Clang!
A crisp metallic clash rang out as Nagato barely managed to block the massive blade, Samehada, with his kunai.
Several sharp spikes burst from the sword, stabbing into his arm.
Samehada, starved for chakra, went wild at the sudden feast, frantically absorbing his energy.
Nagato had intended to endure the pain and launch a ninjutsu attack to assist his comrades, hoping to deal a devastating blow to the enemy.
But when he felt his chakra draining away like a breached dam, his heart sank.
Through the insight of his Rinnegan, he could see that Konan and Yahiko were already moving in to support him.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed against Samehada with all his strength, trying to create distance.
But the Kirigakure Anbu before him completely ignored the attacks coming from behind.
With a swift motion, he switched from a slashing attack to a direct thrust!
The eerie blade suddenly widened its grotesque mouth, drooling as if it were about to swallow him whole!
Whizz! Whizz! Whizz!
Konan's paper shuriken, infused with explosive tags, embedded themselves into Yamanaka Shinno's liquefied body.
Yahiko's kunai, wrapped in wind chakra, pierced through the gap in his right shoulder blade, sending a spray of water splashing in all directions.
"Yahiko, get back! Nagato, use Lightning Release!"
Konan saw that Yahiko was still attacking with the intent to disable rather than kill. Her voice rang with urgency.
Boom!
A powerful repulsive force surged from Samehada.
Nagato, sensing the danger but having no time to react, instinctively used his Rinnegan's ability to repel the drooling blade.
However, Yamanaka Shinno—relying on his Zero Frame Startup trait for an absurd reaction speed—had already twisted his upper body 180 degrees in a bizarre motion using his Hydrification Technique before the force could fully reach him.
Yahiko's expression changed drastically as he was about to retreat.
Before he could react, the Kirigakure Anbu used Nagato's repulsive force to accelerate his attack!
In the blink of an eye, the enemy's fist smashed into his face!
Boom!
"Yahiko!"
Konan and Nagato's voices overlapped in shock as Yahiko was sent flying, slamming into a steel wall with a sickening crash.
He was completely unconscious.
Bang!
Nagato's repulsive force sent Yamanaka Shinno and Samehada flying backward.
Konan was just about to detonate her paper shuriken when she saw the Kirigakure Anbu's legs suddenly bulge with muscle!
With one powerful kick against the steel floor, he altered his trajectory midair, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.
"Konan!"
Nagato shouted, trying to activate Banshō Ten'in (Universal Pull) to drag Konan toward him before the enemy could strike.
But his reaction was far too slow.
Yamanaka Shinno flung Samehada, blocking the gravitational pull.
Starving for chakra, Samehada didn't care that it had been mistreated moments ago. It eagerly followed the force, lunging at Nagato again.
Boom!
Nagato had just leaped into the air to avoid the flying Samehada when he looked down—Konan's body had already collapsed to the ground.
The Kirigakure Anbu, like a wolf among sheep, tore through the Akatsuki members.
Using nothing but taijutsu, he sent them crashing into the walls one by one, utterly overwhelming them.
"Jizō, Daibutsu, Guiyi!"
Nagato's face twisted with fury. He formed hand seals, prepared to push his body beyond its limits and unleash the strongest Rinnegan ability he had mastered.
But the Kirigakure Anbu was faster.
He placed his palm on Konan's head.
Scanning the battlefield, he saw that everyone was severely injured but likely not in mortal danger.
Nagato gritted his teeth, suppressing his panic and anxiety.
"What… do you want?"
"Take a guess."
Whoosh—THUD!
A powerful force struck Nagato from behind.
His vision blacked out instantly.
Stumbling forward a step, he collapsed face-first onto the ground.
"This level of strength… still too weak."
Yamanaka Shinno's shadow clone caught Nagato's unconscious body.
Samehada wasn't just engraved with a contract seal to prevent Kirigakure from summoning it back—it was also marked with multiple Flying Thunder God seals.
Nagato had been too focused on his enemies and injured comrades to notice the weapon he had repelled earlier.
Too inexperienced.
As Shinno's real body tossed him a small glass vial, the shadow clone prepared to extract Nagato's eyes.
But before he could proceed—
"Stop."
Shinno's eyes were locked on Nagato's trait interface, and his mind immediately filled with a string of curses aimed at Black Zetsu.
Earlier, he had used his system to scan the names and identities of everyone present.
But with so many people, he hadn't checked each trait carefully.
Now that his focus was on Nagato, something was off.
[...]
Name: Nagato
Occupation: Ninja
Traits: Blood of the Ancestors (Purple), Fake Rinnegan (Purple), Six Paths Mastery (Blue), Kagura Mind's Eye (Blue), Intelligent (Green), Puppet Mastery (Green), Bound by Fate (White), Blind Obedience (Gray)
[...]
Blood of the Ancestors (Purple): A pure Uzumaki bloodline that has undergone mutations due to prolonged exposure to the Six Paths' Yin-Yang chakra. Greatly enhances affinity for Water, Earth, Fire, Wind, Lightning, and Yang Release. Significantly boosts life force and chakra reserves.
Fake Rinnegan (Purple): Forcibly evolving from a three-tomoe Sharingan. Grants many Rinnegan abilities but will be destroyed when depleted.
"Black Zetsu… Six Paths' power… You really went all out, huh?"
Shinno took a deep breath.
Out of caution, he ordered his shadow clone to examine the bodies of the Akatsuki members.
Would Black Zetsu suspect that he knew Uchiha Madara had awakened the Rinnegan and implanted it into Nagato?
Unlikely.
But that slippery bastard had been scheming for nearly a thousand years.
With Madara dead, it wasn't surprising that he'd be up to something.
And deliberately sending Tobi to attack Rain Village, drawing Konoha's attention to the fledgling Akatsuki, while planting a fake Rinnegan here…
Was it just to mislead him?
Or was there something more?
"Huh? Boss, there's a Transcription Seal!"
The shadow clone frowned and took a step back from Nagato.
Shinno narrowed his eyes and gestured for him to continue.
After a thorough inspection—
Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan all had Transcription Seals on them.
The other Akatsuki members did not.
Uchiha Itachi had used Transcription Seals, storing Kotoamatsukami in Naruto's eye.
There was no telling what these seals contained—or when they would activate.
That complicated things.
If they brought Nagato to Konoha and the seal contained something like Summoning: Demonic Statue of the Outer Path or Super Shinra Tensei, the village could be obliterated before the war even began.
Killing them would be simpler, but—
Plplplplpl!
Samehada, now desperate, slithered toward Nagato like an oversized caterpillar, rubbing its fuzzy spikes against him.
As it licked his head, Nagato's unconscious body trembled violently from chakra loss.
Whoosh! Boom!
A signal flare exploded above.
In a swirl of space-time distortion, Shinno's second shadow clone—who had been standing guard outside—appeared, throwing down an enemy shinobi.
"A White Zetsu?"
Shinno glanced at the ninja's trait interface before tossing a sealing scroll to his clone.
As piercing alarms blared across Rain Village, he retrieved a small vial of blood, smearing some onto his fingertips.
A massive clam emerged in a billowing cloud of chakra smoke.
The shadow clone wasted no time, throwing Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan into its open shell.
"Don't let them die—yet."
After giving his summon the order, Shinno dispelled the technique, sending it back to the Clam Clan's habitat.
As enemy shinobi rapidly approached from outside, he grabbed Samehada with one hand.
He still wasn't sure what Black Zetsu was planning.
But—
Since he was already here…
No way he was leaving empty-handed.
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
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