Six Paths of Pain

"Your Stealth Technique has improved quite a bit, and you've become prettier too... Konan." Jiraiya turned around and looked up at his former female student in the tree.

Konan stood on the tree branch expressionlessly, saying nothing.

A steady drizzle fell over her blue hair, soaking the paper flower in it, then sliding down her rain-cold brows and eyes as she watched Jiraiya. It continued onto the surface of her loose black cloak, gliding over the blood-red cloud patterns before vanishing... Her cloak gradually showed signs of unraveling into paper.

"You used to be a gentle little girl who loved folding paper. Who would've thought that after growing up, you'd turn into a paper flower yourself?" Jiraiya's gaze shifted. The information from Naruto's memories had been confirmed once again.

"Who's this little girl, kid?" Shima asked impatiently.

"She was one of my students, ma'am," Jiraiya explained, then said to Konan, "I really don't want to fight you. How about we wait until the one rushing here arrives?"

"Such outstanding sensory abilities... Is it because of your strange appearance now, Teacher Jiraiya?" Konan's expression did not change. Her lower body suddenly rustled apart into countless white sheets of paper, which gathered into two masses behind her and formed a pair of white paper wings.

With a beat of her wings!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Countless Paper Senbon Rain needles shot toward Jiraiya on the ground at incredible speed.

"No helping it..." Jiraiya's expression turned solemn. He stomped his feet, kicking off his wooden clogs, while his hands rapidly formed seals.

Needle Jizo!

His long white hair grew wildly, swiftly wrapping around his entire body. The Paper Senbon Rain needles clattered against the extremely tough hair and bounced away.

"So you still had that trick..." Konan murmured.

Suddenly!

Bang! The ground beneath Konan's tree burst apart. Jiraiya, in Sage Mode, rushed up the tree at an unbelievable speed and unleashed a sweeping kick!

Konan failed to react in time. Before her body could turn to paper, Jiraiya's kick struck her. She spat out blood, then rapidly half-transformed into paper and flew backward.

Sage Art: Toad Oil Bullet!

Dozens of oil bullets spewed from Jiraiya's mouth almost at the same instant Konan retreated, chasing after her!

Relying on the nearly limitless Chakra of Sage Mode, Jiraiya used sheer numbers of oil bullets to seal off every route of Konan's retreat.

Rampage Lion Technique!

There was not the slightest gap between one technique and the next. Jiraiya's hair surged outward, binding the oil-soaked Konan in midair in the blink of an eye.

But at that moment, a dark figure dropped from the sky between Jiraiya and Konan.

Slash!

The Rampage Lion Technique was severed cleanly in the middle.

In the rain, an orange-haired man stood on the ground, wearing the same Black Cloak with Red Clouds as Konan. He slowly turned around, revealing a completely expressionless face, one seemingly devoid even of life and human warmth.

Konan landed behind him.

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

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

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

"That's the Rinnegan," Jiraiya said, his expression extremely grave.

"The Eyes of the Sage of Six Paths?!" Fukasaku and Shima were both stunned. Shima exclaimed, "I never thought such eyes truly existed in this world!"

"Konan, step back for now," Pain said calmly.

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

Jiraiya said nothing, merely staring intently at the Pain below... Clearly, he was not any of the Six Paths of Pain from Naruto's memories.

In other words, this guy before him was the only Pain that I had sealed and brought back to the village... the Animal Path?

With that thought, Jiraiya leaped into the air and raised his right hand.

Hiss—

An enormous 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 thin air, and an enormous Three-Headed Dog leaped from it, lunging at Jiraiya.

Sage Art: Massive Rasengan!

The enormous Rasengan in Jiraiya's hand slammed brutally into Animal Path Pain's summoned Three-Headed Dog!

Yet the heavily wounded Three-Headed Dog split directly into three summoned dogs, greatly dispersing the damage. They regrouped and lunged at Jiraiya in midair.

After driving down the Massive Rasengan, Jiraiya used the recoil to remain suspended in the air.

"Old man, Wind Style! Kid, use oil!" Shima shouted from his shoulder, rapidly forming Fire Style seals at the same time!

"Got it!" Fukasaku formed seals.

"Understood!" Jiraiya formed seals.

The two toads and one man simultaneously leaned back and inhaled, their chests swelling as the three giant summoned dogs pounced—

Sage Art: Goemon!

Fire-Style Oil Flame! Wind Assists Fire!

What kind of power did a combined Fire Style Jutsu unleashed by three sage-level figures possess? Roaring flames poured forth like a mountain avalanche and a tidal wave, blotting out the sky as they instantly swallowed the three summoned dogs in midair!

The temperature of the surroundings abruptly soared. The falling rain and even the moisture in the air were instantly evaporated clean!

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

Ninja Academy.

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

"The end of the world? Something like that..." Naruto leaned back against the desk behind him, both hands clasped behind his head.

He naturally thought of the Fourth Great Ninja War from his memories, along with the Infinite Tsukuyomi that Obito Uchiha and Madara had kept shouting about... That was pretty much the end of the world, wasn't it?

"For example, what if the moon fell to the ground?" Iruka gave an example.

"If it's the end of the world, I hope meat falls from the sky instead of the moon." Choji in the front row began to fantasize.

The whole class burst into laughter.

Iruka broke out in a sweat, but he was used to it. He continued, "Write the name of the person you'd want by your side at the end of the world on a piece of paper."

Everyone took out sheets of white paper.

Naruto looked at the blank paper on his desk and thought, Mom and Dad have been gone for a long time. I don't have any friends either... Whose name should I write?

Tap. Jiraiya landed.

The flames dispersed, leaving the ground charred black. Animal Path Pain had vanished without a trace.

"A chameleon-like summoned beast?" Fukasaku said.

Jiraiya and Shima also stared at the patch of air ahead. In Sage Mode, the three of them possessed Chakra perception surpassing that of most sensory ninja.

To the naked eye, there was nothing in the air before them. Yet through Chakra Vision, a massive mass of Chakra stood directly in front of them. Above that large mass was faintly another, distinctly different mass of Chakra.

Animal Path Pain had summoned a creature with the ability to turn invisible. He had hidden inside its mouth, and the summoned beast had instantly turned invisible as well.

The two toads and one man analyzed the situation in an instant.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

A huge, bizarre summoned beast slowly revealed itself before them. Its entire body had been scorched black, and the rich scent of cooked meat filled the air.

Was it dead...?

The summoned beast slowly fell over, then vanished in a puff of white smoke.

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

"Summoning Technique!"

Jiraiya watched as the shadows of six figures gradually emerged from the smoke, his expression more grave than ever before.