This was it. Jiraiya was sure he'd found his proof.
He had never officially taken Sasuke Uchiha on as a student, and unlike Naruto, Sasuke had never once called him "Master Jiraiya."
"Sasuke carries too much darkness, too much hate," Jiraiya said, his usual playful tone gone, replaced by something heavy. "In my opinion, he can't possibly carry any more."
It wasn't that he was looking down on the boy; it was pity.
Emiya Shirou's expression didn't change. He seemed completely unfazed by the evidence Jiraiya presented. He had already told Jiraiya about the possibility of two Children of Prophecy, and for now, Jiraiya was convinced his only true disciple was Naruto.
What the white-haired man didn't know was that he had other disciples out there—students long believed to be dead, who were, in fact, very much alive.
And they were about to make a big move.
Killing Hanzo of the Salamander, the leader of the Rain Village, might have seemed like a world-shaking event, but for the Akatsuki, it was just another step.
After his body had healed, Nagato had been waiting for the right moment to deal with Hanzo. He no longer needed to create more Rinnegan puppets; his own power was now more than enough.
This was business, but it was also personal. Nagato knew they needed control of the Land of Rain to protect the Akatsuki's secrets, but it was also, finally, revenge.
-----
Land of Rain.
In a valley, a cage-like building lay in a heap of rubble. The bodies of Rain ninja were scattered among the debris. Only one person remained alive.
Hanzo of the Salamander.
"You... you..." Hanzo stammered, staring in terror as Pain approached, with Nagato and Konan standing just behind him. He scrambled backward, desperate to escape.
The old man had lost his courage long ago. The will to risk his life for his country was gone, replaced by a greedy attachment to his power and his fading life.
"Goodbye," Pain said, raising his palm.
In the next instant, a powerful repulsive force slammed into Hanzo's body. The legendary leader of the Rain Village, a man who had once stood against the great nations, could only watch with wide eyes as his body was crushed. His end was brutal and swift.
With Hanzo gone, nothing stood in the way of the Akatsuki. Pain immediately led Nagato and Konan to the Rain Village to establish a new order.
Of course, none of this escaped Emiya Shirou's notice. He wasn't particularly concerned with what the Akatsuki was doing, but he was thinking about how to get Nagato to contact Jiraiya sooner rather than later.
If possible, he wanted to use an old acquaintance to make it happen.
Unfortunately, that acquaintance wasn't exactly free to move around. He had heard that Emiya was in Konoha and had been desperately trying to find a way to meet him, but the Third Hokage was having none of it. Hiruzen had strictly forbidden him from getting anywhere near Emiya.
"Danzo's been very busy with his work," Hiruzen said once, lying smoothly to Emiya's face.
After all, Shimura Danzo had, in a sense, once been a follower of Emiya. Hiruzen didn't want them to meet. He didn't want to give Danzo the chance to use Emiya for his own schemes.
The situation in Konoha was finally stable. Danzo, who had always been a dangerous element within the village, needed to stay quiet. Under the Hokage's strict orders, he was to live out his days peacefully.
Naturally, Danzo couldn't stand it. He was an ambitious man, and he wasn't about to quietly accept his fate. His hatred for Hiruzen, the man who was always holding him back, began to fester once more.
Of course, Danzo couldn't make a move himself. The old man had to rely on his ally, Orochimaru. He also wanted to know when Orochimaru was finally going to send him a Rinnegan.
But the ever-busy Orochimaru had no time for Danzo. He had long since stopped taking the old man seriously, and any communications were handled by his right-hand man, Kabuto Yakushi.
Orochimaru had more important things to do. He needed to perfect the Impure World Reincarnation jutsu to make his reanimated ninja stronger. He had to study the Reaper Death Seal to figure out how to bring back and control the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
And most importantly, he was working on the cloning project Emiya had suggested, a path to his own immortality.
Time ticked by. As Naruto and Sasuke grew stronger in Konoha, Orochimaru finally had a breakthrough. He found a way to break the Reaper Death Seal.
"A special mask exists in this world... a Reaper mask that connects to the underworld..."
"Wear the mask..."
"Summon the Reaper..."
"And at the cost of the user's soul, you can rip open the Reaper's stomach, freeing the souls trapped inside..."
The mask was sealed away in Konoha's Uzumaki Clan Mask Temple. Very few people even knew the Reaper Death Seal existed, let alone how to break it.
"Konoha..." Orochimaru hissed, his snake-like eyes scanning the scroll of Uzumaki secrets. A complex expression flickered across his face. "It seems fate always leads back home..."
"Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto asked cautiously.
Orochimaru didn't bother to hide his thoughts. "First," he said, his eyes narrowing, "we get that mask."
This task, of course, fell to Kabuto. It was tricky but not impossible, dangerous but not suicidal. Orochimaru didn't trust anyone else with it.
Besides, the current Konoha was no joke. His old teammates, Jiraiya and Tsunade, were both there. If Orochimaru went himself and got caught, it would be a massive headache.
"Oh, and one more thing," Orochimaru added. "Try to find a chance to contact Danzo. I've drafted a plan to deal with Emiya Shirou, and I might need a little help from him."
"Yes, sir," Kabuto nodded.
"What plan?" a voice asked from the shadows. It was Obito Uchiha, his tone dripping with doubt and contempt. "You've been claiming to perfect this jutsu for years, and I've seen nothing."
Their original plan was for Orochimaru to build a reanimated army of powerful ninja to fight Emiya. But so far, he hadn't produced much of anything, not even the legendary First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
Orochimaru's excuse was simple. A weak reanimation of Hashirama would be useless against Emiya. But a reanimation at full power would be impossible to control. Hashirama would break free instantly and probably kill Orochimaru on the spot.
It was a dead end.
Orochimaru's lips curled into a slow, sinister smile. He ignored Obito's rudeness and laid out his true plan. "Fine. If you're in such a hurry, I'll tell you."
"If we can't control the First Hokage... then why bother trying to control him at all?"
"We've been looking at this the wrong way. Our goal is to fight that man. We've been so careful, trying to hide our intentions and keep our puppets on a leash."
"But... when the real fight begins... maybe we don't need to hide anymore. Maybe we don't need to care if they go out of control."
"Once Kabuto gets that mask, I can break the Reaper Death Seal and release all the previous Hokage. I'll use the Impure World Reincarnation to bring them all back. And it won't matter if they're at full power and completely out of my control."
"Because when those Hokage learn that Emiya Shirou's goals have changed... that he's secretly plotting to overthrow the entire ninja world... they'll naturally turn against him."
"We just need to be the wind," Orochimaru hissed, his eyes narrowed. "The wind that starts the storm."
He didn't care who won the fight between the reanimated Hokage and Emiya. He just wanted to create enough chaos to finally slip out from under Emiya's shadow and secure his own immortality.
This peaceful life he was living felt like a lie. Emiya was a constant threat hanging over him. His life wasn't his own, and Orochimaru couldn't stand it. He was just like the ninja world itself—calm on the surface, but with a violent storm brewing underneath, held back only by Emiya's presence.
Stillness was death. Orochimaru hated stillness.
Movement was life. He craved it.
Kabuto stood silently, watching the twisted, hungry smile on Orochimaru's face and the calculating look in Obito's eye. He lowered his head, thinking. Orochimaru's plan... it might actually work.
Deep underground, a White Zetsu clone sped through the earth. Its job was to spy on Orochimaru, and now it reported everything it had heard back to its main body.
"What do we do?" the main White Zetsu whispered, worried. "We have to tell Lord Emiya immediately. What if something happens?"
"No," Black Zetsu said, a sinister grin spreading across his face. "This could be an opportunity. A chance to show Emiya that he never should have trusted those Konoha ninja. We are the only ones on his side."
"But this is risky," White Zetsu argued. "Even if Lord Emiya is strong, facing the First Hokage and two others who mastered space-time jutsu..."
"Don't worry," Black Zetsu said, his confidence absolute.
"He won't be in any danger. In fact," he added, a fantasy playing out in his mind, "I almost hope he is."
"When Emiya is truly in danger," Black Zetsu mused, "we can have Nagato use his Rinnegan to truly resurrect him. And at that point... not even Hashirama Senju will be a match for him."
But Black Zetsu didn't control all the information.
When Kabuto arrived in Konoha to find the Reaper Mask, he took the first opportunity to report Orochimaru's entire plan to Emiya Shirou.
"Let's proceed with Orochimaru's plan," Emiya said, completely unconcerned by the conspiracy. The only thing that interested him was Black Zetsu's reaction.
Theoretically, Black Zetsu should have been the first to bring him this news. The fact that he hadn't meant he was up to something. It meant he liked Orochimaru's plan, which would drive a wedge between Emiya and Konoha.
That little bastard was terrified of him being influenced by the reincarnation of Asura's chakra.
It seemed it was time to give Black Zetsu a little taste of what he wanted. He would let the conspiracy play out, let Black Zetsu think he was winning Emiya's loyalty. That worked perfectly with Emiya's own goals.
There was just one small change needed.
"So be it," Emiya said, tapping his fingers. "If Orochimaru wants to be the wind, then the windmill will have to turn."
Kabuto looked confused.
"The plan may be Orochimaru's," Emiya explained, a cold expertise in his voice.
He knew a thing or two about schemes. "But the time, the place, and everyone who gets swept up in this storm... I'll be the one to choose them."