In the deepest part of the dark, damp tower, the walls were covered in rusted iron pipes and moss. Nagato clutched the handle of the dust-covered, grease-stained life-support device before him so tightly his eyes looked ready to burst. Staring at the blood-red cross-star pupils on the screen, his skeletal body trembled violently as mouthfuls of bloody froth streamed from the corners of his mouth. That icy chill pierced through the rolled iron door and froze his blood-caked temples.
"How is this possible... My eyes were actually seen through in reverse by him?" Nagato panted harshly, his chest producing a ragged wheeze like a bellows dragging through sand. Instinctively, he tried to gather chakra to fight back, but his Rinnegan, symbols of divine power, now felt like fish eyes rotted from soaking in water, leaving only soreness and stabbing pain. He had never experienced such terror at being locked onto in reverse—not even Hanzō's ambush had frightened him this badly.
"Nagato! Don't move anymore! Your back is bleeding!" Konan lunged forward with tears in her eyes, desperately trying to hold him down with hands covered in cold sweat and scraps of paper pulp. The dozens of black rods embedded in his back were frantically grinding through flesh due to his rampaging chakra, producing nauseating wet squelches. But Nagato could not spare a thought for the pain. Gritting his teeth hard enough to crack them, he roared and struggled to rise from the life-support pod's cold steel frame.
"You're making such a big fuss. Aren't you afraid your old bones will fall apart?" A lazy voice suddenly exploded through the sealed chamber without warning. Nagato and Konan froze as if struck by a binding technique. In the center of the room, space warped in rippling distortions like a torn sack. Uchiha