The border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain.
After more than a day of traveling, Ren Kurogane arrived once again at the outskirts of the Land of Rain.
"I don't know Jiraiya's exact coordinates, only that they're near a lake," Ren muttered to himself. Since the Land of Rain was plagued by constant downpours, small lakes were scattered everywhere; finding Jiraiya was certainly no simple task.
Donning his raincoat, Ren crossed into the territory of the Land of Rain.
"Who goes there?" "State your purpose for being here!"
In less than half a day, two shinobi wearing straw rain-capes appeared before Ren, blocking his path.
"Look into my eyes." "Huh?"
The two instinctively met Ren's gaze. Instantly, their minds went blank. A moment later, they looked around in confusion.
"Why did we come out here again?"
Deep in the forest, Ren continued to leap across the trees at a steady pace. By controlling those two Rain shinobi, he had gained a rough understanding of the local geography. He was now heading toward the first location where he suspected Jiraiya might be staying.
As it turned out, Ren's luck was excellent.
On the surface of a nearby lake, three figures were darting back and forth in training. On the shore sat a white-haired man, leisurely writing a novel. Everything looked peaceful and idyllic.
Sensing movement behind him, Jiraiya instantly grew alert. He spun around, glaring warily into the dark treeline.
"Who's there!"
Ren stepped out from the shadows, a calm smile on his face as he looked at Jiraiya. "Finally met you, Jiraiya-sensei."
"Sen... Sensei?"
Jiraiya's wary expression turned to utter bewilderment. He did have three students back in Konoha, but they had only met twice before he left, and there had been no contact since.
However, Jiraiya was absolutely certain that this person was not one of his three disciples.
"What? Did the Third not tell you?" Ren looked slightly puzzled. He assumed Hiruzen would have at least mentioned the situation, but looking at Jiraiya's blank stare, it was clear the Old Man had kept him in the dark.
"Tell me?" Jiraiya blinked. He suddenly remembered that the Third had sent him a scroll a while back. He had assumed it was just another nagging request to return to the village, so he hadn't bothered to read it. Now, it seemed he might have missed something important.
Noticing the Konoha forehead protector hanging prominently from Ren's waist, Jiraiya decided to trust him for a moment. After all, it was just a kid; what threat could he pose?
"Hold on a second."
Jiraiya went back into the small wooden shack to rummage for the scroll the Third had sent. During this time, Ren fixed his gaze on the three figures out on the lake. As for Jiraiya's Shadow Clone overseeing them, he simply ignored it.
Because of Ren's sudden arrival, the training session had paused. Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato all stared at this outsider who appeared to be roughly their age.
With a Body Flicker, Ren appeared directly in front of them, startling the trio!
"You three must be Jiraiya's new students. Hello, I'm Ren Kurogane. I'm essentially Jiraiya's 'pro forma' disciple."
Pro forma disciple? The three had never heard such a term and looked stunned.
Konan and Yahiko stood in the front, while Nagato stood somewhat timidly behind them. Yahiko spoke up with a smile: "I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that, but we're all Jiraiya-sensei's students, right?"
"You could put it that way." Ren nodded slightly, his eyes drifting to Nagato behind them—specifically, to Nagato's Rinnegan.
Since I'm already here, should I find a chance to take a genetic sample of the Rinnegan? The thought flashed through Ren's mind before he dismissed it. Attacking Nagato would definitely alert Old Man Madara. Alerting the enemy and causing Madara to relocate his hideout would be a net loss. It was more cost-effective to secure the Gedo Statue's DNA first.
He then turned to Konan, offering her a warm smile. "I saw you using Paper Ninjutsu just now. It's a very impressive and beautiful technique."
The sudden compliment caused the young girl's face to flush slightly. She instinctively tucked a lock of her purple hair behind her ear and responded with a graceful smile. "No... it's just that Jiraiya-sensei is a good teacher~"
Ren just smiled at her response. Jiraiya certainly did have a knack for teaching.
He asked them, "Have you ever thought about leaving this place and going somewhere else?"
Yahiko shook his head. "No. This is my home. I'll stay here and change it!"
"That is a very distant dream."
Looking at the bright, confident Yahiko, Ren felt he was very similar to Nawaki—full of fantasies and aspirations for the future, yet far more grounded in reality. Because Yahiko truly came from the absolute bottom of society in a small, ravaged nation, he understood the cruelty of the world better than anyone.
Even so, Yahiko refused to give up hope, choosing to be the sunlight in the hearts of others. In this regard, perhaps only Minato could rival him. For that, Ren felt a measure of respect for the boy.
The only tragedy was that Yahiko's strength was relatively low, and he lacked political guile, leading him to fall for Hanzo's trap later on.
"No matter how distant it is, as long as I put in effort and a sincere heart, I'll eventually reach it!" Yahiko laughed confidently, but the rain fell mercilessly, masking the water on his face.
"It's raining harder!" Konan frowned slightly. "Let's go back to the house, or we'll be soaked to the bone." She then looked at Ren. "Would you like to join us?"
"Of course. I need to duck the rain too!"
The three led Ren back to their shack. Inside, Jiraiya had finally found the letter. After reading it, he understood Ren's situation and felt incredibly awkward.
"This is bad... he's definitely going to resent me for this," Jiraiya chuckled bitterly.
"Resent what?" Yahiko asked as they entered, hearing Jiraiya's mumble.
Jiraiya turned around, looking at Ren with an apologetic and embarrassed expression. "Sorry about that! Due to some... circumstances, I didn't see the Old Man's letter. Hahaha..."
Ren waved it off. "I don't really mind. I'm currently training under Lady Mito anyway. The resources I'm getting now are countless times better than what I would have had with you."
Ren then scanned Konan and the others, asking, "Don't you plan on bringing them back to Konoha? They are your students, after all."
At this, Jiraiya and the trio looked a bit awkward. Yahiko was the first to speak: "Actually, we insisted on staying. If we leave, we can't change anything here!"
To their surprise, Ren shook his head. "Leaving now is only to return better later. If you haven't seen the whole world, how can you talk about changing it?"
Yahiko was stunned by those words. He felt as though he had grasped something profound, but the feeling was fleeting, leaving him frustrated. Nagato averted his eyes; having seen his parents killed by Konoha shinobi, he still harbored a deep grudge against the village. Letting go would be difficult. Konan was the most indifferent; she had no grand ambitions for life or deep-seated hatred—she just wanted to be with her two companions.
"Hahaha! Alright, let's drop the heavy talk. It's rare for us to meet—you must have some business here, right?" Jiraiya laughed to smooth things over.
Ren looked at him and shook his head. "I don't have any specific business with you. I was just curious what kind of person you were and if you were still alive. Now that I've seen for myself, it's time for me to go."
"Eh? You're leaving already? Won't you stay for a few days?" Yahiko asked.
"No, I have my own matters to attend to. I can't afford to linger." Ren shook his head and turned to Konan. He pulled a small snail from his cloak and said with a smile, "This is a Den Den Mushi. If you ever need anything, you can find me through this."
"For me?" Konan blinked, confused as to why Ren would give it to her instead of Jiraiya.
"Yes. Because you're cute."
He smiled and placed the snail in Konan's hand. While he wanted to take her with him, Ren knew it was impossible for now. But now that they had a way to talk, feelings could be cultivated slowly!
He waved to the group. "If anything happens, call me. I'm actually quite strong."