Chapter – 541 Nagato’s Changes

On the mountainous Valley, the two figures who had just arrived on the battlefield stood quietly and didn't bother answering Tobi's stupid question.

The silence of these two people made the atmosphere solemn…

Swish…

The night breeze blew by, blowing the blades of grass, and fluttering the black cloaks of the two people.

The rays of moonlight escaped through the gaps in the dark clouds in the sky and sprinkled on the figures of the two people, adding an indescribable breath to the two of them and giving them a sense of elusive mystery.

The solemn and mysterious atmosphere of the two agitated Konan's heart, she took a step back subconsciously and whispered to Nagato, "Please be careful… Nagato!"

Konan has always believed that Nagato who bears the Rinnegan Dojutsu is the strongest Shinobi in the World… however, in the presence of Yama–the mysterious leader of the Amatsukami Organization–she can't help but feel afraid from the bottom of her heart… It is as if Yama is the natural nemesis of Nagato.

Listening to Konan's worried tone, Nagato nodded earnestly and clenched his sweaty palms as he fixed his gaze on Yama's figure.

In their last fight at Amegakure, Nagato was almost killed at the hands of Yama…

The desperate situation back then is still deeply ingrained in his mind… The existence of the leader of Amatsukami standing before him really makes Nagato feel frightful and cautious.

Even if Nagato is no longer what he used to be, even if his strength has increased by several dimensions since their last fight, the fear etched in his subconscious has still not diminished in the slightest.

While Nagato and Konan were extremely nervous and dare not make the slightest move, at this time, Shisui who was relieved by the arrival of Yama and Homusubi tacitly retreated behind the figure of Yama.

Of course, concerning his current identity as a Konoha Shinobi, Shisui still kept a certain distance and did not get too close to Kuroto and Itachi who were disguised as Yama and Homusubi of the Amatsukami.

With this action of Shisui, a silent confrontation between the six people started…

Kuroto who was currently disguised as Yama was also feeling the tremendous pressure coming from Nagato and the Gedo Mazo statue that stood behind Nagato, but he calmed his nerves and carefully examined the battlefield…

Similar to Shisui, Yama too was shocked as he observed the state of the battlefield that was covered with trees and nearly a hundred severely injured or dead shinobi of the five great Shinobi Villages including the current Kazekage, Raikage, Mizukage, and Konoha Elder Advisor.

Then Yama's gaze landed on the figure of Tobi whom he did not expect to meet here on the current battlefield.

As far as Yama knows, the white swirl patterned-face Zetsu named Tobi is originally one of the earliest human victims of Otsutsuki Kaguya's Infinite Tsukuyomi…

He was tethered to the God tree over the course of several years until transforming into one of the Zetsu beings and was ultimately stored within the Gedo statue, where he remained until the statue was summoned by Madara, and Black Zetsu then removed him from inside the statue and modified with Hashirama's DNA leading Madara to believe that he is an imperfect clone of Hashirama similar to White Zetsu.

Aside from all the roles that Tobi played in Madara and Black Zetsu's plans, one thing to note is that Tobi's individual strength is not good enough to be able to cause such a massacre on this battlefield.

Although during the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Tobi displayed the strength of a Super Kage, he did so by using Yamato/Tenzo's prowess to dramatically increase his own, and was able to take on several Kage Class as well as dozens of Elite Jonin Class Shinobi…

But that's the issue, in the cannon, Tobi displayed Super Kage's level of battle prowess using Tenzo, but here Yama is quite clear that Tobi is not encasing around Tenzo, yet Tobi is able to display such a level of battle prowess…!

'How exactly did he do this? Is it possible that Tobi is encasing someone else? But if so, then who?' – this doubt needs to be cleared, or else things would get troublesome in the future…

Currently, Yama has no clear idea as to who is encased by Tobi, but it should be someone who can use Mokuton just like Tenzo…

Regardless of how Tobi is able to display a Super Kage's level of strength at this point in time, his presence has at least dispelled Yama's doubts about the unknown variable that made him frown earlier.

Now with this doubt out of the way, Yama finally fixed his gaze on Nagato.

Just a casual look at him made Yama surprised to find that Nagato has completely changed since the last time he saw the other party.

The current Nagato no longer has that pitiful, shrivelled, and emaciated appearance like that of a dead twig on the verge of death, but has been restored to a healthy appearance of a young man, his body brimming with vitality and his white hair restored to its iconic bright red colour of the Uzumaki lineage.

Even the several black rods that were embedded in his back as well as the mechanical walker that he needed to control the Gedo statue are also no longer required... The current him can easily control the Gedo Mazo without any such problem.

Although Yama had expected such a result considering the fact that Nagato dared to openly attack Konoha, however, the recovery of Nagato has exceeded Yama's expectations…

In fact, not only has Nagato fully recovered, but his strength has also grown to an unfathomable degree… much higher than what Yama had expected…

If Yama were to be placed in Nagato's situation, he doesn't really have the confidence to be able to recover so much in such less time…

'Damn it, at this rate, Nagato might have even surpassed the current me…!' – thought Yama with a nervous expression.

In fact, this is still not so much of a surprise, after all, Nagato too is one of the Children of the Prophecy, and there is no clear knowledge about where exactly his upper limits lie…

Even in the Cannon, similar to Itachi, Nagato was never truly defeated by Naruto but instead was moved by Naruto's painful past, and especially by Naruto's ideology that was quite similar to that of his late Sensei Jiraiya and his friend Yahiko, as a result of which he pinned all his hopes on Naruto, and resolutely chose to sacrifice himself.

At the moment when Nagato chose to sacrifice himself, he was far from reaching his true limits… because if that were not the case, then it would have been impossible for him to use the ability of the Outer Path to resurrect thousands of dead Konoha Shinobi at once.

We must not forget that in the Shinobi World, resurrecting the dead in the truest sense is actually a very, very difficult task.

Except for one of the Outer Path's abilities of the Rinnegan, that is Gedo – Rinne Tensei no Jutsu, only Sunagakure's elder Chiyo's Forbidden Jutsu 'Kisho Tensei', Kusagakure's Ryuzetsu's Kekkei Genkai that allows her to use the Secret Jutsu 'Ryumei Tensei' and Mount Myoboku's Special Seal Tag instilled with Great Sage Power refined over the centuries is capable of resurrecting the dead.

If we assume that bringing the dead back to life, that is, the resurrection of the dead is an equivalent exchange. Then whether it is Gedo – Rinne Tensei no Jutsu, Kisho Tensei, Ryumei Tensei, or Mount Myoboku's Special Seal Tag instilled with Great Sage Power, each of these Jutsus is based on equivalent exchange.

Elder Chiyo of Sunagakure resurrected Gaara at the cost of her life, Ryuzetsu saved Naruto's life at the cost of her own life, and Hagoromo was able to bring his younger brother Hamura back to life at the cost of Mount Myoboku's Special Seal tag… from these few examples we can indeed confirm that the resurrection of dead ones is a process of equivalent exchange, which means, Nagato had enough value to resurrect thousands of people, or in better words, even the emaciated and Shriveled Nagato had enough Chakra and Vitality to be able to resurrect thousands of dead Konoha Shinobi, which clearly shows just how much of a monster Nagato truly was in the Cannon.

So, it wouldn't be wrong to say that if Naruto hadn't been able to use his Talk no Jutsu on Nagato and moved the heart of the other party, and if no other greater power had intervened at that time, then the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi, Uzumaki Naruto would have been no match for Nagato and would have been easily caught by the Akatsuki Organization.

This point was later proved by Edo Tensei Nagato who single-handedly crushed both KCM Naruto and Killer Bee without any ability to resist or fight back.

If hadn't been for Itachi to be able to break free of Kabuto's control using the pre-Tran-scripted Kotoamatsukami, and then seal Nagato using the Sword of Totsuka, the outcome of the Fourth Great Shinobi World War would have been something else entirely.

Therefore, where exactly do Nagato's upper limits lie, Yama can not guess…

'Is the effect of Hashirama Cell transplantation on the Uzumaki Clansmen so good?' this thought suddenly appeared in Yama's mind…

But the answer to this question is already known to Yama… It's not just the Uzumaki descent of Nagato that resulted in such tremendous growth, the existence of Madara's Rinnegan in Nagato's eye sockets, as well as the presence of Gedo Mazo, have helped him in such a terrifying growth…

Most importantly, it is the fusion of Yin-Yang Chakra in Nagato's body that has resulted in such monstrous growth.

While Yama was thinking about various things, the space next to Nagato distorted spirally; out of which the figure of tomoe-masked-DMS-Obito appeared on the battlefield.

As for Zetsu? Although he did not appear on the battlefield directly, Yama could still see his presence not too far away…

Whoosh hoosh Whoosh

At the same time, with the sound of breaking through the wind, several more figures also appeared on the battlefield.

The first person to appear was none other than Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen who was wearing his Black Battle Suit and holding his Adamantine staff.

From his appearance, although Sandaime Hokage looked a little tired, he didn't seem to have suffered any significant injuries.

Of course, Sandaime Hokage was not alone, he was closely followed by Sannin Jiraiya and Sannin Tsunade.

And just as three Kage Class Shinobi from Konoha appeared on the battlefield, the figures of Sandaime Tsuchikage Onoki and his son Kitsuchi also flew over.

Of course, both Onoki and Kitsuchi did not land on the battlefield directly but floated in the air at a moderate distance from the members of Akatsuki and Amatsukami, such that they can both intervene in the battlefield and also retreat from the battlefield depending on how the situation progresses and the flow of battle changes.

Of course, neither Nagato nor Yama who were engaged in a silent confrontation paid much attention to the arrival of these five people and completely ignored them because both of them knows that their arrival wouldn't really change the situation.

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