Heading to the Rain Ninja Village

At the border of the Land of Rain.

"I must be crazy, actually traveling with a criminal who attacked Konoha!" Jiraiya complained nonstop, but his body honestly followed Yota.

At the very least, he could observe some battle intelligence. Besides, he still cared deeply about Nagato Uzumaki, his former student and the former Child of Prophecy. He was afraid Yota might kill him.

"That’s why I’m saying your personality really isn’t suited to being a ninja," Yota said jokingly. "The profession of a ninja has no such thing as justice or mercy to begin with, and your sense of justice and compassion are simply too strong."

Jiraiya had nothing to say in response.

No matter how brightly and nobly manga portrayed ninjas, it could not deny one cruel fact—ninjas were killers by profession!

They were even different from soldiers who defended their homes and country. They were closer to a combination of war profiteers, mercenaries, assassins, and spies.

Every one of those professions was filled with darkness and bloodshed, and ninjas, who combined all of them, were undoubtedly the darkest and bloodiest profession of all.

No wonder there were so many lunatics in this line of work. Someone like Jiraiya, who could retain even a little kindness in his heart, should have been considered a rarity.

"We’ve reached the Land of Rain!" Looking at the country ahead, where a light drizzle fell, Yota turned to Jiraiya and asked, "Do you want to see your student first?"

"We’ve already come this far. How could I back down?" Jiraiya gave a bitter smile. "Let me see whether what you said is true!"

Jiraiya had not been idle during this time. As the representative of Mount Myōboku, one of the Summoning Sanctums, he could meet the Great Toad Sage directly.

Unfortunately, the Toads of Mount Myōboku had no habit of recording history. After all, it was not easy for Toads to write by hand. And whether the Great Toad Sage was playing dumb or truly suffering from senility, Jiraiya had not obtained any genuinely concrete information from him.

Still, regarding the Sage of Six Paths, his two sons, and the Ninjutsu Sect, it had been confirmed that things were more or less as they had been described in the manga.

Furthermore, the Great Toad Sage had said that he could no longer see the future in dreams, which deepened Jiraiya’s trust in Yota somewhat.

The Land of Rain was a very small country. Both of them were immensely powerful, among the most elite ninjas in the Naruto World. Traveling at full speed, they quickly arrived at the gates of the Rain Ninja Village.

"Rain Tiger at Will Technique…" Jiraiya closed his eyes. He had come prepared this time, and after carefully sensing the rain, he indeed detected traces of faint Chakra within it.

Yota was not in the mood Jiraiya was. As a Devil Fruit user, his loathing for water was practically ingrained in his bones.

Although the water in the Naruto World did not contain Sea Stone particles and could not restrain Yota, he still hated that damp, clammy feeling.

The Land of Rain was already often cloudy and rainy, and here in the Rain Ninja Village, due to Pain’s Rain Tiger at Will Technique, it rained without end, leaving him irritated.

"When we infiltrate later, it looks like we can only go underground…"

"Infiltrate? What infiltration?" Yota shook his head, interrupting Jiraiya. Black mist slowly gathered in his hand, forming a lightless black sphere. "Let’s just say hello. I’m sure they’ll come out to welcome us."

The moment he finished speaking, Yota hurled the black sphere into the sky. It instantly transformed into billowing black mist, radiating an endless suction force. It was as though a black vortex had appeared in the heavens, swallowing every rain cloud clean.

Jiraiya, who had been explaining the principles of infiltration: "…"

In the original manga, the battle against the Six Paths of Pain could be considered the highest level of conventional ninja combat. Jiraiya used his life to probe out their intelligence, and then Uzumaki Naruto relied on that intelligence to defeat the Six Paths of Pain one by one.

After that, the higher-level battles became completely different from the combat style at the beginning of Naruto. It was basically just clap your hands together and boom, boom, boom—whoever had the more overpowered ninjutsu won. Intelligence gathering and probing? What proper ninja still bothered with that?

It could be said that Jiraiya was the final swan song of conventional ninja combat.

And so, watching Yota swagger in and make a move directly, Jiraiya’s feelings were indescribably complicated.

It was roughly like a highly skilled veteran gamer who had played games his entire life, only to be utterly crushed by a newcomer who had just started playing but had spent thousands of dollars on microtransactions.

Cheaters are everywhere in this game. How are ordinary players like us supposed to survive?!

Inside the Rain Ninja Village.

Konan watched as the rain clouds in the sky were swept completely away, a trace of anxiety appearing on her face.

This was not more than a decade later. Nagato had only recently killed Hanzō the Salamander, and the Rain Ninja Village was in a state of turmoil.

As for Akatsuki’s fighting strength, aside from herself and Nagato, there were only Black-and-White Zetsu and Obito Uchiha, two collaborators with ulterior motives.

Thinking of this, Konan unfurled the paper wings on her back and prepared to fly out, only to suddenly feel a strange pulling force.

When she turned around, she saw Deva Path Pain standing there. The other Paths of Pain were also hurrying over.

"Nagato, the situation is unclear. Let me go out and probe them first…"

"It is precisely because the situation is unclear that I cannot let you go out." Deva Path Pain’s voice was cold and stiff. "Probing is what the Six Paths of Pain are supposed to do."

"You should go to where my real body is and guard it. That way, if something happens, we won’t be left completely unable to fight back!"

In truth, although Nagato’s real body was a frail cripple with impaired mobility, he possessed the powers of the Six Paths and was not weak in battle. With the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path guarding him as well, that place could be said to be the safest location of all.

Clearly, though Nagato said he wanted Konan to guard him, he actually did not want her to take risks. This was unlike the original manga, where Nagato’s Rain Tiger at Will Technique monitored the entire Rain Ninja Village. Combined with his understanding of Jiraiya, that was why he had dared to send Konan out to probe him.

Now, this opponent had wiped out all the rain clouds in the sky with a single strike. From that display alone, his strength was at least among the very best even at Kage level. Naturally, Nagato did not dare let Konan take the risk.

Although all the Six Paths of Pain wore expressionless faces, Konan could still sense Nagato’s concern. She silently nodded and flew toward the place where Nagato was hidden.

It had always been this way. Konan herself did not have much of an opinion and always listened to her companions.

In fact, Nagato had the same personality. It was only Yahiko’s death that forced him to make decisions on his own. And because he lacked firm convictions, he had been deceived by Obito and become a pawn in someone else’s hands.