Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Protecting everyone is Nagato's wish. If he can protect everyone simply by overcoming his fear, then he will do whatever it takes to overcome his fear, because he doesn't want to lose the people he cherishes.

"Hmm~, really, your eyes are a treasure bestowed by the heavens. They can not only protect me, Yahiko, and Konan, but also protect the Land of Rain, and even restore peace to the whole world. Nagato, you have the potential to change the world."

Jiraiya looked directly at Nagato's Rinnegan and nodded seriously.

Because of the Rinnegan, he firmly believes that Nagato is the prophesied child he has been searching for, and his responsibility is to guide Nagato to become the one who brings peace to the world.

Nagato had already learned the origin of his eyes from Jiraiya, but he didn't expect Jiraiya to have such high expectations of him, actually believing that he could become someone who brings peace to the world.

Although he didn't understand why he wanted to bring peace to the world, he really wanted to make the world peaceful, because if he could, his parents wouldn't have died in the war, and Yahiko and Minami could have grown up happily with him.

And the Land of Rain wouldn't be suffering so many disasters now.

Suddenly, Nagato felt a sense of mission. He thought that if his eyes were really that powerful, then he must restore peace to the world and never let war happen again.

Then, a question arose in Nagato's mind: how could he bring peace to the world?

He doesn't understand.

So he asked Jiraiya, the most learned man he knew, "Jiraiya-sensei, how can we bring peace to the world?"

The question Nagato asked was undoubtedly a very serious and significant one.

Jiraiya himself hadn't found the answer.

He pondered for a moment, then shared his method for bringing peace to the world: "Violence is not the answer. I believe that if the world wants to achieve peace, then mutual understanding between people is essential. As long as everyone understands each other, we will surely be able to find a path to world peace."

"People should understand each other..."

Nagato, upon hearing Jiraiya's words, murmured as if he didn't quite understand.

Then he pondered, how can people achieve mutual understanding? Is it truly possible for people to understand each other? And how can we get everyone in the world to understand each other?

One question after another popped into Nagato's mind.

At only ten years old, Nagato lacked sufficient experience and knowledge, making it impossible for him to solve these problems on his own. His little head was in a real headache, and he frowned, his face showing a troubled and confused expression.

"Don't worry about that now. You're still too young. Your task right now is to work hard to become stronger. Nagato, remember this: only when you are strong enough will you be qualified to bring peace to the world. Now, you should go back and get some sleep. You have to continue training early tomorrow morning."

Jiraiya could tell at a glance that Nagato was making trouble for himself, and he smiled as he offered some words of advice.

How could Nagato, with his current small stature, possibly accomplish such a difficult task as bringing peace to the world? Thinking about it now is just getting stuck in a rut and creating unnecessary trouble for himself. He should focus on how to quickly improve his strength.

Only after meeting Kirito today did he finally see what a true genius is.

To be honest, if he hadn't known that Nagato possessed the Rinnegan, he would have thought Kirito was the Child of Prophecy.

There was no way around it; Kirito was just too strong. When he saw Kirito again, he realized that he could no longer see through him, and he also felt a strong sense of threat from Kirito, a feeling he had only ever experienced from Kage-level powerhouses like the Third Hokage, Sakumo Hatake, and Hanzo.

Now there's another Kirito.

Although he was unwilling to admit it, he was now almost certain that he couldn't beat Kirito.

Kirito is only ten years old, just like Nagato, and maybe even a few months younger.

He couldn't imagine how much he would grow to be at such a young age, given that Jiraiya already possessed the strength to defeat him.

Furthermore, he sensed familiar natural energy from Kirito, indicating that Kirito had begun to come into contact with natural energy and had even mastered the method of utilizing it.

Compared to Nagato, he's now quite far behind.

He had thought Nagato's talent was the best he had ever seen among ninjas, but now it seemed that might not be the case.

However, Kirito ultimately doesn't have the Rinnegan, so it remains to be seen who will be stronger in the future.

Jiraiya himself believed that Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan, would definitely achieve more than Kirito in the future.

The Rinnegan is the legendary power of the Sage of Six Paths to quell the chaos of the world.

"Okay, I understand, Jiraiya-sensei."

Hearing Jiraiya's advice, Nagato finally freed himself from his self-inflicted troubles and nodded.

Jiraiya-sensei is right. He is still too weak, too weak to even protect the people important to him. Thinking about bringing peace to the world now is too unrealistic. His current goal is to work hard to become stronger so that he can protect the people around him from harm.

After clarifying her goals, Nagato's inner confusion lessened considerably.

After he finished speaking, he followed Jiraiya back into the house, and then went to sleep next to Yahiko and Konan.

Soon, Nagato fell asleep.

Nagato's inner confusion disappeared, and he could sleep peacefully. But Jiraiya was filled with confusion. He was afraid that something terrible would happen, but he was powerless to stop it. On one side was his best friend's younger brother, and on the other side was his beloved teacher. He didn't know how to choose.

"Go to sleep. It's probably just my imagination. There's no way such an absurd thing could happen."

Jiraiya closed his eyes again, thinking to himself, and then forced himself to fall asleep.

……

Meanwhile, the ANBU ninja who was relaying information to Jiraiya was moving quickly and secretly within the Land of Rain. He soon arrived at a secluded cave and stopped in front of a rock inside.

Then, he quickly formed hand seals, and a large number of spells appeared under the rock, which then slowly moved away, revealing a hidden space.

There are some messenger birds kept here.

He quickly found a strong messenger bird and put the information Jiraiya had given him into the message box.

As the messenger bird flew away through the gap above the hidden space, the ANBU ninja quickly retreated, re-formed hand seals, and had the large stone block the hidden space.

However, as soon as he stepped out of the cave, he heard the clear sound of bells.

In an instant, the scene before his eyes suddenly changed, turning into boundless darkness.

"I'm under an illusion!"

The ANBU ninja was startled and quickly formed hand seals, trying to break the illusion himself, but found that he couldn't break free no matter how he tried.

Before long, he lost consciousness.

In reality, the Pig and the Rabbit appear before the Anbu ninja, and the Anbu ninja, under the Rabbit's orders, reveal a lot of information about Jiraiya and Nagato.

"To hurt someone, you don't necessarily need to hurt them directly. A more sophisticated method is to destroy what that person cherishes, causing them inner pain and torment, until they finally realize that going against us is unwise."

The pig said in a calm tone.

"You're planning to use those three brats to threaten Jiraiya, aren't you? I know Jiraiya quite well, and I doubt he'll give in so easily. Besides, these three brats aren't from Konoha; they're just three ordinary war orphans from the Land of Rain. The threat won't be very effective."

Rabbit said dismissively.

Rather than using other people's cherished possessions to threaten them, he prefers to eliminate those who pose a threat directly.

Using a few weak people to threaten the strong, what kind of skill is that?

He, the Rabbit, disdains using such methods.

"You're so high and mighty. You've joined the Root, yet you still retain such a thing as compassion. As long as the mission can be completed, any means are acceptable. Isn't that the Root's motto? Don't forget that, Rabbit."

The Pig sensed the disdain in the Rabbit's words and immediately turned to stare at the Rabbit, speaking coldly.

He doesn't need foolish companions, and if Rabbit dares to stand in his way, he won't show any mercy.

"Whatever you want."

The Rabbit (卯兔) naturally wouldn't turn against the Pig (亥猪) for three unrelated little devils, so it turned its back and left, indicating that it wouldn't interfere with the Pig's actions.

Seeing Rabbit leave, Pig mocked, "They're both guys whose hands are practically unwashable, yet they still have this ridiculous sympathy. What a laughable fellow. But whatever, he's not going to be of any help with this anyway."

After saying that, he snapped his fingers and ordered the ANBU ninja in front of him, "You just accidentally fell asleep. Nothing happened."

Upon hearing this, the ANBU ninja instantly fainted.

At this moment, the rabbit's figure began to distort and mysteriously disappeared.

Seven or eight seconds later, the ANBU ninja woke up again. He found himself lying on the ground and immediately tried to recall why he was there, but he could only remember that information was transmitted by messenger birds. He couldn't remember anything that happened after that.

In the end, he had no choice but to leave with a belly full of doubts and a heavy heart.

……

The messenger bird flew very fast, and a few hours later, Jiraiya's encrypted letter appeared on the Third Hokage's desk.

"Is Danzo up to his old tricks again?"

After reading the letter from Jiraiya, the Third Hokage spoke with a grim expression.

For the past six months or so, his cooperation with Danzo has been quite pleasant. After he took control of Danzo, Danzo did indeed become much more obedient. The Root organization he led brought a lot of useful intelligence to Konoha, allowing Konoha to regain its advantage in the intelligence battlefield, where it had previously been at a disadvantage in the war.

However, the Sand Village always had ample supplies, preventing Konoha from making any significant breakthroughs on the battlefield.

Now, the White Fang Squad is the sharp blade he has placed high hopes on, a blade that will pierce the heart of Sunagakure's supply line. However, before this blade can even pierce the heart of Sunagakure, it has been betrayed by its own people, exposing its whereabouts.

"What is this guy thinking? Does he really think I wouldn't dare to kill him?"

The third generation thought to himself, extremely annoyed.

Fortunately, the White Fang Squad was strong enough to successfully withstand two premeditated attacks.

Jiraiya's disciple was also very capable, using the power of Mount Myōboku to safely send the White Fang Squad away, temporarily shaking off the enemy's pursuit.

However, no matter what, we can't let Danzo continue his nonsense.

He was well aware of the methods employed by Danzo's Root organization. Once the White Fang Squad was targeted, even if they temporarily escaped Root's pursuit, they would still be caught again in the future. At that time, the White Fang Squad's whereabouts could still be exposed to the enemy.

The Third Hokage couldn't sit still when he thought about the heavy responsibility that the White Fang Squad was now shouldering. He immediately set off for Konoha Prison to find Danzo.

Deep within Konoha Prison, Danzo slowly opened his eyes in the darkness. The darkness created by his Dark Walk Technique in the room vanished instantly, and the figure of the Third Hokage appeared before his eyes.

When the Third Hokage saw Danzo, he didn't waste any words and immediately formed a hand seal.

"what!!!"

In an instant, Danzo clutched his heart, cried out in agony, and let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Danzo's screams lasted for a full minute before stopping.

At this moment, Danzo was curled up in a ball, his clothes were soaked with sweat, his face was extremely pale, and blood was flowing from his ten fingers and the corners of his mouth.

"Don't do things you shouldn't do. Don't make me repeat myself." Danzo.

The Third Hokage looked at Danzo, his old comrade-in-arms, in such a state after being tortured by him, and said coldly.

"Hahaha~, which thing are you referring to? I don't understand what you're talking about."

Upon hearing this, Danzo slowly got up from the ground, stared defiantly at the Third Hokage, and laughed loudly.

A cold glint flashed in the Third Hokage's eyes as he once again activated the chakra within his body.

Danzo immediately bowed down in front of him, then knelt down, his face once again showing a pained expression.