The thickening mist enveloped the horizon, suffocating the air. Yagura stood on a rocky bluff overlooking the water and his enemies, his staff resting lightly on his shoulder. Despite his immense power, a boyish smirk played across his lips.
The six bodies of Pain formed a silent, menacing circle behind him, blocking any escape. Konan drifted beside them, her paper wings rustling gently in the humid air.
Pain's calm yet authoritative voice broke through the fog. "Konan, get ready to attack. We do not want to kill him, so I have to limit my powers."
Konan's voice emerged clear and aloof. "Don't worry, he won't die so easily. But sure, you can limit your power—I don't have to." She paused, paper butterflies materializing around her. "I'll provide the diversion. You attack to subdue him. I'll bind him with a paper prison once he's down."
In a deceptively delicate cloud, paper butterflies—each tagged with tiny explosive seals—spread out around her and swarmed toward Yagura.
The Mizukage's grin widened as he jumped back, skating across the surface as water chakra flickered beneath his feet. The butterflies burst into a series of sharp explosions, but each one produced only sprays of water.
"Paper bombs? Is that all?" Yagura scoffed, his tone icy.
The Asura Path rushed forward, launching a barrage of missiles. Yagura retaliated with high-pressure water bullets. Projectiles collided in midair, creating a flurry of spray and shrapnel.
Yagura fired a water missile at Konan. The Preta Path's hand reached out, capturing and absorbing the ninjutsu.
Yagura whirled his coral staff with a sneer. Behind him, a massive tidal wall rose—not merely chakra-based ninjutsu, but a crashing wall of the ocean itself. "Absorb this, if you can."
A muffled laugh came from Tobi. "Smart, despite that chatty mouth and baby face."
Konan launched numerous paper origami birds toward the water wave. They exploded on impact, attempting to disperse it on her side.
Pain raised his hand. A meticulously controlled force split the remaining wave into an elegant spray of water, dispersing harmlessly.
Tobi phased through the torrent as though it were smoke. His body dissolved into the earth and reformed at Pain's side.
Over the crash of the remaining water, Yagura's voice rang out. "Very impressive... However, can you stop the entire ocean? I am the Fourth Mizukage. This is my territory!"
The Three-Tails stirred deep within Yagura, its thunderous voice echoing in his brain. "That one... he has eyes like my father's."
Yagura's smirk flickered. "You mean the Sage of Six Paths?"
"Have I ever mentioned any other fathers to you?" Isobu's voice resonated darkly.
"You've told me nothing about him."
"Watch out. They don't move like men do. They are extensions—many faces on one mind. They share judgment and sight."
Yagura's thoughts grew more serious. "Many faces, but one mind? I don't understand. You mean they are one person?"
As he fought the Paths of Pain, the advice crystallized. They moved with unnatural perfection. Even though he had previously faced skilled teams, their movements were unnaturally cohesive—as if they were all one entity, a single consciousness manipulating six shells. There was no hesitation in their movements and no blind spots behind them.
The realization sent a chill through him. Instinctively, Yagura pushed Isobu's presence to the surface. The beast's vast chakra began to surround him like an aura.
Yagura's expression became stern. He glanced at Pain, Konan, and Tobi's silent mask. "They're all dangerous. I need to take them out one by one... the weakest first. Is it the girl or the clown?"
Yagura lunged forward, swinging his staff at Tobi. The weapon passed through only air.
"Genjutsu? No, something else. He resembles a ghost."
Konan responded with another volley of paper, but Yagura whirled a wall of water upward, dispersing the blades harmlessly.
Grinning, Yagura sprayed a fountain of water from his mouth and formed eight water clones. The clones approached each enemy and sprayed another fountain of water, forming a water mirror hanging in the air. Each mirror bore a clear reflection of an enemy.
The clones entered the mirrors, transforming themselves into duplicates of Pain's Paths, Konan, and even Tobi. Their doppelgängers hardened into liquid bodies—eerie mockeries that mimicked their every movement, though weaker and unstable.
"Eight against three?" Yagura sneered. "No, let's make it even. Eight against nine."
From within, Isobu's laughter rumbled. "You forgot to count me."
"Stay out of this. Not yet."
The Deva Path's reflection warped gravity erratically, pulling stones and scattering them in absurd arcs. Yet the pull was weak—the stones dropping harmlessly to the ground before they could gain any momentum. The Asura Path's watery missiles dissolved into mist before reaching their targets, their trajectory sputtering out into useless droplets. The Animal Path's summoned beasts melted back into puddles mid-roar, their forms collapsing into frothing foam. Konan's paper double dripped ink-like water as its paper blades sagged, becoming soft and blunt. Even Tobi's reflection flickered half-solid, half-vanished—a grotesque parody that collapsed into formless water.
Tobi tilted his mask. The slight, almost imperceptible shift of his head was the only sign of his reaction. "A watery double of me? That's a bad trick. Won't work for me or him."
The real Deva Path lifted a hand, unleashing precise gravitational pulls and pushes that first attracted the clones, then threw them away. The clones wavered and lost their form.
The Asura Path fired relentless missiles, shattering liquid bodies into spray. The Animal Path summoned a great bird, its beating wings scattering watery doubles. The Preta Path advanced, absorbing chakra directly from the unstable clones. Naraka Path lingered behind, ready to restore damaged Paths. Their movements possessed an eerie coordination—six bodies gliding in perfect synchronization, every motion tied to the same cold gaze of the Rinnegan.
Each Path saw not only with its own eyes but also through the vision of the others, weaving a seamless field of perception. Even attacks from behind or blind angles were met without turning, their shared sight making them an all-seeing circle of predators.
Konan scattered herself into thousands of razor-edged paper sheets, storming over the watery doubles. She shredded them apart with slashing winds and detonations. Her paper shielded Naraka Path as it worked, ensuring Pain's network remained whole.
Tobi's voice cut in from the rear, calm and amused. "An impressive trick. But water breaks easily under true force. They cannot endure."
Suddenly, Yagura retreated into the fog. The mist thickened unnaturally, glowing faintly with Isobu's chakra. Vision warped. Footsteps echoed in the wrong places. Phantom Yaguras materialized, each hurling attacks from false angles.
The chakra-laced mist became nearly impenetrable—an oppressive weight that confused the senses. Footsteps echoed from every direction, making it impossible to pinpoint Yagura's true location. The mist distorted the six Pains' vision, conjuring countless mirages that vanished into thin air upon contact, disorienting their senses further.
The Animal Path's summoned creatures were unable to lock onto a target, their senses useless in the chakra-heavy fog.
Waves smashed against jagged rocks, their spray sharp and blinding. The ground beneath grew slippery and treacherous. Echoes layered upon echoes, turning the battlefield into a nightmarish labyrinth of sound and shadow.
Yagura's voice rang through the haze, distorted yet commanding. "You tread arrogantly in my waters. This mist is my will. Find the real me before the tide swallows you!"
As illusory copies of Yagura closed in, Tobi grew serious and focused. His mask tilted, Mangekyō Sharingan glowing ominously. With a subtle shift in space, he slipped past a false strike, his eyes locking onto Yagura's true chakra hidden deep in the mist—a bright orange heat signature among the light yellow of the chakra-laced fog.
"Found you," he murmured, low and final. "A strong illusion... but I have seen stronger illusions."
The real Yagura surged forward, channeling Isobu's chakra into his staff. A vortex spun into being—massive and relentless—a maelstrom of roaring force that sought to engulf the Akatsuki whole.
The sound of swirling water was deafening, drowning every word, every thought, every other sound in the world.
"Yes! Drown them!" Yagura's beast, Isobu, rejoiced.
The Akatsuki braced themselves. Konan spread her paper wings wide and took flight, attempting to evade the flood. Pain's Rinnegan glowed with palpable force as his Paths gathered for a counterstrike, their bodies poised to withstand a cataclysm. Tobi stood silent and utterly still at their flank, his Mangekyō Sharingan a single, unwavering point of focus.
A/N:
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