A toad slipped silently into Amegakure against the current.
After swimming past the drainage outlet, it opened its mouth.
A large hand emerged from the toad's mouth and pressed against the wet ground.
Shoulders followed, then a body.
Moments later, a tall, white-haired man climbed all the way out.
One of the Konoha Sannin.
Jiraiya the Hero.
Standing beside the secluded waterway, he looked up at the endless curtain of rain, his expression conflicted.
"Yahiko, Nagato, Konan..."
In his memories, three children in frog costumes stood together, smiling brightly.
Jiraiya had been gathering material at the hot springs in the Land of Hot Water.
Then news of Kambara Sogetsu single-handedly crushing Sunagakure spread throughout the shinobi world, bringing the name "Akatsuki," which had lain dormant for years, to his ears once again.
Akatsuki was the organization his three students had founded.
They hated war and hoped to bring peace to the Land of Rain through their own efforts.
After leaving the Land of Rain, Jiraiya had occasionally heard news of Akatsuki.
Those young people had helped civilians through several wars, and their reputation had steadily grown.
Jiraiya had placed great hopes in them.
Until one day, terrible news arrived.
Akatsuki had been destroyed.
The fate of Yahiko and the others was unknown.
He had grieved, but he could only accept that his three students were dead.
He had never expected Akatsuki to reappear years later, much less gather so many dangerous missing-nin.
Among them was a boy from Konoha named Kambara Sogetsu, who had defeated Sunagakure head-on at just twelve years old.
"A genius from the village's new generation?"
Jiraiya's brow furrowed deeply.
"How did we end up with another missing-nin...?"
First Orochimaru.
Then Uchiha Itachi.
Now Kambara Sogetsu had joined them.
Konoha's talent seemed to be stuffed into a