Chapter 472: Underworld Reunion
Of the Six Paths of Pain, only the Tendo Path had come. Because Tendo was made from Yahiko's corpse, Nagato felt it was meaningful for him to be the one to appear at this moment.
Accompanying Tendo Pain was Konan. She wasn't wearing the Akatsuki's black cloak with red clouds; her current attire made her look like an ordinary villager.
Tendo Pain unleashed a blast of repulsive force at Danzō. The immense power slammed into his chest, interrupting the activation of the Reverse Four Symbols Seal and causing Danzō to spit out a stream of blood.
Konan flicked a paper shuriken, pinning his right hand to the tree.
"You? Jiraiya actually let you out? Bastard! Absolute bastard!" Danzō cursed loudly upon recognizing Konan.
Konan's expression was icy. As if venting her anger, she threw a continuous stream of paper shuriken, pinning his palms, arms, feet, and legs, crucifying Danzō to the tree.
"Do you have any last words, old dog?"
"Hahahaha—" Danzō laughed maniacally. "A bunch of traitors from the Rain Village, what right do you have to question me! My only regret is that I didn't exterminate all of you rats from the gutter back then!"
Konan looked at Tendo Pain beside her, signaling for him to finish it.
Tendo Pain raised his right hand. The Rinnegan's repulsive force didn't descend suddenly but began to press down on Danzō, little by little.
"That feels... nice! These Hashirama cells have been torturing me. A little harder!"
"You people are amateurs at torture. Didn't Jiraiya teach you? It seems not. The pain from the fingers is connected to the heart. You should be working on my fingers, yellow-haired boy."
"Is this the extent of your hatred? Why even be ninja? Cough, cough... go home and be farmers!"
Danzō was trying to provoke Tendo Pain while secretly attempting to use the Reverse Four Symbols Seal to take them both with him. Taking this Rinnegan with him would be a huge win.
Unfortunately, he was measuring the Rinnegan by the standards of a Mangekyō Sharingan, unaware that they were on completely different levels.
The Rinnegan's perceptive ability was unparalleled. Tendo Pain could see every wisp of chakra flowing through his body. The moment Danzō even thought of activating the seal, the Rinnegan's repulsive force would crush the corresponding chakra pathway.
After two attempts, Danzō's chakra pathways were nearly destroyed.
"Kill him," he vaguely heard Konan say.
Danzō forced his eyes open, wanting to see who would deliver the final blow.
He saw Tendo Pain's Rinnegan and the translucent sphere of chakra forming in his palm.
His life was over!
Nagato, controlling Tendo Pain, had nothing more to say to Danzō. Every extra word was an insult to the deceased Yahiko.
"Almighty..."
Just as the Rinnegan's power was being mobilized, Pain felt a bone-chilling cold spread from all directions.
"Ice Release: Ice Age!"
The surrounding temperature plummeted by dozens of degrees. The moisture in the air rapidly condensed, then turned to ice. Driven by ice-natured chakra, the frost opened its fangs and devoured all matter in its path.
The trees, flowers, and stones in the mountain stream were all covered in frost, and within two seconds, all their heat was drained, turning them into solid blocks of ice.
"Who is it?!" Tendo Pain, without the aid of the other five Paths, lacked a 360-degree field of vision. He whipped his head around, only to see a massive iceberg roaring toward him.
The freezing air swept over him like a tidal wave. If he were alone, he could have used "Almighty Push" to blast the cold away, but Konan was with him.
Tendo Pain's body was a corpse and could be repaired; Konan's could not.
At the critical moment, he sent Konan flying with a single push, and then he himself was completely engulfed by the ice and snow.
"Damn it! Who was that?" Konan needed time to prepare her paper wings. Now, she was surrounded by a world of white. All her paper was wet. The bright light reflecting off the snow made her dizzy. After looking for a long time, she only saw a tall figure flash past, taking Danzō with them.
Boom!
Tendo Pain punched a hole through the ice from below and landed gracefully back on the ground.
"A ponytail, samurai attire, wearing wooden geta, and using powerful Ice Release ninjutsu... was that Haku, the Jonin from the Mist Village?" he said with a hint of uncertainty.
The world was covered in ice and snow. Under the sunlight, the better one's eyesight, the more affected they were by the glare.
He had only caught a glimpse of a figure that seemed to resemble the Mist Village's "man as graceful as water."
"Why would a Mist ninja rescue Danzō?" Konan was completely baffled.
"It must be for Konoha's secrets... That person's ability to conceal their presence is formidable; I can't find them anymore. Are you coming with me?" Tendo Pain asked.
Konan shook her head. "Master Jiraiya let me out to get my revenge. I must go back."
Tendo Pain slowly turned. "Then take care of yourself."
Cold. Danzō's first sensation was that he was incredibly cold.
It was a cold that seemed to penetrate from his skin directly into his soul. He felt as if his bones and flesh were frozen solid.
His brain was so cold he wanted to shiver, but his body was like a block of ice, completely unresponsive.
This frozen state wasn't without its benefits. The nearly rampant Hashirama cells in his body fell silent, and the feeling of several sharp knives repeatedly stabbing him from the inside also disappeared.
He didn't know how much time had passed before consciousness returned. He heard an extremely familiar voice by his ear. "Old friend, if you're awake, stop playing dead."
Without thinking, Danzō snapped his eyes open and was stunned to see the Third Hokage, leisurely smoking his pipe.
"Hiruzen? Where is this... Heh, so I'm dead after all."
The scene he expected—old friends meeting, smiling away old grudges, and walking into the afterlife together—didn't happen at all.
The Third Hokage pointed with his pipe to a spot not far away. "Go over there and get your tools. I'll explain your task."
Danzō: "???"
I've been taking your orders my whole life. Now I'm dead, and I still have to listen to you?
Only then did he have a chance to look around.
He saw dozens of men and women working—mixing, plastering, laying bricks. He seemed to have arrived at a large construction site.
These people... were they alive?
After so many years as a ninja, he could still tell the difference between the living and the dead.
He turned to look at the Third Hokage. Hiruzen's form was ethereal and flickering. The old man was indeed dead. What about himself? He looked down and found that he was still alive, and the activity of the Hashirama cells in his body had been suppressed to an extremely low level.
He finally recalled the ice tsunami from before.
What had happened back then? Who had saved him? And where was he now?
He was completely bewildered.
The Third Hokage blew out a puff of smoke. "You are in the Shinigami's world. Those people over there are all your former subordinates. And as for me..."
The Third Hokage was clearly a spirit, yet he cheerfully crossed his legs. "I was sent by the Shinigami to supervise your work."
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