Each Flees

The illusion space shattered with a roar, and Konan saw the outside world again. Though several minutes had passed within the illusion, only a second or two had elapsed in reality.

Soaring through the sky, Konan was still gliding midair. She spread her wings and quickly regained her balance.

After returning from the illusion space, Konan showed no obvious reaction. Her battle with Uchiha Shūichi continued, but it was more like a performance than a real fight.

It looked intense, but neither side used lethal moves. After all, this was the Akatsuki's stronghold. Uchiha Shūichi could sense many White Zetsu lurking nearby, so he wouldn't let Konan slip up.

As the fight ended, Uchiha Shūichi retreated successfully with the severely injured Yūhi Kurenai. Konan didn't pursue but turned back to another battlefield.

That other battlefield was naturally where Jiraiya and the Six Paths of Pain clashed.

At that moment, Jiraiya was facing off directly against the Six Paths of Pain, with Hyuga Homura providing support on the sidelines. They fought while retreating, and the battle's intensity was surprisingly low.

As for the last member of the Uchiha squad, Yamanaka Fū, he had already retreated at the start. The Yamanaka Clan's mental techniques were useless against puppets, so staying on the battlefield would have been pointless.

Moreover, expecting Root members to value their comrades was a pipe dream. If they didn't collude with the enemy during a mission or stab their Teammates in the back, you'd consider yourself lucky.

Retreating directly from the battlefield like this would normally draw harsh criticism for ordinary Konoha ninja, but for Root ninja, it only prompted a reaction like: "Oh, those guys, as expected."

Fortunately, neither Jiraiya nor Hyuga Homura cared about that.

Yamanaka Fū couldn't do much on the battlefield anyway. By retreating first, he could at least bring back intelligence—Root ninja were well-regarded for completing their tasks.

Unlike the original story, Nagato Uzumaki and the Akatsuki hadn't started their plan yet. Instead, Konoha ninja had infiltrated Amegakure first, so Jiraiya had no intention of fighting Nagato to the death.

In the original, Jiraiya's refusal to retreat stemmed from a sense of atonement. Now, he had no such thoughts.

In fact, if Konoha launched a full-scale invasion of Amegakure, Jiraiya might even stop it. After all, Nagato had brought peace to the Land of Rain, not chaos to the world.

Jiraiya lacked fighting spirit, and Nagato was equally conflicted. No matter what, Jiraiya was the mentor of Nagato and his companions, so Nagato's own will to fight was low.

Seeing Jiraiya retreat while fighting, Nagato ultimately didn't press the attack. Soon, under an unspoken mutual understanding, the battle ended.

After Jiraiya withdrew with Hyuga Homura, Konan slowly flew over and landed beside Deva Path Pain:

"Nagato, is this enough?"

"Let it be for now. The strength we've shown is enough to make the Five Great Shinobi Villages wary. At this stage, it's best not to forge blood feuds with them."

"After all, the Akatsuki isn't strong enough yet. We need to keep gathering power to seize all the tailed beasts as quickly as possible."

"But the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path has been leaked. The other villages will be on guard."

"They haven't seen the real statue and don't know its power. As long as the Akatsuki doesn't openly declare war on the Five Great Shinobi Villages, they won't break ties with us publicly."

What's so strange about the Land of Rain having a Demonic Statue of the Outer Path? Takigakure has a Seven-Tails!

After showing formidable strength, keeping the statue wasn't a big deal. The Five Great Nations could tolerate it.

If another major village got the statue and the Rinnegan, it might upset the balance.

In that case, due to mutual suspicion, none of the Five Great Shinobi Villages would act openly. Letting Amegakure keep the statue was at least not the worst option.

Nagato Uzumaki had controlled the Land of Rain for a while. While Yahiko was alive, Nagato was quiet but still learned a thing or two—at least enough to analyze the surface-level situation.

Of course, the Land of Rain's current stability relied on his plan not being exposed or set in motion.

Once the Akatsuki started collecting tailed beasts, the Five Great Nations would immediately target the Land of Rain. The difficulty of collecting them was several times higher than in the original.

But in the original, Nagato's plan failed too. The Akatsuki eventually gathered all the tailed beasts, but by then, it had long become Uchiha Obito and Black Zetsu's domain.

To be precise, the Akatsuki had already been destroyed. Uchiha Obito just used its shell. He was the one who truly collected all the tailed beasts.

A phantom figure appeared beside Deva Path Pain. The masked Uchiha Obito spoke in a low, teasing tone:

"Quite a fierce battle, Pain. But it seems there were no casualties?"

Due to the intelligence leak, trust between them had hit rock bottom. So during the fight, Nagato never considered letting Uchiha Obito join.

Uchiha Obito knew too much about Nagato. If he suddenly turned traitor in the heat of battle, Nagato himself could be in danger. How could he let Obito participate?

In fact, during this fight with Jiraiya, the Six Paths of Pain only deployed Deva Path, Asura Path, and Preta Path. The other three stood by, ready to teleport back to the main body at any time, just to guard against Uchiha Obito.

Otherwise, Jiraiya hadn't even entered Sage Mode—he was at best a decent Kage-level fighter. Hyuga Homura might be a help or a hindrance. Against the full force of the Six Paths of Pain, they'd have been overwhelmed long ago.

"If you want, you can go after those Konoha ninja yourself."

Deva Path Pain said coldly. Uchiha Obito chuckled lightly:

"Forget it. Konoha ninja have nothing to do with me. If you don't care, why should I bother?"

Konan, standing nearby, sneered and said flatly:

"I recall someone was the mastermind behind Konoha's Nine-Tails' Attack. What do you think those Konoha ninja would do if they found out?"