Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 377 Infiltration and Counter-Infiltration: The Great Battle of Payne is About to Begin.

At a roadside stall on a street in Yuyin Village.

Jiraiya calmly sipped his tea, observing his surroundings.

Although Amegakure has kept its communication with the outside world closed for many years and blocked its own intelligence, it does not mean that they have no contact with the outside world at all. After all, it is impossible for such a large village to be self-sufficient in resources when it rains every day.

Merchants from the Land of Rain, as well as caravans from other places, will come here to do business.

There weren't many outsiders, but they weren't none either. That's why it wasn't too strange for Jiraiya to be drinking tea here, since he wasn't wearing a Konoha ninja headband.

Jiraiya glanced at the ninja hurrying past and began to make his own plans.

"The headband hasn't changed; it still looks like the one from Amegakure, which means the flag hasn't changed either."

"However, the villagers would remain silent when asked about the leader or other related information, and were very wary of outsiders, which shows that the village was under very strong control."

"Even the children talk about the village's 'god,' which might be their leader. That's a bit strange; could it be a cult?"

Speaking of cults, Jiraiya recalled that a few years ago, when he was researching in the Land of Hot Springs, he heard about a cult incident that had occurred there. Apparently, there was some kind of evil god cult that was killing people indiscriminately, and it was rumored that they had even researched immortality or something like that.

But in the end, it didn't amount to much. After struggling for a while, it collapsed due to self-destruction and suppression from the Land of Hot Water.

Gathering these thoughts, Jiraiya looked at the tallest building in Amegakure, his gaze gradually becoming serious.

Because of the constant torrential rain in Amegakure, the overall architectural style is very unique. All the buildings have drainage pipes of various sizes around their exteriors, giving them a strong metallic feel.

At the same time, Amegakure has never had a landmark office building, like the Hokage Building, since the reign of Hanzo the Salamander.

However, Jiraiya, who had participated in the Second Shinobi World War and carried out many missions in Amegakure, knew very well that the tallest building in the village was where the leader was located.

"Should I choose a target first, capture and interrogate them, or should I infiltrate that building directly to find out the truth?" Jiraiya put down his teacup and thought to himself.

In just a few breaths, Jiraiya's expression hardened, and he decided to go straight to that building to find out the truth.

What are you afraid of?

He is Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, one of the Legendary Sannin.

Hanzo the Salamander is already dead. Even though many rogue ninjas have gathered here, Jiraiya is still confident in his own strength.

Moreover, thinking of this, he touched the scroll in his pocket, then adjusted its position and placed it in a hidden cloth bag under his arm. This way, when he needed to use it, the scroll could simply slide down his sleeve into his hand, which was very convenient.

This toad immortal can summon spirit lords at any time, what's there to be afraid of!?

He casually left two banknotes behind, then Jiraiya got up and walked into the rain.

At the same time, many ninjas in Amegakure received orders from their superiors to check for unfamiliar faces in the village, as some outside ninjas had infiltrated.

This could be considered a minor drawback of the Rain Tiger Free Technique: it's not as effective in areas with many ninjas.

Just like in the original story, although Jiraiya's whereabouts were discovered as soon as he entered Amegakure, Pain was unable to directly confirm his location using this technique, and the village's ninjas still needed to search for him.

However, while these Amegakure ninjas were searching for the so-called outsider ninjas, Jiraiya had already begun infiltrating the building.

A tiny brown toad, no bigger than a palm, sneaked into the drainpipe and then, following the drainpipe, bypassed the building's security forces, invading the core area of ​​Amegakure via an unexpected route.

Meanwhile, in the most secluded room in the central area of ​​this building, Nagato was sitting in a wheelchair, with Konan looking at him with a solemn expression.

After the Rain Tiger Free Technique lost its effect, Nagato used the Chakra Sensing Technique every five minutes in this place. This technique can be considered a secret of the Uzumaki clan, which uses chakra to determine the location of the enemy and track them.

The advantage is its high precision, but the disadvantage is that the range is not very large. Currently, Nagato can perceive the entire building from top to bottom, layer by layer, in three dimensions.

"Did you get any results?" Konan couldn't help but ask when Nagato finished his perception session.

"No." Nagato shook his head, but then immediately added, "This unknown outsider ninja is very powerful. Since I discovered him, the village ninjas have been searching for him, but they haven't found him yet. This shows that his infiltration methods are quite sophisticated. And the more skilled a person is, the more likely they are to search for our most core secrets. Therefore, this building cannot be left untouched by him."

It was precisely because of this judgment that Nagato continuously engaged in perception and investigation.

In a secluded room inside the building, the drainpipe opening was gently pushed open, and a small brown toad jumped out. After looking around and confirming that there was no danger, it opened its mouth wide.

Then, Jiraiya's arm emerged from the toad's mouth in a very strange way. Soon, his tall body emerged from the mouth of the palm-sized toad. It was hard to imagine what was inside the toad's belly.

His body was covered in sticky mucus, but it quickly dried and evaporated upon contact with the air.

At least from this point of view, Jiraiya truly deserves to be Orochimaru's companion; one enjoys being spat out by snakes, and the other enjoys being spat out by toads.

The room was pitch black, as if no light from the outside could penetrate it. There were no windows, and apart from a heavy metal door, there was no other exit. Ah, there was a drainpipe, though.

This is a characteristic of Amegakure. Since it rains all year round, it is normal for some water to seep into the rooms. Therefore, almost all buildings are designed and constructed with drainage pipes for each room.

"Lighting the lamp technique." Jiraiya murmured to himself, turning his palm upwards.

A flame emitting a dim white light appeared in Jiraiya's hand, and this change made the dim room slightly brighter.

Jiraiya immediately saw a ninja nailed to a torture device, seemingly on the verge of death, his breath weak. He was a middle-aged man wearing a headband from Takigakure and covered in densely packed sealing incantations.

"Takigakure Village?" Jiraiya was slightly puzzled. He took two steps forward and shone the faint white light in his hand on the other person's drooping head to see the man's face clearly.

"The Seven-Tails Jinchuriki!?" Jiraiya thought to himself in surprise.

Konoha's intelligence infiltration is quite effective, and they have a certain understanding and investigation of various ninja villages, regardless of size.

Characters like Yakushi Nonou and Yakushi Kabuto spent many years away from home, never returning to the village, living only to gather more information.

Before Jiraiya arrived, he already knew that the Akatsuki organization was likely hunting and capturing Tailed Beasts in secret. Therefore, when he left Konoha, he obtained a real-time intelligence report on the various Tailed Beast Jinchuriki from Konoha.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

In the original story, the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki was a little girl named "Kaede," but clearly, the middle-aged man nailed to the torture device is the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki in this current timeline.

"The injuries are quite severe." Jiraiya quickly assessed the other's injuries.

These injuries can provide some information, allowing us to determine the ninjutsu that Akatsuki members might use.

After careful observation, Jiraiya obtained the results: most of the injuries were "explosion injuries," which meant that there was a powerful Explosion Release ninja in the Akatsuki organization who was strong enough to severely injure and capture a Tailed Beast Jinchuriki.

"There aren't many people in the ninja world who use Explosion Release-related ninjutsu," Jiraiya thought to himself, recalling the information.

It must be said that he was a truly outstanding ninja and an intelligence master. Soon, Jiraiya locked onto a target in his mind.

There is only one person who fits both of these criteria: an S-rank rogue ninja who uses the Explosion Release technique. That person is Deidara, the genius that Iwagakure was once proud of, the Third Tsuchikage, and the famous Kekkei Tota ninja, Onoki's personal disciple.

"But that seems unlikely. If I remember correctly, that kid is only about seventeen years old, right? Are all young people this amazing these days?" Jiraiya thought to himself with some surprise.

Although he thought it was unlikely, Deidara was indeed the one who best fit the intelligence screening criteria, so Jiraiya also increased his vigilance in this regard.

Although he had only just infiltrated the village, Jiraiya had already made his trip worthwhile when he saw the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki. After a moment's thought, he decided to end his first reconnaissance of Amegakure and see if he could take the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki away.

If we bring this guy back to Konoha, Konoha will have a lot of initiative over Takigakure. At the same time, this Seven-Tails Jinchuriki has obviously fought and been defeated by Akatsuki. If we can rescue him, the information he can reveal will be very valuable. We can also disrupt Akatsuki's progress and plans, killing two birds with one stone.

With that in mind, Jiraiya began to carefully examine the sealing techniques on this guy's body, and also carefully searched the surroundings for any trigger alarms or traps.

At the same time, five minutes later, Nagato used Chakra Sensing Technique again.

Unlike the previous times, this time, his expression quickly changed, and Rinne's eyes flashed with shock and anger as he said, "The enemy has already infiltrated the interior of this building, and they're in the secret cell where the Tailed Beast Jinchuriki are being held, Konan!"

"I understand, I'll go now," Xiao Nan said with a very serious expression.

Not everyone can extract the terrifying chakra of a tailed beast as easily as Bane, who could pull the tailed beast out of the Jinchuriki's stomach with a single swipe.

Do you really think the sealing techniques within the Jinchuriki of the Tailed Beasts and the Tailed Beasts' massive chakra are a joke?

Even Nagato, who considered himself a god and possessed the power of the Rinnegan, could not do this. The Akatsuki organization needed to spend a lot of time extracting the power of the Tailed Beasts. They used the Illusionary Dragon Nine Sealing Technique, which required the gathering of several experts and the use of a huge amount of chakra as a medium. It took a long time, often several days in a row, to truly extract the Tailed Beast's chakra.

But the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki had just been brought back to Amegakure by Deidara and Sasori, and Nagato hadn't even had a chance to gather everyone to extract the Tailed Beast's chakra before Jiraiya came in and started causing trouble.

So there was a time difference in between.

While Konan was on her way, Nagato had already begun using his mental will to communicate with the Akatsuki members' rings and contact the rest of the people in Amegakure.

"Raise alert! The enemy has infiltrated our base and is located in the Jinchuriki prison. Konan is on her way. You should also go and provide support as soon as possible." After conveying this message, Nagato began to project his consciousness into the Six Paths of Pain.

Soon, the Six Paths of Pain, scattered throughout Amegakure, began to gather at this building.

(End of this chapter)