Seeing that Pain had already left, a deep glint flashed through Yuto's eyes.
Nagato, the Rinnegan…
"I didn't expect that before I even went looking for him, he'd come to me on his own."
Yuto muttered to himself. He really hadn't thought Pain would show up in person.
But thinking about it, with the Five Great Villages making such a huge commotion, Pain appearing here was actually within expectations.
"I'd originally planned to play it safe, but looking at it now, I was the one being unrealistic… Madara."
Yuto spoke in a low voice.
Pain's sudden appearance had somewhat disrupted Yuto's original plan.
Especially that moment just now when Pain's body seemed to lose control for an instant—that scene made Yuto suddenly think of a certain possibility.
If that really was the case, then this shinobi world was about to get interesting.
"Yuto-sama!"
Seeing Yuto return, Ranmaru hurriedly released his Cursed Mark state and jogged all the way over to Yuto's side.
Yuto ruffled Ranmaru's hair, then turned to see Ameyuri and Zabuza walking over as well, both wearing guilty looks as they said,
"We're sorry, Yuto-sama, we failed to keep him here."
"Keep him here? With your current condition, you can't beat him. I think Kisame knows that very well."
Yuto waved his hand casually and spoke with a light chuckle.
Kisame nodded and shared everything he knew about Pain with the others.
When he got to the part about Pain's Rinnegan, Zabuza and the rest all showed looks of shock.
They had all heard of the legendary Rinnegan before, but none of them had ever seen it. And Pain's eyes just now were actually the Rinnegan said to belong to the Sage of Six Paths—no wonder they were so stunned.
While everyone was still dazed, Yuto looked over at Ao and said,
"Ao, lead the Mist-nin unit to launch an attack on the remaining shinobi from the three villages. Ideally, wipe out all of the remaining Cloud and Rock-nin."
"As for the Sand-nin, leave an opening and let Maki escape back to the Sand Village. Temari and Kankuro, those two who are related to the Fourth Kazekage—bring them back."
"Yes, Yuto-sama!"
Ao's expression turned solemn as he answered at once, but only after he spoke did he fully process what Yuto had just ordered.
A stunned look crossed Ao's face, and he asked in a somewhat cautious tone,
"Yuto-sama, launching an interception against the remaining forces of three great villages at once—won't that be a bit much?"
"The other villages probably already suspect that this whole affair was secretly orchestrated by us Mist-nin. If we do this now, we'll be offending all four of the other great villages in one go."
Hearing Ao's concern, Yuto gave him a faint, unreadable look and said softly, "Do you know what the shinobi world will be facing next?"
Before Ao could ask, Yuto's vague voice was already drifting into his ears:
"A brand new era. And the news of my resurrection won't stay hidden much longer."
Pain's appearance told Yuto that it wouldn't be long before word of his resurrection spread throughout the entire shinobi world. Before that happened, there were preparations he needed to make.
Ao couldn't help but shiver. He couldn't truly grasp what Yuto-sama meant by a brand new era, but he could clearly feel a blood-and-iron aura blowing straight at him.
He nodded, then turned and headed back toward the Mist-nin forces.
"Yuto-sama, we don't need to attack Konoha anymore?" Zabuza asked respectfully, confusion in his eyes.
"Of course we still attack," Yuto replied. "But this time the objective is to free those three jinchūriki who are trapped inside the Mokuton fūin (Wood Release sealing) technique."
"As for the Eight-Tails and Five-Tails jinchūriki, we don't need to worry about them. But the One-Tail's jinchūriki must be brought back. We need Konoha to believe our goal is the Tailed Beasts."
Yuto's expression was indifferent as he turned and spoke calmly to Zabuza and the others.
At the outer edge of the central battlefield—
The remaining Sand-nin had clustered together.
Maki was covered in blood as he swept his gaze over the surviving Sand-nin, his face as black as thunder.
Aside from himself, there were fewer than twenty Sand-nin left alive out of the entire force.
"Sensei, what about Gaara?"
Ignoring her own injuries, Temari stared anxiously at Maki.
Maki's face was dark and grim. No matter what, the jinchūriki absolutely could not be left in Konoha.
Tap, tap—
Several sets of footsteps approached from another direction, and the next moment, the battered remnants of the Cloud and Rock forces appeared in the Sand-nin's field of view.
Akatsuchi, Kitsuchi, and Darui of the Cloud led what was left of their troops as they made their way over.
Everyone present wore equally dark expressions. Who could have imagined that Konoha possessed such powerful ninjutsu?
"Where are the Mist-nin?"
Darui asked in a distinctly unpleasant tone.
Even though the battlefield had been chaotic at the time, he could still tell that the Mist-nin had likely taken the lightest losses among the four villages.
Right now, he strongly suspected that the man who had suddenly appeared was connected to the Mist Village in some special way.
He even suspected that this entire plan for the four great villages to attack Konoha had been secretly orchestrated by the Mist.
But what was the Mist's goal?
Darui wasn't the only one thinking along those lines—Maki, Kitsuchi, and the others were all thinking the same thing.
"Sorry, everyone. This whole affair is our Mist Village's fault."
Just then, a voice suddenly came from the side.
Ao appeared in front of them, leading a large contingent of Mist-nin.
Seeing the Mist-nin suddenly show up, shinobi from the three villages all had wariness flare in their eyes.
"Mist's fault? What did you do?" Akatsuchi asked, his voice low as he glared at Ao.
"Why, we failed to wipe you all out, of course," Ao answered cheerfully.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the Mist-nin behind Ao launched their attack on the surviving shinobi of the three villages in unison.
"Damn it! You Mist-nin are trying to make enemies of the entire shinobi world!"
Darui roared in fury at the sight.
"Make enemies of the whole shinobi world? You people don't have the right to represent the entire world. Everyone, move—leave no one alive!"
The smile had long since vanished from Ao's face, replaced by an icy, ruthless expression.
The battle between the two sides erupted in an instant. Compared to the almost fully preserved Mist-nin forces, the other three villages had taken devastating losses.
And with everyone already injured, the moment they clashed, the battle turned one-sided.
Run.
With the strength they had left, they had no chance of winning against the Mist-nin.
After only a brief exchange, the remaining forces of the three villages broke formation, scattering in three directions to try and break through.
Ao watched the scene before him, face cold.
Aside from Maki, for everyone else… escaping would not be so easy.
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