Jiraiya had just relaxed and was about to bandage his wounds when he looked up and found himself staring into a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan.
"Lord Hokage, what are you..."
Under Madara's Sharingan, Jiraiya quickly lost consciousness. At the same time, two dark figures appeared at the formation Madara had prepared earlier. One was Uchiha Ajin, who had finished his mission in the Land of Grass, and the other was Shisui Uchiha.
"Lord Hokage, should we kill Jiraiya?"
The moment Ajin appeared, he noticed the unconscious, gravely wounded Jiraiya.
To Ajin, Jiraiya represented another independent faction within Konoha's upper ranks. His existence undermined Madara's authority. Killing Jiraiya now would make it easier for Madara to consolidate power in the future.
"Ajin, we can't do that! Lord Hokage, you know this is wrong. Lord Jiraiya went on this mission for Konoha. Someone who fights for the village shouldn't be stabbed in the back by his own people!"
Hearing Ajin's audacious proposal, Shisui immediately broke into a cold sweat. He glared at Ajin while hastily voicing his objections to Madara.
"Shisui is right. Ajin, I called you here to protect the unconscious Jiraiya. Keep him safe until I return."
Ajin was utterly loyal to Madara, but sometimes he truly had no sense of restraint. After all, he had once belonged to the Hardliners who wanted to release the Nine-Tails and seize power.
"Ajin, we must allow different voices within the village. Otherwise, we can easily be blinded by our own eyes. Then everything we worked so hard to build will be nothing but castles in the air."
Before leaving, Madara patted Ajin's shoulder. Feeling the expectations Madara placed on him, Ajin nodded firmly, while Shisui quietly sighed in relief.
In Amegakure, after confirming that Madara and Jiraiya had left their sensory