That location—was the Raikage's office.
At this moment, the Fourth Raikage was still inside, busy with paperwork. You didn't charge in recklessly. According to your sensory perception, the broken horn of the Eight Tails was hidden behind the Raikage, sealed within an extremely thick chakra-metal safe.
You remained hidden outside, waiting patiently for nightfall—when the Raikage would leave.
But unexpectedly, after a while, Killer Bee barged into the office, humming that strange rhythm of his, dragging the Fourth Raikage into some bizarre song-and-dance routine...
The painfully unbearable "music" almost forced you to reveal yourself.
Fortunately, once the two had exhausted themselves, they finally left the office—giving you the chance to slip inside.
You targeted the safe and activated your Lava Release, instantly boring a tunnel through the thick chakra-metal.
After unraveling the not-so-secure seal, you extended a claw formed from your own bone, reached in, and easily retrieved the Eight Tails' severed horn.
Then, using your Lava Release once again, you re-melted the liquified chakra-metal and filled in the opening.
The cooled metal fell under the domain of Magnet Release. Although metals melted by Lava Release couldn't be manipulated by Magnet Release, Lava Release could treat them as molten lava and control them freely.
Using your precise control over fire and temperature, you employed Ice Release to accurately regulate the cooling speed, perfectly restoring the damaged safe!
Once the seal was repaired, you immediately activated Flying Thunder God and returned to the Floating Island.
Given how Kumogakure shinobi generally lacked sensory abilities—these brutes were all about brute force and throwing punches—there was no chance they'd realize someone had infiltrated the Raikage's office to steal something. Not in the short term.
...
Meanwhile—
In Amegakure, the shadow clone you'd left behind to protect Nagato witnessed quite the drama unfold:
It all started when Black Zetsu discovered that Nagato had begun capturing Tailed Beasts before gathering enough manpower.
Thinking it was a mistake, Black Zetsu called in Obito for backup.
Disguised as Uchiha Madara, Obito suddenly appeared before Nagato, attempting to intimidate him.
He scolded Nagato for acting rashly—launching operations before the organization was fully staffed, which could alert the major shinobi villages and expose his true body to joint retaliation. If that happened, their grand dream of world peace would be lost…
Though Shukaku had already been captured and sealed into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Obito, clinging to the identity of Uchiha Madara, believed he could still control Nagato.
In the past, Nagato couldn't catch Obito, and still feared the legendary "Madara" image he represented. So despite his dissatisfaction, he would often play along, keeping up appearances with both Obito and Black Zetsu.
But now, their identities had already been exposed by you—long before.
Through the Human Path ability of the Rinnegan, Nagato had verified the truth and placed full trust in your words.
Those two, who thought they were manipulating puppets, now appeared utterly ridiculous in Nagato's eyes—he, the former marionette, now watched them with disdain.
And Obito—how laughable! He even lost his temper and dared to say he would replace Nagato with someone else!
Nagato's legs might not work—but that didn't mean he couldn't deal with Obito.
Especially with your shadow clone secretly standing guard.
Even if a fight broke out, you weren't afraid. The mask on your shadow clone bore a Flying Thunder God mark—you could teleport your main body over instantly.
Your Sharingan possessed an absolute suppression effect over a regular Mangekyō, similar to a Byakugan's piercing insight. Whatever space-time jutsu Obito tried—didn't matter.
A single wave of pressure and Obito would be forced to deactivate Kamui.
He could be dealt with in an instant.
The real threat was Black Zetsu.
If not for the risk of killing Obito on the spot and scaring Black Zetsu into retreat—only to hide in the shadows and sabotage things later—you might have ended them both right then and there.
But Black Zetsu was too slippery.
Nagato's chakra black rods, created with Yin-Yang Release, likely wouldn't be enough to immobilize and seal him.
Even using Chibaku Tensei wouldn't guarantee success—without the power of the Sage of Six Paths backing it, Chibaku Tensei wouldn't be able to restrain Black Zetsu for long…
Which is why your current plan is this:
Quickly gather all the Tailed Beasts.
Make Nagato the Jinchūriki of the Ten Tails.
Let him step into the realm of the Sage of Six Paths!
Then—strike Black Zetsu with a lethal, one-shot kill!
And thus begin the unification of the shinobi world.
Wipe out every unstable element in one decisive blow!
...
The reason you chose to give the opportunity of becoming the Sage to Nagato, instead of gathering all that power for yourself—
Is because you understand clearly: if you became the Ten Tails' Jinchūriki, mastering that power would demand an overwhelming strength of will. If you weren't up to the task, you could lose your mind temporarily, just like Obito once did…
Or worse—your will could be devoured by that near-limitless power, assimilated into the God Tree, never to awaken again!
Only someone like Nagato—a man of unwavering resolve—
One who could wield two Rinnegan that didn't even belong to him, and still fight with ease—
One who sees through the harshness of reality but still holds fast to his ideals, willing to give everything for them—
Only someone like that can truly control the Ten Tails!!!
You knew you weren't that person.
Nagato was the ideal candidate for becoming the Ten Tails' Jinchūriki!
...
Besides, summoning the Ten Tails would cause a massive disturbance.
Even with the expansion, the Floating Island was, at most, the size of a full-powered Nine Tails. It couldn't contain the Ten Tails!
At that point, a powerful guardian would be necessary to protect the Jinchūriki.
Nagato, being physically impaired, couldn't move freely. Others—frankly—weren't strong enough in your eyes.
So that's why you decided Nagato would become the Ten Tails' Jinchūriki—
And you would be his guardian.
After all, you're just one step away from fully restoring your Ōtsutsuki ancestry—
And one step away from fusing Kekkei Genkai into a perfected Kekkei Tōta.
As long as you can learn Sage Mode, you'll forge your own path toward the Six Paths!
And if that fails—you still hold a third of the Tailed Beasts' chakra as backup!
...
Just as Obito began to lose control of his emotions—
Kakuzu returned from the Land of Lightning and, right in front of everyone, took out the scroll sealing the Two Tails.
Nagato ignored both Zetsu and Obito.
He simply activated the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and began extracting the blue-flamed chakra of Matatabi, the Two Tails, sealing it into the statue.
Once the process was complete, Nagato calmly announced that his approach to capturing the Tailed Beasts would be fast, unexpected, and decisive.
There was no need to recruit more powerful individuals that would only increase Akatsuki's visibility.
Barely a day after capturing Shukaku, Matatabi had already been taken as well—as if catching Tailed Beasts was as effortless as eating or drinking...
Obito found himself unable to continue arguing.
He merely exchanged glances with Black and White Zetsu, then warned Nagato to be cautious and to refrain from going after the Three Tails for now. According to their intel, a mysterious masked organization had recently appeared in the Land of Water.
They suspected that the Three Tails was in the hands of this group's leader.
This organization operated in extreme secrecy—even White Zetsu's intelligence network couldn't uncover their full picture. All they knew was that one member was connected to the cause of Uchiha Itachi's death.
But so far, they hadn't uncovered the identity of this person, let alone the organization's headquarters or the true identity of their masked leader...
If Nagato were to encounter them, he was to inform both of them immediately!
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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