The genjutsu space burst apart, and Konan saw the outside world again. Although several minutes had passed inside the genjutsu, only a second or two had gone by outside.
Konan was still gliding through the sky. She spread the wings behind her and quickly regained her balance.
After returning from the genjutsu space, Konan showed no obvious reaction. Her fight with Uchiha Shūichi continued without pause, though it was more like a performance than a real battle.
Though their battle looked fierce, neither of them used a lethal move. After all, this was the Akatsuki Organization's base, and Uchiha Shūichi could sense the presence of quite a few White Zetsu. He certainly wouldn't let Konan expose any weakness.
In the end, Uchiha Shūichi successfully retreated with the badly wounded Yūhi Kurenai. Konan didn't pursue them, instead turning back toward the other battlefield.
The other battlefield was, of course, where Jiraiya and the Six Paths of Pain were fighting.
At that moment, Jiraiya was facing off against the Six Paths of Pain, while Hyuga Homura lent support from the sidelines. The two sides fought as they retreated, and the battle was far less intense than expected.
As for the Uchiha squad's final member, Yamanaka Fū, he had retreated right at the start of the battle. The Yamanaka Clan's various Mind Secret Techniques were useless against puppets. Even if he stayed on the battlefield, he wouldn't be of any use.
Besides, expecting Root members to care about their comrades was a pipe dream. If they didn't turn on their teammates and help the enemy during a mission, you could already count yourself lucky.
For ordinary Konoha shinobi, retreating from a battlefield like this would naturally invite scathing criticism. But when it came to Root Ninja, people would only think, Oh, those guys are just like that.
Fortunately, neither Jiraiya nor Hyuga Homura cared about it.
Yamanaka Fū wouldn't have been of much use on the battlefield anyway. Since the enemy had retreated first, at least he could get the intelligence out. Root shinobi had a good reputation when it came to completing missions.
Unlike in the original story, Nagato Uzumaki and the Akatsuki Organization hadn't begun their plan this time. Instead, Konoha shinobi had reached Amegakure first, so Jiraiya had no intention of fighting Nagato to the death.
In the original story, Jiraiya's refusal to retreat was largely driven by something akin to a desire for redemption. He naturally had no such thoughts now.
In fact, if Konoha really launched a large-scale invasion of Amegakure, Jiraiya might even try to stop them. Nagato was bringing peace to the Land of Rain, not chaos to the world.
Jiraiya had little desire to fight. Nagato, for his part, was in a complicated state of mind. Whatever else, Jiraiya had been the teacher of Nagato and his two companions, and Nagato himself wasn't particularly eager for battle.
Seeing Jiraiya retreat as he fought, Nagato ultimately didn't try very hard to stop him. Before long, the two sides ended the battle through an unspoken understanding.
After Jiraiya withdrew with Hyuga Homura, Konan flew over and landed beside Deva Path Pain.
"Nagato, is this enough?"
"For now. We've shown enough strength to make the Five Great Shinobi Villages wary. At this stage, it's best not to make blood enemies of them."
"Ultimately, the Akatsuki Organization isn't strong enough yet. We still need to keep building our strength so we can seize all the Tailed Beasts at once as soon as possible."
"But the news about the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path has already leaked. Won't the other villages be on guard?"
"After all, they haven't seen the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path for themselves, so they don't know how powerful it is. And with the Akatsuki Organization's current strength, as long as we don't openly declare war on the Five Great Shinobi Villages, they won't openly break with us."
So what if the Land of Rain had a Demonic Statue of the Outer Path? The Hidden Waterfall Village had a Seven-Tails, after all!
After demonstrating their strength, guarding a Demonic Statue of the Outer Path wasn't a big deal. The Five Great Nations could tolerate it.
On the other hand, letting another great shinobi village acquire the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and the Rinnegan might upset the balance.
In this situation, the Five Great Shinobi Villages were wary of one another, so none of them would act openly. Letting Amegakure guard the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path wasn't the worst option for them.
Nagato Uzumaki had controlled the Land of Rain for quite some time. While Yahiko was still alive, Nagato had been quiet by nature, but he had also learned a few things. At the very least, he could analyze the general political situation on the surface.
Of course, the Land of Rain's current stability depended on their plan remaining secret and not yet being set in motion.
Once the Akatsuki Organization began collecting the Tailed Beasts, the Five Great Nations would probably immediately set their sights on the Land of Rain. The difficulty of collecting the Tailed Beasts would be several times greater than in the original story.
Still, Nagato's plan hadn't succeeded in the original story either. The Akatsuki Organization had eventually gathered all the Tailed Beasts, but by then it had long since fallen under the control of Uchiha Obito and Black Zetsu.
To be precise, the so-called Akatsuki Organization had already been destroyed by then. Uchiha Obito had merely taken it over, and he was the one who truly gathered all the Tailed Beasts.
A hazy figure appeared beside Deva Path Pain. Wearing a mask, Uchiha Obito spoke in a low voice, tinged with amusement.
"Quite the fierce battle, Pain. Though it seems no one was hurt?"
After the leak, the already limited trust between the two sides had fallen to rock bottom. So when the battle began, Nagato hadn't even considered letting Uchiha Obito join in.
Uchiha Obito knew too much about Nagato. If he suddenly turned on Nagato in the middle of a fierce battle, Nagato himself could be in danger. How could Nagato possibly let him take part?
In fact, during this battle with Jiraiya, the Six Paths of Pain had only sent out Deva Path, Asura Path, and Preta Path. The other three had stayed back, ready to teleport to Nagato's real body at any moment. It was all to guard against Uchiha Obito.
Otherwise, Jiraiya hadn't entered Sage Mode yet and was, at best, a fairly capable Kage Level shinobi. It was hard to say whether Hyuga Homura was a help or a burden. If they had faced the Six Paths of Pain fighting at full strength, they would have been overwhelmed long ago.
"If you want, you can go after those Konoha shinobi yourself."
Deva Path Pain said coldly. Uchiha Obito merely chuckled at his words.
"Forget it. Konoha's shinobi have nothing to do with me. If you don't care about them, why should I bother fighting them?"
Konan, standing to the side, gave a cold laugh as well, then spoke calmly.
"If I remember right, someone was the mastermind behind the Nine-Tails' Attack on Konoha. What do you think those Konoha shinobi will do when they learn the truth?"
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