Taking out the healer first—basic strategy.
Jiraiya, having full knowledge of Pain’s abilities, knew this better than anyone.
Hell Path might not be the strongest among the Six Paths of Pain, but it was by far the most troubleso.
It had the ability to summon the King of Hell and restore any damaged Pain. Unless they destroyed each Path completely, like they did with Animal Path earlier, Hell Path could bring them back at any mont.
If they didn’t take it out first, they’d have to fight while constantly worrying about Pain being revived.
And Jiraiya wasn’t the only one who understood this—Tsunade did too.
The mont she saw Jiraiya rush Hell Path, she stepped forward, intercepting all of Pain’s remaining bodies, especially the aggressive Asura Path, ensuring Jiraiya had the perfect opportunity to strike.
*Boom!*
With such a perfect setup and an all-out sneak attack from the start, even though Nagato reacted quickly, he had no ti to relocate Hell Path.
He could only watch as Asura Path was stopped and Jiraiya’s Rasengan tore through Hell Path, finishing it off instantly.
Tendo’s face darkened.
After forcing Asura Path back with a punch, Tsunade jumped back to Jiraiya’s side.
Looking down at Hell Path beneath Jiraiya’s foot, she smirked.
"Not bad. You actually got what I was thinking."
"Co on, we’re teammates. Don’t underestimate ."
Jiraiya grinned, lifting his foot off Hell Path’s lifeless body.
"Now they’ve lost their way to heal."
But he didn’t let his guard down. He imdiately ford hand seals and used Summoning Jutsu.
A giant gourd toad from Mount Myoboku appeared and swallowed Hell Path whole.
With the toad’s internal barrier, even Summoning Jutsu couldn’t retrieve it.
"Now we’re all set." Jiraiya clapped his hands.
Tendo’s expression was grim.
"Your target was Hell Path from the start, wasn’t it?"
They had intentionally hidden their knowledge of Shinra Tensei’s cooldown, making Nagato think they hadn’t noticed.
Then, as soon as the fight started, they hit him with full force, catching him off guard and using that mont to take Hell Path out completely.
It’s not just about tactics and awareness—these two have incredible coordination. Even more than Nagato controlling the Six Paths of Pain alone. They don’t even need to speak to understand each other’s thoughts.
Not that it matters to him anyway.
"Cutting off the enemy’s healing and supplies—isn’t that just basic battle knowledge?" Tsunade smirked at Tendo Pain. "You can try cutting off ours too if you want. Yeah, that’s right—it’s ! Co at !"
Nagato was montarily speechless.
Is sothing wrong with this woman’s head?
Jiraiya wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Tsunade, at least try to be a little reserved. You’re fifty years old, for crying out loud."
"And you think you’re in a position to lecture ?" Tsunade shot him an annoyed glance.
Jiraiya had no coback.
Yeah... he really wasn’t in a position to say anything.
Watching the two of them joke around in the middle of a battle made Nagato irritated for so reason. He wasn’t sure why, but at that mont, he really wanted to go over and shut them up.
Why do they always say things that piss people off during a fight?
Can’t they just focus on battling seriously?
Just as Asura Path was about to charge in and attack, a few paper sheets floated down from the sky and landed gently in front of Tendo Pain.
It was Konan.
Tsunade instinctively frowned.
Konan’s expression was calm and composed as she looked at Jiraiya and Tsunade before turning to Tendo Pain. She spoke softly, "Don’t fall into their rhythm, Nagato. From the very start, they’ve been deliberately leading you, dragging the fight into their pace. It’s part of their strategy."
Nagato imdiately looked up, surprise flashing across his face.
Konan then turned to Tsunade. "Don’t think of this fight in terms of Jiraiya’s old battle habits. Right now, the flow of the fight is in that woman’s hands. She’s the core of their strategy—Jiraiya is just following her lead."
"No wonder..." Tendo Pain murmured. "Words, movents, pauses—every attack, defense, and tactic cos together to form this situation. Disrupting with words, guiding with actions, then striking at the right mont to weaken the enemy bit by bit... So this is how the Legendary Sannin fight? How underhanded."
It *was* underhanded.
From the very start, these two had been ssing with Nagato’s judgnt. And for Nagato himself, the only thing he could feel was *how incredibly annoying they were.*
There was nothing obviously wrong with his approach, yet sohow, the enemy kept finding weaknesses in his defense.
Think of it like playing *League of Legends.* You’re the jungler. You’ve helped all three lanes gain an advantage. You even have way more kills than the enemy jungler.
But for so reason...
Every fight feels off. Either your team is outnumbered, or the enemy keeps pulling off perfect ambushes.
It feels like soone on your team is *always* missing at the worst tis. But the mont you try to group up for a team fight, they show up. Only to get caught and die at a critical mont.
It’s that sinking feeling where you *know* sothing is going horribly wrong, but you don’t understand *why.*
And then, in one decisive team fight...
You suddenly realize—
Oh. You *can’t* win anymore.
This... is macro play.
Also known as—*ga sense.*
This ti, the chestnut turned out to be normal...
Anyway, to get back on track—people involved in a situation often can’t see it clearly, but those watching from the outside can. From an outsider’s perspective, it’s obvious what the other side is trying to do. So might even wonder why Nagato is just standing there, obediently watching them.
It wasn’t until she sensed sothing was off that Konan imdiately went down to inform Nagato.
Tsunade, instead of feeling embarrassed about being exposed, actually found it amusing. "Hey, Jiraiya, they figured it out."
"I told you Orochimaru’s trick wouldn’t work, but you didn’t believe ." Jiraiya casually threw the bla onto Orochimaru.
Of course, a sneaky tactic like this could only have co from Orochimaru. No way it was the two of them.
Right, Orochimaru?
Orochimaru: Oh, sure, you guys are so noble. So amazing. If you’re so great, why don’t you stop using my strategies?
"Well then, let’s move on to Attack Formation B!" Jiraiya ford a hand seal.
For so reason, Nagato’s fist clenched involuntarily. "Just out of curiosity... how many strategies do you guys have?"
"Do you rember how many stars you counted when you were bored?" Tsunade tilted her head innocently.
Wow, you guys really had nothing better to do.
Nagato: "..."
His fists had never been this tense before.
Konan let out a quiet sigh. "Nagato, don’t let them get to you."
She knew what Nagato was usually like. The main issue was that his opponent this ti was Jiraiya. Deep down, Nagato had never been calm from the start.
Suddenly, Konan seed to understand sothing. She instinctively turned to look at Jiraiya. Beneath that smug smile... how much sadness was he hiding?
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
Jiraiya-sensei, even if we’ve beco the kind of students you never wanted... will you still keep guiding us?
That’s just who you are.
---
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