Class Assignment

The heavy rain in Amegakure never stopped.

The gray sky was like a thick, waterlogged curtain, pressing low over this city built of steel and concrete.

Raindrops drummed endlessly against the glass windows of the high tower, making a monotonous, oppressive sound as they wound down along the frames, like the endless tears of this City of Weeping.

The tallest iron tower in Amegakure had once been the residence and seat of power of Hanzo the Salamander, the "Demigod."

Now, it had a new master.

On the broad platform at the top of the tower, a figure sat quietly on the edge.

Beneath his short orange hair, several short black rods were embedded in his face, like some eerie ornamentation, or the marks of one who had endured suffering.

Most striking of all were his eyes: pale purple sclera, with several black concentric circles at the center, like the eyes of a god looking down upon the mortal world.

Deva Path Pain.

One of the Six Paths of Pain controlled by Nagato, and also the image in which Nagato most often appeared before outsiders.

In this form, he looked down over the city he had saved, and then ruled.

In the legends of Amegakure ninja, he was the "god" who had brought peace. In the eyes of the "Hanzo remnants" who resisted in secret, he was a false god who had usurped power. And to those ninja who had lost all hope and fled this country, he was merely another tyrant who maintained his rule through violence.

Footsteps sounded from the room behind him, very soft, yet still clear amid the rain.

Konan walked to the edge of the platform and stood half a step behind Pain.

She wore a black cloak embroidered with red clouds. Her long, light-purple hair