Jiraiya

The massive dagger was deeply embedded in the ground.

The strong winds swept away the rain within a radius of 100 meters.

"Tch! A bunch of mudskippers, they run really fast."

Gamabunta clicked his tongue in annoyance, and his breath was like a level 6 gale, sending millstone-sized stones scattering all over the ground.

Fortunately, Kyusuke and the others built a solid fortress with cement; otherwise, Gamabunta would have been crushed into a pile of minced meat by the rolling Taiseki in no time if he had gone down on it.

"Gamabunta, your skills have deteriorated! You actually let those strange things get away!"

"You damned Jiraiya, stop spouting nonsense. Those little white figures are really strange. You can't detect their presence at all when they burrow underground. I've never seen such a sophisticated method of concealing one's presence."

Gamabunta retorted angrily to Jiraiya, the gossip.

Just as Gamabunta said, the White Zetsu escaped very quickly and strangely, leaving Gamabunta with not a single hair. Not only did they escape, but they also cleaned up the battlefield, removing not only the corpses but also the blood-stained soil.

"Alright, thank you for your hard work, Gamabunta. I'll treat you to drinks next time. You can go home now."

Jiraiya, carrying Konan, jumped off Gamabunta's head and stood on the wrecked battlefield, looking around with a strange expression.

"You bastard, don't think you can bribe me with just two bottles of wine... You'd better give me at least two jars." Gamabunta cursed as he turned into white smoke and disappeared, along with the huge short sword, leaving only a deep pit and several large footprints to prove that he had been there.

"Hey, you guys, come here for a second."

Jiraiya roared towards the concrete fortress.

Kyusuke and Great Buddha helped their injured companion hobble out of the crumbling concrete fortress and nodded to Jiraiya.

"Excuse me, are you Jiraiya, one of the Lord Jiraiya Sannin?"

"Enough with the formalities. You and Konan are companions, right? I remember you guys formed an organization, what was it called again..."

"Akatsuki, the Akatsuki Organization, was established under Yahiko's leadership," Kyusuke hurriedly said.

"Yes, I remember now, the Akatsuki Organization... the Akatsuki Organization, just the few of you? Where are Yahiko and Nagato? Why aren't they here?"

"We were attacked by Hanzō. Nagato and Yahiko stayed behind to hold Hanzō off, while Konan and I tried to escape first. But we still couldn't get away and got trapped by those monsters. If it weren't for your Lord Jiraiya, we would probably be finished this time... And Konan, is she alright?"

Kyusuke stretched his neck out, wanting to visit Konan, but fearing he might displease Jiraiya, caught in a dilemma. Even the Great Buddha felt sorry for him.

"Konan's fine. She just ran out of Chakra and fainted. She'll be fine after a couple of days of rest." Jiraiya squinted at Kyusuke, a seasoned womanizer who could see right through the kid's thoughts. "I have a question for you. Do you know roughly where Yahiko and Nagato are?"

"At four o'clock, about ten kilometers away, there's a village in the ravine. That's where we were camped before," Kyusuke pointed in the direction they had come from.

"Little Jiraiya, don't worry about me!"

Toad with thick red lips was summoned out of nowhere, at least without Kyusuke and the others noticing. This Toad with an exceptionally seductive voice blew a kiss to Jiraiya, Kyusuke them shudder.

"Please, Gamakichi, my Shadow Clone will go with you."

The man and the Toad headed in the direction indicated.

"Alright, let's find a place to stay first, then we can talk."

Jiraiya's wooden clogs stomped on the rocks, making a clear, resonant sound that drew everyone's attention.

The drizzling rain swayed gently in the wind.

Kyusuke and the others were all seriously injured, and it was quite awkward for them to keep carrying Konan like this, since they weren't children anymore...

With Kyusuke and a few other local thugs leading the way, they soon found an abandoned village on a nearby hillside, which served as a temporary base for the Akatsuki Organization.

The chaos in the Land of Rain lasted for far too long, leaving countless abandoned villages like this. It's not that the Land of Rain has a large population, but rather that people constantly migrated to escape the war, leaving behind many abandoned villages.

This can be considered a unique feature of the Land of Rain.

They found a clean room, and Kyusuke and the few other able-bodied people from Great Buddha cleaned it up, finding some emergency medicine and coal in the corners.

The stove was ablaze with Kakkō, and the intense heat dispelled the chill from my body.

"You mentioned Hanzō? Are those... those white humanoid monsters that attacked you also related to Hanzō?"

Sitting on a three-legged stool, Jiraiya looked at Kyusuke.

"This······"

Kyusuke and Great Buddha exchanged a glance, then both shook their heads with wry smiles.

"This isn't the first time we've dealt with Hanzō... but we've never seen these white monsters before... Nagato did say that Hanzō seems to have found help this time, but because we evacuated beforehand, we don't know the specifics."

"I see!"

Jiraiya and lowered his head in deep thought.

He had been traveling in the Land of Wind for some time, and after he had had his fill of sand, he was about to leave when he heard about the Akatsuki Organization in the Land of Rain. On a whim, he came to see his three young disciples.

First, they went to the place where the master and his apprentice had lived, but the dust in the house showed that no one had lived there for a long time, Jiraiya didn't know where to look for them.

Fortunately, he was used to wandering, so he wasn't in a hurry to find anyone. He slowly began to revisit the Land of Rain. In fact, he had been to the Land of Rain more than once and had stayed for several years, but he had never properly appreciated the scenery here.

As they continued wandering around, they bumped into Konan and her group.

"Jiraiya... Master? Is it really you?" Konan slowly woke up from her wooden bed, tilting her head to look at the white-haired man sitting by the stove, deep in thought. Her eyes instantly reddened. "Am I seeing things?"

"It's real, Konan! You're a beautiful young woman now... Don't cry! Why are you crying? You used to be so strong..."

Jiraiya frantically wiped away the tears of his only female disciple, his clumsy movements showing no trace of his seasoned womanizing skills.

"Teacher, I'm fine, my eyes are just a little sore... Um, by the way, Yahiko, Nagato, teacher, Yahiko and the others encountered a very powerful enemy..."

"I know, I know, I know everything, Konan, don't worry. I've already sent Shadow Clone to gather information. We'll get back to you as soon as we find anything," Jiraiya said earnestly, finally calming the girl down for the time being.