Let the World Feel Pain

Hyuuga Nen was on his way to the Dragon Vein. Over the past few days, he had made some initial progress deciphering the Sealing Technique he had copied. He was ready to find an opportunity to unseal the Dragon Vein.

As he moved forward, Hyuuga Nen scouted the area to make sure there were no other ninja nearby.

"Although I've deciphered this Sealing Technique, I can't guarantee the Dragon Vein won't cause a major commotion. I'll need to seal it again quickly and leave before the ninja from the Land of Wind arrive."

He reached the Rōran Ruins without incident and hadn't spotted any ninja along the way.

Hyuuga Nen found it a little strange. He was still being hunted by the Five Great Shinobi Nations, and the intelligence that he had entered the Land of Wind was public. Sunagakure should have sent someone to scout the ruins.

After making his way deep into the ruins, Hyuuga Nen arrived at the Sealing Technique left behind by the Fourth Hokage and prepared to decipher it.

At that very moment, Hyuuga Nen sensed chakra deep underground.

"Is that... a centipede?"

In an instant, the long monster burst out of the ground. It was indeed a centipede.

"Whose summoning beast is that?" Just as Hyuuga Nen was about to kill it, clouds of smoke suddenly appeared beside the centipede. Then someone appeared in front of him.

"Rinnegan, orange hair—it's Pain!" Hyuuga Nen thought bitterly.

Pain didn't speak to Hyuuga Nen right away. He looked around, then turned his gaze to the Sealing Technique, as if sensing something.

At that moment, another person emerged from underground. One half of his body was black, the other white.

"That's Zetsu? Looks like he was waiting for me here all along," Hyuuga Nen thought silently.

"So this is the Dragon Vein? It really is a powerful source of energy for ordinary people. No wonder you risked coming to the Land of Wind." Pain came to his senses and spoke.

"Who are you?" Hyuuga Nen asked, though he already knew.

"My name is Pain. I'm the leader of the Akatsuki. I came here to recruit you into my organization," Pain said.

"Is Kakuzu part of your organization too?" Hyuuga Nen asked.

"That's right."

"So it was your idea to put my information on the Black Market, or was that Kakuzu's own decision?"

"I told Kakuzu to do it. It was mainly to test your strength and confirm your identity." Pain didn't hide anything and answered directly.

"Don't you think what you did was ridiculous? You made my life miserable, and now you expect me to join your organization? I refuse!"

"You don't have the right to refuse. I came here to inform you, not to ask." Pain spoke with unmistakable authority.

Hyuuga Nen said nothing, only staring intently at Pain.

"Pain, your recruitment doesn't seem to be going very well," Zetsu said.

"Shut up."

"Since words can't persuade you, I'll have to use force to make you submit." With that, Pain slowly rose into the air.

"Shinra Tensei!"

Pain held out both hands and aimed them at Hyuuga Nen.

The moment Pain finished speaking, Hyuuga Nen felt a powerful repulsive force rushing toward him. Even with chakra holding him to the ground, his body was still propelled backward against his will.

Hyuuga Nen slammed into the wall, leaving a dent in it. At the last moment, he adjusted his position and used chakra to soften the impact, which kept him from getting hurt even worse.

"Bansho Ten'in!"

Before Hyuuga Nen could react, Pain attacked again. This time, a powerful force pulled him in. Hyuuga Nen was dragged toward Pain.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"

Hyuuga Nen took the opportunity to strike with an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm in midair. But because he was off balance, his attack went wide, and Pain easily dodged it.

As he neared Pain, Hyuuga Nen did his best to adjust his position in midair and thrust out a chakra-coated fist.

Pain drew a Black Receiver and blocked the attack.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The sound of fist striking Black Receiver echoed through the spacious ruins.

Hyuuga Nen frowned. Each time his fist clashed with the Black Receiver, the chakra in his hand was disrupted, and most of it vanished into the air.

At the same time, Pain, facing him, frowned slightly as well, though Hyuuga Nen didn't know why.

"Shinra Tensei!"

Pain unleashed another repulsive force, sending Hyuuga Nen flying into the wall again.

"Well? Are you still planning to put up a pointless resistance? If you keep overestimating yourself, I'll kill you right here." Pain stopped moving and looked at Hyuuga Nen.

Hyuuga Nen pulled himself out of the cracked wall and coughed a few times. He sighed, lowered his head, clenched his fists, and said slowly, "I'll join the Akatsuki."

"Good. You've made the right choice."

Hyuuga Nen raised his head to look at Pain. "Then what does our organization do?"

Pain rose into the air again and held out his hands. "Our organization's goal is to make the world feel pain!"

"Uh..."

Hyuuga Nen looked at Pain. How should he put it? Pain seemed a little chuuni.

During the fight, Hyuuga Nen had activated his Byakugan. Through its sight, Pain's body looked no different from an ordinary person's, even though Hyuuga Nen knew the Pain in front of him was just a corpse.

"What did Pain do to make the corpse look normal? He even fooled the Byakugan," Hyuuga Nen wondered silently.

"Was it the Rinnegan's power, or the effect of Yin-Yang Release?"

Hyuuga Nen had also noticed Pain frowning slightly during their fight, but he didn't know what it meant.

"All right. I'll tell you the organization's specific goals later." Pain's words interrupted Hyuuga Nen's thoughts.

"By the way, how long will it take you to obtain the Dragon Vein?" Pain asked.

"I can't say for sure." Hyuuga Nen thought for a few seconds, then shook his head.

"I don't have time to wait for you right now. Come with me to the organization's base first. You can come back for the Dragon Vein when you get the chance." Pain sounded a little impatient at Hyuuga Nen's answer.

Hyuuga Nen glanced at the Dragon Vein's seal, then nodded and followed Pain out of the ruins.

In another direction, a dozen miles from the ruins, Hyuuga Nen found the bodies of Sunagakure ninja. "Are these people from Sunagakure?"

Pain nodded. "Their destination was probably Rōran, but they weren't very lucky. They ran into my summoning beast first."

Seeing Hyuuga Nen's expression, Pain seemed to guess what he wanted to ask. "My summoning beast will clean up the evidence later. Don't worry."

Hyuuga Nen nodded at Pain's words.

After a while, Hyuuga Nen asked, "Where are we headed now?"

"The Land of Rain."