"Is the Demonic Statue alright?"
Konan helped Nagato up, her expression tinged with worry. However, her concern wasn't for the Gedo Mazo or their future plans, but for Nagato beside her.
In the aftermath of the battle, Nagato was gasping heavily for breath, his body drenched in cold sweat and trembling uncontrollably. A more telling sign was how the vibrant red of his hair now seemed exceptionally dull… Even Nagato himself didn't know precisely what he had overdrafted during the fight. All he could feel now was extreme physical and mental exhaustion. More terrifying was the sensation of his soul and life force nearing depletion, plunging him into a state of abnormal agony.
"It's fine… Ultimately, the Demonic Statue is just an empty shell, a piece of dead wood. You can't… treat it like an ordinary living being. This damage is negligible. If it were truly shattered, that would be another matter entirely," Nagato managed, steadying his breathing slightly before speaking in an incredibly faint voice.
After Yahiko's death, when Nagato took leadership of Akatsuki, Konan had resolved to suppress her own emotions and thoughts. She knew what Nagato had already sacrificed, and was prepared to sacrifice, for their plan. Thus, she willingly became a tool in his hands. But this time, she finally couldn't hold back. "Nagato, given your body's condition, you can't withstand many more battles like this."
"Many more" was undoubtedly a comforting understatement. From the very first time he summoned the Gedo Mazo, Nagato had been continuously affected and eroded by the statue. From that point on, his life could only be described as barely clinging on.
Nagato remained silent for a moment before replying, "I understand… but I can only continue moving forward."
Nagato wasn't truly Nagato anymore. He was just a walking corpse, an executor tasked with pushing the plan forward—Don't you ever stop, Nagato.
After Konan helped Nagato to his feet, they carefully navigated around the still-spread network of mercury threads. A closer look revealed that both bore faint puncture marks from the fine strands, yet due to their distance, they had both avoided fatal injuries.
So, it seemed the "protagonist blessed with plot armor" couldn't make the final spin happen after all. And if it couldn't spin, how could it possibly defeat the enemy?
The pair moved unhurriedly in a specific direction. Along the way, they used Summoning Techniques to collect the fallen parts of the Gedo Mazo they encountered, sending them back for later repair… This kind of damage wasn't difficult to fix. From superglue to epoxy resin, a suitable method would surely be found.
On careful consideration, although the Gedo Mazo had sustained some damage, its summoning this time wasn't entirely without gain. It had absorbed a significant amount of Habara's chakra. Habara's chakra—or more accurately, Ryumyaku chakra—possessed certain similarities to Tailed Beast chakra, which would help the Gedo Mazo recover its strength… It was impossible to sate its hunger with Habara's chakra alone, but it served as an unexpected appetizer. For the Gedo Mazo, starved for thousands of years, this could at least tide it over. Naturally, it was happy to swallow it down.
After walking a bit further, the two finally located Habara's body.
Upon seeing the human figure lying motionless on the ground, devoid of breath and life, Konan couldn't help but release a sigh of relief… They had truly eliminated this troublesome ninja.
"If we hadn't deployed the Demonic Statue here in advance, the outcome of the battle would have been genuinely uncertain," Konan remarked, indirectly cautioning Nagato.
Nagato remained silent, then nodded. "Perhaps I grew too intoxicated with the power of these eyes. Or perhaps… I still haven't truly understood their real power."
The Rinnegan was already incredibly overpowered, a true 'bug' in the system, yet Nagato hadn't actually tapped into the eyes' genuine core abilities.
"He seemed to know many things he shouldn't have. Is it still possible to investigate the source of his intelligence now?" Seeing Nagato acknowledge her point, Konan didn't dwell on the preceding battle. They had won in the end, hadn't they? Now, she was more interested in how this ninja had learned Pain's secrets.
Nagato shook his head. "We can try, but it's best not to hold out hope… A ninja of his caliber would retain the strength for a final, lethal strike even at the very end. Anticipating his own demise, he would have certainly erased the intelligence within his mind."
"A pity. We could have potentially used him to learn Konoha's core secrets… Regardless, let's take the body back. It might prove useful," Konan said.
"Alright."
If not for that final Shinra Tensei, even with the Gedo Mazo present, the likely outcome would have been mutual destruction. Nagato didn't know where he had dredged up that last bit of chakra from, but he knew this corpse could serve very well as a tool… A ninja's strength in life often correlated to their usefulness after death.
After securing the body, Nagato and Konan retrieved the remains of Yahiko (the Deva Path). They also carefully destroyed any significant traces left at the scene before finally departing.
These subsequent tasks wasted considerable time. Handling them herself would have been much faster for Konan, but considering Nagato's current extreme weakness, she, as his bodyguard, had to stay with her charge. Otherwise, the defenseless Nagato might encounter a large jungle cat and meet an unceremonious end.
Meanwhile, after the Konoha trio crossed back into the Land of Fire, they quickly came within Daigo's communication range. Once they reported the information Habara had provided, the three split up… Aoba Yamashiro and Hayate Gekko would return to the Hokage to deliver a firsthand account of what they had witnessed. Tenzo, however, chose to turn back, intending to scout the area from a safe distance.
According to Habara's explicit orders, no shinobi support would be sent to the battlefield. Yet Tenzo felt he couldn't simply remain ignorant of what had transpired there. For reasons both official and personal, he couldn't just walk away.
By the time Tenzo arrived back at the Land of Rivers border, he noticed the giant sphere in the sky had vanished. Drawing a little closer, he also couldn't hear any sounds of fighting. This most likely indicated that the battle there had concluded.
Acting cautiously, Tenzo didn't approach rashly. He circled the perimeter of the battlefield, probing bit by bit, carefully drawing nearer.
The area was indeed deserted. The scorched marks left by Habara's composite ninjutsu were also gone. An even larger, deeper crater now dominated this section of the forest. Tenzo peered down into the crater and saw that the massive sphere, previously floating in the sky, had crashed into the bottom.
After repeatedly confirming the absence of any enemies, Tenzo sprinted towards the massive sphere at the crater's base. Circling it once, he discovered a collapsed section on one side, and from this rupture flowed a large quantity of iron sand.
There was no doubt: this object had trapped Habara, but ultimately, Habara had escaped.
Due to the destructive power of the Cho Shinra Tensei, the battlefield was remarkably clean, leaving few traces that could help determine the course of the battle. After carefully investigating for a while, Tenzo surmised that Habara had likely gained the upper hand after breaking free, subsequently pursuing the enemy in a specific direction.
Tenzo began searching along the probable path of pursuit. After some time, he indeed discovered traces of Habara's "Mercury Lamp."
However, beyond that point, no matter how thoroughly Tenzo searched, he could find no further trace of Habara. It was as if Habara had vanished into thin air.
"Missing…"
Tenzo's heart sank. For a shinobi, the word "missing" was never a good omen. The Second Hokage's final end was listed as missing. The Third Hokage's final end was listed as missing…
And now, Habara too was "missing."