Even at the very brink of death, even in a situation where danger pressed in from all sides, Jiraiya refused to give up. He dragged the Animal Path into the stomach wall of a toad, pulling it into the barrier before slamming a Rasengan into it at point-blank range, severely injuring it.
Even so, the Animal Path retaliated in its final moments. A black rod shot out, piercing through Jiraiya's last remaining arm and into the right side of his chest.
"So even after dragging him into a barrier, I barely managed to take down one…"
Jiraiya collapsed to the ground, breathing ragged. Almost immediately, he noticed something else—his chakra was in complete disarray. The moment that black rod pierced him, the flow of chakra within his body had been thrown into chaos.
"The body itself is already strange, and even the weapons they use are just as bizarre."
"These guys… can't even be considered human anymore."
"That one is definitely Yahiko… but he has Nagato's Rinnegan. Did Yahiko somehow take them from Nagato? But then… why are there so many Rinnegan?"
His thoughts churned as he recalled everything about Nagato and Yahiko from the past.
"What the hell is going on… and…"
Watching himself in the video, already pushed to his limits, Jiraiya calmly picked up his pen.
His expression was steady.
"The black rods appear to be specially modified. They interfere with chakra flow inside the body. Must avoid being pierced at all costs."
While others struggled to watch, unable to bear the sight of a hero's final moments, Jiraiya himself simply observed in silence.
This was information bought with his life in another timeline.
Every single detail mattered.
Missing even one would betray the price he had paid.
Then, suddenly, something caught his eye.
The wound on the Animal Path's forehead.
Memory struck.
That face—it belonged to a shinobi from the Fūma Clan he had once defeated. The hair color had changed, but the features were unmistakable. And that scar only confirmed it.
At that moment, Jiraiya realized there was something he absolutely had to confirm.
He had to return to them.
Fukasaku and Shima immediately objected. If he went out again now, he would certainly be killed.
"Even if I die… I might be able to uncover their true identity."
At this point, Jiraiya finally made his decision.
"If I miss this chance, I'll never get this close to Pain again. The opportunity to expose their true identity is now. This is the moment of choice the Great Toad Sage spoke of!"
He understood now.
This was the crossroads of prophecy.
"Please… take everything we've learned about Pain so far… and bring this body back with you."
Having resolved himself, Jiraiya looked over each of their faces.
They were all people he had encountered before.
And now, at last, he understood who Pain truly was.
But before he could speak, the Naraka Path struck, crushing his throat.
No matter how Fukasaku called out to him, no words would come.
His body was riddled with black rods, his chakra thrown into complete disorder. He couldn't move.
"My throat… it's gone? Damn it… how am I supposed to… No… I'm losing consciousness… Is this it? Am I really going to fail?"
His awareness began to fade, memories surfacing one after another.
"Looking back… my life's been nothing but failure. Tsunade never accepted me. I couldn't stop my friend from going down the wrong path. I couldn't protect my teacher or my students. Compared to the great achievements of the Hokage before me, everything I've done feels worthless. Pathetic."
"I always wanted to die like they did… believing that the worth of a story is decided by its ending. Even failure could be part of the journey, something to laugh at, as long as you kept moving forward, believing those hardships were trials set by fate. And in the end… I thought I'd accomplish something great enough to erase all those failures, dying as a truly great shinobi…"
"But this ending… to die like this…"
"The Great Toad Sage said I would guide the one who brings change. My choices would determine whether the shinobi world finds peace or destruction. I was supposed to defeat Pain here, stop the Akatsuki, save the world… and yet I failed even at that."
"How embarrassing."
"So this is how The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant ends… What a boring story."
"No. That's not true."
Namikaze Minato's voice cut through his thoughts.
"This story is amazing. It's built from all the legends about you, Sensei—it feels like a biography. And the protagonist… the way he never gives up until the very end… it's incredible. He's just like you."
Minato's praise came from the heart.
"Minato, huh…"
Jiraiya watching the diary couldn't help but recall that moment—when Minato had first said he wanted to name his child after the protagonist of his novel.
It felt like it had happened just yesterday.
And now… everything had changed.
"R-really?"
Even someone as thick-skinned as Jiraiya felt a little embarrassed. He could tell Minato meant every word.
"Yes. So I was thinking… if I ever have a child, I'd want him to grow into a shinobi like that protagonist. Would you mind if I borrowed the name from your book?"
"That name? I just came up with it while eating ramen…"
Jiraiya scratched his head, flustered.
"Naruto… it's a great name," Uzumaki Kushina said, stepping forward, her hand resting on her belly as she smiled.
"Yeah… Naruto. Thinking about it now, you really are like that protagonist. You inherited Minato and Kushina's will and dreams. And compared to that, I…"
"Straightforward. Honest. Never going back on your word. And no matter what happens, you never give up. If that's your ninja way, Naruto… then how could I, as your teacher, give up here?"
"Why? Because a student's ninja way is inherited from their teacher… right, Naruto?"
At that moment, Jiraiya forced himself to his feet through sheer willpower alone.
Even the Deva Path showed a flicker of shock.
His heart should have already stopped.
Struggling, Jiraiya wrote the final piece of intelligence on Fukasaku's back.
"Never giving up… that's the choice I should make!"
"Naruto… there's no doubt about it. You're the child of prophecy. I'm leaving the rest to you."
His movement drew the attention of the Six Paths of Pain.
In the next instant, he was blasted into the sea, his body sinking slowly into the depths as countless thoughts flashed through his mind.
"The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant… this ending isn't so bad after all. Final chapter—The Frog at the Bottom of the Well, Sinks into the Sea…"
He let out a faint chuckle.
"Yeah… that's fitting enough."
"Alright… time to put the pen down."
"Oh, right… what should I call the sequel?"
"…That's it. The Tale of Naruto Uzumaki. Yeah. That sounds perfect."
"So this… is one of the Sannin…"
Uchiha Sasuke stared at the scene, deeply shaken.
Even at the very end—when his heart had already stopped—Jiraiya had still forced himself to move, to pass on that final piece of information.
This was nothing like the other Sannin he knew.
Orochimaru feared death. He sought immortality, knowledge without end. In many ways, he was less a shinobi and more a scientist, a scholar.
But Jiraiya…
Jiraiya was a shinobi to the very core.
He upheld his ninja way to the very end. Like an old-fashioned shinobi, once he set his path, he never wavered.
He had his flaws.
Plenty of them.
But in the final chapter of his life, he delivered a performance brilliant enough to outshine them all.
A life without regret.
The feeling reminded Sasuke of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
No matter what stance he had taken toward the Uchiha Clan, in his final moments, he had clung to one belief above all else—protect Konoha with his life.
No one could go through life without making mistakes.
But in the end, it was the choices they made that defined who they truly were.
That realization struck Sasuke deeply.
Even standing as an enemy, it was impossible to feel any hatred toward a shinobi like that.
And now, he finally understood.
Why Uzumaki Naruto was the way he was.
A student inherits their teacher's ninja way.
It made perfect sense.
Uchiha Itachi set his pen down, respect filling his heart.
This was the kind of shinobi he aspired to be.
Someone who would give everything for Konoha—even his life.
He had already done so, in his own way.
Though the price he paid had been far greater, sacrificing even his own clan.
And yet, like Jiraiya, he had never wavered.
For the sake of critical intelligence, Jiraiya had given up his life.
And compared to that, Itachi realized something.
Through Kaede Kitahara's diary, he had obtained that same information effortlessly.
Everything about the man behind it all—Nagato.
Everything about the Six Paths of Pain.
Especially the key details.
The Rinnegan's shared vision.
The fact that each body possessed a different ability.
All of it likely originated from a single pair of Rinnegan, manifested separately through these bodies.
It was an unusual ability—but not entirely without precedent.
Even the Sharingan could, for a brief time, implant its techniques into another's body, allowing them to use jutsu.
It simply couldn't be sustained.
But the Rinnegan…
Clearly operated on an entirely different level.