Pain Enters the Fray

"Roar..."

As the Nine-Tails appeared, it immediately raised its head and howled to the heavens, its voice shaking the wilderness. The sound waves rippled through the air like tangible force, turning everyone's faces pale.

The Konoha ninjas protecting the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki were the most unfortunate. The nearest ones had blood streaming from their ears and noses on the spot, collapsing to their knees in agony. They became the Nine-Tails' first targets for venting its fury, and in mere moments, a swath of them lay dead.

The Nine-Tails' nine tails stood like towering pillars, sweeping wildly in all directions. Whether trees or boulders, they were torn to shreds like fragile paper.

Amidst flying gravel, everything within a hundred-meter radius was utterly destroyed.

Because it had been repeatedly tormented by the Sharingan before, the Nine-Tails harbored the deepest hatred for the Uchiha. So when its gaze swept out and spotted the familiar Susanoo, it flew into a rage. Its scarlet beastly pupils blazed with towering fury, and as its massive mouth opened, a black sphere began to rapidly condense.

The sphere emitted a suffocating wave of energy, the surrounding space warping slightly from the overload, sending chills down anyone's spine.

But before it could fire the Tailed Beast Bomb, tens of thousands of Explosive Tags descended like a blizzard from the sky, each flickering with a dangerous cold glint. In an instant, they completely covered and wrapped the Nine-Tails' Huge Body.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

A violent series of explosions rang out as the Explosive Tags detonated one after another on the Nine-Tails' body, shaking the earth, sending flames soaring into the sky, and shrouding half the heavens in thick smoke.

The shockwave from the blasts forced the still-forming Tailed Beast Bomb back into its mouth.

"Roar..."

The Nine-Tails was enraged. It looked up and saw Konan standing in midair, hovering above its head. Her Paper Wings spread wide, glinting coldly in the sunlight like a judgment angel descending upon the mortal world, with feather-like white paper continuously fluttering down from her body.

"This is the Land of Rain. No one can run wild here—not even a tailed beast!"

Konan's cool voice carried an undeniable authority. As her words fell, more Explosive Tags surged from her sleeves, pressing down again in an overwhelming tide.

She didn't know that the Tailed Beast Bomb the Nine-Tails had been forming was meant for Uchiha An, but she couldn't take the risk. If the Nine-Tails' bomb struck Amegakure, stopping it afterward would be far more difficult.

Her bombardment interrupted the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb, but it also drew the beast's hatred.

It immediately abandoned Uchiha An nearby, raised its head, and targeted Konan. Its massive body crouched slightly, hind leg muscles tensing, then it leaped upward with a sudden bound, lunging at Konan in the sky.

But Konan simply shot upward, dodging the Nine-Tails' attack.

After flailing its claws for a while, the Nine-Tails found its short arms couldn't reach Konan in the air. Gravity pulled it back down, crashing heavily into the ground and leaving a deep crater. The moment it landed, it opened its mouth again, and a new Tailed Beast Bomb began to rapidly condense.

Konan's face turned cold. She released even more Explosive Tags, fluttering down like snowflakes, trying to bury the Nine-Tails beneath them.

The flames and smoke from the explosions drowned out even the Nine-Tails' own red color.

But amidst the unbroken flames, the pitch-black sphere continued to solidify and grow, bit by bit.

Though Explosive Tags were powerful, their strength was limited to fragile ninjas. Against the Nine-Tails, their force was about as effective as a firecracker.

They could cause some pain, but it was hardly a major issue.

As the smoke cleared, the Nine-Tails' chakra coating showed some damage, but it was visibly regenerating at a rapid pace.

The Nine-Tails shook its head, ignoring this level of attack entirely. It focused solely on forming the Tailed Beast Bomb, then spat it straight at Konan.

The moment the Tailed Beast Bomb left its mouth, the air was torn apart by a piercing sonic boom. The black energy sphere trailed a long tail of flame as it shot skyward, crossing the short distance between them in an instant, arriving right before Konan.

But the Akatsuki had long been hunting tailed beasts and knew their capabilities well. The moment the Nine-Tails opened its mouth, Konan already anticipated its move.

With the advantage of flight, she could easily dodge the attack.

But she quickly realized that if she evaded the Tailed Beast Bomb, its eventual landing point would be uncertain.

Even though the Six Paths of Pain were in the village, preventing the bomb from hitting Amegakure, it could still fall into a nearby forest or farmland.

And the Tailed Beast Bomb's power was immense. Once it struck, it would level everything around it.

With no other choice, Konan crossed her arms, gathering a mass of Explosive Tags into a paper whip. As the Tailed Beast Bomb came at her, she met it with the whip, striking it from below and upward, simultaneously detonating the entire whip.

With a series of thunderous explosions, the shockwave from the countless Explosive Tags allowed her to redirect the Tailed Beast Bomb's trajectory, sending it shooting straight up into the sky.

"Whoosh"—the black Tailed Beast Bomb rocketed upward, punching a massive hole through the clouds, revealing the clear blue sky hidden behind.

Moments later, the Tailed Beast Bomb exploded high in the heavens, miles above.

Even from thousands of meters away, the blast's light was blinding, like a second sun blooming in the sky.

A violent shockwave swept down from above, crushing everything in its path, scattering every cloud in the sky.

Even on the ground, everyone was knocked off balance by the gale-force winds, struggling to stay upright.

"Roar..."

Seeing its attack fail, the Nine-Tails howled in fury again and began forming a second Tailed Beast Bomb.

As a pure energy being with endless chakra, the Nine-Tails could fire Tailed Beast Bombs all day. But Konan couldn't keep up this stalemate with it.

She descended slightly, intending to switch tactics to deal with the Nine-Tails.

But the moment she moved, a figure flickered beside her—Pain appeared at her side. His orange hair stood motionless in the gale, and his Rinnegan gleamed with cold light.

"Enough, Konan. I'll handle this."

"Though I'm not fully prepared, since the tailed beast has delivered itself to us, there's no reason to let it go."

"That group is watching from behind. Perfect—let them witness what true divine power looks like."

Konan turned and looked down. Sure enough, a group of people in Black Cloaks with Red Clouds stood in the distance, silently observing. The expressions on their faces were all rather intriguing.

The earlier battle had already alerted the members of the Akatsuki organization, but it didn't draw much of their attention.

As ninjas, what day goes by without fighting?

Besides, they had just taken in the Konoha rogue ninja Uchiha Itachi; it was only natural for Konoha people to come knocking.

But once the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki appeared, everything changed.

One of Akatsuki's goals was to collect tailed beasts, and now that a tailed beast had come to them, how could their leader possibly miss this opportunity?

When they were first recruited, they had all witnessed Pain's overwhelming strength and knew they were no match for him. But taking the chance to see the limits of their leader's abilities and gather more intel wasn't a bad thing either.

So the group promptly emerged from the village, hung back at a distance to watch the show, and not a single one stepped up to help.