Konoha's Orb

Jiraiya knew full well how formidable the Six Paths of Pain were. This mission was fraught with danger, and frankly, it wasn't even wise—after all, he wasn't Naruto, who had cheats like the Nine-Tails' Rampage, nor did he possess a technique with such terrifying single-target destructive power as Naruto's Rasenshuriken. He couldn't even perfect Sage Mode the way Naruto did.

But what set him apart from Naruto even more was this: to Naruto, Nagato and the other two were merely unfamiliar fellow disciples, while to Jiraiya, they were once outstanding students he had held great hopes for.

His wounded student had strayed down the wrong path and, so far, remained unaware that he was being manipulated by evil men.

Jiraiya absolutely couldn't turn a blind eye.

No matter how perilous this battle might be, no matter what price he had to pay, Jiraiya would stand before Nagato himself and have a proper talk with him one more time.

"Things are about to get even tougher, you two sages... I have some intel I didn't get to share with you yet."

Jiraiya was on full alert, speaking softly to Fukasaku and Shima on his shoulders.

Across from him, Deva Path Pain spoke expressionlessly: "You defeated the Animal Path first and sealed it immediately..." A black rod slid out from the right sleeve of his coat. "Will you go after the Hellish Path next, Jiraiya-sensei?"

Seeing the black rod in Deva Path Pain's hand, Jiraiya's eyes flickered slightly, but he replied with a smile: "As much as I'd like to, would you really just let me seal it?"

"You know quite a bit... Where did you get that information?" Deva Path Pain paused, his gaze turning colder. "But it doesn't matter anymore. You'll die here today."

"Is that any way to talk to your teacher?" Jiraiya carefully observed the remaining five Pains: Deva Path, Asura Path, Hungry Ghost Path, Human Path, and Hellish Path.

Pure ninjutsu attacks would be absorbed by the Hungry Ghost Path, long-range strikes would be worn down by the Asura Path's mechanical weapons, close combat risked being pinned down by the Human Path and Hellish Path, and the Deva Path's attraction and repulsion forces were a real headache.

What a perfectly balanced team...

"Banshō Ten'in." The Deva Path raised his right hand, and a massive gravitational pull followed his voice. Jiraiya's entire body was dragged uncontrollably toward the Deva Path Pain.

The Deva Path Pain held the sharp black rod aloft in his right hand.

"Little Jiraiya!" Fukasaku on his shoulder quickly formed hand seals, and a powerful Sage Art Wind Pressure Bullet shot straight toward the Deva Path Pain at the center of the gravitational pull, riding the force with incredible speed and momentum.

At the same time, Shima on the other shoulder extended her long tongue, whipped it behind her, and snapped it around a large tree with a crack.

In the storm of gravitational force, the Hungry Ghost Path Pain leaped in front of the Deva Path Pain, spread his hands, and in an instant absorbed Fukasaku's wind release cleanly.

"What!?" Fukasaku was stunned, never expecting the Rinnegan to absorb his technique outright.

"Crack!" The tree bound by Shima's tongue was uprooted entirely.

Sage Art: Rampage Lion Technique!

In mid-flight, Jiraiya clapped his hands together, and his white hair shot out wildly in both directions, simultaneously entangling over a dozen trees.

"Ssshhh..." Jiraiya's back foot touched the ground, his upper body leaning back. The dozen trees bound by his hardened hair swayed violently, the soil at their roots churning.

Sage Art: Heavy Rock Technique!

Jiraiya's center of gravity dropped sharply, his feet sinking deep into the earth up to his calves.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Almost at the same time, two shuriken imbued with wind release chakra flew toward the Deva Path Pain.

Under the immense gravitational pull, these two shuriken carried no small amount of lethal force.

The Deva Path Pain slashed his right hand through the air.

Shinra Tensei!

The shuriken rebounded instantly, hurtling straight back at Jiraiya, whose legs were trapped in the ground.

Sage Art: Earth Style Wall!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Three massive earth walls rose simultaneously from the ground in front of Jiraiya. The two shuriken pierced through the first two walls with two sharp thuds and stopped embedded in the third.

But...

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—

A hail of missiles and other explosive projectiles followed right behind.

Konoha's rear mountain, training forest.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

"Uzumaki Naruto Combo!"

Bam! One Naruto plummeted from the air and vanished in a puff of white smoke. The many Narutos in midair landed one after another, and with a rapid series of "puffs," clouds of white smoke burst, leaving only one Naruto standing in the clearing.

"Huff..." Naruto panted, hands on his knees. After a moment, he formed hand seals again:

Shadow Clone Technique!

A shadow clone appeared with a "puff" to Naruto's right. The original Naruto extended his right hand, and a visible chakra mass rapidly formed in his palm.

The clone Naruto reached in with both hands, pulling and twisting the rapidly spinning chakra mass back and forth. The high-speed spin became irregular and complex, and a tremendous power gradually built up within the chakra sphere.

The clone Naruto vanished with a "puff."

Naruto gripped the Chakra sphere and charged toward a large tree, slamming the orb hard into the trunk:

"Rasengan!"

A shower of wood chips flew.

A deep crater was gouged into the trunk, followed by a series of cracking sounds, and finally the tree crashed to the ground.

Naruto collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion.

After catching his breath, Naruto gazed at the fiery red sunset intersecting with the distant mountains and murmured, "So beautiful..." He raised a hand to shield his eyes, and a question that had been nagging him for days resurfaced in the mind of this six-year-old boy:

If he, now possessing this memory across time, simply followed the same path as before—Shadow Clones, Rasengan, Rasenshuriken... what difference would there be between him and Original Him?

If there was no difference, wouldn't the outcome be the same too?

Having his tailed beast extracted, and then dying?

Naruto could never forget the shock and fear he felt when he first saw that massive Gedo Statue in his memories, when the monster called the Ten-Tails was revived, and when the man named Madara Uchiha toyed with the nine tailed beasts after his resurrection.

The future... was he supposed to face enemies like that?

The future... was it a dead end?

"..." Naruto stared blankly at the sunset, for as long as he had been zoning out these past few days. Finally, he rubbed his face hard, and his eyes grew resolute!

"I'm going to become Hokage! The dream the future me couldn't achieve—I'll make it come true!"

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

Poof poof poof poof...

Countless Narutos appeared in the clearing. Some picked up shuriken and kunai to practice throwing, some approached the trees to climb them with their feet, some sat cross-legged to refine Chakra, and the largest group all held a single leaf, training in Chakra nature transformation.

And the original body...

The Third Hokage watched through the crystal ball as Naruto struggled to practice the Rasengan on his own, and smiled silently. The old man walked to the window, gazing at the distant sunset about to vanish, looking down at Konoha Village under the evening glow, and thought of his youngest son Asuma, who had fallen in battle.

"Konoha's Orb..."

The dust and smoke cleared.

Deva Path Pain looked at the muddy, puddle-filled ground and said flatly, "An Earth Clone, huh..."

The moment he finished speaking, the ground beneath his feet suddenly burst open, and a hand grabbed his ankle!