Pain Takes the Field

"Roar..."

As soon as the Nine-Tails appeared, it threw back its head and roared. The sound shook the surrounding area, its waves rippling through the air like something solid. Everyone turned pale.

The Konoha ninja who had been guarding the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had it worst. Several of them were closest to the beast, and blood poured from their ears and noses as they collapsed to their knees in pain. They became the first targets of the Nine-Tails' fury, and within moments, a whole swath of them lay dead.

Behind the Nine-Tails, its nine tails swept around like pillars supporting the sky. Trees and boulders alike were as fragile as paper before them, torn apart with ease.

Everything within a hundred meters was utterly destroyed, and rocks flew in every direction.

After being repeatedly tormented by the Sharingan, the Nine-Tails hated the Uchiha most of all. So when it emerged and caught sight of the familiar Susanoo, it flew into a rage. Fury blazed in its scarlet eyes as it opened its mouth, and a black sphere began to rapidly take shape.

A suffocating surge of energy radiated from the sphere. The surrounding space warped slightly under the strain, making everyone who saw it tremble with fear.

But before it could fire the Tailed Beast Bomb, tens of thousands of Explosive Tags came raining down like a blizzard. Each one glinted with a dangerous light, and in the blink of an eye, they completely covered the Nine-Tails' massive body.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

A series of violent explosions erupted. Explosive Tags detonated one after another against the Nine-Tails, shaking the earth as flames shot skyward and thick smoke blotted out half the heavens.

The blast wave knocked the still-forming Tailed Beast Bomb back into its mouth.

"Roar..."

Furious, the Nine-Tails lifted its head—and saw Konan hovering high above it. Paper Wings spread behind her, their edges gleaming coldly in the sunlight. She looked like an angel of judgment descended upon the world, while feather-like sheets of white paper continued to drift from her body.

"This is the Land of Rain. No one is allowed to run wild here—not even a Tailed Beast!"

Konan's cool voice carried an unquestionable authority. As she spoke, more Explosive Tags poured from her sleeves and swept down in another all-encompassing barrage.

She didn't know that the Nine-Tails had been preparing to fire its Tailed Beast Bomb at Uchiha An, but she didn't dare take the chance. If it hit Amegakure, stopping it afterward would be far more difficult.

Her bombardment had interrupted the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb, but it had also drawn its hatred.

The beast immediately ignored Uchiha An beside it, raised its head, and fixed its sights on Konan. Its massive body crouched slightly, the muscles in its hind legs tensing before it sprang into the air and lunged at her.

Konan simply shot straight upward and evaded the attack.

After thrashing around for a while, the Nine-Tails realized its short reach couldn't touch Konan in the sky. Gravity dragged its body back down, slamming it into the ground and leaving a deep crater. The moment it landed, it opened its mouth and began forming another Tailed Beast Bomb.

Konan's expression turned cold. She sent down even more Explosive Tags, fluttering like snowflakes as they buried the Nine-Tails beneath them.

The flames and smoke from the explosions soon obscured even the red of the beast's body.

Yet amid the unending blaze, the black sphere continued to grow denser and larger.

Explosive Tags were powerful, but only against fragile ninja. Against the Nine-Tails, they were about as effective as firecrackers.

They could cause it some pain, but hardly posed a serious threat.

When the smoke cleared, the chakra coating on the Nine-Tails had been damaged, but it was already regenerating before their eyes.

The Nine-Tails shook its head, paying no heed to attacks of this caliber. It simply finished forming the Tailed Beast Bomb and spat it at Konan.

The instant the Tailed Beast Bomb left its mouth, the air split with a piercing sonic boom. The black sphere of energy streaked toward the sky with a long trail of light and crossed the short distance between them in an instant, reaching Konan.

The Akatsuki Organization had sought to capture Tailed Beasts for years and knew a great deal about them. The moment the Nine-Tails opened its mouth, Konan knew what it was about to do.

Thanks to her ability to fly, she could easily dodge the attack.

But she immediately realized that if she evaded the Tailed Beast Bomb, there was no telling where it would land.

Even with the Six Paths of Pain in the village, there was no chance they'd let the Tailed Beast Bomb hit Amegakure—but it might still strike a nearby forest or field.

The Tailed Beast Bomb was simply too powerful. If it hit the ground, it would flatten everything around it.

With no other choice, Konan pressed her arms together and gathered a large number of Explosive Tags into a paper whip. As the Tailed Beast Bomb shot toward her, she swung the whip upward from below and detonated it against the sphere.

A series of explosions roared. Using the blast wave from the Explosive Tags, she finally altered the Tailed Beast Bomb's trajectory and sent it straight into the sky.

With a whoosh, the black sphere shot upward, punching a huge hole through the clouds and revealing the clear blue sky beyond.

Moments later, the Tailed Beast Bomb exploded high above, far into the heavens.

Even from several thousand meters away, the flash was so bright it made people squint, like a second sun had bloomed in the sky.

A violent shockwave swept down from above, scattering every cloud in its path.

On the ground, everyone was buffeted by the gale and staggered, struggling to stay upright.

"Roar..."

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

As a pure energy being with an inexhaustible supply of Chakra, the Nine-Tails could fire Tailed Beast Bombs all day. Konan couldn't keep this up against it.

She dropped slightly, intending to change tactics and deal with the Nine-Tails another way.

But the moment she moved, someone appeared beside her in a flash. It was Pain. His orange hair didn't stir in the gale, and his Rinnegan gleamed with a cold light.

"That's enough, Konan. I'll take care of it."

"Though we aren't ready yet, there's no way we can let a Tailed Beast simply walk into our hands."

"Those people are watching from behind. This is the perfect chance to show them what the power of a true god looks like."

Konan looked down and saw a group of people in Black Cloaks with Red Clouds standing in the distance, silently watching. Their expressions were difficult to read.

The earlier battle had already drawn the attention of everyone in the Akatsuki Organization, but they hadn't paid it much mind.

After all, when did a ninja go a day without fighting?

Besides, they had just taken in the Konoha missing-nin Uchiha Itachi. It was only natural that Konoha would come looking for him.

But everything changed when the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki appeared.

One of Akatsuki's goals was to collect the Tailed Beasts. Now that one had come to them, how could their leader possibly let the opportunity pass?

When they had been recruited, they had all witnessed Pain's overwhelming strength. Knowing they were no match for him, they figured it would do no harm to seize the chance to learn the limits of their leader's abilities and gather some useful intelligence.

So they all left the village and watched from a distance. Not one of them came to help.