Nagato, amidst the flames, suddenly released a burst of repulsive force from his entire body. This force was controlled extremely well, completely extinguishing the flames around his legs without harming Konan beside him or Yahiko's body lying on the ground.
The surrounding Amegakure shinobi, realizing something was wrong, all sprang into action, desperately rushing towards Nagato, seeking to eliminate this anomaly with their absolute numerical advantage.
But what greeted them was Nagato's emotionless roar. Raising his right hand high, he slammed it down heavily:
"Summoning Jutsu — Demonic Statue of the Outer Path!"
———
At the same time, deep within a distant underground cave, Madara abruptly opened his eyes. He could feel the sudden disappearance of the Demonic Statue behind him. Throwing his head back, he burst into wild laughter, his arrogant cackles echoing through the cave in a chilling, bone-deep resonance.
"Hahaha, Tobi did splendidly, absolutely splendidly!"
From the shadows behind him, Black Zetsu quietly extended his head, a sinister smile curling on his face.
"Congratulations, Lord Madara. You have taken another step towards your plan."
Madara, currently riding high on excitement, did not conceal his joy in the slightest:
"As long as Nagato's eyes have truly awakened, then nothing can stop my next plan!
The Eye of the Moon Plan — will definitely be realized!"
Just then, however, a White Zetsu hurriedly emerged from the ground, a panicked expression on its face as it spoke:
"Lord Madara! Lord Madara! Something terrible has happened!"
Madara, whose excitement had been interrupted, was extremely displeased. He fixed the White Zetsu with a furious glare:
"What is it? Why are you so overly dramatic?"
The frightened White Zetsu trembled under his gaze, dropping to his knees.
"Just now, Gekkō Hoshiyomi, to retaliate for Kirigakure's invasion of Konoha, led a team to invade the Mizukage Building. He severely wounded the Fourth Mizukage and also defeated the Six-Tails and its Jinchūriki."
Hearing this, Madara was actually somewhat taken aback:
"That brat's growth has far exceeded my expectations… To think he's already capable of something like that. He's still far from matching me or Hashirama, of course, but… perhaps he's reached the level of my brother — or that useless brother of Hashirama's.
He has neither Senju nor Uchiha blood, yet through his own strength alone he's climbed this far. Hah… I truly didn't misjudge him — he is a rare talent indeed.
Unfortunately, his limits are already showing. His bloodline ends here. He'll never become a rival worthy of me.
Still, he's done me quite the favor — with Kirigakure in ruins, Nagato can easily use it as a foundation to grow his own power."
But as Madara mused to himself, the White Zetsu began trembling even harder.
"Lord Madara, that's the problem! After defeating the Six-Tails, Gekko Hoshiyomi did something strange — somehow, he caused Konoha and Kirigakure to form an alliance!
They've even been granted the right to station troops in Kirigakure — meaning, Kirigakure has practically become a vassal village of Konoha!"
Hearing this, Madara couldn't help but be stunned. How was this possible? Even he couldn't make sense of such a thing.
Still, he didn't dwell on it for long. After all, it was just Kirigakure — a village he could have destroyed with a flick of his finger back in the day, if not for Hashirama's interference.
Whether Kirigakure existed or not hardly mattered. With Amegakure as a foundation and the Rinnegan's power at his disposal, Nagato already had everything he needed.
After all, in the face of the Rinnegan, everything else is pale and laughable.
With a dismissive wave of his hand, he cut off White Zetsu's report.
"Enough. It's just Kirigakure. What's there to fear?
Our main objective has already been achieved.
As for Kirigakure — if we can't take it, then we simply leave it.
From here on, the Rinnegan is what truly matters. Everything else is irrelevant."
"You're the White Zetsu in charge of monitoring Kirigakure, right?"
"From now on, your surveillance mission is suspended. Go to the Land of Rain and tell Tobi that he can proceed with the next stage of the plan.
Since we already possess Hashirama's cells, inject them directly into Nagato. No matter what happens, my eyes must not be put at risk — understand?"
———
As Nagato began to move, the ground behind him suddenly started to surge and crack. From beneath the earth, a massive, monstrous statue clawed its way out — the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. With a single swing of its enormous arm, it sent all the attacking Amegakure shinobi flying like rag dolls.
From afar, Hanzō of the Salamander stared wide-eyed at the towering creature.
"What… what kind of summoning beast is that?"
Its overwhelming power was unlike anything he had ever seen.
Konan, seeing Nagato's twisted expression and the enormous being looming behind him, panicked and tried to stop him.
"Stop it, Nagato! If you keep going like this—!"
But it was already too late. Nagato could no longer hear her voice; he had completely fallen into madness.
Behind him, the Demonic Statue extended several eerie black rods from its body. As if guided by some unseen force, the rods pierced directly into Nagato's back.
Those rods seemed to have the ability to drain life force — the moment they entered him, Nagato's body began to wither and age at a terrifying speed, his flesh wasting away until he was little more than skin and bones.
When Nagato was reduced to a near-skeletal figure, the Demonic Statue finally seemed satisfied. It suddenly opened its enormous mouth and spewed forth a spectral dragon — a translucent creature of pure spirit energy.
The dragon screeched as it tore through the battlefield, and every shinobi it touched had their soul ripped clean from their body, feeding the beast. In the blink of an eye, all of Hanzō's men from the Amegakure were drained of their souls, leaving only lifeless husks behind.
After consuming them all, the spectral dragon turned its blood-red eyes toward Hanzō.
Hanzō muttered in shock:
"I truly underestimated you… So you're the real mastermind hidden behind it all — the terrifying one who wields the legendary Rinnegan."
But the dragon had no intention of listening. With a thunderous roar, it lunged toward him.
Terrified, cold sweat pouring down his back, Hanzō hastily used the Body Flicker Technique to dodge, vanishing from sight. He didn't dare look back, fleeing in panic all the way to Amegakure with repeated bursts of instant movement.
Nagato wanted to pursue him, but his strength was completely spent. He could no longer control the Demonic Statue.
Using the last of his remaining energy, Nagato tore off his Amegakure forehead protector and slashed a deep line across it with a kunai — before collapsing to the ground, utterly exhausted.
Konan, left behind, knelt beside the unconscious Nagato and the lifeless Yahiko, tears streaming down her face.
As she stood there, lost and helpless, a squad from the Akatsuki arrived in a rush from the distance.
"Lady Konan, what on earth happened here? How did the other two leaders end up like this?"
Seeing the familiar squad leader, Konan's eyes lit up slightly. She quickly composed herself and said:
"I'll explain everything once we're back at the base. For now, take Yahiko and Nagato back for treatment — and be careful with Nagato's back. Don't let those black rods damage his internal organs."
...
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