Konan and Yahiko were Nagato's most important family, and also his companions.
At the same time, Yahiko—full of ideals and daring to act on them—was the faith he shared with Konan, like a light guiding them forward through the darkness.
No matter how difficult things became, as long as they were by his side, he felt he could push himself to do anything.
Looking at the blond-haired, blue-eyed Uzumaki boy in front of him, Pain…
That is, Nagato, was suddenly reminded of a conversation he once had with Jiraiya back in Amegakure when he was a child.
—I'll do everything I can to protect Yahiko and Konan, Jiraiya-sensei! If this world truly has any hope of peace, I'll seize it no matter what! I'll never give up!!
Yahiko died.
And so he wanted the entire world to experience the same pain he had.
Collecting the Tailed Beasts was Akatsuki's necessary means to make the world feel pain, to understand pain.
But once a Tailed Beast was taken from a Jinchūriki, the fate of the Jinchūriki who lost that power was only ever death.
As these thoughts passed through his mind…
Naruto Uzumaki tilted his head, squinting his eyes as though he too were thinking very hard about something.
Seeing that expression, Jiraiya inexplicably treated him like his own grandson and asked with a smile what he was thinking about.
"That little brain of yours really isn't suited for thinking things through. You definitely didn't inherit that from Minato," Jiraiya said, his large hand almost covering Naruto's entire head as he ruffled his hair into an even bigger mess.
Minato Namikaze gave a dry laugh. "Naruto really does take after Kushina when it comes to studying and thinking."
Naruto smoothed down his messed-up blond hair and decided to just say what was on his mind. If he had a question, he'd ask it directly.
"Dad, you were the Pervy Sage's student, right?"
"Yeah, that's right," Minato replied, not understanding why this question required so much thought.
Then Naruto continued, "But Nagato, Konan, and that guy Yahiko were also students of the Pervy Sage. Doesn't that make you their senior or junior brother?"
Pff—
Jiraiya sprayed outright.
Hidan sprayed even harder.
"Kid, isn't your way of thinking a little too bizarre?" He poked his scythe as he spoke. "Get this straight. We're the most infamous Missing-nin organization in the entire ninja world. How did you even come up with the idea of dragging us into some senior-junior disciple relationship with the Hokage?"
The Second Hokage cast a wordless glance at Naruto Uzumaki, a kid who somehow seemed even denser than his own older brother.
"See? Even the dumbest-looking one among the enemies can't stand listening to this."
Hashirama, standing beside him, immediately seized the chance to undermine his brother. "No, Tobirama. If we go by that logic, then they can't really be considered enemies of Konoha anymore, can they? Aren't they your students' students' students? Rounding it off, that makes them our juniors too, doesn't it?"
Tch…
The First Hokage and that Nine-Tails Jinchūriki really were experts at forming connections!
Even the usually calm Konan was stunned.
At the same time, she felt an unexpected sense of ease. Even though it wasn't raining outside, the atmosphere here reminded her, after a long time, of the days when she, Jiraiya-sensei, Nagato, and Yahiko—four people who were like family—would sit together in their home in Amegakure, eating and laughing.
Those frog cards hadn't been flipped in a very long time…
...
With more and more people staying here, it really wasn't appropriate to keep having Rin, Sakura, and Haku handle meals for everyone, especially when they were girls. Even though Haku and the two girls never complained, it was inevitably cutting into their training time.
So a few days ago, Kakashi had no choice but to put up a recruitment notice around Konoha…
And just like that, the Missing-nin guesthouse was officially up and running, looking surprisingly proper.
In addition to the Missing-nin, it now also had to provide meals for Team Minato, Team Kakashi, the First and Second Hokage, and the three Ōtsutsuki uncles and nephews.
At the very least, the Akatsuki members had hot food waiting for them on the very night they checked in. And the dishes were prepared according to their preferences.
For example, grilled fish that Jiraiya's former team all loved, liver dishes Kakuzu liked, pork cutlets Hidan preferred, and dango that Itachi favored.
Since the guesthouse effectively had a cafeteria now, Itachi, Kisame, Zabuza, Haku, and even Kabuto Yakushi, who had recently begun studying under the Second Hokage, all had to come out and eat together with everyone else.
Seeing the entire Akatsuki group living right next door, Zabuza's sharp teeth practically itched with the urge to bite Obito Uchiha to death.
Deidara only managed to crawl back just as everyone was taking their seats and starting to eat.
His complexion wasn't just bad. It looked like the bottom of a burnt pot.
He hadn't eaten since before the organization's meeting, skipped lunch entirely, then spent the entire afternoon being relentlessly pressured, trading blows with the Second Hokage's sixty-thousand-plus explosive tags, and after all that, he still had to run all the way back here before seeing anyone…
Deidara was so angry he wanted to blow himself up with C0, but he was out of clay. Worse, he was so hungry his vision was starting to go dark.
Seeing him, the Second Hokage's urge to tease a foolish kid surfaced again.
"Come eat, you Iwagakure brat."
With Pain and Itachi Uchiha keeping him in check, poor Deidara could only viciously bite into the oden in his mouth, treating it like the people who had been bullying him.
Before dinner officially began, the First Hokage remembered that in a previous parallel world, it had been the young man named Nagato who revived him, Tobirama, and the Fourth Hokage. Moreover, Nagato was one of the few remaining members of Mito's clan. So he encouraged Nagato to come eat using his real body, and promised that afterward, he would use Wood Release chakra to see whether Nagato's leg, injured so many years ago, could still be repaired.
That casual remark instantly exposed the truth. Pain was nothing more than a corpse, not much different from Sasori's puppets.
All of Akatsuki turned to look at Pain. None of them had known this. And when they saw that not a single Konoha ninja on the opposite side looked surprised, it told them something very clearly—
Everyone here already knew Pain's secret.
That realization put these S-rank Missing-nin in an extremely passive position.
In ninja combat, victory and defeat could more or less be reduced to two things: raw strength and information.
In a situation like this, where the enemy's strength was unfathomable and they knew practically everything about them, the fight was essentially unwinnable.
As unbelievable as it felt, all they could do was stay on guard at all times and settle into the Missing-nin guesthouse with deep unease.
Sasori, still using Hiruko, found it difficult to move around inside the guesthouse.
Seeing how uncomfortable he looked, Obito spoke bluntly, cutting straight to the point. "You stay cooped up in that shell all the time. If you're not uncomfortable, watching you makes me uncomfortable. Can't you come out? Don't crush the floor at Kakashi's place."
Sasori was so angry he nearly snapped back. Was this guy looking down on his art?
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, the three young genin, stared in shock.
"Huh? Isn't that his real appearance?!"
Young Kakashi, Young Obito, and Rin also looked over with clear curiosity.
"You mean the real Sasori has been inside that thing the whole time?"
Adult Obito glanced at his younger self. "That doesn't even count as a person. It's a puppet. Same idea as that guy Kankurō you ran into during the Chūnin Exams, just nowhere near Sasori's level."
"You're comparing me to a brat?"
Unlike Hiruko's earlier voice, this time it was a very young, almost childish voice. Cold and sharp, yet unable to hide the unmistakable youth beneath it.
"Huh?!"
Sakura and the others watched in shock as Hiruko's body opened up, and a red-haired, beautiful young man stepped out from inside.
"So this is the real Sasori?"
Seeing that the boy looked about the same age as himself and Kimimaro, Haku wasn't nearly as shocked as Naruto and the others.
Because of Orochimaru's connection with Jiraiya, Kimimaro was also staying at the Missing-nin guesthouse for the time being. Among everyone present, he was one of the few people Haku could actually talk to.
When he heard Haku speak to him, he let out a low hum in response.
Adult Obito said, "He's much older than all of you. Older than both me and Kakashi. He's definitely not the fourteen- or fifteen-year-old you think he is."
The others were inevitably surprised.
Sasori was displeased. "Shut up."
Obito did shut up. Naruto did not.
"Hey, hey," Naruto tugged at Kakashi's clothes. "Does that mean he's like Granny Tsunade and has that… you know, Yin Seal?"
Kakashi didn't know the answer either.
Seeing that Kakashi couldn't respond, Adult Obito, who had just gone quiet, spoke up again. "He turned himself into a puppet so he could live forever. Be careful around him. Besides puppetry, he's also extremely skilled with poison."
"And over there is the zombie duo. One specializes in curse techniques, so whatever you do, don't let him get your blood. The other one has five hearts, which means five lives. Kill one and there's still another. But there is a way to deal with them. Naruto, your Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. The wind forms countless microscopic chakra needles that shred every one of the tens of trillions of cells in their bodies."
Obito explained it as casually as if he were giving a science lesson. Naruto didn't even know Wind Release: Rasenshuriken yet, but that didn't stop future knowledge from being discussed ahead of time.
The group of Missing-nin across from them fell silent.
Their fists clenched, but they could only endure it.
That evening, after finishing a full day of administrative work, the Fourth Hokage, Minato, returned and even took the initiative to greet Nagato and Konan. This left the leader of the Missing-nin completely confused, unable to figure out what the Hokage was planning.
But in truth, what ill intentions could the Hokage possibly have?
Poor guy. How could he know that this Hokage had also been revived by another version of himself from a parallel world?
Itachi Uchiha proposed returning the Uchiha Sharingan to the clan grounds that very night.
Minato agreed and accompanied him.
From the moment they obtained the mission scroll, not much time had actually passed in their parallel world. But because they had been traveling back and forth between different parallel worlds so frequently, it felt as though an incredibly long time had gone by.
They were finally about to complete their first SSS-rank mission.