"Damn it! Using sealing techniques is cheating! If you've got the guts, undo it and fight me again!"
As the mist dispersed, Uchiha Sasuke—whose limbs had been sealed and body rendered immobile—shouted in frustration.
"Sasuke-kun, are you still a child who hasn't graduated yet?" Karin complained, her forehead full of black lines. "You insisted on fighting both me and Hinata alone, and made us go all out. Now you've lost and you're whining?"
Sasuke's expression froze.
Landing softly, Hinata kindly offered advice: "Sasuke-kun, you really need to control your temper. Every time your power increases, you get arrogant—that's a fatal flaw."
Sasuke's face turned beet red.
Click! Click...
The sound of a camera shutter echoed.
Izayoi, camera in hand, was taking embarrassing photos of Sasuke while shaking his head. "Come on, Sasuke. I wanted to capture some cool shots of you, but you got wiped out in less than ten moves. It's just pathetic."
"Sh-Shut up!"
Sasuke felt like crawling into a hole.
Had he known it would end like this, he would've never let his guard down.
From now on, whenever fighting Hinata and Karin, he would avoid using Fire Release—otherwise, he'd just be handing the advantage to these two with their terrifying perception abilities.
After Karin lifted the Four Limbs Heavy Sealing Technique, the thoroughly embarrassed Sasuke prepared to teleport away before Izayoi could tease him further.
"Wait, don't go just yet," Izayoi called out. "With your massive chakra reserves right now, you're perfect to help out."
He then turned to the two girls. "Hinata, Karin, you two help me as well."
"Yes!" they both replied with a nod.
"Tch... What's the rush? It's not like you don't have a place to stay," Sasuke muttered under his breath.
Hearing that, Izayoi teased, "What, don't tell me you're going to miss me?"
"Who... Who would miss you?!" Sasuke snapped. "I wish a scumbag like you would move out already! Then I wouldn't have to get pranked every day!"
"Relax. My new place is huge. There's even going to be a massive arena. If you want to stay over or have a match, you're welcome anytime."
"Hmph… not interested."
Grumbling and muttering, Sasuke followed Izayoi, Hinata, and Karin into the center of Konoha.
By now, Izayoi's new home was already fully built—it wasn't a skyscraper or anything.
Two more professional construction teams had joined in, busy with interior work.
The four used Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu to assist the teams while secretly learning the trade.
If something broke later, they'd be able to fix it themselves.
Izayoi also began negotiating with the underground modification team—installing machinery and various ninjutsu tools in specific areas.
Unlike the bumbling Shino, the four geniuses quickly grasped the methods after just one explanation. The foremen loved them.
Thanks to their help, the construction sped up significantly.
At this rate, Izayoi's house would be done well before December.
Amegakure — Rain pours relentlessly.
"Move! Scatter now! Even if it costs us our lives, we must get this intel back to Lord Raikage!"
Several raincoat-clad figures dashed through the muddy roads.
The leading ninja barked orders.
Instantly, the group split off in different directions, vanishing like blurs.
One of them ducked into an alley. As his hood shifted, a mask could be seen—clearly a Cloud Anbu.
Biting his finger and using the rain to hide the blood, he swiftly weaved signs and slammed his palm onto the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"
Poof!
A gray wolf appeared in the alley.
The Anbu pulled out a scroll and was about to place it in the wolf's mouth—when a shadow loomed over them.
BOOM!
A massive ox crashed down from the sky, instantly crushing the man and the wolf. The latter didn't even have time to return to the summoning realm.
Standing atop the ox's head was a man with long orange hair and a missing-nin headband—emotionless: Animal Path.
Elsewhere, another Cloud Anbu didn't even get a chance to summon before he heard a piercing whoosh behind him.
Several homing missiles screamed through the air. No matter how he dodged—straight or zigzag—he couldn't shake them off.
With no other choice, he turned and unleashed a Lightning Release jutsu, trying to destroy them mid-air.
RUMBLE!
Lightning struck the missiles, but he underestimated their power.
A blazing explosion devoured the rain and engulfed him.
When the light faded, the Anbu lay battered and barely breathing.
A figure dropped from above, delivering a final blow to the neck.
It was—Asura Path.
Other Cloud Anbu were picked off one by one:
—One had his chakra drained by Preta Path and died with a broken neck.
—Another was devoured by the summoned King of Hell.
—One had his soul ripped out, and all of his mission intel extracted and delivered to Nagato.
Only the squad captain managed to escape the village.
Panting heavily, he leaned against a cliff, rain soaking his mask, relief just barely washing over him.
That's when a voice cut through the downpour:
"Banshō Ten'in."
An invisible force yanked the Anbu leader upward, pulling him into the sky like a puppet.
No matter how he struggled, he couldn't escape the grip of that unseen divine hand.
Above, through the mist and rain, a black cloak with red clouds fluttered into view.
With a pair of ripple-patterned purple eyes staring coldly downward, Deva Path floated in the air.
"The game of cat and mouse ends now."
He raised his hand slowly and said, "Shinra Tensei."
A surreal scene unfolded.
A wide swath of rain simply vanished into thin air.
The Anbu captain was slammed downward like a meteor. The mountain shattered; the ground cratered deeply.
Not even dust remained—the shockwave blew it all away.
After the finishing blow, Deva Path didn't leave immediately. He turned toward another nearby mountain and said calmly:
"Come out, Jiraiya-sensei."
On cue, a tall figure in a raincoat appeared atop the mountain.
Pulling back the hood revealed long white hair—it was Jiraiya.
"So it is you, Yahiko!"
Jiraiya's expression was complex as he looked at the man in the sky.
He shouted, "Yahiko, what the hell happened over these years?!"
Deva Path didn't attack. He slowly floated down and said indifferently:
"Didn't your Shadow Clone collect the information you were looking for, Jiraiya-sensei?"
"That's why I'm asking—what happened to you three?" Jiraiya's voice trembled with sorrow. "Are you Yahiko? Nagato? Is the Angel of Amegakure really Konan? Why did I hear you were dead?! Why didn't you come find me? Why did you create Akatsuki? What happened with Danzo and Hanzo? Why did you join Orochimaru in attacking Konoha, stealing the Wood Release user and the Sealing Scroll?!"
Jiraiya had been tormented by these questions for a long time.
He hadn't come earlier only because he was out searching for Tsunade.
At first, he thought someone else had taken their corpses and used Rinnegan or some technique to turn his students into puppets.
So he cautiously sent in Shadow Clones to investigate.
But as the intel grew clearer, he had to accept—they were truly alive.
Still, something had to have happened to twist them so deeply.
At the mention of stealing the Wood Release and Sealing Scroll, Deva Path's zombie-like face finally twitched.
His mouth jerked slightly, almost as if defending himself: "Danzo is dead. I'm glad. But I wasn't the one who killed him. And I've never been to Konoha."
"…What?" Jiraiya blinked, then glanced at the shattered mountain.
He frowned. "Whether you're Yahiko or Nagato, my disciples never used to lie. Looks like you really have changed. Your attack on that Anbu used the same Rinnegan abilities left behind in Konoha. You can't fool anyone."
"…"
Nagato felt the bitterness of being wrongfully accused for the first time in his life.
He couldn't understand—he possessed the Sage's eyes. He should be invincible.
Why did his supposed rival have no dignity, throwing mud like some petty thug?
Was fate mocking him by giving that man a second pair of Rinnegan?
Was he meant to destroy that other "darkness" to become the true savior?
Trying to save face, Deva Path declared proudly:
"God has no need to lie. With my strength, I don't need allies. You've researched Akatsuki—surely you know Orochimaru is a traitor we're hunting."
"The one who attacked Danzo, stole the Wood Release ninja and the Sealing Scroll… is a mysterious man with the second pair of Sage eyes. He is the rival fate has prepared for me."
"What?! A second Rinnegan?!"
Jiraiya's eyes bulged in shock.
Then, realizing something, his face turned weird. "Wait… wasn't it the seventh pair?"
"…"
Nagato had never been this speechless in his life.
His divine aura shattered again.
He explained, "Those with black rods are my puppets."
Jiraiya's face turned somber. "So… you really are Nagato."
Staring into the rain, Deva Path said flatly: "I will use Yahiko's name to become a god, bring true peace, and end this endless war."
"So that's why you're targeting the Tailed Beasts? You plan to collect them all?" Jiraiya pressed on. "But peace through violence isn't true peace."
"That's because your vision is too narrow," Deva Path replied. "That is the difference between mortals and gods. No one understands me—except that mysterious man. Only he is worthy to be my opponent."
"Go back, Jiraiya-sensei. You've gathered enough intel. My enemy is no longer the Five Great Nations—it's him."
"If you insist on interfering, even if you're my teacher—I'll kill you."
With that final warning, Deva Path floated skyward and flew back toward Amegakure.
"Nagato, I will stop you!" Jiraiya shouted after him. "It's a teacher's duty to guide their student back to the right path!"
Nagato ignored him.
Watching him vanish into the rain, Jiraiya muttered grimly:
"A second Rinnegan… The real mastermind behind everything... It's worse than I thought."
The whole encounter left Jiraiya deeply shaken.
At first, he thought Nagato's Rinnegan had brought disaster.
But to find out that Akatsuki's leader was truly his own student...
Yahiko's death must have twisted the "Child of Prophecy."
And yet, from their talk, he saw that Nagato hadn't completely turned evil.
That made it even worse.
There was another person out there with the Rinnegan—an unknown mastermind behind Konoha's collapse.
Why kill Danzo?
Why abduct Yamato?
Why steal the Sealing Scroll and all those scrolls?
Akatsuki wanted to use the Tailed Beasts for peace through dominance.
But what about this mysterious man?
What was his goal?
The unknown—was the most terrifying of all.
After this conversation, the mysterious man with the second Rinnegan had become, in Jiraiya's eyes, the most dangerous person in the shinobi world.
With that, he decided to resume his wandering journey—hoping to uncover the truth.
Poof!
The Jiraiya that had been speaking turned into smoke—it had been a clone all along.
Yet neither Nagato nor Jiraiya noticed—
—far in the distance, a pair of eyes had been watching them.
It was Izayoi's Wood Clone.