After handing Kakuzu back to Akatsuki, Seiki returned to Konoha.
Life in Konoha continued its usual peaceful rhythm.
He worked with the Hokage on administrative tasks, led his team through missions, sometimes taught at the Academy, and kept up his daily training. In all, life was rewarding yet uncomplicated.
However, the rest of the shinobi world was not nearly as serene as Konoha appeared to be. Beneath the calm surface, currents had already begun to stir.
Rain Country.
Fine droplets of rain, falling steadily, created a veil of mist.
Within this rain-laden mist, two opposing forces stood face-to-face.
"Why can't everyone understand each other? Why must we hurt one another?" Yahiko cried out passionately with arms spread wide. "We've always been compromising for Rain Country!"
"The answer is simple—because Rain Country needs only one voice!" Hanzo replied coldly. "And speaking of compromise, why don't you submit more completely?"
Nagato spoke from beside him, "Yahiko, he doesn't want peace! We've got to get out of here—now!"
"Trying to escape? Are you willing to abandon her?" Hanzo clapped his hands, and his subordinates dragged forward a girl with light purple hair.
Seeing this scene unfold, both Yahiko and Nagato felt shock and fury.
"Damn it! How could this happen?"
"What do you think you're doing with Konan?" Nagato demanded angrily.
"You with the red hair—kill Yahiko with your kunai!" Hanzo commanded coldly. "Do this, and I'll set both you and this woman free."
"What?" Nagato trembled violently, his eyes darting between Konan and Yahiko.
"Don't do it, Nagato! Forget about me!" Konan cried out. "Both of you—get out of here now!"
"Nagato, just kill me!" Yahiko turned around. "Consider it payment for my naivety!"
"Stop!"
"Kill me!"
"Hurry up! Do you care nothing for this woman's life?"
Hesitant and bewildered, Nagato heard Konan's cries, Yahiko's pleas, and Hanzo's orders echoing inside his head until his mind almost split from pain. He let out a pained roar toward the sky.
"Ahhh!"
On a distant cliffside,
"Ahhh, what an interesting scene indeed!" Black Zetsu looked on with fascination. "Right, Obito?"
"Address me as Madara Uchiha!" the masked man declared frostily.
"Oh yes, my mistake," Black Zetsu chuckled. "Lord Madara, what do you think about all this?"
"He will witness the despair of this world, and then he'll build a real world together with me!" Obits' eyes shone with yearning. "A truly perfect world without suffering!"
Back in the field.
Nagato was still struggling emotionally—"What should I..."
Psssh!
The sound of a kunai piercing flesh brought Nagato back to reality. Staring at Yahiko's bleeding lips, something inside Nagato suddenly collapsed.
"He actually impaled himself on the kunai?" Hanzo thought in shock. "What a fool—but even fools need courage!"
Konan fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face—"Why? How could it come to this?"
"Nagato, you and Konan must live on!" Yahiko slumped against Nagato's body, sliding downward. "If it's you, the savior, you definitely can lead everyone..."
Before he could finish speaking, Yahiko collapsed onto the ground.
At this moment, Nagato felt the world spinning around him, his blood surging upward as waves of power driven by hatred kept flowing into him.
[Summoning Technique: Demonic Statue of the Outer Path!]
Seeing the gigantic monster resembling a dead tree breaking through the earth and freeing itself, many Amegakure ninja were filled with fear.
"What kind of monster is that?"
"This is also a summoning technique? Why have I never heard of such a summoned beast before?"
On a distant cliff,
Black Zetsu spoke excitedly, "Demonic Statue of the Outer Path — he has finally reached this point!"
Obito touched the mask on his face, "That means the plan can finally begin!"
"Exactly! This is the first step to shatter the illusion!"
"Let's go; that guy has started using the Rinnegan's powers in earnest. If we stay here any longer, he might discover us!"
Saying this, Obito transformed into a Spatial Vortex and disappeared.
Chuckling, Black Zetsu also sank into the ground and left.
In the battlefield,
The fight ended quickly, leaving the ground littered with ninja corpses. Only Konan and Nagato still stood upright.
Nagato was panting heavily while several tubes were inserted into his back. A twisted grin spread across his face. "With this power, if only I had used it earlier... Yahiko wouldn't have died at all!"
"Nagato, you..." Konan looked at him with concern.
"Don't worry, I've never felt better than I do now!" Nonetheless, Nagato clearly showed signs of exhaustion.
Just then, a faint yet detached voice came from behind them. "Seems like summoning that summoned beast indeed put quite a heavy burden on you!"
"What?" Before Nagato could even turn around completely to see who the speaker was, he was struck by a martial arts chop that knocked him unconscious.
"This time, I won't give you another chance!" The speaker was none other than Hanzo, the one who had previously escaped.
Looking at Hanzo standing right in front of her, Konan gritted her teeth. "You bastard, I'll kill you..."
However, she already faced a massive power gap with Hanzo, and in her mentally weakened state, she was even less of a match for him.
Before she could even make hand seals, she was hit up close by his Body Flicker Technique and knocked unconscious.
Looking at the three people lying on the ground, Hanzo calmly took out a Shinigami Mask and put it on his face.
Then, he picked up the three bodies and left.
Inside an underground chamber, Seiki wore a Shinigami Mask and sat aside while part of his soul entered Nagato's body.
Although he had no intention of transplanting bloodlines into himself, possessing someone else's body for free was still not a problem.
Apart from the Rain Control Technique he had planned long ago, he systematically tested the other abilities of the Rinnegan.
"No wonder people revere the Rinnegan — its abilities are incredibly powerful. If it weren't because I don't really want to myself, I wouldn't even want to leave this body!"
After giving a small sigh over the immense power of the Rinnegan, Seiki controlled Nagato's body toward Yahiko.
"Now that the freeloading's done, time to get serious."
Konan had no mind of her own, and Nagato was too extreme. The only one who could truly guide them and prevent manipulation by Black Zetsu and Obito was Yahiko.
Before this incident, Obito had already approached Yahiko and the others while pretending to be Madara Uchiha. However, his proposal to create a new world had been rejected by Yahiko.
Clearly, Yahiko's existence was the biggest obstacle standing in the way of Obito and Black Zetsu's control over Akatsuki!
"Akatsuki serves my purposes — but one completely under Obito and Black Zetsu's control? That doesn't work for me!" Seiki thought to himself. "Of course, most importantly, I have to earn their trust in this identity!"
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