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"I learned it from my teacher. That's how he sometimes pretends to be serious," Jiraiya said with a smile, then ran his fingers over Tsunade's skin twice.

With a snap, Tsunade flung Jiraiya's hand away. Just as Jiraiya was bracing for a violent blow, he heard Tsunade sigh.

"I told you, you're more suited to be Hokage than me." Tsunade sounded a little disappointed.

“You’ve done a great job, you’re definitely better than me,” Jiraiya comforted him.

Jiraiya could never become Hokage. He cherished friendship but couldn't stop Orochimaru from leaving; he cherished love but still didn't dare to confess his feelings to Tsunade properly even in middle age; he cherished the bond between teacher and student, but neither his master Hiruzen Sarutobi nor his disciple Minato Namikaze lived to the end.

Therefore, Jiraiya will definitely not be involved in the Hokage position until he understands when the trials and tribulations of being entrusted with a great responsibility will end.

A sharp clang rang out, and Jiraiya and Tsunade, upon hearing the sound, leaped out of the house.

Then, they saw Shen slowly sheath his steel blade, and around him, a circle of Konoha ninjas fell to the ground.

The root of Danzo!

Jiraiya immediately recognized the identities of these ninjas. Clearly, Danzo didn't want Shin to leave safely and planned to take him away for interrogation. Unfortunately, he was a bit too weak.

"I used the back of the blade, but I used a little too much force this time," Shin explained to Jiraiya and the others. "Just rest for a while and don't do heavy work in the future."

Can't do heavy work?! Are they all crippled?!

Tsunade immediately landed beside the fallen ninja, regardless of whether they were from Root or not, they were still ninjas of Konoha.

Upon checking her pulse, Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't feel any external injuries; she had simply fainted.

"Can I leave now?" Shin asked Tsunade.

"Let's go," Tsunade said calmly. Since the ninjas were all fine, it was time to teach Danzo a lesson. He was a guy who wanted to meddle in everything and couldn't see his place.

Chapter 254 Slaughtering the Rain Village

A light rain was falling from the sky, and the air was already saturated with moisture. If you sweated here, it wouldn't dry for hours. This is Rain Village, a place where it rains for most of the year.

Due to its unique environment, the main building materials in Amegakure are stone and steel. In addition, the village has countless steel pipes and sewers of all sizes to dredge rainwater. These rainwater drainage pipes have played a crucial role in preventing Amegakure from becoming a completely deserted area.

Under the eaves, an untimely shadow appeared by the wall. Due to the lighting and angle, not many people noticed anything amiss. Even if they did, ordinary people would not have imagined that a top-notch assassin ninja was hiding in that shadow.

In the shadows, Zed sensed the marker less than a hundred meters away and remained motionless. From the moment he entered Amegakure, Zed had maintained his shadow state because he clearly sensed that every drop of rain contained some kind of energy. Obviously, someone had taken advantage of the special environment here to set up a reconnaissance ninjutsu that was almost impossible to avoid.

"Kakuzu! My hand fell off again! Can't you get me some reliable medicine and thread?!" Hidan said to Kakuzu, sitting in the room with dissatisfaction.

Normally, Hidan's wounds are stitched up with Kakuzu's Earth Grudge, but this time, he was cut into too many pieces. If all the stitches were done with Earth Grudge, Kakuzu would probably be completely drained.

"A bundle of suture thread that sells for 10,000 ryo in Konoha will sell for 100,000 ryo here. You don't know the value of money until you're in charge." Kakuzu calmly picked up the needle and thread beside him and sewed Hidan's severed arm back onto his body.

"So... what kind of threads are these on my body?" Hidan grimaced as he was poked. That's right, they couldn't even afford to use sutures, let alone expect Kakuzu to prepare any anesthetic for him.

"The price of thread for sewing clothes in Amegakure is just too high. I'll make do with this." Kakuzu didn't feel embarrassed at all. After all, he hadn't been able to go out and take on missions to earn money for several days because of Hidan. The money was only going in and not going out, which was really hard for him to accept.

"Money, money, money, all you care about is money." Hidan glanced at Kakuzu disdainfully. "Why don't you join the Jashin Cult with me? Once we're in my cult, when Lord Jashin takes us to his world, money will be a piece of cake!"

"Oh," Kakuzu replied casually. He was tired of hearing Hidan say things like that.

Seeing that Kakuzu remained unmoved, Hidan got a little bored and suddenly stuck his head out of the window, looking down at the passersby wearing raincoats hurrying by.

Kakuzu reached out and grabbed Hidan by the collar, pulling him back abruptly. "What are you doing?"

“I haven’t offered any sacrifices for so many days, and I feel that the punishment from the evil god is getting closer and closer.” Hidan’s eyes widened, as if he saw something that even Kakuzu couldn’t see.

"This is the leader's village. If you're planning to do something, think it over carefully. I'm too lazy to change teammates." Kakuzu loosened his collar, making no attempt to stop Hidan.

"With the protection of the evil god, I am immortal!" Hidan jumped up madly, his limbs flailing wildly. Several fingers that were not stitched properly were flung onto the table. The pain from the loose stitches did not stop Hidan; instead, a strange expression of enjoyment appeared on his face.

"Yes, but the leader can bury you in the deep sea." Kakuzu flicked his finger off the table and said calmly, while his pen scribbled in his notebook, recording all the expenses incurred during this period in detail.

Hidan froze and stopped jumping, because he knew very well that Kakuzu was right, and that they had all experienced it themselves. After all, how could a bunch of rogue ninjas join Akatsuki and obey some of Akatsuki's orders? It was all because Nagato had directly caused that.

"Don't be too anxious." Kakuzu continued to reassure them while calculating. "Sasori and Deidara have already set off for Sunagakure. We'll rest for a while longer and then head towards there."

"After you capture Gaara, the Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast, you'll have enough reinforcements to kill. You might not even be able to keep up with the sacrifices you make."

Hidan relaxed his limbs, seemingly convinced by Kakuzu. However, Kakuzu's expression was not good; his lips twitched, and the pen in his hand was bent, making him look like he was about to have a seizure.

"What's wrong with you? Have you lost your mind? If you really have, can I sacrifice you?" Hidan asked curiously.

With a whoosh, Kakuzu jumped up, his face shoving right up to Hidan's. "Twelve thousand three hundred taels! All these days, we've only spent twelve thousand three hundred taels! We haven't earned a single coin!"

"So?" Hidan tilted his head, the chain around his neck swaying slightly.

"Adding the sunk costs of not completing the mission, I've lost at least a million taels. That could buy so many ancient books!" Kakuzu said through gritted teeth, his words filled with a chilling killing intent that could pierce through a person's skin.

Kakuzu had only two hobbies in his life: reading and making money. These two hobbies complemented each other. After being robbed like this, he could not enjoy either hobby for a while. He wanted nothing more than to kill the robber and then make his ashes into rice!

"Boring." Hidan hunched over, picked up his finger, and forcefully plunged it into the wound. His powerful regenerative abilities could heal the broken wound, but without any medicine, it would take a while. "If you ask me, you should have just killed that person when you bought the book."

"What do you know? If you don't pay to read a book, can it still be called reading a book?" Kakuzu's logic finally approached that of a normal person. "Besides, if you don't pay, the author won't have anything to eat. If the author starves to death, will there be any books to read in the future? All ancient books have to be written by someone before they become ancient books."

Hidan propped himself up on his head, leaning against the bed, his eyes vacant, his right hand gripping his Jashin necklace. "So boring, so boring. There's no pork cutlet rice here. All the shops that don't have pork cutlet rice should be destroyed!"

Kakuzu's righteous explanation was met with Hidan's complete lack of interest, which immediately dampened Kakuzu's momentum. However, as Kakuzu lowered his head, he suddenly noticed a shadow on the table in front of him.

Ultimate Technique - Silent Shadow Assassination!

Kakuzu and Hidan found themselves completely stiff and unable to move, while the shadows beneath them, which shouldn't have been moving, began to move.

Konoha's Shadow Ninjutsu?! Hidan stared at Kakuzu, struggling desperately but to no avail.

No! It's that guy's bloodline limit! Kakuzu and Hidan quickly exchanged glances.

Just as Kakuzu was brought under control, another Kakuzu appeared on the second floor of a sauna across from the hotel, quickly forming hand seals and unleashing Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!

The ceaseless raindrops of Amegakure swirled and converged, and then a water dragon rose from Kakuzu's body, rushing straight towards Hidan's room.

Boom! The immense impact of the Water Dragon Bullet directly destroyed the entire second floor of the building, and with the help of external forces, Kakuzu and Hidan barely managed to break free from the restraints of their shadows.

Luckily, I left one of my hearts outside, otherwise I would have been doomed!

"You have nowhere to escape."

Jie was caught off guard by the Water Dragon Bullet, but he quickly returned to his target's side by using the shadow to teleport. His clone and main body attacked Kakuzu, Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear clone, and Hidan simultaneously.

Just as the Shadow Blade was about to pierce Kakuzu's heart, Zed suddenly felt a tremendous suction force acting on him, and in the blink of an eye, he was lifted dozens of meters into the air.

Immediately afterwards, a black rod was plunged directly into Zed's body. Pain, the Deva Path, has arrived.

But before Heaven could launch its next attack, the calamity in front of him suddenly turned its head 360 degrees, carefully examined him, and then turned into a shadow and disappeared into the rain and mist.

Shadow Technique - Double Blades!

Several giant shuriken made of shadow power spun and flew toward Pain. As the shuriken flew, another Pain appeared in his path, wearing the same clothes as Pain, with black rods and some strange-looking patterns on his body.

The newly appeared Preta Path stretched out its hands toward the shuriken. It has the ability to absorb chakra and ninjutsu, so attacks like Shadow Secret Technique - Double-Edged Sword, which are obviously not physical, are naturally handled by it.

With a ripping sound, several shuriken tore open several gashes on the Hungry Ghost's body, almost cutting him into pieces.

Absorb chakra and ninjutsu? Sorry, my skills don't contain any chakra.

Jie used the shadow transformation to leap behind the Hungry Ghost Realm. Although the Hungry Ghost Realm noticed Jie's movements as if it had eyes in the back of its head, it was too late.

With a swift stroke, the head of the Hungry Ghost Path was severed. Before the Heavenly Path could capture him, Jie quickly leaped away from the spot.

As soon as he appeared in another place, Jie found several missiles in front of him. The missiles exploded with a bang, blasting out a patch of senbon coated with a highly toxic substance.

After dodging the attack again by swapping positions with his clone, Zed saw another figure on the roof wearing a black fire cloud robe. This person had his palms open, revealing a mechanical structure that looked like a launcher. It seemed that he was the one who fired the missile.

The Heavenly Dao extended its hand to the calamity!

The immense suction force descended once more, and the successive attacks gave Zed a headache. He had no choice but to use Shadow Shift again, but this time it was an offensive move. Zed appeared behind the Asura Path, the guy who launched the missiles.

At the same time, the shadow beneath Asura Path climbed up, restricting Asura Path's movements.

With a snap, Shura Dao's two arms naturally separated, and the chain-like mechanical blades that were exposed went straight for Jie. As a puppeteer-like being, Shura Dao's attacks sometimes did not require physical movement; it was enough as long as the mechanical components in his body could move.

Zed was struck by the chain blade that sprang out right in front of his face, but by the time it hit him, he had already turned into a shadow, and the chain blade only caught on an invisible mass.

Just as Jie was preparing to solidify and launch an attack, the Heavenly Dao's Myriad Manifestations Guidance arrived again, directly pulling Jie away from the Asura Path.

Gravity is also invisible, and the invisible meets the invisible, just right.

The shadow was not very effective against the Heavenly Dao, but the clone transformation was still quite effective. Jie used the same trick again, like a piece of chewing gum, appearing behind the Asura Path. This time, Jie would not give the Asura Path a chance to react.

The Asura Path, with their shared vision, spotted Jie's location immediately. However, like the Hungry Ghost Path, they were limited by shadows, and their speed was completely unable to keep up with Jie's.

Shadow Ninja Technique - Soul-Destroying Tribulation!

The shadow blade flashed past, splitting the Asura Path in two. At the same time, the shadow power left by the shadow blade on the wound caused a second slash, splitting the entire Asura Path into several pieces, which crashed to the ground from the air.

Having killed two enemies, Jie began to approach the Heavenly Dao; this guy's gravitational attacks were truly annoying.

Moreover, judging from the guys that have appeared so far, only this person can effectively influence the shadows for now. If we kill him, it will be much easier for Zed to move around.

Bang! This time, it was the Asura Path that appeared in front of Jie again. Although Jie's attack power does not contain chakra and cannot be absorbed, in terms of physical toughness alone, the Asura Path is still the first among Pain.

Isn't this guy already dead?

Jie looked at the Asura Path blocking the attack with some doubt. Despite his doubts, the Heavenly Path's attacks came one after another, leaving Jie no time to catch his breath. Divine Ra Heavenly Expedition!

The repulsive force sent Jie flying again.

You're inhaling and flying at the same time, are you just playing around here?!

After a few flips, Jie landed on a rooftop. Taking advantage of the situation, Renjiandao unleashed his martial arts skills at Jie, indicating that he was a close-combat specialist.

However, when it comes to melee attacks, Zed can't help but laugh. There are many mages in the Clock Tower, but there are even more masters who are good at melee attacks. Jax even gave a special class to share some key points of melee attacks. In addition, the time that the Human Dao has spent learning boxing is less than a fraction of the time that Zed has lived. Trying to play this game in front of him is like showing off one's skills in front of an expert. It's purely for laughs.

After only a few moves, the Human Path was completely overtaken. However, the other Pains rushed over, as outnumbering the enemy was their specialty.

Boom! The calamity exploded into a cloud of mist and reappeared in the distance, his ten fingers interlaced, Shadow Technique - Clone!

One by one, clones with the same hand seal emerged from the shadows and stood beside Jie.

Enjoy outnumbering your opponents? Then give it a try! Let's see who has the more men!

While Zed was making preparations, the Hell Path also repaired the Asura Path that Zed had killed. Six uniformly dressed guys stood side by side opposite Zed.

Meanwhile, the summoning arrays of the beastmen's subordinates, who were squatting to the side, were also completed, and strange-looking summoning beasts were summoned one after another.

Chapter 255 Tribulation: I'll Fight Ten of Them!

After a brief standoff, the battle was about to begin. The summoned clones simultaneously vanished into the shadows and launched an attack on Pain.

Each clone possesses the exact same abilities as Zed's original body, and they share thoughts and vision with each other. As long as Zed's mind can keep up, they are the most tacit and trustworthy comrades-in-arms.