"Have you hidden yourself well?"
Shengu Xuan's voice, like a devil's whisper, echoed clearly inside the hidden Divine Paper Tree.
"Pfft!"
Nagato spat out another large mouthful of blood, his body jerking backward so violently that several Black Receivers in his back even came loose from his withered spine.
Planetary Devastation had been forcibly shattered from within through sheer brute force. The utterly terrifying backlash had almost instantly destroyed the last vitality within his body.
His consciousness had already begun to blur, and the light in his Rinnegan had faded completely, turning an ashen gray.
"Nagato!"
Konan rushed forward, shielding Nagato with her battered body, her beautiful eyes filled with despair and resolve.
She stared fixedly at the empty space ahead. She knew that devil would arrive at any moment.
Whoosh!
Almost the instant the thought occurred to her, an invisible force tore a massive opening through the hundreds of millions of paper sheets wrapped around the outside of the Divine Paper Tree.
For the first time, sunlight shone into the gloomy space filled with the smell of medicine and rust.
With his hands in his pockets, Shengu Xuan walked slowly inside, step by step, bathed in sunlight like a god of death emerging from the light.
He glanced at the Life-Support Device made up of countless pipes and mechanical components, then at the skeletal, mummy-like red-haired man upon it, undisguised revulsion crossing his face.
"Found you."
He spoke those two words flatly, yet they made Konan feel as though she had plunged into an icy abyss.
"Don't you dare... don't you dare hurt Nagato again!"
Konan roared and formed hand seals. Every sheet of paper around them transformed into a razor-sharp blade, forming a white storm of death that swept toward Shengu Xuan from every direction.
"Haven't you had