"Yahiko! Konan! Get behind me!"
Seeing both his companions stand in front of him, Nagato grew so agitated that he wished he could fly in front of them.
"That's the Fifth Hokage! Only the [Rinnegan] can deal with him!"
Konan turned a deaf ear to Nagato's words, standing in front of him as though rooted to the spot.
Yahiko was even more composed.
"I've already died once."
Yahiko's black eyes remained fixed on the Fifth Hokage opposite him as he spoke without looking back.
"So what if I really 'die' again?"
"The way you're acting..."
Uchiha Minamoto looked at the Akatsuki trio opposite him, who seemed about to blaze with fighting spirit, and helplessly pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Why are you making me out to be some kind of ultimate villain?
"Hasn't your Akatsuki been the one stirring up trouble all along?"
At those words.
Nagato fell silent, and Konan had nothing to say.
Even Yahiko's air of heroic self-sacrifice instantly dwindled to almost nothing.
It seemed, perhaps, probably... the Fifth Hokage was right?
"Akatsuki destroyed Takigakure, Akatsuki seized the Seven-Tails, and Akatsuki attacked the Five Kage Summit..."
Uchiha Minamoto listed Akatsuki's offenses, unleashing a barrage from the moral high ground.
"And I, Konoha's Fifth Hokage, want to deal with Akatsuki. What's wrong with that?"
Yahiko glanced at his two companions, frustrated by their failure to do better.
This was the reality Akatsuki had to face for taking the wrong path!
That said.
Yahiko still chose to stand firmly beside Nagato and Konan.
Uchiha Minamoto stared at Akatsuki's first leader, whom he had personally brought back to life.
"Yahiko, I was the one who 'revived' you, wasn't I?"
"Yes."
"Have I ever hurt you?"
"No."
"Has Nagato killed you?"
"He has..."
"Is there any conflict between us?"
"No."