In front of the gazes of countless onlookers…
Hatake Kaede began his Fifth Hokage inauguration speech. The speech had been written by Nara Shikaku, and Kaede had used a Shadow Clone to memorize it. Now, he was simply reading it aloud from memory.
But just as he was delivering the speech, far above Konoha, in a place even the Nine Tails' sensory range couldn't reach, three figures silently appeared in the sky.
Flaming red hair.
Rinnegan eyes.
Two of them were unmistakably members of the Six Paths of Pain: Deva Path Yahiko and Human Path. The third was the "Angel" of the Akatsuki, Konan. Human Path clung to Deva Path Yahiko's back, being carried through the air, while Konan's body was surrounded by countless pieces of fluttering paper.
They stood atop the clouds, gazing down at Konoha below.
Swoooosh...
As the wind howled, Konan's body began shedding a flurry of white paper, making her seem like a paper doll crafted entirely from sheets of parchment.
"Are you really going through with this, Nagato?" Konan asked, turning toward Deva Path.
Deva Path's voice was low and resolute. "Begin, Konan. This is a necessary step toward peace. As long as Konoha controls the Tailed Beasts, peace will remain out of reach."
The Konan here was not her real body.
To be precise, it was not even a proper clone. She had sent sheets of paper infused with her chakra through a sealed scroll, which reassembled themselves upon release.
As for Deva Path, this one was the real body.
Their objective was simple. According to their intel, today was the day Konoha would inaugurate its Fifth Hokage. Most of the village's shinobi would be gathered, leaving only the Nine Tails guarding the perimeter. It was the perfect opportunity to infiltrate Konoha.
Knowing Kaede's terrifying power, capturing the Nine Tails was out of the question, but taking the Three Tails? That was still possible. All they needed to do was create chaos.
Their operation had four phases:
Phase One: Deva Path and Konan's paper clone would attack from above, sowing chaos.
Phase Two: While confusion erupted, hundreds of White Zetsu would burrow up from underground into Konoha, escalating the turmoil from within.
Phase Three: Amidst the disorder, once they located the Three Tails' Jinchuriki, Human Path would strike, extracting their soul with his ability, killing them on the spot. Using Animal Path's summoning jutsu, Human Path would then retreat instantly, carrying the soul with him.
Phase Four: Back in the Land of Rain, they would use Naraka Path to reincarnate the Three Tails' Jinchuriki as one of the Six Paths of Pain puppets, then proceed to seal Isobu, the Three Tails.
The plan's odds of success were slim. Even Obito had deemed it too risky to participate in person.
But even a sliver of a chance was worth trying.
Why?
Because failure would cost them nothing.
Animal Path could summon Deva and Human Path back at any moment. Konan's clone was just a bundle of paper infused with chakra, her real body was safe, as was Nagato's.
Deva Path narrowed his eyes, gazing down at Konoha.
Nagato recalled the death of his parents, killed by Konoha ninja. He remembered Yahiko's death at the hands of Iwa-nin, and the years of endless war that plagued the Land of Rain.
He thought back to that long-ago encounter with Kaede… the words Kaede once said to Yahiko: "If you keep clinging to your naïve ideals, you'll die."
Every word had proven true.
"You were right. Yahiko's ideals were far too naïve. People can't understand or trust each other. Only pain can bring peace!"
As Deva Path muttered those words…
Konan took a deep breath. Her body burst into a swarm of paper slips, each etched with explosive tag seals, drifting down toward Konoha.
Outside the village, the Nine Tails was lying lazily on the ground, watching a movie. His nine furry tails were spread out comfortably, basking in the sun.
But as the explosive tags neared a critical distance,
The middle tail suddenly shot upright, pointing to the sky.
"Kaede, there's chakra up there."
The Nine Tails' voice echoed in Kaede's mind.
Kaede, having just finished the last line of his inauguration speech, paused for a moment before raising his head. He quickly spotted thousands of twinkling white lights descending from the sky.
A closer look,
They were all explosive tags!
At the same time, several Konoha ninja below noticed Kaede looking upward and followed his gaze. They too saw the falling slips.
"Are those... explosive tags?!"
"Why are they falling from the sky?! And that many?!"
The gathered shinobi were visibly shaken.
"Looks like someone else wanted to join the celebration of my inauguration," Kaede said coolly.
With a thought,
The Nine Tails, still lounging outside the village, suddenly jerked as all nine tails were pulled toward Kaede, twisting together like they were being sucked into a massive vacuum.
"Hey! Wait! I was almost done with this movie!!" the Nine Tails shouted as its voice echoed from the outskirts all the way to the skies above Konoha.
But the mass of red chakra was already rushing into Kaede's body.
"Watch it later. There's always another movie."
Kaede couldn't even bother to retort fully.
That damn fox was hopeless, still lying around watching movies even with enemies practically at the gates.
With a thought, Kaede's Sage Chakra surged into action. In an instant, he entered Sage Mode, and the Nine Tails' chakra followed immediately after.
Compared to the Sixth Gate of the Eight Gates Formation, he now preferred Sage Mode combined with the Nine Tails Chakra Mode. The speed wasn't far off, but the sensory abilities were on a completely different level. Within dozens of kilometers, nothing could escape his perception.
Buzz!
Golden chakra cloaked Kaede, the Sage-style aura blending seamlessly with his Hokage robes.
He soared into the sky, rising above Konoha. A surge of chakra exploded from him as he suddenly punched upward.
"Divine Air Strike!"
With the combined might of Sage Mode and the Nine Tails, Kaede's chakra reserves had reached a truly terrifying level. Though still far from rivaling Kaguya Otsutsuki, he was already immensely powerful. By channeling his chakra into his punches, he could unleash attacks nearly on par with the Eighty Gods Vacuum Fists.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!
A barrage of visible shockwaves formed from compressed air and chakra rocketed upward, colliding with the falling paper bombs.
Explosions tore through the sky.
Smoke and fire blanketed the air above Konoha, merging into a churning cloud of destruction.
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