Seeing the figure in front of him, Uchiha Akira wasn't surprised at all!
The man had long white hair and a rugged, strong build—one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya!
"Akira, I heard you brought Konan back to the village?" Jiraiya asked, looking at Uchiha Akira.
"That's right. To be more precise, she willingly followed me back," Akira nodded in response.
"I want to see her!" Jiraiya didn't care whether she came willingly or not. As long as he knew Konan was back, he wanted to see her.
After all, there were many things Jiraiya had been wanting to ask Konan.
"Sure, let's go!" Uchiha Akira was quite curious about what would happen when these two met again.
Soon, the two of them headed back to the Uchiha clan's territory, where Konan had been arranged to stay in Akira's house.
On one hand, Akira personally keeping an eye on her made him feel more at ease. On the other hand, Konan herself was quite curious about where Akira got his information from.
If she didn't figure that out, it would be hard for the Akatsuki to achieve their goals in the future!
"Konan, it's been a long time!" Jiraiya greeted Konan with some joy in his voice, happy simply to see her again.
"Jiraiya-sensei!" Konan looked at Jiraiya, her eyes filled with complicated emotions.
Although in the original timeline, Nagato personally killed Jiraiya for their cause, both Nagato and Konan had always regarded Jiraiya as family.
"Let's talk. I have many things I want to ask you!" Jiraiya invited her.
"Alright!" After a moment of silence, Konan nodded.
When Akira had initially wanted to talk, Konan had ignored him. But when it came to Jiraiya, Konan couldn't bring herself to refuse.
The two of them went into the next room to talk, while Akira chatted with the clan elder and Keiko for a bit.
"By the way, where's Karin?" Akira suddenly remembered that he hadn't seen her since coming home and asked out of curiosity.
"Karin is now an official Konoha ninja. She requested to be assigned to the medical unit," Keiko replied to Akira's question.
"Well, that suits her!" Hearing that Karin had joined the medical unit, Akira nodded in approval.
However, it wasn't long before Akira heard loud arguing from the next room. Naturally, it was Jiraiya who was raising his voice, scolding Konan angrily.
Meanwhile, Konan didn't dare to talk back too loudly.
Before long, Jiraiya stormed out of the room, looking furious.
"Why don't you just talk it out calmly? Why get so angry?" Akira tried to ease the tension.
"Akira, you don't understand our relationship, so you wouldn't get it," Jiraiya shook his head.
"He probably does understand!" At that moment, Konan also came out of the room, just in time to hear Jiraiya's words.
"Huh? Did you tell him about your relationship with Nagato and Yahiko?" Jiraiya asked, surprised.
"I didn't say anything, but I believe he knows. After all, he even knows where Nagato's Rinnegan came from!" Konan replied.
Jiraiya's eyes widened in shock as he looked at Uchiha Akira.
At the same time, he recalled something Orochimaru had once said during a casual conversation.
Orochimaru had remarked that there was probably nothing in the shinobi world that Uchiha Akira didn't know about.
At the time, Jiraiya had found it strange. Why would Orochimaru say such a thing? But when Jiraiya asked, Orochimaru had dodged the question.
And now, even Konan was saying this?
Jiraiya suddenly realized that he might know very little about Uchiha Akira!
"Akira, do you really know about Nagato's situation?" Jiraiya asked curiously.
"Yes, I do!" Akira nodded honestly.
"Then do you know about his Rinnegan?" Jiraiya pressed.
"Yes, I know!" Akira confirmed again.
"Then, where exactly did Nagato's Rinnegan come from?" Jiraiya asked directly.
Konan's eyes were fixed on Akira. She had been following him for nearly half a month, and the origin of Nagato's Rinnegan was a mystery she had always wanted to uncover. Now that Jiraiya had asked the question on her behalf, would Akira answer?
Akira had previously mentioned that the answer to this question was worth at least a million explosive tags.
In fact, if she had agreed to his price, Konan would have immediately crafted a million explosive tags just to get the answer!
But now that Jiraiya had asked, should Akira answer?
After a brief moment of hesitation, Akira remembered that Jiraiya had once offered him the contract for the Mount Myoboku Summoning Scroll when Akira had expressed interest in learning Sage Mode.
To know that Jiraiya had been willing to offer him something that even Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko hadn't received made Akira feel obligated to answer.
"Nagato's body possesses the Uzumaki clan's bloodline!" Akira began.
"However, the Uzumaki clan's notable traits are their immense chakra reserves and long lifespan. There has never been a precedent of an Uzumaki awakening the Rinnegan."
"So, Nagato's Rinnegan was transplanted into him by someone else. The reason is simple: the Rinnegan's power requires a vast amount of chakra to wield, and the Uzumaki are naturally the best suited for this."
Akira explained.
"That makes sense. So, who transplanted the Rinnegan into him?" Jiraiya agreed with Akira's analysis but pressed for the key detail.
Konan's eyes remained locked on Akira, knowing that Jiraiya had just asked the most crucial question.
Even the clan elder and Keiko were watching Akira with curiosity. The Rinnegan was a powerful eye, and they were eager to know more about it!
"The mastermind behind it all was Uchiha Madara!" Akira revealed.
"That's impossible!" Jiraiya exclaimed, shocked at the name.
At the same time, the elder stood up abruptly.
Uchiha Madara—just hearing that name brought a heavy sense of pressure. And now, they were hearing about him again?
"Is he truly Madara? Could it be the man with the spiral mask?" Konan's thoughts immediately went to the man who had claimed to be Uchiha Madara—Obito Uchiha.
He had called himself Madara, so was this all his doing?
But the more she thought about it, the less it made sense. Akira had previously hinted that the masked man wasn't really Madara.
Yet now Akira was saying that Nagato's Rinnegan had come from Madara? How could this be explained?
Knowing where Nagato's Rinnegan came from had only deepened Konan's confusion, and her mind was filled with even more questions she wanted to ask.
"Akira, Uchiha Madara died long ago in a battle against the First Hokage. Nagato wasn't even born at that time, was he?" Jiraiya asked seriously, staring intently at Akira.
He had a point. The timeline didn't match up. It wasn't just Jiraiya who was puzzled—Konan, the elder, and Keiko were all looking at Akira with questioning eyes.
But Akira had no intention of answering further. He had already given away the most critical piece of information. It wasn't possible to divulge everything, after all.
"Akira? Why aren't you saying anything?" Jiraiya waited for a response, surprised when Akira remained silent.
"The information I just shared with Konan is worth a million explosive tags," Akira explained, turning to Jiraiya.
"Huh? Konan, would you really pay a million explosive tags for this piece of information?" Jiraiya asked, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"Yes, and even though I was willing, he still hasn't agreed to tell me everything!" Konan answered candidly.
"A million explosive tags for just one piece of information?"
"Am I poor, or has the world changed too fast? How is it this easy to make money? Or is Konan just ridiculously wealthy?"
Hearing Konan's confirmation, Jiraiya was completely bewildered, muttering to himself.
After a moment of reflection, Jiraiya realized just how valuable the question he had asked truly was. He no longer felt comfortable pressing Akira for more.
Jiraiya looked at Akira and said, "You reckless brat, giving away such valuable information so easily? You're such a wasteful kid!"
"People say you're greedy, but I think you're just foolish!"
"Forget I asked. You might as well just pay me the million explosive tags instead!" Jiraiya joked.
"You wish!" Akira's face darkened at Jiraiya's words.
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Note: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 270+ at patreon.com/Emik01.