Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 426 A Safe "Home"

Chapter 426 A Safe "Home"

"The Nine-Tails." The six Pains' gazes focused on one person. The puppet body was one of Pain's greatest secrets; as long as the opponent couldn't find the real body, even the annihilation of all six wouldn't matter. Oh, but the Heavenly Path still had to be protected; that was Nagato's bottom line.

Since Akatsuki officially began its operations, they haven't actually captured a single Jinchuriki. The only Tailed Beast they've successfully captured is the Three-Tails, but that was only because the Three-Tails had been hiding in a remote lake, completely unnoticed by the Five Great Nations. And the reason for these repeated failures seems to be subtly pointing to one person.

“I also studied jutsu under Jiraiya-sensei, so I’m your senior. As a fellow student, you should be able to understand my philosophy.” Pain, who looked most like Yahiko, suddenly started playing the emotional card, but it wasn’t because he had a change of heart; he wanted to find out more important information.

"Only after suffering can the world grow again, and the Jinchuriki will give their lives for peace."

"Naruto, where did they go?"

Jiraiya never expected Nagato to ask such a strange question, especially not to Naruto! What did this mean? Had all of Akatsuki's capture operations so far failed? Did they think the Jinchuriki they had captured were actually...?

"Understand you? Understand what?" Naruto completely ignored Pain's question, instead raising his head and speaking in a stern tone that Jiraiya had never heard before: "The 'pain' you speak of is instantaneous destruction, but rebuilding from the ruins requires the efforts of countless people, and the manpower and resources invested will inevitably affect the lives of one or even several generations. You casually discard 'pain,' yet countless people at the bottom of society have to pay the price!"

Naruto's eyes gradually turned golden, bright and resolute, carrying an unwavering belief.

"Senior Brother Changmen, I don't understand. You call yourself a god, looking down upon the world as a god, but is what you see all of it?"

"You only see what you want to see."

Jiraiya originally thought that after confronting Nagato, it would be a tough battle, or at least they would have to spar to test each other's strength. However, Naruto grabbed him the moment Naruto moved, and in the blink of an eye, they were already in Naruto's small house in Konoha.

"What are you doing! This is such a good opportunity!" Jiraiya was shocked. This was the first time he had seen Naruto choose to run away decisively. Wasn't he usually so stubborn that he would just charge straight in?

"In order to reduce the leakage of chakra, this clone only has the chakra to send you to Konoha." Naruto said righteously, "There are six people on the other side. Even if they are all controlled by Nagato, they still have an absolute numerical advantage. Why do you want to fight one-on-one?"

"That's all because of you, you brat!" Jiraiya was furious, but he couldn't bear to scold Naruto. After all, his judgment was correct; without Naruto, he might...

Shima couldn't listen anymore. Once they reached a safe place, the two sages jumped off Jiraiya's shoulders and then decisively betrayed him by climbing onto Naruto's shoulders. "Little Naruto is right. Life is the most important thing. We can talk about the information next time."

"But after this infiltration, they certainly won't sit idly by. They'll most likely take advantage of the fact that Konoha doesn't have all the intelligence yet to invade directly!"

“Fighting from headquarters is better than fighting alone on the road.” Naruto remained unmoved. “Anyway, you’re already back, so there’s no point in saying anything now. Let’s gather the latest intelligence as soon as possible.”

"Little Jiraiya, Naruto is just worried about your safety. Without him, you might have been seriously injured. Why are you arguing? Let's rest for a while and then sort out the information we have so far."

When it comes to important matters, Jiraiya can be a bit old-fashioned and stubborn, but fortunately, both sages are on Naruto's side, which quickly calms Jiraiya down from his emotional outburst.

From the moment the first Pain appeared, Jiraiya thought he was fighting Nagato the whole time. But at the very end, Yahiko, with his Rinnegan, also appeared. His first reaction was that it was a dark, murderous force, which is why he was so furious. But Naruto quickly pointed out the secret of the other side, and he realized that of the three children, only Yahiko had not grown up.

Then came Pain's strange questions and Naruto's evasive retorts, suggesting that both sides were hiding secrets from their master.

"Naruto, tell me the truth, do you know the whereabouts of the Jinchuriki from various countries?" Jiraiya had never faced this child with such sharp intimidation. He was unwilling, but he had no choice but to do so. Akatsuki was determined to obtain the Jinchuriki, and Naruto himself was a Jinchuriki. If he were to secretly harbor Jinchuriki from other countries, no one knew how the ninja world would treat him.

The blond boy flashed a rare, spirited smile typical of young people, and then simply vanished.

He wasn't lying; this clone was indeed only enough to take Jiraiya home.

At the same time, Jinlun, sitting in his office, looked up. He heard the sound of the membranous wings vibrating; that exceptionally lively girl was up to her old tricks again.

"Ta-da!! Chongming brand flying courier at your service! Your documents have arrived, please check!" Fu knocked on the window, revealing a bright smile.

"Thank you for your hard work, Fu. You've improved. Remember to knock on the window this time." Jinlun walked to the window and took the package quite naturally, showing that he was already used to this kind of scene.

Fu awkwardly shifted her gaze, pretending to be busy, "Ah, I need to deliver the next package as soon as possible, so, Lord Jinlun, I'll be going now!"

"Go ahead and give my regards to Miss Yukito."

"no problem!"

Not long after Fufei left, a strong chakra reaction suddenly appeared in a pre-arranged area. Jinlun calmly put down the documents, turned around, and moved to another location. This was still within the Hokushinaga area, in the courtyard of the intelligence department building. Izuna and Tobirama were there, of course, along with a man and a woman dressed in very distinctive attire who were getting up from the ground.

"They actually brought two people back with them." Izuna stood with his arms crossed and teased, "Lovers?"

The thin man, whose chest was almost completely exposed, glared at him and said reluctantly, "We are master and disciple."

The girl he was shielding behind him had her eyes shining, seemingly very surprised by the answer.

"Oh, master and disciple~" Izuna's tone was still the same, and his smile was even brighter. It was only when Tobirama pressed down on his shoulder that he stopped the rest of his words.

"This is the safe base I promised you. Our leader is over there. Talk to him."