"It feels so quiet. There are no shinobi who keep trying to help Pakura and Toroi escape either. The difference compared to when we were in the Land of Iron is huge…"
After leaving the Land of Iron, where snow fell all year round, the more than one hundred members of Akatsuki wore urgently tailored black robes and traveled all the way toward the Land of Rain, where drizzle fell endlessly and clouds never scattered.
When Yahiko, as the organization's leader, saw the familiar sky covered by dark clouds and rain, he could not help laughing as he said this to Nagato beside him.
"Probably because they have already accepted reality and realized that Akatsuki's strength is no longer something they can easily find flaws in, so they chose to retreat in the face of difficulty."
Nagato looked at the homeland that was always raining, always crying, and let out a long breath.
"But none of that matters anymore… The Land of Rain and Akatsuki are about to enter a brand-new era."
Yahiko clenched his fist and said optimistically.
"You seem to be in a very good mood, Yahiko."
Nagato glanced sideways at Konan, whose face had been glowing with vitality these past few days, and teased, "Is it because your relationship with Konan has advanced another step?"
"T-That is only part of the reason."
A slightly embarrassed blush appeared on Yahiko's face.
"The ranks of companions who share Akatsuki's ideals are growing. Jirai—no, Lord Kashin Koji is also working hard to help us improve the immature parts of the organization. I have already seen hope of spreading Akatsuki's ideals to the entire shinobi world. How could I not feel even more motivated?"
"That is nice."
Nagato smiled.
With considerable emotion, he looked at the companions behind him, whose numbers could already be described as grand and mighty.
That's right.
The effort and accumulation we have made all this time were not all wasted.
From the three of us at the very beginning, to the dozen or so comrades who gradually gathered from the Land of Rain, and now to more than a hundred companions from various nations and regions…
From now on, it will be the same.
As long as we do not stop exploring the path to peace, the road leading to peace will continue to extend and spread.
One day, Akatsuki's road will reach a new era where everyone understands one another, and everyone can enjoy peace…
Whoosh—
A kunai pierced through the air, carrying a sharp sound as it flew toward Akatsuki's crowd.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Immediately afterward came a rain of kunai and shuriken that covered the sky like a violent storm.
When Nagato abruptly awakened from his thoughts and raised his head toward the pitch-black steel rain, the rain of hidden weapons carrying thick, cold death had already descended above the heads of the Akatsuki members, who had still been chatting and laughing.
And among this steel rain, a considerable portion had smoking explosive tags attached to them.
"Disas—"
"All of you, fall back!"
Before Yahiko could finish his instinctive murmur, he saw Nagato roar loudly enough for the entire team to hear.
At the same time, Nagato flew straight into the air from where he stood and rushed alone toward the rain of hidden weapons.
Nagato took a deep breath.
The vast chakra inside his body surged out like a rushing river.
He fully unleashed one of the powers granted to him by the Rinnegan.
"Shinra Tensei!"
An invisible repulsive force field spread outward from Nagato's body as the center, carrying irresistible force as it expanded forward.
Under the mighty power of the Rinnegan and the massive chakra of the Uzumaki clan, this grand sneak attack collapsed in an instant.
The shattered fragments of weapons were blasted into even finer debris by the explosions triggered by the explosive tags, then joined the shockwave swept up by Shinra Tensei and tore open the earth ahead with a roar.
"Who are you?! Why are you ambushing us?!"
With his long hair drifting, Nagato, who was walking through the air, panted twice.
With anger in his eyes, he looked toward the direction from which the black steel rain had come.
What surprised him somewhat was that the first to walk out of the smoke, dust, and muddy water stirred up by Shinra Tensei was not an Amegakure shinobi, the kind Rei Kaguya had repeatedly warned might plot against them.
Instead, it was an unknown shinobi wearing a strange animal mask and a black robe.
"A power and technique I have never seen before. And those strange eyes… Is this why Rei Kaguya chose you and funded the development of your Akatsuki in the Land of Rain, where Kirigakure finds it difficult to interfere?"
The masked man first muttered in surprise and confusion.
But immediately afterward, as if he had thought of something, his tone instantly turned cold and indifferent.
"But none of that matters. You and the Akatsuki you created are destined to be erased from history today, Nagato."
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
The masked man formed hand seals with both hands, then breathed out dozens of highly penetrating Wind Release chakra bullets toward Nagato, who was dozens of meters away.
Their power was so great they could easily pierce even stone.
But in Nagato's eyes, this kind of attack was still far from enough to make him take it seriously.
"Shinra Tensei."
With a brief swing of his arm forward, the Vacuum Spheres launched by the masked man were completely bounced away by the invisible repulsive force field.
Immediately afterward, Nagato fiercely clenched his hand in the masked man's direction and shouted in a low voice.
"Bansho Ten'in!"
Instantly, under the effect of tremendous attractive force, the masked man's body flew uncontrollably toward Nagato.
The smoke and dust behind him were also pulled by Bansho Ten'in at the same time, exposing the large number of figures hiding inside.
"Guhah—"
The masked man's throat was seized by Nagato, and he immediately let out an uncontrollable cry of pain.
Along with Nagato's follow-up Blocking Technique Absorption Seal, the chakra inside his body was rapidly taken away.
He no longer had any possibility of launching a counterattack against Nagato.
Nagato looked at the mask that covered the other party's face tightly, then looked at the dozens of shinobi with the same style of outfit who had appeared where the masked man originally stood.
He frowned sharply and asked in a stern voice, "Which village's Anbu are you?!"
"We… are not… Anbu… such weak… beings…"
"We are… darkness deeper… and darker… than Anbu…"
"We have come… to avenge… that man…"
The captured masked man intermittently refuted Nagato's question.
For some reason, even though Nagato could not see the face behind his mask, he instinctively felt that when this person said those words, he was proud, honored, and… filled with disdain.
Nagato instinctively disliked people who lived in darkness yet still took such pride in it.
So he decisively used the Four Symbols Seal he had learned from Karin Uzumaki on the man, sealing off all possibility of him extracting chakra.
Then he threw the masked man toward Akatsuki's formation behind him and shouted, "Jirai—Kashin Koji, you are the person in the organization who understands the intelligence of the major shinobi villages best. Can I trouble you to examine this man's and his companions' origins?"
"The rest of the combat department, prepare to meet the enemy. The other side launched this ambush with the goal of destroying us. You must ensure your own safety first before considering capturing them alive!"
Mixed into Akatsuki's ranks, Jiraiya, who had nearly acted on his own to dissolve that sudden rain of hidden weapons, first froze.
Then the immobile masked man crashed into him head-on.
After staggering back several steps, Jiraiya finally steadied himself and awkwardly touched his white hair, which had been soaked by the rain.
"That brat Nagato was originally about to call out my real name, wasn't he?! Damn it. To think he saw through my disguise so easily. Looks like my disguising skills are still far too rusty…"
The other Akatsuki members nearby also began nervously asking Jiraiya, who had recently been exceptionally promoted by Nagato and Yahiko because of his outstanding ability and was now temporarily serving as Akatsuki's personnel department head.
"Kashin Koji, please. You have to figure out the true identity of these attackers! Otherwise, wouldn't we not even know who exactly wants to destroy us?"
"I'll try."
Jiraiya did not speak too absolutely.
Instead, he first turned his head and glanced at Yahiko and Konan, who had already led half the combat department forward to support Nagato.
Only then did he take a deep breath, reach out toward the masked man who was powerless to resist, and remove the mask that gave him a bad premonition.
Beneath the mask was the unremarkable face of a middle-aged man in his thirties.
But the moment Jiraiya saw that face, he was so shocked he almost called out the other party's name.
Ryunosuke Shimura.
He was a shinobi from the Shimura clan, several years younger than Jiraiya.
Jiraiya had interacted with him a few times when he was a chunin, but after Ryunosuke Shimura joined Root, the two of them had never crossed paths again.
The Shimura clan was best at Wind Release.
And the most famous shinobi of their clan was Danzo Shimura, the former leader of Konoha's Root.
Ryunosuke Shimura.
Root.
Danzo Shimura.
"So it's… you… You traitor… You and your teacher… are both traitors…"
Through Ryunosuke Shimura's mouth movements, Jiraiya heard him say these words.
"Run! Run!!!"
"Wild Lion's Mane Technique!"
A chill ran down Jiraiya's spine.
He shouted as he abandoned Ryunosuke Shimura.
At the same time, his full head of white hair suddenly stretched out, grabbing the nearby Akatsuki members who still did not know what was happening, then rapidly retreated backward.
Ryunosuke Shimura slowly closed his eyes with a faint, almost nonexistent smile.
"Lord Danzo's will will never die. The roots Lord Danzo left behind will not become memories…"
"Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags."
A blinding firelight swelled out from Ryunosuke Shimura's body.
It rapidly swallowed the Akatsuki members Jiraiya had not managed to save in time.
The shockwave that rose into the sky blasted Akatsuki's formation into chaos.
It also gave the Amegakure shinobi hiding even farther away the signal to attack.
"Cut in from the rear. Since Root successfully used that move, most of Akatsuki's noncombat members should now be either dead or injured…"
Hanzo of the Salamander tightened his grip around the kusarigama in his hand.
In a cold voice, he said to the Ame-nin behind him, who were already eager to move, "Regardless of gender. Regardless of identity. Kill them all. Leave no one alive."
"Yes, Lord Hanzo!"
Hundreds of Ame-nin wearing Amegakure forehead protectors gripped the weapons in their hands tightly and responded in perfect unison.