Afterward, the Land of Wind daimyo, who happened to be enjoying a golden king crab personally prepared by the head chef from the Land of Water in his estate garden, described the scene with lingering fear like this:
At first, there was only a slight tremor. It was like an extremely small earthquake, gently shaking my table and chairs.
Then the wind, which had originally been calm, suddenly became violent. It began to howl and roar, as if enraged by something, screaming as it rolled up enough sand and dust to darken the sky.
After that, the earth collapsed and the mountain shattered. Heaven and earth changed color.
That mountain, which had stood unmoving for who knew how many years amid the desert's fury and calm, was torn alive from the land by an indescribable mighty force.
It flew straight toward where I was.
After that?
Are you joking?
How could anyone still remain rational beneath such a despair-inducing miracle?
…
Standing at the highest point of the Land of Wind daimyo's estate, Shisui Uchiha looked at the original location of the enormous cliff Nagato had forcibly pulled up with the power of the Rinnegan.
Then he looked at the cliff that had descended again and now stood on the other side of the town.
He slowly drew in a cold breath.
"What… terrifying power. So this is the eye of the Sage of Six Paths, the Rinnegan?"
"Hah… hah… This is the power of the Deva Path. How is it? Does it feel, just a little, like Rei Kaguya's kind of presence? The feeling that one person's power alone can make all Five Great Shinobi Villages unable to breathe?"
Nearly half an hour had already passed since Nagato activated Super Universal Pull.
But he still looked breathless.
From the sweat continuously flowing down his forehead, it could be seen that even as a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, who were famous for their enormous chakra reserves, using a ninjutsu on that level still required him to pay a considerable price.
But so what?
If Nagato truly wanted to completely destroy a shinobi village, then even if the other side had a Jinchuriki capable of using Tailed Beast Balls, and even if every shinobi in the village was gathered and waiting, as long as that strike had accurately smashed into the region where the target village was located, it would have been enough to permanently wipe out more than ninety percent of the military strength and population of any one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
This was a strike capable of destroying all the military power of a great nation in one blow.
It was absolute force powerful enough to completely change the existing form of war in the shinobi world and make all Five Great Shinobi Villages feel as if a great enemy stood before them, trembling with fear.
"Lord Kazekage will probably be so anxious tonight that he cannot sleep after going back."
Because Kirigakure still had Rei Kaguya holding up the sky even if it collapsed, Shisui Uchiha did not feel any particularly great pressure.
He even had the leisure to make a comment to Nagato beside him about Rasa, who had been shocked into a blank stare at the time and had nearly walked into the wall when leaving the meeting room.
Nagato grinned.
As if he had achieved some accomplishment, he exhaled a long breath in complete relaxation.
"Although that guy Rei Kaguya told me long ago that in this era, I may be the only one capable of reaching his level and fully surpassing the Kage rank, looking at it now, I may have only barely stepped across the threshold of that level…"
"Otherwise, one technique would not have nearly emptied all my chakra."
"Lord Fourth should be very happy to see you grow to this point."
Shisui Uchiha recalled Rei Kaguya's less-than-optimistic physical condition lately and spoke from the heart.
"Who knows?"
Nagato shrugged.
Then, without warning, he changed the topic and threw a new question at Shisui Uchiha.
"After this joint investigation team is dissolved, do you have any other missions to carry out, Shisui?"
"Why ask that so suddenly?"
Shisui Uchiha tilted his head and asked cautiously.
"Because I have an idea that may require your cooperation."
"What idea? Let me hear it."
"I plan to infiltrate Konoha for a period of time and wait for Root to make a move against Konoha and Kakashi Hatake."
Nagato's answer made Shisui Uchiha's eyebrow twitch.
He could not help asking in return,
"I can roughly understand why you want to make sure Root cannot take out of Konoha the thing they were willing to plan such a wide-ranging assassination incident to obtain. But… why come to me about this?"
"Your relationship with Lord Jiraiya should be much closer. If you explain it to him, he should have no reason to disagree with your plan."
"No, no, no. If I tell Jiraiya-sensei about something like this, then it is equivalent to that older junior brother of mine knowing too."
Nagato waved his hand and analyzed very seriously.
"No matter how much Jiraiya-sensei trusts me, his first identity will always be a Konoha shinobi."
"For something like allowing an outside-village shinobi with the power to destroy the entire village to infiltrate Konoha, there is no way he would not reveal it to the Fourth Hokage and the other Konoha higher-ups."
"And if I want to catch Root off guard, then the fewer people who know I am in Konoha, the better."
"As for why I came to you, aside from thinking that you probably do not want to see Root succeed either, I also wanted to ask Rei Kaguya's opinion along the way."
"…Wait a moment."
Shisui Uchiha pursed his lips.
Then, with hand speed surpassing ordinary dynamic vision, he formed the seals for the Summoning Technique and summoned the white snake that could directly communicate with Rei Kaguya.
After that, he pressed his hand against the specially patterned scale carved on the white snake's forehead and injected chakra containing the power of the Cursed Seal of Heaven.
"…Hm. I understand. Have Zabuza investigate this matter. Find a way to dig out Kumogakure's spies and intelligence system in the Land of Water completely. That is all. Mei, go notify Zabuza first. I have something to deal with."
After a deliberately sped-up monologue ended, another minute passed before Rei Kaguya's voice sounded again from the white snake's mouth.
"Why contact me so suddenly, Shisui? Did you discover Root's whereabouts, or their base?"
"No, Lord Fourth… This contact is because Nagato proposed a suggestion that overlaps with my mission, and invited me to go with him. I want to hear your opinion."
Shisui Uchiha briefly explained the current situation.
His words made the white snake connected to Rei Kaguya's consciousness sway its head.
Then it turned toward Nagato with some surprise and said,
"Not bad, Nagato. You can even think along the same lines as me now. It was not in vain that I gave Akatsuki so much start-up funding. Are you finally going to walk the proper path of a peace organization?"
"Before Akatsuki fully transforms, I think we still need to settle accounts with Root first."
Nagato's expression slowly became solemn and serious.
He clenched his fist, his voice faintly carrying anger.
"I will not forget that Akatsuki nearly suffered complete destruction because of Root's sinister schemes…"
"That pain of being badly wounded by a cold arrow shot from a completely unexpected direction—I will return it in full to every member of Root."
"I do not object to you making those Root bastards feel pain."
Rei Kaguya's voice came from the white snake.
"But since you intend to drag Shisui along and infiltrate Konoha, before you go, why not stop by the former territory of Roran and help me handle something?"
Nagato understood that Rei Kaguya's answer counted as tacit approval of his proposal.
As a response to the other party's goodwill, Nagato answered very readily.
"Fine. Specifically, what is it?"
"I need you to find the queen and remnants of the old Kingdom of Roran and confirm with them some details about what happened in Roran back then."
The white snake flicked out its tongue and spoke unhurriedly.
"If everything goes smoothly, then we and Roran have a major business deal to discuss."
"A business deal large enough to change the entire shinobi world."