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Mm. That's right. Pain, acting as the "command tower"—had accepted Kagaya's "thought waves."
This outcome, how to put it, exceeded Kagaya's expectations. Kagaya had truly just been giving it a try with an experimental mindset. Even though he had considered the possibility that Pain would accept his "thought waves," deep down in his heart, he had never really expected it to actually happen.
It was like buying a lottery ticket with a "just trying my luck" attitude and then winning a million. That outcome—you might have fantasized about it when you bought the ticket, but when it actually becomes reality, you still find it utterly unbelievable.
Because the probability was far too low. Even though you had fantasized about it, deep in your heart, a voice was still quietly murmuring, "This is impossible."
Thus, Kagaya was currently in a state of complete stupefaction.
And as for Pain—although he had accepted Kagaya's "thought waves," it wasn't exactly something he had "subjectively" accepted. That phrasing might not be entirely accurate either. It should be put this way: Kagaya's "thought waves" hadn't been accepted by Pain under a state of strong, conscious intention.
Here's what had happened. The matter of sealing the Tailed Beast—perhaps other Akatsuki members might occasionally lose focus or become inattentive. But Pain, as an idealist who could abandon his own life without the slightest hesitation, naturally couldn't possibly lose focus or be inattentive during such a critical task. Throughout the entire process of sealing the Tailed Beast, Pain's mind had been at peak, absolute concentration.
And it was precisely in this state of extreme mental focus that Kagaya's "thought waves" had arrived.
Thus, Pain had subconsciously accepted them.
This was perfectly normal. It was like when someone is completely, utterly focused on something, and suddenly another person speaks to them. In that situation, two outcomes generally occur. The first is that the person completely focused doesn't hear the other person's words at all. The second is that the person completely focused does hear them, but doesn't want to be bothered, so they casually reply without thinking.
Pain fell into the second category. He had "heard" Kagaya's "thought waves," but he was busy sealing the Tailed Beast and didn't have the attention to spare for Kagaya. So he had casually, reflexively accepted them.
Thus, when Kagaya appeared, Pain was also utterly stupefied. There was only one thought filling his mind—I accepted this thing?!
As for the other Akatsuki members, it was even simpler. Everyone had gathered together to carry out a monumental task. Everything had been proceeding perfectly normally. Then, their leader had let a traitor inside. And not just any traitor—an exceptionally powerful one.
Mm...
So, was it the Leader who had betrayed them, or had they all betrayed the Leader?
"Leader!"
Kakuzu was the first to speak. It didn't matter to the other Akatsuki members; they were only here as projections anyway. Even if something truly catastrophic happened, at worst, they could just dispel their projections and slip away. No matter how bad it got, the fallout wouldn't fall on them.
But for Kakuzu and Hidan, it was different. Kakuzu and Hidan were here in their true bodies! If Pain decided to pull something at this moment, the first ones to suffer would undoubtedly be Kakuzu and Hidan.
Pain ignored Kakuzu. His voice carried clear displeasure as he spoke to Kagaya.
"Uchiha Kagaya... you have been separated from the Akatsuki for several years now. At this point... why do you still participate in the Akatsuki's gatherings?"
Kagaya was still somewhat dazed. He scratched his head.
"Um... wasn't it you who let me in?"
If Pain hadn't accepted, then even with the ring, Kagaya couldn't possibly have appeared here.
The only other Akatsuki member present in his true body—Hidan—spoke with a face full of keen interest.
"Ah? This guy who just popped up... is that Uchiha Kagaya? Oho... I really want to offer you to Lord Jashin."
In the entire Akatsuki, the one who feared Kagaya the least... was probably Hidan.
There were two reasons for this. The first was that Hidan had relatively little contact with Kagaya and had never seriously fought him. Thus, his understanding of Kagaya's strength could only be gleaned from the words of other members. This made Hidan's perception of Kagaya's strength very vague. He only knew Kagaya was strong, but exactly how strong... he wasn't clear.
The second reason was that Hidan simply wasn't afraid of death!
This was arguably the primary reason. Hidan's immortality didn't just grant him formidable power; it also gave him the unshakable confidence of utter fearlessness.
Hadn't anyone noticed how Hidan was constantly provoking Kakuzu with lines like, "If you've got the guts, go ahead and kill me"?
Basically, Hidan was probably the most brainless member of the Akatsuki. It wasn't that Hidan was stupid. Rather, his immortality granted him the capital to charge forward recklessly and without thought.
If you can crush your enemies with sheer brute force and no brainpower... why bother using your brain?
Over time, Hidan became increasingly disinclined to use his brain at all.
This could also be considered a negative side effect of immortality.
However, quite unfortunately, while Hidan wasn't afraid of Kagaya, Kagaya was even less afraid of Hidan. With his current level of strength, Kagaya had absolutely no reason to be "meek and submissive" toward anyone. No matter who it was, if they dared to snap at him, he would respond with a "heavy fist" without a second thought.
"Hidan, is it? The second-rate fool of the Akatsuki. I've heard of you. You want to offer me to your Lord Jashin? No... listen to me. How about instead, you slaughter your Lord Jashin and deliver him to me?"
For a fanatical zealot, what was the easiest way to provoke them into a blind, incandescent rage? It was very simple. Just insult their faith. Any degree of insult would do. After all, they were fanatical zealots—they couldn't tolerate anyone insulting their faith in the slightest. Perhaps there were a few rare exceptions among fanatics, but unfortunately... Hidan was not one of them.
"Are you looking to die?! You red-eyed bastard! If your real body were here... I'd gouge out your eyes right now! Tear off your limbs! And then offer you to Lord Jashin! No! Even if your real body isn't here... once this sealing is over, I'll come and find you! For spewing blasphemy against Lord Jashin... you will definitely die!"
Hidan's face was contorted with fury as he shouted and raged at Kagaya's projection. One could easily imagine—if Kagaya weren't a projection but here in his true body, Hidan would have already swung his triple-bladed scythe at him long ago.
Kagaya smiled disdainfully, completely disregarding Hidan's words. Hidan was a fanatical zealot, easily provoked by a single sentence. Kagaya... was not.
"When you come find me, I'll do exactly as you said. I'll gouge out your Lord Jashin's eyes, tear off his limbs, and then offer him to myself. No... wait. A so-called 'Lord Jashin'... being worshipped by someone like you... must be utterly disgusting, right? Add to that no eyes and no limbs... Blegh. I'm gonna be sick. Forget it. I don't want him after all. I'm not in the habit of collecting garbage."
Hidan immediately crouched down, and without another word, prepared to charge straight at Kagaya.
But it was at that very moment that Pain spoke up.
"Hidan! This is merely a projection! Stay in your position! The sealing process cannot be interrupted!"
Hidan's face had already twisted into a deeply ferocious, hideous expression. But in the end, he restrained himself. He might be foolish, but he wasn't brain-dead. He could still figure out that Kagaya was only here as a projection.
"Just you wait! You red-eyed little brat!"
Pain turned to Kagaya.
"Uchiha Kagaya... is there some matter that brings you here? If not... shouldn't you be leaving now? Also... could you return the ring... no, never mind. If you like that thing... then just keep it with you."
Pain's tone was extremely calm and measured. The other Akatsuki members didn't know the full extent of Kagaya's strength, but Pain did. After the battle in the Hidden Rain Village, Pain no longer had the right to lose his temper with Kagaya. Not because he didn't want to... but because he didn't dare.
Kagaya glanced at Gaara, who was floating in midair, and curled his lip.
"So... you guys are messing around with this thing."
Sealing the One-Tail—it had started this quickly. This was something Kagaya hadn't expected. His prolonged period of training had caused him to lose track of time. He hadn't known before this that the Akatsuki had already begun sealing the Tailed Beasts.
But it didn't matter. As mentioned before, a "controllable timeline for Kaguya's resurrection" was far better than an "uncontrollable one."
If the Akatsuki was sealing the Tailed Beasts, so be it. He hadn't planned on stopping them anyway. As long as they didn't move too fast.
So Kagaya wasn't going to bother with this matter. It was only the One-Tail, after all. No rush. Let them seal it. There were still eight more Tailed Beasts to go. And among them, the Five-Tails, Eight-Tails, and Nine-Tails were ones the Akatsuki most likely couldn't obtain in full. So there really was no need to worry excessively.
Shrugging, Kagaya spoke thusly:
"Although I am quite bored... for now, I'm not planning to get involved in your crap. So I'll be taking off. Oh, and Hidan... remember to come find me. I really am very bored. It would be nice if you could provide me with a bit of entertainment. I'd also like to try my hand at figuring out how to slaughter an immortal shinobi."
With that, without waiting for anyone to reply, Kagaya's projection vanished.
Slaughtering Hidan—that was just Kagaya's provocation. He didn't truly want to slaughter Hidan. At least, not now. After all, Kagaya wasn't some homicidal maniac. But if Hidan actually dared to come looking for him, and actually managed to find him... well, then Kagaya wouldn't mind giving it a try.
"Alright. Everyone, refocus on sealing the Tailed Beast."
After Kagaya vanished, Pain spoke these words, bringing this incident to a close.
Although it carried the suspicion of "not explaining the full context," the Akatsuki members had no choice. Right now, sealing the Tailed Beast was more important. They could only obediently refocus on the task at hand.
At the same time, the illuminated character "Azure" also extinguished. Of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's ten fingers, one had once again sunk into darkness.
On the other side, while Kagaya was still provoking Hidan, Naruto and his group outside had encountered a significant obstacle.
Faced with the Five-Seal Barrier, they found themselves thwarted to an immense degree.
The Five-Seal Barrier was composed of five talisman papers inscribed with the character for "Forbidden." To undo this barrier, all five talisman papers had to be torn off simultaneously.
The troublesome part lay precisely here. The five talisman papers were located in different directions around the stone cavern. To tear them off simultaneously required five people. The problem was... Naruto's group only had four people!
The greatest difficulty, however, was that after a talisman paper was torn off, a duplicate would appear—an exact replica with strength equal to the person who had torn it off at that very moment. To defeat this duplicate, one had to surpass the strength they possessed at the moment of tearing off the talisman.
This mechanism dictated that Naruto and the others couldn't use a shadow clone to tear off the fifth talisman paper. A clone's strength was determined by the original body's strength. The clone was a copy of the original; it could never, ever possess strength surpassing the original. At the very most, it could only match the original's level. This directly meant that a clone could absolutely never defeat the duplicate that appeared after tearing off the talisman.
Even if the other four all defeated their duplicates, the failure of the clone here would still result in the failure to undo the barrier.
Thus, with only four people, Naruto's group was completely and utterly at a loss against this barrier.
Brute force was also impossible. When it came to barriers, breaking them with raw power required the destroyer's strength to be roughly three to four times greater than that of the one who had erected the barrier. The problem was... was the strength of Naruto and his group three to four times greater than Pain's?
Forget greater—they didn't even know if they were as strong as Pain. So brute force was also entirely out of the question.
In the current shinobi world, there was probably no one who could break this barrier with pure brute force. If one had to name someone, only Kagaya had a slight possibility. After becoming a Perfect Jinchuriki, his strength far exceeded Pain's. But Pain, after all, possessed the Rinnegan. Forcibly destroying a barrier he had meticulously set up would still be quite difficult.
As for Naruto's group... they might have a chance if they brought the Six Paths Naruto from the far, far later stages of the original story. But as for now... forget it. Don't even think about it.
That was the nature of barriers. Although they were very troublesome to set up, couldn't be moved, and defensive barriers couldn't attack—one could say they were quite cumbersome and clunky, practically useless in direct combat—what these disadvantages bought was the barrier's own immensely high defensive power. A low-level Genin, spending time to erect a barrier, would require roughly an elite Chunin to have a chance of breaking it with brute force.
Thus, with clever methods impossible and brute force even more so, Naruto and his group were completely, utterly stumped.
Left with no other choice, they could only wait for Team Guy, who would arrive a day later. Only when they had assembled a team of five or more would there be a possibility of breaking through this barrier.
"Hey... brat... you still conscious?"
A weak, feeble voice reached Gaara's ears. It was a voice very familiar to Gaara, but it was the first time he had heard it so utterly weak and frail.
Lifting his head, Gaara saw—just as he had expected—the source of that voice was the One-Tail within him.
The One-Tail of now had already lost its former ferocity and immense, colossal chakra. The sealing was nearing its end. Over seventy percent of the One-Tail's chakra had already been absorbed.
Like a dying, sickly cat, the One-Tail lay sprawled on the ground, its eyes half-open, looking at Gaara.
"It seems... I'll be leaving soon. After I'm gone... you'll probably die as well. But... I just sensed a trace of the Five-Tails' chakra. It seems to have come very close to where I am. I don't know if it's a hallucination before death... but if it's real... then that might be your only chance at survival, brat. Struggle with all your might. Your comrades should be coming to rescue you. After I'm gone... become the Jinchuriki of that Five-Tails. That way... you should be able to survive."
Gaara looked at the One-Tail with a dazed, bewildered expression. The Tailed Beast before him didn't resemble a Shukaku possessing unparalleled power. It looked more like a large cat on its very last breaths. It was already so, so weak. But...
"Why... do you care about me? Right now... you should be worrying about yourself."
Shukaku bared its teeth in a grin. This grin... was strained, forced. One could see that the corners of its mouth were even trembling faintly for the sake of this smile.
"Lord Shukaku is immortal and indestructible! Remember that! And besides... I'm not caring about you. How should I put it... this is merely a final piece of advice before we part."
With that, Shukaku closed its eyes, as if it disdained to speak any further with Gaara.
Gaara also said nothing more. He knew... it wasn't that Shukaku didn't want to talk to him anymore. It was that it couldn't. It was far too weak. The vast majority of its chakra had been extracted. Only an exceedingly minuscule portion of chakra still remained within Gaara's body, sustaining his very life.
A Jinchuriki who lost their Tailed Beast... would die.
Crack... crackle...
Several fissures suddenly appeared on Gaara's face, stretching across his entire countenance like parched, cracking earth. It looked rather horrifying.
In this very moment, even Gaara's soul had begun to fissure and crack. This proclaimed that the living being named "Gaara"... was rapidly approaching its end.
He smiled faintly. Even though his face was covered in cracks and fissures... that smile remained so warm, just as before.
"Shukaku... are you... trying your best to stay within my body... to let me live just a little longer? No... it's enough. You're already so, so tired. It's the very end now. Go. Don't waste your strength anymore. I... am an unworthy Jinchuriki. And an unworthy Kazekage. I'm not worth it."
Before him, Shukaku lay quietly, its eyes closed, offering no reply to Gaara. Yet its chakra... still stubbornly, resolutely remained within Gaara's body. Even though it was being slowly extracted... the process was, after all, somewhat sluggish and slow.
It was still resisting.
It had not yet given up.