Six Paths of Pain

"Your Stealth Technique has improved a lot, and you've grown prettier too... Konan." Jiraiya turned around, looking up at his former female disciple perched in the tree.

Konan stood on the branch, expressionless and silent.

The drizzling rain fell onto her blue hair, soaking the paper flowers tucked within, sliding down her cold, rain-like brows and eyes as she watched Jiraiya, then dripping onto the surface of her loose black cloak, tracing over the blood-red cloud patterns before vanishing... The cloak gradually showed signs of peeling paper.

"You used to be a gentle little girl who loved folding paper. I never thought you'd turn into paper flowers yourself when you grew up." Jiraiya's gaze shifted, the intel from Naruto's memories confirmed once again.

"Who's this little girl, kid!" Shima said impatiently.

"She's a former student of mine, Boss Lady," Jiraiya explained, then said to Konan, "I really don't want to fight you. How about we wait until the one heading here shows up?"

"Impressive perception... Is that thanks to your strange appearance now, Jiraiya-sensei?" Konan's expression didn't change. Her lower body suddenly rustled into countless white paper scraps, gathering into two clumps behind her and forming a pair of white paper wings.

A single flap of the wings!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

A dense rain of Paper Senbon shot toward Jiraiya on the ground at incredible speed.

"No choice, then..." Jiraiya's expression turned slightly serious. He stomped his feet, kicking off his wooden clogs, while his hands formed seals rapidly.

Needle Jizo!

His long white hair grew wildly in an instant, wrapping tightly around his entire body. The Paper Senbon Rain clattered off the extremely hard hair, deflected away.

"Still keeping that trick, huh..." Konan murmured softly.

Suddenly!

Bam! The ground beneath the tree where Konan stood burst open. Jiraiya, in Sage Mode, moved with unbelievable speed, charging up the tree and lashing out with a roundhouse kick!

Konan couldn't react in time. Before she could turn her body into paper, Jiraiya's kick landed. She spat blood, then quickly half-paperized and retreated backward.

Sage Art: Toad Oil Bomb!

Dozens of oil bombs shot from Jiraiya's mouth almost the moment Konan retreated, chasing straight after her!

Relying on the nearly limitless chakra of Sage Mode, Jiraiya used the sheer number of oil bombs to seal off all of Konan's escape routes.

Rampage Lion Technique!

There was no gap between techniques. Jiraiya's hair grew wildly, and in the blink of an eye, it bound the oil-soaked Konan midair.

But just then, a black shadow dropped from the sky between Jiraiya and Konan.

Whoosh!

The Rampage Lion Technique was cut clean through.

In the rain, an orange-haired man stood on the ground, wearing the same Black Cloak with Red Clouds as Konan. He turned slowly, revealing a face utterly devoid of expression, even of life or human warmth.

Konan landed behind him.

So he's here... Jiraiya stood on a branch. Fukasaku on his shoulder asked, "Another one's here, little Jiraiya. Do you know this one too?"

"Old man, look at his eyes..." Shima on the other shoulder said in surprise.

"Hm?" Fukasaku focused his gaze and finally saw the strange patterns in the orange-haired man's eyes.

"Those are the Rinnegan," Jiraiya said, his expression very serious.

"The Eyes of the Sage of Six Paths?!" Both Fukasaku and Shima were shocked. Shima marveled, "I never thought such eyes really existed in this world!"

"Konan, withdraw for now," Pain said flatly.

Konan was silent for a moment. "Yes." She turned into paper scraps and flew away.

Jiraiya said nothing, just stared intently at this "Pain" below... He clearly wasn't any of the Six Paths of Pain from Naruto's memories.

That means this guy is the one Pain that was sealed and brought back to the village... the Animal Path?

With that thought, Jiraiya leaped up, raising his right hand.

Shiiing—

A massive ball of chakra formed in his palm.

Summoning Technique!

Animal Path Pain pressed his hands together. A Summoning Circle spread across the ground out of nowhere, and from it leaped a gigantic three-headed dog, lunging straight at Jiraiya.

Sage Art: Big Ball Rasengan!

The enormous Rasengan in Jiraiya's hand slammed hard into Animal Path Pain's summoned beast, the Three-Headed Dog!

But the severely wounded Three-Headed Dog split directly into three summoned hounds, greatly reducing the damage, and they regrouped to pounce on Jiraiya midair.

In the air, after pressing down the Big Ball Rasengan, Jiraiya used the momentum to hover.

"Old man, use Wind Release! Kid, use Oil!" Shima on his shoulder shouted, quickly forming Fire Release hand seals!

"Got it!" Fukasaku formed seals.

"Understood!" Jiraiya formed seals.

The two toads and the man leaned back simultaneously, inhaling, their chests swelling. The three giant summoned hounds were already upon them—

Sage Art: Goemon!

Fire-Style Oil Flame! Wind Assists Fire!

What kind of power did a combined Fire Style Jutsu from three Sage-level figures unleash? A roaring inferno surged forth like a tidal wave, overwhelming and sky-covering, instantly swallowing the three Summoned Beasts midair!

The temperature around them shot up sharply. The falling rain and all the moisture in the air evaporated in an instant!

In the blink of an eye, the sea of flames engulfed the ground.

Ninja Academy.

Today's class was about to end. Iruka said to everyone in the room, "If tomorrow were the end of the world, who would you want to be with?"

"The end of the world? That kind of thing..." Naruto rested his hands behind his head, leaning back against the desk behind him.

Naturally, his mind drifted to the Fourth Great Ninja War in his [memories], and the [Infinite Tsukuyomi] that [Obito Uchiha] and [Madara Uchiha] kept harping on... That was pretty much the end of the world, wasn't it?

"For example, if the moon fell to the ground or something," Iruka offered an example.

"If it's the end of the world, I hope it's meat falling instead of the moon," Choji in the front row said dreamily.

The whole room burst into laughter.

Iruka was sweating, but he was used to it. He continued, "Write down on paper the name of the person you'd want by your side at the end of the world."

Everyone pulled out blank sheets.

Naruto stared at the paper on his desk, thinking: Mom and Dad are long gone, and I don't have any friends. Who should I write...

Thud. Jiraiya landed.

The flames dissipated, leaving the ground scorched black. Animal Path Pain was nowhere to be seen.

"A chameleon-like Summoned Beast?" Fukasaku said.

Jiraiya and Shima also stared at the empty air ahead. All three of them, in Sage Mode, had a perception of chakra that surpassed most sensory ninjas.

To the naked eye, there was nothing in that patch of air. But in Chakra Vision, a massive clump of chakra stood right in front of them. Above that large clump, another faint, foreign chakra lurked.

Animal Path Pain had summoned a Summoned Beast with invisibility, hiding inside its mouth while the beast itself vanished instantly.

The two toads and the man analyzed in an instant.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

A huge, grotesque Summoned Beast slowly materialized before them. Its entire surface was charred, and a thick scent of cooked meat filled the air.

Dead, huh...

The Summoned Beast slowly toppled over, then vanished with a poof into white smoke.

At the same time, Animal Path Pain's voice rang out from within the smoke:

"Summoning Technique!"

Jiraiya watched the six silhouettes gradually taking shape in the white smoke, his expression growing more serious than ever before.