The Six Paths of Pain, Complete!

Hanzo couldn't bear to look at the corpses anymore.

These Akatsuki members—whether they had once been Rock Ninja, Sand Ninja, Grass Ninja, or Waterfall Ninja, whether they were orphans, doctors, or merchants... In the end, they had all been good people. They shouldn't have died, but they had—at the hands of their own leader.

"What a damned world!" Hanzo tilted his face up and closed his eyes. Yet his nose was filled with the sickly-sweet smell of the salamander's poison, trapped beneath his mask.

After a long while, he finally spoke, as grim as ever. "Gather up all the bodies." As soon as he finished speaking, he vanished.

A sudden "bang" rang through the air, followed by a gust of wind that rose and fell.

The Rain Ninja hurried to collect the bodies.

They placed the corpses in body bags and carried them into the morgue, laying them out neatly. The Rain Ninja worked in silence and solemnity. Before long, one morgue was full, then another. They worked for a long time before finally gathering them all.

A graceful silhouette spread its white paper wings through the rain, slipped through a window into the central building, and vanished without a sound.

Konan moved lightly through the building and soon found where the bodies were being kept. She opened the bags and looked at the corpses, each of whom had been alive just yesterday.

She remembered every one of them and had heard them speak of their ideals. "I'm sorry. I couldn't take all of you with me."

She picked out the Sand Ninja puppeteer, the Waterfall Ninja teacher, the Grass Ninja shinobi, a priest, and a young member of the Fuma clan. "Nagato needs your help now. He needs all of you to share the burden with him!"

"My companions, wait for us... We'll come back. One day, we'll fight together again for peace in this world.

"Our parting is only temporary. It's so we can meet again under better circumstances!"

Sheets of paper peeled away from her, one after another. Her clothes and even her skin were made of paper, sheet connected to sheet, layer after layer. The paper clung densely to the body bags, wrapping them into white cocoons.

Five white cocoons floated before Konan. "Let's go," she said to them, then flew out of the morgue.

She had come without a sound, and she left just as quietly.

She crossed the border and plunged into the Land of Earth, landing among a barren stone forest. After walking nearly a hundred meters, she passed straight through a wall of earth.

A vast space lay beyond the wall. In truth, a large part of this space—or, more precisely, this earthen wall—had been created with her Dance of the Shikigami Paper technique, using sheets of paper to form a disguise.

Black rods covered Nagato's back, though there were far fewer of them now. He looked somewhat more at ease. Yahiko wore a long robe, and black rods covered his nose, lips, ears, torso, and every other part of his body.

The rods were much smaller, though—small enough that an entire row could be inserted into his nose. It looked extremely unorthodox.

"Konan!" She set down the bodies. "I went back to Amegakure. Don't worry, I was very careful. No one saw me.

"As long as I'm on my guard, no one can catch me. Hanzo has wiped out our organization. I've chosen five bodies for you." In truth, Nagato had originally meant for Konan to bring back any five shinobi.

He had summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, whose overwhelming power had drained him until he was in his current state. He could barely even stand.

But the connection between him and the Demonic Statue, established by the black rods in his body, had given him an idea for sharing the burden. He could use the rods to create several "clones" that would serve as chakra sources.

That way, he would only have to bear one-seventh of the strain himself.

Nagato's conscience wouldn't let him use living people.

So corpses were the best choice.

He hadn't expected Konan to return to Amegakure and bring back five of their Akatsuki comrades. Nagato said, "That's fine, too. Then let's take on a new form and fight for Yahiko's ideal." He pulled out a black rod and inserted it into the Waterfall Ninja teacher. The double relief of body and mind made Nagato let out a groan.

The Waterfall Ninja's hair turned orange in an instant. His eyes opened, turning purple with concentric circles.

Six Paths: Human Path, complete!

Next came the Sand Ninja puppeteer. Nagato avoided the areas of his body that had been surgically altered and inserted the black rod into his flesh.

The Sand Ninja opened his eyes. They, too, were purple with concentric circles.

Six Paths: Asura Path, complete!

Then came the young Fuma clansman. A black rod was inserted into his corpse.

Six Paths: Animal Path, complete!

Finally, the remaining two—the Grass Ninja and the priest—were each pierced throughout their bodies by black rods. They opened their eyes one after the other.

The Outer Path's "Naraka Path" and "Preta Path" were completed in turn.

A strange sensation rose in Nagato's heart. He now possessed seven bodies at once.

The seven bodies' visions intertwined, creating a complex visual experience that made him somewhat dizzy. With eighty percent of the black rods gone, the strain on him eased considerably. His strength even began to return, little by little.

Under his control, the corpses' bodies reawakened and began producing chakra, which flowed along the black rods into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path at a very gentle rate.

"Konan!" All six Paths and Nagato's original body spoke at once. "Good. I'm feeling much better now. If I have some time, I'll be able to stand... Though my original body will probably never fully recover."

"There's a way," Konan said. "Uchiha Kin is active on the Land of Earth and Rock front right now. We'll wait for an opportunity and capture him so he can treat you.

"They say he's the best Medical Ninja alive, even better than Tsunade. If he treats you, he'll definitely be able to heal you."

Nagato smiled weakly. "Konan, you don't have to comfort me. This isn't an illness. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was simply too powerful and damaged my life force in one blow. I shouldn't have summoned it yet...

"No Medical Ninja can do anything for these injuries. Let's leave it at that... Our most urgent task is to—cough, cough..."

"Nagato, leave it to me. Your body can't take any strain right now. I'll find a way..."

Uchiha Kin had no idea that someone had their eye on him. He slept soundly and didn't wake until dawn the next morning.

Early that morning, an orange-haired man wearing Root attire showed up. "Lord Kin, I've come on Lord Danzo's orders to collect the mission report."

"Are you sick?" Uchiha Kin glared at him darkly. What kind of person came asking for a mission report first thing in the morning? He'd been busy with surgery yesterday, grafting skin onto three people. When had he had time to write the report? *With that orange hair, you must be Yamanaka Fu, from the Yamanaka clan, right?

Just you wait. When I hit on your niece and call you Uncle, will you dare answer me? Thinking of Ino, who would be born next year, put Uchiha Kin in a much better mood.

Then he spat out two words: "Haven't written it."