For hours Naruto had been wandering aimlessly around the village, trying to push his thoughts away. Gradually, he moved away from the central area and arrived in a quieter neighborhood, where he was approached by some acquaintances who expressed their condolences for Naruto's recent loss.
Naruto couldn't find words to thank them for their condolences and replied in a dry and objective manner, without trying to mask his sadness with a fake smile.
Although he didn't want to seem ungrateful or rude, Naruto knew he didn't have the energy to pretend to be okay when he was actually devastated by the pain. He preferred to deal with his feelings without pretending to be something he wasn't, even if it meant being misunderstood or seen as distant by others.
Naruto felt his frustration bubbling inside him. He knew he couldn't go on like this, feeling trapped and unable to act. With a sudden movement, he slapped each side of his face with his hands, making a loud snap that echoed through the air.
The people around him looked at him in surprise, but Naruto didn't care. He needed to act, needed to do something to change his situation. With a high jump, he started leaping across rooftops, heading towards the Hokage's office.
The wind blew in his face, shaking his blonde hair as he jumped from one rooftop to another.
Upon entering the office. Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru, Fukasaku, Sakura, and Shiho were all there. Tsunade, the Hokage of Konoha, was the first to speak, surprising Naruto.
"You were right," she said, even before Naruto had a chance to say anything. Naruto smiled in response, knowing that Tsunade was referring to the message left by Jiraiya.
"Of course I was right," Naruto replied rhetorically.
Tsunade praised Naruto's ability but soon became worried again. "We still don't know exactly what this means," she said with a sigh.
Naruto, on the other hand, was confident in his discoveries. "Oba-chan, don't you get it?" he looked straight at her, ignoring everyone else in the room.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow, curious. "What should I understand, Naruto?"
"You met Nagato, right?" Naruto asked, referring to the leader of Akatsuki.
"Yes, I did. It was a long time ago, but I still remember," Tsunade replied.
"Then you know who Nagato is," Naruto continued. "That makes everything easier. Nagato is the one who controls all the other six Pains, dattebayo!"
"What!?" Naruto's words were like a bomb in the Hokage's room, surprising everyone present. Tsunade slammed the table hard, almost breaking it. They knew the situation was serious and that something needed to be done to stop Nagato and his evil plans.
"Tsunade-sama!" Kakashi called her attention, fearing that she might break the table with such force. Sakura, on the other hand, looked at Naruto with admiration, almost thinking she was hallucinating.
Everything seemed so obvious now, how had they not realized it before? Even Fukasaku was looking at Naruto with a strange glow in his toad eyes.
Shikamaru, despite his laziness, used his brain a lot this time, but even he had not thought of something so simple. He felt frustrated.
"Nagato was a red-haired boy...", Tsunade sighed slowly. "Thinking back, his bangs always covered his eyes, so I never got to see his eyes."
"But then..." she thought about the records and portraits of all the Pains, and among them was the other boy. "If I'm not mistaken, Jiraiya told me his name is Yahiko."
"I believe that..." Naruto spoke slowly. "If this Yahiko died, Nagato turned him into something like a puppet, something similar to the puppets of the Village of the Sand."
Tsunade was astonished by the possibility. "Is that possible?" she asked.
Not only Tsunade, but everyone in the office was looking at Naruto as if he were an aberration. After all, even the intelligence of the village had not discovered this theory before. Their foundation was even more flawed than Naruto's. It was highly possible that his theory was correct.
"We don't know all the powers of the Rinnegan, we only know it is highly powerful," murmured Kakashi.
"Yes, that's precisely why it's possible that these six puppets were created by the power of the Rinnegan and Nagato is hiding somewhere controlling all of them!" gasped Shikamaru with difficulty.
"Naruto..." Sakura looked at him with complicated feelings. She couldn't understand how Naruto became so intelligent.
Shiho's eyes shone intensely. She wanted to talk more with Naruto, discover more about him, how he came to this kind of understanding, and how he was able to create such a theory.
"All the pieces fit," Tsunade breathed heavily as she muttered. "Now it all makes sense. That's why Pain is immortal, since from the beginning, his six are just puppets."
"That reminds me, Tsunade-sama," said Kakashi. "The captured Pain had that black thing attached to his body. Do you think..."
"Yes, it's possible. I just thought of that now!" Tsunade felt foolish for not thinking of it before. It was right in front of their eyes. How could they not figure it out?
"Sometimes what's right under our noses is what makes it harder to see," Fukasaku said, making everyone there nod silently. After all, sometimes the solution to a great mystery can be right in front of us, but we just can't see it.
Naruto knew he was risking a lot by saying all that. He was saying things he normally wouldn't say and understanding things he shouldn't understand. But he couldn't just let Nagato get away with it. He didn't even want to think about the consequences of Nagato's actions.
He knew very well that his actions could cause significant changes, but that didn't matter. If there were no changes, what would be the point of his existence in this world? The memories of a past life would have no value if nothing could be changed. After all, nothing is immutable from the beginning. And if there were no possible changes, would free will still exist?
But he didn't want to think about that now. His only concern was to do his part and prevent the tragedy caused by Nagato. Although he couldn't change the fact that Jiraiya had died, he could still make other changes from now on.
"Naruto-chan, do you want to come with me?" Fukasaku suddenly said, breaking the tense silence that hung in the room.
Naruto pretended not to understand, but he knew exactly what it was about. He couldn't just accept it, after all, he was risking too much.
"Do you want to train in Senjutsu under my supervision?" Fukasaku asked calmly.
Kakashi immediately spoke up, supporting the idea: "Naruto learning Senjutsu. This is a great idea."
Naruto asked, "What is Senjutsu? Is this something that will be useful to me?"
"Yes," replied Kakashi: "Senjutsu is something that only Jiraiya-sama was able to use in Konoha."
Tsunade, who was still shaken by Jiraiya's death, agreed with Kakashi and added, "Even though Jiraya used Senjutsu and summoned Fukasaku-sama and Shima-sama, Pain managed to defeat him. But now, with the information we have, we can deduce that Nagato is the one controlling all the Pains."
Shikamaru nodded, "But we still don't know how powerful he is as the main body."
Tsunade agreed again, "At the moment, no one in Konoha is capable of defeating Nagato."
Fukasaku sighed deeply, expressing his frustration, "I would also like to avenge my student Jiraiya-chan. Now I believe that the only one capable of doing so is you, Naruto-chan."
Even though he was expecting it, Naruto was surprised. He had basically solved an entire mystery and never imagined he would be able to go to Mount Myoboku and learn Senjutsu.
Fukasaku's voice was hoarse and choked when he asked, "Do you want to avenge Jiraiya-chan's death, don't you?"
"Of course I do - Dattebayo!" Naruto replied with determination.
"Then come with me!" Fukasaku said firmly, "I will teach you Senjutsu on Mount Myoboku. Everything I did with Jiraiya-chan, I will do with you, Naruto-chan."
Naruto nodded firmly, "As long as it makes me able to defeat Nagato, I will go."
"As for that, it purely depends on you." Fukasaku looked at Tsunade, "All right, right, Tsunade?"
She promptly replied, looking at Naruto with her fingers intertwined, "Go, Naruto, we trust you!"
Fukasaku warned, "Senjutsu training is more rigorous than you can imagine. Are you prepared?"
"Yes - Dattebayo!" Naruto replied with more determination than ever.
With that, Naruto set off on his journey to Mount Myoboku, accompanied by Fukasaku.
My discord: zzfx3r6Bmf