The two slipped into a secluded corner where Jiraiya summoned the great toad Fukasaku.
Forming the seals of a transfer technique, Jiraiya handed over the key to the Nine-Tails' seal.
"Don't worry. If the Fourth Hokage entrusted this to me, he must have had his reasons," Vincent said quietly.
Jiraiya nodded, visibly moved by those words. The conviction in both their voices left Fukasaku with little to argue.
"Jiraiya-sensei," Vincent continued, "I have a way to enter the western tower."
"Oh?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Let's hear it."
"I've got the uniform of an Amegakure shinobi. I made it this far without being recognized. You can use your Toad Shadow Parallel Technique to hide within my shadow, and together we'll infiltrate the tower."
It was, in truth, the very same method Jiraiya himself had used in the original timeline.
"I see…" Jiraiya's eyes sharpened. "But if you're discovered, you'll take the brunt of their assault first."
Vincent shook his head. "I'm not afraid."
In this world, very few could actually harm him. His confidence was unshakable.
Jiraiya studied him for a long moment, then sighed. "Fine. Be careful."
With that, he slipped into Vincent's shadow, concealed by the jutsu.
Vincent lifted his gaze toward the west. The tower loomed high, piercing into the heavens.
"Let's go."
The rain had stopped, and he walked with the unhurried air of an ordinary villager. Occasionally, other shinobi greeted him, but Vincent only nodded absently, brushing them off.
Soon, they arrived at the base of the tower.
"I have urgent news for Lady Angel!" Vincent announced firmly to the two guards.
"What news? Lady Angel isn't someone you can see just because you say so," one snapped, his hand already hovering near his kunai.
"I've discovered intruders!"
Both men stiffened at once.
"That's serious… but how do we know you're telling the truth?"
Vincent's eyes hardened. His voice was steady, each word deliberate. "If I'm lying, Lady Angel herself will deal with me. But if you delay this report, the consequences… will fall on your heads."
The weight of his words sank in. The guards exchanged nervous glances, sweat beading on their brows. At last, they stepped aside.
"You'd better be telling the truth. If not, Lady Angel won't be the only one after you. I'll cut you down myself."
"Same here," the other growled, flashing his kunai in warning.
Vincent spared them a cold glance and walked past.
The stone gate creaked open. He stepped inside.
The chamber beyond was vast and empty.
Suddenly.
Countless sheets of paper erupted around him, spiraling in a deadly dance that wrapped around his body.
Before his eyes, more sheets gathered together, folding and twisting until they formed the figure of Konan.
With a paper spear aimed at his head, she struck.
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
Jiraiya burst forth from Vincent's shadow, launching blazing fire at Konan.
At the same moment, Vincent flexed his body. The paper binding him shredded apart under sheer force. He lunged forward, fist cocked, and drove a punch straight at Konan.
Her body shattered into a storm of fluttering sheets, scattering through the chamber before reassembling at a safe distance.
"So… Angel is you, Konan," Jiraiya said softly, a faint smile curving his lips. "You've grown into quite a woman."
He had thought she'd died in the wars. To see her alive, standing here as Pain's representative it cut deep.
"Jiraiya-sensei, you…"
Konan's voice faltered. She recognized her old master. But her eyes shifted toward Vincent, who had ripped through her defenses with terrifying ease.
He tore off his mask, revealing his sharp features. "Just an ordinary shinobi."
"No name, no title? Then die nameless."
Konan's tone hardened. Her body rose into the air as a halo of paper gathered behind her, forming wings.
"Wings don't make you an angel," Vincent mocked coldly.
She unleashed a storm of paper blades, filling the air with lethal edges.
"Serious Punch!"
Vincent's fist cut the air, the shockwave scattering the blades like dust and hammering straight into Konan.
Boom!
Half her head disintegrated into sheets of paper. If not for her quick reaction, she would have been killed on the spot.
She reformed shakily, but determination burned in her eyes. Her mission wasn't to win it was to delay them until Pain arrived.
"Toad Oil Bullet!"
Beside Vincent, Jiraiya spat a jet of oil, drenching Konan and weighing down her paper form. "Once you're covered in oil, you can't turn to paper anymore."
His long white hair stretched outward, binding her tightly.
"Don't kill her," Jiraiya said firmly. "I still have questions."
Vincent nodded slightly, holding back.
"Why have you come to this? Where are Nagato and Yahiko? Who is Pain? Why did you join Akatsuki?"
Jiraiya's eyes bore into her.
Konan's gaze was cold. "Do you regret it now, Sensei? If you'd listened to Orochimaru and killed us back then, none of this would have happened."
Jiraiya shook his head, face heavy with sorrow. "No. I don't regret saving you. But I am deeply saddened. You were my students. I taught you how to survive… and now, without a word, you raise your hand against me."
His voice cracked faintly. "It breaks my heart."
Konan faltered for an instant, but her voice soon hardened. "You don't understand us anymore."
"I admit, I don't. I heard whispers of your deeds, and then word of your deaths. But joining Akatsuki does that justify everything?" Jiraiya's voice grew stern, like a teacher chastising a wayward student.
Konan said nothing. Because at that moment… he arrived.
A man with orange hair tied into braids stepped into view, his Rinnegan eyes locking on them.
The Animal Path.
"Everything we've done is the answer we found," Pain intoned, his voice flat, almost mechanical. "You will never understand, Jiraiya-sensei."
Vincent's gaze sharpened.
Pain.
Jiraiya's heart tightened as he recognized the eyes. The rippling circles of the Rinnegan.
"Is it you, Nagato?" he whispered.
"You are an outsider. You need not know more."
Pain's hands clapped together.
"Summoning Jutsu."
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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