War Begins! A Divided Battlefield

Inside the gloomy command tent, the tactical sand table's simulations had reached their conclusion.

The mysterious figure calling himself the "Collector" put away the small object he had been toying with and prepared to leave.

"Wait," Jiraiya's low voice stopped him, carrying a trace of probing intent. "There's one more question."

His sharp gaze pierced through the dim yellow light and fixed itself on the Collector.

The Collector, who had been about to rise, paused slightly. A barely audible chuckle seemed to come from beneath the Fox Mask. Then he calmly sat back down, leaning against the chair in a relaxed posture. "Ask away."

"You came alone and swaggered straight into the command center deep within Konoha," Jiraiya leaned forward slightly, his presence carrying a hidden pressure. "Did it never occur to you that you might never walk back out through that door?"

This question had lingered in his mind for a long time, and he finally voiced it now.

What answered Jiraiya was a low, mocking laugh. "Heh... confidence? I have some. Besides—"

The Collector's gaze passed through the narrow slits in his mask, sweeping precisely over every tense-faced ninja leader in the tent before returning to Jiraiya. The smile painted on the mask looked especially eerie and unfathomable beneath the flickering candlelight.

"Does Konoha, as it stands now, still have the strength to make another enemy like me?"

His words were like icy needles, piercing straight into the heart of the situation.

Then the Collector tilted his head slightly, his mask facing Jiraiya directly. That strange smile seemed to widen soundlessly.

"When you first saw me, wasn't the rage that nearly burned me to ashes ultimately forced down because you yielded to this cruel reality?"

A direct hit. Jiraiya's body stiffened almost imperceptibly, and the tent fell silent