The Operation Begins

"Nagato!!"

With a scream, the woman with long purple hair sat up abruptly, her eyes filled with fear.

"Phew... it was just a dream!"

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, the young woman got out of bed and dressed. When she opened the door, her face was already cold and aloof.

"Angel!"

"Greetings, Your Angel!"

As she walked along the road, many ninjas and villagers from Amegakure treated her with utmost respect. This girl was clearly Konan from the Akatsuki.

Preoccupied with the dream she had last night, Konan paid no attention to the respectful villagers and ninjas. She simply nodded slightly and quickly left, heading towards the tower where Nagato was located.

As she entered the tower where Nagato was located, she saw six cold figures with nails on their faces, orange hair, and some with pale purple Rinnegan, looking at her indifferently.

This scene, which would have sent chills down anyone's spine, brought a huge sigh of relief to Konan: "Nagato, are you alright?!"

"Of course it's okay, and it'll probably get even better in the future!"

The leader of the Six Paths of Pain, Deva Path of Pain, who appeared in the form of Yahiko, spoke in a detached voice, devoid of any emotion.

However, Konan didn't care. She knew very well that Six Paths of Pain was just a puppet, and it was impossible for him to have any expressions or emotional voices. But since Six Paths of Pain was fine, Nagato would definitely be fine too.

But what Nagato just said still puzzled Konan: "Will things get better in the future? Nagato, is there something you need to do?"

"Come up with me," Deva Path Pain said, then turned and walked up the stairs. For some reason, Konan felt a little uneasy, but she followed Deva Path Pain.

When she entered Nagato's secret room, she was immediately surprised, her eyes widening and her mouth agape. Nagato, who should have been sitting in a Nagato, was now standing shirtless in the middle of the room.

His once emaciated body is now full and strong, and the terrifying iron bar on his back has disappeared without a trace, leaving only a series of round and hideous wounds.

After a moment of surprise, Konan was overjoyed. "Nagato, you've recovered!"

Nagato put on his clothes and replied, "That's right. I sealed the entire Demonic Statue of the Outer Path within my body, and under the powerful life force stimulation of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, my injuries have been completely healed!"

As he spoke, Nagato turned around, his powerful Chakra surging like waves. Even though Konan was a ninja close to Kage Level, she felt like she couldn't breathe.

However, Konan didn't show any fear on her face. Instead, her eyes were filled with tears. "That's great, Nagato! You've finally recovered!"

After recovering, Nagato naturally no longer needed the Six Paths of Pain. To put it bluntly, although the Six Paths of Pain seemed to have many advantages, in terms of pure combat power, they were far inferior to Nagato himself. They were merely Nagato to maximize his combat power when he was injured and his legs were crippled.

When he returned to the Akatsuki gathering place, the only two members of the Akatsuki besides him and Konan looked at him with surprise.

"Who are you? Where is Pain?"

Kakuzu asked in surprise, his gaze fixed on Nagato's Rinnegan.

"Pain is merely my puppet; I am the true form!" Nagato said calmly. "My name is Nagato, and I am now the leader of Akatsuki!"

Konan glanced at Nagato, who was following behind Nagato with a blank expression but no objection. Kakuzu felt that what the red-haired man said was probably true. However, as a veteran Rogue Ninja, he would not confirm the truth based on his feelings alone.

"Want to be our leader? Whether you're telling the truth or not, let me test your strength first!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Kakuzu's hand flew out like a meteor hammer, with black tentacles connecting his fist and arm, causing his arm to extend more than ten meters in an instant.

With a cold laugh, Nagato knew he had to show his skills to subdue these two Akatsuki members. He glanced at Kakuzu indifferently, and a strong repulsive force instantly pressed down on Kakuzu, sending him flying with a loud bang.

With a crack, Kakuzu crashed into the stone wall, creating a large hole. His fist flew backward and hit his own face, making him look quite disheveled.

"How dare you, a mere mortal, offend the majesty of God?"

Nagato spoke coldly, his tone tinged with a touch of chuunibyou (middle school syndrome), but there are plenty of lunatics in the Ninja World, and the people present remained quite calm after hearing it.

Well, Konan is just used to it; Kakuzu's facial expressions haven't changed since he started practicing his Secret Technique. As for Sasori of the Red Sand... you can't expect a puppet to have any facial expressions, can you?

"This move... it really is the leader..." Kakuzu got up, didn't say much, and stood obediently. Nagato also knew that he had just been testing him and hadn't done anything else.

His gaze shifted to the Sasori of the Red Sand: "Do you also wish to challenge the majesty of the Deity?"

Although Sasori of the Red Sand's puppet had no expression on its face, it kept staring at him silently, clearly showing some curiosity.

After hearing Nagato's question, Sasori of the Red Sand shook his head. "I have no interest in who is the leader, as long as they don't interfere with my artwork."

"However, you just said that the previous Pain was your puppet... Can you tell me how you did that? Or, can you show me that puppet?"

Sasori of the Red Sand was most proud of his Human Puppet skills. However, he didn't realize that Deva Path Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki with whom he Tenten, was also a puppet!

This was not only a disgrace to him, the strongest Puppet Master in the Ninja World, but it also aroused his great curiosity.

Nagato looked at Sasori of the Red Sands, thought for a moment, and replied, "Deva Path Pain's body belongs to a friend of mine, so I can't give it to you. However, I have several other similar puppets that I can give to you."

"This ability comes from the bloodline power of the Rinnegan. Perhaps you can research something about it? But what are you prepared to exchange for it?"

Sasori of the Red Sand was silent for a moment. "If the organization has any missions coming up, I can exchange them by completing them!"

Nagato nodded. "Very good, we'll have a big mission soon... Have your puppets been modified yet?"

Hearing this, Sasori of the Red Sand's puppet face remained expressionless, but his voice betrayed a hint of frustration. "Not yet... I have far too many puppets. To completely modify them would require a huge amount of funding and materials... The mass-produced puppets of Sunagakure have no soul at all. Only the puppets I handcraft can truly be called works of art!"

Although Sasori of the Red Sand left Sunagakure, he still had quite a few spies within the Sunagakure.

As a top-notch puppeteer, even after becoming Rogue Ninja, the Puppet Master of Sunagakure still worshipped him and were proud to possess puppets made by Sasori of the Red Sand. Under such circumstances, it would be easy for him to infiltrate Sunagakure.

Therefore, Sasori of the Red Sands naturally benefited from Vegapunk's reforms of the Sand Village, learning many methods for creating new types of Iron Puppet. Even the recently developed modular Iron Puppet were secretly given to the Sunagakure ninja by Sasori of the Red Sand!

As for the purpose, it is actually similar to Vegapunk's: to find the flaws in his Puppet Technique through practical training in the Three Great Shinobi Villages, and at the same time, to thoroughly improve some details of his Puppet Technique with the help of a large number of ordinary Puppet Master.

However, Sasori of the Red Sands had too many puppets, and he didn't want to use the mass-produced puppets made by Vegapunk's assembly line factory. Instead, he insisted on processing them himself.

Although Chakra's puppets are indeed stronger than mass-produced puppets thanks to his extraordinary Sasori of the Red Sand abilities and his own talent, they require far more effort to create, and he hasn't even fully modified them yet!

Nagato remained noncommittal regarding Sasori of the Red Sand's words. He was currently under Vegapunk's control, so he knew very well that Sasori of the Red Sands's deluxe version of the puppet was indeed somewhat stronger than the mass-produced version.

However, they are definitely not much stronger. Roughly, five Premium Puppet can be compared to seven or eight Mass-Produced Puppet. But considering the cost-effectiveness, the Mass-Produced Puppet approach is definitely better.

"I'll give you another week to finish making all the puppets and prepare for the mission. Then I'll hand over the other Six Paths of Pain to you!"

Nagato looked at Sasori of the Red Sand and gave the order directly.

Upon hearing that he could obtain the Six Paths of Pain, Sasori of the Red Sand nodded immediately. "Alright, I will complete the modification of all the puppets within a week!"

Even if he can't complete the task, it doesn't matter. With fewer puppets, Sasori of the Red Sands doesn't think he can't complete the mission.

While it's true that the Five Great Shinobi Villages have seen Jin Ke La ninjas, Sasori of the Red Sands, who has also benefited from Vegapunk's technological advancements, is not afraid of those people at all... Apart from those few freaks created by Vegapunk himself, Sasori of the Red Sands can now take on at least five ordinary Kage Level ninjas.

"A week? What actions will the organization take in a week?"

Kakuzu asked with some curiosity, Nagato coldly replied, "One week from now, the Akatsuki will execute their plan to seize the Tailed Beast from all the ninja villages!"

"What! Leader, have you gone mad?" Kakuzu gasped, exclaiming, "This isn't a few years ago! Ever since that monster Vegapunk appeared, the strength of the Five Great Shinobi Villages has increased several times over!"

"With just the few of us, we probably couldn't even handle the weakest Iwagakure, let alone take on Five Great Shinobi Villages at once!"

Hearing this, Nagato glanced at Kakuzu indifferently. "I don't need your help. I just need you to handle some preliminary reconnaissance and cleanup work! I will capture all the Tailed Beast myself!"

Hearing these arrogant words, Kakuzu calmed down and snorted, "I hope you are really confident, boss. I don't want to change bosses again."

Seven days passed quickly, and Sasori of the Red Sand and Kakuzu were ready to return to the Akatsuki meeting place.

Nagato didn't say much. The Chip in his brain was working at high speed, and with the ability to control gravity through the Rinnegan, he quickly opened a small, dark portal.

"Come with me! Konoha should be on the other side! Let's get our hands on the Nine-Tails first," Nagato said.

Sasori of the Red Sand and Kakuzu exchanged a glance, genuinely surprised that their leader possessed such a space -Space-Time Ninjutsu. Their confidence in him immediately increased significantly. With this space -Space-Time Ninjutsu, escaping would be incredibly convenient, and even the great ninja villages would be helpless against them.

Konan watched the three of them walk in with a worried look in her eyes. Before the operation was carried out, Nagato asked Konan to stay in Amegakure. Although Konan herself was not very willing, she could not refuse Nagato's request.

"Please, Nagato, nothing bad must happen!"

Konohagakure.

During this period, with the help of Vegapunk Clone, Konoha has also entered a period of rapid development. However, compared to Kumogakure, its development speed is not very fast, but rather much slower.

It can only be said that the internal strife within Konoha was too severe. Although Vegapunk made many inventions, not many were actually made public. The rest were basically secretly concealed by the clans or Root organizations.

Furthermore, they became increasingly harsh on Vegapunk's clone, seemingly realizing that he lacked emotional connection to Vegapunk and thus treating him merely as a tool. He was confined to the Laboratory daily, and even his outings were subject to surveillance.

The Vegapunk Clone, who was actually a doppelganger of Vegapunk, did not put up any resistance and simply waited with a grin for Konoha to suffer.

Vegapunk may not destroy Konoha, but he doesn't care how much damage Konoha suffers. In fact, in his view, the best outcome would be for all the old conservatives in Konoha to die out.

This is precisely why Konohagakure as his first Nagato!

From the black void emerged three men dressed in Akatsuki cloak. Konohagakure Nagato a cold smile appeared on his lips.

The current Nagato is a super-enhanced version. Chip has been installed in his brain, giving him super strong Chakra control and the ability to use instantaneous Ninjutsu. He has been infused with the bloodlines of the Senju Clan and Uchiha Clan, which has greatly evolved his original Uzumaki Sage Body. His Chakra has increased significantly, and the Uchiha bloodline allows him to fully control the Rinnegan.

Most importantly, he also sealed the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path within his body, allowing his strength to leap to the level of Madara Uchiha Rinnegan, almost reaching the level of the Six Paths Level.