"Is Akatsuki really so untrustworthy that you were this eager to send someone to collect the fruits of my labor?"
Neji Hyuga tossed the Uchiha Obito in his hand toward the descending Pain, saying blandly, "The number one mercenary organization in the Shinobi World turns out to be nothing but a pack of petty, narrow-minded fools who don't honor their word."
Pain's face was expressionless. His eyes were pale violet Rinnegan with concentric rings, his hair deep orange-yellow, and black rods for conducting Chakra, along with nail-shaped Chakra receivers, were embedded throughout his body and nose.
Pain himself was the corpse of Yahiko, Nagato's friend. Hanzō's Explosive Flame Formation had crippled Nagato's legs, and his prolonged use of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path had excessively drained his Chakra, leaving him practically unable to walk.
Thus, Nagato controlled Pain from behind the scenes through the black rods embedded in his back, making him the leader of Akatsuki.
"Who is he?" Pain caught Uchiha Obito in one hand. For a moment, he could not recognize this man whose body had shriveled into a skeleton on one side. During the flight toward him, the man had already stopped breathing, and Pain had not had time to inspect Uchiha Obito closely.
Uchiha Obito gradually turned translucent in Pain's hand, then vanished.
Pain was slightly surprised before turning to stare at Neji Hyuga.
"Fool," Neji Hyuga said coldly.
As Neji Hyuga's cold words fell, Uchiha Obito, inside the Kamui dimension, had just taken a deep breath. He rejoiced that he had used a Three-Tomoe Sharingan to cast Izanagi and escape Neji Hyuga's clutches.
Izanagi could record the caster's own state, then, within the technique's duration, physically restore any injury suffered by the caster—even the caster's death—to the state recorded by the Sharingan.
However,