"Yang Release, huh?"
Looking at the familiar text in front of him, Uchiha Chizumi realized that he had inherited part of Hidan's Yang Release power. It wasn't enough to let him survive getting his head chopped off, but at the very least, his vitality had become absurdly tenacious.
"And aside from Yang Release, the destruction of four of Nagato's Six Paths also boosted my ocular power a little…"
"It's still a long way from turning my Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan into a true Rinnegan, but it's a start…"
If anyone had been watching Uchiha Chizumi's eyes at that moment, they would have seen that the outermost edge of his Eternal Mangekyō had been stained with a faint ring of purple. It wasn't obvious, but it was undeniably the same purple as the Rinnegan.
"Damn it, meow!"
"It's been forever since I got hurt this badly. That guy called Obito is seriously annoying, meow!"
Cradled in Uchiha Izumi's arms, Kitsujiro was still muttering complaints about Obito the entire way back. He had only stated one simple truth, yet that Obito guy had gone that far against an adorable little cat?
"I'm sorry. You got dragged into this because of me…"
Hearing Kitsujiro's grumbling, Izumi apologized guiltily. If Kitsujiro hadn't been protecting her, he never would've been hurt that badly.
"It's fine, meow!"
Seeing how guilty Izumi looked, Kitsujiro found it hard to keep complaining.
While Uchiha Chizumi was still hurrying back toward Konoha, more figures began appearing in the direction of the former battlefield—scouts from the Land of Earth, as well as the Konoha ninja heading toward the Land of Water.
"That's the power of Lava Release. The ground's practically turned into one giant lava lake!"
Uchiha Ming, one of the three who had gone to deal with Gatō before, stared at the lava lake stretching for more than ten kilometers and couldn't help showing a trace of amazement.
Everyone in Konoha already knew how strong Uchiha Chizumi was, but seeing that his Lava Release had actually altered the natural terrain still left people stunned.
"The enemy must have been extremely strong. Look at those collapsed mountains in the distance—that was probably caused by Lord Chizumi's Susanoo."
Uchiha Quanda, another of the trio who had dealt with Gatō, frowned. In his view, Uchiha Chizumi's current strength was already approaching that of Uchiha Madara in his prime. He genuinely couldn't imagine what kind of person in the shinobi world could still stand against him.
"No matter what kind of enemy it was, anyone who ran into Lord Chizumi would definitely be executed in the name of justice!"
"I think what we should really be thinking about is whether, once we get to the Land of Water, we can build a Police Force that satisfies Lord Chizumi."
There were also people from the Ino–Shika–Chō families in this Konoha group heading to the Land of Water. The lineup was absurdly luxurious—over twenty people, and not a single chūnin among them. Every last one was a jōnin.
The only reason a force of this scale could enter the Land of Water without trouble was because Uchiha Chizumi had already plowed through it once. Under normal circumstances, a Konoha group like this would've drawn Kirigakure's attention almost immediately.
"Who's there?!"
And just as this Konoha support team stood there examining the battlefield, the Land of Earth's scouts arrived.
After all, the Akatsuki had taken the Land of Earth's money—and not a small amount either, but a full three hundred million. No matter how broad-minded Ōnoki might be, he still had to send Iwa ninja to check whether the Akatsuki had actually done the job.
So on the ruins of Uchiha Chizumi's former battlefield, the Konoha team ran straight into the Land of Earth's scouts.
And with the lineup Konoha had brought, dealing with a few scouts was almost laughably easy.
"The Land of Earth hired an organization called the Akatsuki to ambush Lord Chizumi…"
Half a day later, after wiping out the scouts, one of the ninja skilled in memory extraction finally pieced together the full story.
"Who's going back to Konoha to report this to Lord Chizumi?"
After a moment of silence, Uchiha Ming decided that this information had to be passed on.
In his view, if the Land of Earth had gone so far as to hire a ninja organization to attack Lord Chizumi, then that meant they truly feared Absolute Justice. And when it came to people standing against justice, the only response was overwhelming force.
Meanwhile, inside the Akatsuki, Konan looked increasingly uneasy.
"You're worried Uchiha Chizumi will come after us?"
Nagato, still repairing the Deva Path, spoke without even looking up.
"Yes."
"When Uchiha Chizumi came to the Land of Rain before, I thought it was Jūzō who had leaked information about the organization."
"But thinking back on it now, Jūzō may really have been innocent. Uchiha Chizumi got that information from somewhere else on his own—even Obito's true identity."
Konan spoke quietly.
Chizumi's strength was terrifying enough on its own, but that at least was out in the open. If he also knew the Akatsuki's internal secrets in detail, that was when things became truly frightening.
The Rinnegan was powerful. The Deva Path was powerful. But neither was without weakness.
And the greatest weakness was Nagato himself.
If Uchiha Chizumi came into the Land of Rain and went straight for Nagato, then even if Nagato managed to drive him back, his already fragile body would be pushed far beyond its limits.
It might mean Nagato would collapse long before he ever got to see his plan succeed.
And on top of that, given what Chizumi had already shown in battle, there was no guarantee that was even all he could do.
"If he enters the Land of Rain, then you leave."
After a long silence, Nagato spoke as though he had finally reached some kind of decision.
In truth, no one understood his body better than he did. The Rinnegan was indeed incredibly powerful, but that power fed on his own body. The more he used it, the more his body crumbled.
And if he ever truly faced Uchiha Chizumi, then there would be no choice but to use the full power of the Rinnegan.
Konan didn't reply. But the look on her face made it obvious that even if Uchiha Chizumi really came to the Land of Rain, she would stay.
She only had Nagato and Yahiko.
Yahiko was already dead.
If Nagato died too, then she didn't really think there would be much left in this world for her to care about.
"But before Uchiha Chizumi enters the Land of Rain, let's make sure he has problems of his own to deal with first."
"As long as he's too busy to spare the attention, naturally he won't have time to come here."
Seeing Konan stay silent, Nagato decided he needed to put pressure on Uchiha Chizumi first.
And how would he do that?
Would the Earth, Lightning, and Wind Countries really just sit there and watch?
Uchiha Chizumi had already slaughtered daimyo and nobles to that extent. Would the nobles and daimyo of those three great nations not force their own hidden villages to act?
Without even realizing it, Nagato's thinking had shifted.
He now needed the Fourth Great Ninja War to break out.