He looked up and saw a figure appear atop the thin, skeletal High Tower in the distance. The tower loomed over the rain like a broken spine.
"Pain!"
As if sensing something, Konan's expression shifted slightly. Her body tensed as she followed his line of sight.
A low hum spread beneath their feet, and the ground began to tremble. It felt as if something massive were rolling beneath the earth, desperate to break free.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A loud shout came from the horizon, filled with reckless arrogance. The sound cut through the rain with force.
Crack, crack, crack!
A tremendous force surged upward, shattering the flat ground as if struck from below. The earth buckled into raised, broken steps under unimaginable pressure.
Pain's eyes flickered as he reacted almost by instinct. Using repulsive force, he lifted himself into midair.
At the same time, a deafening roar shook the heavens and the earth.
"Roar!"
Like a beast unleashed, dust and shattered stone exploded upward, and a thick cloud spread in all directions. The rain could not suppress the sudden chaos.
Within the hazy dust cloud, a gigantic shadow burst out of the ground like a leaping carp. It lunged straight toward Pain and Konan.
Konan reacted only a moment slower than Pain. With the Dance of the Shikigami, paper formed into wings and carried her into the air.
Yet in her widening pupils, she could see the deep, abyss-like mouth below, with tongue and throat exposed. The foul stench was already almost against her face.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Tendo Pain raised his arm and aimed downward. Invisible but overwhelming repulsive force manifested within the rain and crushed toward the charging beast.
Bang!
The massive shadow in the dust cloud lost control and slammed back into the ground. Dust and rain mist were thrown up once more in a violent wave.
The three Paths of Pain and Konan appeared at a distance. The latter's eyes carried a heavier focus as she stared at the blurred giant shape in the dust.
"Roar!"
Another thunderous bellow rang out as circular ripples spread through the rain. The remaining dust and mist were completely blown away.
The brown purple body was extremely thick, with four toes on the forelimbs and five on the hind limbs. Its thick, flattened tail tapped the ground lightly, yet each movement sent vibrations through the earth.
Its skin had no scales or fur, only a layer of mucus that kept secreting fluid. As the liquid dripped down, it corroded the ground and released thin white smoke, clearly highly toxic.
"A salamander, and at this size…"
Seeing the beast clearly at last, shock and heaviness appeared in Konan's eyes. Her breathing slowed as she took in its full form.
Though called a salamander, it was not a fish at all, but a unique amphibian of the Land of Rain. It was among the largest amphibians still in existence.
Most salamanders were only fifty to two hundred centimeters long. Even those two or three meters long could already serve as summon beasts, and Hanzo's aide Shenda had one measuring four meters.
The salamander before them, however, stood more than ten meters tall even while crawling, and its body length was terrifying. Its sheer presence crushed the senses.
If its upper body rose fully upright, it would be no different from a collapsing mountain. It was enough to make most people look up in fear and helplessness.
In the entire Ninja World, there was only one salamander of such enormous size. And there was only one person capable of summoning it.
"Salamander Ibuse."
Pain hovered in midair and looked at the figure standing on the salamander's head. He spoke calmly and added, "And also…"
"Lord Hanzo!"
The two Amegakure Ninja guarding the gates of Amegakure shouted in unison. Their faces were filled with disbelief and shock as they looked at that figure.
Lord Hanzo had seemed aged just yesterday, so how had he suddenly become so young? The doubt vanished in an instant, replaced by excitement and near madness.
It was Lord Hanzo. It was the Lord Hanzo of the past.
That presence, that bearing, it could not be mistaken.
"So you are the masters of those disgusting white creatures."
Hanzo stood with his arms crossed atop the salamander's head. He looked at Tendo Pain and Konan among the four figures and frowned, saying, "Wait, you two look somewhat familiar."
He stared at Tendo Pain's face, which showed no expression or warmth. It was like a statue carved from cold stone, filled only with hollow stillness.
Yet that cold face slowly overlapped in Hanzo's memory with another face, one once full of passion and hope. The resemblance grew clearer.
"You are…" Hanzo's eyes narrowed slightly as he said in a low voice, "Akatsuki's Yahiko?"
How was that possible? Hadn't Yahiko already died?
And those eyes…
"Hanzo, I have come to hold your final funeral."
From afar, Tendo Pain looked at Hanzo and spoke in a cold voice, saying this was the last mercy of a god. As his words fell, Asura Path and Human Path split apart and moved, forming a triangular formation that trapped Hanzo in the center.
"Calling yourself a god?"
Hanzo frowned as he stared at the increasingly familiar face. Aside from the appearance, there was no trace of the past left at all, and he spoke in a deep voice, asking if he was really Yahiko, and why those eyes were now on him. His gaze lingered on the eyes with clear shock.
"That person is already dead. Now, I am 'Pain.'"
The words were almost without emotion. Tendo Pain raised his arm expressionlessly and aimed his palm at the distant Hanzo.
"Universal Pull."
Standing atop the salamander's head, Hanzo felt his body sink as an overwhelming force seized him, dragging him violently toward Pain floating in the air. Black Rods slid from Pain's sleeve into his hand, ready to stab the moment Hanzo was pulled close.
"Pulling me in? What kind of technique is this?"
In an instant, Hanzo understood the effect of the technique. His pupils tightened as he looked at the rapidly approaching Pain, and he snapped his wrist to fling out his Kusarigama.
Clack clack clack!
The chain coiled like a snake around a gate pillar behind him, forcibly stopping his out of control movement. But Tendo Pain's eyes darkened, and the attraction on Hanzo suddenly doubled, making the gate pillar groan under the strain.
Hanzo's body was pulled apart, his bones creaking loudly. His thoughts raced as he realized there were no hand signs, wondering if this was a Kekkei Genkai tied to those eyes.
He made a swift decision and released his grip on the Kusarigama. His body was dragged free again by the immense pull, flying toward Pain at even greater speed. The suction felt unstoppable, and it seemed to have no time limit.
"In that case." Hanzo fixed his eyes on Pain and quickly formed hand signs. "Water Release: Water Cannon Technique!"
He could feel that his current speed of refining Chakra and his control over it were several times stronger than at his peak. There was even greater power hidden in this body, but there was no time to explore it now.
With a loud bang, a heavy water cannon condensed around him and blasted forward, carrying force strong enough to pierce iron walls as it roared toward Tendo Pain. All these actions and judgments were made within three short seconds, honed by decades of battle experience.
Yet as the massive water cannon approached, Tendo Pain made no elaborate move and only gently pushed his arm forward. "Shinra Tensei."