"He's here."
Although Hagoromo's intrusion had come suddenly, Nagato was not surprised. He had probably understood long ago that this day would come. But when the other party openly invaded Amegakure, those three words were all he could say.
Beyond that, what else was there to say? From the very beginning, there had been a fundamental conflict between the two sides. If Nagato had given up on the Nine-Tails more than ten years ago, that conflict might have vanished before it ever took shape. If Hagoromo had never cared about Kushina in the slightest, then that conflict would not have existed at all.
But reality had no such "ifs" or "maybes," so the situation now was simple. It was nothing more than a question of life and death.
"His timing is a little too precise…" Konan only spoke halfway, but Nagato already understood what she meant. Given the current situation, it was only natural for her to be suspicious.
This was clearly a trap they had laid for the other side, yet now it somehow felt as though they had woven a cocoon around themselves. The White Yaksha had chosen to invade Amegakure precisely when their combat forces were absent.
Was that really just a coincidence?
Calling it a coincidence was hard to accept. And besides, how did he know that Akatsuki was hidden in Amegakure? On the surface, Amegakure's leader should still have been Hanzō the Salamander.
Nagato fell silent. Only after a moment did he speak.
"Let's go. We should greet our guest."
He did not comment on Konan's suspicions. Right now, dealing with Hagoromo's invasion was more urgent. Even if someone within Akatsuki had carelessly—or deliberately—leaked information, that was a problem to be handled after this battle ended.
"Too fast…" Konan said.
Since Hagoromo had already arrived here, that meant that although he had been drawn in by the "bait," he had also swallowed it down at astonishing speed. In other words, Sasori of the Red Sand and Deidara were most likely in grave danger.
"Nagato, we should temporarily withdraw from here."
This was not because Konan feared Hagoromo. Rather, she felt that there was no necessary reason to fight him right now. At present, Amegakure's main fighting force consisted of only her and Nagato. Their side could not bring its full strength to bear.
But Nagato did not think so. He shook his head.
"This is actually a very good opportunity to eliminate the hidden threat that is the White Yaksha…"
"Settling this problem once and for all is something we would have had to do sooner or later."
"But…"
"I've already decided!"
The moment he discovered that the intruder was Hagoromo, Nagato had already decided to use this opportunity to completely eliminate this threat. He had grown tired of the previous game of hide-and-seek. If he continued to allow this man to move freely, they might keep losing tailed beasts.
Although Nagato did not know how Hagoromo had done it, he truly had prevented the tailed beasts from reviving.
And since they would have to deal with him sooner or later, it was better for him to come knocking on their door than for them to search everywhere for him and then wait for an opportunity to strike.
That was how Nagato judged the situation.
"…I understand. I'll move with you."
Since Nagato had said this much, Konan could no longer argue. In truth, no matter what Nagato wanted to do, she only wished to remain by his side. Whether the next step led to the light of realizing their ideals or the darkness of complete failure did not matter to her.
As long as she could stay beside Nagato.
"No. You handle the other intruders. Whatever you do, don't get close to the White Yaksha."
Unexpectedly, Nagato said this instead.
"Why? You still want to split our strength at a time like this?" Konan did not understand his decision. At a moment like this, two against one was clearly the correct choice.
"Because it's too dangerous. You are not his opponent. Even if both of us joined the fight, it would not help… In my current state, I will not have any problems."
Nagato was only worried that, with Konan's strength, she might quickly meet with disaster after approaching Hagoromo.
He still had confidence. After all, he had now regained the entirety of his power. But even so, he could not guarantee Konan's safety while fighting Hagoromo.
"…I understand. Once I deal with the others, I'll regroup with you as soon as possible."
After saying this, Konan transformed into thousands of sheets of paper and vanished from Nagato's sight.
...
Amegakure was like a village built upon water. At this moment, Hagoromo was stepping across the water's surface, walking through the village that had fallen completely into chaos, searching all around him step by step.
He did not know whether this village had an emergency response system similar to Konoha's, but by common sense, when a village was invaded, some shinobi would directly engage the enemy while others would protect and evacuate civilians. In fact, the latter should probably take priority over the former.
Perhaps it was precisely because of that evacuation effort that there were not many enemies appearing directly before Hagoromo right now. As for the forces responsible for engaging the invaders, most of them should have been drawn away by the three members of Team Six. Compared to Hagoromo, who was acting alone, that trio was making far more noise.
The current Mirai, in theory, should be invincible no matter whom she encountered—not because of Susanoo, but because those were Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan.
Small fry had ways of being dealt with by small fry. High-level players had methods suited to high-level players. Hagoromo was not particularly worried about that side.
From time to time, rumbling sounds reached Hagoromo's ears from the distance. That was Susanoo wreaking havoc on a massive scale. Explosions and the roars of summoned beasts accompanied it like an orchestra. Most likely, Kimimaro and Haku had used the Summoning Technique, and those enormous summoned beasts were currently rampaging through Amegakure.
All kinds of sounds echoed back and forth.
This was the sonata of death played by war.
Then, just as Hagoromo seemed to be wandering aimlessly, he finally stopped in a rather remote corner of the village.
Judging from his attitude, however, he seemed quite purposeful. It felt as though he was even more familiar with this place than with Konoha… Even if he was not familiar with it, he had probably imagined this scene countless times.
Someone was standing in front of Hagoromo, as though he had been waiting there all along.
Only one person.
"Long time no see. Looks like you've been doing well these past few years."
Hagoromo said this in an extremely calm tone, like a greeting between old friends. Perhaps at this moment, he himself did not even know what sort of expression was on his face.
But from a third party's perspective…
He was smiling.
And that smile was as warm and friendly as could be.
"You don't seem surprised," Nagato said.
"Surprised?"
"Oh, you mean because you gave up on those puppets and finally appeared in person? There's nothing surprising about that. After all, I discovered that long ago, and you should also have discovered long ago that I had discovered it long ago."
With those six puppets gone, Hagoromo was more than happy to see this outcome. After all, if Nagato appeared directly, he would not have to waste time searching for him a second time.
Nagato clenched his right fist and extended his arm horizontally. Then, with a pull of his left hand, his entire arm was exposed from beneath his coat.
"I didn't give up on the puppets. I turned myself into a puppet."
That arm was densely packed with black receivers.
This was probably the reason Nagato could move on his own. It was also his "resolve" to defeat everything.
Because only by using Nagato's own body could "all Six Paths united as one" become possible once again.
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