lucky hit, but then he wasn't very lucky at all."
There wasn't much that could be said in response, as everyone knew Kakashi functionally just admitted to killing the Stone-nin.
"Tsunade-sama, I am reporting as requested," Kakashi formally announced.
"Have a seat. I suspect you will find this debriefing quite interesting," Tsunade commented with a slight smirk.
Jiro chuckled lightly, but said nothing.
Kakashi took another look at the girl grinning at him.
"Haven't figured it out yet, have you, Kakashi-sensei? Guess you lied to Zabuza and you can't see everything with your Sharigan." Ai teased.
Kakashi's features hardened as he turned to look at his village's leader. "Tsunade-sama, you didn't...?"
"It was the best way to hide Naruto. Itachi would never think to look for a girl," Tsunade retorted.
Kakashi looked at the boy sitting next to Ai. "And you are?"
"I was Hyuuga Hinata," the boy answered. "Though you can call me Jiro now."
Kakashi stared vacantly. "Congratulations. You've just broken my mind." He then slumped into a chair.
"You haven't heard anything yet!" Ai laughed. "As I was saying before we were 'rudely interrupted,' the village had set up a small caravan to go to Tsuji to trade their goods. Halfway there we ran into a bit of problem..."
---------------------
Jiro was initially happy to have some of the local farmers on the caravan as they didn't know anything about him or Ai. That quickly changed with the amount of talking that was being done. By the time they would arrive to Tsuji, the farmers would have a full account of the 'newlywed' couple, painful arguments and all.
"My, isn't that strange. Where did that storm come from?" Terasen commented from his perch at the front of the caravan.
Jiro and Ai exchanged worried looks as the gathering dark clouds spread overhead against the wind.
As if to confirm their unease, two ugly, burley men with large weapons stood in the road.
"We've come to save you a trip. We'll make a great trade for your goods. You leave everything here, and you can go home alive," the larger of the two bandits threatened.
"Please refuse. I wouldn't mind carving me up that piece of ass," the second bandit added, pointing at Ai.
Before anyone could blink, the second bandit had been launched into the air from a devastating series of kicks.
The first bandit took a step back. "What the fuck?!"
"And here I was hoping for a challenge," Ai spat. She took a little longer bringing down the first bandit, but that was only because he managed to block a few of her attacks.
"Damn..." Terasen whispered to Jiro in awe. "No wonder she could crack your face like that. She's one strong girl."
Jiro nodded, sort of wishing that Mokkou was with them to see Ai in all her brutal glory. That would put a damper on the boy's crush.
Rain began to fall from the storm clouds. Jiro at first wondered if the whisper of 'sleep' he was hearing was just his imagination, but the fact that Terasen suddenly fell asleep right where he was sitting told him otherwise. The whisper repeated itself, become more forceful and urgent each time it was repeated. "Dispel!" Jiro commanded, breaking the genjutsu trying to take hold of him.
Ai grinned sheepishly with her wet hair matted to her face. "First time I'm glad to have gone through this mission."
Jiro didn't need her to explain what she meant. Naruto had no ability with genjutsu and would've fallen prey to this attack, where Ai had enough ability to break simple illusionary effects.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Ai cried out, slamming her hand to the ground.
"Oh, nice rain," commented the white and yellow meter tall toad.
"Gamafenton, stop counting the rain drops and tell me how many people are around here!" Ai ordered.
"Eighteen," Gamafenton replied. "Incoming arrow... No, make that twelve incoming arrows." The toad then disappeared into smoke.
Ai jumped away and the area she had been standing was now riddled with wooden arrows.
Jiro scowled. "There's eighteen ninja out there?"
"Not counting the stupid thieves, five," Ai corrected. "Gamafenton may be able to count anything, but he counts everything. He can't tell the differences of anything."
"So those arrows were somehow replicated in air?" Jiro guessed.
Ai shrugged. "Probably."
A crash of thunder and lightning drew their attention.
Cackling with electricity a mere dozen meters away stood a man in combat fatigues, two whips wrapped around his upper body, and a forehead protector marking him as coming from the Hidden Village of Rain.
"What are you doing outside of Rain Country?" Ai demanded.
"I think the greater question is why are there two ninja hiding in the middle of nowhere?" the man retorted. "Or how about I ask you something else, girl? How many times did you sleep with the Legendary Pervert to get him to teach you how to summon toads?"
Jiro held up his hands defenselessly. "He's all yours."
Ai snarled viciously, whisker-like tattoos forming on her face. "You're a dead man." She raced forward with a flurry of punches and kicks.
The man laughed off her attacks, dodging and blocking them with little effort. "And here I thought getting stuck on this stupid mission was going to boring. A simple raid for supplies should've been easy pickings for Ren's team. This may have been a good 'punishment' after all." He then leered at the girl attacking him. "May want to find out what that stupid Jiraiya saw in you while I'm at it."
Ai let out a bestial hiss before launching a clawed strike. Her attack was blocked, yet the man leapt away from her.
"So, the little kitten has claws," the man remarked, looking over his now bleeding forearm suspiciously. "So, you aren't to be taken so lightly." He then pulled out one of the whips. "Let's see if I can tame you."
Jiro didn't like the looks of this. The guy was obviously a jounin. There were few chuunin who could stand up to Ai, and this guy hadn't even gotten serious yet. He forced himself to turn away as two teenaged ninja approached him. The closer of the two was a guy, with a minimized styled of dress that reminded him of Rock Lee. The other one was a girl wielding an umbrella, yet she wasn't using it to keep the rain off her.
As Jiro expected, the boy started off with a kick and went into a series of physical attacks. He was good, but not to the level of a chuunin. Jiro moved to block one attack, but his arm found air while the boy's foot landed into his gut. Jiro staggered back, and briefly saw double. "Cute, using the rain to make a false image."
"Figuring out my genjutsu doesn't mean you've beaten it," the boy retorted.
The girl then spoke up, "All I want to know is if you're from Konoha?"
"Would it make any difference?" Jiro retorted.
"My brother was murdered when he went to Konoha for his chuunin exams. I will see they pay for it," the girl spat.
"Deaths happen in a chuunin exam," Jiro replied with false bravado hoping to intimidate his attackers. "It's part of the 'game.'"
The girl's gaze hardened, while the boy shifted uneasily.
"Let's see you dodge this," the girl hissed. She launched her umbrella into the air and numerous thin metal needles fired from it.
Jiro attempted to leap out of the way, but the boy kicked him back into the deadly rain of metal. He managed to avoid most of the attack, but a few of the needles managed to lodge themselves into his arm. This wasn't good at all. There were five ninja facing them, yet only three had revealed themselves directly. The initial sleep genjutsu and the arrows likely came from the other two, yet he couldn't be certain of that. Though Ai screamed in pain while the man fighting her laughed, he couldn't look away to see what condition she was in. If he was going to help her, he had to take these two down first to make sure they couldn't attack his faux wife.
Ai was not in the same position. With a few Kage Bunshin clones trying to bum-rush the jounin, she took a second to see how Jiro was doing. Her blood boiled in rage seeing the metal needles sticking out of her fake husband's arm, making her remember how Sasuke nearly died in a similar manner. Her vision was clouded red when she gazed at her opponent in hatred.
The jounin's whip cut through the clones attacking him, leaving Ai and a clone she had set in reserve to act as if she was the main body. He then gazed intently at the real Ai. "The more I play with you, the more interesting you get. How did your eyes change color?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but you're all dead. Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ai barked out in anger. Within a blink of an eye, copies of Ai stood everywhere.
The two ninja facing Jiro were immediately swarmed by six clones each, giving Jiro a moment to yank the needles out of his arm. He gazed at the fight and saw the glaring weakness of using so many clones at one time. There was so little chakra supporting the copies that simple hits could dispel them. While the two ninja did take some damage for the assault, they were managing to fight off Ai's shadows even as more clones moved to replace the fallen ones.
"What the fuck is the point of all these illusionary copies?!" cried out a previously hidden boy now trapped within the sea of Ai clones that prevented him from remaining hidden.
"I thought you were a chuunin, Ren," the jounin shouted over the chaos of battle. "This is no genjutsu, but one of Konoha's greatest ninjutsu. These clones are very solid, but they can't take a serious hit."
"Shit!" Ren cursed, having been punched in the face. "NOW you tell me!" He then began to whisper into the rain and the five clones nearest him stopped moving as vacant looks fell over the girls' faces. "Yokujin, clear the field!"
"Yokujin?" Jiro questioned. "So he's the archer."
"Who?" one of Ai's clones asked.
"Ai, watch out! He's going to fire a lightning arrow!" Jiro cried out in warning, but it was too late as two metal arrows shot into the largest group of clones, with electricity arcing between the two metal rods. With a chorus of painful cries, dozens of Ai's clones were destroyed.
"Let me guess, he's the one from the chuunin exams," Ai spat angrily.
Jiro nodded. "Would explain why he's so far from the genjutsu user. He's got no resistance."
"What the hell is going on here?!" Ren demanded.
The jounin laughed insanely while quickly reducing the number of clones with his electrified whips. "Looks like we either found two missing-nin or stumbled upon a Konoha secret. Either way, this mission has gone from C-rank to A-rank."
"All right! More pay!" the mostly taijutsu ninja exclaimed in joy, and got socked in the back of the head by one of the remaining clones.
"You do realize this battle is to the death," the umbrella-wielding girl pointed out. "They can't let us live to tell of whatever secret they're hiding. Gosunkugi no Ami!" The rain around girl briefly stopped falling before exploding away from her as if they were metal projectiles shooting through the clones surrounding her. Against a living enemy the damage would've been too minor to note, but to the clones it was enough to dispel them.
"HA!" the boy laughed. "And you want to kill all of Konoha's ninja!" He then sent a fist into one of the clones, only to find that the body didn't disappear. His arm was grabbed into a painful hold, while a knee into his guy rocked him hard.
"Kage, you moron!" the girl spat, launching a set of kunai at the image of Ai holding her teammate. The boy was released in order to dodge the attack, yet one of the kunai scratched the arm disrupting the illusion and revealing that Jiro had been the one attacking the Rain-nin.
"Sneaky bastard," Kage spat. "Trying to beat me at my own game."
"If you were paying attention, you would've seen the blood coming from his arm," the girl shot at him.
"Quit nagging, Uki. I'll take this guy down, no problem," Kage promised.
Jiro scowled as Kage's formed became blurred with two sets of overlapping images. Each time the Rain-nin attacked, he would seem to be hitting three different spots, making attempts to block him a hazardous affair. His only saving grace fighting these two was that while it was obvious the two had worked together before, they had yet to fully gel together and fight as one. Only one of them attacked at a time to avoid getting in the other's way.
While Jiro tried to figure out what he needed to do, Ai knew what she had to do to win her fight. She had to land a Rasengan on the jounin, but with the guy's whips she couldn't get close enough to hit him. Of the one hundred clones she had made, only two remained. She seethed in anger at her inability to do a damn thing to this guy. She had to take him down hard and fast.
"Ah, there you are," the jounin remarked before wrapping one of his whips around Ai's waist and electrifying her in the process.
Jiro's heart sank hearing Ai cry out in pain that didn't immediately disappear. The real Ai had been hit, and there was nothing he could to help her with these two ninja facing against him. He would defeat them. He had to do it. His mission was to protect Ai. He gave up everything for her, and he would be damned if it all ended here on a road that didn't even have a name.
The cocky grin on Kage's face irritated Jiro to no end. As his glare harshened on the advancing boy, the blurred images faded and the real body solidified. Jiro blocked the incoming punch, and the following kick. Kage's face lost the cockiness and took a hard look of concentration and determination. Jiro knew the boy was trying to reinforce the genjutsu, but he would not let himself see it. As Kage launched into a devastating punch, Jiro ducked under the swing and struck his own blow. He shoved kunai up under Kage's chin, pressing the weapon deep into his foe's head.
Kage's eyes rolled back as he fell to the ground, blood gurgling out of his wound as his body twitched from the damage to his brain.
"KAGE!!!!" Uki screamed. "Damn you, Konoha. Damn you all to hell!"
Jiro saw the rage in the girl had clouded her thinking. This was no longer a ninja fighting her, but a hysterical girl. Avoiding her attacks was far too easy. The tears clouding the girl's eyes was the only thing that made Jiro pause. "You won't have to mourn any more."
"Not until I've killed you!" Uki spat. Her following attack didn't come close to hitting, but Jiro's counter attack found its mark.
Jiro watched as Uki stumbled towards Kage's fallen form and fell upon him in her own death, pierced through the heart by a kunai. The blood stained ninja whispered to the two dead bodies, "I'm sorry."
The jounin gritted his teeth angrily even as he still held Ai in his whip, trying to fry her alive with electricity. "You're next boy."
"I think not," Jiro retorted, his eyes glaring harshly at the jounin.
"What the fuck is with Konoha and weird eyes?" the jounin hissed.
"Chouzen-sensei, look out!" Ren cried out.
The jounin didn't move as the two clones that he had ignored were now behind him. "Thousand years of pain revised!" One of the two clones disappeared as the one holding a spinning ball of chakra reared her hand back. "RASENGAN!" True to the shadow's words, the ball was shoved at the jounin's ass. With a cry of unimaginable pain, Chouzen went flying into the side of one of the caravan's wagons.
"You bitch," Chouzen cursed. He attempted to stand up but failed miserably as his legs would not respond. "I'm going to make you suffer as no woman has ever suffered before."
Ai's body smoked from the burns on her body. She stomped towards the fallen jounin, with each step the red angry scars of burnt flesh diminished in size. "I don't think I'll lose any sleep over you."
An arrow pierced Ai's shoulder, but she merely yanked it out without any apparent care to the injury.
"What the hell are you?" Chouzen demanded.
"You don't need to know." Ai grabbed the jounin by his forehead and smashed the back of his head against a rock repeatedly until the skull had caved in.
Jiro was not concerned with the end of Ai's fight. He knew it was over without having to watch. Besides, they had two more ninja to deal with. He hated the rain as his jutsu relied on sight while Ren's worked with sounds, especially from rain. He could hear the chuunin trying to make him see things that weren't there, but he would not let himself be affected.
Ren pulled out a pair of kunai as Jiro loomed ever closer. "This isn't right. You didn't even try to dispel my genjutsu. You just ignored it. What is going on?"
"I'd tell you, but there are some who could pull that information from your corpse," Jiro retorted.
"I didn't make chuunin just for my genjutsu. I've seen you fight, and I know where your weak points are," Ren boasted, but it sounded hollow.
"I'd hope it wasn't for you pathetic skill in illusions." Jiro's eyes locked eyes with Ren.
Screams retched their way out of Ren's mouth as horrors assaulted his mind. He didn't have long to live in illusionary pain as Jiro took one of the boy's kunai and shoved the weapon into his eye.
---------------------
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Kakashi questioned toward Jiro.
Tsunade held a smug look. "I used an Uchiha as the template for one of the permanent transformation scrolls."
Jiro nodded slightly. "I first activated the Sharigan ability in that battle. It was at its lowest level, allowing me to see clearly what my opponents were doing and amplifying my genjutsu abilities. At that point I could only copy taijutsu, but not an enemy's ninjutsu nor genjutsu."
Kakashi shook his head. "So you lost Byakugan and replaced it with the Uchiha bloodline limit."
Sakura pouted. "Well, it's nice that there's another Uchiha around. And I guess it's a good thing Jiro is functionally gay, otherwise the Konoha council would want to keep Hinata as Jiro." Her joke didn't elicit any response, making her wonder if she stepped into something. Perhaps the council was already trying to marry Jiro off to some girl or something to that effect in order to bring back the lost clan?
"Now can we get back to the debriefing?" Tsunade demanded.
---------------------
With the lack of arrows raining down on them, it was clear the archer was running away. Despite the lead Yokujin had running though the forest, Ai proved to be much faster than him.
"What kind of comrade are you to your team?" Ai spat angrily. "You don't try to rescue them or avenge them, but run away like a stinking coward! You're not worthy to be a ninja!"
"Like I could fucking see in that rain," Yokujin shot back, managing to fire off an arrow towards his pursuer despite still running ahead. "Their abilities were boosted, I had to wait for clear shots."
"Still no excuse for abandoning them," Ai hissed while jumping out of the way of the arrow.
"I'm still alive, and soon you won't be," Yokujin smugly laughed, jumping from the edge of the forest into a clearing. He spared a look back towards the trees. "Come on, bitch, follow me now."
"He didn't signal. Fire!"
Yokujin's eyes widened as he spun around. "Wait! I'm Yokujin!" He started to do some hand signals while attempting to jump out of the way of incoming arrows and metal needles, but the swarm of projectiles was too much.
Ai gritted her teeth angrily. While she didn't particularly want to kill the ninja even though she knew she had to make sure he could tell no one about her, it left a bad taste in her mouth that he was done in by so-called 'friendly fire.'
"Ai?" Jiro whispered, approaching the girl.
"There's a Rain-nin camp ahead. We can't let them remain here," Ai pointed out.
Jiro frowned. "It took all we had to take down four of them. I don't know if we can handle another battle."
Ai smirked. "I think I've got a plan."
----------
"What the hell is Chouzen doing? He was supposed to be leading a team on a simple supply grab, and then he let's one of the genin do something stupid like this. If he thought this mission was punishment..." one Rain-nin grumbled.
"I'd say they ran into difficulties," another responded.
"THAT would be putting it mildly."
The Rain-nin looked up and saw a man with long white hair sitting on top of an enormous toad. One of them asked, "Who the hell are you?!"
"I'm am appalled that you don't know of me. I am Myouboku Mountain's Monk of the Toad Spirits! The great Toad Hermit! All women adore me! I am the greatest writer and ninja!" boasted 'Jiraiya.'
"Holy shit! It's the Legendary Pervert!" one of the Rain-nin screamed in fright.
"Don't call me that!" 'Jiraiya' howled in anger.
"There's no need to get your hair in a bunch," groused 'Kakashi' lazily.
"No wonder Chouzen got crushed. Konoha's greatest pervert AND the copycat, they didn't stand a chance," a Rain-nin muttered.
'Jiraiya' smirked. "Indeed. Now why don't you children go pick up your mess and go home." He hopped off the toad. "My friend will show you where the bodies are, while we make sure this camp is taken down."
'Kakashi' reached for his facemask. "Or would you rather we got... serious?"
The Rain-nin started talking to each other about what to do.
'Jiraiya' looked over at 'Kakashi' and muttered in annoyance, "How long was it before Gai's team gets here? This delay is already costing us time to get to the Sand Village. If we run much later, they might send a search party."
That caused Rain-nin to become even more nervous and they promptly agreed to the functional terms of surrender.
---------------------
Tsunade shook her head. "You've definitely spent too much time around Jiraiya."
"How dare they call me the 'Legendary Pervert?!' That's outrageous!" Jiraiya protested.
"From the 'Legendary Sucker' to the 'Legendary Pervert:' Shut up," Tsunade shot at him.
"If you want to replace me full time, go ahead," Kakashi joked.
"I've had enough of being someone else," Jiro replied.
"When was the next event of note?" Tsunade questioned.
Ai scowled at Jiraiya. "Two weeks after this battle, and about a week AFTER my second period, the pervert finally made an appearance."
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Author's Notes:
Coming Next: Chapter 6 - The Pervert's Return
Jiraiya arrives to see how Ai's training is progressing and to help with controlling the Kyuubi within.
As with some of my series, I include an omake, a little extra, that falls outside of the main story. I felt this chapter could use something that Jiro and Ai left out of their story to Tsunade and the others.
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The moon shown high over Tsuji with a faint glow off in the distant horizon, promising sunrise would be coming. There was no sound as two small feet glided over the grass outside the trading town, but the approach was still detected by a teenaged boy sitting on a fallen log.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Jiro questioned tiredly.
Ai nodded as she sat on the ground next to the log. "I always have trouble sleeping after fights like that."
Jiro smiled shyly. "Same here."
Ai gazed up at her fake husband. "You killed before?"
"A few times, actually." Jiro sighed. "The first time was when we were on a mission and got ambushed. Kiba-kun was facing three ninja at once and didn't see the fourth one sneaking up behind him. I only had a second to react, or Kiba-kun would have died." He swallowed hard. "I made his heart explode."
Ai flinched. That couldn't have been easy for Hinata to have done. She had nearly died in a similar fashion at the hands of her own cousin.
"My second kill was much the same, but it was to save a little girl's life." Jiro examined his hands as if expecting them to be dripping with blood. "My third was in a fight where if I didn't kill her, she would've killed me."
"Ah." Ai bowed her head. "Wish I could say my kills were as good. My first one came while Jiraiya left me alone to do some 'research.' I found out there were some bandits terrorizing the village I was in. So naturally, I volunteered to help them. The bandits were little more than thugs with swords and crossbows. They were armed beyond what the village could deal with, but they had no real talent. Still, the bandits were robbing the village of everything they had and killing anyone that defied them." She clenched her hand into a fist. "I defeated the jerks easily enough. And then their leader appeared, boasting about his awesome 'power.' The ass had none. I broke his neck with a punch any genin could've avoided."
"You did save the village, right?" Jiro tried to encourage the girl.
"They certainly called me a hero and praised what I did." Ai folded her arms and seemed to be trying to hug herself. "They made a feast in my honor and all that crap. I wanted to be left alone, so I ditched them." She then let out a long breath. "It was then I was told something that truly helped me. One of the girls from the village found me and thanked me for killing that bastard because the asshole had been raping her. She was fucking eight-years-old." She lashed out with a fist and punched the ground. "I only wished I knew that before I killed the asshole, because I damn well would've done it on purpose then!"
Jiro nodded. "I certainly hold no sympathy for anyone who did something like that. He deserved to die."
"I know. But the reasoning got all fucked up." Ai shook her head. "And it unfortunately lead to my second kill. I went from overestimating one asshole, to underestimating the next guy I fought. I was pulling my punches, not wanting to kill him. But that jerk wanted me dead. I panicked and acted like a stupid student. He skewered me with a sword and I cut open his throat with a kunai. If I had fought him normally, I could've beaten him easily and he'd still be alive, in prison, but still alive." The girl shivered. "And because of that fucktard jounin today, I had those nightmares again."
Jiro slid off the log and kneeled next to the girl, pulling her into a hug. "I know our bad dreams are not easy to deal with, but I'd rather have them than not care that we have taken the lives of others when we needed too. I would rather have blood on my hands than you, Kiba-kun or anyone else I care for in a coffin."
Part of Ai wanted to protest the hug, but the fact was she needed it at the moment. "I guess I should be thankful it's not getting easier for me. I wouldn't want to become the monster Konoha fears I might become."
Jiro nodded and held Ai close to himself through the rest of the night, only to be found a few hours later sleeping against each other by Terasen.