The Land of Rain.
Rain fell without mercy.
In a desolate wilderness where hardly anyone walked, a raised platform stood under the storm.
Two strange groups faced each other across the stone.
On one side—Rain shinobi.
On the other—Konoha operatives wearing masks.
And at the front of both forces stood two men:
Hanzō.
And Shimura Danzō.
Hanzō held a blue-haired woman's life in his hand.
Konan.
One of the three core members of the Akatsuki.
From above, Hanzō looked down at the two figures below—Akatsuki's remaining leaders.
Nagato and Yahiko.
The meeting site they had agreed upon had become an ambush.
Konan had been captured.
Nagato and Yahiko had survived.
But the weaker members of the Akatsuki…
Had been slaughtered.
Hanzō's voice was cold, carrying easily through the rain.
"To me, your organization is nothing but a thorn."
His gaze narrowed on Yahiko.
"Yahiko. As leader, you will die here."
He tossed a kunai down.
It embedded into the stone between Nagato and Yahiko with a sharp clack.
"Resist… and this woman dies."
Nagato and Yahiko stared at the kunai, jaws clenched, bodies trembling with rage and helplessness.
Hanzō's voice sharpened further.
"You—red-haired one. Pick it up."
"Kill Yahiko."
"Do that… and I'll spare you and this woman."
"Stop!" Konan screamed under Hanzō's restraint. "Nagato, don't listen! Run! Both of you—run!"
Then Yahiko spoke.
"Nagato."
Nagato turned—and froze.
Yahiko's face had gone unnaturally calm.
In Nagato's disbelieving stare, Yahiko said softly:
"Kill me."
Nagato's eyes widened.
He breathed hard, as though a mountain had dropped onto his chest.
He wasn't exhausted.
But he felt like he couldn't move.
"Nagato!" Yahiko shouted.
"Stop!" Konan sobbed, fighting against the grip holding her.
"Move!" Hanzō barked again. "Or do you want her to die?!"
Under the pressure—under the screaming—under the crushing weight of the moment—
Nagato staggered forward.
Each step looked like it might collapse him.
Finally he reached the kunai.
His fingers closed around it.
He looked up at Konan on the platform, crying.
"Konan…"
Then he turned—
To look at Yahiko—
And in that instant—
A figure slammed into his arms.
He didn't even have time to react.
He only heard the sound.
A dull, wet thunk.
Metal piercing flesh.
"Ya…hiko…?"
Nagato stared down.
The kunai had been driven through Yahiko's heart.
Blood spilled from Yahiko's mouth.
But he was smiling.
"Live," Yahiko whispered, voice breaking. "You and Konan… no matter what… you have to live."
"You're the savior of this world."
"If it's you… then you definitely can…"
His words cut off.
His body went limp.
Yahiko collapsed to the ground.
Still.
Konan's scream tore through the rain like a blade.
"YAHIKO!!"
Hanzō's restraint released. Konan dropped to her knees, shaking, sobbing over Yahiko's body.
Behind the mask, Hanzō's lips curved faintly.
But he had never intended to spare them.
He did this only because he feared Yahiko in desperation.
If Yahiko escaped…
With his charisma and ability, he could become a fatal threat to Rain—and to Hanzō's rule.
Now that Yahiko was dead…
Konan was nothing but a woman he could kill whenever he wanted.
And so Hanzō raised a hand.
"Kill them."
Rain shinobi on the platform unleashed a storm of kunai and shuriken.
A black cloud of steel descended on Nagato.
A normal shinobi would die instantly.
But Nagato wasn't normal.
His eyes snapped wide.
His hand rose.
And in a single breath—
The weapons slammed into an invisible barrier and were blown away.
Danzō narrowed his eyes.
He was here only as Konoha's "negotiator," not a combatant.
There was no reason to entangle himself further.
And so he turned—
And withdrew with Root.
If he had seen Nagato's eyes clearly…
If he had recognized what they were—
He might not have left so easily.
But he didn't.
And he did.
Nagato's feet gathered chakra.
He launched himself toward the platform—toward Konan.
Hanzō retreated, calm.
He wasn't unable to kill Konan before Nagato arrived.
He simply didn't need to.
Because the moment Nagato surged forward—
Hanzō formed hand seals.
The ground around Konan lit up.
Paper tags—hidden perfectly within the earth—activated and surged like a net.
They wrapped around Nagato's legs mid-stride.
Hanzō smiled.
He had anticipated this.
BOOM.
Explosive tags detonated.
The blast tore half the platform apart.
At point-blank range, even a Kage could die.
Most shinobi were glass cannons.
Powerful offense.
Fragile bodies.
Hanzō believed it was enough.
He was wrong.
Nagato's legs were ruined—shredded by the explosion.
But Konan was alive.
And Nagato…
Nagato had shielded them both.
When the smoke cleared, Konan stood unharmed.
Nagato knelt—his lower body destroyed.
Hanzō stared, shocked—then his eyes fixed on Nagato's face.
On the eyes Nagato no longer bothered to hide.
"That… those eyes…"
Nagato's sanity snapped.
Grief.
Rage.
Hopelessness.
Everything surged into one violent current.
The hesitation that once restrained him—vanished.
Even Konan's voice couldn't reach him now.
"Summoning Technique—Demonic Statue of the Outer Path!"
The earth behind him split.
A monstrous statue dozens of meters tall erupted from the ground.
A single palm—massive as a building—swept forward and sent Rain shinobi flying like insects.
"That is…!" Hanzō and Konan both froze.
Konan seemed to realize something and tried to stop him—
But Nagato roared like a wounded beast.
From the statue, black rods shot out—spearing through Nagato's back and into his body.
Nagato didn't care.
He forced chakra through those rods, pouring it into the statue like a flood.
The Demonic Statue awakened.
Its mouth opened—
And a dragon of chakra burst forth, charging across the battlefield.
It crushed everything in its path.
Anyone it touched died.
It carved through the Rain shinobi like a scythe.
Then it turned.
And surged toward Hanzō.
Hanzō stared, eyes cold again.
"So you're the true leader in the shadows," he said evenly. "To possess the Rinnegan… what a surprise."
Then he vanished with Body Flicker.
Even the "Demigod" had no interest in colliding head-on with the Rinnegan.
With Rain shinobi dead and Hanzō driven off…
Nagato should have stopped.
He should have cut the chakra supply.
Every second this continued was devouring his life.
But he didn't stop.
Instead, he drove the chakra dragon in a new direction.
Toward a place where someone had been hiding all along.
And there—
A fox-masked figure stood silently in the rain.
Gen Takuya.
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