Let the World Feel Pain

Hyuuga Nen was on his way to the Dragon Vein. Over the past few days, he had managed to partially decipher the imprinted sealing jutsu and was preparing to find an opportunity to unseal the source.

As he advanced, Hyuuga Nen conducted reconnaissance to ensure no other ninja were in the vicinity.

Although I have cracked this seal, I cannot guarantee that the Dragon Vein won't cause a massive disturbance. I need to seal it within a very short window and leave before the ninjas from the Land of Wind arrive.

Hyuuga Nen reached the Loulan Ruins without incident, finding no signs of any other ninja along the way.

He felt a bit strange; logically, he was still being hunted by the Five Great Nations, and the intelligence regarding his entry into the Land of Wind was public knowledge. Sunagakure should have sent people to investigate the Loulan Ruins.

Entering the depths of the ruins, Hyuuga Nen arrived before the seal left by the Fourth Hokage and prepared to begin the decryption.

At that very moment, he detected traces of chakra deep underground.

"Is that... a centipede?"

In an instant, the long monster burst from the ground—it was indeed a centipede.

"Whose summoning beast is this?" Just as Hyuuga Nen prepared to strike it down, puffs of smoke appeared beside the creature, and a man suddenly materialized before him.

Rinnegan, orange hair—it's Pain! Hyuuga Nen thought, his heart turning bitter.

Pain did not speak to him immediately, instead surveying the surroundings before looking toward the location of the seal, as if sensing something.

At this moment, another figure emerged from the ground, his body half-black and half-white.

That's Zetsu? It seems he has been waiting here for me for a long time, Hyuuga Nen mused silently.

"So this is the Dragon Vein? For ordinary people, it is indeed a powerful force. No wonder you risked entering the Land of Wind," Pain said, finally turning his attention back to him.

"Who are you?" Hyuuga Nen asked, despite already knowing.

"I am Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki. I have come here to recruit you into my organization," Pain stated.

"Does Kakuzu belong to your organization as well?" Hyuuga Nen asked.

"That is correct."

"So, was it your idea to put a bounty on me in the black market, or was it Kakuzu's own?"

"I ordered Kakuzu to do so, primarily to test your strength and the authenticity of your identity," Pain replied, hiding nothing.

"Don't you think your methods are ridiculous? You've made my life miserable, and yet you expect me to join your organization? I refuse!"

"You do not have the right to refuse. I am here to inform you, not to request your presence," Pain said in an unquestionable tone.

Hyuuga Nen did not speak, merely staring intently at Pain.

"Pain, it seems your recruitment isn't going very smoothly," Zetsu remarked.

"Shut up."

"Since words cannot persuade you, I have no choice but to use force to make you submit." With that, Pain slowly floated into the air.

"Shinra Tensei!"

Pain extended both hands toward Hyuuga Nen.

The moment the words left his lips, Hyuuga Nen felt a powerful repulsive force rushing toward him. Even by using chakra to anchor his feet to the ground, his body was involuntarily sent flying backward.

Hyuuga Nen slammed heavily into the wall, leaving a crater in the stone. At the critical moment, he adjusted his posture and used chakra to cushion the impact, which made it slightly more bearable.

"Bansho Ten'in!"

Before Hyuuga Nen could react, Pain launched another attack, this time manifesting a powerful gravitational pull. The intense suction dragged Hyuuga Nen toward him.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"

Hyuuga Nen seized the opportunity to fire a vacuum palm while in mid-air, but because he was off-balance, the attack lost its accuracy, and Pain dodged it with ease.

As he neared Pain, Hyuuga Nen exerted all his strength to adjust his body in the air, thrusting a fist wrapped in chakra toward his opponent.

Pain drew a black rod to parry the attack.

Clang, clang, clang.

The sound of fist meeting black rod echoed through the cavernous ruins.

Hyuuga Nen frowned; he discovered that with every collision, the chakra in his hand was disrupted, with most of it dissipating into the air.

Simultaneously, across from him, Pain also frowned slightly, though the reason remained unclear.

"Shinra Tensei!"

Pain unleashed the repulsive force again, blasting Hyuuga Nen away and sending him crashing into the wall once more.

"Well? Do you still intend to put up a futile resistance? If you continue to overestimate yourself, I will kill you right here," Pain said, stopping his movements to look down at him.

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

"Very good. You have made the right choice."

Hyuuga Nen looked up at Pain. "So, what does our organization actually do?"

Pain floated back into the air, extended his hands, and said slowly, "The goal of our organization is to make the world feel pain!"

"Uh..."

Hyuuga Nen looked at Pain's demeanor; how should he put it—he felt the man was a bit of a chuunibyou.

During the recent battle, Hyuuga Nen had already activated his Byakugan. Under the vision of the Byakugan, Pain's body appeared no different from an ordinary person's, even though Hyuuga Nen knew that the Pain before him was merely a corpse.

What technique did Pain use to make a corpse appear so normal? It even deceived the Byakugan, Hyuuga Nen thought to himself.

Is it the power of the Rinnegan, or the effect of Yin-Yang Release?

Hyuuga Nen also noticed that when Pain had just fought him, there was a very slight frown, though Hyuuga Nen did not know what Pain meant by it.

"Very well, the organization will inform you of the specific objectives later," Pain's words interrupted Hyuuga Nen's train of thought.

"By the way, how much longer until you can obtain the Dragon Vein?" Pain asked Hyuuga Nen again.

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

"I do not have time to wait for you now; you will come back to the organization's base with me first. When there is an opportunity in the future, you can come back to collect the Dragon Vein," Pain said, sounding somewhat impatient upon hearing Hyuuga Nen's reply.

Hyuuga Nen cast one last glance at the seal of the Dragon Vein, had no choice but to nod, and then followed Pain as they left the ruins.

In another direction, more than ten miles away from the ruins, Hyuuga Nen unexpectedly discovered the corpses of Sunagakure ninja. "These are people from Sunagakure?"

Pain nodded. "Their destination was likely Loulan, but they do not seem to have been very lucky; they encountered my summoning creature first."

Observing Hyuuga Nen's expression, Pain seemed to guess what he wanted to ask. "My summoning creature will clean up the traces shortly, so there is no need to worry."

Hearing Pain's words, Hyuuga Nen nodded.

After a while, Hyuuga Nen spoke up to ask, "Where is our current destination?"

"The Land of Rain."