Chapter 248: God, Neither Good Nor Evil
Kaito Shirogane stood naturally on the ground. The purple Satsui no Hado on his hands burned like flames, but his entire body emanated a jet-black aura.
"The power of the soul..."
The long-haired Ningendo Pain (Human Path) immediately detected the new power signature on Mercenary Tao. It was very close to the aura of a soul, but far more sinister and twisted, like that of a demon.
Nagato, controlling the Pains from the shadows, also realized the truth of Mercenary Tao's power. It wasn't taijutsu. It was an existence completely different from any current power system.
Vmm~
Tendo Pain spun around instantly, grabbing with one hand at Mercenary Tao, who had appeared out of thin air behind the Ningendo Pain. A powerful attractive force emerged. The Rinnegan's perception was so excellent that they could react even to instant movement.
But before the Bansho Ten'in could activate, the opponent dissipated into the wind again. His right hand was empty. Just as he was about to lower it, the air in front of him was instantly displaced. The shared vision of the other Pains saw Mercenary Tao's tall figure appear in front of Tendo Pain.
[Shinra Tensei]!
The powerful repulsive force exploded once more.
Boom!
The terrifying impact exploded at point-blank range. The curve of Kaito's lips was cruel. He leaned forward, intense Cursed Energy surging. In a way, extreme killing intent was also a form of extreme emotion.
The surge of the Satsui no Hado caused his own Cursed Energy to react violently. If not for the imprinted Limitless Cursed Technique and the Six Eyes traits that were beginning to manifest, controlling this raging Cursed Energy would have been extremely difficult.
But in return, Kaito Shirogane, having drawn Gojo Satoru into his body via [Spirit Infusion], was now terrifyingly strong and versatile.
[Cursed Technique: Stopping Power]
The repulsive force collided with the Limitless, causing the air between them to shatter.
The massive explosion blasted Tendo Pain backward.
Tendo Pain's body twisted in mid-air, finally stopping after plowing a trench several dozen meters long. His body's surface was already damaged.
But Kaito, thanks to the Limitless's passive defense, had blocked the impact completely.
His mind was wide open. He took a step and instantly reappeared in front of Tendo Pain. His combat style was completely different from a ninja's. No feints, just high-speed assaults straight into the kill.
The pitch-black Dragonslayer appeared in his left hand. As his waist twisted, the greatsword danced. A jet-black blade-light, accompanied by a strange shriek of air, exploded forth.
Vmm!
The black, fan-shaped blade-light slashed down. Tendo Pain's body burst into a cloud of smoke as the sword plunged into the ground.
Pfft~
The Dragonslayer vanished from Kaito's hand. He shot backward into the air, and a white Spirit Orb shot from his finger.
He rarely used this ability. For Kaito, who had mastered ki, the Spirit Orb was far less convenient than the Dodon Ray. But in his current state, he could feel the power of his soul surging.
A massive Spirit Orb fired, blasting directly at the Animal Path Pain, who had just used a summoning jutsu to pull Tendo Pain away.
The Gakido Pain (Preta Path), who had been mostly useless as he couldn't detect any Chakra, now blocked the path, hands raised, trying to absorb the Spirit Orb.
The two-meter-wide Spirit Orb struck the Gakido Pain. The Rinnegan's absorption power flared, but pure spiritual power could not be deconstructed by Chakra. After a brief stalemate, it exploded.
Nagato, controlling them from the shadows, frowned. His body was weak, but he could feel that after the Gakido Pain took that hit, his connection to that body had been affected.
Clearly, that soul-power attack had a special negative effect on his Six Paths of Pain.
"Nagato, is this the only level of pain you have?!"
Kaito did not pursue. He stood in the distance, his Satsui no Hado surging. An impulse to kill everyone present rose in his heart, but he kept it firmly under control.
He wanted to become stronger, which meant he could not be dominated by killing intent. He had to transcend the Satsui no Hado and enter the state of a god!
Kaito's shout made the Akatsuki members' expressions shift. Konan felt she could no longer stand by. She also floated up slowly, vast amounts of paper appearing around her.
But Sasori and Orochimaru showed no sign of moving. Zetsu just watched the battle from afar.
Konan turned her head, looking at Catherine and Hana Hiranaka inside the barrier. If the intel was correct, this Mercenary Tao was definitely protecting those two.
Regardless of his goal, simply destroying what he was trying to protect would naturally affect him.
Vmm!
Kaito used the Limitless Cursed Technique: [Blue] to teleport again, appearing in front of the Akatsuki members. Sasori was unfazed, but Zetsu and Orochimaru instantly created distance.
"Heh. What you're doing... how is it any different from what Hanzo did that day, Konan?"
Kaito leaned forward, looking down on the woman. A woman who, fearing Nagato would be worn down and killed, had subconsciously resorted to achieving her goal by harming the weak.
Konan's face paled—that sentence hit her hard. But she recovered instantly, and countless sheets of paper began to fly at Kaito.
"A person like you... what do you know?!"
"A person like me?"
Kaito sneered, taking pleasure in her anger.
He stood still, allowing the mass of paper to envelop him. Air, suffocation... things like that couldn't kill him, not to mention...
FWOOSH!
Simply because they were wrapped around his body and preventing him from breathing, the papers began to ignite. Kaito stood in the flames, completely unaffected.
He just continued his taunt.
"And how do you know... just what kind of person I am?"
Kaito spread his arms, letting Konan prepare her jutsu. At this moment, he deeply felt his own power. Aside from special sealing jutsu or certain divine weapons from this world, he was extremely difficult to kill with ordinary means.
"You see my killing intent and think I'm a villain. But the people you and Nagato have killed... are they any fewer than those I've killed?"
"Is it just because when you kill, you're thinking of some lofty ambition, some ideal peace?"
"Hahahaha..."
Kaito covered his face, laughing madly.
This pale debate... it was so absurd and comical to him.
In the end, in Kaito's eyes, Nagato and Konan didn't even fully believe in their own ideals. That's why they were always screaming about "pain" and "peace," and why, in the original story, they were convinced by the "Child of Prophecy" and gave up.
The two of them never had such grand ideals to begin with. They were just following Yahiko's dream. After Yahiko's brutal death, the two of them, in their pain, chose this path.
"Stupid. Too stupid."
"Your purity... it's just too low. I suppose Yahiko's dream will never be realized in this lifetime... Ha."
Kaito kept taunting them. Konan's expression changed, bit by bit. Her heart ached as those memories resurfaced.
Yahiko's smile, the moments the three of them shared, their beautiful vision for the future, the poor, struggling people of the Land of Rain...
It was all destroyed by war and conspiracy. And in the end, no one paid the price.
She clutched her chest. The pain was still sharp.
She slowly raised her head, looking at the still-ranting Mercenary Tao. In her eyes, it was exactly his kind of person—with no reverence for life, who carelessly stole the happiness of others, and then mocked those who died for their ideals.
"A person like you..."
Konan's voice grew from a whisper to a roar, her tone from calm to one that held a towering rage.
"The world would only be better off... if people like you... were utterly erased!"
She spread her hands, and countless exploding tags appeared. At the same time, her own [Dance of the Shikigami] began to unravel. Normally, her body was composed of paper, making her immune to ordinary attacks.
But when Konan prepared to use her strongest technique, the [Sacred Paper Emissary Jutsu], it required all of her Chakra, leaving her unable to maintain other jutsu and exposing her true body.
Nagato, hiding and controlling the Pains, felt his pupils shrink. Through the Rinnegan's shared vision, he clearly saw it: as Konan began her jutsu, the cruel smile on Mercenary Tao's face grew even wider.
"Stop, Konan!"
Nagato struggled, feeling that fear of losing his family once again. He ignored his body, which was almost drained dry by the Rinnegan, and unleashed a powerful burst of Chakra.
Thud, thud, thud...
All the Pains, except for the Tendo Path, collapsed. Nagato's full, terrifying Chakra now poured into the Tendo Pain.
Vmm~
An irresistible pull instantly snatched Konan away.
Her jutsu was interrupted. When she came to her senses, she was behind the Tendo Pain. Seeing the other Pains on the ground, she panicked, knowing Nagato was about to use that jutsu.
Her face was anxious.
"Let me go! If I use that jutsu, he will be blown to smithereens! You don't need to use that..."
But Tendo Pain shook his head. He was certain the opponent had some kind of space-time ability. Konan'sSacred Paper Emissary Jutsu had a high chance of missing. And then, Konan herself would be in danger.
Besides...
Tendo Pain rose from the ground, the repulsive force allowing him to float. He looked down on Mercenary Tao and spoke.
"It's true. My and Konan's actions can no longer be called 'justice.'"
"But we were never seeking justice. I just want the world, through pain, to begin to think. To begin to evolve."
Nagato's mind flashed back to Yahiko's last words as he died in his arms.
[You are this world's savior...]
A pained smile crossed his face.
A savior...
In these few years, he had seen too much darkness. This shinobi world was twisted to the point of disgust.
A world like this... wasn't worth saving.
Tendo Pain spread his hands. A terrifying Chakra was about to erupt. Orochimaru and the others sensed the threat and began to retreat.
Tendo Pain continued:
"We are Pain. We are... God!"
"And God is neither good nor evil."
(End of Chapter)
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