Clang!
With a sharp metallic clang, Nagato barely managed to block Samehada's slash with a kunai.
Several barbed spines erupted from the massive blade, impaling his forearm.
Samehada, starved nearly to death, hadn't tasted chakra in ages—and now went madly wild trying to suck it all up.
Nagato had intended to keep fighting despite his injured arm, launching a ninjutsu technique to support his ally and land a heavy blow on the enemy before them.
But when he felt his chakra flooding out like water breaking through a dam, a surge of alarm shot through him.
Through the keen sight of his Rinnegan,
he saw Konan and Yahiko rushing in to aid him.
Mustering strength, he pushed up against Samehada, attempting to create some distance.
Yet the Mist Anbu before him completely disregarded the incoming attacks from Yahiko and Konan.
In his hands, Samehada switched from a slash to a thrust!
That grotesque blade widely opened its massive, drooling maw—as though it aimed to swallow Nagato whole!
Pupupupu—
Konan's paper shuriken embedded with explosive tags tore through Kei Yamanaka's Hydrification Technique form.
Yahiko's wind-elemental chakra-infused kunai also pierced through the gap in his right shoulder blade, spraying water everywhere.
"Yahiko, fall back! Nagato, use Lightning Release!"
Seeing Yahiko still focusing on disabling rather than killing, Konan cried urgently.
Boom!
The repulsive force from the Rinnegan radiated outward from Samehada.
Aware of the danger—but far too late to react—Nagato barely managed to use his Rinnegan to blast that drooling maw apart.
Thanks to the hyper reaction speed provided by [Zero-Frames Start],
Kei Yamanaka's upper body twisted 180 degrees unnaturally mid-air while still in his liquid form.
Yahiko, already beginning to retreat, suddenly grimaced.
Before he could even react,
the Mist Anbu lunged forward, harnessing the Rinnegan's repulsive force to boost his assault.
In an instant, the enemy's fist slammed full-force into Yahiko's face!
Boom!!
"Yahiko!!"
As Nagato and Konan cried out in horror, Yahiko was sent flying sideways, crashing violently into a steel wall,
knocked out cold by the devastating blow.
Boom!
The repulsive force from behind sent Kei and Samehada hurtling backward.
Just as Konan was about to ignite the explosive tags embedded in her paper shuriken,
she saw the enemy's legs suddenly bulge grotesquely!
He stomped heavily onto the steel floor, twisting his entire body midair—and within a blink, blitzed straight toward her.
"Konan!!"
Nagato screamed, desperate to activate Universal Pull and reel Konan in before the enemy could strike.
But his body couldn't keep up with the enemy's lightning-fast movements!
Samehada swept across in front of Kei, intercepting Nagato's gravitational pull.
Starving and furious, Samehada didn't care that it had just failed against Nagato moments ago.
Driven by Universal Pull's force, the beast eagerly surged forward again.
Boom!
Another heavy impact echoed through the air.
Nagato had just leapt upward to evade the Samehada being drawn in by Universal Pull.
Looking up, Konan's body had already slumped to the floor.
And that elite Anbu-level shinobi charged into the midst of Akatsuki organization members like a tiger among lambs.
With just taijutsu alone, he effortlessly sent each of them crashing into the surrounding walls.
"Kujaku! Daibutsu! Goyi!"
Nagato glared furiously, his hands forming seals. He was about to push his body past its limits and activate the strongest Rinnegan technique within his control.
Yet the elite Anbu-level shinobi had already pressed his palm against Konan's forehead.
Scanning the area, all his comrades were severely wounded and unconscious, but didn't seem to be in any immediate danger.
Swallowing his panic and anxiety, Nagato barked out.
"You! What exactly do you want to do!"
"You tell me!"
Shwaa—Dong!
A deafening gust exploded at the back of his skull. Nagato didn't even have time to react before his vision went black.
His legs buckled as he stumbled forward one step before collapsing face-first onto the floor.
"This strength… there's still such a huge gap!"
Kei Yamanaka's shadow clone caught Nagato mid-fall.
Samehada bore not only the contract seal he'd placed to stop Kiri from summoning it away,
But also several Flying Thunder God markings etched into it.
So focused on the enemies ahead and the injured allies, he completely ignored the weapon that had flown behind him earlier.
After all, he was still young—the gap in combat experience was just too vast.
Catching a small glass bottle tossed over by his original body, the shadow clone was just about to start digging out an eye when suddenly his real body's voice arrived.
"Stop!"
Yamanaka Kei stared at Nagato's skill listing interface, muttering a string of curses directed at Black Zetsu under his breath.
Earlier, he had used the system to quickly scan through the names and identities of everyone present.
However, due to the large number of people, he hadn't taken the time to examine each individual's details.
Now focusing specifically on Nagato,
He immediately noticed something was off.
...
[Name: Nagato]
[Occupation: Ninja]
[Skill Listings: Bloodline of the Uzumaki Progenitor (Purple), Pseudo-Rinnegan (Purple), Six Chakra Natures Omnipotence (Blue), Kagura's Mind's Eye (Blue), Intelligent (Green), Puppet Mastery (Green), Inseparable Companionship (White), Blind Obedience (Gray)]
...
[Bloodline of the Uzumaki Progenitor (Purple)]: Pure blood of the Uzumaki Clan, which underwent transformation after being stimulated by the Yin and Yang energies of the Six Paths Chakra from the Rinnegan, greatly increasing affinity toward Water, Earth, Fire, Wind, Lightning, and Yang natures; significantly enhanced vitality and chakra reserves.
[Pseudo-Rinnegan (Purple)]: Created by forcibly upgrading a Three-Comma Sharingan using Six Paths Yin-Yang techniques as its foundation, combined with the power of the God Tree and the Demi-God Transformation Jutsu, resulting in a pseudo-Rinnegan brimming with Rinnegan energy. Capable of utilizing partial Six Paths powers, this eye will shatter once its energy is depleted.
"Black Zetsu… Six Paths Power, Demi-God Transformation Jutsu… you really know how to twist things..."
Kei Yamanaka took a deep breath. Out of caution, he ordered his shadow clone to begin inspecting the bodies of these Akatsuki organization members.
Did Black Zetsu somehow know that Madara Uchiha had awakened the Rinnegan and implanted it into Nagato?
In theory, it should be impossible.
But then again, that man was a schemer who had lived nearly a thousand years.
After Madara Uchiha's sudden death, nothing would be surprising.
Yet intentionally allowing Tobi to attack the Konoha ninja dispatched to Amegakure, deliberately allowing Konoha to discover the fledgling Akatsuki organization, and even leaving behind this pair of counterfeit Rinnegan eyes...
Was this all just meant to deceive him?
Or was it...
"Hmm? Original body—Shishien (Transcriptive Seal)!"
His shadow clone gave a quiet exclamation before stepping back slightly from Nagato.
Kei Yamanaka furrowed his brow slightly and signaled them to continue checking.
After a thorough examination...
It turned out Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan all bore the Shishien seals!
No such seals were found among the other members.
In the original storyline, Madara Uchiha used Shishien to seal Izanagi into his right eye, delaying its activation.
Uchiha Itachi also used this technique, leaving Amaterasu within Sasuke's eyes and Kotoamatsukami inside Naruto.
He didn't know what conditions had triggered the activation of these Shishien seals.
Nor did he know exactly which techniques had been sealed within them.
Without resolving this first,
even if he wiped their minds and brought them back to Konoha, Kei Yamanaka would still hesitate.
After all, what if the Shishien contained techniques like Summoning Jutsu: Demonic Statue of the Outer Path or Super Shinra Tensei, and the moment they reached Konoha, the activation condition was triggered?
Three shinobi wars hadn't even begun yet, and Konoha might already be in ruins!
As for killing them outright—
Plplplpl~~
As Kei was thinking, Samehada, ravenous and desperate, wormed its way over to Nagato like a caterpillar.
Its foot-long tongue lapped repeatedly at the young man's head.
Its sharp spines seemed to soften into fluffy fur, tightly clinging to Nagato's body.
Massive amounts of chakra poured out from Nagato's body.
The unconscious youth trembled uncontrollably from massive chakra depletion.
Shiu~Peng!
A booming sound erupted overhead—a signal flare bursting into the sky.
Whoosh~
With a ripple in space,
No.2 Shadow Clone, who had been left outside to keep watch, appeared next to Samehada with an unpleasant expression.
He tossed down in front of Kei a ninja clearly trapped in a genjutsu illusion.
"White Zetsu?"
Kei glanced at the information panel hovering above the figure before him, then threw a sealing scroll to the shadow clone.
Hearing the piercing alarm ringing throughout Amegakure echoing in his ears, he pulled out a blood storage tube from his robes and smeared some on his fingertip.
A huge chakra mist rose up as a clam—considerably smaller than Shin, yet still sizable—materialized in the room.
Seeing this, the shadow clone immediately tossed the bodies of Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan into the clam's open shell.
"Don't let them die just yet."
After issuing those instructions to the summoned clam beast,
Kei canceled the summoning technique, sending the clam back to its clan's dwelling.
Sensing multiple figures rapidly approaching from beyond the building, Kei grabbed Samehada off the floor!
Though he still hadn't figured out what Black Zetsu was trying to accomplish...
Now that you're here!
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