"Pass on my orders! Assemble the Six Paths! Leave for the Land of Fire immediately! I will reduce that Shengu Xuan and all of Konoha to ashes beneath the wrath of a god!"
Atop the steel tower perpetually lashed by cold rain in the Land of Rain, Nagato's skeletal body shook violently. The black metal rods embedded all over his back glinted with a cold, eerie light in the gloom. His purple, ripple-patterned Rinnegan were now covered in horrifying bloodshot veins. The news of Hidan and Kakuzu's deaths was like a resounding slap across the face of this man who called himself a "god."
Konan stood beside him, her heart clenching at the sight of his near-madness. She knew his body was already at its limit. Forcing himself to control the Six Paths of Pain on a long journey to attack Konoha would certainly drain what little life force he had left. But she knew even better that once Nagato made up his mind, no one in this world could change his will.
"I understand, Nagato. I'll make preparations immediately." Konan bit her lower lip. Paper Release chakra swirled around her body before she turned into countless sheets of white paper and vanished into the wind and rain. Nagato stared fixedly toward the Land of Fire, the killing intent in his Rinnegan almost solidifying.
Meanwhile, in the wilderness along the Land of Fire's border.
The heavy stench of blood mingled with the smell of burning, spreading through the air on the fierce wind. Kakuzu's corpse, crushed beyond recognition by hundredfold gravity, was being savagely torn apart by more than a dozen hideous Shadowkhan Devourers. These monsters from the Shadowkhan gulped down his remaining chakra and Earth Grudge Fear tendrils, making scalp-tingling chewing sounds.
Asuma Sarutobi knelt on one knee, his