The silence that followed Naruto's casual explanation stretched for several heartbeats. Rain pattered against twenty thousand identical faces, all of them wearing the same patient smile.
Jiraiya broke first. "Ten minutes," he repeated, as if saying it again would make it make sense. "You're telling me you only needed ten minutes of chakra refinement to create over twenty thousand fully functional shadow clones."
"Mm-hmm." Naruto tilted his head slightly. All twenty thousand copies mimicked the gesture in perfect synchronization. "Like I said, it's troublesome. Most of the time I don't bother with ninjutsu at all."
Tsunade's eye twitched. "Most jonin consider ten shadow clones to be chakra-intensive."
"Elite jonin can manage fifty if they push themselves to the limit," Orochimaru added, his scientific mind still trying to process the math. "Even the Third Hokage in his absolute prime could only maintain around one thousand."
"And you created twenty thousand," Tsunade finished, "in ten minutes, and you consider that troublesome?"
"Well, yeah." Naruto looked genuinely confused by their shock. "I had to sit still and focus on refining chakra instead of doing something useful. That's the definition of troublesome."
"That's not—" Orochimaru stopped himself, took a deep breath, and visibly forced his composure back into place. His tongue flicked out once, tasting the absolutely saturated chakra in the air. Every instinct he had was screaming that this was impossible, that no human body could contain this much energy, that there had to be some trick, some external source.
But there wasn't. This was just Naruto. This was normal for him.
I need his cells, Orochimaru thought desperately. I need to understand how this is possible. This surpasses even the First Hokage's chakra reserves. This is...
He didn't have words for what this was.
Sasuke and Kakashi, meanwhile, showed no reaction at all. Their faces remained perfectly neutral, almost bored. They'd witnessed Naruto's abilities so many times that even an army of shadow clones barely registered.
If only they knew, Kakashi thought, remembering the reports from the Wave mission, the Kirigakure coup, the public execution of the Third Hokage. This isn't even close to Naruto's upper limits.
Nagato sat in his wheelchair, Rinnegan eyes tracking across the sea of identical blonde boys surrounding him on all sides. His analytical mind worked furiously.
Each clone has substantial chakra reserves, he observed. Not depleted copies—these are high-quality shadow clones with significant combat capability. The technique has been modified somehow, improved beyond the standard Multiple Shadow Clone jutsu.
His gaze sharpened. Uzumaki Naruto is a genius in ninjutsu application, just like me. Perhaps even surpassing me.
The thought should have been impossible. Nagato possessed the Rinnegan—the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths himself. His talent was divine, literally god-given.
And yet here stood a twelve-year-old who'd just created an army with the casual effort most people used to tie their shoes.
But even with all this, Nagato thought, his resolve hardening, numbers alone don't determine victory. The Rinnegan's abilities transcend conventional combat. I won't surrender. I can't. Not when I'm so close to achieving true peace.
Deidara, Sasori, Kakuzu, and Hidan all stared at Nagato with varying degrees of shock. They'd known their leader was powerful—you didn't command the Akatsuki organization through weakness—but they'd always believed Deva Path Pain was the actual leader.
The revelation that Nagato had been controlling Pain like a puppet this entire time shifted their entire understanding of the organization's hierarchy.
Konan alone showed no surprise. She'd known from the beginning. She'd helped Nagato create the Six Paths of Pain, had watched him embed the chakra receivers into Yahiko's preserved corpse.
She met Nagato's eyes now, a silent question passing between them.
Are we really doing this?
His slight nod was answer enough.
To the end, then. Together.
The rain stopped.
Not gradually. One moment it fell in endless sheets; the next, nothing. The clouds remained, dark and oppressive, but no water descended. The sudden absence felt wrong, like the world holding its breath.
Nagato had cancelled the Rain Tiger at Will technique. Detection was pointless now—the enemy stood directly in front of him, twenty thousand strong.
Jiraiya stepped forward, his expression pained. "Nagato. Konan." His voice carried across the plaza, reaching them despite the distance. "I thought you were dead. When I heard about the civil war in the Rain Village, about the casualties... I mourned you both."
He paused, swallowing hard. "Seeing you alive now, even under these circumstances... I'm glad. You don't know how glad."
Konan's lips pressed together. She glanced at Nagato, waiting for his response.
The man in the wheelchair looked up at his former teacher. His gaunt face showed no emotion, but those Rinnegan eyes held ancient weariness.
"Jiraiya-sensei," Nagato said, and his voice was cold enough to freeze fire. "Long time no see." He gestured vaguely at Naruto's clone army. "You're so happy to see us alive that you brought an invasion force to send us to the Pure Land? How... touching."
The words hit Jiraiya like kunai to the chest. His next attempt at persuasion died in his throat, unspoken.
He's right, Jiraiya thought miserably. I came here with an army. What did I expect? That he'd welcome me with open arms?
"Nagato, Konan," Jiraiya tried again, forcing the words out. "Surrender now while you still can. You can't defeat Naruto. I've seen what he's capable of. If this turns into a real fight..." He trailed off, unable to finish the thought.
Naruto understood the dynamic perfectly. Nagato was drowning in his own delusions of peace—delusions fed to him by Obito and Black Zetsu, nurtured by pain and loss until they'd consumed his entire identity.
People living in dreams didn't respond to gentle reasoning. They saw anyone questioning their vision as an obstacle to be removed, no matter who that person was.
In the original timeline, when Jiraiya infiltrated the Rain Village to gather intelligence, Nagato had sent Konan to eliminate him. When she failed, Nagato personally controlled the Six Paths of Pain to kill his own teacher.
Not out of hatred. Out of necessity.
Jiraiya stood between Nagato and his dream of peace. Therefore, Jiraiya had to die.
It was that simple. That terrible.
You can't reason with someone who's already convinced themselves they're saving the world, Naruto thought. The only language they understand is force. You have to beat the delusion out of them first. Then, when they're lying in the dirt questioning everything, that's when you can finally have a real conversation.
He stepped forward, cutting off Jiraiya's attempts at persuasion. "Jiraiya-sensei, that's enough."
The legendary Sannin looked at him, startled.
Naruto's attention shifted to Nagato. His voice remained calm, almost casual. "Nagato. Surrender. Disband the Akatsuki organization. Join my farm." He paused, then added with complete sincerity, "You'll have a much brighter future there. The benefits are excellent, and Kurama's cooking is phenomenal."
For a moment, everyone just stared at him.
Did he just... offer a terrorist organization leader a farm job? Tsunade thought.
With... with benefits? Jiraiya added mentally.
Orochimaru's lips twitched. Only Naruto could make regime change sound like a recruitment pitch.
But it was Hidan who broke the stunned silence.
"FARM?!" The immortal cultist's face turned purple with rage. "You think we'd give up our divine mission for some shitty FARM?!"
His hand moved to the three-bladed scythe on his back. "We're the Akatsuki! We exist to bring true peace to this world! And you—you arrogant brat—think we'd abandon that for vegetables and livestock?!"
The scythe cleared its sheath with a metallic ring.
"I'm going to sacrifice you to Jashin-sama!" Hidan charged, scythe raised high, moving faster than most jonin could track. "Your screams will be the sweetest prayer!"
Naruto didn't move.
One instant, he stood in the center of his clone army. The next, he was directly in front of Hidan, having crossed twenty meters in the space between heartbeats.
The Instantaneous Movement left no trail, created no sound, gave no warning.
Hidan's eyes went wide as his forward momentum carried him directly into Naruto's stationary form. He tried to stop, feet skidding on wet stone, but physics had other ideas.
He crashed into Naruto like a bird hitting a window.
The impact felt wrong. Not soft, not yielding. It was like running full-speed into a mountainside. Hidan's bones jarred from the collision, his teeth clicking together hard enough to draw blood from his tongue.
Naruto stood utterly still, unmoved, as if a grown man slamming into him was no more significant than a light breeze.
"Your name is Hidan, right?" Naruto asked conversationally.
Hidan stumbled backward, shaking his head to clear it. What the hell is this kid made of?!
But immortality bred confidence, and pain bred fury. Hidan's grip tightened on his scythe. "Doesn't matter what my name is! You'll be screaming it soon enough when I—"
He swung.
The three-bladed scythe whistled through the air, its edge honed to molecular sharpness, capable of cutting through steel like paper. The weapon had tasted the blood of hundreds of victims, had carved through Kakuzu's earth defenses, had never failed to draw blood.
Until now.
Naruto stood perfectly still, watching the scythe approach his neck with the same mild interest one might show a butterfly.
"NARUTO!" Jiraiya's heart jumped into his throat. He surged forward, hand already forming seals for a defensive jutsu. He's been caught in a genjutsu! He's not moving!
Tsunade moved simultaneously, preparing to Body Flicker between them.
Two hands caught them—Kakashi grabbed Jiraiya's shoulder, Sasuke blocked Tsunade's path.
"Don't," Kakashi said calmly, his visible eye barely tracking the scythe's arc. "You're worrying for nothing."
"Are you insane?!" Tsunade tried to shove past Sasuke. "That blade will—"
"Do nothing," Sasuke finished, his Sharingan spinning lazily. "You still don't understand anything about Naruto's strength."
The scythe connected.