The flames inside the cave began to die down.
Konan and Pain returned to the surface, and even Zetsu, who had just burrowed into the wall, came back up.
"Yaya... This is terrifying!"
"I never expected the two newcomers to be so incredibly powerful..."
A strange voice came from Zetsu's mouth.
Konan calmly looked toward Kakuzu and said coolly:
"Kakuzu, there's no need to keep fighting. By now, you probably believe in his strength, don't you?"
As soon as she finished speaking,
Kakuzu let out a quiet "tch."
Then he slowly rose to his feet and, without another word, headed straight out of the cave.
He had only three hearts left now. To stay immortal and maintain his peak strength, he would have to find a way to get two more hearts.
As for Chen Xiaoxi?
He didn't want to fight someone like him again anytime soon.
Once Kakuzu had gone,
Pain slowly turned to look at Chen Xiaoxi. His gaze was calm as he said in a flat voice:
"Not bad."
"I acknowledge your strength, Chen Xiaoxi."
"The Akatsuki's goal is [true peace] in the shinobi world. We will replace the Five Great Nations and rule the world."
"To achieve this, we gather excellent shinobi, regardless of their origins or past."
"So now,"
"Wanderer, welcome to the Akatsuki."
When he finished speaking, a purple ring suddenly appeared in Pain's hand. A dark-colored "Jade" character was inscribed on it.
He tossed it over with a flick of his hand and said coolly:
"From today on, this is your ring. It represents your status as an official member of the Akatsuki."
"Next, Zetsu will take you to our residential area. You're free to choose where you want to live in Amegakure."
"Thump."
Chen Xiaoxi raised his hand and caught it.
As expected, it was the Jade Ring, just like Sasori's in the original story.
At that moment, Zetsu walked over and let out a strange laugh.
"Come on, newcomer."
However,
just as Chen Xiaoxi was about to turn and leave,
Pain suddenly spoke again behind him.
"Wait."
"Hm?"
Chen Xiaoxi turned around, surprised. "Is there something else?"
"No."
Pain gave a slight shake of his head and said coolly:
"I'm just curious about your abilities."
"Why were you able to perform every technique you used in our fight with only one Hand Seal, or even without any Hand Seals at all..."
When Pain finished speaking, Chen Xiaoxi raised an eyebrow and chuckled.
"What kind of proper shinobi uses Hand Seals?
Do you?"
"If a technique needs Hand Seals to work, how's it supposed to hit anyone?"
Chen Xiaoxi gave a derisive laugh.
Then, without caring how they reacted, he turned and strolled away.
The two of them were left standing there, stunned in the cave.
Pain and Konan exchanged a look.
"Konan, do you use Hand Seals when you fight with Paper Style?"
"Uh, no.
Do... do you use Hand Seals when you use the Rinnegan?"
"...No, either."
Why did that... kind of make sense?
Inside the cave,
the two fell silent for a long while.
Only after some time did Pain finally speak.
"Konan."
"This man named Chen Xiaoxi."
"You've spent the most time around him. Do you have any useful information?"
After all, as the leader, Pain needed to know enough about anyone joining the Akatsuki.
So as soon as Chen Xiaoxi left, he immediately began asking for information.
After all, the powers Chen Xiaoxi had revealed in that fight were far too mysterious. Even Pain, a battle-hardened shinobi, had never heard of anything like them.
First, there was the azure Fire Style. Then there was a levitation technique that let him move as if he were walking on level ground. Finally, there was a bizarre Substitution Technique that seemed almost like genjutsu, and a golden Lightning Release with astonishing destructive power.
Any one of them, considered on its own, would have seemed incredibly mysterious.
Yet all four of these mysterious abilities belonged to the same person.
No matter how you looked at it, it was astounding.
However,
when she heard Pain's question, Konan shook her head and replied calmly:
"I know very little about him."
"But for now, I can say with some certainty that there's something unusual about his [eyes]."
"Hm?"
Pain's expression shifted slightly as he repeated, "...His eyes?"
"That's right."
Konan nodded and looked at Pain, her expression calm.
"I watched him carefully."
"Whenever he used one of those strange techniques, peculiar flashes of color seemed to pass through his golden eyes."
"So I suspect that the reason he can control so many completely different powers may have something to do with those golden eyes."
"In other words—"
"He may possess some kind of mysterious Eye Technique we've never encountered before!"
"Just like—your eyes, Nagato."
As she finished, Konan stared directly into Pain's eyes, speaking each word with complete seriousness.
At her words, Nagato, who was controlling Pain from behind the scenes, froze.
Like my eyes?
Nagato couldn't help recalling the past.
He had awakened his Rinnegan during the Second Shinobi World War.
The fighting had been raging at the time. Two shinobi from Konoha, in the Land of Fire, had broken into his home and killed his parents.
Terrified, Nagato had opened his eyes without realizing it and killed the two intruders.
It was only years later that he gradually discovered his eyes had all sorts of strange abilities, each corresponding to one of the Six Paths.
That was how the Six Paths of Pain came to be.
Could that boy named Chen Xiaoxi have awakened an Eye Technique similar to the Rinnegan after experiencing some kind of terrible tragedy?
At the thought, Nagato fell into deep contemplation.
If he understood the fight they had just witnessed in terms of an Eye Technique, then Chen Xiaoxi's various techniques without Hand Seals suddenly made a lot of sense.
After all, using an Eye Technique didn't require Hand Seals...
Just as Nagato's thoughts reached this point, Konan suddenly spoke again.
"Nagato."
"Actually, I don't think his mysterious Eye Technique is what we should be most concerned about."
"It's the power he's kept hidden—that sword."
"The sword?"
Nagato came back to himself.
Konan nodded and continued:
"Maybe you overlooked it without realizing."
"Actually, during his entire fight with Kakuzu, he never drew his sword."
"But in the Land of Wind, I saw with my own eyes how he drew his sword and instantly killed Sasori of the Red Sands, who was controlling the Third Kazekage puppet..."
"That shows that this power, with its terrifying speed and destructive force, may be his real trump card."
"And perhaps he didn't draw his sword because he didn't want to kill Kakuzu."
Konan spoke with a calm expression.
"..."
After she finished, Pain fell silent.
Only then did he fully understand why Konan had told Chen Xiaoxi to hold back before the fight...
This man, who wielded mysterious weapons and a mysterious Eye Technique, was far more frightening than he seemed!
After a long while, Pain finally spoke.
"Let's keep observing him for now."
"Once [that man] returns, we can discuss the details further."
"...All right."
Konan nodded gently.
She knew, of course, that the man Pain meant was the one secretly controlling the Akatsuki—
the mysterious Masked Man,
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