A figure dressed in a black robe patterned with auspicious clouds appeared on a tall mountain closer to Kumogakure.
Their gazes were all fixed on Kumogakure in the distance, buried beneath white snow.
The Rinnegan of Deva Path Pain trembled slightly.
The transparent barrier outside Kumogakure came into view before the six of them.
"A sensory-type barrier," Deva Path Pain said flatly, "Then throw the Animal Path in first. We'll wait for the summoning."
"After that, the Asura Path, Animal Path, and Preta Path will draw the enemy head-on. The rest will take the chance to search for the tailed beast."
Once the orders were given, no response was needed.
The Asura Path walked straight up to the Animal Path.
In the original work, the Animal Path was replaced by Konan only after it was destroyed by Jiraiya.
But now, Konan was still training hard in Amegakure in order to win back her angel, so the current Animal Path was still that male youth.
The Asura Path lifted the Animal Path, then forcefully threw him toward a secluded area inside Kumogakure.
But the instant he touched the barrier, ripples spread through the air.
In the next moment, alarms rang throughout Kumogakure.
"Enemy invasion!"
In an instant, the entire village was startled by the alarm. The Cloud ninja who had been recalled in preparation for war all rushed out of their homes, and the whole village went on alert.
Normally, a village's sensory barrier could detect enemy intrusions, but it would never cause such a massive disturbance, throwing the entire village straight into full alert.
The main reason was that recently, in order to guard against Konoha or a sudden attack by the Akatsuki, Kumogakure had set up an even more precise barrier.
For a moment, Nagato's plan to split up and act separately fell apart.
But since the plan to secretly search for the tailed beast had failed, they would just take it by force.
The Animal Path formed hand seals in midair. The other five figures instantly appeared beside him, then all launched their attacks toward Kumogakure below.
———
"Raikage-sama, enemies have invaded the village!"
An ANBU ninja immediately rushed to the Raikage's office to report.
But this was clearly unnecessary. With such loud alarms and the explosions coming from afar, the Fourth Raikage could see everything clearly.
"Who are the intruders? How many of them are there?"
The Fourth Raikage stared in the direction the explosions were coming from and asked for details.
"There are six members of the Akatsuki. Their target is Killer Bee-sama. They look like relatively unknown ninja in the shinobi world, so we don't know their exact abilities, but one of them is extremely skilled at summoning techniques, and another can fire bombs from his body. Their strength is considerable."
The ANBU quickly reported the information he had gathered in a short time.
Right now, the ones causing the most destruction in Kumogakure were the Asura Path and the Animal Path.
"How dare they!"
When the Fourth Raikage heard that there were only six intruders, he slammed his desk to pieces in rage.
"Only six people, and they dare provoke our Kumogakure. I'll make sure they don't leave alive!"
"Go notify Bee. Tell him to meet up with me as soon as possible. Don't let him act alone!"
"Yes!"
The ANBU used Body Flicker, and his figure vanished in an instant.
The Fourth Raikage then turned to Cee and ordered, "Cee, go arrange the other ninja. Split off a group to evacuate civilians. The rest will come with me to surround and wipe out those six reckless fools!"
"Yes!"
After receiving the order, Cee also quickly left the office.
The Fourth Raikage activated Lightning Release Chakra Mode, his entire body wrapped in lightning, and rushed straight toward the location of the Six Paths of Pain.
He could not allow those people to run wild in his village any longer.
———
"Lord Madara! Lord Madara! Nagato has finally made a move on the Eight-Tails."
In a dim little cave not far from Kumogakure, a black mass emerged from the ground, then hurriedly shouted at Uchiha Madara, who was resting with his eyes closed.
Black Zetsu did not dare to monitor Amegakure. As a former intelligence operative of the Akatsuki, he naturally knew how terrifying Nagato's sensory abilities were.
Even though concealment and infiltration were what he excelled at most, he still did not dare to wander under the other's nose.
So he had been watching Kumogakure this whole time.
After so long, Nagato had finally begun to act.
"Oh? That kid is finally making his move?"
Uchiha Madara opened his eyes at this moment.
Cold light flickered within those eerie eyes unique to an Edo body.
"That's right. Nagato is already controlling the Six Paths puppets he created to attack Kumogakure. His real body must be nearby."
Black Zetsu asked again, "Do we need to wake her up?"
Uchiha Madara narrowed his eyes slightly. After some thought, he nodded.
"Didn't you guess that kid might be on good terms with that Hokage of Konoha? To avoid any accidents in the plan, wake her up."
Their plan was not just about taking back the Rinnegan.
It was also to take advantage of Nagato's weakened state after sealing the Eight-Tails, have Black Zetsu control his body, and first use the Rinne Rebirth technique to revive Uchiha Madara.
Then they would reclaim the Rinnegan.
Previously, Nagato had never targeted the tailed beasts on Konoha's side, and the Akatsuki's vice leader had even joined Konoha.
That Aoba would very likely participate in this operation as well.
Although Uchiha Madara had not yet met Aoba in person, whether in terms of strength or bearing, he had already acknowledged him.
A Hokage who dared to usurp power, with the ambition to unify the shinobi world, if they had been born in the same era back then, Madara might have been inclined to invite him to join his plan.
But now, forget it.
Since he was about to be revived, there was no need to share this glory with anyone else.
"Understood. This subordinate will go right away."
This cave was also interconnected, divided into several smaller caves.
Black Zetsu walked toward one that looked like a laboratory.
Inside the dim laboratory was an experiment table.
But lying on the table was a girl who looked to be in her teenage years.
Despite her young age, she was the greatest trump card they had found in the shinobi world during this period.
It could even be said that she was the ancestor of the Uchiha clan.
Even Uchiha Madara could only be considered a junior in front of this girl.
She was resting on a snow-white pillow, eyes closed, looking peaceful and serene.
She had the signature long hair of the Uchiha clan, somewhat similar in style to Uchiha Madara's, but her features were more delicate.
Her face carried the cold sharpness typical of the Uchiha clan, yet her pale skin gave her an added sense of frail, sickly weakness compared to ordinary people.
She wore the blue high-collared clan uniform of the Uchiha, and the only part exposed, her bare feet, were clean and spotless.
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