The voice rang out in all four of their minds at once, as if it came from another dimension, carrying a chilling authority that brooked no argument.
Kill those two.
It was referring to Yahiko and Konan.
Time seemed to freeze in that moment.
Amid the ruins of the Underground Bounty Station, the air grew as still as iron.
The color drained from Konan's face. Instinctively, she spread her paper wings and shielded Yahiko, whose mind was already on the verge of collapse. Terror and despair filled her amber eyes.
Why?
They had already submitted. They had already put on these black robes, the symbol of their fall. Why were they still being hunted down?
Yahiko stared blankly for a moment. Then he laughed.
It was a laugh more painful than crying, filled with self-mockery and relief.
"Ha... Hahaha... Hahahahaha..."
As he laughed, tears streamed down his face.
So that was it.
So this was how it ended.
From the very beginning, that man had never intended to let them go. Everything—the so-called "rebirth"—had been nothing but a cruel play, carefully staged to toy with them.
Let them die.
Maybe it was better that way.
If they died, they wouldn't have to watch their dear friend become someone they no longer recognized, or see the ideals they had built with their own hands trampled into the dirt.
Nagato's body went rigid as well.
For the first time, his usually placid Rinnegan contracted sharply.
He could be merciless to his enemies. He could take a stranger's life with his own hands.
But this was Yahiko and Konan!
The only family he had—the people who had crawled out of mountains of corpses alongside him, huddled together for warmth in the rainy nights, and dreamed of building a peaceful world.
Only Kakuzu remained kneeling on one knee, clutching the bloody hole in his chest. A look of surprise flickered across his green eyes, then gave way to a bloodthirsty fervor.
So that was it.
A pledge of allegiance?
This was... the kind of initiation that suited him best.
"Understood."
Kakuzu rasped his reply. He didn't speak aloud; instead, he sent it directly through his thoughts to that supreme being.
He slowly rose to his feet. Under the writhing black threads of Earth Grudge Fear, his wounds healed at a visible rate.
The two remaining heart monsters returned to his back, glaring at their targets.
"Kid." Kakuzu grinned, baring his white teeth as he looked at Nagato. "Looks like the boss isn't too pleased with your two companions."
"You..." For the first time, Nagato's voice carried irrepressible fury.
"Don't look at me like that." Kakuzu casually rolled his shoulders. "I'm just following orders. Or... are you planning to defy the leader?"
His words pierced Nagato's heart like a poisoned dagger.
Defy him?
That man could control Nagato's heart from a hundred miles away. He could set off an ultimate sealing jutsu like it was a firework.
What would happen if Nagato defied him?
Nagato's thoughts descended into chaos.
"Good. You know what's best for you." Kakuzu caught the hesitation that flashed in his eyes.
"Then let's start with the woman."
Before he had even finished speaking, Kakuzu vanished from the spot!
The wind-style monster behind him opened its mouth and spat out a tightly compressed wind bullet, aimed straight at Yahiko, whom Konan was shielding!
Kakuzu himself appeared beside Konan like a specter. His fist, wrapped in the black threads of Earth Grudge Fear, tore through the air as it slammed toward her head!
He was going for the kill from the very start!
"Konan!" Nagato's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. Without a second thought, he unleashed his ocular power!
"Banshō Ten'in!"
A powerful pull arrived just in time, enveloping Konan and Yahiko.
Their bodies were dragged backward against their will, narrowly avoiding Kakuzu's lethal attack.
Boom!
The wind bullet and fist missed, smashing two deep craters into the ground.
"Oh? You're protecting them?" Kakuzu steadied himself and looked with interest at Nagato, who had shielded his companions. "That's not what a proper subordinate would do."
"Their lives are mine." Nagato's voice was cold as ice, as if he were forcing the words through clenched teeth. "Since when do you get to decide when they die?"
"Yours?" Kakuzu scoffed. "Kid, don't forget: your life belongs to the leader, too. If he tells you to die, do you dare refuse?"
"You!"
"Enough talk!" Kakuzu clearly had no interest in arguing. He just wanted to finish this bloody "mission" as quickly as possible and prove his worth. "If you insist on getting in my way, I'll take care of you, too!"
"Earth Style: Earth Spear!"
Kakuzu's body hardened once more. Like a runaway war chariot, he charged straight at the three of them!
"Shinra Tensei!"
Nagato gathered repulsive force in front of himself, forming an invisible barrier.
Rumble!
The violent collision sent the entire ruin shaking again.
This time, Nagato held nothing back. His immense repulsive force drove Kakuzu back by sheer force.
But Kakuzu was a battle-hardened veteran who had survived countless fights. He flipped through the air, and the fire-style monster behind him had already opened its mouth.
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"
A sea of flames swallowed all three of them in an instant!
"Water Style: Water Wall!"
Yahiko finally snapped out of his emotional collapse. Forcing down his despair, he formed hand seals, and a wall of water surged up from the ground, barely holding back the flames.
But Kakuzu's assault was a relentless storm.
"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"
The wind fed the flames, multiplying their power several times over. The water wall evaporated with ease!
Even Konan's paper sheets began to curl in the intense heat.
The three of them were driven back step by step, battered and disheveled.
Inside the cave, Lin Feng watched with interest.
Good.
This was exactly what he wanted to see.
Hothouse flowers couldn't withstand storms. Only by driving them to the brink, forcing them to struggle amid blood and fire, could they be tempered into true steel.
Nagato had the power of the Rinnegan, but compared to a wily old veteran like Kakuzu, who had survived since the Warring States period, his combat experience was that of an infant.
As for Yahiko...
Not bad. At least he wasn't acting like a useless crybaby anymore.
"That's about enough."
Seeing the three of them struggling to hold their ground, Lin Feng decided to put an end to this farce.
On the battlefield.
"It's over!"
Kakuzu seized an opening. Countless black tendrils of Earth Grudge Fear burst from his body like a net, sealing off every escape route!
At that critical moment—
That dignified, indifferent voice rang out in all four of their minds once more.
"Stop."
Just three simple words, yet they seemed to carry the power to make reality obey.
The tendrils, about to pierce the three of them, halted in midair. They stopped less than a centimeter from Konan, the closest of the three.
Kakuzu's body stiffened. Reluctantly, he withdrew his attack.
Nagato and the others slumped to the ground, gasping for breath, drenched in cold sweat.
"Kakuzu."
"Here." Kakuzu answered respectfully.
"You did well. I saw your loyalty."
A flicker of joy crossed Kakuzu's green eyes at the praise.
"But." The voice shifted. "Nagato is the leader of this organization. To a certain extent, his words also represent my will."
"He is my incarnation!"
Kakuzu froze.
Nagato froze, too.
"That was merely a small test for all of you."
The voice explained at an unhurried pace.
"A test of whether you, Kakuzu, would carry out my orders without question."
"And a test of whether you, Nagato, had the courage to strike at an opponent to protect your companions."
"Ninjas must do more than complete their missions. They must value their comrades. Anyone who doesn't value their comrades is worse than a waste!"
"You have all passed."
Everyone present fell silent.
A test?
That life-or-death battle had been nothing but a test?
What did this man, lurking behind the scenes, take them for? Pawns? Or toys he could manipulate at will?
A deep chill rose in everyone's heart.
"As for you two..."
The voice turned its attention to Yahiko and Konan.
"Remember how close you came to death."
"In this new 'Akatsuki,' weakness is a sin."
"You must grow stronger quickly. Don't become his burden."
"Your lives were spared by Nagato. From this day forward, your lives belong to him. If he tells you to live, you live. If he tells you to die, you die."
"Do you understand?"
Yahiko clenched his teeth so tightly that his nails dug into his flesh, but he didn't make a sound.
Konan trembled all over and answered in a low voice, "...Yes."
"Good."
"The farce is over. Now, return to your village."
"A god cannot allow dissent in his own land."
"Go back. Make everyone in Amegakure remember the red clouds on your chests. Let them call out for their new god—Pain—in pain and fear."
Before you continue