In the Land of Rain, Amegakure, atop a towering building forged from steel and concrete.
It rained in Amegakure year-round. There were hardly any times when it did not rain.
At the top of the building.
Inside a dimly lit room.
A gaunt man with various black rods embedded in his back sat there, his red hair especially striking.
He was Uzumaki Nagato, the current leader of Amegakure, known to the outside world as Pain.
Before him stood a woman with short purple hair.
She wore Akatsuki's cloud-patterned cloak.
She was Konan, who possessed the Kekkei Genkai known as Paper Release.
Having learned of the battle at Sunagakure.
Pain could not believe that Sasuke and Sakura had become so powerful.
Nagato's expression was grave as he said, "Konoha is already this strong. Capturing the Nine-Tails afterward will be extremely difficult."
Konan looked out at the rain that had never stopped falling beyond the window.
She murmured, "There's no need to capture the entire Nine-Tails. Getting its chakra will be enough."
Nagato froze for a moment.
Konan turned around and looked at Nagato. "Previously, we did not extract all of Gaara's Tailed Beast, yet we were still able to activate the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path."
"For the other Tailed Beasts, we do not need to extract all their chakra either. Extracting a portion will be enough."
Nagato frowned. "But without all the chakra, there's no way to fully activate the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path."
Konan fell silent for a while before saying, "Activating part of it will be enough. We should be able to use its activated power to suppress those people in Konoha, then extract all the remaining Tailed Beast chakra afterward."
Nagato nodded. "That is a possible solution."
"What exactly is going on with the