Hokage: Ryo's Path

Amegakure was an extremely remote village. It gave off a nuance of Kirigakure during the blood mist period. It’s difficult for ordinary people to make their way into the village, but not for Jiraiya.

Jiraiya hid the toad and entered Amegakure easily. But Jiraiya didn’t know that when he stepped into Amegakure, inside the highest tower in the village center, Nagato sensed his existence through the rain.

“Konan, we have guests here.”

“Guest? Don’t you mean intruder?”

Nagato nodded, “Well, they have very strong Chakra. I will stop Ukojizai no Jutsu for a moment, and you go find the intruder.”

Konan nodded.

After Nagato stopped his technique, Konan created countless paper butterflies and flew them away across Amegakure.

.......

After Jiraiya successfully infiltrated Amegakure, he disguised as a traveling writer strolling around Amegakure, gathering information from villagers. But, even after his hard work, Jiraiya could only gather a little information. The most information he made was about Pain and the Angel.

Jiraiya decided to shift his target to the Ninjas. Just when he was drinking wine, he saw a letter from the family of the girl who happened to be drinking wine too. So, Jiraiya decided to start with them.

He caught two Ninjas and made them spill Pain’s whereabouts. Jiraiya then decided to go directly to the tower in the center of Amegakure.

Jiraiya didn’t know that everything he did was seen by Konan’s paper Body Clone.

.......

“Nagato, the intruder identity is Jiraiya-sensei.”

“Jiraiya-sensei? It’s been a long time.”

“What should I do?”

“Jiraiya sensei won’t be on our side, so let’s kill him. I’ll send this body to deal with him.” Nagato’s tone was as cold as ice, without the slightest emotion.

Konan hesitated but nodded and said, “I understand, I’ll guide you. I will hold Jiraiya-sensei back until you arrive.”

“If you can kill him, just kill him already.”

Konan didn’t say anything. All her pieces of paper were moved towards the bottom of the tower.

......

Jiraiya, now controlling one of Amegakure’s Ninjas, walked inside the high tower. As he was about to make a move, countless pieces of paper fell from the sky and blocked him. The paper attached itself to a Ninja that was controlled by Jiraiya. The Ninja immediately lost his ability to move.

The pieces of paper slowly piled up into the shape of Konan. Konan made a shape of a cone from the papers and pierced the Ninja’s heart.

Jiraiya, who didn’t want this Ninja to be killed, came out of the shadow and burned Konan’s paper with Katon. Jiraiya looked at the familiar yet strange eyes of the woman in front of him. He remembered her.

“Konan, I haven’t seen you for so many years, you have grown into a beautiful woman.”

“Angel-sama!” Amegakure Ninja, controlled by Jiraiya, was very surprised to see Konan.

“Hide.” Konan said lightly.

The Ninja, hearing this, immediately jumped off the high platform and left.

“Jiraiya-sensei, in return for what you taught us, please leave now! If you leave now, I’ll pretend i didn’t see anything.”

Jiraiya laughed and said, “Haha! Konan, you are joking, aren’t you?”

“Sensei, I see you’re still as stubborn as ever.”

After saying that, countless pieces of paper behind Konan converged into a pair of wings. She waved her wings and shot sharp blade-like-paper towards Jiraiya.

“You look like an Angel, but Angel doesn’t hurt people with its feathers. KATON – FLAME BULLET!” Jiraiya’s Katon instantly burned the paper to ashes.

When the two confronted each other, Jiraiya found that Konan’s Paper Technique had much more power than he thought, and his flame was quickly suppressed.

Seeing the piece of paper in front of himself, Jiraiya’s eyes narrowed, and he ducked to the right while the toad was spitting oil out from its mouth.

Konan was affected by the toad’s oil. She lost her mobility because the paper pieces couldn’t be split.

Jiraiya stretched his hair around Konan and asked, “Who is Pain? Is it Nagato?”

Konan didn’t answer Jiraiya’s question because Chikushōdō is already here. Chikushōdō summoned a giant Crab that immediately spitted out a lot of foam-like bubbles. Then it waved its claw to attack Jiraiya.

Jiraiya had no choice but to retrieve his hair. The white foam of the crab washed the oil off Konan’s body.

Jiraiya killed the giant crab in one shot and then tied Chikushōdō with his extended hair again.

Jiraiya, who looked at Chikushōdō, said, “As expected. Are you Pain, Nagato? What happened? What about Yahiko?”

Hearing Yahiko’s name, Chikushōdō just said, “There used to be a guy with that name, but unfortunately he is dead now.”

“Dead? Yahiko is ... what about you? What is your purpose?” Jiraiya continued to ask.

“Purpose? Of course it’s peace.”

Jiraiya snorted coldly, “Hmph! Can you say that capturing Bijuu is for peace? Stop joking. Which one of your actions now can you consider for peace?”

“Jiraiya-sensei, we captured Bijuu for peace. With the Shinobi World War continuing, our purpose of capturing Bijuu is to use Bijuu to make a weapon with huge destructive power, which can destroy a population of hundreds of millions in an instant. “

“How in the world that such a thing could bring peace!”

Chikushōdō ignored Jiraiya and continued, “We will sell this weapon to each Great Country. Once a Great Country uses this weapon and destroys a country, the World will feel the Pain. The rest of the Great Country will be disgusted with war because of its fear of such weapons...

...The countries with such weapons will restrain each other, and no one dares to act blindly without thinking. People who feel the Pain will also be against the war from the bottom of their hearts so that peace will come. This World is still a child. You can only grow up through the Pain. Do you understand, Jiraiya-sensei?”

Jiraiya didn’t understand any of Nagato’s words. Nagato’s idea was completely different from the philosophy he has always pursued.

........

Yamanaka Ryo was hidden in time and space, knowing Nagato’s good intention in what he said. Because in Ryo’s World, each country was restrained by nuclear weapons and had achieved relatively peaceful cause through mutual fear.

But in Ninja World, Yamanaka Ryo didn’t want this kind of peace. He wanted a world where everyone understands each other, as Jiraiya thinks.

Therefore, even if Rinnegan had the strength to push that philosophy into the entire Ninja World, Yamanaka Ryo chose not to do that. He didn’t want to marry Pakura in that kind of situation.

He hopes that he and Pakura’s wedding will be blessed by the Ninja World.