What A Drag... || Shikamaru x reader

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Edited: 02/06/24

Reuploaded: 06/06/24

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We transformed into the two men we'd left behind, the husband and the questioner, before being let out the frog properly and going back to the Hidden Rain.

"You sure this plans going to work?" I asked Jiraiya who was now the husband.

"I hope so," he replied to me as we hopped through the village, and I followed him to where he had apparently learnt that Pain spent most of his time.

We were walking into a building when a bunch of paper appeared to be coming towards us.

"This is her, the Angel," I announced quickly, Jiraiya nodded. We both know that they know we're the intruders in the village.

No point pretending otherwise at this point.

The paper gradually wrapped around the two of us as a girl was formed.

"Damn," I managed to say before my mouth was covered. Good thing I can use this darkness around me to get out of this. I quickly willed myself to move to Jiraiya's shadow where I noticed the woman with blue hair and a paper flower in her hair was about to stab Jiraiya with a paper sword.

I'm finding it weird that people can die so easily to paper.

Makes a papercut a bit more daunting.

Jiraiya appeared through his own shadow, and I stepped out of the way as he used a fire jutsu.

The woman started talking and Jiraiya seemed to get sad upon seeing her.

I glanced between the two of them. It seemed they knew each other.

"Y/n, stay out of the way, I'll handle this," he told me. I raised a brow but nodded and jumped out the way. No use arguing really, I'll jump in if he seems to need the extra help. For now, I'll just watch from my position on a pipe just out of ear shot. I pulled my bow off my chain and held it ready to expand and shoot if it was needed.

The two spoke for a while. It couldn't have been any more clearer that Jiraiya knew this girl. But even despite that, the woman created two white paper wings before attacking Jiraiya. He sent fire back at him and then shouted: 'toad oil' and drowned her clothes in oil.

"Gross," I muttered as I just watched the pair seem to shout at each other, almost completely missing the sudden appearance of an orange haired guy standing beside me.

"This is what I fought for myself, Jiraiya sensei," he said coldly before kicking me down next to Jiraiya.

Expecting that, I managed to easily catch my footing and spun around just to hear Jiraiya say:

"You really have changed, Nagato."

Nagato. As in, Nagato Uzumaki?

I looked at the guy, he didn't look anything like that Nagato Uzumaki. It can't be him... right?

No. Actually. Those eyes. I recognise them. It's him. Nagato with his rinnegan.

"Nagato Uzumaki and the Rinnegan," I spoke up, my suspicions were confirmed when his head snapped in my direction. Almost like he hadn't heard that name in a while, Jiraiya looked at me surprised.

"Where did you really get your rinnegan from? The Uzumaki clan never had any kind of jutsu like that. Especially not your parents," I asked the man starting down at me, he seemed to get a bit angry at what I was saying.

"You—how do you know?" he asked me.

"My Dad and I travelled for the first 9 years of my life. I met you twice, this would make my third time," I told him.

"And your last," he snapped at me, Jiraiya pushed his arm in front of me and pushed me behind him before the three of them continued to talk.

"Summoning jutsu," Nagato called, the summoning jutsu pattern appeared on the pipe wall behind him, it was large. Then a giant lobster appeared and squirted white liquid across all of the area we were stood on. Jiraiya and I quickly jumped out the way quickly and glanced around the space.

"Foam?" I questioned as I looked at the strangely light surface as the woman jumped out. So they were getting rid of Jiraiya's toad oil? Smart.

"Konan, stay out of the way, I'll deal with this," Nagato told the woman, she nodded and jumped out of the way.

"Y/n, you too," Jiraiya looked at me. For a moment I hesitated but nodded and jumped up onto the ledge again.

Seems he wants to educate his... former students, I think... one last time?

"I'm here when you need me, just say the word and I'll come in," I told him before standing on the pipe wall and watching as Jiraiya made his hair expand and got rid of the lobster quickly.

"Nagato, it's time for me to ask you a few questions. What happened to Yahiko?" Jiraiya asked. His former students just watched him.

"Ah yes. There was such a fellow once wasn't there?" Nagato asked, like Yahiko was but a distant memory. Nothing more than a small speck of dust amongst the numerous books of faces, names and memories lining his mind.

"But he died a long time ago," he continued.

"Nagato. What happened?" Jiraiya asked the orange haired man in front of him, "what happened to you? The old you would never—"

"Nothing happened. Nothing except for the war. Too many people died in this land, all that pain forced me to grow up," he replied emotionlessly. I'm going off a whim here, but I have a feeling that that is the reason why his Akatsuki name is Pain. He represents the pain people go through during wars and conflicts. The pain he felt. The pain that forced him to chance.

"What does that mean?" Jiraiya asked.

"That even innocent, foolish children will grow up in the face of pain. Until their thoughts and beliefs are the same as the adults," Nagato answered. I hate his voice, it's void of any emotion, cold and unkind. It's giving me goosebumps, and not the good kind.

"But abandoning one's love for his friends and fellow man, is that what it really means to become an adult?" Jiraiya asked, he was looking down at the ground far below us now.

"Oh, sensei, you are still merely a man. However high, my hurt and endless pain have matured and become much more than a man," Nagato replied.

"Why is he speaking in riddles?" I hissed to myself as I listened to the man go on and on about pain and being a man.

I understand that war can change a person's view and outlook on the world and life itself but this... this is just ridiculous. He just repeats the same things over and over in different ways, like he's creating a maze of riddles for us to fight through before finally finding the answer to why...

Why Nagato became Pain.