The sky was grim, like a tattered cloth soaked in ink, as continuous heavy rain enveloped the surroundings. The muddy paths meandered indistinctly through the curtain of rain.
Against this monotonous backdrop of gray and black, four figures now walked silently across the land.
The figure leading was Deva Path Pain, controlled by Nagato. His orange hair was drenched, clinging to his young yet lifeless face.
Behind Deva Path Pain followed the equally expressionless Human Path and Asura Path, as well as Konan, whose long blue-purple hair was soaked by the rain.
Looking at the gradually clearing Amegakure in the distance through the rain, Konan felt an inexplicable unease.
"Naga... Pain." She was still unaccustomed to directly addressing him as Pain, pausing before correcting herself as she looked at him: "Is it really alright to face Hanzo with just the current Upper Three Paths of Pain?"
Pain didn't immediately answer Konan's question or turn back. Each step he took remained slow, as if he was inspecting this land that he would soon redefine the order of.
The sound of rain beating against everything was the world's only dominant melody.
"Konan, I once respected him too." Pain didn't turn around. His low, unperturbed voice pierced through the rain, clearly reaching Konan's ears: "But he is no longer the Hanzo he once was."
The current Hanzo was probably so old that he couldn't even summon his salamander anymore.
Pain's gaze penetrated the dense, fine curtain of rain, casting itself towards the distant high tower, which stood like a tombstone in the hazy mist. His voice seemed colder than the surrounding temperature.
"Now, he colludes with Konoha's Danzo Shimura, hiding in his lofty tower merely surviving; he is but a decaying corpse nearing its end."
"Rain cannot cleanse the world's sins and past betrayals." Pain's voice held no fluctuation, as if stating a truth: "Only God can wash away the defilement of the ninja world and bring peace."
Konan's eyes reflected the familiar yet unfamiliar back of the figure in front of her. She detected no hesitation or pity, only an absolutely cold will for judgment. The rain struck her face, icy cold, making her gaze complex.
An indescribable pain flickered and vanished, settling into an equally dead calm. The lightness of her "paper butterflies" receded, and her eyes once again became clear and resolute.
"Mm." Her reply almost merged with the sound of the rain, soft and brief.
Her tone conveyed a complete letting go of the past, and a determination for the impending future, one reshaped by pain, like an apostle following a deity into the unknown.
As they approached the gates of Amegakure, they could already see the Amegakure ninja guarding them.
"Stop!"
Seeing the blurry figures in the rain mist from a distance, two Amegakure ninja immediately took on wary expressions and shouted, "Who are you?"
Pain had no intention of explaining himself to mere ants, nor did he make any move to conceal his presence. He simply raised his arm towards the two.
But at that moment, Pain suddenly felt an extremely powerful aura, like a tidal wave, sweeping towards him from afar.
Looking up, he saw a figure appear on the distant, gaunt high tower.
"Pain!" Konan's face slightly changed, as if sensing something.
Rumble!
The ground beneath their feet began to vibrate with a humming sound, as if something was writhing underground, eager to break free from its confinement.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A booming roar came from the sky, its tone overtly arrogant.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
A force violently surged upward, shattering the flat ground with unimaginable power, forming arched, protruding, tiered fault lines.
Pain's eyes shifted slightly, reacting almost instinctively, rising into mid-air with repulsive force.
At the same time, a deafening explosion echoed through the heavens and earth.
"Roar!!"
Accompanied by the roar of a beast unleashed, dust and shattered rocks shot into the sky, and a cloud of dust instantly spread outwards.
And within that hazy dust cloud, a giant shadow, like a leaping carp, burst from underground and lunged towards Pain and Konan.
Konan reacted only moments slower than Pain, using Shikigami Dance to transform paper into wings and ascend into the air.
But in her rapidly widening pupils, she could see the throat within the abyssal maw below, its foul stench almost touching her face.
"Almighty Push!"
Deva Path Pain raised his arm and aimed at the ground below. An invisible yet powerful repulsive force manifested in the rain, pressing down upon the biting giant beast.
Bang!
The giant shadow in the dust cloud fell uncontrollably, slamming into the ground and raising another wave of dust and rain mist.
The three Pains and Konan appeared in the distance, the latter's eyes showing a hint of gravity as she watched the blurry giant shadow in the dust.
"Roar!"
Accompanied by a deafening roar, concentric ripples spread through the rain, completely blowing away the lingering dust and mist.
Its brownish-purple body was incredibly thick, with four toes on its front limbs and five on its hind limbs. Its thick, flattened tail gently slapped the ground, sending tremors through it.
Its skin surface had no scales or fur, only a layer of mucus, which continuously secreted fluid. When it dripped, it corroded the ground, releasing wisps of white smoke, clearly indicating extreme toxicity.
"Salamander, this size..." Konan's eyes filled with surprise and solemnity as she finally discerned the giant beast's appearance.
The Salamander, though named fish, was not a fish but an amphibian unique to the Land of Rain, and one of the largest existing amphibians.
Most salamanders were only fifty to two hundred centimeters long. A two or three-meter salamander was already capable of being a ninja beast. Hanzo's subordinate, Shandai, had a four-meter salamander.
But the salamander before them, merely crouching, was already over ten meters tall, and its body length was terrifyingly immense.
If its upper body stood upright, it would be no different from a collapsed mountain peak, enough to make most people look up in fear and helplessness.
Throughout the ninja world, there was only one salamander of such massive size, and only one person capable of summoning such a gigantic salamander.
"Salamander Ibuse." Pain hovered in mid-air, looking at the figure standing on the salamander's head. His voice was calm: "And..."
"Lord Hanzo!"
The two Amegakure ninja guarding the village gate exclaimed in unison, their faces filled with disbelief and horror at the sight of that figure.
Lord Hanzo, he had an aura of decrepitude just yesterday. How did he suddenly become so young?
The doubt vanished instantly, replaced by delight and madness.
It's Lord Hanzo! It's the former Lord Hanzo!
This aura! This spirit! It can't be wrong!
"It seems you are the owners of that disgusting white creature." Hanzo stood on the salamander's head, arms crossed, looking at Deva Path Pain and Konan among the four figures. He frowned: "Wait, you two look somewhat familiar."
He looked at Deva Path Pain's face, which held no expression or warmth, like a divine statue carved from cold stone, only a near-empty, hollow stillness.
However, that cold face gradually overlapped in Hanzo's mind with the fervent and hopeful countenance from the depths of his memory.
"Are you..." Hanzo's eyes narrowed slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "Akatsuki's Yahiko?"
How is that possible? Wasn't Yahiko already dead?
And those eyes...