"Konan! Yahiko! What in the world is going on?"
"Why do you and these people have Nagato's eyes?"
"Where is Nagato?"
"And why are you all members of Akatsuki?"
Jiraiya, who had believed his three students were long dead, never expected to meet them again like this.
"You certainly have a lot of questions, Jiraiya-sensei…"
Nagato didn't seem in any hurry to attack. Instead, he controlled Pain to speak.
"But it doesn't matter. Since you aren't leaving alive today, I'll just tell you directly."
"Akatsuki was founded by me, and it acts according to my will."
Hearing Pain's words, Jiraiya's body trembled. The smile vanished from his face completely.
"You actually founded this dangerous organization?!"
"I never imagined things would turn out this way. You weren't like this during the years I was gone."
"Back then, I often heard your name," the Sannin continued. "I heard that you'd successfully stopped the war and saved the civilians."
"I was truly proud then. Proud to have nurtured such outstanding disciples."
"Then, not long after, I heard you died in a riot. Now it seems you just faked your deaths and hid behind the scenes…"
"You understand absolutely nothing." Konan, floating ahead, remained completely unmoved.
Even looking at Jiraiya's pained expression, she only felt disgusted.
The people behind all this were clearly the higher-ups of Konoha.
Yet Jiraiya, as one of the Sannin, should know everything.
Yet he wore this innocent expression, standing on some moral high ground!
"Stop pretending, Jiraiya-sensei."
"Why didn't you actually die in that riot?"
"If only we had done what Orochimaru said back then."
"That's your true feeling right now, isn't it?"
Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko had been residents of Hidden Rain, a village that became a battlefield for the Five Great Nations during the Second Shinobi World War.
The prolonged war had killed all their families, leaving them as war orphans who met again.
The three, relying on each other, had encountered Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru, who were returning to their village after the war.
Having been starving for several days, the three had risked everything to ask Jiraiya and the others for food.
Jiraiya and Tsunade, naturally, had kindly given them food.
But Orochimaru had said he would kill the three to end their suffering.
After all, Orochimaru had witnessed the tragic fate of many war orphans and believed that a quick death was better.
Then Jiraiya, feeling guilty at the time, stopped him, saying he would stay and take care of them for a while.
After that, he discovered Nagato's Rinnegan.
He believed that Nagato, possessing the Sage's Eyes, might be the Child of Prophecy.
He then successfully taught the three enough ninjutsu to protect themselves before leaving.
"Konan, I never thought that way… I just feel some self-reproach and sadness."
Jiraiya sighed softly. "Although I taught you how to survive in this chaotic world, I didn't teach you the right will. I led you astray and caused you to do wrong things."
"To the point that you're now going to kill your own teacher with your own hands—it truly breaks my heart…"
Jiraiya's confession moved Konan and Nagato slightly.
But only slightly, and they quickly regained their composure.
"Teacher, I've already said it—you understand nothing. You've never understood us."
As she spoke, Konan seemed to remember something, her tone growing even colder.
"But that's true, Teacher. Your purpose from the very beginning was for Nagato's eyes."
"Teaching us was also to make Nagato the reformer you spoke of."
"Now we are about to bring change to the world. Teacher, you can rest in peace without regret."
"I truly know nothing, and understand nothing." Jiraiya clenched his fists, a hint of anger flashing across his face.
"But I know one thing: everything your Akatsuki has done has harmed innocent people. It's all wrong!"
"And the reforms you speak of are based on these mistakes. They can't possibly make the world a better place!"
"That's the best answer we've arrived at through our own reflection." Pain's voice rang out again.
"Yahiko!" Jiraiya looked at Pain and the other five Rinnegans around him.
His face was almost overflowing with confusion and doubt.
"What happened to Nagato? Why do you and the five people behind you have his eyes?"
"No." Jiraiya had just finished speaking when he saw the Animal Path, who bore a resemblance to Nagato.
At this time, the Animal Path was still a man of the Fūma clan, not the little girl from Hidden Rain later.
"Although there are some changes in his features, the one behind you should be Nagato."
"But what's with those six pairs of Rinnegan, and the black rods on his face?"
"Could it be some kind of technique that allows sharing the Rinnegan?"
If he hadn't seen Yahiko with the Rinnegan, Jiraiya would have almost thought these were other Rinnegan users Akatsuki had been searching for all over the world!
"No need to guess, Jiraiya-sensei. I'll tell you."
"After all, I've told you so much just to make up for it with answers."
Jiraiya is their teacher, after all.
Now that he was willing to take the initiative to attack his teacher, Nagato didn't mind satisfying the Sannin's curiosity.
Anyway, he'd already obtained all the information about Jiraiya from Menma. Even if Jiraiya sprouted wings, he wouldn't be able to leave alive.
Thinking this, Nagato controlled the Animal Path to remove his headband, revealing the scar on his forehead.
"Now do you understand, Jiraiya-sensei?"
"That's it!" Seeing the scar and the familiar features, Jiraiya instantly realized.
This wasn't Nagato at all. This was a man from the Fūma clan he'd encountered before—someone he'd even fought!
Even the scar was one he'd personally inflicted with a kunai!
"If that's the case, then the others…"
Scanning the crowd, Jiraiya's heart grew heavier.
Aside from the black rods concealing them, he'd met all of these ninjas once before!
Or rather, they were all people he'd met on his journey to find the Child of Prophecy!
Seeing Jiraiya's uncertain expression, and his silence for a long time…
Pain spoke again: "Don't you understand yet, Jiraiya-sensei?"
"Then I'll be blunt. The Yahiko you saw, and all those guys you've encountered before, are all dead."
"Saying they're dead isn't quite accurate. They've ascended to become walking avatars of gods."
"And I… am a god!"
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