A dense, smoke-like black mist surged out, lunging toward Nagato. Frowning slightly, Nagato knew very well that these things appearing like black mist were actually improved Nano-sized Rinkaichu. If a normal person were touched by even a sliver, those nano-bugs would continuously multiply within their body, easily claiming their life.
"Phantom Dragon Nine Seals!"
As the spreading mist touched the illusory dragon, it rapidly fell to the ground, turning into a floor of dust. No matter how peculiar the abilities of these insects were, the power supporting their various logic-defying traits was undoubtedly Chakra. Any Chakra-based organism that collided with the Phantom Dragon Nine Seals without a sufficiently high level of Chakra would have its energy and soul sucked dry.
Even ordinary Ninjas would be drained in an instant, let alone these incredibly weak insects.
"That's quite a warm welcome, Danzo!"
Nagato slowly walked through the doorway, not even glancing at the Ninja who had used the nano-bugs. An illusory dragon from his body simply lunged forward, instantly taking the life of that Aburame ninja.
A Ninja from the Yamanaka Clan hiding to the side had just activated a jutsu when Nagato's gaze flickered over. The Rinnegan directly reflected the spiritual Ninjutsu. The man let out a miserable shriek as blood leaked from his eyes, nose, and mouth, and he collapsed to the ground, barely clinging to life.
Behind the door was a cavernous plaza nearly the size of a small stadium. Besides the two Ninjas who had been lying in ambush by the door, eight more Ninjas stood in the center. The plaza floor was covered in circular Sealing Formulas, with an unconscious Uzumaki Naruto placed at the very center of the array.
Standing beside the young Uzumaki Naruto was none other than Danzo. Currently, his expression was grim as he looked up at the intruding Nagato, his hand gripping his cane tightly.
"The Rinnegan... You are Jiraiya's disciple, aren't you?! Why have you come to attack Konoha instead of staying in the Land of Rain? Was this orchestrated by Jiraiya?"
Nagato's face twisted in disgust. "Heh, how pathetic. Even now, you're still thinking about those boring politics..."
"Why did I come to attack Konoha? Do you really know nothing, Danzo? Your Root must have had a hand in the attack on the Akatsuki Organization back then!"
"One could even say that your Root was the true mastermind. It was you who stoked Hanzou's paranoia, leading him to strike at the Akatsuki!"
"What, now that I've come for revenge, you're going to play innocent? You old bastard, Danzo!"
Danzo Shimura's mouth twitched. Having just received intelligence that a Ninja with the Rinnegan was slaughtering his way here, he had felt things were taking a turn for the worse. Although Konohagakure's strength had increased significantly, the memory of Nagato summoning the Gedo Statue to sweep through the entire Amegakure and the Konoha Root was still very vivid in his mind!
Sensing that Nagato would focus all his firepower on him the moment he stepped out, Danzo had immediately played the coward. After Nagato had nearly torn through all of Konoha and even the Third Hokage had died at his hands, Danzo was even less willing to show his face.
But he hadn't expected that even so, Nagato would come straight for him. Even his plan to control the Nine-Tailed hadn't been completed yet!
Thinking of this, Danzo said in a low voice, "Fine, it is true that I assisted Amegakure in attacking the Akatsuki in the past. But that was because Amegakure was the official organization truly representing the Land of Rain at the time... You must have taken over Amegakure by now, right? Once I become Hokage, I can naturally establish diplomatic ties with the Land of Rain and recognize the status of your Akatsuki Organization!"
Nagato inwardly rolled his eyes, completely ignoring Danzo's words. 'Is there something wrong with your head, trying to feed me empty promises like this?'
His only response to Danzo was to raise his hand once more: "Universal Pull!"
Uzumaki Naruto, located at the center of the sealing array, was quickly caught by the gravitational force and flew rapidly toward Nagato's hand. Seeing that things were going south, Danzo didn't waste any more words and chose to strike immediately: "Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
"A waste of effort..."
Nagato let out a soft cold snort. He didn't even bother to dodge; the Vacuum Wave slammed into the Chakra cloak around his body and was instantly absorbed.
"Dammit, is this the power of the Rinnegan? If I had known..."
"Even if you had known, you couldn't have done a thing! From the moment I summoned the Gedo Statue, your Root became nothing but a swarm of ants in my eyes!"
Grabbing Uzumaki Naruto again, Nagato sneered and extended his hand: "Farewell! Danzo!"
"Shinra Tensei!"
With a thunderous boom, a terrifying repulsive force erupted within the cavern. Neither Danzo nor his subordinate Ninjas had anywhere to hide in that space. They were instantly crushed against the cave walls, reduced entirely to a mass of bloody pulp.
The excessive force of the repulsion destabilized the structure of the Root base. Amidst a rumbling sound, the entire cavern began to collapse.
By then, Nagato had already activated a Space-Time Ninjutsu, his figure vanishing in a flash.
"Heh, Danzo should still have the Izanagi technique, right? I wonder what it will feel like when he resurrects only to find himself crushed within the ruins, left to die slowly?"
With a smile on his lips, though the consciousness of this body of Nagato had dissipated, the memories remained and influenced Vegapunk. Furthermore, since his other Vegapunk clone also had a terrible relationship with that old bastard Danzo, he naturally wanted to give him a unique way to die to vent some frustration.
"I didn't see many familiar faces this time... Kakashi, Kurenai Yuhi, Uchiha Fugaku, and the others weren't here... Most of the young people from the original story have gone to the front lines for training."
Holding Naruto, Nagato reappeared at the site of his recent battle with Might Guy. Currently, Might Guy was unconscious on the ground, but unlike the original story, his body wasn't covered in black carbonized marks. Nagato took a closer look and realized the training suit had worked, interrupting the flow of the Eight Gates.
"Not dead? Well, he's basically crippled anyway... In this state, if Might Guy wants to recover, the clone can have him undergo some more dangerous human modification experiments."
After surveying the situation, Nagato took Uzumaki Naruto and soared into the sky, vanishing from the chaotic Konohagakure... News of what happened in Konoha quickly spread throughout the Ninja World. Uzumaki Naruto, whose Nine-Tailed Chakra had been drained, was found shortly after in a forest near Konoha. Although his Tailed Beast Chakra was gone, he fortunately survived and was even left unharmed.
After all, with Vegapunk's technology, extracting a mere Tailed Beast wouldn't harm the Jinchuriki at all.
Having extracted the Nine-Tailed Chakra, the Ten-Tails within Nagato's body instantly regained a significant amount of power, causing Nagato's own strength to rise once again.
Next, the Ichibi from the Hidden Sand Village, and the Three-Tails and Six-Tails from the Sea Ninja Village—these three Tailed Beasts were practically delivered to his doorstep without Nagato even having to search for them.
Then there was the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki from Takigakure. This ordinary small Ninja Village didn't cost Nagato much effort either. In fact, because it was of no value, Nagato didn't even choose to infiltrate; he simply descended from the sky and snatched the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki.
During the entire raid, those Takigakure Ninjas, whose fighting will had completely degenerated, didn't even have time to react. Consequently, aside from the Tailed Beast being stolen, Takigakure suffered no casualties.
Of course, Nagato's collection of Tailed Beasts was not hidden from the other Ninja Villages. Both Kumogakure and Iwagakure were now on the highest state of alert.
Although in this era of rapid technological advancement where Ninjas' strengths had improved by leaps and bounds, Jinchuriki were no longer considered ultimate weapons of mass destruction—only ordinary trump cards for a Village—the two Villages could not simply hand them over for the sake of their pride.
Furthermore, who knew what this Nagato intended to do by collecting the Tailed Beasts? If all nine were gathered, while they might not be enough to destroy the Ninja World as before, they would still be roughly equivalent to the entire power of a major Ninja Village.
As a result, the three great Ninja Villages that had been engaged in small-scale skirmishes ceased their fighting. Konoha currently didn't even have a Village head, and having suffered such heavy losses, it naturally didn't want to fight the other two Villages anymore.
The other two Villages were also worried about the safety of their Jinchuriki, so they recalled all their dispatched Ninjas. For a time, the entire Ninja World became quiet because of Nagato's terrorist attack.
Having absorbed so many Tailed Beasts at once, Nagato felt a bit stuffed and needed some time to properly digest the power.
Additionally, Vegapunk was preparing to use this physical body to summon Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. Although in Vegapunk's view, it wouldn't be difficult for his people to team up and deal with her, his cautious nature led him to prepare several hidden measures in Nagato's body to prevent any issues.
So, for the following period, Nagato secretly went to Vegapunk's laboratory to have more seals placed on his body. These were specifically designed by Vegapunk, after studying Hancock's state, to deal with Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
Iwagakure and Kumogakure waited for two or three months, but Nagato never showed up. One must realize that keeping an entire Village on full alert costs money!
Even when a Village assigns missions to Ninjas, they still have to pay, and the higher the rank, the more they are paid. Staying on full alert for two or three months meant no Ninjas were going out on missions, and everyone relied on the Village for their salaries. The two Villages couldn't hold out much longer, and most importantly, they didn't know when it would end!
So, before Nagato could even go to them, Kumogakure and Iwagakure formed an alliance and marched toward Amegakure.
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