"Hanzo! You're despicable!" Yahiko shouted in fury.
"History is written by the victors. There is only success or failure," said Hanzo calmly. In his grasp, he held a purple-haired girl hostage—it was Konan.
This was an open rocky plain. Massive boulders stood in the center, far from Amegakure. Corpses were scattered everywhere—shinobi from the Hidden Rain, from Konoha, and and even more mercenaries from the Akatsuki.
Hanzo, leading his Rain ninja alongside Danzo's Root Eighth Division, had pursued Yahiko and Konan relentlessly until he finally captured the girl. During the chase, he had deliberately sent Root ninja in first. After several brutal engagements, the once-full Eighth Division had been reduced to barely a dozen survivors.
Even as close allies, Hanzo had not forgotten to weaken Konoha's forces wherever possible.
"From beginning to end, it was all lies! As long as the Land of Rain is ruled by someone like you, it will never have a future!" Yahiko's eyes were bloodshot. His hands trembled with rage.
At some unknown moment, a light drizzle began to fall from the sky.
The rain came without warning.
"Naive brat. Do you understand how to govern a nation? Do you understand politics? You understand nothing. With nothing but hot blood, you will accomplish nothing in the end," Hanzo declared sternly. Then he turned the accusation back. "Have you ever considered that the war you've stirred up would plunge the people of the Land of Rain into true despair?"
"Hanzo, stop twisting the truth! You—" Yahiko's voice abruptly cut off.
Hanzo lightly drew his sickle across Konan's neck, leaving a thin cut. "I'll say this one last time. If you kill yourself, I'll spare Konan. Otherwise, don't blame me for what happens."
A long, heavy silence followed.
Yahiko finally calmed himself, realizing that venting his anger would not save Konan. He had no choice. "How can I trust you?" he asked in a low voice.
"I swear in the name of the leader of Amegakure. If you kill yourself, I will spare her," Hanzo said solemnly.
Konan, restrained and silenced, could only struggle helplessly. Tears welled in her eyes, silently begging Yahiko not to do anything foolish.
But she knew him too well.
That idiot Yahiko really would choose to kill himself.
Slowly, Yahiko raised a kunai. His trembling hands brought it to his own throat—
No!!
God, if you can hear my voice, please grant us a miracle!
At that critical moment—
A figure appeared in the sky.
Someone was flying through the air.
"There's someone coming from above!" someone shouted.
In an instant, everyone present noticed him. Like a cannonball, the figure crashed toward the ground—
Boom!
Dust billowed into the air.
From within the dust, the figure raised his hand.
"Banshō Ten'in!" (Universal Pull)
It was the opposite of Shinra Tensei—a technique that forcibly attracted designated targets within range, impossible to resist.
A powerful gravitational force seized everyone, dragging them uncontrollably toward the newcomer. But after grabbing Yahiko and Konan—the closest to him—he immediately swung his hand outward.
"Shinra Tensei!" (Almighty Push)
"Nagato!" Konan cried out, weeping with relief.
Yahiko finally let out a breath of relief.
The instant the attraction ceased—
An even greater repulsive force erupted.
The Root ninja closest to Nagato were hurled at high speed into the massive boulders. Blood splattered. They died instantly upon impact.
When using Universal Pull, Nagato had deliberately manipulated the trajectories of the Root ninja, ensuring that when he unleashed Shinra Tensei, they would all crash into the rocks.
Invaders from Konoha... all of you deserve to die!
He had succeeded.
In a single exchange, in the span of a heartbeat, thirteen Root elites were killed.
The three youths stood together, united against a common enemy.
Like tigers charging into a flock of sheep, they advanced fiercely.
Even a hundred Rain ninja could not halt their momentum.
They swore to kill Hanzo.
The entire encirclement was meaningless.
Yet in the end—they were still too young.
Midway through their charge, the ground suddenly began to sink.
Hanzo slammed his palm onto the earth. Using Fire Release, he triggered hundreds—no, thousands—of explosive tags that had been buried in advance. They spread outward from underground and, in the blink of an eye, attached themselves to the trio's legs.
This was Hanzo's signature Fire Release technique:
Fire Release: Exploding Flame Formation.
A technique that engulfed enemies in a vortex of blazing explosions—overwhelmingly destructive.
During the Second Great Ninja War, Hanzo had used this very move against the Sannin. If Jiraiya hadn't sensed the danger in time, Tsunade might have died on the spot in Amegakure. Even though Jiraiya used Needle Jizō to shield both of them, they were still injured. The power of this technique was terrifying.
"Die!" Hanzo roared.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A continuous chain of explosions thundered across the battlefield.
"Is it over?"
Yahiko and Konan lay motionless on the ground.
What about the third one?
Nagato's Rinnegan spun wildly. Seeing his two closest friends lying there—life and death uncertain—he completely lost control.
"Hanzo, I'll see you in hell! Aaaaaahhh!!"
At the center of the battlefield, a colossal, grotesque humanoid stone statue suddenly emerged—tens of meters tall. Its massive head bore savage fangs; its body resembled withered wood. Ten enormous pillar-like protrusions jutted from its back, like severed tails.
It let out a furious roar, echoing the summoner's rage.
"ROOOAAAR!!!"
Summoning Technique: Gedo Mazo! (Demonic Statue of the Outer Path)
The enormous body, terrifying appearance, and overwhelming chakra radiating from the statue stunned everyone present.
"What… is that?" Hanzo muttered. Even after decades on the battlefield, he had never witnessed something so bizarre and shocking.
This scene was also witnessed by Danzo, who had brought over a dozen Root ninja to reinforce Hanzo. Now that he had already obtained the Sharingan, why should he risk facing such a monstrous unknown?
Support from the "Demigod of the Rain" would certainly benefit his bid for the Hokage position—
But to take such a risk for it?
Absolutely not.
Observe for now.
The Demonic Statue opened its mouth and expelled ten blue chakra dragons, which swept toward the Rain ninja.
The attack was so sudden and fast that it caught everyone off guard. After the blue storm passed, over twenty Rain ninja collapsed to the ground like dolls with their strings cut.
Their souls had been ripped out by the Gedo Mazo!
At that moment, Danzo finally saw the thing that truly shocked him: that red-haired boy possessed the eyes of legend—the Rinnegan!
With the Sharingan already secured and the enemy wielding something as overwhelming as the Rinnegan, Hanzo's support was no longer worth the risk.
Danzo immediately ordered a retreat.
Meanwhile, Hanzo watched helplessly as his Rain ninja were slaughtered. His heart bled.
"Danzo! Show yourself!"
"I know you're nearby!"
Nagato's Demonic Statue unleashed another ten chakra dragons, surging toward the Rain forces again.
"We had a deal!"
"Are you going to break it?!" Hanzo roared hoarsely.
Another dozen Rain ninja had their souls torn away. Some attempted to attack the Demonic Statue—but their strikes were like scratching an itch, utterly useless. Others aimed at Nagato himself, only for Shinra Tensei to repel everything.
"Without me, you won't get what you want!"
Another ten chakra dragons burst forth.
"Danzo! You'll regret this!"
But no matter how Hanzo shouted, Danzo did not appear.
In mere moments, over a hundred Rain ninja were completely slaughtered.
"You damn brat…" Hanzo tried to speak again— but Nagato's attack was already upon him...
The battle finally ended. The battlefield looked like the site of an apocalypse, leaving nothing but a sea of corpses.
Hanzo had used a Body Flicker to escape at the last second, while Danzo and the Konoha ninja, Shimizu, never reappeared.
"All of you... deserve to die!" Nagato howled in grief, tears streaming down his face.
His closest friends, Konan and Yahiko, were no longer breathing.
The rain fell harder.
"Konan... Yahiko... I will bring you back!"
Gedo: Rinne Rebirth Jutsu!
A technique capable of resurrecting the dead.
The longer the target had been dead, and the greater the number revived, the more chakra it consumed—even at the cost of the user's own life.
A forbidden art belonging solely to the god-defying bloodline of the Rinnegan.
With Nagato at the center, a terrifying pillar of dark green chakra erupted toward the heavens, piercing through the sky like a storm!