"It feels so quiet," Yahiko said with a grin. "No more people constantly trying to break Ye Cang and Toroi out of captivity. It's completely different from the Land of Iron."
Akatsuki's hundred-plus members, wearing newly rushed black cloaks, traveled toward the Land of Rain—where drizzle never ceased and clouds never lifted.
When Yahiko saw the familiar sky of his homeland—draped in rain and gloom—he couldn't help speaking to Nagato beside him.
"Maybe they finally accepted reality," Nagato replied, staring at the crying skies of their country.
"Akatsuki's strength isn't something they can easily exploit anymore. So they retreated."
He exhaled slowly.
"But it doesn't matter now."
His voice steadied.
"The Land of Rain and Akatsuki are about to enter a new era."
Yahiko clenched a fist, bright with hope.
Nagato side-eyed Konan, whose face had been glowing these days, and teased:
"You're in a good mood, Yahiko. Is it because you and Konan have… progressed?"
"T-that's only part of it," Yahiko said, cheeks warming.
"Our comrades are growing. 'Ko—'"
He coughed lightly, correcting himself.
"Ko Shinju-kun—no, Lord Kashin Koji—is helping us fix our organizational flaws."
Yahiko's eyes shone.
"We can finally see the path to bringing Akatsuki's ideals to the entire world. How could I not be fired up?"
"Must be nice," Nagato said with a soft laugh.
He looked at the companions behind them—now vast enough to be called a procession.
Yes.
None of their struggle had been wasted.
From three people… to a dozen comrades… to over a hundred from every nation.
And from now on, too—
As long as they didn't stop seeking peace, the road would extend and spread until Akatsuki's path reached an era where people understood one another and everyone could live in peace—
Whiiip.
A kunai cut through the air, screaming toward the crowd.
Whiiip-whiiip-whiiip—
A storm of kunai and shuriken followed, like a steel downpour.
When Nagato jolted from his reverie and looked up, the black rain of blades was already above their heads.
And many were bound with hissing paper tags.
"Sh—"
Yahiko's breath caught—
"Everyone, fall back!!!"
Nagato's shout thundered across the entire line as he launched himself into the sky alone, facing the storm head-on.
He inhaled, chakra surging like a river, and unleashed the Rinnegan's might at full force—
"Shinra Tensei!!!"
A formless repulsive field exploded outward.
Under the Rinnegan's authority and the Uzumaki bloodline's massive chakra, the ambush collapsed in an instant.
Weapons shattered; explosive tags detonated; fragments turned to dust beneath the blast, and the shockwave tore open the earth with a roar.
"Who are you?! Why attack us?!"
Hair streaming, Nagato hovered in the rain-filled air, panting twice as he glared toward the source.
To his surprise, the first figure to step out of the smoke and mud wasn't an Ame shinobi—someone Ren had warned might betray them.
It was a masked man in a strange animal mask and a black cloak.
"An unfamiliar technique… that strange pair of eyes…"
The masked man sounded intrigued, almost thinking aloud.
"So that's why Kaguya Ren chose you—and funded Akatsuki to grow in the Rain, where Kirigakure can't easily reach."
His tone hardened instantly.
"But it doesn't matter. You—and the Akatsuki you created—are destined to be erased from history today, Nagato."
"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"
He formed seals and spat dozens of high-penetration wind chakra rounds—strong enough to pierce stone.
But to Nagato, it wasn't enough to warrant fear.
"Shinra Tensei."
With a short, sharp swing of his arm, the vacuum bullets were thrown away by invisible repulsion.
Then Nagato clenched his fist toward the masked man.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
A violent pull seized the man's body and yanked him straight toward Nagato.
The swirling smoke was dragged along with him, exposing dozens of similarly dressed figures hiding within.
"Gah—!"
Nagato's hand locked around the masked man's throat. The man choked out a pained sound.
And as Nagato layered on the Sealing Technique Absorption, the man's chakra was drained rapidly—stripped of any chance to counterattack.
Nagato stared at the mask, then at the dozens of figures revealed behind it, and frowned.
"Which village's black ops are you?!"
"We… are not… black ops…" the man wheezed, struggling to speak. "We are… deeper… darker… than that… We are here… for vengeance… against that man."
Something about the man's tone—prideful, smug—made Nagato's skin crawl, even without seeing the face beneath the mask.
Nagato hated people who lived in darkness and wore it like a medal.
He acted decisively.
Using a sealing method Karin had taught him, Nagato locked down the man's chakra production entirely, then threw him back into Akatsuki's formation.
Then he barked:
"Lord Kashin Koji—!"
He almost said the name out loud, then corrected himself.
"You know the great villages' intelligence best. Check who this man and his people are."
Nagato's voice sharpened.
"Combat unit, prepare to engage. This enemy attacked to destroy us. Ensure your own safety first—only then consider taking prisoners!"
Hidden among Akatsuki, Jiraiya—who had almost moved on instinct to neutralize the steel rain—froze as the bound masked man slammed into his arms.
He stumbled back several steps before catching his balance, rubbing his rain-soaked white hair with awkward irritation.
"Did Nagato almost call my real name…?!"
His heart thumped.
"Damn it—he saw through my disguise that easily? My technique really has gotten rusty…"
Around him, Akatsuki members—now viewing him as the organization's newly promoted personnel chief—began anxiously pleading:
"Lord Kashin Koji, please! We need to know who these attackers are! Otherwise we won't even know who's trying to wipe us out!"
"I'll try," Jiraiya said, refusing to promise too much.
He glanced toward Yahiko and Konan, who had already led half the combat unit forward to support Nagato.
Then he inhaled, reached down, and removed the masked man's animal mask.
Underneath was a plain, unremarkable face—mid-thirties, nothing special.
But Jiraiya went cold.
He nearly spoke the name aloud.
Shimura Ryūnosuke.
A shinobi from the Shimura clan, a little younger than Jiraiya. They'd crossed paths a few times when Jiraiya was a chunin.
Then Ryūnosuke had joined Root—and vanished into the village's underworld.
The Shimura were famed for Wind Style.
And their most infamous name was Shimura Danzō—the former head of Root.
Ryūnosuke. Root. Danzō.
"You… traitor…"
From the shape of the man's mouth, Jiraiya read the words.
"You and your master… both traitors."
Jiraiya's blood turned to ice.
"Run! Get back!!!"
"Lion's Mane Technique!"
His white hair exploded outward, snatching several nearby members and yanking them away at full speed.
Ryūnosuke's lips curved faintly as he closed his eyes.
"Danzō-sama's will will not die. Root will not become a memory…"
"Chained Explosive Tags."
Blinding fire erupted from his body, swallowing the members Jiraiya couldn't save.
The shockwave ripped Akatsuki's formation apart—turning the road into chaos.
Farther out, hidden Ame ninja received the signal to attack.
"Cut in from the rear," Hanzo said, gripping his hooked scythe, voice devoid of emotion. "If Root succeeded with that, Akatsuki's noncombatants are likely already dead or crippled."
His gaze was merciless.
"Man or woman. Rank or no rank."
"Kill them all."
"Leave none."
"Yes, Hanzo-sama!"
Hundreds of Ame shinobi tightened their grips on weapons and answered in unison.
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