Pain A, Born!

After the battle at Cloud Gate Valley in the Land of Lightning, Nagato returned to Jizo Temple in the Land of Rice with the spoils he had long dreamed of, accompanied by Konan.

Boom! The heavy coffin hit the ground, and the impact shook several roof tiles loose overhead.

Deva Path Pain stepped forward and raised his hand. Crack! The coffin lid flew open and rolled aside. After confirming there were no traps or mechanisms, Nagato and Konan approached together.

Inside the coffin, Third Raikage A lay sleeping peacefully amid dendrobium orchids, flowers symbolizing heroism and bravery.

Nagato smiled. "It doesn't look like any preservation was done, yet there are no signs of decay on the body. That was unexpected."

There were only two reasons. First, Third Raikage had only recently died. Second, he had cultivated an extraordinary body that could greatly slow the process of decay.

The degree of decay was equivalent to the degree of aging, an element that Naraka Path could not restore.

If the corpse had already begun to decay when it was made into Pain, that degree of decay would remain even after Naraka Path completed the process.

Not only would that affect its appearance, it would undoubtedly affect Pain's strength as well.

"Luckily, we got our hands on it at just the right time~!"

At that moment, Konan noticed the lightning-shaped scar on the right side of the corpse's chest and asked curiously, "Third Raikage was said to have emerged unscathed from a hundred battles, with a body that even Tailed Beasts could scarcely rival. So how did he get this wound?"

Oh, Konan's observational skills were quite sharp. She had noticed it so quickly.

Nagato pondered briefly. "I think... he probably injured himself by accident. He possessed both the Strongest Spear and the Strongest Shield, but when the strongest faced the strongest, one had to be superior."

"Perhaps the spear was stronger than the shield. The only person who could hurt him was himself... That's the only answer I can think of. Whether that was truly the case, I don't know."

After thinking it over, Konan nodded in agreement. "It does sound quite reasonable."

"Pardon the intrusion."

A Black Rod slid from Nagato's sleeve into his hand, and he stabbed it toward Third Raikage's shoulder!

Crack! To his surprise, the Black Rod snapped with a crisp sound. "Damn it!"

"..." Konan bent down, picked up the broken piece of Black Rod, and examined its sharp fractured end. "This has never happened when making Pain before."

Nagato sighed. "Yeah! It seems that even without Lightning Release chakra protecting him, this man's body is still incomparably tough!"

To handle a tough one, he could only use tougher measures...

Clack! A mechanical arm appeared over his shoulder. Its wrist split open, and a glittering golden drill spun out!

"Looks like we'll have to drill holes first. This is Asura Path's Adamantine Drill! Konan, you should step aside for now. It might get a little bloody!"

Konan slipped the broken Black Rod into her sleeve and looked toward the remains of the former Asura Path recovered from the Cloud Gate Valley battlefield. "I'll help you dispose of this discarded Asura Path, so Pain's information doesn't leak."

"Okay, thanks for the help."

Konan wrapped the Asura Path remains in sheets of paper, then turned and left the temple.

Bzzzzz...!!! The Adamantine Drill spun rapidly as it closed in on Third Raikage's shoulder!

Clang...!!!! Sparks flew everywhere!!!!

A bead of sweat hung on Nagato's pale face as he revealed a rare smile. "Hmph! You'd better give in! Otherwise, I can only start with your ass!"

An hour later, the hole-drilling operation on Third Raikage was finally complete.

"Whew, that was a huge job!"

Nagato looked at the blood steadily flowing from the stopped drill.

"This blood can be used for Impure World Reincarnation."

"But Orochimaru's Impure World Reincarnation should still be immature at this point. I also can't let him focus on this for now. Well, I'll collect it first. It may come in handy someday."

After collecting the blood, Nagato put away the drill and dismissed Asura Path's mechanical arm.

Then several Black Rods fell from his sleeves. Matching them to the holes' sizes, he began inserting them. This process went relatively smoothly.

—Naraka Path!

King of Hell rose up, opened its enormous mouth, and swallowed Third Raikage together with the entire coffin!!

Crack! Crack!

Konan, having finished dealing with the former Asura Path, heard the commotion and walked in.

Clack! Then... King of Hell opened its enormous mouth, and a huge blond, bearded man stepped out with his head lowered, one arm bearing the character for lightning braced against the King of Hell's fangs!

Black Rods adorned his palms, shoulders, face, and dark, muscular body. Combined with his gleaming Rinnegan, those adornments added an air of mystery and darkness to his rugged presence!

It was worth mentioning that Nagato had not deliberately removed the lightning-shaped scar on his right chest while making Pain. Instead, he had covered it with a lightning-shaped Black Rod!

With that treatment, it no longer looked like a scar, but more like a special decoration!

"All done." Nagato dismissed King of Hell.

"This is Pain's Asura Path—Third Raikage A. For convenience, let's call him Pain A!"

Konan nodded, then looked at the sweating Nagato. "You must be exhausted, right?"

Nagato smiled. "I'm fine. I just sweated a lot. I didn't even sweat this much in battle, but this harvest was worth it."

Deva Path Yahiko, Animal Path Pain Rin, and Asura Path Pain A were the officially established paths of the Six Paths of Pain. Of the remaining three, Naraka Path had been made from the nameless Hidden Sand Village corpse killed by Root during their trip to Konoha.

Human Path and Preta Path were made from the Hidden Stone intelligence ninjas killed on this trip to the Land of Lightning. To put it bluntly... those three paths were all temporary workers. They would be replaced whenever better options came along.

"Do you have candidates for the other three paths?"

"Yes. Some have been dead for a long time, some aren't people we should provoke at this stage, and some are still growing... There's no rush for now!"

"Tomorrow is the day we agreed to meet Orochimaru. Tonight, let's go soak in a hot spring in a nearby town, Nagato. You're drenched in sweat."

"Ah... okay."

Konan looked toward the corner, troubled by the three "future of Amegakure" whom Nagato had specifically captured.

There was a range limit to controlling Pain, so they could not watch those three all the time. Could they... take them along to the town? No matter how she thought about it, that did not seem appropriate.

She raised her hands to form seals. "I'll leave behind a Paper Clone to watch them..."

"No need." Nagato smiled. "There's no need to specifically divide our attention to watch those three."

Konan lowered her hands, puzzled. "Then... should we find a place and tie them up?"

Without a stable rear base, it was ultimately difficult to deal with such details.

Nagato smiled. "No need for that either. From the moment I decided to capture them, I had already thought of how to arrange them."

Konan asked, "Could it be... you want to hand them over to Orochimaru?"

"No, we can't give him unnecessary trouble."

Pain Rin stepped forward, took out Animal Path's summoning contract, and took the three people's hands one by one to press their handprints onto it.

After putting away the scroll, Pain Rin said innocently, "This way, no matter where they run to, even to the ends of the earth, I can bring them back with a flick of my hand, just like flying kites. Hehe..."

"I see. You really thought of everything." Konan was completely convinced.

Nagato strode over to Konan's side and smiled.

"Let's go to the hot springs~."