Leaving Konoha

"The jinchuriki of the Nine Tails is Jiraiya's disciple, Naruto Uzumaki," Nagato replied. "Although we knew this long ago, it was only after making contact that I understood he would become the kind of person capable of bearing the weight of peace."

Nagato lifted his arm, which had been pierced by a Black Receiver, and looked at the Summoning scroll that the Animal Path had retrieved and opened before him, his chakra gathering in his five fingers.

"Is that so? I didn't expect you to think so highly of him. But what about the mission? Are we giving up on capturing the Nine Tails?" Konan frowned slightly. She didn't care if Nagato had some new plan; she would support whatever he decided. But capturing all the Tailed Beasts had been the Akatsuki's greatest goal for so many years. She couldn't understand why Nagato would suddenly give up.

"No, I have another way to obtain the Nine Tails." As he said this, the tips of Nagato's fingers were pricked by his chakra, drawing blood. Then, he wrote the name Nagato Uzumaki in blood after Konan's name on the Slug Scroll and left a bloody handprint. "I intend to bring Naruto into the Akatsuki."

"It seems you really do think highly of Naruto." Konan furrowed her brows. "And what do you plan to tell Madara?"

"There is no need to pay attention to Madara; we can just do what we want to do." A flash of displeasure crossed Nagato's eyes at the thought of Obito Uchiha. He didn't intend to expose Obito's true identity just yet; everything would have to wait until he had real contact with him. "Madara is merely a temporary partner for us, not one of our own. Naruto is completely different from Madara. You will see him in the future; he is like a second Jiraiya, and compared to Jiraiya, Naruto has even more talent."

Nagato's previous promise to Naruto that he wouldn't harm him was no joke.

Although he had once wanted to kill Naruto, he was a utilitarian with a bottom line.

To him, Naruto was nothing more than a stranger with the status of a "fellow disciple." From the very beginning, he hadn't intended to kill Naruto because there was no benefit in it. The later attempt to "kill" Naruto was only because he wanted to obtain the treasure of chakra within him. Once that attempt was thwarted by the Sage of Six Paths, it was only logical for him to change his attitude toward Naruto, adjust his approach, and pick up the identity of his senior brother.

In Nagato's view, although his current method of handling his junior brother Naruto was slightly despicable and crude, he truly wasn't harming him. As long as Naruto acted according to his wishes and did things that served their mutual interests, he could ensure Naruto received benefits.

Compared to Itachi Uchiha, who would cast Tsukuyomi on Sasuke every time he caught him, he felt he was already a very gentle, considerate, and kind senior brother. Naruto would eventually understand his "painstaking efforts," in the exact way Nagato wanted him to.

Konan's eyes dimmed slightly when she heard the name Jiraiya. However, she said nothing, and Nagato didn't notice.

Nagato stared at the long list of names preceding his and Konan's on the Slug Scroll, finding them truly eyesores. Thus, he simply used the power of the Human Path to erase those names one by one.

His power could easily extract the souls of the living; erasing these names, which had no power to resist, was far too simple.

When only his and Konan's names remained on the scroll, Nagato wore a satisfied expression. "This looks much more pleasing to the eye..."

This behavior was, by any measure, a bit inhumane—the kind of behavior that walks someone else's path and leaves them with nowhere to go. Yet, it left Nagato feeling physically and mentally refreshed.

Sakura Haruno, who was currently using a slug to treat the ninjas in Konoha, suddenly discovered that her connection to the slug had been severed. All of the slug clones in Konoha also vanished into thin air with a "Poof!"

"What's going on? Why can't I summon the slugs anymore?" After trying several times and finding it impossible to summon them, Sakura looked at the wounded scattered across the ground, her expression one of despair.

Without the group healing ability of the slugs, these wounded would have to be treated one by one. Furthermore, Yamato was not in Konoha at the moment, and among the ninjas responsible for stopping Naruto, wounded were constantly being sent to Sakura...

Listening to the distant roars of Naruto, Sakura suddenly felt a wave of powerlessness. Today, she had suddenly lost her master, her teacher, her senior sister, and had inexplicably lost the slugs. Now, even Naruto had completely lost his mind. Everything around her had changed, leaving her completely unable to know what would happen in the future...

"As long as Naruto can join the Akatsuki, the peace of the future will be even more guaranteed." After erasing the "superfluous" names from the scroll, Nagato said to Konan, "Now, we go to Shikkotsu Forest. We will use the Reverse Summoning Jutsu to get there."

Konan nodded. At this moment, the Six Paths of Pain were all fully prepared, and Tsunade and Hinata had been stuffed back into the mouth of the Yatagarasu.

"I will go first. Once I succeed, I will summon the Pains over. After you see the Pains leave, you use the Reverse Summoning Jutsu." As he said this, Nagato began to weave hand seals; after all, this was his first time using this technique, and he had to be careful.

Then, Nagato suddenly stopped, as if he had thought of something.

"Konan, did you bring your Explosive Tags?"

His question was truly abrupt.

A rare look of embarrassment appeared on Konan's face.

"How did you know? I brought some." She had thought Nagato didn't know she had been secretly preparing Explosive Tags.

"How many did you bring?"

Fortunately, Nagato didn't seem to intend to question her motives, and Konan breathed a sigh of relief.

"I brought all of them..."

Nagato nodded. Konan was indeed a woman who was ruthless but spoke little. She had stood by his side without ever saying a harsh word, but who could have known she was carrying 600 billion Explosive Tags on her person? That would be enough to level Konoha hundreds of thousands of times, wouldn't it? Kakuzu's spirit must be crying in the afterlife; no one would believe that so many Explosive Tags were acquired without spending a single cent.

"Exactly how many?" Although he had confidence in Konan's Explosive Tags, Nagato still wanted to confirm the specific quantity. After all, to Shikkotsu Forest, they were both "uninvited guests." A little extra preparation was always good.

"Um... 600 billion." The expression on Konan's face was the kind a woman wears when she has spent too much money shopping and has been caught.

"Very good!" Nagato nodded with gratification and continued weaving hand seals. "We are going to Shikkotsu Forest now."

He didn't care about money; Explosive Tags were far more useful than money. Konan had done well.

With a loud "Poof!", Nagato used the Reverse Summoning Jutsu and vanished from the spot.

Not long after, the Yatagarasu and the Pains were also brought away one after another by Nagato using the Summoning Jutsu.

This was equivalent to telling Konan that the Reverse Summoning Jutsu was viable.

Seeing this, Konan also began to weave hand seals, a thoughtful look suddenly flashing in her eyes. She used paper shuriken to shatter the chakra-emitting device Nagato had used, nodded with satisfaction, and then wove the hand seals to activate the Reverse Summoning Jutsu, following Nagato to Shikkotsu Forest.

The giant paper tree standing on the mountaintop outside Konoha slowly dispersed as Nagato and Konan left, turning into fluttering paper scraps.

Those white paper scraps danced across the sky as if scattering funeral money for Konoha.

The Konoha ninjas, who had formed a climbing team and finally found their way here with nervous hearts, saw the bleak scene before them and wore expressions of mourning.

The enemy had actually run away in advance, and they had taken their Hokage with them. Konoha was truly miserable.

Not only had the entire village been razed to the ground and suffered heavy casualties, but even the Fifth Hokage had been abducted by the enemy. For Konoha, one of the five great ninja villages, it was no exaggeration to call this a supreme humiliation.

As the news spread, the prestige of Konoha would be lost throughout the ninja world. And more important than Konoha's face was the fact that the high-level combat power of the Hokage's faction—Jiraiya, Kakashi, Shizune, and others—had almost all been wiped out.

In the future, the militant faction led by Danzo would inevitably rise in Konoha to become the dominant force. And the Konoha they were familiar with, the one that advocated the Will of Fire and peaceful tranquility, was likely gone forever, buried beneath this sky full of fluttering white paper.