The Hell Path of Pain lifted two Leaf shinobi high into the air, his hands clamped tightly around their throats. His voice rumbled low and cold:
"Where is Naruto Uzumaki?"
In a shadowed corner, a flurry of white paper swirled through the air, wrapping around another ninja like a mummy. From the rotating spiral of paper above him, a woman's face slowly formed—Konan.
"Where is Naruto Uzumaki?"
The paper covering the ninja's mouth peeled away, giving him a chance to speak.
In a small plaza nearby, dozens of Konoha shinobi already lay scattered at the feet of the Deva Path. The black receivers jutting from his arms glistened as he withdrew the last one from a fallen ninja.
"So this one doesn't know either… looks like we'll need to widen the search," he muttered—deliberately loud enough for Konan to hear.
Of course, Nagato's true goal wasn't to "expand the search."
He was using the operation to locate Root's underground headquarters.
Inside the Lab, Shizune leaned over a chakra analyzer aimed at one of Pain's black rods. The instrument's needle was trembling wildly. Her brow furrowed.
"The chakra readings just spiked. The rods are heating up… something's happening."
A technician blinked in confusion. "Heating up? What does that mean?"
Shizune's expression hardened as she spun toward him.
"It means these rods are receivers!"
"Receivers? I don't—"
"They're absorbing chakra right now!" she snapped. "Forget the explanation—contact Lady Tsunade, now!"
Boom!
The floor shook violently. It was the first time Shizune truly felt the scale of the attack. The village outside was in chaos.
In the Room, Shikamaru and Sakura felt the tremor too. Smoke billowed outside the window.
"This isn't good," Shikamaru muttered.
"Let's move!"
They leapt from the window and sprinted toward the smoke.
At the Intelligence Division, Inoichi Yamanaka gripped the head of a captured Rain ninja, eyes closed in concentration. He pushed deeper through layers of mental defenses—through a storm of white paper—until he finally saw a brain impaled with black receivers.
"…Found it."
Elsewhere, the Asura Path's head split open like a mechanical weapon. Light gathered within as it unleashed a massive chakra blast—pure destruction ripping through the heart of Konoha's residential district.
The blast was so close that even the younger Leaf shinobi—the so-called "Konoha Twelve"—felt it shake the ground beneath their feet.
"What the hell?!" Ino Yamanaka turned sharply, eyes wide.
Overhead, through a cloud of smoke, a colossal centipede creature reared its head, roaring as it crushed rooftops beneath its claws.
"Chōji! I'm heading to the Intelligence Division!"
"Got it!" he shouted back, sprinting the opposite way. I've gotta find my dad!
By the time Ino reached the division headquarters, summoned beasts were already tearing through the residential zone.
Konoha was enormous—more like a sprawling city than a village—its population in the hundreds of thousands. Most of them were ordinary civilians with no way to fight back.
As explosions echoed, people fled in panic.
A little girl with her hair tied in two buns tripped and fell hard onto the stone street.
"Run, kid! Run!" a man yelled, stopping in his tracks. He wanted to help—but he wasn't a ninja. He couldn't use chakra. And right now… he could barely save himself.
"My little Tomi!"
The grandmother rushed forward, throwing her arms around the trembling girl.
The two of them ended up huddled in the middle of the street—right in the path of the charging centipede summon.
Nagato gave a low hum of irritation. Through the shared vision of his summons, he'd already noticed Sakura rushing to the scene—but he didn't stop the creature's attack. Not yet.
He couldn't risk changing the flow of events too drastically.
Sometimes you had to play dumb, to hold back, to let the story unfold the way it was meant to. If he went too far too early—if he wiped out too many of Konoha's young generation—it would ignite something far worse. Families of those prodigies would rise together in rage, every clan mobilizing for war.
And Danzō's Root—seeking favor from the clans—would join the fight with everything it had.
Nagato knew Danzō's first obsession was protecting Konoha; his second, becoming Hokage.
The man's dream of leading the village was only a means to an end—to shape it by his own vision.
That was exactly why Danzō was so valuable to Nagato. He couldn't let him feel too threatened. Danzō needed to believe Pain was an enemy he could eventually suppress, once he held power.
The centipede shrieked, rearing back. Its head snapped forward from eight meters above, striking down with deadly force.
The grandmother clutched her granddaughter and turned away, shaking uncontrollably.
"Damn it!"
Sakura arrived just in time. She launched herself into the air, her chakra-enhanced fist glowing green—and drove it straight into the summon's skull.
Boom! The ground split as the centipede crashed down, motionless.
"Are you alright?" Sakura asked, catching her breath.
"Y-yes… thank you!" the old woman stammered.
Four members of Konoha Military Police Force landed on a nearby rooftop.
"The summon's down—it must've been that girl," one of them said.
Another squinted. "Wait—she's using medical ninjutsu too."
Down below, Sakura was kneeling beside the girl, her hands glowing faintly as she healed the scrape on her knee.
"Good news—it's not too deep," she said with a gentle smile.
"Thank you, big sister," the girl whispered.
"Sakura! Are you alright?!" a familiar voice called out. Iruka came running, sweat on his brow.
"Sensei—what's happening?"
"I'm not sure," Iruka said grimly. "But someone's attacking the village."
"What?!"
Sakura froze. Never in her life had she seen Konoha under assault. The Hidden Leaf was the heart of the Land of Fire—its military stronghold, the safest place in the nation. They were the ones who brought war to others, not the other way around.
Who could possibly be bold—or powerful—enough to invade Konoha itself?
"I've already sent word to Lady Tsunade," Iruka continued. "The alarm will sound any moment."
"To strike directly at the village…" Sakura whispered, stunned.
BOOM! Another explosion shook the ground, flames lighting the sky nearby.
"Iruka, go!"
"Right!"
He turned back mid-run, shouting, "Sakura, the hospital needs you! There are too many wounded—they'll need every medic they can get!"
"Understood!"
Sakura rose to her feet. For a moment she just stared at the rising fire in the distance—then her eyes narrowed. Could it be…
A small hand tugged at hers.
She looked down.
"Big sister…" the little girl's eyes were wide and fearful.
Sakura crouched, resting a hand gently on her head. "It's going to be okay. We have Lady Tsunade."
At the mention of the Hokage's name, the girl's trembling stopped. She nodded firmly, as if clinging to that promise of safety.
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