[Amegakure: Desperate Situation]
Rain poured down heavily, and the alleyways had already turned into complete ruins.
Sakumo Hatake breathed heavily. His left arm had been grazed by a poisoned needle, and the wound had already turned an unnatural bluish-black color.
It wasn't that Sakumo couldn't defeat Sasori of the Red Sand. During the fight, he had suddenly sensed several powerful chakra signatures rapidly approaching from different directions.
"...More than one person."
"I need to get out of here now."
Unlike Jiraiya, Sakumo Hatake immediately chose to retreat the moment he realized something was wrong.
His figure turned into a white blur as he forcefully broke through the puppet encirclement and rushed toward the outskirts of the village.
"Trying to run?!"
Sasori roared and frantically drove his puppets after him.
While retreating, Sakumo flicked his finger, and a ninja hawk flew out from his sleeve. Beating its wings fiercely, it carried a request-for-help message and shot into the rainy sky, flying toward Konoha.
In the sky, the ninja hawk had flown less than a hundred meters.
Whoosh!!!
Countless sheets of paper gathered like a storm. Konan's paper clone instantly formed, spread its paper wings, and firmly seized the ninja hawk.
The paper rapidly wrapped around and shredded it. The hawk let out a cry before being torn to pieces, and the message tube was reduced to scraps of paper as well.
On the ground, Sakumo Hatake saw it happen with his own eyes, and his heart sank.
"...Damn it. I've already fallen into their trap."
Sakumo suddenly stopped, tightened his grip on the White Fang short blade, and took a deep breath as he crazily poured chakra into the weapon.
The blade immediately lit up with a dazzling white glow. Thunder-like chakra currents crackled through the rain.
"I can only fight to the death!"
As soon as the words fell, three figures silently emerged from the rain curtain, forming a triangle that completely blocked his path.
Animal Path Pain, Preta Path Pain, and Human Path Pain appeared at the same time. Their Rinnegan eyes coldly stared at the bloodstained white figure ahead.
Then Sasori landed heavily behind him.
Sasori's voice, excited to the point of madness, rang out.
"Sakumo Hatake! Your time to die has come!!"
Sakumo Hatake closed his eyes and began swinging his blade.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The White Fang's blade light swept across the battlefield like lightning.
The chameleon summoned by the Animal Path was cut in two with a single strike.
The Preta Path tried to absorb chakra, only to have its arm severed by Sakumo's lightning-fast slash.
The Human Path had barely moved in to read his soul before Sakumo forced it back with a fierce close-range sword attack.
"Summoning Jutsu: Three-Headed Hellhound!"
The Animal Path brought out the trump card among its summons.
The Three-Headed Hellhound, tough and capable of multiplying the more it was attacked.
Sakumo Hatake kept cutting through the Hellhound, and the Hellhound kept merging back together.
There were simply too many enemies.
Poison mist, paper clones, all kinds of Rinnegan secret techniques, endless puppets...
Even though Sakumo fought with everything he had, wounds both large and small gradually covered his body.
Poison continuously spread through those wounds, eating away at his body. His movements became slower and slower, and his vision began to blur.
"Cough..."
"I can't keep going... I'm sorry... Lord Hokage... the mission has failed..."
In the end, a puppet blade coated with deadly poison pierced through his abdomen from behind.
Sakumo Hatake's body shook violently. He stabbed the White Fang into the ground to barely support himself.
The poison spread rapidly. He dropped to one knee, black blood spilling from his mouth.
"It's over..."
"Konoha's White Fang... you finally died by my hand! This is revenge... for my parents!! Hahahaha!"
Sasori slowly walked closer, his voice filled with satisfaction.
Sakumo Hatake raised his head, his vision already blurred.
In the end, he spat out a mouthful of bloody foam. His body fell forward powerlessly and completely lost all signs of life.
Rainwater washed over his corpse. The blood was quickly diluted and merged into the mud.
Looking at the dead Sakumo Hatake, Animal Path Pain spoke calmly, "Konan, make preparations. We killed Sakumo Hatake. Konoha will definitely send more people."
Before Konan could reply, "Leader! Instead of waiting passively, why don't we take the initiative and attack Konoha? My technique once destroyed a small country. As long as I have enough puppets, I can turn Konoha into a land of death!"
Sasori said impatiently, "No."
"The Tailed Beast Plan must continue. Taking the initiative against Konoha will draw strong attention from every nation and may even trigger the Five Kage Summit ahead of time. The timing is not right. We cannot act rashly."
Animal Path Pain slowly turned his head and spoke coldly.
Sasori wanted to argue further, but the emotionless gaze of the Deva Path Pain suppressed him. He could only let out an unwilling snort.
Suddenly, space twisted like rippling water, and a black vortex appeared out of nowhere.
A man in a black robe and spiral mask stepped out from it.
Rain fell onto his body, yet it seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier, leaving his robe completely dry.
Obito Uchiha looked around the battlefield, and his gaze finally settled on Sakumo Hatake's corpse.
"Not bad. You actually killed Sakumo Hatake, one of Konoha's 'Two Lights'... That really surprises me."
There was a hint of surprise and amusement in Obito's voice.
A considerable wave had indeed risen in Obito's heart.
Although he had never truly fought Sakumo Hatake, he had once fought the other light of Konoha, Arisu, in a life-and-death battle.
In that battle, he had been instantly defeated in a single move. Even now, the memory still left him shaken.
In Obito's impression, since Sakumo Hatake was known alongside Arisu as one of the "Two Lights," their strength should have been on the same level.
Yet Pain, Sasori, and Konan had managed to take him down without spending much effort.
"Was Sakumo Hatake too weak... or is your combination stronger than anyone could imagine?"
Obito's eyes flickered slightly as he looked down at the white-haired figure on the ground with a complicated expression.
Konan and Sasori immediately looked at the suddenly appearing Obito with vigilance, while Animal Path Pain calmly turned his Rinnegan toward him.
Obito ignored their hostility and simply stood there, his black robe fluttering in the rain.
He stared at Sakumo Hatake's face. Even in death, it still carried a look of determination.
Without realizing it, another young figure appeared in his mind.
"Kakashi... your father is dead. You must be in a lot of pain..."
Obito's fist slowly tightened beneath his robe.
"But let me tell you, the pain of losing Rin... is a hundred times greater than the pain of losing your father!"
The coldness and indifference quickly returned to Obito's eyes, as if that trace of complicated emotion had never appeared.
He turned toward Animal Path Pain and spoke calmly.
"Konoha will learn about this very soon. The game ahead... is about to become much more interesting."
"What are you here for?"
Animal Path Pain turned his Rinnegan toward him and asked emotionlessly.
"Heh... I was worried you wouldn't be able to handle Sakumo Hatake, so I came to help. Looks like I was being overly cautious."
Obito Uchiha shrugged casually beneath his black robe.
"Hmph. This kind of trash is called one of Konoha's Two Lights? That's all he was."
Sasori let out a disdainful sneer.
Obito Uchiha laughed coldly when he heard that.
"This old man was almost sixty years old. So many of you surrounded a sixty-year-old man, and it still took you that long."
"The next time it comes to Konoha's Arisu, what are you going to do?"
Obito's gaze swept across everyone present as he asked.