The last piece of the mosaic was in his hands. There was only one thing separating him from the status of a god, from absolute victory — Uchiha Yue's eyes.
"So this is the Sage of the White Snake..." whispered Nagato, peering in the dim light at the bone mountain towering in front of him. The flesh and blood of the ancient creature had long since decayed, but fossilized, blood-red growths resembling outlandish corals froze on the bleaching bones.
Nagato stepped over the remains, casually glancing at the giant skeleton.
"Thank you, Sage of the White Snake," he said in his mind. "I won't leave Uchiha Yue any chance at Izanagi."
He moved deeper. Soon, the light faded completely, and after it, the sounds disappeared. Nagato found himself in an absolute void, in a cold silence like deep space. The only thing he could hear was the beating of his own heart, the only thing he could feel was the continuous drain of power.
Uchiha Yue's power exceeded all his expectations. Plunging into darkness, he soon stopped even hearing his heartbeat. If it wasn't for the Sealing Armor that continuously fed his body with energy, he would have been frozen in place long ago. After all, this area didn't just absorb the chakra — it sucked out life itself, silenced the bioelectric impulses that controlled the body. Without them, the brain could give any orders, but the muscles would not contract. The body would become a prison for the mind, and the mind a prison for the will.
All that would be left would be to wait in impotent despair for death.
Moving through the eternal night was like floundering in a viscous quagmire. Each movement took many times more strength than usual. And that's him, Nagato. Anyone else in his place, even with a huge reserve of energy, would simply freeze like an insect in resin, unable to overcome the absorption of kinetic energy itself.
It was a personal hell for living beings.
"What an amazing, all—encompassing power..." - Nagato's face reflected not joy, but a predatory, obsessive grin. The more he felt Yue's power, the more desperately he craved it. It was an absolute weapon of intimidation. Uchiha Yue himself might have been just a mortal, but his technique was an impregnable fortress.
He looked like a hedgehog: a spiky shell hiding vulnerable flesh. Most people couldn't get through the needles. But he, Nagato, could. He alone possessed the key to this power.
Relying on the Sealing Armor, Nagato didn't feel tired. His power remained with him.
Senju Tobirama and Orochimaru were geniuses after all, he thought with a chuckle. —Uchiha Yue, I've come for your head."
In the darkness, he strained his sensory abilities to the limit. Like Konoha's shinobi, he was moving in a straight line, towards the supposed center of the area. But unlike Hiruzen's people, Nagato, even in this oppressive void, could sense the space within a radius of ten meters around him, which guaranteed him the right course. Of course, he could dispel the darkness with the Element of Fire, but that would be a waste of chakra, an unacceptable luxury. He will not repeat the mistake of the past, when victory slipped out of his hands due to incorrect tactics and exhaustion of forces.
Time lost count. Finally, Nagato stopped. The calculations are correct. The direction has been maintained. He's in the center.
"The time has come. Uchiha Yue, are you ready to die?"
Nagato spread out his arms, as if embracing this dead world, and a triumphant grin froze on his face. An incomparably powerful force burst out of his body, and he slowly soared into the air.
— Lightning Element: The Great Shining Light Technique!
He folded the seals. Arcs of electricity danced through his body, and then a blinding, scorching light flashed, tearing apart the darkness in an instant. Nagato saw a gigantic figure of a god sitting in a lotus position.
At the same moment, Uchiha Yue, who was dozing inside the giant, abruptly opened his eyes. His scarlet eyes stared indifferently at the uninvited guest, and a shadow of annoyance appeared on his face.
"Nagato?" A cold, detached voice rang in the alien's ears. "Knowing of my power, you still came to challenge me. What... commendable stupidity. You shouldn't have come.
"Shouldn't have?" But I'm here, Uchiha Yue! Nagato smiled coldly. "Do you think you're strong?" No. It's you, mortal, who don't understand the true power of the Rinnegan! Die and become a part of me!
The next moment, a giant wooden dragon burst out of the ground and wrapped itself tightly around the giant, hampering his movements. At the same time, four disembodied shadows appeared on both sides of Nagato.
Limbo: Borderline Hell!
As soon as the shadows took up positions, Nagato abruptly raised his hand, fixing his gaze on the giant's chest, where Uchiha Yue was.
— Shinra Tensei: Concentrated Form!
The space shook. An invisible but compressed beam of repulsive force struck directly at the target.
BANG!
A deafening crack like a mountain splitting apart swept through the reborn world of light, and a monstrous hole appeared on the chest of the stone god.