The space-time gate opened, and two figures slowly stepped out.
One of them was a shirtless, red-haired man with a skeletal frame. His ribs were clearly visible beneath his emaciated body.
His torso was pierced by multiple black rods infused with chakra.
Furthermore, due to crippled legs, he sat on an enormous mechanical wheelchair equipped with several pairs of spider-like limbs, making the red-haired man resemble a human spider.
More astonishing still, this man bore the very same Rinnegan eyes as Madara Uchiha.
At this moment, both his hands were inserted into a crystal device beneath him, apparently channeling large amounts of chakra into it. As a result, he was panting heavily and sweating profusely.
Within the crystal, a dragon-shaped projection roared and thrashed its claws, radiating immense chakra fluctuations.
It appeared that this space-time gate had been opened by the red-haired man using the dragon's energy within the crystal.
Accompanying him into this world was a young, beautiful woman.
She had short, light-blue hair, wore a blue paper flower pinned to the right side of her head, had light purple eyeshadow, and bore a lip piercing. She was clad in a black coat adorned with white-edged patterns of red clouds.
"Nagato, are you okay?"
The blue-haired woman asked with deep concern.
"I'm fine, Konan," replied Nagato, the red-haired man, ceasing his labored breathing. "Channeling the power of the Dragon Vein of Louran took far more effort than I anticipated."
After confirming Nagato's safety, Konan relaxed slightly. She looked around carefully and used her chakra to sense the surrounding environment before happily announcing:
"It seems the intelligence we stole from Konoha is accurate. Using the power of the Dragon Vein in Louran truly allows us to cross into parallel worlds!"
"Mm."
Nagato nodded, scanning their surroundings as he spoke. "We should be on some island within the Land of Water, though I can't tell which year exactly."
This man and woman were none other than Nagato and Konan—the founders of Akatsuki from the original timeline.
Several days earlier,
Nagato had controlled the [Six Paths of Pain] to kill Jiraiya, who had secretly infiltrated Ame Village to gather intelligence. Since Jiraiya had sent detailed information about the Six Paths of Pain back to Konoha before his death, Nagato swiftly resolved to strike Konoha directly — before they could fully understand the secrets behind the Six Paths — in a surprise offensive.
However, while gathering intelligence on the village prior to invading Konoha, Nagato unexpectedly obtained a classified document.
The file recorded how Team 7—where the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki Naruto belonged—had recently pursued the rogue ninja Bazu but accidentally crossed into a parallel world from thirty years ago due to interference from the Dragon Vein of Louran, bringing something back from there.
This discovery shocked both Nagato and Konan greatly.
After careful consideration, Nagato abandoned his original plan of inflicting pain upon Konoha and instead departed from Ame Village, heading directly toward the ruins of Louran in the desert to seek out the sealed Dragon Vein.
Then, together with Konan, he traversed into this world via the sealed Dragon Vein.
Nagato had come here for one simple reason — a person.
Yahiko.
"According to the intelligence in these files, this world's timeline should be between Konoha 30 and 40," he said, his voice filled with emotion. "That means... Yahiko is still alive in this world."
Nagato took a deep breath, trying to steady his emotions.
Reuniting with Yahiko was the one thing both he and Konan wanted most. If possible, they hoped Yahiko would return with them to the original timeline, reuniting their Trio and living together once more.
Just as the two were about to begin their operation—
The air beside them suddenly twisted like a whirlpool, and before long, a figure materialized out of nowhere.
It was a man with short black hair, wearing an orange spiral-patterned mask, dressed exactly like Konan in Akatsuki's signature black cloak adorned with red clouds.
"What are *you* doing here too?"
Konan's expression changed immediately. She stepped protectively in front of Nagato, fixing the newcomer with a wary gaze.
This sudden appearance belonged to Tobi, a new recruit within Akatsuki — officially just a new recruit named Tobi, but in reality, he was none other than Madara Uchiha, a legendary ninja whose name echoed throughout the history of the world of shinobi. He led another major faction within Akatsuki, constantly opposing Nagato — the nominal leader — engaging in power struggles and open conflicts for a long time.
But there was something even Nagato and Konan didn't realize — the so-called Madara Uchiha wasn't real either. The true identity of the man standing before them was actually—
Obito Uchiha.
"My my, Leader, you're supposed to be running Akatsuki, yet you run off to a parallel world like this. As a senior member, I naturally can't just sit back and watch," Obito said mockingly, pretending to be Tobi while making dramatic gestures.
Obito then scratched his chin, as if in deep thought, before continuing seriously,
"Still, parallel worlds really are something else. That's why I wanted to come see for myself. At the very least, I'd like to see what 'myself' looks like in this world."
What he referred to as 'myself' was, in Nagato and Konan's understanding, this world's Madara — though in truth, it was little more than young, recently born Obito himself.
"Do as you please. We'll finish our business and leave soon enough. Just don't get in our way."
Konan coldly replied.
"Great! No problem at all. I'll head over to Konoha first and catch up with you guys after you're done."
Waving goodbye energetically, Obito quickly disappeared into the distance.
He couldn't wait to rush to Konoha and warn his younger self — telling that naive kid never, ever to become friends with someone like Kakashi.
And besides that... just like Nagato and Konan, there was also someone Obito longed desperately to meet again.
Her name was...
Rin.
"We should begin our operation too."
After watching Obito's retreating figure disappear, Nagato slowly turned his gaze back. But before taking any action, he needed to check something.
Calmly forming hand seals for the Summoning Jutsu, he activated the technique.
But seconds ticked by without anything happening at all. Clearly, the summoning had failed.
"Of course. How could summoning work here in this parallel world? There's no way we could bring forth living beings from our original timeline." Nagato murmured, "Good thing I came prepared."
"Ah..."
Nagato muttered. He then pressed a hidden mechanism beneath him, opening the compartment under his wheelchair. From it, he pulled out a scroll and spread it open in front of him.
"Hmph!"
With that cry, he slammed his hand onto the scroll, summoning six figures in an instant.
Those six all wore Akatsuki robes and possessed the same Rinnegan eyes as Nagato. The one in front was a young man with orange hair—Yahiko, the beloved friend of Nagato and Konan who had died many years ago.
These six were known as the Six Paths of Pain—super-weapon constructs forged by Nagato from the corpses of fallen ninja, powered by the Rinnegan.
"I'm physically limited and can't travel far, so let's enter the Land of Water directly. I'll use the Rinnegan to control the current Mizukage. Then, we can use Kiri's information network to search for any trace of Yahiko."
Nagato explained his plan to Konan.
"Alright, that's settled," Konan nodded in agreement.
Then, from among the Six Paths of Pain, the Animal Path stepped forward. She pulled out a scroll and performed an unusual Summoning Jutsu, bringing forth a massive strange fish covered with Black Receivers, which landed on the surface of the sea.
"Let's go."
After giving that command, Nagato climbed onto the back of the strange aquatic creature, joined by Konan and the Six Paths of Pain.
Zwoosh!
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