Chapter 241

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"As you can see, Nagato."

Fugaku spoke without any hint of apology on his face. "I've told you many times, don't trust anyone."

Whoosh!

Konan suddenly transformed into countless pieces of paper, scattering from Susanoo's skeletal hand and reassembling next to Nagato. The now human-shaped Konan only had a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth and some minor injuries from being squeezed, but nothing too severe.

Konan rarely made a move in front of Fugaku, so the Shikigami no Mai technique had not been exposed. Fortunately, she had just gathered chakra; otherwise, it would have been difficult to escape.

"Konan, are you okay?"

Nagato, his eyes fixed on Madara and Fugaku, asked the question to Konan behind him. If Fugaku had betrayed them immediately, then the other person's words might indeed be true.

Konan, watching the enemy cautiously, replied, "I'm fine, Nagato, but these two won't be easy to deal with."

On the other side, Fugaku stepped back to Madara's side. Black Zetsu emerged slowly from the ground, saying, "It seems we've failed. Looks like we need to take action to obtain the Rinnegan, Madara-sama."

"No problem, it'll just take a little effort," Madara said nonchalantly. In his eyes, Nagato's strength was insignificant. The fact that Nagato managed to develop the Rinnegan to this extent, despite not being from the clan, was a sign of some talent.

However, Madara only acknowledged Nagato because he used the basic abilities of the Rinnegan to create puppet clones through the use of the Transcription Seal.

"Just watch from the sidelines."

After saying that, Madara leaped forward, instantly charging towards Nagato and Konan.

"Konan, be careful."

Nagato formed hand seals and controlled the Six Paths of Pain to protect himself, with the strongest Deva Path leading the charge.

Seeing Madara rushing over, the Deva Path also charged forward, raising its hand and shouting, "Shinra Tensei!"

A powerful repulsive force instantly erupted, sweeping away everything with terrifying power, with the Deva Path at the center.

As the force exploded, Madara smirked. His Sharingan briefly transformed into the purple Rinnegan, and an equally powerful repulsive force appeared.

Boom! Rumble!

The two nearly identical invisible forces collided with a massive explosion. After a brief standoff of a few seconds, one figure was suddenly sent flying.

Thud, thud, thud.

The Deva Path was sent flying, rolling several times on the ground before being caught by the Asura Path.

"Impossible, you have the Rinnegan too?"

Nagato was shocked as he stared at the armored Madara before him. This person had just used Shinra Tensei, and his Sharingan had also transformed into the Rinnegan.

"The Rinnegan is the final evolution of the Sharingan. You're just an orphan of the Uzumaki clan, surviving this long by relying on the Rinnegan I gave you. You should be satisfied, Nagato."

Madara spoke slowly, with no trace of pride in having just sent a damaged puppet flying.

As soon as the exchange was over, he realized that Nagato lacked true combat awareness. During the standoff of identical forces, Nagato didn't even know to stabilize his footing.

He had actually expected this child to surprise him. It seems he was asking for too much.

"Asura Path!"

"Animal Path, Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Nagato formed hand seals and controlled the two Paths.

One made hand seals and summoned powerful summoned creatures. The other shed the Akatsuki's black cloak, revealing various weapons.

Roar!!

Boom, boom, boom!

The summoned creatures roared, and the Asura Path launched missiles from its arms, attacking Madara.

Fugaku, watching from a distance, couldn't help but be impressed. The Rinnegan's abilities were diverse, with few obvious weaknesses when used together. Additionally, Nagato's main body was protected by Konan, allowing them to escape into the sky at any time.

Fugaku then offered, "Do you need my help? Perhaps I can distract Konan, leaving Nagato's main body unprotected."

"No need. Madara-sama doesn't like others interfering in his fights. Besides, anything Nagato can do, Madara-sama can do better, and with more elegance," Black Zetsu replied. To him, Nagato's abilities were not even worthy of being Madara's opponent. They just needed to wait for Madara to half-destroy Nagato and then proceed with Madara's resurrection.

The Asura Path's missiles completely missed Madara, and the summoned creatures were nothing more than a heavy burden in his eyes. With the Rinnegan, he could easily see that Nagato controlled the creatures through the black rods embedded in them.

Knowing this, Madara used the Shunshin no Jutsu to leap onto one of the creatures, forming a black rod in his hand, and then stabbed it into the creature's body.

One by one, the remaining creatures were pierced by Madara's black rods. He then jumped down, forming hand seals to transmit chakra.

The four summoned creatures suddenly stopped moving, and Nagato was shocked to realize that he could no longer control them.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Kai!"

After forming seals, Madara sent the four creatures back.

Whether it was the Six Paths of Pain or the summoned creatures, they were all corpses controlled by the Rinnegan. Once pierced by Madara's black rods, they could be rendered completely useless by another source of chakra.

For others, as long as they controlled a Pain and removed the black rods from its body, they could also strip Nagato of his control over it.

"It seems you've understood. With no legs, you can only rely on these few corpses. Once you lose control, you're powerless. I was too serious to expect anything from a kid, even though the Rinnegan you have was given to you by me!"

Madara's tone was filled with disappointment. This kind of battle couldn't even stir his interest.

"Let's end this quickly."

Crack, crack!

Massive amounts of chakra surged from Madara's body, rapidly forming bones and muscles. Soon, a sixty-meter-tall Susanoo materialized before Nagato.

This Susanoo, however, had only two faces and four arms, without armor, representing the third stage of the Susanoo.

For dealing with Nagato's counterfeit Rinnegan, it was more than enough.

In the ninja world, only a few people wouldn't feel fear when facing a Susanoo, and Nagato wasn't one of them.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Susanoo's hands formed massive chakra blades, which then slashed towards Nagato.

Seeing this, Nagato controlled the Deva Path to leap forward, "Shinra Tensei!"

Boom!

The repulsive force clashed with the chakra blades, creating a terrifying impact. The chakra blade seemed to strike a transparent, spherical barrier. After a few seconds of standoff, the Deva Path suffered the same fate as before, sent flying and rolling backward. This time, the powerful impact also sent Nagato's main body, along with the other Pain bodies and Konan, flying.

Madara had the Susanoo anchor itself to the ground, so he only staggered back a step before resuming his advance, intending to finish Nagato off.

"Nagato, are you okay?"

Konan, after getting up, rushed to Nagato's side. However, Nagato pushed her away, his expression grave as he said, "Konan, find a chance to escape on your own. This enemy is even more terrifying than before; he might really be Madara."

After saying that, Nagato didn't have time to say anything else. He continued to gather chakra, preparing to use the Deva Path for one final jutsu.

"Gathering chakra for a final struggle? Don't even think about it!"

Seeing Nagato attempting to gather chakra in the Deva Path, Madara controlled the Susanoo to slash down with its blade.

Rumble!

The blade carved a trench several hundred meters long and twenty or thirty meters deep into the ground. Nagato didn't even have time to use Shinra Tensei to deflect it.

The terrifying shockwave sent Nagato's main body and Konan flying, unable to withstand the destructive power that seemed to crush everything.

Even though the third-stage Susanoo's destructive power wasn't as strong as a Bijuu Bomb, it was still beyond Nagato's ability to withstand up close. If it had been the fully-formed Susanoo, Nagato might have died from the full-force impact.

It's time to end this!

Madara thought to himself, controlling the Susanoo to approach Nagato, then having the Susanoo grab Nagato and lift him up. Afterward, he turned and walked towards Black Zetsu.

"Let go of Nagato!"

Konan, enraged, used the Shikigami no Mai to form paper wings on her back and gathered numerous paper shuriken and explosive tags, hurling them at Madara's Susanoo.

However, the third-stage Susanoo, with its two faces and four arms, didn't even need to turn around. It simply swung one arm backward.

Thud!

Konan dodged the first strike but was hit hard by the second punch, sent flying into a crater where she lay motionless.

Madara merely glanced back at her, then continued towards Black Zetsu, placing Nagato down.

"He's passed out. You handle it, Black Zetsu."

Madara said. Nagato's heart also had a seal, but in his current unconscious state, it didn't seem like he would wake up soon. It would be better for Black Zetsu to take control.

"I understand, Madara-sama."

Black Zetsu replied, slowly covering Nagato like mercury and then taking control to form hand seals.

"Rinne Tensei no Jutsu!"

As the final seal was completed, a demonic face appeared on the ground. A massive life force emerged from its mouth, flowing into Madara's body.

Hiss!

A massive aura and shockwave erupted from Madara, the chakra surge from his resurrection almost overwhelming Fugaku.

'What an incredible amount of chakra.'

"Hahaha..."

Madara's laughter echoed through the air as he felt the wind from his resurrection. Unable to help himself, he made a small cut on his arm, watching fresh blood flow out.

"Madara-sama, your Rinnegan."

After Madara's resurrection, Black Zetsu returned to White Zetsu and removed Nagato's eyes, presenting them to Madara.

After placing the eyes into his sockets, Madara felt a surge of immense power. Now he felt like he could accomplish anything.

'Next, I need to gather the Bijuu, become the Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails, and find Hashirama to obtain the power of Sage Mode.'

Feeling the vast power within him, Madara thought to himself. With strength surpassing even his prime, not even Hashirama could stop him now.

Black Zetsu spoke up, "Madara-sama, what should we do next? Konoha likely knows about your resurrection by now. They have the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails and Two-Tails. They might even use the Edo Tensei to bring back the First Hokage to deal with you."

"Heh, if Hashirama could actually be revived, that would be interesting. But in his Edo Tensei state, he won't have his full power, which would make it less enjoyable," Madara laughed lightly. "Let's collect the Bijuu from Konoha last. Let them gather their forces. When the time comes, they'll learn the true meaning of despair!"

To revive the Ten-Tails, all that was needed was to collect the Nine-Tails. The order of collecting the other Bijuu didn't matter.

"We've already captured the Three-Tails. After that, we can send the Edo Tensei to the Sand Village to capture the One-Tail. Next are the Six-Tails, Seven-Tails, and Eight-Tails. As for the Four-Tails and Five-Tails, they'll need another two to three years to revive, Madara-sama," Black Zetsu reported.

Hearing this, Madara couldn't help but feel a bit irritated. They would still have to wait two more years.

"Then let's get started, Black Zetsu. You, along with Fugaku and the Edo Tensei bodies, go capture the remaining Jinchuriki."

Madara had no intention of taking action himself, but if there were any problems, he would intervene early.

Just as they were about to leave, Black Zetsu noticed that Nagato still had some life left in him and said, "Madara-sama, this guy isn't dead yet."

"After all, he's a carefully chosen member of the Uzumaki clan. If his life force weren't strong enough, he wouldn't have been able to wield the Rinnegan's power."

It was a matter of gradually adapting to wield the power of both Rinnegan. Obito, even at his peak, could only handle one. If he tried to use both, he would lose himself in the Rinnegan's power.

Madara said this and then left without looking back. Nagato no longer held any value in his eyes. To leave him there, like a withering weed, slowly losing the fire of life, would be his ultimate fate.

After Madara and Fugaku left, Black Zetsu glanced at Nagato and chuckled before sinking into the ground. "A barely useful puppet, it's time for you to leave the stage."

It was a while after Black Zetsu had disappeared that Konan slowly regained consciousness.

"Nagato…"

The first thing she did as she came to her senses was to search for Nagato.

As nightfall approached Konoha, in the Uzumaki household's bedroom, a barrier was set up to isolate sound and sight.

Breathing slightly heavily, a figure spoke, "Kushina-san, you've heard the news, haven't you? Jiraiya is returning to the village after completing his mission."

(End of Chapter)