Tsunade dismissed Pain's ideology outright.
To her, this kind of thinking wasn't new. Someone had already tried it long ago—her grandfather, Senju Hashirama, the so-called God of Shinobi.
Back then, Hashirama had held similar beliefs. To create a balance of terror between the great nations, he had personally captured Tailed Beasts and distributed them among the villages.
That was how the Five Great Nations ended up each holding a Tailed Beast, deterring one another through mutual threat.
But what had actually happened afterward?
Not long after Hashirama died, the First Great Ninja War broke out. Then came the Second, and soon after, the Third.
Did those Tailed Beasts—once seen as the cornerstone of that balance—actually prevent war?
Obviously not.
That method had never addressed the root of the problem.
Because human desire could never be satisfied.
Even if someone stood above all others as a so-called god, drawing hatred onto themselves, it still wouldn't resolve the underlying contradictions.
"This brat wants to be a god? In his dreams. The arrogance… what's he relying on, the Rinnegan?"
Tsunade was about to continue, but suddenly paused.
After all, Pain had once destroyed Konoha with a single move.
With power like that, calling himself a god didn't seem entirely unreasonable.
Even if, in Kaede Kitahara's estimation, he was only at the entry level of Super Kage Level.
But even that entry level was already far beyond anything they could match.
"Brat, let me see just how strong you really are… daring to kill your own master."
A sharp glint flashed through her eyes. The very idea of a disciple killing their teacher was something she couldn't accept.
In the video, the battle between Jiraiya and the Animal Path had only just begun.
Both sides summoned their creatures.
The Animal Path called forth Rinnegan-bearing summons, while Jiraiya summoned Gamaken from Mount Myoboku. The two sides faced each other, tension thick in the air.
Jiraiya had no intention of probing cautiously. He planned to discipline this cold, unyielding student from the very start.
He immediately prepared to enter Sage Mode and summon the two great sages.
At those words, everyone except Jiraiya and Namikaze Minato straightened in anticipation.
The Sage Mode Kaede Kitahara had mentioned—was it finally about to appear?
The state that could elevate someone an entire tier beyond Kage Level.
"I'm going to summon those two sages, but it'll take some time," Jiraiya said without hesitation.
"During that time, my hands can't separate. I'm counting on you—buy me some time."
"Got it. I may not be much, but I'll do my best," Gamaken replied.
At that moment, the chameleon summoned by the Animal Path vanished from sight, blending perfectly into its surroundings.
But Jiraiya had his own counter. He immediately deployed a barrier technique that allowed him to sense anything that entered its range.
The Animal Path clearly recognized the technique. Instead of continuing with stealth, it shifted tactics and summoned a massive hellhound to attack head-on.
At the critical moment, Gamaken drove the enormous beast into a wall, pinning it in place and halting its advance.
But in the next instant, the hellhound split into three massive hounds, slipping free of what should have been a fatal blow.
The rapid clash of summoned beasts dazzled everyone watching.
Whether it was the hellhound conjured by the Animal Path or Gamaken himself, each possessed tremendous combat power.
The strength of summoned beasts was displayed in full.
For Uchiha Sasuke, it was an eye-opening spectacle.
The Uchiha Clan's summons—whether ninja cats or ninja crows—simply couldn't reach this level of destructive force.
Each of those hellhounds alone had the combat strength of a jonin.
Their clash was like watching powerful shinobi fighting one another.
Though they weren't quite on the level of the giant toad summoned during the Sannin's battle before, they still far exceeded anything ordinary people could imagine.
"So strong…"
Even Sasuke couldn't hide a hint of envy.
Powerful summons like these were indispensable on the path of revenge.
As for his own future summons—a giant hawk and a snake like Aoda—he had no idea where they would come from.
"What exactly are Pain's abilities?"
Uchiha Itachi continued making notes, analyzing everything he saw.
He had encountered the Animal Path before, but the one most frequently seen was the Deva Path, formed from Yahiko's body.
He had once witnessed the Deva Path in action. Its combat style was completely different—far from summoning creatures like this.
And this endlessly dividing hellhound was something even he had never seen before.
"So each of those bodies corresponds to a different ability… allowing him to switch depending on the opponent and achieve tactical diversity."
A hypothesis began to take shape.
"The commonly seen one has a technique called Shinra Tensei. It releases a force similar to Wind Release, annihilating everything around it. This one, on the other hand, summons powerful creatures with varied abilities."
"And summons at this level… each one has jonin-class strength. They can't be killed, can't be harmed—no matter how you attack them, they just keep multiplying."
Even Itachi found it troublesome.
He believed there was no such thing as an invincible jutsu—only invincible people. Every technique had a weakness.
He just hadn't found this one yet.
Perhaps destroying this particular body would end the summoning.
In an instant, he outlined a possible strategy.
But in practice, it wouldn't be so simple. He might end up in the same situation as Jiraiya—facing an enemy already concealed by an invisible chameleon.
Still, he had an advantage.
The Mangekyō Sharingan.
Even if something was perfectly hidden, chakra could not be concealed from those eyes.
"Though whether the Mangekyō Sharingan can actually see through invisibility… that's still just a guess."
Itachi could only speculate.
He remained wary of Pain, yet he also harbored the intent to eliminate him for Konoha.
But with Konan constantly at his side, there had never been an opportunity.
Now, through Jiraiya's actions, he could at least gather valuable intelligence.
"If that's the case, then the six bodies each possess different abilities… is this the special power of the Rinnegan?"
His gaze narrowed slightly.
When the Sharingan evolved into the Mangekyō Sharingan, it granted unique ocular abilities. It was only natural that the Rinnegan—legendary eyes said to have belonged to the Sage of Six Paths—would possess extraordinary powers.
For example, that endlessly dividing hellhound.
Even someone as knowledgeable as Itachi couldn't determine its origin.
"Rinnegan… so these eyes can do things like this."
Namikaze Minato recalled the other Pain—the one who had destroyed Konoha with a single, overwhelming technique.
Only now did he truly grasp how troublesome ocular kekkei genkai could be.
If they were on your side, they were invaluable.
If they stood against you, they were a nightmare.
He suddenly remembered something Kaede Kitahara had written before.
This was a world of eye legends.
At the time, he had dismissed it as a joke. After all, there were countless types of kekkei genkai, and ocular techniques were only one category among them.
They were troublesome, yes, but not overwhelmingly superior.
Even most users of kekkei genkai didn't have absolute advantages. His own strength, for instance, surpassed that of the entire Uchiha Clan.
But now…
He had seen the Sharingan evolve into the Mangekyō Sharingan, instantly pushing someone into Kage Level and even beyond.
And now he was watching his teacher being hunted down by summoned creatures controlled by the Rinnegan.
And this was only one of several bodies.
Just one facet of the Rinnegan's power.
Watching Jiraiya forced to retreat again and again, unable to complete the summoning required for Sage Mode, Minato shook his head slightly.
"Sensei's control over senjutsu… isn't good enough."
He had the right to make that judgment.
He, too, had mastered Sage Mode.
While he couldn't enter it instantly, he was still far faster than Jiraiya.
Sage Mode was powerful, but in real combat, it came with significant limitations.
It required time.
It required focus.
And any interruption could result in petrification.
The most dangerous step was blending chakra with natural energy to form senjutsu chakra.
No wonder, in this timeline, Jiraiya himself had admitted that Minato's talent in senjutsu far surpassed his own.
Still, Minato wasn't satisfied.
If possible, he wanted to reach a level where Sage Mode could be activated instantly—no delay, no preparation.