Konan stood in the shadows, her gaze fixed on the massive mechanical walker.
Her paper clone had just brought back news of the Hidden Cloud Village's destruction. The destructive power in those images, resembling divine punishment, was shocking, but right now her eyes held only concern.
"Cough, cough..."
A violent bout of coughing shattered the deathly silence.
Nagato's skeletal body shook violently with the cough. Several black rods pierced into his back, connecting him to the Gedo Statue like greedy straws, constantly draining his remaining life force.
His once vibrant red hair was now dry and frayed, his eye sockets sunken, and his skin clung so tightly to his bones that he looked like a skeleton draped in human skin.
"Nagato!"
Konan stepped forward quickly, wanting to reach out and support him, but Nagato raised a hand to stop her.
"I'm fine, Konan."
Nagato's voice was raspy, carrying an air of extreme exhaustion, but in those purple Rinnegan eyes, the light burned more fiercely than ever before. "The arrogance known as 'Cloud' has been crushed by divine punishment. Next, the world will learn to be still."
"But your body..." Konan felt a pang of heartache as she saw the blood seeping from the corners of Nagato's mouth. "The strain of the massive Shinra Tensei was too great, and on top of that, you had to control the Six Paths of Pain for a long-distance raid... You need to rest."
"Rest?"
Nagato's lips twitched into a faint smirk. "It is no matter. The spoils of this battle are enough to compensate for my expenditure."
As his words fell, the heavy door of the secret room slowly opened.
The Deva Path stepped in, expressionless.
In his hand, he dragged a blood-soaked, unconscious burly man.
It was the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee.
In the moment the Hidden Cloud Village was destroyed, although the Raikage, A, had barely managed to survive thanks to his formidable physical body, Killer Bee, who had exhausted his chakra to protect the villagers, could not escape the clutches of the Six Paths of Pain.
"So this is the Eight-Tails..."
Nagato looked at Killer Bee, who had been tossed onto the floor, and slowly raised his mechanical arm.
"Cough... Fool, ya fool..."
On the floor, Killer Bee's fingers twitched; he had not completely lost consciousness yet.
He struggled to open his swollen eyes, looking at the gaunt red-haired man before him, still muttering incoherently. "This pain... this lord will remember it... yeah..."
"Truly tenacious vitality."
Nagato looked indifferently at Killer Bee. "As a vessel for a Tailed Beast, you are indeed excellent. But now, this power belongs to me."
The black rods on his back suddenly began to writhe, and the ferocious phantom of the Gedo Statue loomed in the darkness.
"Preta Path: Devour."
Nagato did not use a surrogate; his actual body directly extended a withered palm, aiming it at Killer Bee from a distance.
A terrifying suction force suddenly erupted.
"Arghhh!"
Killer Bee's body arched violently on the floor as he let out a shrill scream.
Wisps of dark red chakra, like a tangible torrent, were forcibly extracted from Killer Bee's abdomen.
That was the core chakra of the Eight-Tails, Gyuki, filled with madness and savagery, but under the suppression of the Rinnegan, this power became as docile as a lamb.
The red torrent of chakra spiraled in the air before madly surging into Nagato's body.
"Nagato! Absorbing Tailed Beast chakra directly like this is too dangerous!" Konan cried out in alarm.
Tailed Beast chakra carried strong corrosiveness and a mental shock; ordinary people would go insane from just a tiny amount, let alone devouring it like this.
But Nagato did not stop.
"I am a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, and more importantly, I am the god who wields the Rinnegan."
Nagato's voice grew grand amidst the storm of chakra. "The power of a mere beast will only serve as my nourishment!"
Boom!
As the massive Eight-Tails chakra poured in, Nagato's withered body underwent a startling transformation.
First was the skin.
The layer of skin that resembled dried bark began to fill out. The originally pale color quickly turned rosy, the veins beneath the skin bulged again, and the sound of blood rushing was like a roaring river.
Next were the muscles and bones.
Crack, snap...
A series of tooth-gritting bone-growth sounds rang out.
Nagato's sunken eye sockets quickly filled in, his cheeks became full, and his skeletal limbs expanded at a visible rate. His muscle lines became smooth and tight, bursting with explosive power.
Most astonishing of all was his hair.
His hair, which had become dull and lifeless due to overdrawing his life force, was now as if injected with lava, instantly turning a vivid, dripping blood-red, dancing wildly in the gusts of chakra.
That was the mark of the Uzumaki clan's life force reaching its peak.
"This... this is..."
Konan covered her mouth, her pale orange eyes filling with tears of disbelief.
How many years had it been since she had seen Nagato like this?
Ever since Yahiko died, ever since the moment he summoned the Gedo Statue, Nagato had been burning away his life.
She had prayed countless times in her dreams for Nagato to get better, but she never imagined this day would actually come.
On the floor, Killer Bee's body convulsed violently. With the loss of chakra, his frame shrank rapidly, and he eventually fell completely unconscious.
To protect its host's life, the Eight-Tails, Gyuki, had to sever most of the chakra connection and fall into a deep sleep.
Nagato slowly withdrew his hand.
The violent air currents around him subsided.
He looked down at his own powerful palms and clenched his fists tightly.
The air was squeezed until it popped, letting out a crisp boom.
"This feeling..."
Nagato took a deep breath. The scent of cold rain in the air rushed into his lungs, no longer making him feel tight-chested or short of breath; instead, it made him feel refreshed.
He looked at the mechanical walker beneath him, a flicker of disgust flashing in his eyes.
"I no longer need this thing."
Crack!
Nagato exerted force suddenly, ripping out the life-sustaining tubes connected to his back.
No blood sprayed out; the wounds healed instantly under the influence of his massive life force.
He pressed his hands onto the armrests and exerted strength in his legs.
Under Konan's shocked gaze, the man who had been paralyzed for years stood up slowly and firmly.
He was bare-chested, his lean muscles gleaming like jade under the dim light, his red hair draped over his shoulders. The pressure emanating from those Rinnegan eyes was more than ten times stronger than before.
If the previous Nagato was a false god barely surviving on the Gedo Statue...
Then the current him was a true sovereign descending upon the mortal realm.
"Nagato, your legs..." Konan's voice trembled.
"They have recovered."
Nagato took a step forward, his feet treading on the cold floor. The sensation of solid ground felt incredibly real to him. "Although the Gedo Statue drained my life force, it also maintained a certain balance. Now, the massive Yang Release chakra of the Eight-Tails has filled the void and even activated the potential within my bloodline."
He walked to the edge of the tower, overlooking the village in the rain below.
"Konan."
"I no longer lack anything."