Chapter 846 : Taking the Uchiha Clan under his wing?

“He wields the fabled Rinnegan, the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths.”

Shock and disbelief appeared on Jiraiya's face. He couldn't believe his ears! He thought, ‘Rinnegan? Nagato? Are you still alive?’

Tsunade was shocked as well. She had never heard about anyone possessing the Rinnegan. Being shocked by its appearance was natural. However, Tsunade and Hiruzen noticed that Jiraiya was far more shocked. His reaction felt unnatural.

Tsunade asked, “Is something the matter, Jiraiya?”
Hiruzen asked, “You know something about it, don't you?”

Jiraiya sighed, “Yes… Do you recall the three students I accepted in the Land of Rain?”
Tsunade nodded and asked, “Didn't they die during the Third Great Ninja War?”
Jiraiya answered, “I thought so too, but that may not be the case. Nagato, the red-hair one, possessed the Rinnegan.”

The revelation shocked Tsunade and Hiruzen. Neither expected Jiraiya to know the Rinnegan user, let alone train him. Hiruzen immediately asked, “Why didn't you ever report that?”

Jiraiya answered, “I believed him to be the Child of Prophecy. I didn't want him to be influenced by others. If the news was made public, it's easy to guess what the result would have been.”

Hiruzen immediately understood. If Jiraiya had mentioned it to him, he would have made Jiraiya bring all three of them to Konoha. If Danzo had learnt it, he would have tried to get Nagato's eyes before he reached Konoha. Even if he failed, his schemes would never end.

Regardless of what would happen, he would undoubtedly be dragged into the messy waters of Konoha and any hopes of bringing peace to the world would take a backseat. If other villages learnt of this too, a new war might have broken out where the remaining four villages try their best to get their hands on the Rinnegan! Instead of bringing peace, he could have triggered another bloody war.

Hiruzen sighed, “I still wished you would have informed me. Anyway, now I know why the name sounded familiar. A kunoichi, who uses Paper techniques, always follows Pain around. Her name is Konan. I thought it was just a coincidence, but I suppose not.”

Jiraiya muttered, “So, Konan is alive too… What about Yahiko? Is he in Akatsuki too?”

Hiruzen shook his head, “Itachi's reports never mentioned Yahiko or Nagato. Otherwise, I would have connected the dots. Anyway, tell me everything about him, including any abilities of the Rinnegan.”

Jiraiya answered, “There isn't much to say. He was still a child and hadn't unlocked the Rinnegan's potential. The only impressive abilities were his sensing ability and that he could use all five natures…”

Jiraiya talked more about the days he spent in the Land of Rain, informing Tsunade and Hiruzen everything he knew about the trio.

In the end, he asked, “Where is the Akatsuki's headquarters?”
Hiruzen answered, “In Amegakure…”
Jiraiya and Tsunade frowned. Tsunade asked, “Is Hanzo also among them?”
Hiruzen shook his head, “Hanzo is dead. Itachi didn't know the details but believes it was done by Pain.”

Tsunade, who had received a myriad of shocking news for the last 24 hours and didn't think she could be shocked anymore, was once again shocked. Her teammate was no exception.

Tsunade muttered, “To be able to kill someone as formidable as Hanzo… Troublesome… We need to be wary of the Rinnegan.”
Jiraiya immediately said, “If they are in Amegakure, I'll go there and pay them a visit. It's time I see what my old students are up to.”

“Absolutely not!” Hiruzen and Tsunade exclaimed loudly at the same time, startling Jiraiya. He muttered, “Jeez, I'm just going to check. If things heat up, I'll retreat.”

Hiruzen said, “It's too risky. We don't know what abilities the Rinnegan has and how strong the person who can keep so many rogue rank S ninjas in line is. Just the fact that he killed Hanzo shows that we can't underestimate him.

If he has anything that can prevent you from escaping, you'll be doomed without any backup. Not to mention, there's still that Uchiha with his weird Space Time Ninjutsu. If he's also present, your chances of making a successful escape will drop even further.”

Tsunade agreed, “I'm with Sensei on this. There is no reason to take such a risk.”

Jiraiya replied, “It's not a risk. I'll use one of those communication tags Fujin created and reverse summon to Mount Myoboku if I am in danger.”

Hiruzen thoughtfully said, “Hmm, that could work, but there's no reason for us to jump into the fire. We'll divert the Akatsuki towards the other villages first and let them test out the Rinnegan's abilities. Once we have information, we could make strategies to counter it and eliminate him with minimal losses. Until then, stay away from Amegakure. That area is a death zone for now.”

Jiraiya finally relented, “Alright…”

Hiruzen said, “Though it's a surprise that the Rinnegan user was your student, I primarily wanted to discuss the abilities of the remaining Akatsuki members with you…”

Hiruzen informed Tsunade and Jiraiya everything that he knew about the Akatsuki. They were already aware of most of it, with the exception of Hidan and Zetsu. A major portion of their time was spent talking about Zetsu. With his fondness of scheming in the background, Hiruzen considered Zetsu as the greatest threat after Pain and Obito. His ability was simply too useful for schemers like him.

After a long discussion, Jiraiya sighed, “All of them are troublesome… To think that Itachi would be the most normal among all of them…”

Tsunade was feeling a similar headache and muttered, “It'll be a huge problem if all of them can cooperate and act together. We need to reduce their numbers before they reach such a stage. Fujin did a splendid job in eliminating Juzo and Deidara. We should look for an opportunity to eliminate Sasori or Hidan & Kakuzu.”

Hiruzen and Jiraiya nodded. Hiruzen said, “Well, that was all I had to say. Time to talk with Fujin.”

Tsunade and Jiraiya agreed, unaware of the reluctance Hiruzen felt in saying those words. As they called one of the Anbu Guards in the room and sent him to fetch Fujin, Hiruzen prayed, ‘Other than asking for that ridiculously expensive sword, Fujin hasn't been that greedy in recent times. I hope that remains the same. Unfortunately, I have a feeling he'll ask for something more expensive than my kidney…’

Fujin was at his house when the Anbu Guard arrived and delivered the message. He thought, ‘Eh, again? Oh well, I was wondering when to approach her. Now may be a good time to finally ask that…’

Fujin followed the Anbu Guard and reached the Hokage's office, where he entered alone. Looking at the trio, he wondered, ‘Hiruzen and Jiraiya are here too? Did anything happen? Oh well, it's better that they're together.’

Fujin said, “I didn't expect to see you here so quickly, Grandpa. Did something happen?”

Tsunade answered his question, “Not really. We just have a new task for you.”

Fujin raised an eyebrow and replied, “I thought things would calm down for sometime. I didn't expect you to take advantage of this false sense of security to target someone. Which village are we targeting this time?”

Tsunade and Jiraiya looked at Fujin with a dumbfounded expression. Both wondered, ‘What the hell? When did we say we are targeting another village? How did he even reach that conclusion?’

Hiruzen coughed and said, “It's not an elimination mission. We want you to train Uchiha Sasuke.”

It was Fujin's turn to be surprised. He wondered, ‘Train Sasuke? Did he learn about my Akuro identity? No, that shouldn't be it. I haven't used that identity again. Does Sasuke look down on Kakashi to such an extent now? Wait, was that why he was wandering around my compound a few days ago?’

Hiruzen looked at Fujin thinking for a few seconds and thought, ‘Here we go again…’

As he expected, Fujin's following words caught him off guard. Yet, the words were nothing he imagined. Instead of accepting or declining the task, Fujin casually asked, “Do you want me to train all the remaining Uchiha orphans too?”

Jiraiya wondered, ‘He wants to take the entire Uchiha Clan under his wing? That would increase his influence tremendously. Especially after legitimizing his faction in the last Council Meeting…’
At the same time, Tsunade wondered, ‘Was Shikaku mistaken? Fujin seems to be going all out in increasing his influence.’

Only Hiruzen felt something off and thought, ‘Take the Uchiha clan under his wing? That doesn't sound like him… No, his tone was odd…’

As Hiruzen expected, Fujin let out a long sigh and complained, “I barely have any time to train myself. For the last couple of months, I have been running all around the world with little to no time to train.

I'm planning a long training session to improve my strength further, which will take most, if not all of my time. I'm not even sure whether I can train those five kids properly. Taking any more at this point isn't viable for me.”

[A/N: Is Fujin serious about not training Sasuke? Or, is this just a trick to extort more from Hiruzen? Things to wonder until tomorrow... 😉]