Jiraiya Finally Understood Why He Was Being Targeted

In the instant before death, Jiraiya had no time to put up any resistance. The repulsive force of Shinra Tensei was right in front of him, and the overwhelming force would blast Jiraiya into serious injury or even death in less than a second.

Yet this moment near death seemed to become eternity.

Jiraiya seemed to see his own past life experiences reflected in the mirror.

As a clumsy child, Jiraiya would bicker with Orochimaru and be bullied by the flat-chested Tsunade, often leaving Teacher Sarutobi feeling helpless. Yet Jiraiya at that time was often quite proud of himself for it.

In his youth, Jiraiya worked hard for his village and his ideals, fighting alongside Orochimaru and Tsunade against Hanzo, who was known as a 'demigod', and earning the title of 'Legendary Sannin'.

He couldn't confess his feelings in time and could only watch helplessly as the woman he loved most was with someone else.

On countless quiet nights, Jiraiya could only wait alone.

Later, Orochimaru gradually drifted apart from Jiraiya. When Orochimaru's human experiments were exposed and he defected from the village, Jiraiya was heartbroken but powerless to stop him.

Seeing his beloved disciple Minato Namikaze get married and become the Fourth Hokage, Jiraiya felt that his life had still had some value.

However, when Jiraiya heard the devastating news that Minato Namikaze had died while sealing the Nine-Tails, he rushed back to Konoha, but didn't even dare to look at Minato Namikaze's tombstone.

During those years of confusion, Jiraiya could only wander around the Shinobi World.

He was searching for a glimmer of hope, but because he could see no hope at all, he could only waste his time in confusion.

Later, Jiraiya returned to Konoha and met Naruto, the flame of hope in his heart began to burn brightly again.

After decades of memories came to an end, Jiraiya seemed to see Hinata's figure again in the flame of hope.

In the golden Kakkō, Hinata's eyes curved into crescents, a gentle smile on her face...

However, Hinata's devil horns and the little notebook in her hand clearly told Jiraiya what the cause of his death really was.

Jiraiya seemed to see in that notebook that he still owed Hinata several meals, which was owed before he took Naruto away from Konoha. He had almost forgotten about it, but now Jiraiya remembered it clearly.

Hinata opened her mouth in the Kakkō, and then a roar like that of an ancient beast came, deafeningly loud. "Pervy Sage! When are you going to pay me back for the meal you owe me?"

Jiraiya instantly regained his senses, and the repulsive force of Shinra Tensei slammed into Jiraiya without mercy.

'Boom!'

A loud bang.

But Jiraiya seemed to have gone deaf, unable to hear any sound. Everything before him seemed to be slowed down in that instant, and Pain's figure gradually became clearer.

Azure Chakra appeared all over Jiraiya's body, and the thin Chakra shell seemed indestructible. Despite the overwhelming repulsive force, he continued to move forward, getting closer and closer to Pain.

"A great opportunity!"

Jiraiya gripped his right wrist with his left hand, and a bright blue Chakra ball appeared on Jiraiya right hand.

It was only the size of a fist at first, but it began to expand rapidly in the blink of an eye.

Just as Jiraiya was less than five meters away from Deva Path Pain, the Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan had already been formed. In the next instant, this irregularly spinning Chakra ball would tear Deva Path Pain to shreds.

'Whoosh!'

A Spiral Light Ray passed Jiraiya from behind at an extremely fast speed, its target also being Deva Path Pain.

Jiraiya: What the hell...

As Hinata and Jiraiya's attacks were about to strike, Deva Path Pain's calm face remained completely expressionless.

The next instant, all of Pain vanished into thin air and were teleported by the Animal Path to a place a hundred meters away.

No!

There's another Pain who wasn't summoned; that was the previous Animal Path!

The Spiral Light Ray instantly shattered the Animal Path Pain, then pierced the ground, sending Jiraiya flying far away amidst the exploding dirt and shockwave.

Fortunately, the Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan absorbed some of the shockwave, Jiraiya looked somewhat disheveled, he was not seriously injured.

It's the Animal Path again!

Hinata finally learned Pain's secret.

The Pain that Hinata destroyed earlier was indeed of the Animal Path, and the Pain that was just destroyed is also of the Animal Path.

But all of Pain are actually puppets controlled by Nagato using the Rinnegan. He only needs to prepare a few more puppets in advance to transfer the Animal Path's abilities to them at any time.

Jiraiya also thought of this, but he thought of it in more detail than Hinata.

The Animal Path, which summoned all six Paths of Pain this time, appeared out of thin air, but when the Six Paths of Pain appeared together before, there were indeed six people.

In order to transfer the abilities of the Animal Path, the six Pain who initially appeared only had the abilities of five paths. The substitute Animal Path among the six did not have any abilities at the beginning.

This also means that Pain had already concealed the power of one of the Six Paths in the Rinnegan beforehand...

"Not good!"

Jiraiya suddenly shouted, "His target is Naruto!"

Hinata turned around instantly upon hearing this.

Six Pain's!

The Preta Path Pain locked Naruto's hands from behind, Naruto collapsed weakly onto the Preta Path, having lost the ability to resist.

Jiraiya's expression was grave. "I prepared three backup puppet substitutes beforehand. First, I lured Hinata and me there, and then I used the Animal Path's power to summon all of Pain together, capturing Naruto in an instant..."

Hinata also sensed how tricky things were.

If facing other Pain, Naruto could still use the Nine-Tails 'Chakra to fight back, but what's locking Naruto down right now is the Preta Path.

Even if the Nine-Tails unleashes its Chakra, it will be instantly absorbed by the Preta Path's power.

Hinata's concerns were not so.

The Chakra of the Six Paths of Pain is connected to Nagato's, and the Chakra of the Tailed Beasts can heal Nagato's body.

If the Nine-Tails were to erupt at this moment, and its Chakra were absorbed by Nagato Nine-Tails Path, Preta Path, who was hiding somewhere, might instantly regain his physical functions.

To date, Nagato's plan remains to seal the Tailed Beast Chakra with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and create the ultimate war weapon, the 'Nuclear', to pacify the Shinobi World.

But once Nagato discovers the secret of the Tailed Beast Chakra, he might become even stronger, and even his physical form could truly fight.

"Is this... Obito's plan?"

Hinata instantly understood everything.

Without Obito's spatial abilities, Pain could not have appeared out of thin air.

Obito's meticulous planning was perhaps intended to make Nagato discover that the Tailed Beast Chakra could heal his body, thus allowing Nagato to use Nagato against Hinata and Black Zetsu.

Because in Black Zetsu's plan, when Nagato gathers Nine Tailed Beasts, it will be the day he dies.

A more powerful Nagato could indeed cause Hinata and Black Zetsu a lot of trouble, at which point Obito could reap the benefits.