Yet when they turned to look behind them, they saw Hashirama gazing at Tobirama with a wounded expression.
The corner of Tobirama's eye twitched. For some reason, the more he looked at his older brother, the more clueless he seemed.
"Whoa, here I go!" Jiraiya grinned widely as he hopped from side to side through the maze of paths. He looked less like a man fleeing for his life than someone teasing a child.
Konan showed no reaction. She merely beat the wings behind her harder and pursued him, but the terrain kept her from reaching full speed.
Realizing this was getting her nowhere, Konan slightly furrowed her brows. A slender arm suddenly extended from beneath her robe, cracks spreading across it as it transformed into countless fluttering sheets of white paper: Shikigami Dance!
In an instant, a multitude of paper shuriken shot toward Jiraiya!
Just as Jiraiya dodged, the folded paper, mixed with Explosive Tags, suddenly detonated right before his eyes!
"A clone?"
Once the smoke cleared, Konan looked at the spot where Jiraiya had "vanished." She stood silently for a few seconds before cracks suddenly opened across her skin. She scattered into sheets of white paper and left.
Meanwhile, reports from the Six Paths of Pain reached Nagato, though none of them brought good news.
Every single Jiraiya pursued by the Six Paths of Pain had turned out to be a clone!
Since Jiraiya had not chosen to fight to the death to gather intelligence, he could escape a situation like this if that was what he wanted. Precisely because of that, however, he had not learned that all six Paths of Pain were puppets.
Perhaps inspired by Genkyo, all six Paths of Pain had worn masks patterned with black suns while trying to capture Jiraiya,