The death of the Four-Tails' Jinchūriki

"Roshi, I'll gather my chakra in a moment and break through his control. Use that chance to escape."

"All right."

Nagato looked at the silent Roshi.

"What, still thinking about how to burn me to death?"

"I... will not... betray my village."

Held by the neck, Roshi struggled to refuse.

"Too bad. Wrong answer."

Nagato circulated his chakra, formed hand seals with one hand, then reached toward Roshi's stomach, intending to use the Tailed Beast Release Seal to forcibly separate the Tailed Beast from its Jinchūriki.

Nagato's hand was just about to touch Roshi's stomach.

Suddenly, an enormous surge of chakra erupted from Roshi. The dim Lava Release chakra around him brightened, spraying magma as its temperature rose. Two more tails extended from the Tailed Beast Cloak behind him.

Magma splashed onto Nagato. The instant pain struck, the Rinnegan's ocular power weakened.

"Now!"

Roshi, who looked increasingly like a gorilla, tensed. A burst of chakra exploded beneath his feet, and his body shot away like a cannonball in the opposite direction, breaking free of the Rinnegan's restraints.

Nagato looked down at his right hand, burned into a bloody mess, as Kakuzu's mockery reached his ears.

"What were you thinking, touching someone covered in lava?"

"Shut up. Why didn't you stop him?"

Nagato rolled his eyes at Kakuzu.

He glanced back at the battle-damaged Sasori. The enormous puppet had melted open from its head down the right side of its torso, revealing the delicate-featured, red-haired youth inside.

"Fall back for now. I'll give you the resources to repair those puppets when we return."

With that, Nagato looked up at the sky. His body gradually rose, and after leaving one last remark, he flew in the direction Roshi had fled.

"I'll go after him."

Flying through the sky, Nagato kept his Rinnegan locked on Roshi as he raced through the distance.

He paused briefly, then accelerated.

"Son, what's with that eye?"

Roshi ran on all fours, covering five or six meters with every stride, afraid the man behind him would catch up.

"That's the Rinnegan, the eyes possessed by the sage who created us. They naturally suppress us."

"The Sage... of Six Paths?!"

"Yes... dodge, now!" At Son's warning, Roshi leaped sideways. Several Black Rods slammed down where he had just been.

In the sky, Nagato held up his right hand, continually firing Black Rods downward.

The Black Rods sank into the ground with a sound like something slipping into butter. Roshi's pupils contracted. Getting hit by those would be no joke.

Relying on warnings from Son Goku, the Four-Tails, he could barely manage to dart back and forth through this killing ground.

Suddenly, Roshi felt a prickling at his back and lunged forward. Before he could land, a Black Rod grazed the edge of his shoe and shot into the ground where he had just been.

"Fuck. If I get out of this, I'll pay you back tenfold."

Roshi forcibly twisted in midair, changing where he would land. After touching down, he adjusted his posture and burst into another desperate sprint.

His movements grew faster and faster. Rolls, dives, slides-each flowed into the next, pushed to the limit by his chakra.

Then Roshi spotted a cliff ahead. Gritting his teeth, he charged toward its edge. Black Rods pursued relentlessly, leaving rod after rod along his escape route.

Just as Roshi was about to leap off the cliff, a Black Rod pierced his calf, pinning him at the edge.

He lay face down on the ground.

This is bad!

The same thought struck Roshi and the Four-Tails simultaneously.

Three more Black Rods followed close behind, pinning Roshi's remaining three limbs.

"Looks like this is where I fall, Son. Goodbye."

The words had barely left his mouth.

A Black Rod pierced Roshi's back, shattered his lumbar spine, passed through his abdomen, and plunged into the ground.

With his abdomen pierced, the chakra around Roshi drained away like air escaping a balloon.

His Tailed Beast Cloak and Lava Release Chakra Mode gradually vanished.

Roshi's eyes went blank.

"You really can run."

Nagato slowly descended from the sky to the cliff's edge, lowering his gaze to Roshi, pinned to the ground by five Black Rods.

Roshi's face was buried in the gravel, bloody foam constantly spilling from his mouth. The intense pain made even speaking difficult. His lumbar spine was shattered, and he had lost all sensation in his lower limbs.

The place where his chakra was stored had been pierced by a Black Rod. Every trace of chakra he recovered drained away through it.

"I'll ask you one more time. Join the Akatsuki, or die." Killing intent filled Nagato's eyes.

"Guh... kill me." Roshi used every ounce of his strength.

"Tch..." His patience exhausted, Nagato bent down, formed hand seals with both hands, then pressed his right hand against Roshi's back, over his heart.

Tailed Beast Release Seal.

Dazzling white light shone beneath his right hand.

Roshi's pupils shrank to pinpoints from the agony, and a ragged scream tore from his throat.

"Aaah..."

Dark red chakra burst uncontrollably through Roshi's skin, gathering above him into the enormous, illusory outline of a gorilla.

As the sealing formula progressed, the Tailed Beast was dragged out of Roshi bit by bit, its phantom shape growing increasingly solid.

With a roar, the Four-Tails swung its right hand, the first part to solidify, down at Nagato in fury.

Nagato was just about to gather his chakra and defend himself with the Rinnegan.

Kakuzu suddenly appeared in the path of the Four-Tails' swinging fist.

"Leave it to me." Three masked black figures emerged behind Kakuzu.

Earth Grudge Fear: Final Shot.

The three masked Earth Grudge Fear monsters spun together around Kakuzu's right arm and began charging.

"Try this." Kakuzu seized his chance.

Chakra of three different natures gathered in his right arm, becoming a terrifyingly powerful beam of energy that blasted into the Four-Tails' fist.

The impact sent the fist flying backward, dragging the entire body out of Roshi with it.

Cold sweat ran down Nagato's temple. Separating a Tailed Beast took far more effort than he had imagined.

His body trembled slightly as he braced his hands on his knees and straightened.

He raised a hand toward the Four-Tails, which lay on the ground trying to get up.

Planetary...

Nagato had created Black Rods without restraint earlier, leaving his chakra depleted. He could not even use Planetary Devastation to seal the Tailed Beast.

"Cough, cough." Nagato raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"It was the same last time." Looking at the Four-Tails, Nagato remembered how he had ultimately been unable to seal Rasa completely in Sunagakure because he lacked chakra.

Nagato swayed and spoke softly in a weary voice. "Pero, can you hear me?"

"I'm so bored. Let's go take a look at the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools in a few days, Konan." Inside the room, Pero floated in midair, spinning continuously.

Konan sat at her desk with her head lowered, reviewing documents. Hearing Pero's words, she frowned, set down her pen, and rubbed her eyes, tired from long hours of work.

"Could you offer some practical suggestions? The Akatsuki has only just integrated Amegakure, and I already have more work than I can handle."

Konan raised her head and rolled her eyes at Pero.

"I gave this suggestion careful thought. Look, Nagato's over in Iwagakure asking me for help right now." Pero held an open palm behind his ear, pretending to listen.

"What does this have to do with Nagato now?" Konan folded her arms and spoke irritably.

"Think about it. Nagato is a member of the Uzumaki Clan, but he doesn't know a single sealing jutsu. He can only seal Tailed Beasts using the Rinnegan's sealing jutsu."

Pero's gaze crossed a thousand miles, taking in Nagato's current situation.

"He doesn't have quite enough chakra himself. It's already good enough that he can use the Rinnegan. Sealing jutsu is even further out of reach. We can go to the Land of Whirlpools and find him some sealing jutsu."

Pero had been extremely bored lately and wanted someone to go out and have fun with him. Familiar with the plot, he naturally knew that most sealing jutsu were actually in Konoha.

His suggestion to search for sealing jutsu in the Land of Whirlpools was only meant to help Konan relax, since she had been constantly on edge lately.

"Wait, what did you just say?" Suddenly noticing something wrong, Konan turned to question Pero, her fingers tapping back and forth on the desk.

"I said we could go to the Land of Whirlpools..."

"No, what did you say happened to Nagato?"

"He's asking for help."

Feeling Konan's burning, piercing gaze on him, Pero shrugged.

"I'll be right back."

With that, he vanished instantly.

"What's taking him so long?" Nagato, who had recovered a little chakra, grumbled. "I'll do it myself, then."

Nagato stood, brushed the dust off himself, and looked at the Four-Tails, pinned to the ground by dozens of Black Rods.

"I'll do it myself."

Planetary...

Pero's face suddenly appeared in front of Nagato, filling his entire field of vision.

"Holy shit, you scared me to death."

Pero waved a hand. "We're buddies, bro. No need for formalities." He walked over to the Four-Tails.

The Four-Tails' enormous body turned into several streams of light and flew into Pero.

[Four-Tails Son Goku's chakra extracted. Evolution energy +0.5%.]

Casually picking up the little Four-Tails from the ground, he turned to Nagato and Kakuzu. "Since I'm here, I might as well take you back too. Put your hands on me."

Nagato glanced back at the silent, motionless Roshi on the ground, then placed his hand on Pero.

Whoosh.

The three vanished.

A moment later, Sasori, who had witnessed their disappearance, finally arrived.

He stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at where the three had vanished. "I'm not on board! I haven't gotten on board yet!"