The Three Children's Crisis

When Jiraiya arrived at the spot where the barrier had been triggered, he immediately spotted Tsunade's group.

"Tsunade, why are you here? Don't tell me you couldn't bear to part with me after all. You came all the way to the Land of Rain just to visit me." Jiraiya struck what he thought was a dashing pose before grinning as he walked toward Tsunade and the others.

Tsunade's group also noticed Jiraiya, whose hair had turned white at a young age.

"Tch, can you stop dreaming, idiot? I came to the Land of Rain for a mission. I only stopped by your place because I happened to be passing through."

Tsunade shot Jiraiya a disdainful glance, then pushed Feng Xun out from behind her. "Besides, this brat seems to admire you. He insisted on coming to see you."

Hearing Tsunade say that, Jiraiya was a little disappointed, but he quickly perked up again. "And these little ones are?"

Before Tsunade could answer, Uchiha Ryu spoke first. "Reporting to Lord Jiraiya, I am Uchiha Ryu of the Uchiha Clan. It is an honor to meet you."

The Uchiha Clan?

Jiraiya gave Uchiha Ryu an extra look, then pointed at Feng Xun and Minato. "Then who are these two little ones?"

Minato first glanced at Tsunade. Only after she nodded did he introduce himself. "Lord Jiraiya, my name is Namikaze Minato. You can just call me Minato. This is my younger brother, Feng Xun!"

As he spoke, Minato tugged at Feng Xun, who was clearly absent-minded. "Xun, hurry up and say hello. Didn't you always want to meet Lord Jiraiya?"

"Uh... oh. Hello, Lord Jiraiya."

After Feng Xun spoke, he fell silent again, as though the one who had been clamoring to come earlier had been someone else entirely.

The reason Feng Xun was acting this way was because he still had not seen any sign of Nagato and the other two.

After all, his main reason for coming here was to meet the three children. Since they were not around, he was obviously uninterested.

Though Tsunade found Feng Xun's attitude strange, she did not say anything. She merely gave Jiraiya an apologetic look.

Jiraiya did not mind Feng Xun's attitude. Instead, after hearing Minato and Feng Xun's names, he hesitantly asked, "Namikaze? Could you be Brother Changyou's children?"

Tsunade nodded. "That's right. These two are Sister Lianxiang's children, and this brat named Feng Xun is now my disciple."

"Is that so?" After receiving Tsunade's confirmation, Jiraiya's gaze toward Minato and Feng Xun gained a clear trace of concern.

After that, Tsunade and Jiraiya began discussing the war.

About five minutes later, Feng Xun, feeling terribly bored, thought for a moment before saying to Jiraiya, "Lord Jiraiya, can I look around nearby? It's my first time in the Land of Rain, and I want to take a look around."

"Oh, sure, but don't go too far. This is the Land of Rain, after all. It wouldn't be good if you wandered outside the barrier I set up." Thinking that it was merely a child's natural curiosity, Jiraiya then said to Minato and Uchiha Ryu beside him, "If you two are bored, you can also walk around."

"Thank you for your kindness, Lord Jiraiya, but there is no need. I am not like certain civilian ninja who do not understand proper etiquette." Uchiha Ryu refused.

"I don't need to either." Minato also declined.

Feng Xun did not comment on that. He did not care whether the others were bored or not. He only wanted to find the three children.

Just as Feng Xun turned to leave, Jiraiya pointed behind him and said, "That's the little Wooden Cabin I built. There are three children about your age inside. If you get bored, you can go play with them."

That's exactly what I was waiting to hear. After learning Nagato and the others' exact location, Feng Xun answered before immediately leaving.

"Wooden Cabin, Wooden Cabin... this should be it, right?"

Following Jiraiya's directions, Feng Xun arrived in front of the Wooden Cabin.

However, after pushing open the door, he found the room completely empty. There was no one inside.

Where were they? Had they gone out to play?

Feng Xun found it strange. After thinking about it, he decided to go out and look for them.

"Yahiko, didn't you say you wanted to follow Teacher Jiraiya? Why did we end up here?" Konan looked at Yahiko, whose face was flushed red, in confusion.

Yahiko scratched his cheek with a finger, looking somewhat guilty. "W-Well, I figured there was no point in following that guy. Isn't this nice? We can just treat it as getting some fresh air."

He was definitely not going to admit that he had come here because he had lost track of Jiraiya.

As if sensing something, Nagato hesitated before deciding it was better not to expose him.

"Since we are already out here, let's search nearby and see if we can find anything edible."

After looking around, Konan spoke to Yahiko and Nagato.

"Huh? We finally got the chance to come out, so can we not do something as boring as looking for food?" Yahiko looked at Konan unwillingly.

"No." Konan flatly refused. "Teacher Jiraiya has even stayed away from his own village for our sake. We have to repay him somehow."

Seeing that Konan had no intention of backing down, Yahiko sighed helplessly. "Fine, fine! I'll look, alright?"

As he spoke, Yahiko turned to Nagato, who was still standing there. "Nagato, don't just stand there. Come help us look."

"Oh! I will..."

Just as Nagato was about to agree.

Several whistling sounds suddenly came from behind Yahiko.

"Yahiko, watch out!!!" Nagato, who stood opposite Yahiko, immediately lunged forward and tackled him to the ground.

The two lying on the ground turned their heads.

They saw three Shuriken embedded in the ground, their upturned cold gleam sending chills down their spines.

Yahiko swallowed hard, saying with immense relief, "Good thing you reacted in time, Nagato. Otherwise, I would have been turned into a sieve just now."

Seeing this, Konan threw down the mushrooms she had just picked and hurried over to them, her face full of worry. "Nagato, Yahiko, are you two alright?!"

Yahiko shook his head, then fixed his gaze on the Stone Ninja who had appeared before the three of them.

"Oh? Not bad reflexes for a little brat. You actually managed to dodge my Shuriken." The unfamiliar Stone Ninja looked somewhat surprised.

Yahiko gritted his teeth and climbed up from the ground, using his small body to shield Konan and Nagato behind him.

"Who are you? Why are you attacking us?"

The Stone Ninja pointed to the forehead protector on his head, his expression sinister. "You see this forehead protector, yet you still do not know who I am?"

Yahiko said nothing and made no other move. His eyes remained locked on the other man, though no one knew what he was thinking.

"Not going to talk?" The Stone Ninja was not angered by Yahiko's silence. Instead, he pulled a Kunai from his ninja tool pouch and said in a chilling voice, "Then let's play a game! If you can dodge this Kunai, I'll let you go. But if you can't, then you'll die on it."

As he spoke, the Stone Ninja instantly threw the Kunai in his hand...