Returning Home

Kamado Akina’s POV

We walk for several more hours before we reach the first town that Sasuke marked for us, and it’s…cute; small, and out-of-the-way.

Quiet.

It's a little too quiet.

“Hashira-”

“I know, something’s wrong.” I mutter to Genya, “Be careful, stay close, do you know how to access the Transparent World, yet?”

“The what?” Genya hisses quietly, I frown but tug him close to me as we head closer to the street market nearby. I give him a brief description of it as I look over what’s for sale…

…and who’s selling.

“And you can use it?!” I smile at him softly as he gasps in disbelief, “Hashira, that’s amazing! That’s-”

“Genya,” I hum gently, he quiets down quickly, but continues to look at me with stars in his eyes, and I wilt a little as I look at him. “Please, just call me Akina. We will attract attention we can’t afford if we use unfamiliar titles here. Now stay close, okay?”

“Okay!”

It begins to rain, but people simply pull out coats or umbrellas, so I hand an umbrella to Genya as he starts to look a little nervous. Then I calmly sort through my bag and begin looking for a coat for him.

“Here, this looks about his size.” I look up and smile warmly at the stranger, quickly using key features of our surroundings to memorize this place and him.

“Thank you, sir, you’re very kind.” I take the coat and help Genya put it on. “We don’t have a lot to give back, but could we give you lunch if you’d like?”

“Oh, that’s a very kind offer, ma’am, but there’s no need! I always pack too much for little ol’ me!” He laughs warmly, shaking rain everywhere as his giant mass of white hair moves with him. Genya makes a small squeaking noise as he gets splashed. “...was that you, m’boy?”

“And if it was?” Genya currently looks like a wet kitten, even as he bristles up, but his cheeks turn pink as I place a hand on his head.

“I’m sorry sir, we’re working on anger management.” I smile reassuringly at both of them, but the stranger waves me off easily.

“Oh, it’s quite alright. I just want to check that was from surprise and not pain.” He states, “There’s been a few too many skirmishes lately.”

(Uchiha-kun did not mention any fighting on our route. Did I read the map wrong?)

“Really? I thought this place was far enough away from the fighting that we could avoid it.” I keep a hand on Genya's shoulder as I look back into the stranger’s eyes, he blinks at me quietly - and then he smiles.

“Maybe lunch would be a good idea.”

(A spymaster, huh? But if he’s willing to share that, he must have a hell of a lot of power at his disposal.)

My eyes narrow at him from across the booth, and Genya looks up at me nervously.

“Do you think we could find Flames faster if we tell him?” My lips twitch immediately, and I wrap an arm around Genya’s shoulder as Jiraiya raises an eyebrow. “Akina-”

“You’re looking for someone?” Jiraiya presses, but I place a gentle kiss on Genya’s head instead of answering, weighing the options heavily. “Akina-san, I am willing to help, but I can’t do so without a little trust.”

“And I haven’t lived this long without earning a bit of wariness and paranoia, Jiraiya-san.” I state calmly, “I have a map to the village that Flames-”

I smile at Genya’s head as he wiggles indignantly in my grip.

“-may be residing in. I am willing to trust you, but it will be slow to build - especially with my son beside me.” I admit, he nods understandingly, “Would you be willing to travel with us for a few days as I decide or are you busy?”

A brief darkness clouds his eyes - an unmistakable aura, even here - but he shakes it off quickly. Jiraiya gives us a booming laugh that shakes the booth and Genya lets out a tiny yelp again and clings to me like a burr, I smile down at my newest son as he looks up at me, rattled.

“How is he so loud?! He’s even louder than Flames!” Genya whimpers at me, I chuckle at him softly and give him another soft kiss on the top of his head.

“Nothing gets past you, eh, Akina-san?” Jiraiya chuckles gently, calling my attention back to him. The server sets out food. “How’d you know I came here for…ah, work, as it were?”

“A man with your job doesn’t wander into these areas idly, Jiraiya-san,” I tell him calmly, and grab a stick of candied watermelon for Genya, easily handing it to him as he struggles to reach the plate from my side. “My only question for you is when we can leave.”

“It may take a while, unfortunately.” I let out an unhappy rumble, but calm down as Genya almost purrs at the crunchy treat, and Jiraiya and I both watch him for a moment - then Jiraiya idly slides the entire plate of candied watermelon sticks over to our side of the table. “Answers are being…elusive, here. It doesn’t help that people don’t seem to trust outsiders, no matter their intentions.”

I snort quietly at him. Genya looks up at me quietly, but I pat his head calmly, and he goes back to eating.

“If you would be willing to look after Genya for, say, three hours? I think I could find you some answers.” I tell him, he raises an eyebrow, “My job is, well…strange…”

“I know better than to ask questions.”

Genya was…difficult to convince, but I managed.

(Those puppy eyes could compete with Nezuko’s, I swear to God!)

But as I crouch atop the highest building in ‘Rain’ (a very apt name, I’m learning) I close my eyes. It’s been a while - a long, long while - since I’ve done this, but I remember how to extend my mind past my body.

How to extend my feeling past my skin.

How to touch past my fingertips, past my toes, through the rocks and stones.

I don’t know what this is called, only that it helps when I’m touching bare earth, or the trees and plants connecting to the earth.

But as I crouch there on the highest building, I Touch through Rain, feeling through its inhabitants until-

“Oh.” I murmur, recoiling sharply in surprise, horror curdling in my gut, nausea building in my throat, “You must be who Jiraiya is looking for.”

A body twisted, mutilated, especially around their eyes, and they seem to be in a great deal of pain - the largest amount of white-hot, ringing-steel, mind-blanking agony I’ve experienced since coming out of Infinity Castle, at least - but they’re also…talking? Communicating at the very least, with others.

“You do not belong in our Village.” A dark voice says behind me, far away from this hurting person and their guard, far away from anyone important to me, and far away from anyone who could get hurt. “Leave.”

“Any if I don’t?” I murmur, still focused on that tortured soul as I gently poke and twist and prod around them - male, around thirty-five years old, paraplegic - and I hear the person behind me inhale tightly.

(It’s only a thousand feet. The water will probably break my fall if I miss.)

I jump off the building’s edge, feeling heat and wrath at my back.

“LEAVE NAGATO ALONE!”

“You did well to find this place.” His voice is low, rasping, and hoarse, but as I slide down through the window, a man barely held on this plane looks at me with rage untold. “May I have your name?”

“No, but you may call me ‘Akina’. What may I call you?” I stand easily, listening to his guards run closer.

“My name is meaningless,” He rasps, my eyes narrow, I inhale gently, and the air tastes stale as colors bleed away. “Just as your death-”

“I can save you, though.” I state dryly, all movement in this small building stops, “I fought someone once, who used weapons quite similar to those rods. I won’t be able to help you walk again - that will be up to time and your efforts - but I can help you live without these…machines holding you prisoner.”

“You…met someone…who could use these rods?” He seems almost desperate suddenly, “Where did you find them? Did their eyes look like mine?”

(“Your death, much like your life, will be for our amusement.” Kibustuji never said his name, never said either of their names, but as I stare at the strange, glowing rod in his hand…I almost feel sorry for the bastard. “What’s that face for, human?”

“Gods always think they belong on top of the world-”)

I forcefully shut that memory down, almost losing my eyes as I accidentally switch breathing styles. I breathe deeply again, tears rising as I rub the bad memory away - scrubbing a little at my eyes using my sleeve.

“Why does it matter? Your parents - whoever they were - must have trained you well for you to be this strong when you are so fatally compromised.” I murmur into the dark room, “Even if they did not have the same powers, they must have loved you so much.”

His breathing hitches, and his heart rate almost soars.

“H-How did you-”

“My parents loved me the same, but instead of telling me they were afraid of my powers, my mother would beg my father to take care of me - to send me back to the shrine they found me at,” I admit, easily handing over my own pain to him, “She only ever asked when she thought I couldn’t hear, though. Some days, she was so overwhelmed, that she called me a monster.”

I give him a smile as sweet, as understanding as I can be…right now.

“Was she wrong?” He murmurs back to me, “By the sounds of it, you have powers not unlike mine, and I’m very much a monster.”

“Oh, I’m a monster, I don’t deny that,” I tell him, but my chest aches, and I feel nauseous. “But I’m only a monster because I choose to be, when I choose to be. She thought I was a monster because of my blood, because of what I could do - power is not what makes you a monster, you become a monster when you abuse power.”

“Do you think that holds true for everyone? Or just people like us?”

“So far, I’ve noticed that it holds true for everyone. We’re just easier to sway because of the nature of our powers.” I admit, he tilts his head quietly, letting out a soft hum. “Have you experienced differently?”

“...no,” He murmurs, but his breathing and heart rate are still sky-high, and the rods are reacting…

(Oh, dear.)

“No, I don’t think I have experienced differently.”

BANG

I turn to the doorway with a sigh.

“I am so very tired of killing gods.” I mutter petulantly, feeling very aggrieved. “Can they just kill themselves for once? I have kids, goddammit.”

Uzumaki Nagato’s POV

“I am so very tired of killing gods.” She mutters, turning towards the Deva Path with an exhausted sigh, “Can they just kill themselves for once? I have kids, goddammit.”

(She seriously feels comfortable admitting that?! And since when-)

A tree skewers four Paths at once, and the rods from said Paths come rolling over.

“Can we continue the peaceful conversation we were having? Or do you want to try something else Old Hat?” She grouses, I pause, and then the embarrassment sets in.

“We can continue.” I state weakly,

(By the kami, I feel sorry for her kids - they must get that motherly tone a lot.)

Konan has to jump over the tree, but she can get into the room, surprisingly.

“Is the block not that bad, or are my eyes worse off than I thought?” I mutter to her, she immediately cups my cheeks in her hands and radiates worry. “...I should not have said that-”

“Probably not, no.” The stranger - I am not calling someone with the goddammed Mokuton ‘Akina’ - almost teases me, “But your sister seems to know what she’s doing.”

“I’d risk smacking her if I hadn’t seen those bodies.” Konan mutters angrily,

“I think she’s younger than us, Konan.” I admit, still sheepish, and-

(Hang on a minute! She has a stable job as a shinobi, and multiple kids, and if she has kids, she has a husband, right? Just how far back have I been holding Konan? She said she wanted kids, once-)

“You’re overthinking something, aren’t you?” Konan mutters, brushing my hair back from my face with a sigh. “Nagato-”

“How far have I been holding you back, Konan?” I murmur, she pauses, “You could have - probably should have - gotten out of Ame decades ago. Why are you still hanging around me?”

She stares. The stranger facepalms heavily as Konan turns to her-

“I didn’t hit him, okay? I don’t know why he’s talking that level of stupid.” She sighs, “But…honestly, he’s not wrong. You’re powerful, beautiful, and smart if these machines are anything to go by. You have a great deal of compassion and empathy to build them, too. Why did you stick around a knucklehead like him?”

“I’m gonna smack her-”

“She could snap you in half like a toothpick, Konan!” I grab her arm hurriedly, before she can fully get out of the crouched position she has to get in to see my face. “Don’t!”

“Would it reassure either of you, if I went and dragged my son here?” She asks idly,

“No!” Konan obviously thinks about the obvious security risks,

“Depends, which one of you is the spy Jiraiya was planning on meeting here?” I ask her, she blinks at me, then-