Do you want to dance too?

The battlefield fell deathly silent.

Tens of thousands of ninja stood rooted to the spot as though they had all been struck by a paralysis technique, the sight of that world-shattering assault being effortlessly neutralized seemingly still replaying before their eyes.

And in their eyes, they mistook the two newly arrived figures for fresh reinforcements.

They fell into a panic.

But in Kakashi's eyes.

The appearance of those two figures seemed to stretch Kakashi's time out endlessly, slowing it down.

On one hand, wild joy swept through his heart.

Both of them were still alive!

They hadn't died on that mission. She hadn't died beneath his Lightning Blade.

The dream that had tormented him for months was finally resolved at this moment.

But on the other hand, an icy chill ran up Kakashi's spine to the crown of his head.

Why?

Why were they wearing Akatsuki robes, standing on the other side?

He remembered that Minato-sensei had also been there when Pero first appeared and saved Rin.

They seemed to have had a brief, friendly interaction.

The clues and details from his dreams rapidly pieced themselves together and rearranged in his mind.

A thought he could scarcely believe, yet one that seemed quite plausible, surfaced in his heart.

For a moment, Kakashi did not know what choice to make.

Should he rejoice at his dear friends' survival?

Or rage at his teacher's deception?

His brain instantly shut down.

"?"

Minato suddenly felt as though someone was watching him from behind, and he turned to search for that burning gaze.

He saw Kakashi.

Kakashi's eyes held undisguisable shock, along with a trace of fear.

Seeing his face completely drenched in cold sweat.

Minato turned back to look at Obito and Rin in the distance, then finally rested his gaze on Kakashi again.

He understood.

Kakashi had remembered everything.

A faint smile appeared on Minato's face as he quietly watched Kakashi.

His blue eyes still held that familiar gentleness.

With encouragement, he gave Kakashi a slight nod.

As though he had received Minato's confirmation, Kakashi's panicked heart instead grew calm.

He felt relieved.

So Minato-sensei had made his choice long ago.

Then what about him?

Just as Kakashi wrestled with his feelings.

Nagato, in the center of the lake, suddenly moved.

He slowly raised both hands and aimed them at the allied forces.

Banshō Ten'in!

An immense gravitational pull instantly erupted amid the crowd.

Among the allied ranks, Iwagakure's Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Hán, and Kumogakure's Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B, did not even have time to react.

Their bodies flew uncontrollably toward Nagato at high speed.

"Hán!" "B!"

Ōnoki and the Raikage roared in anger at the same time.

They wanted to rush forward together to help.

But it was already too late.

The two Jinchūriki struggled constantly in midair, unleashing powerful tailed beast chakra.

They tried to resist that bizarre gravitational pull.

It seemed to do little good.

Before the power of the Rinnegan, the tailed beasts' power was completely suppressed.

In the end, the two were held fast in front of Nagato.

Nagato's Rinnegan widened sharply, and a strange pulse emanated from his eyes.

Hán and Killer B, who had still been struggling frantically, suddenly froze, the light fading from their eyes as their gazes turned blank.

The next moment, their eyes gradually transformed into Rinnegan identical to Nagato's.

"Bastard!"

Unable to hold back, Ōnoki and A simultaneously unleashed powerful chakra, turning into two streaks of light as they charged toward Nagato.

However, countless sheets of paper glowing faintly gold descended from the sky, forming a deadly barrage that shot down in front of them and blocked their path.

Ōnoki and A looked up.

Konan had flown into the air and was watching the two Kage below intently. She spread a pair of enormous wings that blotted out the sky and sun, her whole body radiating blazing light and an aura of danger that made their hearts pound.

Looking at the paper filling the sky and Konan wreathed in golden flames, feeling that heavy pressure, the two Kage-level fighters' hearts lurched.

"No passage beyond this point." Konan's cold face was expressionless. "We will not take their lives."

"Bullshit!" Ōnoki was so furious that his beard trembled. "You killed Roshi, and you still expect us to believe your lies?!"

Konan blocked their way, and their chakra had also been almost completely exhausted moments earlier.

They could only watch helplessly as Nagato pressed his hands against the two Jinchūriki.

Nagato forcibly tore two immense masses of tailed beast chakra from the Jinchūriki's bodies. They took the physical forms of tailed beasts in midair, only for Nagato to crush them into masses with extreme brutality.

Yahiko slapped the surface of the water.

Two enormous urns appeared out of thin air beside Nagato.

Nagato sealed the tailed beasts he had dragged out of the Jinchūriki inside the urns covered in engraved runes.

Once he had finished, he casually waved his hand, and the unconscious Hán and Killer B were like dolls.

They were thrown back, landing before Ōnoki and A.

The two hurried forward to check them and found that although Hán and Killer B had exhausted their chakra and fallen unconscious, their lives were indeed not in danger.

"What... exactly are you trying to do?!" Ōnoki raised his head and demanded an answer from the members of the Akatsuki.

Nagato ignored him.

He slammed both hands against the water's surface.

Boom-!

Amid splashing water, six equally large sealing urns slowly emerged from the lake.

Nagato stepped forward and placed the urns containing the Five-Tails and Eight-Tails among them, forming a circle with the other six urns.

Only, the circle still had one gap.

"For... true peace." Nagato turned around, sweeping his cold Rinnegan over everyone present as he spoke slowly.

His words had barely fallen.

Suddenly!

Everyone present, whether from the allied forces or the Akatsuki, sensed an incomparably vast, unfamiliar chakra bearing down from the sky.

That chakra was filled with a savage aura.

A meteor trailing white smoke fell from the sky and slammed into the lake before them.

Boom-!

An enormous spray of water shot hundreds of meters into the sky, and waves churned across the entire lake from the impact.

The high-speed friction also evaporated some of the lake water, filling the air with vapor.

Under everyone's shocked gazes, a figure clad in dark red Warring States-era armor, with long, wild black hair, slowly emerged from the spray and mist, carrying a winged figure whose fate was unknown.

His face bore cracks like parched earth, and he looked travel-worn from head to toe.

He looked at no one, merely rolling his neck as though he had just awakened from a long slumber.

Then he raised his head, revealing one scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan and, in his other eye, a Rinnegan identical to Nagato's.

He surveyed the tens of thousands of allied ninja before him, a disdainful smile curling his lips.

"What... a fine welcome."

His voice carried an air of dominance.

"Well then."

"Do you want to dance too?"