Chapter 183: Nagato's Return

Three more days passed. In the Land of Fire, at Konoha, a white-haired ninja arrived in a great hurry.

"Lord Jiraiya, you... what happened to you?"

The Leaf Ninja guarding the gate looked at the approaching Jiraiya and asked in astonishment. Jiraiya's messy white hair had lost its luster, his eyes were sunken and dark, and his skin was pale; he looked as if he had aged a dozen years.

Not only that, his clothes were torn in many places, stained with dried blood, and through the rents in his garments, one could see hastily bandaged wounds.

No matter how one looked at him, Jiraiya appeared battered and beaten.

Considering the status of this member of the Legendary Sannin, the guards at the gate of Konoha couldn't help but wonder: who could possibly injure such a prominent figure? Was some major event about to occur in the Ninja World?

"Is that Izumo? Help me contact Tsunade; I have important intelligence to report... Never mind, I'll go myself."

Jiraiya had been transported out of Mount Myoboku by Fukasaku via the Reverse Summoning Technique, but he had not returned directly to the Ninja World; instead, he had appeared on the border of the Land of Wind.

After that, Jiraiya had tried to summon the toads of Mount Myoboku using the Summoning Technique, but aside from a few small frogs and tadpoles summoned at the beginning, none of the remaining toads could be summoned.

At that moment, Jiraiya knew clearly that Uchiha Feiyu had slaughtered all the toads of Mount Myoboku. In this situation, Jiraiya could only suppress his grief, bring the few remaining tadpoles to an oasis on the border of the Land of Wind to settle them, and then rush toward Konoha.

Along the way, Jiraiya hadn't even had time to fully treat his injuries, only bandaging them roughly, his entire mind focused on the journey.

"Every single toad in Mount Myoboku has been wiped out. Only a few palm-sized frogs and tadpoles were summoned out by me, escaping the disaster!"

Although she did not want to harm her old friend, she had no ability to refuse Uchiha Feiyu's demands.

The Leaf Ninja guarding the gate did not stop Jiraiya, simply reporting his arrival inside. At this moment, in the Hokage Office, Uchiha Feiyu, who had been waiting there, suddenly smiled:

"As expected... that guy Jiraiya ran straight to Konoha!"

"What exactly happened, Jiraiya? And this Uchiha Feiyu you mentioned, what is he trying to do? Didn't you go to the Land of Wind to gather intelligence on him?"

When he destroyed Mount Myoboku, Uchiha Feiyu hadn't actually noticed whether Jiraiya had died. It was only later, when he was calculating the souls he had captured using Spirit-Binding and Soul-Commanding, that he realized Jiraiya's soul was missing.

After that, he checked the soul memories of those toads and obtained the information that Jiraiya had escaped Mount Myoboku.

"It wasn't that I was beaten... to be precise, I was merely injured by the aftermath of the battle..."

However, the Reverse Summoning Technique performed in such a hurry could not directly summon Jiraiya back to Konoha; it would likely take some time.

After a while, Jiraiya arrived at the Hokage Office in a rush. Seeing Tsunade sitting there calmly, he breathed a slight sigh of relief:

"It seems that guy Uchiha Feiyu hasn't taken any action yet? I returned just in time."

After Uchiha Feiyu returned to the Ninja World, he first spent half a day wiping out all the Tailed Beasts, and for the next three days, he was busy dealing with Konan, turning her into a Cauldron that would obey his every word.

Although she had already known about this situation, Tsunade still put on a look of surprise and looked at Jiraiya:

"Jiraiya, what on earth happened? Is that Uchiha Feiyu really that strong?"

As for later, Uchiha Feiyu planned to have Konan go undercover with Nagato, using the excuse that Konan had been reverse-summoned away and thus escaped with her life.

Since Jiraiya had some understanding of the battle, he might have noticed some flaws. Although Nagato certainly trusted Konan deeply, with the power of the higher-level Rinnegan, even the slightest suspicion followed by a Hypnosis interrogation would reveal Konan's true identity.

Jiraiya naturally had to report such major intelligence to Tsunade and then see how to resolve it. If it became necessary, he would use whatever ninjutsu was needed, such as the Eight Inner Gates, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, the Four-Corner Sealing Barrier, or Reanimation.

Once Jiraiya relaxed, he felt pain all over his body. He sat down on a stool in the Hokage Office and sighed:

"Yes, I went to the Land of Wind to gather intelligence. I still don't know exactly what this guy wants to do, but I do know that Uchiha Feiyu definitely has a conspiracy, and his strength far exceeds my imagination."

"He will only be stronger than you imagine. Uchiha Feiyu destroyed the entire Mount Myoboku in less than a minute or two... I'm afraid he would need no more time than that to destroy Konoha!"

Uchiha Feiyu turned his head to look at Tsunade and said this. After hearing it, Tsunade nodded with a somber expression.

The strength Uchiha Feiyu displayed was simply too terrifying. Jiraiya had to make Konoha prepare early. Moreover, because he did not know that the Sage of Six Paths had given Nagato power-ups, in Jiraiya's eyes, Nagato had been killed by Uchiha Feiyu. Now, the entire Ninja World likely possessed no power capable of resisting Uchiha Feiyu.

Jiraiya's face showed a mix of bitterness, fear, anger, and even despair. A moment later, he lowered his head:

"Mount Myoboku has been completely destroyed by that Uchiha Feiyu!"

"Tsunade, I'll leave that guy Jiraiya to you."

"Looking at your state, that guy must have beaten you up!"

As he spoke, Jiraiya coughed twice, and blood began to seep through the already dark-brown bandages on his wounds.

"Don't say any more for now, Jiraiya. Let me treat you first!"

With green light glowing in her hands, Tsunade walked toward Jiraiya. Jiraiya caught his breath and said:

"Then thank you, Tsunade... Uh?!"

As the green light from Tsunade's hands touched Jiraiya, he immediately felt the chakra in his body stop flowing, and then his eyes rolled back as he fainted.

At this moment, Uchiha Feiyu, standing behind Tsunade, removed the mask from his face and said with a light laugh:

"I didn't expect to take him down so easily. It seems Jiraiya still trusts you quite a bit."

As he spoke, Uchiha Feiyu directly used Kamui to suck Jiraiya in. Afterward, he spat out a female ninja with blue-purple hair and a cold, beautiful face from the Kamui Space—it was his captive, Konan.

"Lord Feiyu, has the teacher been captured by you?"

"Indeed. The one just sent into the Kamui Space was Jiraiya."

Uchiha Feiyu glanced at Konan and answered directly:

"Now that the threat of Jiraiya has been removed, you can go find Nagato."

As he spoke, Uchiha Feiyu took out several black ear studs. These were signal markers Nagato had created using Yin-Yang Release, which had been worn on Konan's ears. Theoretically, as long as Konan input chakra, Nagato could receive the signal.

Fortunately, at the beginning, Konan thought Nagato was dead, and later she was taken into the Kamui Space by Uchiha Feiyu. In that different dimension, Nagato could not receive Konan's signal.

Later, when Uchiha Feiyu entered the Kamui Space and turned Konan into a Cauldron, he also took back her ear studs. Through these two studs, Uchiha Feiyu could also sense how far Nagato was from here.

"According to my sensing, Nagato will be able to enter the Ninja World in about two days. Before that, you can use these ear studs to contact him."

Konan silently reached out, took the ear studs, and then looked up at Uchiha Feiyu:

"Then how will I contact you, Lord Feiyu, in the future?"

"Hmm... in that case, I'll leave a mark on you!"

Uchiha Feiyu reached out, went inside her collar, and left a Flying Thunder God Mark in the valley between Konan's two peaks.

The blood-red Three-Tomoe mark flashed twice on her fair skin before gradually fading away. Uchiha Feiyu nodded with a smile:

"I have also used the power of Yin-Yang Release in this Flying Thunder God Mark. This way, as long as you input chakra, you can contact me. You can also use this positioning to make me appear by your side, or I can summon you back directly."

Konan reached out, gently touched the mark on her skin, and slowly leaned in close to Uchiha Feiyu, her clothes half-undone, revealing a patch of fair, tender skin:

"Lord Feiyu, didn't you say it would take another two days for Nagato to enter the Ninja World?"

"I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to see you for a long time in the future, so let's not waste these two days..."

Uchiha Feiyu naturally did not refuse such a good thing. Ignoring that this was the Hokage Office, he pulled Konan and Tsunade over and began to practice the Joyous Union Canon.

Two days later, a travel-worn figure flew through the sky of the Land of Wind.

"Finally returned to the Ninja World... According to Teacher Jiraiya, the Land of Wind is Uchiha Feiyu's base of operations. I wonder if he is staying here?"

Flying in the sky, there was neither joy nor sorrow in Nagato's eyes; his entire face was cold and rigid, like a stone statue.

Having lost all his companions and his teacher, and having witnessed the destruction of Mount Myoboku, the only thought in Nagato's mind now was to find Uchiha Feiyu for revenge.

His perception belonging to Sage Mode spread out, expanding for dozens of kilometers in an instant. Nagato perceived as he flew, but unfortunately, he only sensed the chakra of some ordinary ninja and did not discover Uchiha Feiyu.

Nagato gritted his teeth. The Land of Wind was vast, and although his perception range was wide, it could only cover a small part of this country.

To thoroughly scan the entire Land of Wind through his perception ability would take at least a month or two.

Not to mention that such perception would have huge loopholes, the opponent would not just stand in one place without moving; furthermore, if the opponent was not in the Land of Wind, he couldn't possibly scan the entire Ninja World!

"How about... going to Sunagakure? That should be Uchiha Feiyu's base!"

After searching for a while and getting nowhere, Nagato changed his line of thought, starting to wonder if he could force the Sand Ninja to hand over Uchiha Feiyu.

Although given Uchiha Feiyu's personality, he probably wouldn't care about any Sand Ninja, but didn't Nagato have no other choice now? He could only try this tactic first.

However, just at this moment, Nagato suddenly felt a strange signal constantly contacting him. His expression changed, revealing a look of pleasant surprise, and he hurriedly transferred his thought waves in the direction of the signal.

"Konan!! Are you okay!? This is truly great!"

As the thought waves were transmitted, Nagato soon saw Konan, who was continuously sending him signals, and immediately shouted out in surprise.

Then he turned his body, no longer thinking about Sunagakure or Uchiha Feiyu, directly locked onto Konan's signal, and performed the Summoning Technique.

With a 'Bang', after a burst of white smoke, Konan appeared before Nagato. Nagato looked at his only companion with excitement, discovering that although Konan's expression was slightly haggard and tired, her complexion was rosy and her skin was healthy and full, and she had not suffered any injuries.

"I'm fine, Nagato... I used the God Paper Person Technique to dodge that guy's Shinra Tensei, and later I was luckily sent out by the Toad Immortal using the Reverse Summoning Technique."

"At that time, I was also sent directly to the Land of Wind. During this time, while recovering from my injuries, I gathered some intelligence at Sunagakure."

"You've worked hard, Konan!"

Nagato looked at Konan and revealed a gratified smile; even the burning rage that had been blazing since he left Mount Myoboku had unknowingly subsided quite a bit.

Konan lowered her eyes slightly, feeling a little guilty in her heart, but Uchiha Feiyu's control had long since penetrated her spirit. Once she thought of Uchiha Feiyu's orders, this trace of guilt was quickly cast to the back of her mind.

"Nagato, there is an important situation I must tell you. In the few days before you returned, Uchiha Feiyu has already made a move on all the tailed beasts!"

"Made a move on the tailed beasts?!"

Nagato's expression changed slightly. After seeing the Sage of Six Paths in the Pure Land, he now understood the ins and outs of the evolution of chakra in the entire Ninja World, and naturally knew what those tailed beasts represented.

The Sage of Six Paths had even instructed him after passing on his power that if he still couldn't defeat Uchiha Feiyu, he should continue to seek the power of the tailed beasts, as that was the source of chakra closest to the original God Tree.

(End of this chapter)