When the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was finally summoned, Toneri was so overwhelmed with joy that tears streamed down his face. If Nagato hadn't grabbed him by the collar in time, he would have rushed forward and hugged it on the spot.
"N-Nagato-niisan… the Outer Path… the Demonic Statue…"
A trace of guilt surfaced within him. In Nagato's eyes, there was also a deepened sense of apology.
"I'm sorry. I should have told you earlier."
Toneri shook his head like a rattle drum, wiping away his tears as he choked back sobs. "As long as it's… it's back, that's enough. That's enough. Now my father can finally rest in peace!"
"After the Ten-Tails was exiled, you won't have to suffer so much anymore," Nagato said gently, rubbing the boy's curly hair in comfort.
Toneri broke into a smile through his tears. After nodding vigorously, the sealing formula he had prepared long ago suddenly spread across the ground.
"I don't know if it'll work, but we have to try," Toneri explained seriously. "I'll tear open a small crack first. Then you'll control the statue to fill that gap. In theory, it should work—but whether it'll actually succeed, we won't know until we try."
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was the Ten-Tails with its tails severed. Its appearance was grotesque—far more like a plant than an animal.
The members of Akatsuki lined up one after another. Including Jiraiya, there were exactly ten of them, each standing at the position of one broken tail. They exchanged glances. At Nagato's nod, all ten pressed their palms together simultaneously.
A surge of azure chakra flowed out from their bodies, drifting toward the Demonic Statue—or rather, toward the Ten-Tails itself. The instant their chakra connected with it, the consciousness emanating from the statue made all ten of them shudder violently.
Beyond its overwhelming power, there was also a terrifying will—one so domineering it felt capable of crushing them to dust.
"Th-this… is the Ten-Tails' consciousness?!"
Hidan's voice fractured slightly. His eyes were filled with disbelief—and even more so, fear. The will of the Ten-Tails crashed down on him like an endless ocean tide.
He felt as if he were suddenly drifting on a boundless sea. A sense of suffocation crept in silently. That weightless, unanchored feeling wrapped around him without respite.
When massive waves surged toward him, he could do nothing but let himself be swallowed. His body sank uncontrollably—down, and down, and further still.
He tried desperately to grab onto something, anything, to stabilize himself. But there was nothing—nothing but endless water. He wanted to grasp the sea itself, to stop being a piece of driftwood carried by the current, yet no matter how hard he struggled, all he could do was watch himself sink deeper and farther away.
The light above the sea gradually faded. All he could see was blue—blue like seawater, endlessly overwhelming. When he began to grow angry at that color, angry at this entire state of being, darkness appeared. More and more darkness swallowed the oceanic blue, while he continued sinking without end, unaware of where this descent would finally lead.
Cold.
Suffocation.
Despair.
And… endless darkness.
Lord Jashin… is this the abyss?
Hidan felt as though he had existed in that abyss for a hundred years—no, thousands. For centuries, he endured that endless falling, the agony of losing control over his own body.
At last, the descent stopped. Something tugged at him, pulling him upward. Darkness returned, then the blue, and finally he was floating once more upon the sea's surface. Warmth slowly spread through his body.
Hidan snapped his eyes open and gasped for air. In that hundred-year abyss, he had never once breathed. It felt as though he had been immobile for millennia.
Warmth spread from behind him, dispelling the chill that rose from the sea. His thoughts returned to him, and memories flooded back all at once.
"Focus," a voice said calmly. "I'll guide you with my chakra so you can find the others. If you can't synchronize, the statue can't be activated."
Orochimaru's voice came from behind him. Hidan turned his head slightly and saw Orochimaru pressing a hand against his back. Before Hidan could speak, the urging voice sounded again.
"Focus."
Daring not to lose concentration again, Hidan steadied himself. He closed his eyes, sensing the chakra that did not belong to him. His consciousness followed that current, until it finally arrived at a vast, green meadow.
When he opened his eyes again, Pain, Konan, Obito, Kakuzu, Deidara, Itachi, Kisame, and Jiraiya were all standing in a circle.
At the center was a miniature version of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path—and beside it, a crack that was far smaller than before.
Orochimaru's voice echoed through the space once more.
"At present, your consciousness can only enter this shared space through my chakra. As you control the Ten-Tails here, the real Ten-Tails outside will also respond. Listen carefully—only by synchronizing both your chakra and your will can the Ten-Tails be activated. Once it evolves into its complete form, it can enter the spatial rift. But by then, the Ten-Tails' consciousness will fully awaken. What you experienced earlier was only its lingering remnant. So no matter the reason, nothing you felt was laughable. As long as your consciousness doesn't collapse, this is our only chance."
By the time he finished speaking, Orochimaru's voice had grown faint and unsteady. Sweat covered his face. It was clear that linking everyone's chakra was an immense burden—even for him. Doing so for ten people at once, and with the Ten-Tails involved, was exhausting beyond measure.
"I'll try withdrawing a portion of my chakra," Orochimaru said. "Use your own power to maintain this shared space."
As some of his chakra receded, cracks appeared in the once-warm space. Obito spoke up, his voice strained.
"Deidara! Slow your output—match our rhythm!"
"I—I got it."
Hoarse and broken, Deidara reduced his chakra flow. The cracks slowly sealed themselves again.
"Kisame, be more precise," Orochimaru said. "Even a slight deviation will prevent the Ten-Tails from activating."
Kisame—known as the Tailed Beast without a tail—possessed immense chakra, but fine control was never his strength. Sensing the fluctuation beside him, Itachi deliberately slowed his own output, forcibly anchoring Kisame's uneven rhythm.
The burly man was drenched in sweat from the strain of control alone.
"How long do we have to maintain this state?" Jiraiya asked, his forehead soaked. Like Kisame, chakra control was far from his specialty—if anything, it was his weakness.
"Only when everyone's frequency matches perfectly will the Ten-Tails begin evolving into its complete form," Orochimaru replied rapidly. "Focus, then relax, and feel the chakra of those around you. Kakuzu—if you don't trust others, your spirit can't synchronize!"
"I… know!"
After gritting his teeth, Kakuzu forced his chakra to merge. For him, trusting others was harder than controlling chakra itself.
Still, it worked.
The tiny Ten-Tails slowly began to grow new tails.
"This process won't take long," Orochimaru said gravely. "Soon, Toneri will tear open a crack. At that moment, you must drive the Ten-Tails inside. Remember—do not let it devour you."
His warning was heavy, and rightly so.
No one dared underestimate the danger. Everyone proceeded with extreme caution, fully prepared—yet none of them expected that the instant the tenth tail fully formed, the small shared space would begin to shake violently.
Cracks appeared at once in the projections of Hidan, Deidara, and Kisame, as if they were about to dissipate entirely. Orochimaru instantly solidified behind them, shielding the three with what little strength he had left.
Straining, he shouted, "Focus! The weaker your will, the easier it is for the Ten-Tails to crush you! Obito!!!"
Obito's limbs were being torn apart by an immense force, as if he were about to be ripped in four. Sweat poured down his face, but it was clear he was resisting the Ten-Tails' will with everything he had.
On the other side, Kakuzu's legs had already begun to fade. Orochimaru burned through the last of his chakra to assist him, barely preventing further disintegration.
The miniature Ten-Tails swayed unsteadily. Outside, the real Ten-Tails mirrored its movements, thrashing its massive tails wildly.
Karin gathered every ounce of her stamina and chakra, forming chakra chains to restrain its movements as much as possible. Naruto summoned hundreds—thousands—of shadow clones to keep the flailing tails from striking everyone.
Toneri's face had gone pale as he controlled the Tenseigan.
And within the sealing formation, all ten of them—Orochimaru included—stood deathly pale, blood spilling from the corners of their lips.