As for Yahiko and Nagato's side, the story had to rewind a little to what happened while Konan was still unconscious.
After Minato Namikaze, Adult Kakashi, and Adult Obito left, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura from Team Kakashi used the Transformation Technique to disguise themselves as Konan and the two Amegakure ninjas who were supposed to abduct her.
Meanwhile, Young Obito, Young Kakashi, and Rin from Team Minato brought the unconscious Konan into Young Obito's Kamui's Dimension, ready to provide support.
Before they set out, Minato Namikaze appointed the only Jōnin among the six, Young Kakashi Hatake, as the team's temporary captain, putting him in charge of all mission decisions after Minato left.
After what had happened at Kannabi Bridge, Young Kakashi never wanted to experience that helplessness again, where something unexpected happened during a mission, and he, as captain, had no backup plan at all.
So before the six of them departed, this twelve-year-old ninja, already serving as captain, prepared another plan.
"Plan B?" Naruto tilted his head.
Young Kakashi said, "That's right."
"But isn't our mission just to photograph evidence that Danzō Shimura secretly contacted the leader of Amegakure and interfered in another country's internal affairs?"
Young Obito thought Kakashi was overthinking things.
"That's Plan A."
The boy's cool voice continued, "The ideal scenario is that we capture evidence of Danzō Shimura interfering in another country's internal affairs, while Minato-sensei and the others successfully stop this world's Obito from killing the members of the original Akatsuki and tell Nagato and Yahiko the truth in advance."
"Mm-hmm!" Naruto nodded hard.
Young Kakashi said, "But what if something goes wrong during that process?"
The rain showed no sign of letting up. For a moment, there was only the pattering sound of windblown rain striking the forehead protectors of the six of them.
After thinking for a moment, Sasuke followed Young Kakashi's logic and said, "Things could go wrong in two places."
"First, we fail and get discovered by Hanzō of the Salamander. Second, we aren't discovered, but something goes wrong with Minato-sama and Kakashi's side, and they fail to stop Nagato and Yahiko."
He looked at Kakashi, who was about the same age as him and Naruto. "So we don't just need Plan B. We need Plan C too."
In everyone else's eyes, both of them were sharp-minded and fully qualified to be captains.
Sakura and Rin looked at them with confidence because of how reliable they were.
Beside them, Naruto and Obito huddled together, the two unlucky brothers whispering under their breath.
"Obito, compared to Kakashi-sensei when he was a kid and Sasuke, do we really look that weak?"
"We should believe in ourselves more, Naruto." That was what Obito said, but his expression did not look very confident.
Young Kakashi, who had been discussing Plan B and Plan C with Sasuke, suddenly turned back. "That's right. You two should be more confident."
Just as Young Obito and Naruto were about to feel flattered, Young Kakashi pointed at them. "You two should confidently remove the 'do we' and the question mark."
Meaning, they really did look weak.
The air suddenly went quiet, and then Naruto and Young Obito angrily started jumping around in protest.
Sasuke whispered to Young Kakashi, "Hmph. Why didn't you remind them it was 'look'?"
They looked weak.
Wasn't the unspoken meaning of that supposed to be, "but they're actually really strong"?
"Don't tell them. They'll get carried away."
"Mm."
Rin and Sakura secretly laughed. Naruto and Obito jumped around, arguing that they were not weak at all, while Sasuke and Kakashi focused on working out Plan B and Plan C.
"Plan B is for dealing with mistakes on our side."
Young Kakashi looked at Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura with a serious expression on his small masked face. "If you're discovered by Hanzō of the Salamander or Danzō Shimura, end the mission immediately and retreat to a place with no enemies nearby. Obito will bring you into Kamui's Dimension."
"What about Naruto?" Sasuke asked.
Compared with him and Sakura, Naruto, who had to transform into Konan, would be under Hanzō's control at any moment. He was in much greater danger.
"Mm, there's no need to worry about Naruto either. I'll use Intangibility to help him avoid all damage." Young Obito placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and activated his Mangekyō Sharingan. The others could clearly see the rain passing through both of their bodies.
Naruto also said there was no problem. "Kurama won't just watch me get killed that easily, dattebayo. Don't worry!"
["Hmph! Self-important brat!"]
"Then what about Plan C?" Young Obito asked. "Huh, Captain Kakashi?"
Young Kakashi rolled his eye at him. "Plan C is for the extremely unlikely possibility that Minato-sensei and the others don't arrive in time and can't provide follow-up support. We have to prepare a worst-case strategy for that."
"First, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura's side," Young Kakashi said. "We'll still use Plan B. If necessary, Obito, Rin, and I will jump in to support you. Try not to split up, and keep the number of enemies around you low so we can return to Kamui's Dimension more easily."
"As for Yahiko and Nagato, in order to avoid affecting Nagato's Rinnegan awakening during the course of history, based on the information given by the other Obito..." Here, the other Obito Young Kakashi mentioned was the Adult Obito from the mission scroll world, the man they had previously called the Masked Man.
Naruto recalled the information Adult Obito had told them. "The leader of Amegakure, that guy called Hanzō, will tell Nagato to kill Yahiko. To let Nagato and Konan live, Yahiko throws himself onto the kunai in Nagato's hand, right?"
Sakura added, "And Hanzō of the Salamander also planted a large number of explosive tags under Yahiko and Nagato's feet. After Yahiko dies, he pushes Konan into the explosive tag range on Nagato's side and detonates them, badly injuring Nagato's legs."
"That's right," Young Kakashi said. "So Obito has to find a way to handle Nagato and Yahiko at the same time. When Yahiko throws himself onto Nagato's kunai, use Intangibility on him."
Sasuke said, "That way, when Nagato feels that pain, there's a high chance he'll awaken the power of Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan in despair."
Rin cheerfully took a bag of spare plasma from her medical kit. "Use this. It'll make things look more realistic."
For a moment, it was hard to know what to say.
Still, Obito accepted the plasma Rin handed him and silently gave Nagato a thumbs-up in his heart.
No, wait. He lit a candle for him.
"What about the explosive tags?" Naruto asked.
Young Kakashi said, "Leave that to me. I have a plan."
As it turned out, it was a good thing Kakashi had prepared Plan B and Plan C.
That tiny possibility had actually happened.
Minato Namikaze, Adult Kakashi, and Adult Obito had failed to stop Nagato and Yahiko in time.
Right until the moment before they saw Hanzō of the Salamander, the two of them were still full of hope for a bright future.
Then Hanzō of the Salamander ordered Nagato to kill Yahiko, and Yahiko threw himself onto the kunai in Nagato's hand.
Nagato seemed to hear the sound of the kunai piercing flesh. The sticky feeling in his hand made his entire body tremble. The world lost all color. Rain struck his body and the ground with a constant rush, yet he could not hear a single sound.
"Yahiko?"
The instant Yahiko's real body entered Kamui's Dimension, Rin struck without hesitation and knocked him unconscious.
In Nagato's eyes, Yahiko was right there before him, blood spreading across his chest as he slowly fell.
And how could Yahiko possibly know he had been "ambushed"? Thinking he was truly dead, he still murmured with a smile at the final moment.
"You are... the true savior...
"Live well... with Konan."
His pale purple Rinnegan widened abruptly, filled with fear, confusion, and helplessness.
Overwhelming terror made him tremble. Rage and pain brewed in his chest, and negative chakra surged straight toward his eyes.
Nagato did not notice that something had gone wrong on Hanzō of the Salamander and Danzō Shimura's side. He did not even realize that "Konan" had turned into a blond boy.
He was completely dazed.
Inside Kamui's Dimension, Konan's heart ached for Nagato, but she understood Rin, Obito, and Kakashi's good intentions.
More importantly, this was a trial they had to experience at this moment. If someone helped them here and allowed them to remain naive, complacent, or even arrogant, then even without Hanzō of the Salamander and Danzō Shimura, something similar would still happen one day.
"Summoning Jutsu! Demonic Statue of the Outer Path!!"
With a furious roar, Nagato summoned the Ten-Tails' husk on the moon, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
A large number of purple chakra dragons poured from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's mouth. Following the Ten-Tails husk's instincts, they rushed into the battlefield where the Ame Ninjas and Konoha ANBU were fighting, absorbing their chakra.
Naruto, Sasuke, and the others saw that in only a few seconds, a person was drained into a dried husk with no signs of life.
"Danger!!"
Naruto's shadow clone knocked Sasuke and Young Kakashi aside, scooped up Sakura, and quickly jumped away.
"Nagato's out of control! He's attacking indiscriminately!"
"Return to Kamui's Dimension first! Let Yahiko and Konan figure out how to wake Nagato's reason!" Young Kakashi said.
According to the plan he had made, Obito was supposed to bring Nagato and Yahiko into Kamui's Dimension, while Kakashi would use Lightning Release ninjutsu to stop the explosive tags from exploding.
However!
After half a second of hesitation, Young Obito suddenly disobeyed Young Kakashi's order.
"I'll take Nagato into my Kamui's Dimension! Even if they're ANBU who obey Danzō, they're still comrades from Konoha!"
He could not let them all die here. That might become a reason for Amegakure and Konoha to go to war.
"Hey, you..."
Sasuke tried to stop him, but Hanzō, standing atop the summoned beast Ibuse, blocked him.
Because of Sasuke's Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi, Hanzō had been forced to cut off the fingers of one hand. Their appearance had not only ruined a plan that should have gone smoothly, it had also caused heavy losses.
These brats, and Danzō Shimura too. Not a single one of them could be left alive!
With that thought, when Hanzō saw that another Uchiha brat had also run into the area where he had hidden the explosive tags, he did not hesitate. He drove his chakra into motion, causing all the explosive tags to explode at once.
BOOM!!
A chain of explosions erupted, and everyone looked in that direction.
Hanzō's lips curled into a smug smile.
But after the smoke cleared, the smile visibly fell from his face.
Because once the smoke dispersed, there was nothing there except the shattered ground.
Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Young Kakashi broke out in cold sweat.
"Phew. Good thing Obito made it in time."
That Uchiha brat. That special Sharingan ability!
Danzō and Hanzō thought in shock of the special patterns that had flashed in Sasuke and Obito's eyes, so different from ordinary Sharingan.
Meanwhile, inside Obito's Kamui's Dimension, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path appeared out of nowhere, wantonly destroying a large stretch of houses.
Far away, Izuna Uchiha, who had been wandering through the streets of Konoha, finally heard a sound unlike anything else in this silent world.
"!!!"
What was that?!
Izuna Uchiha, who had died during the Warring States Period, had never seen anything like it.
If he had to describe it...
It looked a little like Hashirama Senju's Wood Release?!
There was no time to delay. He rushed in that direction at top speed.