In the chilly walls of Akatsuki's hideout, Nagato completed the final preparations, setting up the mark for the Reverse Summoning technique.
"Take care of yourself, Nagato… I'll be waiting here," Conan said softly.
She watched him go with a serious, anxious look. Is he doing the right thing? She didn't know the answer. All she could do was believe and support him. There was no one else in her life. Yahiko is dead, and even his body has turned to dust, a handful of ashes from which his former self will never be put together.
Konan didn't want to lose Nagato either. If she had enough strength, she would have raised him to the throne of the god of the new world herself, fulfilling their common dream. But her strength, no matter how impressive it might seem to an ordinary Shinobi, was negligible compared to the monstrous power of someone like Nagato.
—Haha, don't worry, Conan," he chuckled, noticing her concern. His voice dripped with self-confidence. "Your presence here is just a precaution. I can't lose. Just wait for my triumphant return. I will fulfill Yahiko's dream and create a perfect world!
He was convinced of his victory. If the Sage of the White Snake was able to corner Uchiha Yue, forcing him to resort to Izanagi, then why couldn't he, the owner of the divine eyes? Nagato saw the footage of that battle. The strength demonstrated by the Sage would have required a lot of effort from him before, but for him now it was a mere trifle.
Uchiha Yue is doomed.
Nagato covered his eyes with his palm, feeling a tremendous power pulsing under his eyelids. He would give Yue a surprise that he would never recover from. He will make him understand that Rinnegan is not inferior to Sharingan. He surpasses him!
Filled with this confidence bordering on madness, Nagato left the shelter.
As soon as his shadow disappeared into the distance, a different scene unfolded in another corner of the Shinobi world.
"To hell with everything! Zetsu, I can't take it anymore!
In a secret hiding place soaked in the suffocating smell of blood and ink, Obito threw the scroll away in despair and collapsed to the floor. The mutilated corpses of small animals were scattered around, covered with runes of cursed seals. In the depths of the gloomy laboratory, the experimental subjects, captured in the Land of Fire, lay on bunks, chained. And in the corner, there was a mountain of bodies covered in complicated writing.
— Is it difficult? That's how it should be," Black Zetsu said dispassionately, waving the scroll lazily. — If it were simple, such a sealing technique would have been created a long time ago. Get up, Obito. Our great plan requires sacrifice.
Obito gave a strangled groan, but he got up anyway. He, an eternal loser and incompetent, could not even imagine that he would ever be forced to engage in such painstaking research. All this is for the sake of a special sealing technique. Techniques that, when activated, would completely stop the target's vital functions, plunging it into a state of stasis, but not killing it.
Officially, they were developing it to outlast Uchiha Yue by defeating him with the help of time itself. But the true goal was much more insidious: to lure the Shinobi into Kamui's dimension, seal them and gain unlimited power over them.
Their plan was based on a huge gap in perception. To the uninitiated, their goal looked like a thirst for world domination — ambitious, even cruel, but quite within the framework of the usual ideas about villains. No one could have imagined that behind this screen there was an intention not to rule the world, but to wipe it off the face of the earth.
It was like entrusting a village to a man who promises to establish an iron order, and after gaining power, he decides to burn it to the ground, proclaiming that only in ashes can one find true peace. Obito's plan, if one didn't know about the Divine Tree, was completely unpredictable. He was beyond imagination.
—Damn Orochimaru! Obito whined again, biting into another scroll. "Why the hell did he resurrect Senju Tobirama?"
Initially, it was assumed that it would be Orochimaru who would develop the seal. But that idiot Nagato had given him the impossible task of finding a way to block Yue's abilities. And it would be nice if the snake just failed the task! No, he used Edo Tensei and brought the Second Hokage back to this world!
Obito was about to explode with anger.
Why the hell did you resurrect Senju Tobirama?!
Because of this, he, Uchiha Madara, was now afraid to show his nose next to Nagato. What if he calls Tobirama? One glance from the Second Hokage, who lived in the same era as the real Madara, would be enough to make the masquerade collapse. "Who the hell are you? You're definitely not Uchiha Madara!" and that's it, Nagato's trust will be lost forever. Damn Orochimaru!
—Stop whining, Obito, and focus,— Black Zetsu coldly interrupted him. "Just don't cross paths with Tobirama. As a last resort, deactivate the Mangekyo, leave the usual Sharingan and keep quiet. I'll handle the negotiations.
He sighed inwardly. Lately, Obito had become a walking complaint, and it was starting to get tiresome.
And most importantly…