11 Chapter 11 - New Beginning

(Timeskip - 2 Years later)

Four figures stood underneath the rain.

Yahiko and Nagato stared at a white-haired man in front of them while Konan sobbed.

"Do you really have to leave … Jiraiya-sensei?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Yahiko. This is a direct summon from the Hokage. As a shinobi of Konoha, it is my duty to follow the leader's commands."

Konan ran forward, tugging at Jiraiya's arm. "Can't you stay awhile longer? Please!"

"I would really love to. But this is a special-level directive. There is probably something extremely important the Hokage needs me to do." he petted the girl's head. "I believe this won't be our last encounter. Let's meet again somewhere else, hopefully not on the battlefield."

The sound of heavy raindrops was all that remained for a moment.

Jiraiya continued. "Remember what all of you have learned, especially Nagato and Yahiko. While both of you have shown unbelievable prowess in your ninjutsu by mastering every single one I've taught, know that in battle, that is not the only factor that decides victory. You can never overestimate your opponent, no matter who he is. Always be on guard! Never turn your back on the enemy! Being overconfident is the last mistake that will cost you your lives in combat!"

"I will remember that Jiraiya-sensei." he nodded.

"Good. Oh yes. One more thing before I go …" the white-haired man moved close to him, whispering. "I've hidden a few copies of the Konoha special edition magazines underneath my bed, just make sure Konan doesn't catch you reading them."

"S-sensei …"

"Haha. Farewell!"

Jiraiya began walking away, turning his hand to wave, and his figure eventually disappeared amidst the rain, leaving only footsteps behind.

=====

Now that Jiraiya had left, Yahiko knew it was up to them to survive. They were no longer the weak orphans from before who relied on stealing to get through each day, and were in a much better position compared to three years ago.

However, they wouldn't be able to survive without Ryo. Although Jiraiya-sensei had left them some - it wouldn't last forever. They needed to find another means of income.

He now sat in a meeting with Konan and Nagato, discussing their next options.

"We should form our own group, to go around assisting the smaller villages in Amegakure in exchange for Ryo. Many of them are not well-off and won't be able to afford the cost of putting a mission up at the capital. We can offer to help with their tasks at a discount. Let's focus on building our reputation first and earning what we can."

"I believe in your decision, Yahiko. You should give our group a name too. It'll be easier that way for others to call us." Nagato said.

"I'm not sure … any suggestions?" He looked towards his companions for help.

The girl's amber eyes lit up. "How does the Akatsuki sound?"

"Akatsuki?"

"Mhm. It means daybreak. Just like how the rays of the sun illuminate the land, indicating the start of a new dawn, the Akatsuki means a new beginning for us too." Konan said. "Flowers … can only blossom in a world where there is light!"

"Sounds like a great name." The red-haired boy gave his approval.

Yahiko nodded. The Akatsuki sounded pretty cool to him, so he didn't haven't an issue.

"That's an awesome idea ... Thanks, Konan."

The girl blushed as he thanked her, and turned her head away, trying to hide it.

"It's decided then. We'll call ourselves that from now on!" he stood tall. "Let's get to work!"

They packed everything, and as he prepared to leave; Yahiko looked at the 'hop in cards' their sensei had implemented. All the other cards were already flipped, showing the picture of a frog on the white tile, except for his. Konan and Nagato were already waiting for him outside of the house.

Fond memories of the place began to surface, and he recalled the meals, the laughter they shared together, how Jiraiya-sensei would share his research with him as they admired the girls in Konoha. He couldn't help but laugh every time he found his sensei engrossed in his materials - his perverted expression along with his sheepish grin was simply too hilarious.

Before he met sensei, Yahiko wanted revenge, he wanted to rise to the peak of this world, to dominate it, to make Iwagakure pay for his parents' death. But now, he felt like he had found a new family in Konan, Nagato, and Jiraiya-sensei over the years bonding together. He felt like he found a new goal that took priority over the rest.

If they could make it rich, he would prefer settling down with Konan and Nagato in Amegakure's capital where it was the safest. He had learned from Jiraiya that Hanzo, who resided in the capital, was widely acknowledged as the strongest shinobi outside of the five great nations. There shouldn't be any fools dumb enough to provoke his fury by attacking his residence - the capital. Hopefully, there won't be a Third World War.

Once they had wealth, they could perhaps even open a restaurant at the capital to sell food, since Konan's culinary skills were excellent. He and Nagato could act as the waiters while Konan was in charge of the food, and then even invite Jiraiya-sensei to come to visit them and taste their cooking.

But Ryo was the priority now, without it all the dreams were meaningless. Ryo is power, and makes the world go round!

"Sensei is really obsessed with frogs though …" Yahiko chuckled. "It would be nice if we could all gather here again one day." he turned the card over and left, closing the door behind him for the final time.

And so, they began looking for odd jobs in the smaller villages.

"You're called the Akatsuki? Well … yeah. We do need some help. As you can see, we have quite a lot of damaged houses that we need to clear out, thanks to the war back then." A frail, elderly man that held a walking stick spoke. Our small village doesn't have the manpower to do it, and we don't have enough money to get the official shinobis to come and assist us. 1000 Ryo is all I can offer."

"That's too little …" Nagato said.

"It's fine. At least we won't starve. We'll do it." Yahiko clapped his hands. "Once we build up our reputation, we'll definitely have bigger customers!"

With their ninjutsu, destroying the damaged buildings completely was a piece of cake. They continued on with assisting the other towns that needed similar tasks as well - building walls using earth-style ninjutsus, clearing away forests for farmers who wanted more land to cultivate their crops, even using earth-style walls to serve as a path across rivers who had their bridges destroyed.

They even once helped a village to hunt wild boars and rabbits.

(Timeskip - 1 year later)

"Bandits?" Yahiko asked, looking on at the village head.

Over the past year, the Akatsuki's reputation had grown a little, and instead of them looking actively for jobs, once in a while, there would be requests from other village heads asking them for their help. This was now one such situation.

"Yes, it's awful. In the seventh ward, there's a group of bandits that would go around robbing any villagers unlucky enough to run into them when traveling. We've put up a request in the capital under C-Rank previously, but the shinobi that were sent here to tackle them never returned." the tall man sighed. "We were told by the capital official later on the request has been reevaluated as a B-Rank mission, but we can't afford the remuneration for such a level …"

"The Akatsuki will handle your request. No worries!" Yahiko grinned.

"T-thank you. We'll pay you 30,000 Ryo if you can get rid of them. The previous shinobi that went after the bandits mentioned something about searching the forest in the south. Perhaps you could try there first."

"Leave it to us." Yahiko thumped his chest. "The Akatsuki never fails in their task, we have a 100% success rate, satisfaction is guaranteed!"

This was their chance! For the first time, someone was paying them Ryo in the tens of thousands. Yahiko wasn't going to let this opportunity slip away.

(1.3k words+)