Rain

Jiraiya stared at Naruto for a long minute, but the blond didn't say a word. If anything, since they met, Naruto has looked nothing if not focused. There was obviously something happening inside his head. However, just yesterday, he had appeared to be in a fine mood, his normal self. So, that meant something happened after he left the Hidden Leaf.

But what could it be that could make the blond lose his focus like this?

The Sannin sighed. "Naruto." He called in a firm tone. "Naruto!" Jiraiya called once more when Naruto didn't respond.

The blond turned towards the Sannin. "I heard you the first time you called." He said, a bit harshly than intended.

There was just a lot that he needed to fix inside his head but the thoughts did not want to calm. They were playing a game of tag with him and this was not the time he needed them to misbehave. He was usually a controlled person, but this that has happened was beyond his control and much unexpected. He did not expect it to happen, not even in his most absurd dreams.

He never expected Mikoto to be pregnant.

That was something that hadn't even crossed his mind. He had not considered the possibility. This just came with his inexperience. If he had been experienced, he would have foreseen that such things would happen. But no, he had been focused on riding high with Mikoto in a game of pleasure that he didn't think that her eggs could become fertilised and then her belly one day would grow big.

The thought had been so ridiculous that when Yugao spoke of it, he had dismissed it without even a second thought.

At least it was not yet showing. There was still time to think about how they were going to deal with it before people started talking. There was no way around it though. Naruto wasn't going to consider making 'it' disappear before anyone found out about it. He was a cruel person at times, but he wasn't that heartless.

"Then, why didn't you respond when I spoke to you?" Jiraiya demanded. "I know you're having some thoughts. You should at least let me help you out. I know we aren't that close, but one of us might not leave this village. I have so many regrets, but at least I'd like to go out knowing that I was some help to you."

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Why do you think one of us will die, Jiraiya? Why do you think you will die?"

The Sannin looked thoughtful for a couple of seconds before responding. "It is just a thought." He said. "Besides, we both know that we are going to face someone ridiculously powerful. You have not shown fear for any member of the Akatsuki but when it has come to the leader, you have been unwilling to engage. Besides, if he really does hold the Rinnegan, there is something to fear. I believe the doujutsu is much more powerful than the Sharingan."

Naruto nodded. "That is disputable, but since they are the eyes of the Legendary Sage, we can assume that much." The blond said. "Since we are on the issue, we have to change the scope of our mission. This is no longer just a mission to test if the man is really located here and see his power. If we find him, we kill him."

Jiraiya wasn't surprised by the firm statement from the blond, but he was curious. "Why the change? You didn't seem too keen when we were talking to Tsunade."

"Things have changed." Naruto said. "I cannot allow for such a man to continue living with what has come up. I don't even think I will even be in a condition to fight with a clear head once I return to Konoha. For victory, this is my best short."

"Why?"

Naruto was silent for a few moments before finally speaking. "Mikoto, Sasuke's mother, is apparently pregnant with my child." The blond said with a flat look on his face.

He didn't have a problem with telling the man. Tsunade was going to know and the man would know. Besides that, the Sannin had valuable experience with life, so he had to know a lot of things and perhaps he could be of use in his dilemma.

Jiraiya stared for a moment before bursting out in laughter. "Hahahahahahahahahahahaha" The Sannin laughed for a couple of moments before halting when Naruto did not share his amusement. "You're serious." He said.

"Do I look like I'm full of shit, to you?"

The Sannin blinked at the language from Naruto. He almost thought of cautioning the blond over his language because it was not fitting for him. It didn't go well with his image, but he did not question it because there was much more pressing matter than that. "How did it happen?"

The Uzumaki stared blankly before speaking. "Again, with the rhetoric questions, Jiraiya." Naruto said with a frown.

Jiraiya shook his head. "Sorry." He said. "I understand why you're like this, but we are already in enemy territory. I know that you're going to be a father, so, I can't think of dying now. Can we talk about it after our mission? It will give me motivation to fight with all I have if we have to."

Naruto shook his head. "Fine," he said. "This village is rather unique though," He said looking around the raining streets of the Hidden village in Rain.

It was from the metallic skyscrapers that stood tall from within and the atmosphere. It was unlike anything he has seen. The stories were correct; the village was always raining. It had stopped raining about a minute ago, however.

"Jiraiya, did you notice? The rain was infused with chakra."

The Sannin blinked and then frowned. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?" The man said, before dragging Naruto away from the view. They hid within a sewer. "This could explain why people are not able to come back. If the rain was infused with chakra, it could be used for sensory purposes. The barrier around the Leaf detects anyone who isn't from the village, and the rain could be used for that same purpose as well."

"My mind was a little caught up in other things moments earlier." Naruto responded calmly. "Does that mean we have already been spotted?"

"Likely the case." The Sannin said. "Are you really going to be fine if you're being like this? We are going to face a very dangerous enemy."

"Don't worry, I will be fine." Naruto said. "You should increase the efforts to gather Intel then.

Jiraiya appeared to think for a couple of seconds before nodding. "I will send out a clone. The enemy will likely discover our location quickly if we go out interrogating people. At least if the clone gets seen, it won't give away our location, but it will give us the enemy's location."

Naruto found a smile. "I sometimes like the way you think when you're serious, Jiraiya." The blond said. "I will send out a clone as well. Best we keep the appearance if they already know there are two intruders in the village."

The Sannin nodded.

With Pain

"Konan." Tendou called out to the Angel of the God of Peace. "We have intruders in the village. They have been here for a couple of minutes. I wanted to confirm something I sensed. The Kyubi's Jinchuriki is likely one of the intruders. Go out and confirm. I will be preparing my bodies in case it is him."

"Is that really necessary, Nagato?" Konan asked.

Tendou nodded. "If he is the Kyubi's Jinchuriki, our opponent will be the Bijuu. We cannot go easy on it."

Back with Naruto and Jiraiya

"This village is really different from any other village I have visited. As few as they have been, I don't think there can be any that compares to this in uniqueness." Naruto said as he walked side by side with Jiraiya. "On another note, I find the worship of Pain of to be curious. With how these villagers speak mightily of him, I wonder what kind of power he wields… and what it is that makes it possible for people to call him a god."

"Finding out about that will be difficult since no one has seen him." Jiraiya said. "You don't sound disturbed by the thought though."

Should he be disturbed that there was a god in this village? No, not until he saw what this god could do. Perhaps if the man proved to be too powerful to being a human, then maybe he could say, yes, he was a god. But Naruto doubted he would see something that would make him come to that conclusion. A human would always be a human in his eyes.

He could only see them as much lower than humans to be something of trash because of their behaviour. This 'god' of Amegakure could very well be a different kind of human or just some trash. Perhaps it was his warped-up sense of morals that couldn't allow him to say what the Akatsuki was planning is right or wrong.

The only thing he knew was that he had to stop it because it went against what he wanted. And it threatened his existence.

"Neither do you sound disturbed, Jiraiya. If anything, you're amused…" Naruto said, adopting a thoughtful look on his face. "The only time you were perhaps disturbed was when you were told that Pain was responsible for killing Hanzo and everyone else who was related to him…" He paused. "That is something else, isn't it? By doing so, he insures that no one from the Hanzo side raises up to challenge his rule or seek revenge because he removed them all."

"It's nothing but brutality." Jiraiya said in a firm tone. "There was no reason to think that they would have tried to avenge him… Still, I've really found it hard to believe that Hanzo could be defeated… even if that someone is the leader of the Akatsuki."

"Just because you Sannins couldn't defeat him doesn't mean that a single man could not defeat him. Humans can achieve so many things, our motivations differ, and when we have the passion and of course ability, we can do miracles. Life is interesting in that way, Jiraiya. At some point, the limits are our own bodies, and thoughts…" Naruto stated calmly before adding. "You cannot put a limit on people and say this cannot be done, because humans will surprise you."

Jiraiya eyed the blond for a long minute. This was perhaps the first time he was having a conversation like this with Naruto. The blond never really went this far with him when they talked. It helped him get a bit of understanding in how the blond viewed other people. It was interesting but curious as well.

"I wonder if what you said is really affecting the way you think." Jiraiya said.

Naruto smiled. "It is something that I never thought possible but perhaps the biggest evidence of my naivety when it comes to certain parts of life. I have never claimed to know everything, but I never thought that I could make mistakes that could prove damaging. Well, these are just the things that make life interesting."

Jiraiya really wanted to know now more, but they still had a task they had to face in the name of Pain. The man was worshiped as a god by his people and he did defeat Hanzo. He had to be strong.

As they came across a secluded location surrounded by tall buildings, Jiraiya looked up sensing that they were facing enemies up ahead.

His eyes nearly widened upon recognizing Konan, and the Rinnegan. But what surprised him was that he was seeing two Rinnegan wielders. There shouldn't be two of them but just one. If he was seeing Konan, and the Rinnegan, did this mean that the other man with long hair was Nagato?

But how could that be? He had thought they were dead and the cloaks they were wearing clearly showed that they were of the Akatsuki. So, Nagato was the god and Konan was the angel? What had happened to his students? What really happened to them? Jiraiya wasn't angry, but he was disappointed that the loving children he had trained had turned out like this.

"Konan; you can stand back. I will handle them but just to be on the safe side, be ready for anything." Nagato said through the Animal path.

It didn't matter if he was seeing his sensei as the intruder. He came out here to kill the intruder and take the Kyubi for his long-life goal of peace. Jiraiya was not an ally, he had to be removed. What the man did for them had to be put aside, at the moment, peace took priority.

"What are you going to do, Pain?" Konan asked.

"We are going to kill Jiraiya and take the Kyubi. It should be easy to get the rest of the Bijuus once we have the Kyubi in our possession." Pain responded calmly. "This isn't the time for regrets, Konan. We have already come this far, there is no turning back."

Konan merely nodded and looked at Jiraiya for a moment before making a distance away from Pain.

"Konan… Nagato? What happened to you? Why are you with the Akatsuki?!"

"We started this organization for the sake of peace, Jiraiya-sensei. I did not think that we would meet again, but you're here as our enemy and that must be dealt with."

Jiraiya shook his head. Was this really Nagato – the soft child who had told him that he would find a way to bring peace in this world? Was this the cry baby who was now speaking in such a cold tone that made him feel slightly small? Could people change like this? Orochimaru had always been twisted, so the Sannin was out of the picture as an example of how people could change.

"Peace? How can what the Akatsuki is doing bring peace, Nagato? What you are doing is wrong. There can be no peace in it but just more conflicts!"

"These conflicts are what will teach people pain. For this world to grow, it needs to know and experience pain. I was a naïve child, but when I experienced pain, I grew up, not just to be a man, but a god. I will teach this world pain as a god of peace."

Jiraiya found this a little amusing. These were not the words he thought would come out of Nagato's mouth. What really happened to this person?

"I never thought you would become a twisted person like this, Nagato…" Jiraiya said with a shake of his head. "My intention here was to investigate more about the Akatsuki and take care of its leader. I never thought that I would end up facing my students."

The Toad Sage said as he prepared himself for a round with the two Pains -looking directly at him.

There was no need to continue talking anymore. They just had to fight. Talking wasn't going to solve anything anyway. At this moment, Naruto felt it was nothing more of a nuisance that was getting in the way of the day's mission. They had to fight here, unless this talking was going to get through the thick skull of the man behind the Rinnegan, then could talk.

Given his responses so far, it didn't appear likely that talking was going to take them to that road.

It was alright nevertheless. Naruto had come here prepared to fight.

Jiraiya could have his moment with his long-lost students after the mission. In this one, they didn't have to kill the man. A bit more talking after they have fought would do. It would be beneficial to make use this power that has Ame worshiping the man. If it could bring a change that would urge humans who think twice about the way they lived, then he would be happy.

"Can we get this going, Jiraiya?" Naruto said to the Sannin, whilst preparing hand seals.

Before the Sannin could respond, Naruto was already releasing his jutsu. "Futon: Ressenpu!" The blond released a powerful stream of wind from his mouth. The wind blasted towards the two paths standing above the two Konoha nins.

As the powerful jutsu neared them, the two pains leapt to the sides with the other flashing to its right and the other to its left. Naruto's jutsu hit the steel wall of the tall building, creating a loud boom as the wind's power powered through the wall.

"Oh…" Jiraiya started with a smile. "You're showing your true colours now." He said of Naruto using his wind element from the get-go. It wasn't something that the blond usually did, but the sannin knew that wind was Naruto's strongest element. He had trained with the blond after all.

"We are not going to go anywhere if we fool around." Naruto said lunging towards the Preta path.

Konan decided to get involved as well even though Naruto had told her to say away. She thought it was perhaps better for them if they fought together because Nagato had only brought out two paths to fight. They could not just underestimate these two like that.

The Angel of Amegakure flapped her paper wings and appeared just above Naruto, blocking his path. Without even saying a wind, the woman's paper wings started releasing paper formed as arrows in quick succession. She wasn't just releasing a couple, but many of them that made it impossible for Naruto dodge in his position.

"Futon: Great Wind Breakthrough!" The Uzumaki released powerful gusts of wind without even the use of hand seals. The wind was released quickly to counter the incoming paper arrows that would surely leave his body bleeding if they hit them.

The paper arrows collided with the gusts of winds, halting for a moment, but Konan kept firing them without pause. Naruto couldn't keep up with his jutsu for far too long and was forced to use Shunshin to get to the ground with enough speed to avoid getting cut by the arrows when his jutsu stopped protecting him.

Naruto didn't even have the time to look up when he landed on the cold ground in one knee. The many paper arrows were still being fired towards him and with nothing in between him, they appeared in a menacing form. Naruto was forced to roll over to the side to avoid the jutsu before abruptly getting up with a twirl, hands clasped together.

Before he could even release his jutsu, the Preta path sneaked up on his left side. The path of pain was slightly above the ground, its right foot weaving through the air as the man aimed for a high kick towards the blond's face.

Naruto was caught off-guard by the sudden attack. He cursed, he had been focusing on Konan's attack and forgot about the Pain – a childish mistake that he shouldn't have made. Naruto could only watch as the paths brutal foot slammed straight onto his forehead.

There was a brutal sound when the kick connected with his forehead. Naruto winced when the brutal attack picked him up from the ground, and sent him flying backwards. The blond tried flipping to gain his balance but he was unable to stop his body from crashing into a large steel wall with his back.

He still had no time to massage his pained body as Konan kept with her attack. Naruto reacted in an instant before the paper arrows could reach him. The Uzumaki released a stream of flames from his mouth without even doing hand seals. The flames were quickly showered with the paper arrows, only managing in stopping to the projectiles from hitting the blond before Konan decided to stop her jutsu.

Feeling relieved that the woman had stopped her Jutsu, Naruto slid down the ground knowing that he would not have been able to keep the fire jutsu going for more than a minute as it would have been a crime against his chakra.

He still had a plan though, not to defend but to counter attack the moment he was free. The reason he had chosen fire wasn't because he believed it was stronger against paper but because he knew it would block Konan's and the Preta path's view of him, giving him the chance to make a move.

The moment Naruto's feet touched down the ground, the Preta path's feet slammed down, as if it had crashed from above. The path had appeared instantly without a warning and quickly grabbed Naruto by his throat before lifting him up into the air.

Earlier with Jiraiya

The Toad Sage simply shook his head as Naruto went on the offensive. Well, Nagato didn't appear as if he was going to listen to reason. He just had to do this even though he had a feeling that this was going to be a challenging task, they still had to do this. He had Naruto anyway, so they could win this fight.

Without further thought, the Sannin lunged towards the other pain in a blur. When he neared the orange haired Rinnegan wielder, he clasped his hands together whilst still in air. "Let us see how you have really grown from just being a man to a god, Nagato!" The Sannin shouted, with a hint of a smile.

His hair suddenly grew long before speeding towards the Animal path. Within moments, the path was entangled by the string of hair. It had looked so simple that Jiraiya wanted to question but first he wanted to see what would happen if he applied a firm hand.

When he tried to strangle the path, it exploded in a puff of smoke, revealing it was a clone.

"I'm over here sensei." Nagato said, standing atop of a green lizard, which was holding onto a steel wall, facing upside down.

The animal wasn't the one which attacked the Sannin but another large animal suddenly appeared, speeding through the wall before jumping towards the Sannin. Jiraiya quickly retracted his hair before forming a clone. The clone quickly propelled him up into the air. This little escape allowed him to avoid the animal.

The clone was the one that was crushed by the animal's claws. Instead of bursting into a shower of blood, it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Big Ball Rasengan!"

The Toad Sage formed the massive Rasengan whilst still above the crab. As gravity started pulling him downwards, Jiraiya controlled his space and sped up before slamming the jutsu onto the large crab. There was no explosion of anything when the powerful jutsu collided with the crab. There jutsu just forced both to plummet to the ground in speed.

When they crashed into the ground, that was when the explosion occurred. It was resounding explosion that tore through the ground, lifting chunks of metal. The crab could not hold on for long and ultimately disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Before Jiraiya could focus on Pain once more, he was forced on the defensive when he felt slight tremors as a giant Ox darted towards him. Despite its ridiculous size, the Ox was really fast. Jiraiya leapt into the air to avoid the giant beast.

It had been bent on slamming him with his head, but when it missed him, it could not stop its movements that easily. It ended up crashing into the sewers.

Before he could even start looking for Pain, Jiraiya's eyes snapped as he heard a bird chirping… a large bird flapped its wings as it sped just above him in blinding speed. the Sannin felt the powerful gusts of winds it made as it moved past him.

'Shit…' Jiraiya cursed when the bird dropped something like an egg, but he knew it was not. He cursed once more when the object glowed as it neared. And then it went boom! The Sannin was caught in the explosion while still in flight, but he was able to burst out of the explosion unharmed.

There were only a few cuts on his clothes.

The Sannin landed on ground safely and moved his eyes around. AT some point, Nagato had disappeared. He couldn't see him even now. The Sannin frowned slightly. He was not winning this battle and why was Nagato even fighting like this? The Nagato he knew excelled in every form of Ninjutsu.

Meanwhile with Naruto…

Even though the path had lifted him up into the air with just one hand and was strangling him, Naruto still smiled. The path nearly widened its eyes when the blond suddenly burst into flames. However, that was because of the surprise of not having seen the blond replace himself with an exploding explosion rather than the fear of being harmed by the explosion.

Naruto appeared in a blur just behind the path. He did not show his surprise when he saw the path clearly absorbing the flames. He didn't let it hold him back from making his attack. The blond Uzumaki swung his sword with his right hand. The sword horizontally cut through the air in blinding speed. It was also coated with wind, enlarged in a way the human eye could not see.

Even if the path managed to leap forward, it would still be cut because the sword was much longer with wind than it looked.

Naruto's eyes were left slightly wide when the path ducked under his blade whilst simultaneously twisting around. The blond just watched as his blade cut above the path. It wasn't even looking and yet it had dodged? No one had that kind of senses. If anything, it looked as if it had developed a pair of eyes from its back.

The path's right foot swept through the ground before hitting Naruto on his feet. This caused the blond to go off-balance nearly falling but he did not fall because he was then slammed hard on his chest by the path. The kick was brutal, and Naruto coughed up when it connected.

Naruto felt like cursing when more papers sped towards him as he was still being carried by the momentum of the kick that collided with his chest. He only folded his hands across his head, shielding himself from the raining papers.

Unlike before, these were not just arrow papers –these were explosive papers. As soon as they hit the blond, they set off an explosion of flames that rocked through the area.

The Preta path neared the flames knowing that such a small explosion would not be enough to take down a Jinchuriki of the Kyubi. This was just the beginning of the battle, there was still more to come.

The Asura Path joined the party. It appeared just away from Nagato and stood above on high ground before speaking to Konan. "You can step back Konan. The others are on standby should there be a need."

Konan merely nodded and made some distance between herself at the battles. She was just going to watch from afar, but if she was needed she wouldn't hesitate to get involved. Well, it has never been the case with the Nagato. He has after all never needed her help to get out of a tight situation.

When the flames died down, they revealed Naruto – he was still on his feet holding his sword. The blond Uzumaki threw a smoke bomb down into the ground. The bomb exploded, creating smoke around him. He wanted to try something before he could go on with which strategy he needed to use. Still in the smoke, he created a clone and sent it out.

The clone Shushined behind the Preta path accompanied by gentle winds. Before the clone's feet touched down the ground, its sword was swung straight across the air, heading towards the path's neck with the intent to separate its head from its shoulders. But as it did last time when it wasn't even looking, the path avoided the blow by crouching down.

When the clone appeared behind the path, Naruto used wind to blow the smoke towards the Preta just to cover his movements. So when it crouched down and the Smoke was clearing, Naruto was on knee holding his blade with his right hand; its tip was pressing against the palm of his left hand, with the back of the hand glaring back at the Preta path's forehead.

"Extending Blade" Naruto didn't even wince when the jutsu pierced through the palm of his head. Since it was invisible as it strikes, even though the path appeared to have eyes on the back of its head, Naruto knew it would not be able to dodge something it could not see. Only once his jutsu had hit could it be seen.

The Extending blade took less than the blink of an eye to reach the Preta path and within seconds, it had gone through the path's forehead piercing through the back of its head. The path blinked as the wind blade started to become visible with blood dripping from it slowly.

Naruto didn't have the time to admire the work of his jutsu. He was forced to flee the scene when a missile crashed down where he had been crouching. The missile exploded as soon as it hit the ground, but Naruto was already gone.

The moment the blond landed, he flipped to the side, turning around to face the path that had attacked him. But it wasn't coming after him; it landed just beside the Preta path's body and collected it before leaping away.

When Naruto saw that his next opponent had seemingly disappeared, he shushined towards Jiraiya.

A giant Ox and a Rhino surrounded the Sannin. "You seem to be having a tough time…" the blond Uzumaki commented with his back against Jiraiya's.

"At least I am in a better condition than you…" Jiraiya said, seeing that the blond was bleeding was sporting several cuts on his body. "Your opponent gave that much of a hard time?"

Naruto didn't deny that. "Yes, but when you're facing an opponent who can absorb chakra, and seems to have eyes at the back of his head, it isn't something you can get out of without a scratch. Your only chance is to hit him with an attack that he cannot see."

"You showed that… you really ought to teach me that jutsu… maybe tell you the secrets to my hair jutsu." The Sannin suggested with a grin. He wasn't going to deny that Naruto's jutsu was lethal. It was short-ranged to maybe medium range, but the fact that it was almost impossible to dodge for a normal person and that if targeting the right place, one touch you were gone.

"I'd like to join you on being care free but we still have challenging giants to deal with." Naruto said.

Jiraiya nodded. "The Ox has no other abilities that I have seen. It is likely just going to charge ahead. Given its size and speed, if we move out of the way, it is going to collide with the Rhino and then we can apply the finishing move."

"Lure them in, then." Naruto said calmly.

Jiraiya switched sides with Naruto and faced the angry Ox. The Sannin waved his hand with a grin. "Come here boy!"

Naruto just shook his head when Jiraiya said those words; no matter what, Jiraiya would always be Jiraiya – the self-proclaimed super pervert. He formed a Rasengan, knowing which jutsu he needed to use to get rid of the two animals.

The Ox let out a grow as it released some steam through its nose before darting towards the two Konoha nins. When the two giant animals neared them, both leapt into the air. The giant Ox tried to hit the brakes when the Konoha nins disappeared but it could not stop. Its giant head slammed into the head of the Rhino.

When Naruto looked down, there was a screeching sound, coming off from the wind blades spinning furiously from the palm of his hand. Naruto's jutsu was already completed by the time gravity started to pull him downwards. Jiraiya didn't wait to see what Naruto was going to do with the jutsu, he Shushined away, getting the feeling that the jutsu was dangerous.

the blond Uzumaki hurled his jutsu straight down towards the heads of the two animals below him. The jutsu reached the animals before they could separate after their clash of heads. The jutsu suddenly expanded when it crashed down before exploding into a powerful force of violent winds. The explosion of pure power covered a large radius as the thousand blades tore through the two animals.

Nagato was quick desummon them.

Before anything could happen, Tendou and the five appeared, once more again standing on high ground. "That is a rather nasty jutsu." Nagato said. "For a Jinchuriki, you're different as you depend on your own power rather than that of your Bijuus. It has been rather impressive so far."

Naruto stared at the path he had killed. He was sure he had killed it before that other one took it. How could it back to life? The blond could not believe what he was seeing. He knew it wasn't an illusion. The man he had killed had been brought back to life.

The Uzumaki had his reasons to stare, and Jiraiya had his own.

He was staring at Yahiko. How come Yahiko had the Rinnegan as well? How were they even six Rinnegan users in this place? It shouldn't be possible. And even with all the summons that he has been fighting, they have all been sporting the Rinnegan.

"Yahiko, how come you have the Rinnegan?"

Nagato spoke through Tendou. "There was once a man with that name, but he died a long time ago."

Could Nagato really speak like that? Jiraiya turned to the path he had been facing. What had brought him to say that it was Nagato. That was not Nagato. The redhead had been different from that person. Was it simply because he had addressed the man as Nagato and he had responded without suggesting that he wasn't the person?

If that wasn't Yahiko, who was it? Jiraiya could never forget. He had lived with Yahiko for three years; he could never mistake his body. He was seeing the body of Yahiko, not someone else. It clicked on Jiraiya's face that he was some of the Shinobi with the Rinnegan, were people he had met in the past, but they were all dead.

Did it confirm that even Yahiko was dead?

"Who are you really?!"

"We are Pain, we are god!" All six paths said in union.

"Jiraiya; I had killed one of them, you saw it as well, but now it is alive and there are six of them. I have already burnt a considerable amount of chakra… If we are going to win, I will to use the Kyubi's chakra." The blond said to the Sannin.

"If you had signed the Toad contract when I gave you the opportunity to do so long ago, we would be thinking of entering Sage Mode together. But no, you refused." Jiraiya said. "To enter Sage mode requires time, and now there are six of them, I don't know if I will be able to get the time to do that. Which really paints a bleak picture."

"This Sage mode, how powerful is it?"

"You just need to see it." Jiraiya said calmly.

"Let us try to thin down their numbers and then I will give you the window frame to enter Sage Mode, if possible. If not, we will just have to make do with what we have." Naruto said. "But we must be fast. I don't wan-"

The blond could not finish his sentence because the six suddenly crashed landed around him and Jiraiya, surrounding them with piercing gazes.

Naruto was first to leap into the air when the Pains surrounded them as it was the only way to move out of danger sight. Allowing himself to be boxed like that wasn't going to make things any good. It was like being backed into a corner and he would have paid a hefty price of pain for it.

Jiraiya clasped his hands, seeing Naruto out of the way. The Toad Sage then released a stream of flames from his mouth. The flames shot out straight towards Tendou. The Sannin didn't stop there: as he was still releasing his jutsu, he twisted around, firing the flames all around to all paths.

"Shinra Tensei."

Tendou released a directed blast concentrated towards the Sannin. His jutsu clashed with the flames slamming them back towards Jiraiya. Seeing his flames being directed back towards him, the Toad Sage disappeared via Shunshin.

Naruto looked down the ground and saw that the paths were still focused on Jiraiya. He took out the three-pronged kunai and threw it towards the Path he had killed earlier. He already knew it could absorb chakra, so fighting with it was going to be a problem since his skills were Ninjutsu focused.

Naruto held out his right hand, quickly forming a Rasengan. He then vanished in a flash of yellow, teleported to the kunai had he thrown. The Kunai wasn't meant to hit the path, but the still avoided it by sidestepping it. the moment it zipped past the path's head, Naruto appeared in a flash of yellow.

As he twisted around in mid-air, trying to slam the Rasengan on the back of the path, he was almost left puzzled when the Preta path fell forward to avoid being hit by his jutsu. It wasn't possible when the path hadn't seen him attacking. Yes, he did spend a couple of seconds twisting around after he appeared, but it hadn't been even looking for it to avoid his attack.

He wasn't even afforded the space and time to think about the development he had witnessed; The Asura path launched a missile directed towards his chest. Naruto didn't have the balance to try to avoid it. In his position, he couldn't even do any jutsu to block the missile.

The Uzumaki was just fortunate that he still had his Rasengan on the palm of his hand. He moved his hand quickly to intercept the missile because it could explode on his chest – which would not have been healthy for him. The Rasengan collided with the missile head on before the jutsus exploded.

Boom!

Naruto was blasted away from the explosion, but before he could go any further, the Animal Path flashed above him. As it attempted to slam its heel on the defenceless chest of Naruto, Jiraiya appeared on the side with his right foot already moving in blinding speed. The man's foot hit the path on the right side of its chest, sending it flying away from Naruto.

Before the Sannin could even grin at Naruto for saving him from another attack, the giant bird let out a shriek as it dropped three bombs before breezing past. Jiraiya cursed knowing that if he allowed the explosion to hit him, he would not get out of it without any scratch. He also had to think about Naruto as well.

The Sannin's hair grew rapidly as the first bomb went off creating a chain of explosion that blinded the paths the view of their opponents with a cloud of flames and black smoke just above them. But when the flames cleared, neither Jiraiya nor Naruto were anywhere to be seen.

"Tunnel." Tendou stated, having seen the two.

Jiraiya and Naruto were indeed in the lightly dark tunnels. The latter was panting slightly, bruises all over his body; he was learning against the walls of the tunnel, with Jiraiya also sitting beside him, spotting a couple of bruises around his body, but nothing severe.

"I guess the sixth sense was spot on." Naruto stated once he had recovered his breath.

Jiraiya nodded. They had felt that they were going to face an incredibly powerful opponent who would not be easy to defeat. The Sannin was sure that if he was alone, the chances of surviving would have been rather low. Not to say that they were doing any better now even though it was the two of them.

Things still looked bleak and they had to think of something fast or else they would only become worn, decreasing their chances of victory.

"I guess so." Jiraiya responded. "I never expected Nagato to have become this powerful though. It is almost scary. We haven't been able to deal any lasting damages to them."

Naruto nodded. "Did you notice it though? They seem to be able to dodge attacks when they are not looking… but when you look at it, one of them is always looking. It is quite possible that they have a shared link to their eyes. They do possess the same doujutsu after all."

Jiraiya frowned. "I've also realized that all these are dead shinobi I have met in the past and none of them is Nagato. However, I can confirm that Nagato was the one who wielded the Rinnegan. I don't really understand what is happening…"

"You called one of them Nagato since we met them but they have never disagreed with what you calling them Nagato. You've only trained Konan, Nagato and Yahiko, yet these others still call you sensei. Could it be that Nagato, who we can't see at the moment is the one controlling them?"

"A possibility but I don-"

An explosion tore through the tunnel, right behind the two. It had occurred unexpectedly and neither had sensed it. The force of the blast forced the two to slam into the other side of the tunnel on their fronts. Jiraiya sensed a path lunging through the hole created by the explosion and moved away.

Naruto made a split-second decision when he sensed the path: there was no time to summon a kunai or his sword. Besides, the path would notice other movements and he wasn't even sure if he was being watched by another path or not.

Naruto placed his index finger just above his left shoulder, and lined up his target as the Path's forehead.

"Extending Blade" The Uzumaki released his deadly jutsu through his shoulder. Within a second, a thin line of wind that matched the size of his finger pierced through the Path's forehead.

Jiraiya just had a sense that Naruto did something when he saw small bubbles of blood bursting on the back of the path's forehead.

The Toad Sage didn't waste a second to attack on the opportunity given to him. "Hair Needle!"

It was his fasted attack so he didn't have to worry about trying to cut the distance between him and the path.

Hair needles shot towards the path in blinding speed. The path was still caught up by Naruto's jutsu to do anything. The hair needles ended up piercing through its body, creating small holes that were not visible to the naked eye.

Blood stains became visible within seconds.

Naruto sensed something. He narrowed his eyes towards Jiraiya. "Behind you!"

The Sannin didn't have the time to react as another path appeared behind him out of nowhere. The path twisted clockwise with its right leg raised high. A powerful kick slammed on Jiraiya's back.

The kick forced the Sannin to fly over the path he had just attacked because of the power behind the kick.

Naruto response was lightning fast. He would not let the path take the one they had just defeated. Not when he knew there was a chance that it might be brought back to life.

The blond twisted anticlockwise whilst stabbing his right hand forward. He grabbed the path behind him by its cloak before dashing towards Jiraiya.

The Sannin had recovered his balance now and was speeding by Naruto's side, heading toward the end of the tunnel. Jiraiya looked at the path Naruto was dragging and asked. "Isn't it slowing you down?" He asked, knowing that there was a path chasing them from behind. They would not be able to get too far with the path chasing them like that. They couldn't even hide themselves.

"Doesn't matter." Naruto was quick to say. "The last time I killed one of them… the other fetched the corpse and the next time I saw it, it was back to life. I don't want to see something like that again."

Jiraiya simply nodded. He understood where Naruto was going with this. He wasn't going to allow one of them to get their hands on their kill. They had to turn it to ash to make sure that it wasn't revived. Surely even the Rinngean would not be able to revive something that had been turned to ashes.

When the two jumped out of the tunnel, they were welcomed by four missiles. Both had cursed as they had the same thought that if their suspicions were correct, the path behind them must have used its mission to coordinate with the others waiting at the end of the tunnel. It could tell when they were coming out and the launched an attack they would not be able to dodge.

The missiles exploded after seemingly hitting the two Konoha nins. There was a huge cloud of flames above the ground that burnt for a couple of moments. As it was still burning, both Jiraiya and Naruto suddenly began falling from it – Naruto was still holding the path they had killed.

The path wasn't in a good condition. Half of its body was missing. Naruto had used it as a shield when he saw he missiles. the blond was panting slightly as he dropped on both his knees, bruises all over his body. Jiraiya was next to land, on his knees as well; he too was panting slightly.

"At this point, I won't be able to enter Sage mode." The Sannin said. "They were not giving us a chance."

Naruto looked at the path they had killed carefully. At least they had managed to remove the one with the troublesome summons. As far as he could see, there summons were all gone. That was at least something good for them. There were just five left out and they were already starting to feel the effects of the battle.

Well, the man wasn't worshiped as a god for nothing. Looking at the paths, he could tell they could continue with the battle all day long. He could fight; he was an Uzumaki and above all a Jinchuriki. That was a good combination for him. The question Pain was asking wasn't one if endurance nevertheless: it was whether he could even survive the next minutes.

Naruto did a quick fire jutsu to incinerate the path on his left side. The flames lit around what remained of it.

"I see." Tendou stated as the remaining five gathered around him. "You have discovered one of our abilities, but not everything. Even so, it is meaningless before overwhelming power."

The only reason those two would risk carrying the Animal path was because they had figured out that he could revive it if its body remained. With things like this, he would have to get another body to replace the path he had lost.

"How are your wounds?" Jiraiya asked Naruto. To give them a chance to kill that path, Naruto was using some damaging jutsu to get the drop on the paths.

Naruto looked at his left hand: the Kyubi had already healed him. The wound on his left shoulder didn't matter much, it was a small one but it still pained him. "I will be fine." He responded calmly. "Our focus has to be on those five."

"I'm just making sure you're fine. You know, your mother will kill me if something happens to you…" The Sannin paused as a thought came to mind. "Besides, didn't you say that knocked up Sasuke's mother?" The Sannin said that with a grin despite their situation, he could still smile like that.

Naruto shook his head. "If you cannot enter Sage Mode, I must use the Kyubi's power. However, we must first get rid of the one that absorbs chakra. Assuming that each pain has a unique ability, I can let it loose without worrying about my chakra being absorbed."

The blond stood up and went through hand seals. "First, we break their formation and blind them. We have no choice to act at full speed; otherwise, we will not win this battle." The moment Naruto finished saying those words, crimson chakra started to bubble around him slowly. Three tails formed behind.

"I thought you were not going to use that power until we get rid of that pain." Jiraiya said. He knew that if Nagato absorbed that kind of chakra, it would be game over for them. It would have weakened Naruto while strengthening the enemy and that would not spell good news for them.

"I just need to use the chakra for the jutsu I'm going to use. I would rather not use my own chakra… "Use this chance to summon the Toads for your sage mode."

"A kiss of the Wind God"

When Naruto finished saying those words, Jiraiya noticed something; the wind around him was starting to change and he could see it visibly. But that wasn't the biggest change that even caught the pains attention; the biggest change started with the a violent vortex above the sky. The rotating winds started affecting the atmosphere in a deadly way.

The tall towers coming into contact with the rotating winds started to tear off as the winds pulled everything it came into contact with. The village may have been filled with large skyscrapers, but the monstrous beast that was in the sky let out a loud howl that caught the villagers' attention.

Tendou looked at the sky as the jutsu slowly descended. It was tearing through the structures around it, pulling the chunks of metal within it as it slowly fell upon them. He could see through his gut as it digested everything that it swallowed. IT didn't make him smile, this was just dangerous.

This was something one called a force of nature… yes, a natural disaster.

Boom!

As he was busy with his thoughts, the tower on his right exploded when it could no longer resist the violent call of the tornado. Tendou frowned as pieces of steel started falling down the ground. He no longer had any summons with him, and that wasn't something that could be absorbed. He could use Shinra Tensei, but for it to be effective, he would have to inside the jutsu.

As confident and powerful as he was, Nagato knew an attempt to do so was just suicidal. He was going to be ripped apart if he tried entering the jutsu.

Tendou's eyes widened when the vortex suddenly flashed down within a second. It had happened so fast… he was expecting it to come down slowly given its size and the fact that it could not be compared to a jutsu but a natural disaster. The other paths made a haste of escape to avoid being hit by the violent vortex of wind.

Boom!

There was a loud explosion that tore through the ground, it even shook the ground slightly. Large chunks of steel and earth was picked up, flying into all corners as the wind rotated dangerously. The tower that had exploded earlier came into contact with jutsu was literally ripped apart pieces by pieces as the jutsu wreaked havoc on the ground.

Knowing that the paths wouldn't be able to keep an eye on him due to the sudden movement on his jutsu. The powerful gusts of winds and the pieces of metal flying all over the place wouldn't make it easy for them to keep an eye on each other. Naruto had created the jutsu specifically because of its destructiveness. He reckoned he would be able to take the pain that absorbed chakra and maybe another one.

Before his jutsu slammed into ground, Naruto had already made his move, timing the Preta path. So when the pain leapt into the sides to avoid the deadly jutsu, the blond suddenly flashed behind it. He stabbed his blade forward, and it pierced through at the back of its neck before it could even do anything.

"Extending blade." Naruto released his jutsu and it pierced through its throat. He didn't stop there. He removed his blade before twisting around. A single slash weaved through the air, avoiding the gusts of winds around it and cut through the pain's neck, separating its head from the shoulders.

Before Naruto could do anything, there was another explosion much more powerful. The result of the shockwave slammed the Preta path right into him, sending him flying backwards.

Tendou had released a Shinra Tensei while at the centre of the jutsu. Remarkably, the centre had been a bit safe. He had to thank being hit by the jutsu to be able to enter the space. The jutsu he released blasted the winds to all sides, breaking its rotation. This forced the pieces of steel that were within the rotation to blast into all directions, some hitting other buildings around.

It was just chaos and Nagato had done so it stop the jutsu seeing that it wasn't going to stop before it swallowed everything.

However, the results of his jutsu were the pieces of steel flying into all directions. The Naraka path was caught up in the path of a steel pole. the pole pierced through its chest, forcing the path into a wall. It was hanged on the wall, with wall keeping it in place.

It took a couple of minutes for everything to calm down.

A bleeding Naruto was sitting on the ground legs stretched with is back pressed against a metal wall. He was breathing heavily, with his cloak shred to pieces. He had still managed to remove the pain he had attacked; however, he was not in a good condition because of the unexpected jutsu from Pain.

"You have done quite the damage to my village." Nagato said through Tendou. "I knew you were powerful, but I did not expect something like this. In any case, it seems that this is far as you can go…"

It had exceeded all expectations. He didn't think that the blond would be able to do something like this. There was still Jiraiya to worry about, but this was still something to applaud of the blond. He didn't have the fame that came with being powerful, but the god of peace had seen it today and would acknowledge.

The remaining paths gathered around the Deva path. The Asura path tore off its torn cloak and produced a massive chain saw. "Bansho Ten'in."

Naruto could do nothing as Tendou pulled him towards him, with the Asura standing in front with its weapon ready to pierce through him. The Uzumaki tried to resist by channelling chakra through his feet but Tendou only increased the power behind jutsu, quickly pulling the blond into the waiting blade of the Asura path.

The Asura path seemingly pierced through Naruto's chest, but the blond burst into a murder of crows.

"I see. This is different from what Itachi used to do. You use your jutsu like how Konan can turn her entire body into paper… You can turn your body into crows when you can longer avoid a jutsu…" Nagato stated through Tendou. "You really have an impressive Ninjutsu arsenal. Had you not been a Jinchuriki, you would be an ideal partner to the Akatsuki."

Tendou heard a chant and looked through one of the tunnels. "Jiraiya-sensei." He muttered calmly.

The Asura path's chainsaw was replaced by a bazooka cannon. The path held it firmly before firing a pale blue blast that sped through the air, heading towards the direction of the sound, Nagato was certain it was Jiraiya. The blast hit the tunnel, and exploded into flames, tearing through the metal tunnel.

A moment later, Jiraiya slammed into the ground. the Toad Sage literally crashed into the ground, lifting small amounts of debris. He was already on Sage Mode, with the Sage Toads on both his soldiers, hands clasped together.

Seeing the destruction around them, Fukasaku wanted to ask about the kind of battle they were fighting. A normal human could not cause this much destruction. Because he was focused on releasing the genjutsu Jiraiya had cried for them to cast the moment they were summoned, he could not ask.

"Magen: Gama Rinsho!" Once he was synchronised with Shima, the two released the demonic illusion. The sound based doujutsu trapped the three remaining paths in a powerful illusion they could not escape.

Jiraiya was finally able to sigh in relief when the genjutsu was a success.

"It looks like Minato-chan's son was caught within it." Fukasaku said seeing that the blond was within the range of the sound genjutsu.

Jiraiya shrugged carelessly. "Meh." The Sannin said. "He will be fine." The Toad sage said. "We should focus on handling those three."

"You just have to deliver the finishing blow, Jiraiya and hurry up, I want to go home and gather ingredients for tonight's dinner!" Shima shouted at the Sannin, even though her voice wasn't coming out effectively because of the genjutsu they had just released.

The Super pervert merely shook his head before walking over to the three paths – who could not move because they were trapped within their mind by the demonic illusion. The Toad Sage stabbed all of them through the chest before giving the order for both Fakusaku and Shima to release the jutsu.

Naruto blinked as he crashed onto the ground. He looked around until he saw Jiraiya. "What the hell was that?"

Jiraiya grinned. "The Sound of our victory…" he said happily. "Thanks you two. I think we can handle things from here." The Sannin said the toads who just nodded before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Jiraiya was walking towards Naruto but was halted by Konan who appeared above them ready to attack. "I never thought that you would be able to achieve this, Jiraiya-sensei."

The Sannin twisted around to face the blue haired woman. He smiled though, even though he knew that Konan was ready to attack them at any second. "Well, a master will always be the master… Konan." He said with a grin. His expression then turned serious as he spoke. "Where is Nagato? I want to talk to him."

"Considering what you two have done, I cannot let you do that, sensei. I must finish you off myself."

Jiraiya raised both his hands in surrendering. "I don't want to fight you, I don't want to fight, Nagato, Konan. We won this battle, and I just want to talk to him. I want to understand why things turned out this way. It is never too late, Konan. Please, just allow me to talk to him."

Konan wasn't going to allow herself to do that. Jiraiya had shown that he was willing to kill them, as Nagato had been willing to kill the Sannin. Besides, they still needed the Kyubi's Jinchuriki for the Kyubi.

Nagato spoke through the Naraka path, which was still pinned into a wall. "It is alright Konan. They won… as long as it is just to talk, you can lead them to me."

"Are you sure, Nagato?"

"Don't be like that, Konan." Jiraiya's mood had flipped once more. "I'm your sensei… surely you can trust me. Was I ever dishonest with you guys?"

Since Nagato had said it was fine, Konan nodded. She didn't say anything to them. She just turned around without saying anything that they would follow her.

Jiraiya faced Naruto for a moment before turning around. "If you don't want to follow, you can stay here and I will fetch you after I'm done talking to Nagato."

"You know we would not have won this battle had I not pulled my weight." Naruto said as he stood up. He could live another day. He needed a good rest though. The blond tested his muscles for a bit before walking towards Jiraiya.

A couple of minutes later

"It has been long, Jiraiya-sensei." Nagato said as soon as the Toad Sage walked into his presence along with Naruto and Konan.

It was still a surprise that he had lost in his battle against the two, but it happened. They had been stronger than anticipated and he couldn't have thought that Naruto would prove as decisive as he had was. Well, 'Madara' had said that he should be wary of the blond.

Jiraiya looked at Nagato, surprised to see his current state. The mechanical walker and the rods behind him. It was something that he didn't expect. He was expecting to see Nagato with the full use of his legs and every part of his body as Konan was still in fine shape.

Could this have something to do with how things turned out with them?

"What happened to you, Nagato?" Jiraiya asked. He could get the other things out of the way later; he just wanted to know what had happened to the kind and gentle Nagato he had trained long ago.

Nagato looked at Konan for a moment before turning his eyes towards Naruto. The blond didn't appear to be armed to attack him, neither did Jiraiya. Perhaps they just wanted to talk to him. But was there really anything to talk about? Even so, if they attempted anything, Konan would react and he wasn't going to give out so easily.

"You don't know what happened with us, sensei. I guess I should tell you." Nagato said. "We followed your teachings and started the Akatsuki with Yahiko as our leader. We were doing good and gained many followers and allies in our mission to unite this land. We even gained Hanzo's acknowledgement. We were happy thinking that we were finally doing something for Hanzo to acknowledge us.

"We realized that it was naïve of us to think that Hanzo would really acknowledge us. And that was the mistake we made. In thinking that we were going to start something with him, Hanzo betrayed us along with Danzo of your village. Because of this betrayal, Yahiko died and I was left in this condition.

"The pain I experienced forced me to grow and throw away my childish dreams. The Akatsuki could not change anything as it was. I have already told you that the pain I felt forced me to mature. Our dream is to stop the cycle of hatred through pain. This world is in constant conflicts, shinobi always betray each other, and the hatred never stops."

Jiraiya was silent for a long minute, thinking about what Nagato had really said. "Did you really think that you could bring peace by teaching the world, pain?"

Nagato stared at the man. Was he being rhetoric? If he didn't believe that he could change people through teaching them pain, he wouldn't have even started on this journey.

Jiraiya shook his head, realizing that he had asked a stupid question. "Nagato, as your sensei, I am really disappointed that you turned out this way. For some time, I had thought that you would be the child of prophecy because of those eyes. Even in your current state, you still displayed so much power. Without Naruto, we wouldn't have won the fight, and if you were in better shape, you would have won the battle.

"You wield great power Nagato and I believe that it is for a purpose. It is not too late to change and use your power for good, Nagato. I won't tell anyone about your identity, you can still go back Nagato!" Jiraiya more or less pleaded.

"There is no going back, sensei. This is the only path to peace."

"I believe there is another way to find peace, Nagato."

"You have not found that answer, sensei. Can you really say that you will ever find it? Can you really say that there is another way to stop the hatred?"

It was at this moment that Naruto finally found his voice. "I understand why the Kyubi did not want to tell me about this thing. Nagato, what do you call the statue you use to seal the Bijuus?"

Nagato blinked. The Uzumaki was taking them away from the conversation he was having with his sensei. But it was an important question nevertheless. Nagato didn't find any reason to hide the truth. It wasn't like it was going to change anything and they were being civil here.

"The Gedo Mazo. Only the Rinnegan can control it, but I would be lying if I say I know everything about it."

Naruto frowned. "How did you know about it?"

"I was told of it by 'Madara'. He is the one who told me a lot of things about the Rinnegan."

'Kyubi, you and I will have a good talk soon; You will tell me what you know. I will not hesitate to get inside your head to get the information.' Naruto said mentally before responding to Nagato. "Madara is dead. I'm sure you're talking about that masked Uchiha. In any case, I'm sure he has his own agenda as well. You're not stupid, you should know that as well.

"While I cannot say that my desire is peace, I want a more 'light' world that isn't dominated by hatred and the wrongs of men. Your power will be useful in achieving that dream. I'm sure we can work together…" the blond said turning away. "Ah, I will return shortly. I must murder that masked Uchiha for what he did. I'm sure he will make an appearance once he notes something is wrong. I will talk to you in Konoha, Jiraiya. I still have personal things to sort out."

Jiraiya was quick to try to stop Naruto. "We still haven't had our talk. I was really looking forward to it."

"Talking to your former students is much more important. If you can pull of a win, I will appreciate it. You want to use the chance to get closer to me, but I have always told you, I don't hate you…" Naruto disappeared along a silent breeze.

"Your student?" Nagato asked.

"Something like that. I did train him a bit but he doesn't acknowledge me as his sensei." Jiraiya said with a pout.

"He isn't like you, sensei. I get the feeling if he was one of us, he would be fighting to the bone for our cause." Nagato said calmly.

"You don't know how correct you are." Jiraiya said with a thin smile. "Naruto has some darkness in him, it is frightening. And considering what he just pulled from the sky earlier, I have one more reason to be afraid." The Sannin paused before adding. "You can say that if he had lost his mother, he would have become something even scarier than you. Though, I don't think I will ever fight someone as powerful as you, Nagato."

"If you say such things about him, why does he say he wishes for peace?"

"Because he wants that kind of world… Only he can tell you the real reasons, but he truly does want a kinder world. I don't think I have seen anyone who hates how humans live more than him. He understands how people think and operate. Therefore, I will tell that if you talk to him, you can achieve your dream, Nagato."

"…With a person who can't let go of his anger?"

"I told you, Nagato, he isn't a nice person. I think he is just afraid of turning 'evil'. Naruto still has his mother… that is like Yahiko to you."

Dang… I only noticed that the whole Amegakure thing took the whole chapter after I was done with it. I'd started the chapter with scenes in the Hidden Leaf, doing all whole reaction to news thing, but I ended up taking the whole chapter in the battle against pain. The whole chapter ended up taking up to 17k words. Because of this, I was forced to remove the Konoha scenes and put them into chapter 30.

I believe I'd told some of you that things would happen in this chapter with regards to the pregnancy thing… apologies, you will have to wait for the next chapter to see the reactions.

In any case, I hope the chapter wasn't a disappointment.

The Omnipresent Sage