The Birth of a New "Akatsuki"

Deep beneath Amegakure, inside a highly concealed base of the Akatsuki.

The place never saw the light of day, and a suffocating atmosphere permeated the surroundings.

The iron door of the base was freezing, as if it had severed all vitality from the world.

Suddenly, a dull creaking sound broke the silence, and the tightly shut iron door slowly opened.

A blindingly sharp light, like a blade, pierced straight into the dim room.

Nagato, who had been quietly contemplating in the darkness, slowly raised his head, his calm, ripple-less eyes looking toward the doorway.

As clear footsteps approached from afar, four figures gradually emerged.

They wore uniform black robes with red clouds, appearing exceptionally mysterious in the dim environment.

Konan walked with light steps, arriving at Nagato's side alongside Uchiha Shisui. After coming to a stop, Konan turned slightly, her concerned gaze lingering on Nagato's face for a moment.

Meanwhile, Zetsu and Obito, who wore an orange mask, stood silently at the entrance.

"I was right, wasn't I?"

Obito's voice was low and hoarse, echoing within the narrow room.

Upon hearing this, Nagato's face showed no emotional fluctuation; he simply replied calmly:

"Yes. I finally understand that in this cursed Shinobi World, true peace has never existed. To bring about true peace, one must make them personally experience pain."

As Nagato spoke, his gaze was profound, as if he had already perceived the cruel truth of the world.

Hearing Nagato's answer, Obito nodded slightly. Though obscured by his mask, one could sense a satisfied expression on his face as he said:

"That is the reality."

With that, a strange vortex suddenly surged around Obito's body, and like a black hole, it swiftly swallowed his form.

At the same time, Zetsu also slipped into the ground without a sound, as if he had never appeared at all.

With the departure of the two, the room fell into a brief silence.

Just then, another figure slowly walked out from the darkness.

Nagato looked at the figure gradually becoming clear before him, a faint smile slowly emerging on his face as he said:

"The leader of the Akatsuki will always be you."

Uchiha Shisui stood to the side, his slender fingers gently twisting the ring engraved with the character "Mei" on his finger. Its dark luster flickered with a faint light in the room, like a bottomless abyss.

He raised his eyes, looking straight at Nagato, and said indifferently:

"Next, Konan will go prepare the remaining six paths of containers, while Deva Path Pain and I will go eliminate Salamander Hanzo."

Upon hearing this, Konan nodded slightly without further words.

In an instant, her body became like petals brushed by a breeze, transforming into countless paper sheets that swirled and danced in the air before drifting out of the base, vanishing from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.

Uchiha Shisui and Deva Path Pain walked out of the room side by side, their footsteps steady.

They traversed the winding, damp underground tunnels, where water droplets occasionally falling from the walls made crisp sounds in the silence.

Before long, the two arrived on the surface of Amegakure.

Rain fell without reservation. On the streets of Amegakure, pedestrians hurried by, yet no one dared to cast too many glances at these two mysterious figures in black robes with red clouds.

Uchiha Shisui and Deva Path Pain did not stop for a moment; their figures darted quickly through the streets, heading toward the tallest tower in Amegakure.

That tower was like a sharp sword piercing the clouds, exuding an aura of steel under the curtain of rain.

Inside the tower, a scene of extravagance struck the eyes.

The lights were as bright as day, illuminating every corner in sharp detail, dizzying to behold.

The rich scent of alcohol drifted wantonly, intertwining with the sweet, cloying fragrance of the dancing girls, permeating every inch of the air to form an intoxicating yet suffocating odor.

Salamander Hanzo slumped in a wide chair, his cheeks flushed an unnatural red from the effects of alcohol.

His arms, like vines, held the dancing girls beside him; the two girls wore professional, shallow smiles, though their eyes revealed a hint of terror.

Salamander Hanzo raised a wine bottle high with his other hand, tilted his head back, and gulped down two large mouthfuls.

The wine flowed wantonly down the corners of his mouth, soaking the lapels of his chest, yet he remained completely unaware.

Ever since that encounter with Nagato's Rinnegan, fear had clung to him like a maggot on a bone.

For the past few months, he had tossed and turned, unable to sleep; even when he closed his eyes, those cold Rinnegan would appear before him.

The pride and confidence he once held as a demigod of the Shinobi World had been shattered and vanished without a trace in the face of this endless fear.

From that moment on, he had plunged into this life of wine, women, and power, attempting to numb himself with extravagant living and the domination of his subordinates, thereby forgetting that fear which had seeped into his very marrow.

Power became his shield, while fine wine and beautiful women became his sanctuary. He was mired deep within it, unable to extricate himself, gradually losing the version of himself that had once shaken the Shinobi World.

Perhaps it was the effect of the alcohol that had dulled Salamander Hanzo's senses.

At some unknown moment, fresh blood splattered onto the sliding door, the crimson stains shocking to the eye, yet he remained oblivious.

The once-bright lights also gradually dimmed and turned yellow as they were splattered with blood.

"BOOM!" A deafening roar suddenly erupted, the rolling thunder sounding as if it were divine retribution meant to shatter the entire world.

At the exact moment the thunder cracked, the room's door was blown off its hinges by a powerful repulsive force.

Splintered wood flew in every direction, tracing sharp, lethal arcs through the dim light.

Deva Path Pain stepped forward, walking slowly into the room.

Outside, lightning flashed across the sky, its blinding glare illuminating his cold, stern face.

His Rinnegan glowed with a faint violet light in the flickering lightning, as if he were a true god surveying all of existence.

Seeing the intruder, the fear Salamander Hanzo had suppressed for so long burst its banks, drowning him completely like a surging tide.

He frantically shoved the dancer he had been clutching aside; she fell to the floor with a scream, her eyes filled with terror and grievance.

Hanzo, however, had no time to care, and he shrieked at the top of his lungs:

"Who are you? How did you get in here! Where are my men? Where have you all gone!"

Uchiha Shisui stepped out from behind Deva Path Pain unhurriedly, slowly wiping the blood from his ninja blade. The blood slid down the snow-white cloth, dripping onto the floor and blooming into small, crimson flowers.

The corners of his mouth curled into a faint, mocking sneer as he said slowly, "What a pity, corpses don't answer questions."

Deva Path Pain looked down at the panicked Salamander Hanzo, his expression cold and devoid of warmth, as he spat out the words from his thin lips:

"We are the new Akatsuki. Now, know pain, Salamander Hanzo."

With that, he opened his palm toward Salamander Hanzo, and a repulsive force surged forth. The immense pressure flipped the floorboards, and before Salamander Hanzo could even let out a scream, he was crushed against the wall. As the sound of twisting bone echoed through the room, the demigod fell.

Following the death of Salamander Hanzo, Deva Path Pain stepped onto his corpse, as if declaring that a new era was at hand.

"From this moment on, I am the one and only god of this world!"