Six Paths of Pain!

Yet the intensity of the fighting was somewhat strange. It was basically a few rounds of back-and-forth skirmishing, then each side went home to find their parents and continued the next day.

This left many people, who had expected a clash as fierce as Mars striking Earth, utterly dumbfounded. What were Ōnoki and Uchiha Hiko playing at? They were unexpectedly so amicable, trading blows like they were training troops, without the slightest hint of urgency.

Hiko was not in a hurry, and naturally neither was Konoha. They wished they could drag things out longer so the village would have more time to recover. However, Iwagakure's allies were unwilling to accept that. Sunagakure lodged a protest immediately, but it was useless and received no attention from Ōnoki.

At that moment, a conspiracy targeting the entire world began to unfold. In Amegakure, Hanzo of the Salamander, once known as the Demigod, had become a thing of the past. Amegakure and the Land of Rain had fallen completely under the control of the Akatsuki Organization.

The Akatsuki Organization of this time had changed drastically from its former self. There was none of the old chaos, as though the entire Land of Rain had settled down in the shortest possible time. The Rogue Ninjas, bandits, and brigands who had once caused trouble everywhere had nearly all vanished.

Those unaware of the truth might have assumed that Amegakure had governed well and given the Land of Rain a safe living environment. But those who knew the inside story understood that every one of those people had been killed by Amegakure's current leader.

One could imagine how much slaughter was concealed behind that peace, and how much blood had been spilled.

While the war among Konoha, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure was in full swing, several rather strange