It was truly shocking how powerful Nagato was, with his body on the brink of collapse due to improper use of the Rinnegan; one would expect him to be weakened.
But from what I could see, it wasn't truly weakened much by it. Sure, he couldn't do any form of taijutsu on his own, but his chakra? That was stronger than ever, his body constantly forced to deal with the draw of a dōjutsu that wasn't his own.
It had learned to deal with it, adapted, and produced immense amounts of chakra.
The rain made it nearly impossible to find his true body; in fact, I couldn't be sure what was his puppets and what was his true form, since his chakra was everywhere, making it difficult to see the true size and source of it all.
Still, despite the chakra-filled rain, my Byakugan wasn't fully blinded, and I could still see ahead of us and see where we were going, because it wasn't hard to guess where we were headed.
After all, so many powerful shinobi gathered together could only mean the location for the meeting place.
Konan walked ahead of me without a word. Her paper umbrella was visibly different from those used by the rest of the civilians around us.
They used rougher materials, cheaper stuff, while hers was cleverly made of chakra paper infused with her own chakra, offering her both protection from the rain and a weapon.
My own wasn't that fancy, and while it was expensive and fit what one would expect a noble to use… it wasn't enough to protect me entirely from the relentless downpour.
Even the finest of silks couldn't handle this amount of water.
"Here we are," Konan announced as we stopped before one of the largest buildings in the city, a towering edifice of steel and glass that seemed to scrape the perpetually cloudy sky.
Ame shinobi stood at the gates, keeping out anyone who wasn't supposed to enter, though as Konan stepped up, they all bowed their heads in deep respect and opened the two doors for us.
The interior was relatively simple, yet the entrance hall still exuded a sense of grandeur. It was clearly built with respect, and even while it still had that shinobi minimalism, it was clear that people regarded Pain as a god.
The walls were adorned with murals depicting scenes of what I assumed were Amegakure's history – wars, suffering, and, finally, a solitary figure bringing peace.
That was clearly Pain, or rather, Yahiko.
Konan led me down a long corridor, our footsteps echoing on the polished stone floor. One turn after another, we made our way into a complex set of tunnels underneath the building itself, a secret underground lair, the true base of the Akatsuki.
It was dark and damp, as one would expect given the eternal rain that fell upon the city above. The only light came from flickering torches mounted on the walls.
The air was heavy with the smell of damp earth and something else, something that I couldn't quite place.
Finally, we reached a large, circular chamber. In the far end, I saw it... after a thousand years... I saw it, the husk of the Jūbi, the remains of the Ten-Tails, the God Tree... half of my very own body.
While I had long since known that it had been removed from the seal, it was still something entirely different to see it in person.
More so, since my Byakugan clearly told me that it had no chakra left in it. Hagoromo had truly left nothing behind.
Or maybe it was Hamura who did that? I had no idea what he did while on the moon. The last time I saw the Jūbi was when he took it and sealed it away after Hagoromo died.
"Kaguya-hime?" Konan asked, her voice breaking me out of my thoughts.
I shook my head lightly. "It is nothing," I said, even as I kept my gaze on the massive, coiled form of the Gedō Statue. "It is just... a strange sight to behold, that is all." I answered her, trying to hide the sheer emotional impact of seeing parts of my own body as a statue for a criminal organization.
She didn't seem to fully believe me, but she didn't press the issue. Instead, she gestured towards a throne on the other side of the room. "Pain-sama is waiting for you."
There, I finally saw them. The rest of the Akatsuki were standing there, watching me just as I was watching them. They had all come for the introduction, all but Orochimaru and Sasori. But even if they weren't there physically, they had appeared using the astral manifestation jutsu.
And standing raised above them all was Nagato, or rather, Pain, using the body of Yahiko. The Deva Path. His orange hair, the numerous piercings that covered his body, and the Rinnegan in his eyes made him an intimidating figure.
More so since he felt cold, detached. Even standing this close to him, there was this nagging feeling that he was, in truth, far away.
I knew why, because I knew that he was, in fact, far away; this was but a puppet, and so, to a trained enough shinobi, they could feel this strange distance, but without knowing the truth, it was easy to see it as a different level of being.
The distance between a mortal and a god.
Even for non-shinobi, this effect might be why he was seen as a god, because he felt detached, inhuman, and he was, just... not in the divine way.
Konan led me to the center of the room, standing before them all. She then went to join Pain, standing to his side, a step behind, as if protecting his back.
For a moment, no one said anything; everyone just watched one another. I, too, took in the others.
Obito wasn't there... though he was no doubt watching from inside his Kamui dimension.
Zetsu was there, and I did look at him... a hunger rose within me, a deep-seated desire, because my Byakugan saw it as clear as day... inside the black half of him, was chakra, my chakra!
There was a desire to reclaim it, a desire that seemed rooted in my very being, to consume it, make it mine, become whole once again!
And I couldn't help but wonder, if I did take it... would I finally be able to awaken the Tenseigan? For a decade I had tried, hoped for it, but it never awoke, as if I was missing something... But surely my chakra, the chakra of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki from before my sealing, surely that would be enough.
It took everything I had to resist and instead turn my attention back to Pain.
"Kaguya-hime," he said, his voice a deep, resonant rumble that seemed to fill the entire chamber. "We have been waiting for you."
I gave a slight bow of my head, a gesture of respect, not of submission. "The pleasure is all mine, Pain-sama," I replied, my tone calm and measured. "I have heard much about you and your... organization."
"All good things, I hope," he said, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"I wouldn't say that," I replied, a small smile playing on my lips. "But I am intrigued by your goal. To bring peace to this world... a noble, if ambitious, undertaking."
"Ambitious, but achievable," he said, his tone firm. "With the right people, and the right power, anything is possible."
"And you believe I am one of those people?" I asked, my gaze unwavering.
"Your strength is undeniable," he said. "Kakuzu's reports were... informative. But I have also heard that you have your own desires, things you want in exchange for helping us. I am a generous god, so if it is reasonable, I will grant it, but make no mistakes." His tone hardened.
"I will break peace to this world, I will bring it pain, and nothing and no one will stop me!" He said, looking at me coldly.
And through my Byakugan, I could see his chakra gathering; it was a clear sign that he was about to do something, and I knew exactly what it was: intimidation. He was showing me the price of failure.
And he did not disappoint. He raised his hand. "It is through a shared understanding that we will bring peace, a shared understanding of pain!" He declared, as the entire chamber began to shake violently.
My Byakugan screamed a warning a split second before the attack hit. It was a massive force of pure gravity, an invisible wave of pressure that descended upon me with the force of a mountain.
But this was not the full power, I knew that much. This was just a small demonstration, a small fraction of what he could do. It was not meant to kill or even seriously harm; it was meant to crush.
But I was not one to be crushed so easily.
As the force bore down on me, I didn't try to resist it directly. Instead, I let my own power flow through me. My bones shifted and rearranged themselves, my body becoming denser, more durable. At the same time, I released a pulse of my own chakra, a counter-force that pushed back against the crushing weight.
It was a delicate balance, a contest of wills and power. The pressure was immense, a tangible force that made the very air feel solid. The stone floor beneath my feet cracked and buckled, unable to withstand the immense gravitational pull.
Even though I had been ready for it, even if I used both my own chakra and Shikotsumyaku to resist his attack, that didn't mean I came away untouched once the pressure disappeared. I couldn't help but stagger, bones bursting through my skin and clothes as the force vanished as quickly and suddenly as it had appeared.
But most importantly, the force had ripped the blindfold away from my face, revealing what it had hidden for more than a decade. My Byakugan.
There were no veins around them, but they were impossible to mistake, the pale, almost white irises glowing faintly in the dim light of the chamber.
The members of the Akatsuki stared, a mixture of shock and awe on their faces. They had heard about my power, about the many Kekkei Genkai I possessed, but seeing the Hyūga's Byakugan, a dōjutsu they knew was exclusive to a single, noble clan, was something else entirely.
"You have a Byakugan," Pain said, his tone a mix of surprise and intrigue.
"Hardly all that impressive compared to the legendary Rinnegan, is it now?" I replied, as the bones retracted back into my body with a sickeningly soft sound of flesh and bone knitting back together, the torn skin healing over without a scar. "But that is just one of the many things I have to offer," I said, as my gaze met the Rinnegan.
"And in return?" he finally asked, both impressed by the power I clearly had, but also sure in his own superiority.
"I want your help in tracking down someone," I said, my tone serious. "I want to find a man who has achieved immortality, a monk who has been alive since the time of the Sage of Six Paths, one who has escaped death."
I didn't say Isshiki's name, because there was no point; he wouldn't be going around using his own name, a name wouldn't help, all I had and needed to give them was the description. Already now, I could see the shock and desire in their eyes.
(End of chapter)
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