After several days of long travel, Jiraiya finally reached the border of the Seireitei. The endless yellow sand gave the place a mysterious aura.
Upon crossing the border, Jiraiya headed towards the city.
Boom, boom, boom. He could hear thunderous sounds echoing from the sky above the Seireitei, and the ground was constantly shaking. Through the swirling sand, he could vaguely make out two figures hovering in the sky.
"There's such a fierce battle going on inside the Seireitei?"
"One of them is Haku, but who is the other one?" Jiraiya hid himself, frowning. He felt that Pain's silhouette was incredibly familiar. The distance was too great, so he moved closer.
When he got a clear look at Pain's face, his body jolted, his eyes filled with disbelief. "Yahiko?!"
He then noticed the cloak Pain was wearing. It was an Akatsuki cloak. His heart sank. Yahiko had joined the Akatsuki? Then where were Konan and Nagato?
An indescribable feeling washed over Jiraiya. Over the past few years, he had been aware of the Akatsuki's existence and had been secretly gathering information about them. All he knew was that the Akatsuki had many mysterious, Kage-level members, and their objective was unknown. But judging from their attack on Sunagakure, they were definitely not a benevolent organization. They were collecting the Tailed Beasts for some purpose, one that would likely affect the entire shinobi world.
A bitter taste filled Jiraiya's mouth. He really was a specialist in having his students go rogue. One after another, they had all gone astray. How ironic.
Sometimes, Jiraiya even wondered if the doomsday the Great Toad Sage had prophesied would be brought about by his own hand.
At that moment, the battle in the sky was nearing its end. Haku, who had been impaled by the black rods, turned into an ice sculpture, his figure then re-forming amidst the swirling snow.
"Universal Pull." Pain stretched out his hand, and the next moment, Haku's body flew uncontrollably towards him.
"This is... gravity?!" Haku was shocked. He immediately channeled his Reiatsu to encase himself in an ice sculpture. In this state, his defense was greatly increased, capable of blocking most ninjutsu.
Crack. The weapon in the Asura Path's hand slashed down on the ice sculpture.
"Almighty Push." An unparalleled destructive force erupted from Pain's hand.
Boom. With a deafening roar, the ice sculpture that was Haku was sent flying a hundred meters by the repulsive force, shattering into pieces.
"Is it over?" Pain frowned. Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, and fragments of the ice sculpture scattered.
"No!"
A snow-white figure emerged from a shard of ice that had landed on the Asura Path.
"First Dance, White Moon." The next moment, a pillar of ice shot up from the ground. In the extreme cold, frost began to form on the Asura Path.
However, to Haku's shock, Pain showed no signs of panic. In an instant, two iron fists descended from the sky, passing through the frost.
Swish. The whistling fists left two bloody gashes on Haku's face.
Stab. To Haku's astonishment, several black rods shot out, piercing his body and pinning him to the ground.
Pain's tone was flat. "Controlling the weather, able to turn into ice and snow at will... that's a tricky ability. But when you attack, you can't use that substitution technique. That is your greatest weakness."
Haku, a Kage-level shinobi, was completely outmatched by Pain. The lack of intelligence was certainly a disadvantage, but the gap in their strength was also enormous.
With that, Pain looked in the direction where Jiraiya was hiding.
"Come out, Jiraiya-sensei."
Having witnessed such a fierce battle, Jiraiya was in shock. Neither Haku nor the mysterious powerhouse was someone he could afford to underestimate. It wasn't until Pain called out, "Come out, Jiraiya-sensei," that Jiraiya revealed himself.
Looking at Pain floating in the sky like a god, for a moment, his image overlapped with Naruto's from that day. Jiraiya was dazed, his eyes filled with nostalgia.
"Long time no see, Yahiko," he said softly.
"Yes, it has been a long time. I wonder in what capacity you've come to the Seireitei, sensei," Pain said, glancing at Jiraiya calmly.
Jiraiya looked at Haku, who was pinned to the ground, glaring daggers at Pain. "I just wanted to see what kind of power Naruto's Seireitei has to dare to stand against the entire shinobi world."
"But you, Yahiko, why did you join the Akatsuki? Where are Konan and Nagato? Are they okay?" Jiraiya looked at Yahiko, his heart beginning to tremble. Yahiko's appearance completely overturned all the intelligence and theories he had gathered.
"Why are you here? Those eyes..." Although they hadn't seen each other for years, Jiraiya definitely recognized those eyes.
Those were Nagato's Rinnegan!
Why did Yahiko have those eyes? Had he stolen them from Nagato? Impossible! Yahiko was such a kind child. How could he believe something so absurd? But the proof was right in front of him. Combined with everything that had happened, Jiraiya felt his world beginning to crumble.
Had all of his students really gone astray?
"Yahiko is dead. The one standing here is the Deva Path Pain," Pain said, devoid of any emotion as he looked at Jiraiya. Both his expression and his tone were completely different from the Yahiko Jiraiya remembered.
"Yahiko is dead? Then who are you? Why do you have those eyes?" Jiraiya pressed.
Back then, it was because he had seen Nagato's Rinnegan that he had decided to teach the three of them. Because of Yahiko's kind and steady nature, both Konan and Nagato had looked up to him as their leader. The moment he saw the Rinnegan, Jiraiya's first thought was that the man before him was Nagato. But looking closely, none of the six figures resembled him.
So... what in the world was going on? Jiraiya was lost.
"We are God. Pain." The previously frozen puppets had all recovered. The Six Paths of Pain gathered in the sky, looking down on Jiraiya from above.
"So, Jiraiya-sensei, what is your decision? Will you watch me destroy the Seireitei and take the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, or will you stop me?"
The pressure from the Six Paths of Pain was immense, and Jiraiya's expression changed. His purpose this time was only to gather intelligence on the Seireitei and prepare for the future war. The current Konoha was definitely no match for them, so a direct confrontation was not the right choice.
The Akatsuki's strength and purpose were unknown, but since they possessed the Rinnegan, they were definitely no weaker than the Seireitei. The Six Paths of Pain were likely stronger than Naruto, but they only had six members, while the Seireitei still had many Kage-level shinobi and Naruto himself. Their battle would likely result in mutual destruction.
For him, this might be an opportunity.
At that thought, Jiraiya took a step back, choosing to yield.