"Well, there's no way we'd catch up to her now, so let's just forget about it." Naruto shrugged and decided to head back to Konoha.
Kurama rolled his eyes. "Next time, at least try to come up with a better excuse."
Honestly, Konan had already used up a lot of energy and wasn't that fast anymore. With Naruto's current strength, catching up to her wouldn't have taken long. And even if it was someone else chasing her, it wouldn't be easy—sure, Konan could fly, but so could Naruto.
That made things pretty awkward.
Wait a minute. Kurama narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "Don't tell me… you got all flustered just because Konan kissed you?"
Naruto clenched his fist. "Do I look like that kind of person?!"
"Aren't you?" Kurama blinked, looking genuinely surprised. "Shouldn't you be a shy little boy who gets kissed by a girl and then completely freezes up?"
"Just how pathetic do you think I am…" Naruto's face twitched.
Anyway, putting aside whatever weird ideas Kurama had about him, the two of them bickered all the way back to Konoha.
As expected, the first thing Naruto saw when he returned was Sakura being surrounded by people, all praising her.
To be honest, Naruto felt a little jealous. After all, his dream was to be recognized by everyone. Seeing Sakura like this, how could he not feel envious?
When he found out that they were an hour late getting back, Naruto—just like Sasuke—blamed it all on Kurama.
"If it weren't for you wasting time, we would've been back ages ago!"
Hearing that almost made Kurama want to pop out and blast Naruto with a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Jiraiya stood next to Naruto, watching him argue with Kurama. After a while, he casually asked, "Naruto, weren't you chasing after the enemy? What happened?"
Naruto shoved Kurama away in his mind and answered while still bickering with him internally, "Konan left. And there was another guy, but he's already dead. She took his body with her."
"I see." Jiraiya sighed.
He didn't ask anything else, but Naruto got curious instead. "Now that I think about it, Konan said she used to be your student. So what's the deal with that? Why would your students attack Konoha?"
Jiraiya fell silent.
Kurama let out a mocking laugh. "Wow, you really don't know how to read the room, huh? Guess you really are just a kid."
Naruto shot back without missing a beat, "Only single guys act like kids. I actually have a girlfriend, which makes me way better than you, you lonely fox."
"Damn!" Kurama completely lost it.
Jiraiya couldn't hear the argument going on in Kurama's head. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke. "Back during the Second Shinobi World War, Konohagakure fought against the Land of Rain. During that time, I took in three orphans from the Land of Rain as my students—Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan."
"I taught them ninjutsu, taught them how to survive. After a while, I left." Jiraiya let out a sigh as he spoke. "I planned to check on them later, but some things happened… and I thought all three of them had died."
"Until now."
Jiraiya's voice carried deep sorrow. "Nagato awakened the Rinnegan and turned Yahiko's corpse into the Deva Path puppet. Using five other puppets, he called himself the Six Paths of Pain and took control of the Land of Rain."
Naruto nodded, showing he understood.
Sasuke crossed his arms. "So, the Akatsuki was created by this guy, Nagato?"
"When did you get here?" Naruto looked at him in surprise.
"No, the Akatsuki was founded by Yahiko," Jiraiya explained slowly. "Yahiko's dream was to bring peace to the world, and the Akatsuki was created for that purpose. But later… the Land of Rain signed a peace treaty with Konohagakure. For some reason, Hanzō joined forces with Konohagakure to wipe out the Akatsuki."
"That led to the group's destruction… and Yahiko's death."
Jiraiya's voice was heavy with grief. "After that, Nagato fell into darkness. He awakened the Rinnegan, killed Hanzō, and turned the Akatsuki—once a group that fought for peace—into what it is now."
"I… didn't even know what had happened."
Jiraiya looked devastated.
Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances but said nothing.
Jiraiya wasn't someone who needed comforting—he would find his own way out of grief. Anything they said would just seem unnecessary.
Still… it was hard to watch.
Naruto hesitated, about to speak, but before he could, Kurama's voice rumbled from inside him.
"At the time, Obito wanted to join forces with the Akatsuki, but Yahiko refused. So, in order to get the Rinnegan, Obito secretly pushed Danzo to contact Hanzō. Using complete control over the Land of Rain as an excuse, they kidnapped Konan."
And then came the rescue attempt, the hostage situation, Yahiko's suicide, and Nagato's rampage… all of that.
Kurama laid out the whole story. When he finished, he looked at the three stunned faces and spread his hands helplessly.
"Another reason Nagato became so extreme is probably because Yahiko's death was indirectly his fault. That kunai… it was his, after all."
"In the end, Yahiko just asked Nagato to take care of Konan before he died."
Kurama spoke casually, like he was just recounting a simple event. But the details were so vivid, it felt like he had witnessed everything firsthand.
"Wait a minute, Kurama," Sasuke frowned. "I've been meaning to ask—how do you even know all this?"
It made sense for Kurama to know a lot about Konohagakure. After all, he had been there for years.
But the stuff that had nothing to do with Konohagakure? How did he know that so well, too?
Was this guy possessed by the Sage of Six Paths or something?
Naruto and Sasuke exchanged looks. They felt like they had figured out the truth.
Kurama rolled his eyes. "You two idiots. Ever heard of natural talent? I've got sharp eyes and keen ears, okay?"
Yeah, yeah, you're amazing.
Naruto scoffed.
…
"Gaara, hang in there a little longer. We're almost inside the Land of Fire's borders."
Kankuro glanced back at Gaara, who was lying on the puppet's back, his face full of worry.
Temari followed behind, gritting her teeth. "This isn't good. Those guys are too fast. If this keeps up, we won't even make it to Konohagakure before they catch us."
Both of them were in bad shape—clothes torn, covered in dust. But compared to Gaara, who was covered in blood, they were actually lucky.
Gaara lay on the back of the salamander puppet, the poison eating away at his body, but he endured it without making a sound.
"Temari, Kankuro… leave me here and go straight to Konohagakure. If I hold them off, at least you two have a chance to escape…"
The pain made his voice come out in broken gasps.
"What are you even saying!?" Temari shouted, her eyes red. "If not for you, the whole Sand Village would've been wiped out! You risked your life to protect us—how could we just leave you behind!?"
"And besides, I'm the older sister!"
Temari suddenly pulled the iron fan from her back and came to a full stop, turning to face the enemy with unwavering determination.
"Temari!" Gaara reached out, trying to grab her.
Kankuro instinctively stopped running. "Temari, let me—"
"Shut up! You're a puppeteer. You can carry Gaara. It makes the most sense for me to stay behind."
Temari unfolded her fan without even looking at them. "Kankuro, the Land of Fire's border is just ahead. If you push forward a little more, you'll run into Konohagakure's patrol units. Go!"
"But—"
Kankuro still wanted to argue, but Temari cut him off with a gust of wind, blowing him and Gaara forward.
"Enough talking! Just go! A little brother should just listen to his big sister!"
As he was flung through the air, Kankuro gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his puppet.
If… if I were stronger…
"Damn it!" He let out a frustrated roar, then turned and ran toward the Land of Fire, tears streaming down midair.
Gaara looked back at Temari's silhouette, then struggled to sit up on the puppet.
"Kankuro, put me down."
"Shut up!" Kankuro's voice trembled. "A little brother should just listen to his big brother and sister!"
Right, sis…
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