Ever since Pero's godlike power had been sealed in his belly...
Yahiko had felt as though he lived in a state of exhilaration every day.
He no longer needed to work desperately to refine chakra as he had before. Simply standing in the sunlight was enough for him to feel streams of warm power flowing into his body on their own.
He yearned to fight and hoped to help everyone again. Finally, he could no longer hold back and said to Nagato, "Nagato, let me come with you the next time you capture a tailed beast."
Nagato lifted his head from the files, his Rinnegan gazing calmly at Yahiko.
He could feel that Yahiko had changed. He was no longer an idealist relying on nothing but hot-blooded passion. His body held a power that even Nagato found alarming.
"We have no targets right now." Nagato shook his head. "Since our successive operations, the major shinobi villages have all strengthened their protection of their jinchūriki. Akatsuki's name has spread throughout the Shinobi World. There won't be any more jinchūriki who leave so readily like Roshi did."
The light faded from Yahiko's eyes, and his clenched fists slowly relaxed.
Was I destined to possess all this power, only to play babysitter at the base?
Just then, someone shoved the office window open from outside, and a figure floated lightly inside.
It was Konan. She cut straight into their conversation.
"We have a lead on the Six-Tails Jinchuriki." Konan's voice was cool and clear. She spread out a map and pointed to a spot on the border of the Land of Water. "Our informant sent word that Kirigakure's Six-Tails Jinchuriki appeared there. His movements are strange."
"The Six-Tails Jinchuriki?" Nagato frowned. "Is the information reliable? Why would he be there?"
"The report says he's a child. He seems to be evading pursuit by the Kirigakure Anbu, but his movements are odd, as though he's waiting for something," Konan added.
Here was my chance!
Yahiko's eyes lit up instantly. He stepped forward and said firmly, "Nagato, Konan, let me take part in this mission!"
Nagato looked at Yahiko and nodded. "All right."
"Understood!" Yahiko answered excitedly.
Every word of their conversation reached another training room in the base.
Rin had just finished a round of intense taijutsu training. The golden flames of light around her slowly subsided, but her gaze involuntarily passed through the wall toward another room.
After Uncle Pero had granted her this power, her senses had also become exceptionally keen. She could "see" Obito working hard to learn Wood Release, trying to master the power that did not belong to him. His face was full of seriousness and determination.
A complicated emotion welled up in Rin's heart. In the past, Obito and Kakashi had always protected her.
Now Yahiko had gained power too and was about to step onto the battlefield. But what about her? Was she supposed to hide behind them forever?
No.
This time, it's my turn to protect you.
Rin drew a deep breath, her gaze becoming utterly resolute. She left the training room and walked straight up to Nagato and Yahiko.
"I'm going too." Her voice was quiet, but it carried determination.
Yahiko and Nagato both looked at her in surprise.
"Rin, this mission is dangerous..." Yahiko instinctively tried to dissuade her.
"My power isn't any weaker than yours now." Rin interrupted him, looking Nagato straight in the eye. "I need real combat to master this power. Kakuzu can't help me anymore."
After gaining her new power, Rin had excitedly sought out Kakuzu. After she destroyed one of his hearts with a punch and a kick, Kakuzu no longer dared to spar with her.
Nagato remained silent.
"All right," Nagato finally agreed. "Get ready. We're leaving immediately."
The Land of Water,
at the border.
A thin mist shrouded the coast.
A boy who looked only about ten years old, dressed in an ill-fitting blue kimono, walked barefoot along the beach in fear.
His eyes were filled with fear and exhaustion beyond his years. From time to time, he looked back warily at the dark woods behind him, as though some terrifying monster lurked there.
He could sense people following close behind him, waiting for certain things to happen.
He did not know how much longer he could hold out.
As he fretted, the sky above him suddenly darkened.
Utakata instinctively looked up, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
Three figures wearing Akatsuki cloaks hovered in midair, looking coldly down at him.
The red-haired man in the lead had purple eyes covered in mysterious rings that made even his soul tremble.
"Do it." Nagato's voice held no emotion.
But just as they were about to descend and capture Utakata, something suddenly changed!
Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique!
Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!
In an instant, over a hundred powerful chakra signatures erupted from the woods behind Utakata!
Hundreds of Mist Ninja surged out like a tide, launching an overwhelming assault at the three figures in the sky. Ninjutsu engulfed them instantly.
"Just as expected." Nagato snorted coldly.
Yahiko looked at the sea of people surging below him and felt the power coursing through his body. An excited smile spread across his face.
"Leave these people to me!"
Before he had even finished speaking, he had already dived.
"Hah!" Rin gave a sharp cry. Pale golden chakra flames instantly enveloped her body, and she followed close behind.
Facing a combined ninjutsu attack powerful enough to level a small mountain, Yahiko showed no intention of dodging. He simply threw a punch straight ahead!
No ninjutsu. Pure strength!
Boom!!!
A deafening blast erupted!
The air in front of Yahiko's fist compressed instantly, and the wind from his punch formed a shock-wave barrier.
Every incoming Water Release Ninjutsu, whether water shark or waterfall, was forcibly shattered and vaporized the instant it touched that barrier.
The hundreds of Mist Ninja below froze, unable to believe their eyes.
Before they could recover from their shock, Rin had turned into a streak of golden light and plunged into their formation.
Her speed was extraordinary, leaving trails of afterimages through the crowd. Every time she struck, someone fell.
She used no flashy ninjutsu, only the simplest punches and kicks.
But every punch carried terrifying kinetic energy. Even with her deliberately holding back, every Mist Ninja she hit flew backward like a rag sack and lost consciousness.
Yahiko was even more direct. Like a tiger among sheep, every punch he threw sent several Mist Ninja flying with the wind it stirred.
This was not a battle at all, but a one-sided slaughter.
In less than a minute, ninja lay all across the beach. The two had overwhelmed and defeated every one of the hundreds of Kirigakure elites.
Young Utakata stared blankly at it all. He had never witnessed anything so terrifying.
"It's over." Yahiko dusted off his hands, as though he had merely done something trivial, and turned to take Utakata away.
Just then, a vast, chilling surge of chakra far beyond that of everyone before shot into the sky.
"You're not going anywhere!"
The Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, appeared on a reef nearby. His hands rapidly formed hand seals as an enormous mass of water vapor gathered behind him.
A massive wave swept toward them.
"Interesting." Rather than retreating, Yahiko advanced and threw another punch.
Boom!
The two forces collided in midair. The resulting blast pushed the surrounding seawater dozens of meters away, briefly creating a vacuum.
Yet Yagura's attack did not end there.
He circled around to the other side, his palm coated in chakra, and struck toward Rin's back at a tricky angle.
Shinra Tensei.
An irresistible repulsive force erupted instantly. Yagura felt a tremendous force strike him, and his body flew backward uncontrollably, smashing hard into a distant cliff.
"Let's go," Nagato said to Yahiko and Rin, picking up Utakata, who was too frightened to speak, with one hand.
The three figures flickered, shot into the sky, and departed.
"Pfft-"
Yagura struggled out of the rubble and spat out a mouthful of blood. Looking in the direction where the three Akatsuki members had vanished, he clenched his fists so tightly that his nails pierced his palms, blood dripping between his fingers.
Humiliation! Unprecedented humiliation!
Akatsuki had already become this powerful! They trampled brazenly on the dignity of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, treating the power they took such pride in as nothing.
"Akatsuki..." Yagura ground his teeth, his eyes blazing with fury and defiance.
He finally understood that a single village's strength was utterly incapable of standing against this monstrous organization.
He resolved to contact the other four Kage immediately, make everything that had happened today public, and bring about a true alliance of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Whatever the cost, Akatsuki, this cancer, had to be eradicated from the Shinobi World completely!
Before you continue