Chapter 166: Jiraiya

Whether they were Konoha Ninja, Konoha Rogue Ninja, or even Mist Ninja, all the ninja from the great ninja villages fell silent.

No one argued, and no one spoke up.

They were shocked by this sealed-away dark truth and moved by Nagato's paranoid yet pure ideals.

No one could deny Nagato's suffering, and no one could even bring themselves to condemn his extremism, because these were all the dark, evil fruits of the Konoha Ninja themselves.

But this did not prevent them from harboring intense hostility toward Pain Deva Path.

The ninja of the great ninja villages were unwilling to accept Nagato's accusations, because they were the beneficiaries of the current rules of the Ninja World!

But the samurai of the Land of Iron and the surviving Wandering Ninja identified deeply with Nagato's accusations and felt his pain as their own.

Jiraiya said loudly, "No!"

"Nagato, you cannot do this! Stop."

His voice was steady and earnest: "Your desire to end hatred through violence was wrong from the very beginning."

"I have experienced two wars and know well that war and violence can never bring peace; they only lead to a cycle of endless slaughter and hatred."

"You have suffered the pain caused by violence; if you respond to the entire Ninja World with violence, it will only allow the hatred to continue, never-ending."

Pain Deva Path slowly raised his eyes, his Rinnegan cold: "Teacher Jiraiya, you are already decades old; why do you still live in such unrealistic fantasies?"

"You have also seen endless war, seen innocent people die miserably, and seen wars where the weak could only be slaughtered; you should know that the essence of the world is that the strong prey upon the weak."

Jiraiya retorted: "It is precisely because I have seen the misery caused by violence that I know one must not succumb to it!"

"Power should be used for protection, not for retaliatory slaughter."

"To let the Ninja World escape war and allow everyone to enjoy peace, what is needed is bonds and goodwill, not violence, destruction, and tyranny."

"Bonds? Goodwill?"

Pain Deva Path chuckled lowly: "When my family and companions were being slaughtered, where was the goodwill you speak of that could bring peace, Teacher?"

"Teacher, you always talk about peace and justice; I believed it, and Yahiko and Konan both believed it, and we have not changed to this day."

"But the goodwill and bonds you speak of have never achieved peace; they only invited the unscrupulous attacks and harm of those in power."

"The death of Yahiko and the deaths of the 392 members of the Akatsuki organization are irreversible facts."

"Facts prove that those who start wars not only do not care about goodwill, but actually loathe it, and will actively use their power to destroy those who dare to express goodwill and their organizations in the most despicable ways."

"The death of my dearest friends and companions, and the destruction of hope when I saw it, made me understand: only by letting everyone experience ultimate pain and develop a heart of fear toward conflict and violence is the only way to end war."

Jiraiya's emotions gradually calmed; he understood now that Nagato was calm and firm, without the slightest bit of impulsiveness.

The bond between master and student remained, but different life experiences had created vastly different obsessions.

After experiencing the misery created by ninja, Nagato had determined that only by destroying the existing order could the world be reshaped, something that could never be shaken by a few words.

Jiraiya was truly a student of Sarutobi Hiruzen; he said with incomparable firmness: "Nagato, I know I cannot persuade you, but if you persist in your delusions, I will have no choice but to stop you myself."

For the first time, Pain Deva Path showed a look of astonishment, and then he burst into laughter: "Hahahaha."

"That's it, that's the line, that's the expression!"

"Teacher Jiraiya, you in Konohagakure are always like this; it is clearly you who strike and kill first, yet afterward you can righteously accuse the victims, refusing to quietly accept reality!"

"In the past, you were powerful, incomparably powerful, so we had no choice but to accept it, otherwise even more people would have died."

"But now, do you think you are still the strongest who can distort the facts?"

"Say no more; the more you speak, the more shameless you appear in my heart."

"Let us decide life and death with our strength; the dead will shut up, and the living will naturally have the final say."

Before Pain Deva Path had even finished speaking, the chakra around his body erupted suddenly, and invisible repulsive and attractive forces clashed, enveloping the entire space.

Under the collision of the two forces, rubble and dust floated into the air, ignoring gravity, and were then pushed by the repulsive force to crush toward Jiraiya.

Jiraiya dared not be slow; he pressed his hands together in a seal and took a deep breath, shouting: "Two Sages, assist me!"

The two Toad Sages appeared on his shoulders, injecting him with a sufficient amount of natural energy to assist him in entering Sage Mode.

Sage markings appeared on Jiraiya's face, his pupils turned into the horizontal slits of a toad, and surging fluctuations of Senjutsu Chakra erupted from his entire body.

Casually blocking the incoming gale, Jiraiya said in a deep voice: "Since that is the case, I have no choice but to stop you myself to prevent you from committing an irreversible mistake."

"Sage Art: Goemon!"

Jiraiya spat out toad oil transformed by Water Style, Fukasaku spat out a violent Wind Style, and Shima spat out a fierce Fire Release.

The three combined into a large-scale Senjutsu attack, forming a super-high-temperature jet capable of incinerating all tangible matter.

Yet, facing the power of the Rinnegan's ocular technique, this powerful Sage Art appeared incomparably weak.

Pain Deva Path opened his Rinnegan to its full power, and an invisible repulsive force instantly enveloped his body.

"Shinra Tensei!"

The spherical repulsive wave blasted away the scorching flames, sweeping through everything with an irresistible force.

The Earth Style and Water Style defensive Ninjutsu that Jiraiya had cast in haste were as fragile as soap bubbles, easily destroyed by the repulsive storm.

He himself flew out like a kite with a broken string, slamming heavily into the ground and spitting out a large mouthful of blood.

Jiraiya pushed himself up from the ground, but his entire body was in unbearable pain, and he could not make any complex movements.

The chakra within him was also in extreme disarray; let alone casting Ninjutsu, even catching his breath was a luxury.

One move, it was merely one move!

Jiraiya, one of the dignified Legendary Sannin, had been crushed by Nagato's Pain Deva Path.

Most importantly, Jiraiya had used Sage Mode and had the assistance of the two Sages, bringing out nearly all of his power, yet he still collapsed under a single strike of the Rinnegan.

He was defeated too thoroughly, his self-confidence completely shattered, leaving only a heart full of helplessness.

The vast difference in strength between the two proved that Nagato's power had far exceeded Shadow-level; he was qualified to make his own voice heard in the Ninja World, and even more qualified to walk a path different from others.

Yamanaka Chujiu let out a long breath: "Teacher Orochimaru, the guy with orange hair only needed one move to beat Jiraiya; can you fight him?"

Orochimaru shook his head in fear: "I cannot."

"Jiraiya in Sage Mode is actually stronger than me; the enemy he cannot beat, I cannot beat either."

"It is just that I have more Ninjutsu, and I can persist for a longer time."

"However, I have a question..."

Yamanaka Chujiu asked, "What question?"

Orochimaru stared at him and asked, word by word, "Can, you, win?"

Yamanaka Chujiu smiled.