Akatsuki base.
Jiraiya and Akihara Kagura have finally arrived here.
Actually, infiltrating this base is not particularly easy, because Orochimaru is staying in this base, and snakes and toads are natural enemies, using the Toad Concealment Jutsu to infiltrate might be detected by Orochimaru.
Akihara Kagura raised his palm, preparing to form the hand seal for the Summoning Jutsu: "I'll summon the Great Toad Sage to help us check out the layout of this base..."
"Wait..."
Jiraiya hurriedly wanted to stop him.
However, Akihara Kagura was a step faster than Jiraiya!
"Ninpo: Summoning Jutsu!"
With the formation of a black summoning array, the Great Toad Sage, who was originally still in a deep slumber, unconsciously responded to the summon, and its enormous aged body appeared within the summoning smoke.
"Is it little Jiraiya..."
The Great Toad Sage opened its somewhat drowsy eyes, stretched out its claw to rub its eye sockets: "It feels like we are meeting more and more often lately..."
"Ah hahaha..."
Jiraiya could only laugh it off, repeatedly bowing and apologizing to the Great Toad Sage: "Sorry, sorry, it's just my young disciple being naive..."
After apologizing, Jiraiya proactively brought up the matter of Nagato to the Great Toad Sage: "Nagato is still alive and might have joined a renegade organization composed of traitorous ninja. He could possibly be hiding inside this base, and we need the Great Toad Sage to guide us in infiltrating here..."
"That little guy with the Rinnegan?"
The Great Toad Sage didn't bother with these small matters anymore, and proactively took out his crystal ball, using his claw to flip it around: "It seems the security inside isn't particularly tight..."
This base is the Akatsuki's base.
Except for the S-Class Traitorous Ninja recruited by Akatsuki, no other ninja was allowed to approach the perimeter.
After all, the renegade ninja recruited by Akatsuki are all significant figures, often temperamental, and may kill over the slightest of matters.
When Jiraiya and Akihara Kagura cautiously got in, they surprisingly encountered no obstacles, and didn't even see a single person, only occasionally hearing exchanges coming from the labs...
"Your puppet technique is improving really fast..."
"Hmph, your jutsu development is still as slow as ever..."
"This isn't my developed jutsu; I just learned from the results left by the Second Hokage, trying to see if I can make this jutsu more perfect... By the way, about the transaction we mentioned last time, will you give me some of the Third Kazekage's corpse materials?"
"It's all here, use it sparingly."
One of the voices was very familiar, it was indeed Orochimaru.
The other voice was also familiar, belonging to the Puppet Master that had acted with Orochimaru, Red Sand Sasori.
"Orochimaru..."
Jiraiya swiftly intended to move over there.
However, remembering another purpose of his visit to the Akatsuki base, Jiraiya stopped his steps and proceeded deeper into the Akatsuki base, intending to first locate Nagato and Konan.
Right after Jiraiya and Akihara Kagura left, Orochimaru in the lab lightly sniffed the air, wrinkled his brows, and sneered: "I seem to smell a pesky stench..."
"The stench of corpses?"
Red Sand Sasori responded to his remark in a cold tone.
Because Red Sand Sasori is the Asura Path Puppet of Akihara Kagura, he knew about the infiltration of Jiraiya and Akihara Kagura even before Orochimaru.
"Perhaps it's the corpses..."
Orochimaru was all too familiar with his teammates, he even already felt Jiraiya's presence, yet Orochimaru chose not to voice it out.
Jiraiya and Akihara Kagura gradually ventured deeper into the cave.
At this moment, Jiraiya heard the voices of Konan and another person.
"This is the fee for the commissioned task."
"Kakuzu, did your partner die again?"
"During the task, this fellow was too weak and got killed, I've already traded his corpse for cash, all five million ryo are in the box."
"Konan."
"Next time get me a more valuable partner, this guy isn't even worth as much as the last one."
"..."
The room suddenly turned silent.
Both Konan inside the room and Jiraiya eavesdropping outside fell silent, both feeling the demands of the one in the room were just too outrageous.
Most ninja operate in teams for missions.
Some prefer strong partners, some prefer obedient partners, some like those they can cooperate with.
It's the first time seeing someone who prefers valuable partners.
Just as Jiraiya sighed internally and planned to continue searching for Nagato's trail inside the base, Akihara Kagura suddenly grabbed Jiraiya's shoulder!
A paper shuriken flew past in front of Jiraiya, somehow pinned onto the hard stone wall despite being mere fragile folded paper; they've been discovered!
"Konan found us!"
Jiraiya took a deep breath, deciding not to conceal himself any longer.
"There are others..."
Akihara Kagura's gaze turned to the depths of the cave.
In the dark depths of the cave, a pair of eerie eyes appeared!
The eyes bore circular patterns, unmistakably the legendary Sage Eye—the Rinnegan!
"Long time no see, Jiraiya sensei."
A figure of an orange-haired man slowly emerged from the darkness.
This man looked still young, with Rinnegan eyes in his sockets, strange black piercings on his nose, and draped in a Cloud Black Robe.
"Pain!"