In the curtain of rain, Konan hovered in the air, her pure white paper wings fluttering slightly, the rain unable to wet her in the slightest.
She looked down at Jiraiya below, her eyes cold.
"Answer me, Konan!" Jiraiya's voice, filled with pain and confusion, pierced through the pattering rain. "Where are Yahiko and Nagato? Why has the Akatsuki become like this, harboring those dangerous Missing-Nin? What exactly are you trying to do?!"
He stared intently at Konan, trying to find a trace of the past on her expressionless face. "As your teacher, I absolutely cannot stand by and watch you fall like this!"
Konan's lips trembled slightly, her voice as cold as the icy rain: "Sensei... you have no idea what kind of pain we've been through! Back then, you just left. And now you put on the airs of a teacher, trying to stop our work?"
"Pain is no excuse for falling!" Jiraiya roared, his hands quickly forming seals: "Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"
A fireball, hotter and larger than before, surged from his mouth, carrying the momentum to burn everything in its path, roaring as it charged towards Konan in the air.
The intense heat instantly evaporated the rain in its path, forming a channel of white steam.
Konan's eyes narrowed. She waved her hands, and the papers surrounding her instantly gathered and hardened, forming a huge, sharp-edged paper shield. Simultaneously, more papers swept towards the fireball like a blizzard.
"Paper Ninjutsu: Dance of the Shikigami!"
Boom-!!!
Another huge explosion sounded. Flames and burning paper scraps flew everywhere. The powerful shockwave cracked the walls of the surrounding alleys, throwing rubble and puddles of water violently in all directions.
The thick smoke and steam produced by the explosion temporarily obscured the view.
Jiraiya used the momentum of the explosion to nimbly roll sideways and backward.
Seizing the moment when Konan was distracted blocking the explosion, his chest swelled again!
"Ninja Art: Toad Oil Bullet!"
A large stream of thick, greasy, foul-smelling black oil shot out like a high-pressure water jet, accurately drenching Konan and the paper wings around her!
Caught off guard, Konan's pure white paper wings and clothes were instantly soaked with the oily filth, becoming heavy and sticky.
She tried to manipulate the papers to separate or attack, but the papers stained with toad oil lost their lightness and flexibility, becoming difficult to control as if glued together. She herself fell from the air.
'This is bad...' Konan's heart sank.
Just as she landed unsteadily, Jiraiya pressed his advantage!
"Ninja Art: Wild Lion's Mane Technique!"
His wild white hair instantly grew and hardened madly, like a living silver waterfall, or countless tough steel wires, swiftly entangling Konan like lightning!
Konan, her movements hindered by the toad oil, couldn't effectively dodge. In an instant, she was tightly bound by the hard yet flexible long hair, unable to move.
"Your Paper Ninjutsu becomes difficult to use once it's stained with oil," Jiraiya said, taking a few steps closer. He looked at Konan, bound by his hair, covered in oil, looking somewhat disheveled. A complex emotion flashed in his eyes as he continued his questioning.
"Konan, I remember you were the one among those three children who loved origami the most, and the gentlest one... Tell me, what happened to make you like this? What about Yahiko and Nagato? Where are they now?"
Konan lowered her eyelids, her long eyelashes stained with oil and rain. She remained silent, not answering.
But her tightly pressed lips and slightly trembling shoulders revealed her inner turmoil.
Seeing she still wouldn't answer, Jiraiya took a deep breath and continued pressing. "Then, let me guess. The current leader of the Akatsuki, that mysterious figure called 'Pain'... is it Yahiko? Is it... Nagato?"
Konan finally looked up. Her light purple eyes gazed deeply at Jiraiya, swirling with indescribable emotions. She spoke slowly, her voice carrying a hint of emptiness: "Do you regret it, Jiraiya-sensei?"
"Regret?" Jiraiya was taken aback.
"Regret not listening to Orochimaru's words back then..." Konan's voice was soft, but it pierced Jiraiya's heart like an ice-cold awl. "Are you thinking that if you had listened to him back then and killed us three war orphans directly, it would have been better?"
These words were like a key, instantly unlocking the floodgates of Jiraiya's sealed memories.
Over twenty years ago, at the end of the Second Great Ninja War, in the Land of Rain.
They, the [Sannin], had just had a earth-shattering battle with Hanzo and earned the title [Sannin].
On the devastated battlefield, they encountered three ragged, emaciated war orphans.
Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato.
At that time, Orochimaru, in his hoarse and cold voice, suggested: "Kill them, Jiraiya. The end for war orphans is mostly miserable, struggling in pain and despair for a few years before dying silently. Rather than that, it's better to give them a quick end now. I promise they won't feel any pain."
Jiraiya back then, looking at the three children, especially at Yahiko's eyes filled with a will to survive and an unyielding light, flatly refused Orochimaru's cold-hearted suggestion and proactively stayed behind to care for and teach them.
The images of the memory flashed through his mind. Jiraiya's eyes, after a moment of daze, quickly became incredibly firm. He shook his head and said to Konan decisively:
"No! I have never thought that!"
"As your teacher, I just feel... very sad." Jiraiya's tone lowered, carrying deep helplessness and pain. "I taught you the skills to survive in this chaotic world, instilled in you what I believed were the right thoughts and Ninja Way. Without a doubt, you three are all disciples recognized by me, Jiraiya!"
He changed his tone, carrying a hint of self-mockery and bitterness: "But now, you attack your teacher without any explanation... it truly chills your teacher's heart."
He looked at Konan, trying to awaken a trace of old feelings with his words. "After leaving the Land of Rain, I also kept paying attention to news about you. I heard you recruited some like-minded friends, established the Akatsuki, demonstrated considerable strength in several conflicts and disputes, and became famous in the Land of Rain."
"I was once proud of you... And then, there was nothing more. You seemed to vanish into thin air. I thought... you had all died in some conflict."
Jiraiya's voice carried deep regret, but then it became sharp: "But I never expected that the next time I heard news of the Akatsuki, it was that you were harboring S-Rank Missing-Nin from various countries, becoming a mercenary organization working for the great nations, even participating in actions to destroy countries! Tell me, why is that?!"
Konan turned her head away, avoiding Jiraiya's intense gaze, her voice still icy: "Sensei... you simply don't understand... what we experienced after that..."
"I don't understand what you experienced!" Jiraiya interrupted her, his voice filled with suppressed anger and pain. "But that is no reason for you to abandon your original intentions and fall into darkness! The former Akatsuki was dedicated to changing the war-torn state of the Land of Rain, making people understand each other and coexist peacefully! Why has it become like this now?! Why?!"
"Because... that is the answer obtained through our own pain, Jiraiya-sensei."
Just then, a voice devoid of any emotional fluctuation came from a nearby tall tower, clearly overpowering the sound of the rain.
Jiraiya's heart jolted violently. He looked up sharply!
He saw a figure standing on the edge of the tower, having appeared there at some unknown time.
He had orange hair tied in a ponytail, wore a black cloak with red clouds, and had several black, rod-like objects pierced through his face, ears, and neck.
Most striking were his eyes.
Purple eyes with rippling patterns spreading out in circles, emitting a god-like indifference and majesty.
The Rinnegan!
Jiraiya's pupils contracted sharply. Although the voice, appearance, and aura were completely different from the memory of that introverted red-haired boy, he would never mistake these legendary eyes!
"Those eyes... absolutely no mistake..." Jiraiya's voice was hoarse with disbelief. "Nagato... is it you?!"
He stared intently at the figure high above, pressing further: "It seems the leader of the Akatsuki, Pain, is you... Nagato, tell me, what happened? What made you walk such a path?"
Nagato, controlling the Animal Path, looked down at Jiraiya indifferently with those Rinnegan, his voice without the slightest fluctuation: "This has nothing to do with you, an outsider, Jiraiya-sensei."
"Outsider?" Jiraiya's heart felt as if it had been brutally grabbed. He said with bitter pain: "Nagato... you've changed. Changed so much I can barely recognize you."
He remembered over twenty years ago, when he had an open-hearted chat with Nagato, Nagato said he wanted to protect Yahiko and Konan, no matter what pain he would endure.
The Animal Path ignored Jiraiya's sentimentality, slowly raising his hands and forming a summoning seal.
"Summoning Technique!"
As he spoke, a huge summoning array instantly appeared on the wall of the tower behind him, smoke exploding!
A giant crab-like summon, waving two huge pincers, appeared prominently!
"Gururu-" The giant crab opened its mouth and spat out countless sticky, greasy bubbles, surging towards Jiraiya like a tidal wave!
These bubbles not only forced Jiraiya to release the hair binding Konan and leap back to avoid them, but also, upon contact with Konan, began rapidly decomposing and washing away the sticky toad oil!
"What?!" Jiraiya was shocked.
Konan, having regained her mobility, immediately manipulated the papers that hadn't been completely cleaned and broke free.
Though still somewhat disheveled, her Paper Ninjutsu was quickly recovering.
Meanwhile, the giant crab summon, waving its massive pincers, charged menacingly towards Jiraiya!
"Wild Lion's Mane Technique!" Jiraiya reacted extremely quickly, once again manipulating his hardened, elongated hair. It wrapped around the crab's huge pincers and body like agile silver snakes, and he exerted force violently!
Crack!
Boom!
The giant crab summon was crushed and severed by his hair, turning into a puff of white smoke and disappearing.
Jiraiya retracted his hair, his gaze once again locked firmly on the Animal Path high above, his voice trembling with disbelief: "Nagato! Answer me! What about Yahiko?! Where is Yahiko?!"
The Animal Path's tone remained terrifyingly flat, as if talking about an insignificant matter unrelated to himself: "That guy... died a long time ago."
"De... dead?!" It was like a bolt from the blue. Jiraiya froze in place. Even though he had suspected it, hearing the news directly from 'Nagato's' mouth still made him feel dizzy with immense grief.
'Yahiko, that boy as bright as the sun, full of ideals and leadership... had really...'
'And Nagato's tone... has become so cold!'
This was completely different from the boy in his memory who cherished his comrades and said his wish was to protect Yahiko and Konan!