Chapter 109: Pain

"Yahiko, slow down."

"I can't, Nagato." The laughter of the young man with orange hair was clear even in the rain: "Peace is right in front of us."

"But you should slow down. It's quite disrespectful to appear so disheveled when meeting Hanzo."

Yahiko and Nagato ran through the rain, their spirits high. Yahiko even laughed and shouted like a child.

[End the war and bring peace to the world.]

The long-held wish might come true today. The immense joy almost clouded their judgment, and even the regret of "Konan not being able to witness this moment because she's on a mission" was diminished.

Finally, they arrived at the valley.

It was flat in the middle, with towering rock walls surrounding it—a perfect hidden spot.

As the "birthplace of world peace," this place was undoubtedly suitable.

"Wait, Yahiko."

Nagato suddenly extended his hand to stop his friend, a cold sweat trickling down his forehead: "Something's not right, hurry…"

However, while the Rinnegan was immensely powerful in high-level combat, its observational abilities as eyes couldn't compare to the Byakugan.

He realized it too late.

Above the rock walls, hundreds of shinobi appeared suddenly—Amegakure, Konoha, and Konoha's Anbu...

At the center of a small hill, Hanzo, Danzo, and Yuto Hyuga, along with other powerful figures, looked down at Yahiko and Nagato. Konan knelt among them, her hands bound behind her back, her face covered in blood and dirt.

In an instant, Yahiko and Nagato understood everything.

Hanzo had no intention of negotiating with the Akatsuki. He wanted to join forces with Konoha to eliminate them!

Hanzo stood behind Konan, pressing down on her shoulder, "To me, your organization is a huge problem."

"Yahiko... as the leader, you will die here."

He drew a kunai and lightly pressed it against Konan's throat. The blade's tip pierced her skin, drawing blood.

"If you resist, this woman will die."

Bang!

Hanzo threw the kunai, landing it precisely between Yahiko and Nagato.

"Red-haired guy, use this to kill Yahiko."

"That way, you and this woman can both be saved."

Nagato looked at the kunai, his head spinning.

"No! Nagato! Don't worry about me! You two should escape!" Konan shouted.

"Nagato..." Yahiko suddenly spoke. His expression was strange—his dreams shattered, betrayed by his fellow shinobi, and the girl he loved was in the hands of the enemy. Yahiko felt his insides burning, his mind filled with thoughts of sacrifice.

"Nagato, kill me."

'I can't save Amegakure or the world. But at least I can save you two, Nagato, Konan...'

Uzumaki Nagato's breathing became rapid. He stumbled forward, bent down, and picked up the kunai. Despite his arm strength capable of easily crushing rocks, his hand trembled as he gripped the kunai.

"No!" Konan shouted again, ignoring Hanzo's increasing pressure.

"Nagato! Kill me!" Yahiko's tone was severe, almost commanding, almost pleading: "Kill me, Nagato."

"No!"

"Kill!"

Yahiko's and Konan's voices intertwined in Nagato's mind. The three of them grew up together, knowing each other so well they felt like one. But now, Nagato seemed to lose his memory, unable to recognize who was speaking.

'If it were you, why would you ask me to disregard your lives... We all know my greatest dream is to protect you two...'

"Nagato!"

Yahiko's shout startled him. The red-haired young man instinctively turned his head, seeing his friend rushing towards him. In the next moment, Yahiko crashed into his arms.

Squelch.

The kunai stabbed into the Akatsuki leader's chest.

"No matter what, you and Konan must live..." Blood bubbled into Yahiko's throat and lungs, making his voice unclear.

"You are the savior of this world. If it's you, you can definitely..."

He didn't finish his last words, collapsing weakly into the mud. Nagato stood frozen, unable to support his friend's body.

"Yahiko—"

Konan's piercing scream echoed in the rain.

"Hmph." Hanzo chuckled. He had viewed the Akatsuki as a great enemy but hadn't expected to annihilate their leadership so easily.

"Kill."

He had no intention of keeping his promise.

A barrage of kunai shot towards Nagato.

Boom!

Nagato lightly raised his arm, a barrier of repulsive force enveloping him. The pure power, fiercer than the Byakugan, surged forth, shattering the iron weapons. Not a single kunai reached him.

He lifted his head, looking at the people on the rock wall.

Only then did the Amegakure and Konoha shinobi see clearly. The red-haired young man had terrifying eyes—purple, with concentric ovals surrounding his pupils, like an inescapable hellish cycle.

"Those eyes..." Hanzo was horrified.

What he didn't know was that the shock was even greater among the Konoha side. That power to repel everything... It looked exactly like the Moon God!

'It's coming...' Yuto narrowed his eyes.

He knew Nagato would soon rush here to rescue Konan, then get caught in the fire-style trap Hanzo had set up, destroying his legs and leaving him permanently disabled.

Known as the "legs of a shinobi," without them, even Nagato Uzumaki would lose about thirty percent of his combat power!

Yahiko couldn't be saved, but your legs have operational space...

Thinking about this, Yuto Hyuga took a deep breath and shouted.

"Nagato!"

The red-haired young man looked at him. Because of Konan, Nagato already knew Yuto had become the vice commander of Konoha's western front.

Due to the development of Lion's Fang Bite, their relationship was quite close. He had planned to meet Yuto again to jointly research ninjutsu.

But he hadn't expected their next meeting to be as enemies, soaked in blood.

"Looks like you remember me." Yuto chuckled. "It's a pity we're now on opposite sides."

He rubbed his palm slightly. In the crevices of his nails, there was a lot of powder he had previously stuffed in.

This powder came from scraping the inside layer of a Boro mask.

The inner layer of that mask had been coated with discarded God's Mask by Yuto. It could block chakra sensing and Byakugan's sight, an "absolute dead object" with no interaction with the outside world!

Yuto fiercely struck Konan's back, the sound of bones cracking echoing in the rain. But he wasn't done. His hands turned into dense lightning, continuously hitting the woman's vital points and internal organs. Each time his fingertips pierced her skin, drawing blood.

—Hyuga Style: Gentle Fist!

Even some soft-hearted Konoha shinobi couldn't watch. This was simply—no, this was outright slaughter!

Finally, after completing a full set of Gentle Fist strikes, Konan was covered in blood.

In the eyes of the Byakugan and sensory-type shinobi, Konan's body was filled with "unseeable death holes," and her chakra no longer flowed in her meridians. These were characteristics of a body dead beyond doubt, even more so than a stopped heart.

"Take her back!" Yuto coldly kicked Konan's "corpse" down the cliff.

"From now on, I have no ties with the Akatsuki!"

Ruthless! So ruthless!

Even Danzo couldn't help but admire in his heart. Yuto was indeed a ruthless character. To eliminate suspicions of colluding with the enemy, he publicly slaughtered the woman.

An Anbu from Konoha also glanced at Yuto. He was under orders from Hiruzen Sarutobi to secretly observe Yuto and see if he was connected to Moon God.

Now, he could almost rule out Yuto's suspicion. His loyalty to Konoha was unquestionable. How could he possibly raid the village? Suspecting him was an insult to loyalty itself!

As for Hanzo, he was dumbfounded by Yuto's series of actions... 'The traps I painstakingly set are now useless?'

Everyone on the rock wall had their thoughts, but below, Nagato had only one feeling—

Pain! Extreme pain!

He saw Yahiko and Konan as his entire world. Now, his heaven and earth had collapsed.

"Ahhhhh—"

He roared, his eyes bloodshot. The hundreds of broken kunai embedded in the ground flew up, shooting towards everyone.

Most of them aimed at Yuto!

The youth seemed to dodge calmly, but inside, he was cursing. "Ungrateful bastard, damn Uzumaki..."

(End of Chapter)