Kanon smiled. Tears streamed down her face, yet her smile was more radiant and unburdened than it had ever been.
"Hahahaha!"
Hearing Kanon's laughter, which was laced with pure despair, everyone, Pain included, stood frozen.
Amidst her manic laughter, fragments of her past surged forward like a tide.
She saw her parents and her clansmen, those warm faces and loving gazes, withering away in a haze of terror and confusion.
She saw Izumi, bound in chains and kneeling on the ground, a pale expression of concern for Kanon still etched on her face just before a katana pierced her brow.
She saw the moonlight glinting off a blade as it transfixed her own abdomen, and the contemptuous silhouettes of Danzo's Root assassins as they turned their backs on her.
In front of Tsunade, Pain, and the gathered Anbu, Kanon laughed wantonly until her tears turned to blood.
The memories continued to flash: the scorching midday sun and the assembly of a hundred Anbu, hunting her relentlessly for no other reason than the blood in her veins. They wanted to eradicate the Uchiha "threat" once and for all.
She remembered the early days of forming Team Hana, living alongside Jirobo, Tayuya, Kidomaru, and Sakon and Ukon.
Those days had been beautiful. But now, each memory was a fresh blow intended to break her. Finally, Kanon's laughter ceased. She fell into a heavy silence. Her Mangekyo Sharingan pupils constricted into needle-like points as she stared at Tsunade, yet her mind was elsewhere.
She saw Jiraiya, smiling as he wiped away her tears, writing words on the ground that filled her with agonizing guilt.
She saw Itachi Uchiha, in his final moments, finally poking her forehead and whispering his last words.
"Forgive me, Kanon, Sasuke... this is the last time."
And she saw her own brother, pointing the Kusanagi sword at her, his Mangekyo eyes cold and unrecognizable.
Finally, Kanon's thoughts returned to the ruins of Otogakure. The blood-red tears in her eyes finally ran dry.
Within her constricted pupils and her broken expression, a frantic madness took root.
"Destroy it all..."
"Destroy it all..."
"DESTROY IT ALL!!!" Kanon shrieked.
She let out a piercing scream. At this moment, her agony had reached its absolute zenith, an explosion of despair from the deepest recesses of her soul.
Those who have never known true despair could never understand Kanon's heart. What she was about to do had nothing to do with her old dreams of a peaceful flower field.
Kanon simply wanted those who had destroyed her world, those who still had the audacity to judge her, to experience the flavor of her pain.
Slowly, Kanon began to hover, ascending before the eyes of everyone present.
Pain gave a subtle nod. He looked toward Tsunade and spoke in a flat, cold tone:
"Feel pain."
"Contemplate pain."
"Accept pain."
"Know pain."
"Those who do not know pain can never know true peace."
Pain ascended into the high sky alongside Kanon, but this time, he would not be the one to strike.
Beside him, Kanon's Mangekyo pattern remained fixed in that needle-like constriction. Seeing her face contorted with such ferocity, Nagato realized he didn't need to lift a finger.
Watching Kanon soar into the heavens, Tsunade realized that something catastrophic was about to happen.
"Katsuyu! Protect everyone!"
High above Konoha, Shima looked down at the fires of war consuming the village. Seeing two figures in Akatsuki cloaks slowly ascending, she felt a premonition of doom.
She recognized one of them, it was Kanon Uchiha, the girl who had once summoned her!
Kanon drifted higher, appearing like a deity. Yet, in this moment, she was more honest with herself than ever before; she was truly an Uchiha.
"No! Kanon, you can't use that move anymore! If you keep going, you won't be able to hold on, you'll lose your sight!" Konin screamed from within her mental world.
But before her, Kanon's spectral image turned around, offering her a smile of genuine trust and sincerity.
Seeing that smile, Konin's pupils shrank. She understood exactly what Kanon was thinking.
Konin smiled back. Their hearts were linked; she felt the weight of Kanon's resolve.
"I understand how you feel now, Kanon. Go. Leave the rest to me."
Kanon said nothing. Her image vanished from the inner world.
As Kanon disappeared, the corners of Konin's mouth curled upward.
"Kanon, no one understands what you're thinking better than I do."
"Because... I… am you."
…
Outside the mental realm, Kanon reached the apex of her flight. Her pupils shifted from needle-points into a rose-like pattern.
Behind her, a rose-red ribcage erupted, looking as though it had been drenched in fresh blood.
Then, the Susanoo began to evolve. A colossal Tengu warrior, the stuff of myths, manifested in a brilliant rose-red hue, wielding twin blades of pure chakra. This Susanoo was larger than any seen before, it was massive enough to rival the scale of the entire Konoha.
Kanon stood within the crystal atop the giant's head, weeping tears of blood, her voice hoarse from her screams of despair.
Even Pain's Rinnegan widened in shock. It was the first time he had witnessed a Susanoo of this magnitude. It was preposterous, unbelievable.
Tsunade and the remaining shinobi looked up as if staring at a god. It was hard to fathom that such power belonged to a fifteen-year-old girl.
"Kanon Uchiha! What do you plan to do?!" Tsunade roared.
"Is that... really Kanon?" Sakura stared at the massive Tengu, her mind going blank.
Seeing that Kanon was ready, Pain looked down at the people of Konoha and spoke softly:
"From this moment on... let the world feel pain."
Kanon commanded the Susanoo to raise its twin blades high before plunging them downward. The giant swords, nearly a thousand meters long, stabbed ruthlessly toward the heart of the Hidden Leaf.
A surge of blood-red light erupted, illuminating the entire village. In that instant, Kanon was like a second sun.
BOOM!
The strike of the Perfect Susanoo carried the force of total annihilation. It slammed into the center of the village. The shockwave and blinding light swallowed everything in an instant; buildings turned to dust, and the very earth cracked into deep, jagged wounds.
But it wasn't over. As the Susanoo made landfall, Kanon's voice rang out in a frenzied, maddened howl.
"Apocalypse: Flower Slash!"
The Susanoo slowly raised its twin blades again, pointing them toward the firmament as if declaring its power to the heavens.
Then, with a speed that defied logic, the Susanoo swung the blades in a horizontal sweep, releasing a crescent of sword ki so brilliant it defied description.
The energy sliced through the sky like a divine punishment, carrying peerless power as it tore through the surrounding village.
The air filled with a soul-tearing screech; the terrifying red arc seemed capable of rending time and space itself.
When the strike landed, the ground was carved into bottomless ravines. Everything that was the Hidden Leaf was erased.
A thunderous roar followed the blinding light and billowing dust. Dozens of massive mountains surrounding the village were touched by this "hand of God."
As the dust settled, the once-unshakeable peaks had been sliced clean in half, leaving behind cross-sections as smooth as mirrors.
The entire Konoha had been destroyed by Kanon. Within the reach of that Susanoo, all had returned to nothingness.
The power of the Susanoo began to fade, and Kanon's figure descended to the ground. She stumbled, falling to one knee, but the exhilaration on her face was unmistakable.
Her Mangekyo Sharingan regressed into three-tomoe, and her vision was now a blurred, hazy mess.
"Kanon, that single strike with the Perfect Susanoo has completely exhausted your current ocular power."
"After this battle, it's time to transplant the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."
"I know..." Kanon's voice echoed from her inner world. But in reality, she began to laugh. This wasn't like her previous laughter; this was light, joyful, and cathartic. It was the laugh of a debt finally repaid.
"I did it... I destroyed Konoha. I actually did it! Hahahahahaha!"
Pain descended slowly, looking at Kanon with a complex expression. Nagato believed he had experienced more pain than anyone, but he didn't dare to imagine the depth of Kanon's.
Watching her laugh with such release, Pain said nothing. He simply watched her.
On the outskirts of the devastated village, Sakura's pupils shrank to pinpricks as she emerged from Katsuyu's protection.
She stumbled, looking out at the void where Konoha used to be and the mountains sliced like silk. A sense of total absurdity filled her heart.
"Kanon did this? What... what is this power?"
"How could it... just end like this?"
Tears fell onto Sakura's hands. In her mind, an image of Naruto surfaced.
"Naruto... hurry up and get here..."
"Please, Naruto!!!"
POOF!
A massive cloud of white smoke erupted in the center of the hollowed-out crater.
Standing at the epicenter was Naruto, his eyes marked with the horizontal yellow bar of Sage Mode. Clad in a crimson battle robe with a giant scroll on his back, he appeared with his arms crossed.
Beneath him was Gamakichi, who stood atop Gamabunta with his pipe, followed by Gamahiro with his twin blades and Gamaken.
Sensing Naruto's arrival, Pain stood behind Kanon and summoned the other five Paths back to his side.
Naruto looked around at the swirling dust, appearing confused.
"Where are we, 'ttebayo?"
"Where's the enemy?" Gamabunta asked, equally perplexed.
Suddenly, Shima flickered into place in front of Naruto. Fukasaku was also dazed, trying to make sense of the situation.
"What's going on, Ma? Why didn't you summon us into Konoha?"
Shima's expression was grim as she spoke.
"This is Konoha!"