Akaseki: ...
"Nagato? I see..." The moment Akaseki saw the little redhead, he had silently started calculating his age.
Nagato looked very frail now, almost malnourished, so Akaseki had guessed he was younger than he actually was.
But hearing his name, Akaseki immediately realized...
He was the orphan with Uzumaki Clan blood whom Akaseki had failed to find back then!
"Huh? Mister, do you know Nagato?" Yahiko asked curiously.
"No, I don't. But... over a year ago, I saw Nagato's parents'... bodies." Akaseki decided to say it outright.
Jiraiya froze at those words, then remembered the incident himself-after all, he had been the supply unit's commander at the time.
But Akaseki had never told Jiraiya the name "Nagato," so he hadn't recognized him immediately.
After all, Akaseki had figured that if he hadn't found him then, he probably wouldn't encounter him later either. How long could a child that young survive in the Land of Rain?
Who would have thought...
"You're... that couple's child?" Jiraiya looked at Nagato in surprise, with a trace of guilt in his voice. "I..." Nagato shrank behind Yahiko.
He didn't understand how the handsome young man before him knew about him, either.
If he hadn't been recognized, he certainly wouldn't have told Konoha ninja any of this. In fact... even he wasn't sure what had happened back then. All he knew was that Konoha ninja had killed his mom and dad, and then, overwhelmed by emotion... he had passed out.
When Nagato woke up, he had somehow found himself outside the village. He hurried back, only to find the bloodstains left there proving it hadn't been a dream. But his parents' bodies and those two Konoha ninja were already gone!
Now Nagato was a little worried that these Konoha ninja would kill him to silence