Rinnegan Awakening

Squelch! The sound of a Kunai piercing flesh echoed in Nagato's ears.

In that moment, time seemed to freeze. Nagato's mind went blank, and the sounds of the entire world vanished, leaving only the thunderous pounding of his own heart, which vibrated against his eardrums like the beat of a war drum.

Yahiko endured the agony in his chest, his body leaning limply against Nagato's shoulder as he whispered into his ear:

"Nagato, live on. You are the savior of this world."

With those words, exhaustion washed over him. Yahiko collapsed to the ground, the final spark of light in his eyes fading away as his consciousness slipped into the void.

Fine, relentless rain fell, patting against Nagato's numb face.

Nagato stood lost in the rain, Yahiko's words coiled tightly around his heart. Every syllable felt like a sharp dagger, stabbing deep into his soul.

Just as Nagato was drowning in an abyss of pain and despair, the Amegakure Ninja surrounding him slowly parted to clear a path.

Salamander Hanzo stepped forward with a steady, arrogant gait.

He looked down at the young man standing dazed in the rain, a mocking sneer curling his lips as he spoke:

"How is it? Killing Yahiko with your own hands—doesn't feel good, does it? The Akatsuki is no more.

You have only two paths before you: either drop your weapons and surrender, or be buried here forever!"

Hearing Hanzo's grating, triumphant voice, Nagato's chaotic consciousness snapped back into focus.

In an instant, he realized it was no coincidence that Yahiko had appeared before him; Hanzo had pushed Yahiko into his path!

In the heat of that chaotic melee, he had instinctively identified anyone rushing toward him as an enemy launching a sneak attack.

It was precisely because of this that he had accidentally killed his most cherished friend, Yahiko.

Scalding hatred surged in Nagato's chest like molten lava, burning fiercely.

He glared at Hanzo, the rage in his eyes threatening to consume the man.

So, the root of all this tragedy lay with this culprit before him! It was he who had stolen Yahiko's life and crushed their shared dream.

"Banshō Ten'in!"

Nagato squeezed the words through his teeth, his voice low and raspy, yet saturated with boundless killing intent.

He thrust his hand forward, and a terrifying, chilling gravitational force instantly locked onto Salamander Hanzo.

"This is... the Rinnegan! This brat is no ordinary person."

Hanzo felt his body grow weightless, pulled uncontrollably by the gravity as he flew rapidly toward Nagato.

In that brief moment, he saw the eyes hidden beneath Nagato's red hair—a pair of violet irises marked by mysterious black rings, radiating an eerie, heart-stopping glow.

A flash of terror crossed Hanzo's face. He had never imagined that the young man he had dismissed as an ant possessed the legendary Sage's Eye.

In a life-or-death crisis, Hanzo reacted with lightning speed, grabbing a nearby Rain Ninja and pulling him forward as a human shield.

The Rain Ninja didn't even have time to scream before he was shoved into the epicenter of the gravity.

In the blink of an eye, Hanzo and the Rain Ninja flew right up to Nagato.

At that exact moment, a massive, overwhelming repulsive force erupted.

The Rain Ninja held by Hanzo could not withstand the terrifying power; his body was twisted and torn apart by the repulsion at a visible rate.

In a mere instant, he was reduced to a spray of gore, red mist filling the air with a pungent, metallic stench.

Seeing this, Hanzo's pupils contracted violently, a deep chill rising from the depths of his soul.

Without a second thought, he kicked off the ground, using the recoil of the repulsion to propel himself backward, desperate to escape the lethal range of the attack.

"Attack him! Now!"

Hanzo shrieked as he retreated, his voice laced with undisguised panic.

He urged the surrounding ninjas forward, clinging to them like a drowning man, hoping to use their numbers to stall Nagato.

A group of Rain Ninja scrambled toward Nagato in a panic.

Watching Nagato descend into madness, slaughtering everyone like a meat grinder, the fear in Hanzo's heart burst like a broken dam.

Taking advantage of the moment the Rain Ninja obscured his position, he shouted without hesitation: "Body Flicker Technique!"

In a flash, his figure blurred into a remnant image and vanished.

Nagato was surrounded by Rain Ninja, and since Shinra Tensei required a cooldown, he had only one mass-destruction technique left.

Nagato's eyes were wide as saucers, his chest heaving as his heavy, ragged breathing cut through the bloody chaos of the battlefield.

"Summoning Technique! Demonic Statue of the Outer Path!"

Nagato roared with the desperation of a man with nothing left to lose. He slammed his hands onto the ground, splashing muddy water everywhere.

As his roar echoed, the earth began to tremble violently. Cracks spread like spiderwebs, causing the surrounding Rain Ninja to lose their footing and collapse.

Nearby, Konan had regained a sliver of her strength.

She struggled to push herself up, her eyes catching Nagato's movements, and her heart sank with a sickening thud.

"Nagato, don't use that!"

Konan cried out in panic, regardless of whether Nagato could hear her, her voice trembling with dread.

As Nagato slammed his hands onto the ground, his voice boomed through the curtain of rain; no sooner had he finished speaking than the earth was violently torn apart as if by an invisible giant's hand.

Accompanied by a teeth-grinding roar, two colossal hands blotting out the sky erupted from beneath the earth, slamming fiercely into the surroundings.

The surrounding Amegakure Ninja had no time to react; like fallen leaves caught in a gale, they were instantly swatted away.

Their bodies traced arcs through the air before crashing heavily into the ground in the distance, splashing up sprays of mud and letting out pained groans. For a time, pleas for mercy echoed endlessly across the blood-soaked battlefield.

Just then, Danzo arrived late with Root.

When they reached the battlefield, they were met with a terrifying sight—a massive monster was rampaging, leaving nothing but ruin in the wake of its giant hands.

Danzo's face turned deathly pale, beads of sweat the size of peas rolling down his forehead, mixing with the rain.

A powerful sense of crisis surged within his heart like a rising tide, crashing over him wave after wave as if urging him to flee this horrific place at once.

"Go and support the Amegakure Ninja!"

Danzo shouted at the members of Root at the top of his lungs, his voice carrying a hint of imperceptible trembling.

However, driven by that overwhelming sense of crisis, he turned without hesitation and, using every ounce of his strength, fled desperately into the distance.

Meanwhile, the group of Root ninja, bound by Danzo's orders, could only charge mindlessly into the fray.