The Hidden Rain Village pulsed with an eerie quiet, the air thick with the scent of damp steel and the lingering tension of betrayal. Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, stood poised on a crumbling wall, his white hair whipping in the faint breeze as he faced Konan and the long-haired figure of Tendo Pain. The platform above loomed like a judge's gavel, and the Rinnegan's cold ripple-patterned gaze bore down on him. Jiraiya's trap to lure Pain had snared Konan instead, but the reunion was far from joyful.
"Still sharp as ever, Konan," Jiraiya said, a wry smile tugging at his lips. "You've grown into quite the kunoichi. A paper angel, huh? I didn't expect you to still be alive—light as a feather, but deadly."
Konan hovered above, her paper wings glinting like blades, her expression a mask of icy resolve. The turbaned ninja, freed from Jiraiya's control, seized his chance to flee, shouting, "Angel-sama! He's the intruder! He controlled me!"
Konan's gaze flicked to the ninja, her voice cold. "I understand. Stand aside." The man scrambled away, leaving Jiraiya and Konan locked in a tense standoff.
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed, searching her face for traces of the girl he'd once trained. "Konan, they call you an angel now? If you're alive, then Nagato and Yahiko must be, too. And if you're the angel…" His voice hardened. "Then Pain, this 'god,' is one of them. Nagato or Yahiko?"
Konan's wings twitched, but her face remained impassive. "What's the point of asking now?"
Jiraiya gritted his teeth, frustration bubbling. "The point is I taught you three to survive, to find hope in a broken world. Now you're Akatsuki, hunting tailed beasts, sowing chaos. What happened to you?"
Konan's voice was sharp, cutting through the damp air. "God's will. I'll end you, Sensei." Her paper wings unfurled, transforming into a storm of shuriken that rained down like bullets from twin Gatling guns.
Jiraiya reacted instantly, his hands flashing through seals. "Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!" A torrent of flames roared from his mouth, incinerating the paper barrage. He rolled to the side, creating distance, then spat a stream of sticky toad oil, dousing Konan. Her paper shuriken faltered, her wings weighed down by the viscous liquid.
Seizing the moment, Jiraiya's white hair surged forward, lengthening into tendrils that wrapped around Konan, binding her tightly. "Oil stops your paper tricks, Konan," he said, his voice heavy with regret. "You were the gentlest of the three. What turned you into this? What are Nagato and Yahiko doing, creating this 'Pain' to slaughter and conquer?"
Konan's eyes flashed with a mix of defiance and buried pain. "Why show up now, Sensei? Where were you when we needed you?"
Her words stung, but Jiraiya pressed on. "I heard you were dead. I never wanted to kill you three—you were my students, my hope. But you attack me without a word, join the Akatsuki, and call this murderer a god? That's what chills me, Konan."
"You don't understand us," she spat, her voice laced with bitterness. "You never did."
Before Jiraiya could respond, a new voice cut through the tension, cold and resonant. "That's the answer we found, Jiraiya-sensei."
Jiraiya's head snapped up. Tendo Pain stood atop the platform, his long hair framing a face both familiar and alien. The Rinnegan's ripples gleamed, confirming Jiraiya's fears. "Nagato," he said, his voice low. "You've strayed far from the path I showed you. You're Pain, the Akatsuki's god?"
Nagato's expression remained blank, devoid of the warmth Jiraiya once knew. "You don't need to know why."
Jiraiya's fists clenched, his chakra flaring. "What happened to you? To Yahiko? Why this path of destruction?"
Nagato ignored the question, his hands weaving seals. A summoning circle flared on the wall behind him. "Summoning Jutsu!" With a burst of smoke, a massive crab materialized, spewing a torrent of foam that engulfed Konan and Jiraiya.
Jiraiya leapt to a nearby wall, dodging the deluge. "Clever, Nagato," he called, his tone grudgingly impressed. "Using foam to wash off the toad oil. You always knew my tricks."
Konan emerged from the foam, her paper wings restored, and retreated at Nagato's command. Another seal from Nagato summoned a giant lobster, its claws snapping toward Jiraiya. Unfazed, Jiraiya's hair lashed out, wrapping the beast in his Lion's Mane Technique. With a twist, he crushed it, the summoned creature vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Seizing the opening, Jiraiya cloaked himself in the dissipating mist, his hair transforming into a venomous dragon that surged toward Nagato, binding him tightly. "Nagato," Jiraiya growled, "answer me. What happened to Yahiko? Why are you doing this?"
Nagato's Rinnegan met Jiraiya's gaze, unyielding. "Yahiko?" he said, his voice hollow. "That name means nothing now."
Jiraiya's heart sank, shock and grief warring within him. Nagato had once sworn to protect Yahiko and Konan, to build a world of peace. This cold, detached figure was a stranger. "What happened to you?" Jiraiya demanded, his voice breaking. "Why this path?"
Before Nagato could answer, a surge of chakra rippled through the village, distant but unmistakable. Jiraiya's senses sharpened, recognizing the signature. Naruto. His student was close, his sage-enhanced chakra blazing like a beacon. Hope flickered in Jiraiya's chest, but so did dread. If Naruto was here, he was walking into a trap meant for a god.
"Konan, Nagato," Jiraiya said, his voice firm despite the turmoil. "This isn't over. I'll find out what broke you—and I'll bring you back."
Nagato's lips curled into a faint, mirthless smile. "You'll try, Sensei. But gods don't fall so easily."
As the tension coiled tighter, Naruto raced through the rain-soaked outskirts of the village, his Sage Mode senses locked on Jiraiya's chakra. The clash ahead was growing fiercer, and he knew time was running out. Hold on, Sensei, he thought, his heart pounding. I'm coming.