The words had barely fallen when Hidan and Kakuzu exchanged a glance, both their eyes filled with unease and confusion.
The figure who walked out slowly from behind the Asura Path and Animal Path wasn't tall, nor was he clad in the metal-pierced garb of the Six Paths of Pain.
On the contrary, he looked like the most ordinary boy imaginable.
"…That's it?"
Hidan blinked, his face twitching with disbelief, lips curling into a crooked grin.
"Kakuzu, don't you think this kid looks… way too normal?"
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes, staring at Ryota for a long moment before frowning.
"His chakra flow is weak. So faint… it's practically nonexistent."
Hidan scratched the back of his head, expression growing stranger by the second.
But then where the hell had that crushing, kneel-you-to-the-floor pressure just now come from?
He cast a glance at the Asura Path and Animal Path, doubt flickering in his eyes.
There was no way that suffocating aura had come from these fake Paths of Pain… right?
And then—
Shff, shff, shff—!
Several figures descended from above, landing before Ryota, shielding him behind their backs.
At their head stood Uchiha Fugaku, Mangekyō Sharingan slowly spinning in his eyes.
Behind him gathered elite members of the Uchiha clan.
Fugaku swept the area in an instant, his gaze locking on the two strange intruders.
When his eyes fell on Naruto, tossed aside unconscious, his face tightened.
His failure. His negligence. He had to act, had to redeem himself in the eyes of the clan's head!
That thought had barely formed when Hidan suddenly burst into manic laughter.
"So that's it…"
His eyes shone with sick excitement.
"That suffocating pressure just now—it came from you bastards, didn't it?"
He twirled his triple-bladed scythe with glee, grinning wide.
"I remember you—you're Uchiha Fugaku, aren't you? Looks like you might actually be worth something."
"The Mangekyō Sharingan, huh…"
Kakuzu finally spoke, voice calm and cold.
"The Uchiha clan… troublesome, but not insurmountable."
"Their eyes should fetch a fine price."
It was clear enough—
In the eyes of Kakuzu and Hidan, the black-haired boy standing under the Uchiha's protection was nothing but an irrelevant backdrop.
That dreadful, bone-deep pressure couldn't possibly have come from him.
Hidan sneered.
"No wonder it felt like sleep paralysis just now. Turns out it was this old geezer's trick."
"Click, click, click… the Mangekyō. You Uchiha sure are a pain in the ass."
To them, Ryota was the one being protected—not the threat.
The real danger was Fugaku and his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Hidan flipped his scythe around, eyes burning with frenzy.
"You, old man! Let me offer up those eyes of yours to Lord Jashin!!"
With a roar, he lunged forward, body blurring into an afterimage as he charged straight for Fugaku.
But before he could take his third step—he froze.
"…Huh?"
He looked down.
From the knee down, his right leg had exploded.
Yes.
Without warning, without a wound, it simply burst apart. Flesh and bone shattered in an instant, fragments scattering through the air and splattering wetly across the ground.
Even stranger—there was no pain.
As if the body wasn't even his own.
"…What?"
Hidan toppled with a thud, his body collapsing like a cut kite.
Blood spurted violently from the stump of his leg, soaking his pants crimson.
"Wh-what the hell…?"
"What's happening?!"
He jerked his head up—
And locked eyes with the black-haired boy who had been standing quietly behind Fugaku.
Once so ordinary as to be invisible, his eyes now glowed with silent menace.
The Rinnegan.
Boom!!
Before Hidan could react, his left arm detonated. Blood and bone sprayed like a fountain, severed flesh spinning across the ground.
He froze completely.
The madness and bravado on his face drained away, replaced by stunned terror.
Hidan was immortal—death meant nothing to him.
But pain still existed.
And this… this wasn't pain. This was being torn apart without warning, without cause, without escape.
Even Kakuzu's expression darkened.
He knew Hidan's limits. Immortality wasn't invincibility.
Hidan could endure pain, could keep fighting even impaled, even dismembered—he could stitch himself back together with threads.
That was why they were called the Immortal Duo.
But now—his leg, his arm—hadn't been cut or torn.
They had exploded from within, reduced to mangled chunks of meat and shattered bone.
"Damn it… I can't stitch him back from that…"
For the first time, Kakuzu felt a twinge of genuine dread.
Fugaku's pupils shrank, his own face paling with awe.
He didn't know who these bizarre intruders were—but for them to so easily bypass Konoha's defenses, bypass the Uchiha's watch… they were no small threat.
The Uchiha weren't fodder. Under Ryota's Falna, their power had soared; many had already awakened the Three Tomoe Sharingan. They were Konoha's core strength.
And yet, in front of this boy—
Not even a scream. Just instant mutilation.
"So this… is the clan head's true power?"
Fugaku's throat trembled with a whisper.
Behind him, the other Uchiha shinobi had gone pale.
Kakuzu's pupils shrank violently, horror creeping into his face.
"…Clan Head?"
Fugaku had addressed this boy—this unremarkable-looking youth—as "Clan Head."
Uchiha Fugaku had called him that.
At first, Kakuzu thought he'd misheard. But then he saw the reverence in Fugaku's Mangekyō eyes, saw the instinctive bows of the other Uchiha.
This wasn't flattery.
It was faith.
This black-haired boy wasn't just the Uchiha clan's leader—
He was their god.
A cold chill crawled up Kakuzu's spine, freezing his breath.
This wasn't just divine power. This was worship. The whole Uchiha clan bent to him, obeyed him, would die for him.
"We need to retreat."
Kakuzu's eyelid twitched violently. For the first time in years, he felt regret.
Maybe stepping into Konoha had been a colossal mistake.
"Kakuzu…"
Beside him, Hidan twisted what was left of his torso, pale and sweating buckets, yet still managing to grit his teeth.
"If you can move… stitch me up…"
But Kakuzu didn't move.
Didn't answer.
His gaze stayed locked on Ryota—
Those Rinnegan eyes staring back at him in silence.
Not human. Not anything mortal. Something higher.
And Kakuzu realized—he didn't belong to himself anymore.
"Retreat!"
The decision blazed in his mind—
But before he could act—
Bang!!
Hidan's head exploded.
No warning. No cry. Just a sudden burst of gore, his skull shattering into a cloud of blood mist.
His body twitched headless for a moment, then collapsed, blood spraying patterns across the dirt.
"Damn it—!"
Kakuzu's pupils contracted sharply, but he no longer cared for his partner.
Run.
Now. Immediately.
"I can't fight this… it's impossible!"
His mind howled, instincts screaming. Chakra flared wildly as all five hearts roared in unison, and he bolted forward at full speed.
But Hidan's death lingered in his mind—instant obliteration, beyond reason, beyond any technique he knew.
This wasn't a foe he could fight.
"Don't look back… don't look back or I'll die…"
He had barely taken a few steps—
Vmmm—!
The world trembled.
A terrifying pull slammed into him from behind.
"?!!"
Kakuzu's body jerked upward, yanked clean off the ground, dragged backward like a puppet on invisible strings—straight toward Ryota.
"Damn it!! Let me go!!"
He thrashed, chakra erupting, black threads whipping wildly like tentacles. His hearts pumped furiously, muscles strained—
But nothing worked.
The pull was unstoppable, like being dragged into a black hole.
Boom!
Kakuzu crashed into the ground before Ryota.
Before he could rise, his gaze locked on a figure standing above him—
Eyes familiar. Too familiar.
The Rinnegan of Deva Path, Pain himself.
"Pain… the Deva Path?!!"
Hope flared in Kakuzu's chest.
He didn't notice the lack of the Akatsuki cloak, nor the absence of Nagato's chakra signature.
All he saw was salvation.
"Perfect! You're here!"
He shouted desperately.
"Deva Path! Quick—take them down! Those fakes, and that black-haired kid—They're monsters! Hidan's already dead!!"
His voice grew frantic, almost joyful, like a drowning man spotting a lifeline.
But "Pain" said nothing.
Only stared.
Those Rinnegan eyes empty, emotionless. Not even anger—just cold appraisal.
"…Deva Path?"
Kakuzu's voice faltered. His pupils trembled. Something was wrong.
It wasn't the eyes. Not the chakra.
It was the pressure—
The weight pressing on his soul.
"This… isn't Pain…"
Realization hit like ice water, freezing him to the core.
This wasn't Nagato's Deva Path.
The air itself sank heavy, and from the Deva Path's palm, crushing power erupted.
"Universal Pull."
Kakuzu convulsed. Before he could resist, he was ripped forward again—
Crash!!
His chest slammed into the Deva Path's palm, held fast in an unbreakable grip.
"Damn… let me go! Who the hell are you?!"
The Deva Path's eyes never wavered, holding him aloft like prey.
And then Ryota stepped forward, his voice falling like a verdict.
"Akatsuki… did they only send you?"