Nearly a month passed in peaceful living, and Nagato and Konan had arrived at the outskirts of Konoha village.
At the perimeter guard post outside Konoha, the Deva Path, Pain, suddenly appeared and killed all the guards.
Through his Rinnegan, Pain perceived that Konoha was enveloped by a spherical barrier. Entering without permission would be detected instantly.
"The Animal Path will enter the barrier and then summon the other Pains. The Human Path, the Preta Path, and the Deva Path will be responsible for reconnaissance. The Animal Path, Asura Path, and the Preta Path will feign an attack to draw Konoha's attention."
Following this, the Asura Path Pain grabbed the Animal Path Pain by the hand and, with a mighty throw, hurled the Animal Path Pain into Konoha village.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
The moment he entered Konoha, the Animal Path Pain immediately used his Summoning Jutsu to call forth all the other Pains.
"From this moment on, let the world feel pain! Scatter!"
The six Pains dispersed. The Asura Path Pain extended his arm, and several missiles launched from it, commencing a bombardment of Konoha village.
The Animal Path Pain continuously formed hand seals, first summoning three centipedes, then a hell hound, a crab, a chameleon, a rhinoceros, and other large summons.
"Pain has come? I'm just an ordinary courtesan, I need to find a place to take refuge." Within Konoha village, Li Xing, still disguised as a woman, was preparing to find shelter.
However, Hong and Jasmine suddenly appeared before Li Xing.
"Miss Yun Ji, there are intruders! Please hurry and come with me to the underground shelter!"
Jasmine looked at Li Xing with pleading eyes, hoping Li Xing would help the villagers who had always been good to her.
Li Xing found Jasmine's gaze unbearable and sighed helplessly, "Alas, consider it a debt owed. Miss Hong, please help me protect Jasmine. I'll handle things here!"
"You! You're Li Xing? That voice, it can't be wrong!" Hong couldn't believe it. The courtesan Yun Ji, who had been living in Konoha for a month, was actually Li Xing.
"Hurry and go! I'll help you out this time." Li Xing waved his hand, signaling Jasmine to pull Hong away, not to be a hindrance here. At the same time, he placed a protective barrier on both of them.
Then, Li Xing instantly appeared under a rooftop and pulled a villager out of the ruins. He repeated this process over and over.
...
"Is that so? Li Xing infiltrated Konoha long ago. Yun Ji? A boring name..." The Human Path Pain extracted a villager's soul through the Mind Transfer Jutsu and learned that Li Xing had been performing in Konoha.
Meanwhile, Tsunade discovered the intruders and quickly realized it must be Pain, who had killed Jiraiya. She was preparing to call Naruto back.
However, the only two remaining elders in Konoha, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, objected to Tsunade's decision, believing that since Pain's target was the Nine-Tails, the Nine-Tails should be hidden.
"You two old fossils again! Who do you think you are? Naruto is not a weapon of war for Konoha, but a ninja of Konoha! Hurry and get to the shelter and hide! Don't bother me here!"
Tsunade grabbed the collars of the two old men and retorted angrily. At their age, they should have retired instead of disturbing her peace.
These two elders, characterized by their tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong, were somewhat intimidated by Tsunade's resolute stance. With a cold snort, they left the Hokage's office.
Not long after they left the Hokage building, their heads suddenly separated from their bodies. Li Xing stood some distance away, slowly sheathing his sword.
"The Third Hokage and Danzo are already dead. It's best if you join them soon. The new era has no need for relics of the old."
Li Xing happened to pass by and noticed that Tsunade's tenure as Hokage wasn't going smoothly. He decided to deal with these two old nuisances, as the blame could easily be shifted to Pain.
At this moment, Tsunade had reached the rooftop and summoned Katsuyu to protect all Konoha villagers and ninja. She herself remained on the rooftop within a barrier, distributing her chakra to Katsuyu's clones, while also observing the situation in Konoha.
In Konoha's intelligence division, Shizune was explaining her research findings to Inoichi Yamanaka and Ino from the intelligence division, stating that the black rods embedded in Pain functioned like antennas for remote control.
However, the Animal Path Pain had already arrived, tracking them based on the black rod Shizune was holding.
"As expected, it's here?"
"Summoning Jutsu!"
The Animal Path Pain summoned a large rhinoceros, which smashed through the intelligence division. Shizune, Ino, and Inoichi immediately planned to leave and go to the cipher department to cross-reference intelligence, believing they would soon uncover Pain's secret.
On their way to the cipher department, Shizune and others encountered the Human Path Pain. The Human Path Pain threw a bomb. Ino and Inoichi quickly escaped the blast radius, but Shizune was grabbed by the Human Path Pain by her head.
As the Human Path Pain was about to extract Shizune's soul, Li Xing suddenly appeared behind him and sent the Human Path Pain flying with a single blow.
Li Xing scooped up the exhausted Shizune in one arm and glared at the Human Path Pain, "Don't you dare lay a hand on my family!"
"Li Xing, so you are indeed connected to Konoha. But after infiltrating for so long, have you obtained information about the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki?" the Human Path Pain asked coldly as he slowly got up.
"Of course, I know. Naruto is training Sage Mode in Mount Myōboku. I've given you the information, so don't attack these people again," Li Xing said, holding Shizune and shielding Ino and the others.
"Naturally. Our objective is the Nine-Tails; the others are irrelevant. Now it's time to know pain!"
With that, the Human Path Pain was summoned away by the Animal Path Pain. Except for the Deva Path, all the Pains had gathered at the perimeter guard post outside Konoha.
"Stars! How did you know where Naruto was? And you even gave them the information!"
"Ino, stand down! This person is very strong!" Inoichi Yamanaka stepped in front of Ino, shielding his daughter with his body to prevent Li Xing from making a sudden move.
"Don't forget, I'm part of the Akatsuki. Working for the organization is my job. Also, I think Konoha needs a bit of renovation, literally speaking."
"Four Purpleuric Flames Formation!"
Li Xing slammed his hand onto the ground. A square barrier formation firmly surrounded Ino and the others. Li Xing returned Shizune to Ino and then stepped out of the barrier.
"Stay here for a while. I'll let you out when I'm done."
Leaving those words behind, Li Xing disappeared from their sight. Ino knew that the most urgent task was to deliver the intelligence. She immediately used her clan's secret technique to transmit information to the surrounding ninja.
Inoichi Yamanaka was deeply shocked. Someone capable of single-handedly casting the Four Purpleuric Flames Formation was terrifying. It seemed his daughter also had a secret relationship with this person.
...
Li Xing arrived at the rooftop of the Hokage building and saw Tsunade controlling a barrier surrounded by four ANBU members.
Upon seeing someone arrive, the ANBU immediately surrounded Tsunade, preventing Li Xing from approaching.
"I don't recognize the others, but that purple-haired one... isn't that Yuugao Uzuki? With such a distinctive hair color, she can be an ANBU ninja?"
Li Xing recognized one of the ANBU members but had no intention of wasting words. With a simple snap of his fingers, all four fell under a genjutsu and fainted.
"It's you after all. What is your true objective? Is this the 'color' you desire?" Tsunade slowly stood up and confronted Li Xing.
"So you recognized me long ago! No wonder you let me stay in Konoha for so long, even sleeping with me every night. I'm puzzled, how did you figure me out?" Li Xing finally understood that Tsunade had known it was him all along. He had thought his infiltration was successful, only to realize his true identity was discovered on the first day.
"You were a courtesan in the Land of Sake, weren't you? Although Jiraiya couldn't recognize you, the Two-Tails Jinchūriki was always by your side. The incident with the Three-Tails, you were both wanted together, so it's natural to connect it to you."
"I see, it was Jiraiya's intel! I forgot. It seems I wasn't thorough enough." Li Xing realized with enlightenment that it was because of his encounter with Jiraiya that day.
"Answer my question! What exactly do you want? Did you bring Pain here?" Tsunade felt deeply distressed. If Li Xing had brought Pain into Konoha, she would have to take responsibility for capturing Li Xing.
Li Xing instantly appeared beside Tsunade, embraced her with one arm, and whispered in her ear, "My goal is very simple, I want to marry you. But that's after this world's journey ends. You see, the Deva Path is about to unleash a major attack. You must protect the people of Konoha. Don't worry, I will protect you."
"The Deva Path?" Tsunade gasped, disregarding Li Xing's nonsensical words, and looked up at the Deva Path in the sky...