The Hidden Rain Village was a labyrinth of steel and sorrow, its air thick with the acrid sting of acid and the echo of clashing chakra. Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, slumped against a corroded wall, his body battered, his left arm a bleeding stump, and his right shoulder pierced by a black chakra rod. The barrier he'd summoned—a toad's acidic gullet—had served its purpose, dragging Tendo Pain into its corrosive depths. The long-haired man lay dead before him, his body half-dissolved, but the victory felt hollow. Jiraiya's breath came in ragged gasps, the pain searing through him as Fukasaku and Shima, the Toad Sages perched on his shoulders, watched with concern.
"Well done, little Jiraiya," Fukasaku said, his voice gruff but proud. "You took one down."
Shima's tone was softer, worried. "You okay, kid? That black rod did a number on you."
Jiraiya coughed, spitting blood as he snapped the rod protruding from his shoulder. "I'll hold on," he rasped, his voice strained but resolute. The black rod had disrupted his chakra, sending waves of chaos through his system, but he forced himself to focus. His Sage Mode flickered, its orange glow dimming as his strength waned.
The battle had been brutal. Jiraiya had entered Sage Mode to summon Fukasaku and Shima, only to be overwhelmed by Pain's relentless summoned beasts. Gamaken, his loyal toad, had fought valiantly, fending off a barrage of monstrous creatures until his body gave out, wounds weeping chakra. "Sorry, Jiraiya," Gamaken had croaked before vanishing, his sacrifice a weight on Jiraiya's heart.
Three of Pain's bodies had fallen to Jiraiya's tactics, aided by the Toad Sages' teamwork. But a fourth—Explosion Pain—had caught him off guard, its blast tearing away his left arm. Jiraiya's words to his students echoed mockingly in his ears: "Never be careless." He'd paid for his mistake in blood, dragged into the sea by Pain's relentless assault. Only the toad barrier, a desperate gambit, had turned the tide, isolating Tendo Pain for a fatal Rasengan strike.
Now, as Jiraiya's gaze fell on the fallen Tendo Pain, the acid-soaked bandages around the man's forehead slipped away, revealing a face that stopped Jiraiya's heart. "Yahiko…" he whispered, horror dawning. The features were unmistakable—his former student, the bright-eyed leader of the original Akatsuki, now lifeless, his Rinnegan eyes dull. But Yahiko had never possessed those eyes. Nagato.
Jiraiya's mind reeled. The hooded ninja's words echoed: "No one's seen Pain's true face. Some say he doesn't exist." Yet here was Yahiko's body, animated by the Rinnegan's power. "Nagato," Jiraiya murmured, his voice thick with grief. "What have you done?"
Fukasaku's eyes narrowed, scanning the black rod on the ground. "These weapons… they're not normal. These Pains aren't human, Shima. They're something else—puppets, maybe, controlled by that Rinnegan."
Shima nodded grimly. "Like corpses given life. Nagato's pulling the strings, isn't he?"
Jiraiya's heart sank deeper. Nagato, the quiet boy with the Rinnegan, had once dreamed of peace alongside Yahiko and Konan. Now, he'd turned Yahiko's body into a weapon, a mockery of their shared ideals. "Why, Nagato?" Jiraiya whispered, his voice breaking. "What broke you?"
Before he could dwell further, a surge of chakra pierced the village's gloom, vibrant and unmistakable. Jiraiya's head snapped up, his Sage Mode senses flaring. Naruto. His student was close, his sage-enhanced chakra a beacon in the rain-soaked darkness. Hope flickered, but so did fear. Naruto was strong, but Pain was a god of destruction. If he walked into this trap…
"Fukasaku, Shima," Jiraiya said, forcing himself to his feet, blood dripping from his wounds. "We need to move. Naruto's coming, and I won't let him face Pain alone."
Fukasaku's voice was sharp. "You're in no shape to fight, kid! You've lost an arm, and that rod's messed with your chakra!"
Jiraiya's grin was grim, defiant. "I'm not done yet. I taught those three to survive. If Nagato's gone this far, I'll drag him back to the light—or take him down with me."
Shima's eyes softened, but her tone was firm. "Stubborn as ever. Fine, we'll cover you. But don't you dare die on us, Jiraiya."
Meanwhile, Naruto raced through the outskirts of the Rain Village, his Sage Mode amplifying his senses. The clash of chakra ahead—Jiraiya's, Konan's, and the ominous pulse of the Rinnegan—drove him faster. Memories of his future life, of Jiraiya's death at Pain's hands, fueled his desperation. I won't let it happen again, he vowed, his heart pounding. The crow with Shisui's eye, sealed in the scroll at his side, was a last resort, its Kotoamatsukami a power he hoped not to use. But Pain was no ordinary foe.
As Naruto neared the village's heart, the air grew heavy, the faint hum of Pain's chakra like a storm on the horizon. Jiraiya's weakened signature flickered, a candle in a gale. Hold on, Sensei, Naruto thought, his sage-enhanced speed blurring the world around him. The clash of past and future was coming, and Naruto Uzumaki would face it head-on.