Chapter 169: Jiraiya's Whereabouts

Other ninja villages may not have had such tragic death rates exceeding ninety percent as Konoha, but their death rates were definitely over fifty percent, with some even approaching an average of seventy percent.

Ninja World Wars occur on average every ten years or so; it is said that the brutality of the first two Ninja World Wars was even worse, and after the wars, the total number of ninja in the Five Great Shinobi Villages combined was less than 10,000.

In Uchiha Feiyu's view, this death rate was far more ruthless than his own harvesting of leeks; even when he harvested, he would at least leave thirty percent of the ninja behind to allow the ninja village to recover quickly, but these people were aiming to pull them up by the roots!

Hearing Uchiha Feiyu's words, Pakura's face flushed slightly, and she then retorted:

"But no matter what, the Ninja World War is still different from the... harvesting of leeks you speak of!"

Uchiha Feiyu chuckled; in his eyes, a Ninja World War that had gone on for so many years without any change was really not as good as harvesting leeks!

However, he did not explain much to Pakura, only speaking indifferently:

"If you think it's different, then it's different! But don't drop the ball when the time comes."

Pakura bit her lip, looked helplessly at Uchiha Feiyu, and sighed:

"I know, don't worry! I was just complaining a little."

Nodding, Uchiha Feiyu still trusted his ability to control his Cauldron, and then he proceeded to tell Pakura what had just happened in Konoha.

"Jiraiya? The Great Toad Sage? Does the ability to prophesy really exist in this world?"

After hearing Uchiha Feiyu's account, a look of surprise appeared on Pakura's face, and she asked.

"A purely perfect prophetic ability certainly does not exist, but seeing some possibility of the future in a dream should still be possible."

"Moreover, this kind of possibility should be fragmented and changeable; otherwise, the so-called prophetic ability would be meaningless."

"It is just a toad that has lived a bit longer, not some living Saint; why would you think it has no selfish motives?"

"It's not Jiraiya; I estimate that even a guy like Jiraiya doesn't know the specific location of Mount Myoboku, and he likely enters and exits via the Summoning Technique every time."

After listening, Uchiha Feiyu directly covered his head and shook it:

Uchiha Feiyu spoke his guess; calling it a guess, in his heart, it was not much different from the truth.

After hearing Uchiha Feiyu's words, Pakura hesitated for a moment, finally gritted her teeth and asked a question, and before Uchiha Feiyu could answer, she added another sentence:

"Even, even if you, Feiyu, want to destroy the world, we will always stand on your side!"

Although Jiraiya gets along quite well in Mount Myoboku, under normal circumstances, if there is nothing going on, the toads of Mount Myoboku would not directly tell him where Mount Myoboku is located.

"So... Feiyu, you mean to start with Jiraiya?"

He was still preparing to carry out some sustainable development; if he destroyed the world directly, wouldn't that be equivalent to overturning the entire vegetable garden?

"Then the Great Toad Sage's prophecy..."

"What are you thinking about? Even if I were a great demon, I couldn't possibly destroy the world for no reason! Such a thing would only harm my own interests."

"Most importantly, this group of toads has Mount Myoboku as their base, which can be described as being able to attack and retreat; unless we find Mount Myoboku directly, it is very difficult to pull them out by the roots."

If the Great Toad Sage's prophecy were truly one hundred percent certain to come true, then Jiraiya wouldn't need to go around the world looking for the Child of Prophecy; anyway, according to the prophecy, the Child of Prophecy would definitely become his apprentice, so couldn't he just wait slowly in Konoha for the Child of Prophecy to come and apprentice himself?

"That... Feiyu, will you really destroy the Ninja World in the future?"

With Jiraiya's personality, he shouldn't take the initiative to inquire about the location of Mount Myoboku, unless the toads of Mount Myoboku told him voluntarily.

"Pakura, you wouldn't really take the so-called Great Toad Sage as some kind of savior, would you!"

Seeing that Pakura had figured it out, Uchiha Feiyu gave instructions:

Hearing this, Pakura suddenly realized; she had initially been misled by the title of Sage of Mount Myoboku, truly thinking the other party was an otherworldly Immortal with no desires, but now she reacted, realizing the other party was just a Summoned Beast faction.

The so-called Destroyer of the World was just a label slapped on him because they discovered the threat of Uchiha Feiyu.

"The strength of Mount Myoboku is not weak; even without counting the Great Toad Sage, the strength of the toads that have appeared in the Ninja World alone is not weaker than a Great Ninja Village."

"I cannot do the work of destroying the world, but destroying Mount Myoboku is a matter of course for me; in this situation, giving me the title of Destroyer of the World is the most normal thing in the world for this Great Toad Sage!"

Uchiha Feiyu chuckled and said in a low voice:

Uchiha Feiyu even doubted that the Flying Thunder God Technique might not necessarily be able to enter Mount Myoboku; the Great Toad Sage had lived for so many years, and that whole nest of toads had hardly been discovered by the outside world, so the Barrier of Mount Myoboku must have been designed perfectly, and ordinary Space-Time Ninjutsu might not necessarily be able to get in.

For one, most of the toads in Mount Myoboku themselves don't know where Mount Myoboku is, and for another, with the Summoning Technique for coming and going, Jiraiya has no need to know this.

"Then Feiyu, what do you plan to do?"

Hearing this, Pakura frowned and said:

"Since that Great Toad Sage has the ability to prophesy, it must have been on guard against you for a long time; I fear it will be even less likely to easily expose the coordinates of Mount Myoboku in the future."

"It doesn't matter; the Soul of the Ninja World has no secrets to me; as long as I take out certain more important toads, I can naturally obtain the coordinates of Mount Myoboku from their souls!"

Uchiha Feiyu did not care; even if the ordinary toads of Mount Myoboku didn't know the coordinates of Mount Myoboku, at least those two Toad Sages definitely knew.

Jiraiya's Sage Mode requires the help of two Toad Sages; as long as he is forced into a desperate situation, he will naturally summon those two toads out.

At that time, Uchiha Feiyu only needs to kill one of the Toad Sages and seize its Soul, and he can find the location of Mount Myoboku.

Uchiha Feiyu had already made his plan, but what surprised him a little was that Jiraiya had had no news since leaving Konoha; three full months had passed, and in the end, he had not appeared in the Land of Wind.

Regarding this, Uchiha Feiyu had no way; he was too lazy to hunt down Jiraiya to avoid alerting the enemy and exposing his relationship with Tsunade, so he could only wait quietly in Sunagakure.

Where had Jiraiya gone during this time?

Time returns to a few months ago, Land of Rain, Akatsuki organization base.

The Land of Rain is known as the weeping country; in reality, this country has a lot of rain, and at least 300 days out of 365 days a year are under a curtain of rain.

The long-term rain created a harsh natural environment; every inch of land here is wet when stepped on, as if it were a sponge soaked with water, and the seeping rainwater can easily fill one's shoes.

"It really is terrible weather... when will this drizzling rain ever stop?"

The tall man with a head of white hair looked up at the dark clouds in the sky and sighed softly.

"The weather in the Land of Rain has always been like this, which is also the most important reason why the development of this country is limited... Lord Hanzo of that time saw this point, and coupled with not wanting to become a buffer zone for the wars of the great nations, he declared war on several countries at the same time."

"Teacher, although I do not agree with Lord Hanzo's approach, I also admit that he is the hero of our Land of Rain."

The one speaking was a young man with orange hair; although he was talking about a heavy topic, the young man had a light smile on his face, and his eyes seemed to flash with the light of hope.

"Ha... that guy Hanzo, from the perspective of the Land of Rain, can indeed be called a hero."

The tall white-haired man, Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin, shrugged his shoulders, as if recalling the scene when he fought that Demigod of the Ninja World.

This white-haired man is Jiraiya, so the one talking to him and calling him teacher is naturally his disciple, Yahiko.

Come to think of it, Yahiko being able to save his life was thanks to Uchiha Feiyu, who successively took down Danzō and Madara Uchiha; as for the masterminds behind the entire Ninja World, only a small fraction of Black Zetsu remains, having fled.

Without this group of troublemakers and masterminds stirring up trouble, Hanzo of the Salamander might still harbor suspicions toward the Akatsuki, but he is not in such a rush to make a move on the trio, which is why Yahiko has been able to live until now.

It is also fortunate that Hanzo of the Salamander did not take action; otherwise, the trio would likely have been doomed this time.

Because Uchiha Feiyu has already completely absorbed the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, even if Nagato wanted to summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path now, he would be unable to do so at all. If that kind of ambush by Hanzo of the Salamander were to happen again, Nagato wouldn't even be able to power up if he wanted to.

"By the way, Teacher Jiraiya, is there something you need by coming to find us?"

Hearing Yahiko's question, the expression on Jiraiya's face stiffened slightly, and he sighed:

"Am I that obvious? Even you, Yahiko, could tell!"

Yahiko just smiled lightly and didn't say anything more; after all, he is no longer the child he was back then, but the leader of the second-largest organization in the Land of Rain.

Although his personality is a bit naive, being able to develop the Akatsuki to its current level in the Land of Rain itself shows that Yahiko is only naive, not stupid.

Toward Jiraiya, Yahiko naturally feels full of gratitude, but at the same time, beyond that gratitude, he is also very clear that this teacher of his ultimately has his own stance and is not entirely on the same path as him.

The Akatsuki, which has always pursued peace, and the Konoha, which can be called the hegemon of the world, ultimately have no small amount of conflict; even if Konoha has never shown any strong aggression, Yahiko would still worry that the overly powerful Konoha would wantonly interfere with the operation of the Akatsuki.

Not to mention... there is also Nagato's Rinnegan!

The Rinnegan is of great importance; even when they were young, Jiraiya had countless opportunities to take the Rinnegan away but never did, and even taught the three of them ninjutsu, but that was many years ago after all. Who knows if the current Jiraiya might have other ideas?

It is fortunate that the one who came is Jiraiya, as Yahiko still has some trust in him; if it were a ninja from any other Great Ninja Village, he would probably have already prepared for battle by now.

Sensing the faint wariness in his disciple's heart, Jiraiya did not know for a moment whether to feel gratified or annoyed—gratified by his disciple's growth, and annoyed by the estrangement in their relationship.

However, he quickly collected his emotions, remembered the Great Toad Immortal's entrustment, and took a light breath:

"Indeed, I have a very important matter in coming to find you this time; to be precise, I have a very important matter to discuss with Nagato!"

The expression on Yahiko's face changed slightly, and he couldn't help but clench his fists, while Jiraiya acted as if he didn't see it and continued speaking:

"But rest assured, this time, I am not here to see you in the capacity of a Leaf Ninja, nor do I have any designs on your plans or the Akatsuki."

"In fact, I am one hundred percent in agreement with the Akatsuki's course of action!"

The Akatsuki's path of action can almost be said to be an extension of Jiraiya's ideals; during those three years of teaching back then, what Jiraiya taught Nagato and the others was not just ninjutsu, but also instilled his own values.

Achieving peace through non-violent means like negotiation and dialogue is a dream deeply hidden in Jiraiya's heart; it could even be said that the Akatsuki is a dream that Jiraiya is practicing through his disciples.

"Sorry, Teacher, I was a little nervous."

Yahiko let out a long breath and looked at Jiraiya with a serious face:

"But please also explain things clearly, Teacher. Nagato and those eyes of his can be said to be the greatest repository of the Akatsuki's ideals!"

Just as mentioned before, Yahiko is only a little naive, not stupid. Compared to the original work, having managed the Akatsuki for several more years, Yahiko's thinking is already very comprehensive.

In the original work, he was willing to die at Nagato's hands precisely because he believed that Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan, was more likely than him to realize the Akatsuki's wishes, which shows that Yahiko already understood back then: having a sword but not using it and having no sword to use are two completely different things.

To a certain extent, the current Yahiko is actually more like a Jiraiya who has taken on responsibility!

"Yahiko, you have really become a very mature leader."

Jiraiya looked at Yahiko with a complex expression in his eyes, then continued:

"Even if you didn't ask, I would have explained everything clearly. First of all, let me introduce Mount Myoboku to you..."

Yahiko is not Tsunade and does not know much about the three great sacred places, so Jiraiya had to start from the beginning and tell him the truth of the matter bit by bit.

Very quickly, Jiraiya laid everything out for Yahiko, including Mount Myoboku, the Great Toad Immortal, the Prophecy of Dreams, and the Uchiha who would destroy the world, until his mouth was dry, only then finishing all the information.

(End of chapter)