Too Late!

"What?!" Jiraiya's eyes widened in disbelief. He could not believe he was hearing such news from Hikaru. It was like a bolt from the blue, leaving Jiraiya dizzy.

Something had happened to his three students?

But how had Hikaru learned of it?

"Is this information accurate? What exactly happened, and how did you find out about it?!"

Jiraiya immediately became anxious, firing off a string of questions like a machine gun.

"I don't know exactly what happened." Hikaru slightly shook his head under Jiraiya's anxious, disappointed gaze. Jiraiya sighed, suddenly feeling the urge to head for the Land of Rain.

No matter what, if something had happened to his students, he, Jiraiya, should go and see for himself.

Naturally, Hikaru would not casually let Jiraiya leave. Seeing the disappointment flash through Jiraiya's eyes, Hikaru sighed. "While I can't be one hundred percent certain, I believe I'm not wrong. You may not believe this, but Nagato and I can both sense certain things. Once we sense it, it means they've fallen into danger—into a crisis that is difficult to resolve."

Under Jiraiya's expression of thirty percent confusion and seventy percent shock, Hikaru continued, "Just now, your student Nagato used a power he should not—and cannot—use. If Nagato was forced to do that, how credible do you think my words are?"

"You mean..." Jiraiya opened his mouth and said with difficulty, "The Rinnegan?!"

"Yes, the Rinnegan." Hikaru nodded. "Nagato gaining control of the Rinnegan is not a good thing. And he has also acquired something he should never have touched. Even if it does not kill Nagato, it will turn him into a terrifying, unreasonable monster. Of course, a monster who is practically crippled."

Hatake Sakumo and Tsunade looked at each other, unable to make sense of it. Still, it sounded bad.