Awakening

With Katsuyu of Shikkotsu Forest treating her, Tsunade recovered faster than Nagato had expected. When she regained consciousness and opened her eyes, she tried to get up from the ground, only to discover that something had bound her tightly. Looking closely, she realized she was covered in Explosive Tags.

Tsunade immediately came to her senses, her eyes widening. The first thing she saw was Pain's bodies sprawled across the ground. Then her gaze moved up to Konan and Nagato, standing there in the black cloaks with red clouds of the Akatsuki. Nagato, in particular, had his back to her. His vivid red hair and the slug resting docilely on his back seemed to exert some kind of magnetic pull, holding her gaze fast and stirring a sadness in her heart.

A few seconds later, Tsunade forced herself to look away, refusing to keep staring at the sight of that red hair so much like Uzumaki Mito's, with the slug completing the picture. After repeatedly reminding herself that Mito was dead, she suppressed the longing in her heart and turned her head. She saw Hinata lying nearby, surrounded by an environment shrouded in green mist.

"Is this Shikkotsu Forest?" Tsunade knew the scenery well. She struggled to get up again, but in her old-lady state, she hadn't recovered much strength and couldn't break free of the Explosive Tags restraining her.

"What happened after that?" Tsunade shook her head. Her memories were muddled from being unconscious for so long. But soon she remembered the outcome of her "battle" with Pain in Konoha. Then, considering that she was bound with Explosive Tags, she realized that the enemy must have captured her.

But why were all the Pains lying on the ground? And why had she ended up in Shikkotsu Forest? What was going on with that "familiar" red hair? Tsunade's mind was suddenly full of questions. She badly wanted to know what had happened while she was unconscious.

"You're awake?"

Hearing Tsunade's voice, Nagato turned to look at her.

His indifferent tone and unfamiliar face—especially those cold Rinnegan, gleaming with a metallic sheen—immediately shattered the dreamlike illusion in Tsunade's heart that she had seen Uzumaki Mito, dropping her back into cold reality.

"Y-You...?" Almost at once, Tsunade remembered the red-haired one among the three children she had met in Amegakure. Seeing Konan's purple hair beside him, she could immediately picture what the three children had looked like back then.

Tsunade's right hand trembled as she tried to clench it, but she couldn't muster any strength in it. After taking a deep breath, she asked Nagato, "You're the real one behind the Pains, aren't you? How is Konoha doing now?"

Even as she spoke, her tone was as self-assured as ever.

"Probably Shimura Danzō will take over the Hokage Position," Nagato replied with a cold laugh. What he meant was that Konoha's situation was no longer any concern of hers, the former Hokage.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed at once.

"Nagato, I want to treat Lady Tsunade," Katsuyu, resting on Nagato's back, interjected.

This slug really was devoted to those with whom it had made a contract.

Nagato's mouth twitched. "Fine, but don't tell her anything about me."

He still cared a great deal about information concerning his own abilities, a habit he'd kept from the past.

"Understood." Katsuyu agreed, and several of its split bodies crawled out of the ground around them and wriggled toward Tsunade.

Konan watched the slugs move, her expression calm. She knew Tsunade was no match for Nagato, so she didn't care what he did with her.

"Should I remove the Explosive Tags?" she asked Nagato in a somewhat cool voice.

The slugs stopped and turned to look at Nagato, clearly hoping he would agree.

"Go ahead." Nagato shook his head. "Katsuyu, don't restore too much of her Chakra. You know what she's like, right? If you don't want me to beat her up, don't do that."

Nagato didn't think of himself as someone who liked hitting women. Especially not an old woman like Tsunade. At her age, beating her wouldn't be anything to brag about.

"Understood." Katsuyu quickly crawled over to Tsunade and began checking her condition.

Konan also walked over to Tsunade and raised the five fingers of her right hand toward her, gathering up the Explosive Tags covering her. Then she turned and walked back to Nagato.

"Katsuyu, why was my contract with you..." Once Katsuyu's split bodies had enveloped her, Tsunade couldn't help asking in a low voice.

"Nagato must have erased it." Katsuyu felt helpless. Even now, it still couldn't believe that Nagato had done something so outrageous.

"Treat Hinata too." Tsunade's voice was low, and she sounded deeply dejected. When she'd seen Katsuyu resting on Nagato's back earlier, she'd already guessed what had happened. Now she knew for sure: Nagato had taken Katsuyu from her. The nerve. When the slugs began treating Hinata, Tsunade seemed to suddenly remember something. Her spirits lifted, and her eyes widened. "Where's Naruto? What happened to him?"

Katsuyu turned to look at Nagato.

It had been in Konoha at the time, but it hadn't joined the fight between Naruto and Nagato. Only the two of them could say for certain what had happened.

"You're really pushing your luck..." In the past, Nagato would have ignored Katsuyu completely. But now that he'd learned Senjutsu, the only one he felt closer to than Konan was this slug that spoke in such a cute voice. Nagato answered impatiently, "Naruto's fine. He'll be joining my Akatsuki before long. Maybe Naruto will be the one to destroy Konoha next time."

Of course, that was nonsense. No matter how dark Naruto became, he could never go that far. It was hard to change that one-track mind of his.

"Impossible!" Tsunade shouted. "Naruto would never join your Akatsuki!"

Maybe there was something magical about the name Naruto, or maybe Hinata's injuries hadn't been too serious to begin with. Whatever the reason, Hinata, who was being treated by Katsuyu, opened her "eyes."

The two bloody holes in her face looked truly gruesome. Seeing them, Nagato shook his head. No wonder Naruto had been so startled that he unleashed the Nine-Tails Chakra after just one glance. It was terrifying.

"Naruto? ...Where am I? Why can't I see anything?" Hinata looked around in panic.

Though there was no longer any moonlight, the eastern sky had already begun to lighten. Shinobi with normal eyesight wouldn't be affected much by the lack of light, but Hinata had no eyeballs, so she couldn't see a thing.

For Hinata, who possessed the Byakugan, suddenly plunging into absolute darkness must have been a completely unprecedented experience. She had always possessed what was theoretically the strongest eyesight, only to suddenly lose her vision. The terror of it made her body tremble constantly. It was as if, unable to see Naruto, she had lost her courage too.