"Jiraiya must have found your body." Uchiha Yato's words exploded beside Deva Path Pain's ears like thunder, making his whole body jerk.
His body trembled involuntarily, as though struck by an invisible force.
Deva Path Pain's gaze swiftly turned to Jiraiya. Together with Konan, he stared at him with utter shock.
In that instant, Jiraiya's image underwent a startling change.
The formerly steady and wise man now looked like a rather silly middle-aged uncle. He scratched his head, an embarrassed smile appearing on his face.
Yet it was precisely that expression that made anyone familiar with Jiraiya immediately realize that Uchiha Yato's guess had been correct!
Deva Path Pain took a deep breath, composed himself, and asked, "Then, since you had your own plan from the beginning, why didn't you simply knock me out? After all, you know exactly what condition my body is in."
There was a trace of confusion and incomprehension in his voice, as though he found Jiraiya's actions quite baffling.
As he spoke, Konan's gaze instinctively fell upon Pain. Her hand also reached toward him unconsciously, as if she wanted to comfort him—and, at the same time, comfort Nagato.
Over the years, Nagato had sacrificed far too much for the development of the Akatsuki and for his own safety.
He bore crushing pressure and shouldered countless responsibilities. Konan had seen all of it, and it pained her heart.
Even after Konan learned that all of this was very likely a deception, she had wanted to take Nagato and leave this place immediately. The two of them only needed to survive according to Yahiko's original will.
But there was no way around it. Nagato had already given far too much for the entire plan, and Konan truly couldn't bear to say such things. So she could only