This was the residence of 'God,' where none but the Angel could set foot.
Konon stood on a balcony filled with pipes and reinforced steel. Rainwater slid down her paper wings, making a rhythmic dripping sound.
Her cold gaze pierced through the curtain of rain, seemingly watching this weeping country, or perhaps calculating something far more profound.
Heavy footsteps approached from behind, accompanied by the crisp clicking of abacus beads.
"Konon."
Kakuzu's dark green eyes were bloodshot. He tightly gripped a thick ledger, his tone dripping with murderous resentment. "I need a reasonable explanation for this month's expenditure report."
Konon turned around and looked at the organization's Cunning Schemer expressionlessly.
"The organization is expanding. Capital consumption is inevitable."
"Expanding?" Kakuzu slammed the ledger onto the rusted railing, pointing at several rows of crimson figures. "Recruiting external members costs money, base maintenance costs money, and I can even tolerate you helping those civilians. But this item—'Special Strategic Resource Reserves'—has a deficit of three hundred million! What on earth did you buy? Kunai made of gold?"
Kakuzu's heart was bleeding.
He risked his life hunting bounties at the exchange, fighting until he was bloodied for a few million ryo, only for hundreds of millions to be wiped away here with a single stroke of a pen.
It felt like the cabbage he had painstakingly grown was being rooted up by an invisible pig.
Konon's expression didn't change, her amber eyes devoid of any ripples.
"This is Pain's will," she said, using the most effective shield. "To prepare for the future 'Tailed Beast Capture War,' we need to stockpile massive amounts of paper bombs, rations, and medical supplies. The industrial foundation of the Rain Village is weak, so these items can only be purchased from the black market at high prices."
"Paper bombs?"
Kakuzu stared at Konon suspiciously. "What kind of paper bombs cost three hundred million? That amount is enough to buy the military equipment of a small nation."
"That's classified," Konon replied coldly. "All you need to know is that this concerns the success or failure of the plan. Or would you rather go question the leader?"
At the mention of the leader, the green light in Kakuzu's eyes flickered. Ultimately, he didn't dare lose his temper.
Though he loved money, he valued his life more.
The pressure of those Rinnegan was something even an old monster like him, who had lived for over eighty years, didn't dare to cross.
"Hmph."
Kakuzu snatched the ledger back, stroking the cover with heartache. He spat out through gritted teeth, "Tell the leader—there's no more money!"
"If there isn't a large income next month, I'll start selling a few of those guys to the red-light district to pay off the debt!"
With that, he turned and left, grumbling about "three hundred million" and "my money."
Watching Kakuzu's back vanish into the darkness, Konon let out a soft sigh.
She opened her palm, and a piece of white origami slowly bloomed into a paper flower.
What Kakuzu didn't know was that ninety percent of those so-called "strategic resources" had been used by her to purchase paper bombs.
Ever since she heard the Masked Man claiming to be "Madara" talk about the Eye of the Moon plan, a sense of inexplicable unease had lingered in her heart.
Nagato relied on his Rinnegan and wasn't afraid, but she instinctively distrusted the man.
If one day that Masked Man betrayed Nagato, betrayed the Rain Village...
"It's not enough. There need to be at least six hundred billion..."
Konon murmured quietly, her gaze sharpening. "Still far from it. I must prepare the 'Sacred Paper Emissary Jutsu,' a technique capable of burying everything, before that moment arrives."
This was her final trump card as the "Angel" to protect "God."
Just then, the "White" ring on her right pinky finger suddenly pulsed with chakra.
It was the summoning signal for the Magic Lantern Body Technique.
Konon's expression turned stern. Her body instantly transformed into countless fluttering sheets of paper, converging toward the top floor of the tower through the ventilation ducts.
...
The top floor of the tower was vast and lonely.
Beneath a massive gargoyle statue, a gaunt figure sat quietly in a mechanical device that resembled a wheelchair.
It was Nagato.
He was currently skin and bones, his back pierced with black chakra receivers. Only those pale purple Rinnegan emitted a heart-palpitating light in the darkness.
Before him, Deva Path Pain—the corpse of Yahiko—stood perfectly straight, like an emotionless statue of a god.
The fluttering paper converged into Konon's form.
"Nagato, what's happened?" Konon walked quickly to Nagato's side, her voice filled with concern.
Normally, Nagato would issue commands through Deva Path Pain; he rarely summoned her in person unless it was an extreme emergency.
"Zetsu has brought news."
Nagato's voice was hoarse and low, without any inflection.
As his voice fell, the shadows on the ground suddenly squirmed like a black pitcher plant breaking through the soil.
The iconic aloe-like body of Black and White Zetsu slowly rose.
"Yo, Konon's here too," White Zetsu's frivolous voice rang out. "Discussing how to spend all of Kakuzu's money?"
"Shut up." Black Zetsu's raspy voice cut through the nonsense. His single yellow eye stared intently at Nagato. "The situation has changed. I've discovered an intruder."
"An intruder?" Konon frowned. "The Rain Tiger at Will Technique didn't react."
"Because he hasn't fully entered, or rather... he used some method to mask his presence."
A rare hint of wariness touched Black Zetsu's voice. "Fifty kilometers outside the village, I sensed a very unpleasant aura. It was the Sage Chakra of Mount Myoboku."
"Mount Myoboku?" Konon's pupils contracted slightly. "You mean..."
"Master Jiraiya."
Nagato slowly spoke the name.
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.
For Nagato and Konon, that name represented memories, warmth, and... the pain of being abandoned.
He was their teacher, the one who gave them hope in despair, only to leave them when they needed him most.
"Are you sure it's him?" Konon's voice trembled slightly.
"There's no mistake," Black Zetsu said sinisterly. "And there's an annoying toad beside him."
At this point, Black Zetsu instinctively shrank into the ground.
During the recent attack on Konoha, it and Obito had been repeatedly frustrated. Its intuition told it that it was related to that purple toad on Jiraiya's head.
It wasn't afraid of the toad itself, but rather the potential 'variable' it represented.
So this time, it had run back to report the moment it caught a whiff from a distance, not daring to get closer for scouting.
"Master Jiraiya..."
Nagato lowered his eyes, looking at his emaciated hands. "Has he come to kill me? For the sake of Konoha's peace, to eliminate the threat of Akatsuki?"
"Highly likely," Black Zetsu continued to fan the flames. "Konoha just settled its internal strife, and Minato Namikaze has solidified his position. Now, they have the hands to clear out surrounding threats. Jiraiya, as one of the Sannin, infiltrating the Rain Village personally—his purpose is self-evident."
"Nagato." Konon looked at him, a trace of conflict in her eyes. "If it really is Sensei..."
"There are no teachers or students here."
Nagato looked up sharply, a cold, divine light flashing in his Rinnegan.
Deva Path Pain slowly turned around, looking out at the endless curtain of rain outside the tower.
"Since he's here, let him see."
Nagato operated Pain to speak, his voice icy. "Let him see how we have birthed peace from pain in this weeping country abandoned by the Great Nations."
"Konon."
"I'm here."
"Prepare to give our teacher a proper welcome," Nagato commanded. "Since the Rain Tiger at Will Technique failed to detect him, he has come prepared. Do not act rashly; proceed with caution."
...
Lower levels of the Rain Village, the slums.
The rainwater here was mixed with industrial waste, appearing as a murky, oily black.
The streets were narrow and filthy, with discarded metal parts and garbage piled on both sides.
A middle-aged man in a tattered raincoat huddled under a leaking eave. He held a cold, hard bun but didn't eat it; instead, he used the motion of gnawing the bun to hide the slight movement of his lips.
"Hey, Gamakon."
Jiraiya lowered his voice to a level only he could hear. "This rain feels a bit off."
"No kidding."
The small purple toad in his arms rolled its eyes, its voice echoing directly in Jiraiya's mind. "The chakra mixed in the rain has intensified. Before it was just aimless scanning, but now it's sweeping over and over."
"It'd be more suspicious if nothing was wrong."
"Seems we've been spotted?" Jiraiya chewed a piece of bun. His eyes looked cloudy, but he was alertly observing his surroundings. "My acting should have been perfect."
"Your acting is fine, but your existence itself is the problem."
Gamakon complained, "That Cunning Schemer Black Zetsu is definitely nearby. That guy has a nose like a bloodhound. He probably caught our scent the moment we crossed the border and went to tattle."
"Black Zetsu, huh..."
Jiraiya swallowed the bun, mentally on guard. He had been sensing for presence along the way but still hadn't found a trace of the enemy.
"Just as you said, that guy is the true mastermind behind the scenes. If he's here, it means the core of the Akatsuki organization is indeed in the Rain Village."
"Don't be reckless," Gamakon warned. "Since the opponent is already alert, the entire Rain Village is now a wide-open trap. Nagato... or rather Pain, is waiting for you to jump in."
"So what?"
Jiraiya suddenly grinned, revealing a set of pearly white teeth.
He reached out to catch the rain dripping from the eaves, watching the turbid droplets shatter in his palm.
"As a teacher, I can't exactly skip a home visit just because a student set a trap, can I?"
"Besides..."
Jiraiya's gaze pierced through the layers of rain toward the tower that touched the clouds.
There, he could feel a familiar yet foreign chakra.
It belonged to the Child of Prophecy he once pinned his hopes on.
"I want to ask him too."
Jiraiya's voice became deep and weathered. "What exactly has this so-called 'God' brought to this country? Is it peace, or just deeper despair?"
After some investigation, he hadn't found anything among the upper management of the Rain Village, but he had discovered some anomalies within the slums.
"Yeah, yeah, save the sentimentality for later."
Gamakon interrupted Jiraiya's reflection. "Three chakra signatures are approaching from the alley on the left. Looking at the headbands... it's a Rain Shinobi patrol. They're coming straight for you."