The Hidden Rain Village.
This time, Jiraiya finally entered here with dignity.
Salamander Hanzo, for some reason, ordered his subordinates to prepare a grand welcoming ceremony, as if celebrating an alliance with Konoha. This gave Jiraiya a headache since he actually came here in a private capacity, disguised just to gather intelligence!
However...
Jiraiya had to take on this task.
The Akatsuki Organization was established by his disciples, even his old friend Orochimaru, and disciples Nagato and Konan, who were still alive, were within the Akatsuki Organization. Due to Shimura Danzo, these two disciples had started to hate Konoha again.
Be it for Konoha's safety, to remove hidden threats, or to ensure the surviving disciples don't stray down the wrong path, Jiraiya had to figure out a way to resolve this matter.
Within the Hidden Rain Village.
Salamander Hanzo spoke very seriously to Jiraiya, revealing all the intelligence he could disclose, evidently already considering Jiraiya as his ally.
"The current leader of the Akatsuki Organization is said to be a man named Pain. I haven't yet discovered what this Pain looks like..."
"The main members of the Akatsuki Organization that I've currently identified are your Konoha's S-Class Traitorous Ninja Orochimaru, the Hidden Sand Village's S-Class Traitorous Ninja Red Sand Sasori, the Hidden Waterfall Village's S-Class Traitorous Ninja Kakuzu, and Nagato and Konan, the two surviving veterans..."
"Aside from this, the Akatsuki Organization is continuously recruiting peripheral members, and it's said that any ninja can join them by simply engraving a horizontal mark on their ninja headband..."
"Currently, the Akatsuki Organization is using the chaos of smaller wars to take on large commissions, and they're organizing manpower to start a civil war with the Hidden Rain Village. Their strength is actually constantly increasing..."
"I'm already very old."
Salamander Hanzo looked at Jiraiya, willingly handing over the leadership: "What keeps me going now is the belief that before I pass away, I can thoroughly eliminate the Akatsuki Organization and extinguish the flames of war in the Land of Rain, to restore peace to the Land of Rain."
"..."
Jiraiya felt a little headache.
With even just the core members of the Akatsuki Organization, mostly made up of S-Class Traitorous Ninjas, Jiraiya felt that finding the Akatsuki's base and infiltrating it might lead to death if discovered, not to mention Orochimaru alone wasn't easy to deal with.
Of course.
If he could infiltrate and convince Nagato and Konan, and persuade Orochimaru to leave with him, Jiraiya definitely had a plan.
As for peace between the Hidden Rain Village and the Akatsuki Organization, as long as he took his disciples and Orochimaru out, those unwilling to choose peace could be eradicated or driven out...
"I'll try to talk with the people of the Akatsuki Organization first..."
Jiraiya gritted his teeth, still deciding to try the peaceful approach.
"Young one."
Salamander Hanzo seemed to see through Jiraiya's intentions and proactively said: "Actually, if you can lead out members of the Akatsuki Organization for peace talks, it would be an opportunity for us to end the war."
Salamander Hanzo continued: "Shimura Danzo, the Hokage Assistant from Konoha, once gave a suggestion as well, to lure the Akatsuki leader out under the guise of negotiations, kill the leader first, and then without leadership, the other members would be left for us to deal with."
"As long as we solve the Akatsuki Organization."
Salamander Hanzo finished his thoughts, reminding Jiraiya of the alliance with Konoha: "I will also honor the alliance with Shimura Danzo, the Hokage Assistant."
"..."
This alliance is not needed at all!
Jiraiya truly felt Danzo's shadow.
Could the old guy do anything proper and not wreak havoc outside, always leaving a bunch of troubling issues for Konoha!
"I genuinely want to peacefully solve this problem."
Jiraiya sighed deeply and proactively suggested: "If possible, let's first quickly find out where the Akatsuki Organization's base is. I'll find a way to infiltrate it and see if I can obtain more intelligence about the Akatsuki Organization..."
"Okay."
Salamander Hanzo agreed with Jiraiya, stating his difficulties: "Besides investigating the Akatsuki's base, the Hidden Rain Village can't provide you with more help. We small ninja villages aren't as talented as Konoha..."
"It's okay."
Jiraiya didn't mind these small matters.
The meeting ended quickly, and Jiraiya gained a lot, learning about the intelligence he wanted to investigate and past events.
Naturally.
Jiraiya chose to leave immediately.
After Jiraiya left the Hidden Rain Village, Salamander Hanzo suddenly instructed his subordinates: "Spread the word across the Land of Rain about Jiraiya's visit to the Hidden Rain Village..."
"Yes."
Salamander Hanzo's subordinates didn't understand, but still chose to follow the orders.
"Youngster..."
When the room was empty, Salamander Hanzo's soul regained control of his body and used his consciousness to speak the truth: "Did you check my memories? Then you should know that when Shimura Danzo suggested killing those young people of the Akatsuki Organization, I was indeed tempted because they threatened my rule..."
"It's okay, such small matters, Danzo-sama can handle it."
Akihara Kagura communicated remotely with Salamander Hanzo through the Animal Path: "What you need to do is truly great things, much larger than these matters. First go collect summoned beasts, now you can freely strengthen those summoned beasts..."
"Why..."
Salamander Hanzo found it impossible to resist.
The Ninja Demigod saw for the first time what a real high-level scheme looked like.
Salamander Hanzo still didn't understand why Akihara Kagura, who was manipulating him, wanted to leak the intelligence to Jiraiya: "Can telling Jiraiya, that youngster, really resolve those issues?"
"Jiraiya-sensei... he doesn't have the ability to solve it."
Akihara Kagura's consciousness seemed certain his teacher was powerless, yet sighed: "But if he's willing to try, we should at least give him a chance. One instance of suffering can be endured, but two times is not so easily forgotten..."
The Land of Rain.
Inside a mountain cave.
The Akatsuki Organization's base was rather quiet.
The sound of geta clogs tapping echoed on the stone floor.
Konan found Pain, a hint of worry in her eyes: "Jiraiya really did come to the Land of Rain, the entire Land of Rain spread the news that Jiraiya was invited by Salamander Hanzo to visit the Hidden Rain Village. I don't know what they talked about..."
"It doesn't matter."
Pain's face remained ever cold, as if everything was under control: "Even if Jiraiya-sensei stands on the opposing side, the outcome of this war won't change."
"God."
"Will not lose."
Pain recalled his teacher's disposition, continuing: "Perhaps Jiraiya-sensei might try to persuade us to surrender, but this time is different from the past, I will not trust in peace spoken from mouths, nor can I forget the pain this world has brought upon me..."