The night in Amegakure was wrapped in an endless curtain of rain. The damp air was heavy with the smell of fish and mildew.
Chiya had taken cover inside an abandoned seafood warehouse.
A few streams of rainwater leaked through the damaged roof, splashing tiny ripples across the waterlogged wooden floor.
He leaned his back against a row of rusted iron shelves. His Mangekyo Sharingan was closed, but his sharp senses kept him alert all the same.
The side effects of the Mangekyo Sharingan hit him hard. Chiya felt as though his entire body was falling apart.
'When I traded blows with Tsunade before, all that happened was my legs going weak.'
'Using the Mangekyo a few times feels like it has wrung me completely dry.'
Even as he grumbled inwardly about this, he also came away with a new understanding of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
He needed time to recover now, and this place was well hidden enough, at least for the moment.
However, less than ten minutes after he closed his eyes to rest.
Among the sound of rain outside the warehouse, faint footsteps suddenly mixed in.
Chiya's eyes snapped open. In a single flash of movement, he slipped silently into the shadows behind the shelves.
Creak.
The rusted iron door was pushed open gently, and three small figures crept inside in a furtive manner.
By the dim light filtering through the window from outside, Chiya made out the faces of the newcomers.
A boy with spiky orange hair walked at the front. Behind him followed a frail-looking boy with red hair hanging over his eyes. Last came a girl with bright eyes and short blue-violet hair.
"Yahiko, Nagato, Konan?"
Chiya's pupils narrowed slightly. He had not expected to run into the future founders of Akatsuki here.
He was still turning this over in his mind when something unexpected happened.
"Ah!"
Yahiko stepped into a puddle, his foot slipped, and his whole body lurched forward.
In his panic he grabbed at a shelf to steady himself, but instead pulled the entire iron rack down.
CRASH!!
The thundering collapse of the iron rack was especially jarring in the silent warehouse. Rusted fishing gear scattered across the floor.
"Which little thief dares steal from me?!"
The owner's furious shout came from outside the warehouse at once, and heavy footsteps closed in fast.
Chiya's eyes sharpened. He made his decision in an instant.
He raised his hands and formed seals.
Two Shadow Clones appeared at the same moment. Before the three children could react, the clones had already taken hold of their shoulders.
"Do not make a sound."
Chiya's original body said quietly.
"Body Flicker!"
Whoosh.
They vanished from the spot.
A second later, the furious owner kicked the door open and stormed in. The beam of his flashlight swept across the empty warehouse, finding only the collapsed shelves and the mess scattered across the floor.
"What in the world..."
The owner muttered, glancing around in suspicion.
By then, Chiya had already brought the three children to an abandoned drainage channel several hundred meters away.
In the dim light, the three of them sat on the ground, still shaken, staring at this unfamiliar ninja in front of them with faces full of shock.
Konan was the first to recover. She stepped in front of her two companions, shielding them.
"Who, who are you?"
Chiya put away his kunai, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
"I should be the one asking that. Three little ones, what are you doing in a seafood warehouse in the middle of the night?"
He put his kunai away and crouched down to bring himself level with the three children.
In the damp drainage channel, the only sound was the distant drip of rainwater seeping in.
"Were you..."
Chiya deliberately softened his tone.
"...there to steal food?"
Even though Yahiko's legs were still trembling, he lifted his chin stubbornly.
He spoke with indignation.
"Last time we bought fish from that owner and ended up with stomach pains afterward. We were sick and threw up several times."
"We saved up that money with so much effort, and he cheated us out of it!"
"Yahiko!"
Konan quickly grabbed his sleeve.
Nagato with the red hair said nothing, his head down. Beneath his bangs, his Rinnegan shifted with unease.
Chiya's gaze passed over Nagato, and he understood inwardly.
The Rinnegan's power had not fully awakened yet at this point, but the latent pressure it carried was already faintly perceptible.
He reached into his ninja tool pouch and pulled out three food pills.
"Eat these."
He handed a food pill to each of them.
Food pills tasted terrible, but they would at least put something in an empty stomach.
The three children froze.
Konan was the first to react. She sniffed at hers carefully, then her eyes suddenly lit up.
"These are... these are food pills!"
A look of delight crossed all three faces, but then they seemed to remember something.
They held back the urge to swallow them immediately.
"Why, why are you helping us?"
Yahiko still kept his guard up, but his stomach let out a traitorous growl.
Chiya pointed at the Konoha symbol on his headband.
"I was just passing through."
As he said it, his face went pale and he broke into a sudden cough.
Konan let out a startled sound.
"You are hurt!"
She hesitated for a moment, then pulled a handkerchief from her worn sleeve. It had been washed so many times it had gone nearly white.
"We, we will not take your things for free. We can help you..."
"Konan!"
Yahiko moved to stop her, but Nagato gently held him back.
It was the first time the red-haired boy had spoken. His voice was barely above a whisper.
"He... has no bad intentions."
Chiya shook his head, then asked suddenly.
"Do you have any other companions?"
All three small faces fell at once.
"No. They are all... dead."
The drainage channel fell into silence.
Chiya looked at the three of them, all wearing expressions of dejection, like children who had done something wrong.
The three thin figures in front of him had warehouse dust still clinging to their worn-out clothes.
Konan had a fresh scrape on her knee. Nagato's wrists were so thin the outline of the bones showed through.
'Was there ever a time when anyone did not start out as an innocent child?'
[Mission triggered: Win over Konan.]
[Reward: Paper Ninjutsu, or one random Kekkei Genkai.]
'Win over Konan?'
He looked at the scrawny little kid in front of him.
'This system is thinking way too far ahead.'
'She would need at least ten years of growing up first!'
After finishing his internal grumbling, Chiya looked around.
"How about the three of you come with me from now on."
Chiya crouched down to bring his eyes level with theirs.
"Before long, I can take you out of the Land of Rain and its fighting."
Yahiko's eyes lit up for a brief moment, but then he took half a wary step back.
He pointed at the mark on Chiya's headband, his young voice firm.
"We cannot go with you. Jiraiya-sensei said that once his mission is over, he will come back to find us!"
[Author note: The timeline of this story goes: First comes the battle against Hanzo, where the Three Konoha Shinobi title is earned (Jiraiya takes on three students), then the war is interrupted by death (the war is still ongoing after this).]
Chiya's gaze flickered. It seemed Jiraiya had already begun teaching them by this point in time.
"The white-haired Toad Sage..."
"In that case, at least let me see you home."
The three exchanged glances.
"Okay!"
Following the three children's lead, Chiya arrived at what they called home.
It was a half-collapsed wooden shack. The leaking roof was barely covered with scraps of torn cloth.
A few moldy floor cushions were piled in one corner. On the wall, several hand-drawn portraits hung crookedly.
They were not of themselves and Jiraiya. Chiya thought they must be how the children remembered their parents.
"This is what you have been eating?"
Chiya frowned and kicked aside an empty tin can. A few ants crawled out from inside.
Yahiko's face flushed red.
"We, we were actually going to get some today..."
"Wait here."
Chiya turned and walked out the door.
The three looked at one another blankly.
In less than half an hour, heavy footsteps returned from outside.
Chiya came in with a wild boar slung over one shoulder, a grass rope strung with fish hanging at his waist, and fresh mud still clinging to his boots.
"What are you standing around for?"
He dropped a bundle of firewood.
"Start a fire."
The night deepened. The smell of meat, long absent from that broken little shack, drifted through the air.
Chiya disinfected his kunai with alcohol and then set to work carving up the boar with practiced ease.
Konan crouched beside him, helping thread the meat onto skewers under his direction. Nagato quietly added fuel to the fire. Yahiko stared fixedly at the sizzling, dripping roast with hungry eyes.
"Why do you help us?"
Konan asked quietly all of a sudden.
"You are still injured yourself..."
Chiya turned the skewers over. Firelight cast dancing shadows across his face.
"Only because..."
He paused.
"I have gone hungry before too."
Those words touched something in all three children.
They could not quite picture it, that a ninja as powerful as the one in front of them could have had a past like that.
After eating and drinking their fill, exhaustion finally overcame their wariness.
Yahiko and Nagato leaned against the wall in a corner and fell fast asleep. Konan fought to keep her eyes open, staring up at Chiya as he worked on patching the roof.
"You do not have to do this. Go to sleep if you are tired."
Chiya looked down at Konan below, her eyes barely staying open.
Konan shook her head stubbornly. Her short blue-violet hair caught the warm glow of the firelight.
"You hunted for us and now you are fixing our roof..."
Her voice grew smaller and smaller.
"Thank you, sir."
Chiya finished patching the last hole and climbed down.
He bent down and looked at the girl's earnest face from the side. Then, on a quiet impulse, he reached into his ninja tool pouch and took out a scroll.
"Here. This is for you."
Konan unrolled it. Inside were the basics of chakra training and a few ordinary ninjutsu.
"Before Jiraiya comes back..."
Chiya lowered his voice.
"You and your companions should at least learn to protect yourselves."
"Now go and get some rest."
Konan lowered her head and took the scroll, found a clean spot, and leaned against the wall.
She gripped the scroll tightly. Something unusual flickered in her eyes.
She looked up at Chiya and asked in a small voice.
"Sir."
"Um... what is your name?"
"Uchiha Chiya!"
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