In a high tower in the Village Hidden by the Rain, in the darkness, Nagato's Rinnegan snapped open. The enemy... had arrived.
A light drizzle fell from the sky, endlessly pattering down on Otsutsuki Urashiki's body. Each droplet contained a minuscule amount of chakra, so faint that not even Jiraiya in Sage Mode could have sensed it.
However, Otsutsuki Urashiki, who also possessed the Rinnegan, felt it.
The shared origin of their Rinnegan allowed him to sense that there was something different about the rain here.
But, having learned his lesson after being tricked several times, Urashiki was wiser now. He flew straight up into the sky and began to form a massive Tailed Beast Bomb-like energy sphere to hurl down.
As long as it wasn't a direct hit, the Tailed Beasts wouldn't die. He would just blow all the ninja below to smithereens and then take his time finding the beasts.
"This guy has no honor! Why's he throwing such a massive firework as soon as he shows up?"
Deidara and Sasori had just received the message and stepped out of their laboratory. Before they could even mount their clay birds to find the enemy, they saw the giant energy sphere materializing in the sky.
One look at that thing and it was clear it was an ultimate work of art, just like a Tailed Beast Bomb. Deidara nearly coughed up a lungful of blood. He hadn't even taken off yet. It's over, it's over! I'm going to die here!
Because of the changes to history, Hidan and Kakuzu hadn't died either. They had also returned to the Land of Rain after completing their mission. Stepping out of the tower, they too saw the white figure and the Tailed Beast Bomb in the sky.
"Hey, Hidan, if that thing hits you, will your Lord Jashin protect you from death?" Kakuzu muttered to himself.
"Don't be ridiculous! For Lord Jashin to protect me, there has to be a body left! If that thing comes down, what body will I have? What about you, Kakuzu, my man? Will you die?"
"..."
While the two were teasing each other about their impending doom, the Six Paths of Pain appeared. One of the Pains extended his hands towards the descending Tailed Beast Bomb and activated his ability.
Swoosh—
Before Urashiki's stunned and bewildered eyes, the giant Tailed Beast Bomb he had just thrown was completely absorbed by the Preta Path of the Six Paths of Pain, leaving not a single trace.
"Haha! I knew Leader Pain was the man!" Deidara roared with laughter, releasing his giant bird and hopping on.
Almost all of Deidara's mobility was in the sky. If he wasn't flying on his giant bird, many of his techniques were impossible to use, and his taijutsu was only average.
Beside him, Sasori was silent for a moment before releasing a flying puppet. Back when he had the Third Kazekage puppet, flying was easy. Now...
"Bansho Ten'in!" The Deva Path Pain unleashed his gravitational pull, yanking the still-bewildered Urashiki from the sky.
The Asura Path raised the rocket on its wrist and, as Urashiki fell through the air, treated him to a fireworks display.
"Haha, Leader Pain, I'll help too! Witness my artillery art! Katsu!" Deidara formed a hand seal, and the giant bird beneath him opened its mouth. The metallic cannon barrel inside fired several shells at Urashiki.
RUMBLE!
The Six Paths of Pain's missiles, combined with Deidara's cannon fire, all exploded on Otsutsuki Urashiki. Regrettably, Urashiki was no fool. He immediately activated Shinra Tensei.
"Shinra Tensei!"
A powerful gravitational field appeared, and all the shells and attacks were repelled without effect.
In the dark tower, Konan stood beside Nagato, watching the scene in astonishment.
"Nagato, is that... Shinra Tensei?" Konan murmured.
"It's not surprising. He has the Rinnegan as well. The question is, to what extent has he developed its power," Nagato said calmly.
"Should I go out and help?" Konan's paper wings unfolded from her back. She had already prepared three hundred billion paper bombs, emptying half of the Land of Rain's entire stockpile.
"Not yet. Let the Six Paths of Pain probe him for all his intelligence first," Nagato shook his head. In a ninja battle, intelligence came first. The Six Paths of Pain could be revived if they were destroyed, but there was only one Konan. He would certainly not let her take unnecessary risks.
Outside, the battle between Otsutsuki Urashiki and the Six Paths of Pain continued.
Sasori, on his flying puppet, had activated his Performance of a Hundred Puppets. They all raised their Gatling gun-like metal tubes at Urashiki and unleashed a storm of metal.
It wasn't that he didn't want to play with the kind of artillery bombardment Deidara used. The problem was that he couldn't get his hands on gunpowder. He hadn't yet figured out the correct formula; he could only approximate it, and it required large amounts of saltpeter and sulfur, which the Land of Rain didn't have. It all had to be imported, and Sasori simply couldn't procure it.
So he had to be frugal and use bullets. Only a guy like Deidara, who could use his clay to replace gunpowder, could play around with artillery.
"Huh? Where'd he go?" Deidara looked left and right. After the explosion, Urashiki had vanished.
"Deidara, behind you!" Sasori yelled suddenly.
"What?" Deidara whipped his head around and saw Urashiki standing steadily on the back of his giant bird.
He then used his weapon, the fishing rod, to bind Deidara.
"Haha! You're asking for it! Art is an explosion! Katsu!" Who was Deidara? A fanatical explosives expert.
The one Urashiki had caught was just a clay clone. His real body had slipped out from under the giant bird to escape. He then formed a hand seal, intending to blow his opponent to smithereens.
"Huh?! What's going on? Why didn't it explode?" Deidara, bewildered in mid-air, released another giant bird and landed on it.
"It must be his fishing rod. That thing must have drained all the chakra from your clay, so it couldn't detonate," Sasori, a genius, figured out the reason in an instant.
Deidara's clay wasn't dynamite; it was essentially a medium for his ninjutsu. Without chakra, it couldn't be activated or detonated. Otsutsuki Urashiki had absorbed all the chakra from the clay, so naturally, it couldn't explode.
"A bunch of natives! A bunch of trash! You lot..." Urashiki was annoyed, but also a little wary.
"Why do you have the Sharingan of our Otsutsuki clan? Who are you?" Urashiki had spotted the Rinnegan in Pain's eyes. But aside from that traitor Kaguya, there were no other Otsutsuki on Earth.
Could he be her descendant? But that was impossible. The bloodline of a descendant who had bred with the natives of this world would not be pure enough to awaken the Rinnegan.
"Otsutsuki clan? My name is Pain. I am the god of the Land of Rain," the Deva Path Pain said, slowly flying up. The other paths couldn't fly.
"God? You disgust me. A mere mongrel born from our Otsutsuki clan," Urashiki made no secret of his contempt for Pain. In his eyes, the Otsutsuki were noble and supreme. For a native to awaken the Rinnegan was to pollute their bloodline.
"Come here," Urashiki extended a hand towards Pain. Though the name was different, the ability was the same: Bansho Ten'in, the power of gravity.
Pain flew uncontrollably towards Urashiki. But his intelligence gathering was not yet complete. As he neared his opponent, Pain used his own gravity.
[Shinra Tensei]
The two gravitational fields repelled each other. A massive roar echoed through the sky, the air visibly distorting. The two figures were then pushed apart.
Troublesome.
That was Pain's thought. If his opponent didn't descend to the ground, only the Deva Path of the Six Paths of Pain could fly. He would be fighting with the power of only one of his bodies, which was a major disadvantage.
Swoosh—
Urashiki had just been pushed back when he found he couldn't move.
"What the hell is this?" Urashiki's eyes widened. He looked closely and saw a giant figure slowly appearing behind him. It was a massive chameleon.
And the chameleon's mouth was open. Inside was the Animal Path of the Six Paths of Pain. While he had been fighting the Deva Path, the Animal Path had summoned the chameleon, which had then slowly turned invisible and moved into position.
The Deva Path had intentionally flown towards Urashiki, then used Shinra Tensei to push him towards the high tower. And on the tower, the chameleon had been waiting, its tongue lashing out to grab Urashiki.
Urashiki was certainly not a taijutsu master like Tsunade or the Raikage; he couldn't possibly break free from the giant tongue of a summoning animal. And Nagato wasn't about to give him the chance.
The moment Urashiki was captured, the Animal Path used a summoning jutsu, and another Pain appeared on the chameleon's head.
It was the most brutal of the Six Paths, the Human Path. The Human Path appeared and instantly flashed in front of Urashiki, unleashing its special ability: Soul Extraction.
"What? This ability—" Urashiki looked at the Human Path in terror.
The moment the Human Path appeared, his Rinnegan had shown him a vision of the future: his soul would be ripped from his body. How could he survive that?
[Thousand Paper Crane Body Flicker]
Otsutsuki Urashiki instantly transformed into several red, glowing paper cranes and vanished from before his enemy's eyes, reappearing on another high tower. He looked down at the Pains below, his heart still pounding. These abilities... his Rinnegan didn't have them.
Not only did he not have them, but he couldn't even extract Naruto's chakra. After capturing Naruto, he had tried for a long time but still couldn't pull the Nine-Tails out of his body, let alone a person's soul.
"What is that ability? Why can you extract a person's soul?" Urashiki looked at the Deva Path.
"It seems your Rinnegan's abilities are different from mine," the Deva Path said, looking expressionlessly at Urashiki, though he too was shocked.
Before the Human Path had even had a chance to use its soul extraction jutsu, his opponent had broken free. And after breaking free, he had clearly stated that the Human Path's ability was soul extraction.
In the high tower, Nagato's brain analyzed the situation. He knew it was his opponent's Rinnegan ability, most likely a form of short-term future prediction.
"Nagato, the Human Path hadn't even cast the jutsu, and he already knew it was soul extraction," Konan said in surprise.
"Yes. It seems his Rinnegan is different from mine. But it doesn't matter. The advantage is still ours," Nagato nodded.
Deidara, circling in the sky, had already released his hundred-bird fleet. A hundred giant birds flew in the sky, their metallic cannon barrels aimed at Urashiki. But with his opponent also in the air, it was difficult to aim.
[Deidara, do not engage. I will handle this.]
Nagato spoke to Deidara through his ring.
"Oh? Why not? My art is not to be underestimated," Deidara said, confused.
Beside him, Sasori couldn't take it anymore. "Idiot. If you let loose a heavy artillery barrage, you'll destroy the Rain Village before you hit him. You can't hit him while he's flying, and he has Shinra Tensei. Just stop."
Deidara: "..."
I've gotten too used to bombing the ground from the sky. I forgot.
A giant bird flew down from the sky, heading straight for Urashiki. It was the Animal Path's bird. As it neared Urashiki, a figure leaped from it. It was the Preta Path.
Besides absorbing ninjutsu chakra, the Preta Path also had sealing abilities. Pain wanted to seal his opponent first, then deal with him at his leisure.
"Shinra Tensei!" Urashiki's cooldown was over. He immediately used Shinra Tensei to repel the Preta Path.
Pain's eye twitched. For the first time, he found the Shinra Tensei technique so utterly annoying.
The key was that he couldn't absorb it with the Preta Path. It was gravity. The Preta Path could absorb chakra, but it couldn't absorb gravity.
On Uchiha Itachi's side, he was out of options. He had used a series of tactics, setting a trap with paper bombs and shuriken, luring dozens of the crazed Uchiha inside, and then hitting them all with Amaterasu.
After being hit by Amaterasu, the reanimated ninja were finally dealt with. As long as Itachi didn't stop it, the Amaterasu flames would not be extinguished until their target was completely incinerated. The reanimated Uchiha could only burn and regenerate continuously.
So, for a short time, they were neutralized. After that, it would be a contest of endurance: whose would last longer, the Edo Tensei bodies or the Amaterasu flames?
But against his father's Gundam, Itachi was helpless. No matter how many tricks he pulled, how flashy his moves were, the Gundam crushed them all. In that moment, Itachi's genjutsu seemed so powerless.
In the end, he was forced to activate his own Susanoo, a red giant, to barely hold off Fugaku's. And that was with Fugaku not even using the power of his two Mangekyo.
"Uchiha Itachi, kill your parents again. And your lover. Every time you kill them, your pain will grow. I will make sure you never escape this Endless Hell."
The young Uchiha Izumi looked at him with sorrow as she charged forward, her body once again shattered by Itachi's hand. Her sad expression pierced Itachi's heart.
[Was I really wrong? No. I was not wrong. I did it for Konoha, for the shinobi world. I was not wrong.]
Shaking his head, Itachi regained his composure. He swung his hand, sending his mother and Izumi flying. "I'm sorry, Mother. I'll free you all soon."
If he had the Uchiha clan's divine weapon, the Sword of Totsuka, he could solve all of this. But alas, that weapon had been intercepted by Uchiha Nagi. Itachi had only obtained the other, the Yata Mirror.
And the Yata Mirror was also one of the Susanoo's exclusive divine weapons.
Itachi looked at Uchiha Nagi, then at his father, Fugaku.
[I'll have to use Kotoamatsukami...]
But he only had one chance. Of the two of Shisui's eyes, the one Itachi possessed had the immediate effect of changing a person's will. But with great power came a great price. After one use, it wouldn't recover for at least ten years...