"Wood Release—"
Leaping through the forest, Yahiko dodged the bombardment of explosive tag shuriken while staring up at Konan in the sky, just about to unleash a long-range Wood Release attack.
With a whoosh, a flash of lightning burst across his vision, followed by a kick sweeping straight for his head.
It was fast and powerful enough to rip through the air with a shrill whistle. This was far beyond simple enhancement from Lightning Release body activation. It definitely carried the nature transformation of another attribute as well.
This was composite-level taijutsu.
Yet Yahiko merely raised one forearm and casually blocked Nagato's kick.
A violent shockwave burst from their shin and forearm, creating an impact as dramatic as a Wind Release clash.
Nagato's coat and Yahiko's black robe both snapped in the blast, their hair whipping wildly.
Looking at Yahiko casually blocking his strike—empowered by Lightning Release activation and Earth Release hardening—Nagato's pupils shrank, disbelief flickering in his eyes.
What kind of body structure did this guy even have?
Could he really have tanked Pressure Damage earlier with nothing but raw physical toughness?
Yahiko, after blocking the kick, didn't counterattack. Instead, he asked, "Have you ever felt that you were different from everyone else? Have you ever noticed that your eyes aren't like other people's? That whenever danger comes, you somehow escape it? That no matter what you try to learn, you pick it up absurdly fast?"
Nagato's pupils tightened again. He remembered being a child, his parents murdered, himself somehow surviving, and the enemies inexplicably dying afterward. He asked in a low voice, "Who exactly are you?"
"I already told you. I'm the guardian here to guide you onto the path of miracles," Yahiko said expressionlessly. "Your eyes are the legendary foremost of the Three Great Dojutsu—the Rinnegan, the very eyes the Sage of Six Paths used in myth to create the moon. Its power is on the same level as Black Flash's space-time bloodline."
"The emergence of that space-time bloodline has awakened your power in turn. Unfortunately, while your eyes are the gift the Sage left to the generations after him, the key to opening that gift box was hidden somewhere in the ninja world."
Yahiko stared straight at Nagato and said, one word at a time, "And I am that key."
"Ridiculous."
Nagato scoffed, then leaped back to widen the distance between them. At the same time, he formed seals and spat out a huge meteor-like fireball.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
"Water Release: Water Formation Pillar!"
Yahiko spat out a stream of water as well. It rapidly drew moisture from the surrounding air, swelling into a giant meteor-like water sphere that slammed into Nagato's fireball.
With a massive explosion, an enormous cloud of steam spread out like Hidden Mist, blanketing the forest already being devoured by flames.
"So intimidation alone isn't enough…"
Yahiko murmured, his gaze darkening. "Fine. If I want to dominate from the start, I need overwhelming power."
Clapping his hands together, he said, "Tobi, lend me your strength."
"Take all you want. Though since we've already fused, how come I still don't feel like I need to poop?" Tobi suddenly blurted, ruining the atmosphere completely. "Could it be that Yahiko, you're constipated?"
Yahiko, who had just been radiating solemn authority, instantly developed a forehead full of black lines.
He ignored it and instead tapped into the massive chakra reserves of the strongest White Zetsu, shouting the name of a technique legendary enough to rival the Uchiha clan's god of destruction—and even overpower him more than once.
"Wood Release: Wood Golem Jutsu!"
An unbelievable scene unfolded across the mountain range of the Land of Marshes.
A colossal wooden Buddha-like golem, as massive as a mountain, thrust both arms out from the gap between two peaks—
and actually shoved the mountains apart.
Yes, really shoved them apart. More precisely, shoved them into collapse.
The sleeping wooden giant straightened up, towering far above both mountains.
That sight deeply shocked Nagato, who was weaving through the forest with Lightning Flicker and Earth Flicker, dodging or phasing through rock to avoid being crushed by the Wood Golem and the falling debris, and Konan, who hovered in the sky.
At that moment, both their pupils shrank to pinpricks, their eyes trembling with sheer horror.
Their expressions were exactly like the Allied Shinobi Forces facing Heavenly Obstruction or the Five Kage seeing Perfect Susanoo for the first time.
It was the reaction of frogs at the bottom of a well finally seeing the full sky.
The same reaction ordinary people had the first time they laid eyes on a Tailed Beast.
Before power that existed on an entirely different level, anyone would feel small, fearful, terrified, and hopeless.
All one hundred and thirty trillion cells in their bodies were already screaming the same message:
Run.
This was something utterly impossible to defeat.
This… was the power of the super-shadow tier.
"Konan-sama…"
Konan descended onto the ledge of a mountainside that had already half-collapsed. Nagato emerged from the ground at once and was just about to say something—
but before he could, Konan cut him off decisively.
"You go first. I'll hold him off!"
Under normal circumstances, Nagato would've nodded without hesitation.
Not because he was afraid of dying, but because once he withdrew, it would be far easier for Konan to escape.
In a world where true flying ninja were exceedingly rare, Konan naturally had powerful survival ability.
Whenever they ran into an enemy they couldn't beat, Nagato staying behind usually just made him a burden.
It was better for him to leave, so Konan, who stayed back to cover him, could get away more easily.
Over the years, this had happened plenty of times.
At first, when they couldn't win two-on-one, they both had to run. Later, even if they could win one-on-one, enemy reinforcements would show up and they'd still have to flee.
Every time, Nagato staying only dragged things down.
So over time, he stopped forcing the issue.
But this time, for once, Nagato hesitated. Looking at Yahiko—standing atop the Wood Golem's head, not attacking, seemingly even giving them time to talk—he said slowly, "Konan-sama… do you think maybe… he really doesn't mean us any harm?"
Konan, who had already begun mobilizing the chakra for a major technique, immediately turned to him.
"What did he say to you?"
Her heart suddenly felt heavy.
It was a feeling she hadn't had in years—not since Yoru-sama started visiting her through the illusion world, teaching her ninjutsu and giving her a sense of absolute safety.
She wasn't afraid to die.
She was afraid Yoru-sama's plan might come to nothing.
Nagato, of course, had no idea what Konan was thinking.
He looked at Yahiko, standing on the Wood Golem, and answered honestly. "He said my eyes are very special. That they're the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths from myth, the foremost of the Three Great Dojutsu. He said the power in these eyes can't awaken yet because the Sage left the key behind somewhere else."
"And he said… he's that key."
Konan's pupils contracted sharply.
A flash of insight suddenly cut through years of confusion.
The Rinnegan… why didn't it seem to have any unique ability?
The Byakugan had long-range vision and penetration. The Sharingan had perception, copying, and genjutsu—even the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan.
The Rinnegan was supposed to be the eye that, according to myth, created the moon. Even if that was exaggerated, it should still have had some corresponding ability.
And yet all Nagato seemed to possess was absurd ninjutsu talent.
Konan had assumed it was because Nagato was still young, and the Rinnegan's powers simply hadn't awakened yet.
When she had asked Yoru, he'd only given her a meaningful smile and said she'd understand in time.
Now it all clicked.
Yoru-sama had known the truth about the Rinnegan from the start.
This was that time.
He had already foreseen this moment.
The instant she realized that, Konan's heart settled. But outwardly, she still asked in a cold voice, "What do you want from us?"
"An alliance."
Yahiko finally stated his ambition.
"I want to change this world where great nations oppress small ones. But my strength alone isn't enough. I need to gather allies—people who either share my ideals, or possess overwhelming power."
He extended a hand toward Nagato and Konan and reintroduced himself.
"My name is Yahiko. Like you, I'm a war orphan from the Land of Rain. And I'm also the personal student of Hanzo of the Salamander."
"So it's you!"
Both Konan and Nagato were startled.
Over the years, Yahiko hadn't been entirely unknown. News that Hanzo had taken on a student had spread at one point—people had just gradually forgotten it.
Now that Yahiko mentioned it, they finally remembered who he was.
Nagato's wariness instantly eased by more than half.
That was the closeness of coming from the same country.
Konan, on the other hand, felt alarm bells ringing in her head.
He was Hanzo's student.
Could Hanzo be the mastermind?
No—if he were, then back then he wouldn't have nearly been killed by Yoru-sama.
Looking at the burn scars on Yahiko's face, Konan suddenly thought she understood.
She asked, as if puzzled, "If you're the student of the Ninja Demigod, why do you look like this?"
"Hanzo-sensei is dead."
Yahiko's eyes dimmed, but he didn't hide the truth.
Then his expression hardened again.
"But I gained something from it. Not only did I obtain power that can change the world, I also learned certain truths about this world—and obtained the key that can help the Rinnegan bearer awaken that miraculous power."
Nagato was visibly shaken.
Konan thought it over for a moment, then made her choice.
"I need to see your sincerity."
"Of course."
Yahiko agreed at once. Then he turned to Nagato and promised, "Follow me, and I'll teach you the Six Paths techniques and Yin-Yang Release. Believe me—this is power that stands above all else."