Chapter 73: The Unseen Strings (Patreon)

In the physical world, mere seconds had passed.

In Konan's eyes, Hanzō's soul had already been mostly extracted, his body on the verge of becoming an empty shell. Victory seemed already grasped within Pain's hand.

But then, abruptly, the Deva Path, Asura Path, and Human Path froze simultaneously. The Human Path's soul extraction process halted mid-action. Its hand pressed against Hanzō's head convulsed violently.

Thud! Thud-thud!

Before Konan could even react, the three figures plummeted to the ground like birds with severed wings, utterly and unnaturally still.

"Pain!"

Konan, who had maintained silence until now, gasped, her pupils constricting. Without a moment's hesitation, the paper wings on her back unfurled. Countless sheets of paper flew out, enveloping the three fallen Paths. Seizing the moment while Hanzō's soul was still reeling, drifting back into his body in a daze, she gathered the three figures and fled Amegakure without a backward glance.

Konan understood better than anyone: if Pain had suddenly become like this, something must have happened to Nagato himself!

Was it Zetsu? Or Tobi?

Of course. Those two, with their ill intentions, were never to be trusted!

Hanzō, Amegakure—all of it was cast aside in Konan's mind. She couldn't believe for a second that Hanzō was capable of doing this to Pain. Her only thought was to reach Nagato's side, immediately!

"Hahh... Damn it!"

Hanzō gasped, having been violently yanked back from the brink of having his soul torn free. He struggled to his feet, one hand pressed to his head. His eyes still held a residue of sheer terror and the confusion of a narrow escape.

He staggered upright, shook his head to clear it, and glared into the distance, fury rising in his expression. "Trying to escape?!"

But as he made to give chase, a voice spoke in his ear.

"Patience."

Hanzō looked up, following the sound. There, standing atop Ibuse, was Hyūga Kumokawa. Kumokawa watched Konan's winged form recede into the distance, then looked down at Hanzō below with a slight smile.

"First, let me tell you what they just experienced. Then... it will be your turn to make a choice."

Simultaneously, over a dozen kilometers from Amegakure, at a cave sealed by a large boulder. Anyone trying to touch the rock would find its texture strange and unnatural, it was Konan's Shikigami no Mai. The technique allowed her to transform and disguise paper into any object, even evading detection by the Sharingan.

Now, deep within the dark, damp cave, Nagato, emaciated to the point of being almost skeletal, stood within a crude wooden contraption. Countless black rods pierced deep into his back.

On the other side, the White Zetsu with spiral patterns all over its body, known as "Tobi," (Guruguru) sat cross-legged on the ground.

"Ahh, really now. Lord Madara just loves ordering people around. What danger could Nagato possibly be in?"

It swayed back and forth like someone with hyperactivity, muttering to itself with utter boredom. "Come to think of it, are White Zetsus plants or humans? If we're plants, why can't we decompose feces? If we're humans, why can't we defecate? Hmm..."

Just as Tobi's wildly jumping thoughts were occupied with various nonsensical questions about excrement—

HUM—!!

Nagato, standing in the cold contraption, snapped his eyes open. The profound Rinnegan in his sockets widened in shock. An unprecedented, violent psychic shock surged through the chakra-transmitting black rods connecting him to the Human Path. Like a breached dam, it flooded his soul without warning!

"GUH—AAAAAAAH!!!"

A piercing, wretched scream tore through the entire cavern, making Tobi shudder and leap to its feet, turning to stare at Nagato.

Nagato's gaunt face contorted into a mask of extreme agony. His withered body trembled uncontrollably with each cry. His head was thrown back, eyes bulging as if they might burst from their sockets. Pain! Soul-rending pain! So sudden, so unimaginably intense! It felt like his brain was being stirred with countless red-hot iron rods!

In his agonized convulsions, parts of the apparatus holding him snapped. Blood instantly gushed from the fresh wounds.

"Aaah?! What's happening, what's happening?!" Tobi's featureless face couldn't show expression, but its frantic scrambling around Nagato betrayed its panic.

Ptuh!

A torrent of scalding blood erupted from Nagato's mouth, staining his emaciated chest and the cold machinery below. Tobi ran around inside and outside the cave, finding no enemy, growing more frantic by the second—like a headless fly on a hot skillet.

"Damn it! Didn't Zetsu tell me to watch for enemies?! Where's the enemy?!"

Seeing Nagato's pallid face turn deathly white, it stamped its feet in frustration. "If something happens to Nagato, Lord Madara will definitely feed me to wild dogs and turn me into poop!"

At that thought, it stopped hesitating. It leaped onto Nagato's apparatus, its spiral-patterned body unfurling like a blooming night-blooming cereus, completely enveloping the bleeding Nagato.

It was at that precise moment that Konan's figure appeared at the cave entrance. The metallic scent of blood hit her immediately, and she saw Nagato wrapped within the White Zetsu.

"Damn you! What are you doing?!"

Her worst fears were confirmed in an instant. Yet, fearing she might harm Nagato, she dared not attack with a jutsu. She could only let out a furious roar and charge forward. But as she tried to tear Tobi away from Nagato, her outstretched wrist was suddenly caught in a firm grip. Nagato's voice, strained with lingering pain, reached her ears.

"Calm down, Konan. This White Zetsu... is helping me!"

"What?"

Startled by his words, Konan paused, forcefully suppressing her shock and fury to look more closely. She then realized that Nagato's ragged gasps and trembling body were indeed gradually subsiding.

At this moment, Nagato could feel it, a potent surge of life force suppressing his injuries and alleviating the soul-deep agony. Not only that, his body, like parched earth finally receiving rain, began to absorb a long-absent vitality, slowly filling out his emaciated form. Even the Rinnegan in his eyes felt more subdued, more docile.

White Zetsu... actually has this kind of effect?

Nagato felt no joy, only a bone-deep chill. As if sensing his shift in mood, Tobi, still wrapped around him, unfurled once more, revealing the skeletal figure beneath.

"Ahaha, it's finally over!" Tobi re-formed its body and hopped down, scratching its head with an innocent tone. "Lord Nagato, I'm so glad you're alright! Otherwise, Lord Madara would have fed me to wild dogs and turned me into poop!"

Nagato said nothing and didn't stop it, only casting a cold glance its way. He couldn't be sure if this White Zetsu could turn its "help" into interference. And his battle with Hanzō of Amegakure was not yet concluded.

Tap... tap... tap...

Steady, unhurried footsteps echoed, utterly unconcealed. Konan, who had been momentarily dazed, snapped back to attention. Her pupils sharpened as she positioned herself protectively in front of Nagato, her gaze wary and fixed on the deep, dark entrance tunnel of the cave.

Hanzō and Hyūga Kumokawa stepped out from the shadows. Their eyes instantly locked onto the gaunt figure standing in the strange apparatus at the center of the cavern.