Although this man had been showing off his muscles in the village, confusing many, it was his old comrade Hiruzen Sarutobi who found himself most baffled by his behavior.
Yet these trivial matters weren't Danzo's primary concern. At this moment, his thoughts were fixed on a far greater ambition—the Rinnegan—and his mind had already drifted toward the Land of Rain.
That's right. Danzo had become so arrogant that he already considered the Rinnegan in Nagato's eye sockets to be his own.
Originally, he had planned to deal with the increasingly prominent Kawaki Aoba in the village first.
But to his surprise, Kawaki Aoba voluntarily scaled back his influence.
This left Danzo feeling like he'd punched cotton—disappointed and powerless.
He muttered to himself that the boy was clever, and decided he would deal with him after returning.
> "It's only been a few days and he's already losing patience," someone once commented. "Danzo's temper is short—no wonder he was always Hiruzen's scapegoat."
One day, Kawaki Aoba, standing in his office, walked to the window and looked out over Konohagakure.
Although the village was peaceful for now, Danzo's recent movements had disturbed that calm.
Still, these disruptions were temporary. In the near future, even catching another glimpse of Danzo's smug face might become impossible.
Just earlier, Shimura Danzo had led nearly all the subordinates he could mobilize out of Konoha, heading toward the Land of Rain. Despite that, nearly a thousand Root members resurrected via Impure World Reincarnation (Edo Tensei) remained in the village.
Perhaps to avoid drawing too much attention, Danzo had seemingly chosen to reserve a large portion of the Edo Tensei summonings for when he arrived in the Rain. To that end, he released half of his already-summoned undead soldiers.
That alone spoke to how unhinged the old war hawk had become.
Even if the sacrifices used were civilians, summoning thousands of Edo Tensei bodies would terrify any observer.
Upon reaching the Land of Rain, Danzo wasted no time unleashing his undead army.
Though most of the sacrifices were ordinary people—limiting the reanimated shinobi's strength—the sheer numbers made up for that shortcoming.
Danzo's objectives were twofold. In addition to seizing Nagato's Rinnegan, he had his eyes set on the shinobi of Amegakure. If he could capture and kill them to serve as sacrifices for Edo Tensei, his army would become even more fearsome.
With a pair of legendary eyes and a personal undead army, becoming Hokage would no longer be a pipe dream—it would be within reach.
Danzo's ambition burned hot. He even dreamed of clashing with the likes of Uchiha Madara or the mysterious leader of the Akatsuki, whose whereabouts remained unknown.
To be fair, Danzo's plan wasn't entirely far-fetched. If he could somehow acquire and adapt to the Rinnegan and command a legion of Edo Tensei shinobi, he would indeed be a force to reckon with in the ninja world.
But the odds of success? Slim at best.
While Danzo was ruthlessly sacrificing an entire town for his twisted jutsu, this did not go unnoticed. The disappearance of an entire settlement inevitably reached the ears of Amegakure.
> "Yahiko, look at this," Konan said as she handed him a report.
Yahiko frowned as he read it. "An entire town, gone? And all communication cut off from the scouts? Looks like Nagato will have to investigate this personally."
Yahiko now managed most of Amegakure's affairs.
Though Uchiha Madara (known to them as Tobi) secretly controlled the Akatsuki from the shadows, he didn't involve himself in daily matters. That responsibility naturally fell to Yahiko.
As for Nagato, for reasons unknown, Madara had taught him to develop his Rinnegan abilities further. He'd even provided him with a Tailed Beast to absorb chakra from, knowing that Nagato's frail body couldn't maintain the Rinnegan's power unaided.
When news of the missing town reached him, Nagato wasted no time preparing to act.
Under Madara's guidance, Nagato had grown vastly more powerful—already near the level of a Super Kage.
But that power wasn't enough for him.
His true goal wasn't domination—it was liberation. Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko remained trapped under Madara's thumb. Every day was another step in a silent rebellion brewing in Nagato's heart.
He spent his days thinking of how to one day defeat Uchiha Madara and reclaim their freedom.
As for Yahiko—he was still alive in this alternate timeline. And with him alive, Nagato had not fallen into despair, nor adopted the infamous "pain is the only teacher" philosophy of the original timeline.
> Ironically, though, it was Nagato who suffered pain daily now.
Frequently beaten down by Madara's countless Wood Clone sparring sessions, Nagato found that even a mission like this offered a strange kind of relief.
The Land of Rain was not a vast country. Soon, Nagato successfully established contact with the Akatsuki scout who had previously transmitted information about a mysterious lost town.
"Lord Nagato," the Akatsuki shinobi said with concern, "you must be careful. We previously dispatched several operatives to investigate, but none have returned. Even the intel we received before... it was strange. I suspect it was deliberately leaked—to lure high-value targets like you."
Nagato gave a solemn nod, appreciating the warning. Though confident in his own strength, his recent battles against Uchiha Madara's Wood Clone techniques had taught him not to underestimate any situation.
As he neared the town, Nagato chose not to approach directly. He had more refined methods of reconnaissance.
Forming a string of hand seals, Nagato's chakra surged. The sparse clouds over the Land of Rain thickened.
"Rain Tiger at Will Technique."
In the town below, a few Root operatives—brought back through Impure World Reincarnation—glanced at the gathering storm clouds.
"Is it going to rain?" one of them muttered. "Strange... the sky gave no warning."
"This is the Land of Rain," another scoffed. "Storms come and go without reason. It's not unusual."
"Maybe I'm just overthinking it..."
They paid the rain no mind as it began to fall on their undead bodies. But eventually, a sensory-type among them froze.
"Wait... something's off. There's faint chakra in the raindrops... but how?!"
Another quickly confirmed, "I feel it too! Report to Lord Danzo immediately. This rain is a large-scale sensory technique!"
Panic set in. The Root operatives moved quickly, taking shelter in nearby structures. But it was already too late.
The moment the rain touched them, Nagato—standing far from the town—began absorbing data through the chakra in the precipitation.
And what he learned left him stunned.
"…How is this possible? This town is crawling with shinobi. Where are the civilians?"
The Rain Tiger at Will was an incredible sensory technique, highly accurate at detecting chakra signatures—but not so effective at perceiving non-chakra-bearing entities like ordinary civilians. Still, the complete absence of non-shinobi life was telling enough.
Nagato's eyes narrowed, fury growing.
"They actually did it... They wiped out a town of civilians..."
His Rinnegan glowed with restrained wrath. Even though he had lost his parents to war and had long grown numb to conflict, the wholesale slaughter of innocents—even in a war-torn land like the Land of Rain—was something he could not ignore.
This town had once been like Ame, where he, Yahiko, and Konan had grown up.
Now it was gone.
And the culprits were wearing Leaf Village headbands.
"Always the great nations," Nagato muttered bitterly. "You think the lives of small country civilians are beneath you. You don't understand pain… Allow me to change that."
Without hesitation, Nagato rose into the sky, his Rinnegan blazing. High above even the rainclouds, another figure—Kawaki Aoba, using a hidden Tenseigan—gasped in alarm and instinctively rose higher into the sky, fearing exposure.
But Nagato hadn't noticed him.
Instead, he hovered above the center of the ruined town. Root shinobi quickly spotted him.
Inside a safehouse, Shimura Danzo peered through the window, his single visible eye sharpening as he beheld the figure above.
"So… he can fly. Is it a unique technique of the Rinnegan?"
Danzo's covetous desire for the Rinnegan surged. He was already formulating plans—if he could capture Nagato, extract the Rinnegan…
But standing alone in the sky, Nagato was unmoved by the eyes below. To him, the town was already a graveyard.
Then, he saw it—Leaf forehead protectors.
Rage coursed through him.
"You've learned nothing," Nagato murmured. "Just like during the Great War. You trample over the weak. You never feel the suffering you cause. But I will make you feel it now."
Kawaki Aoba, observing from above, tensed. The way Nagato raised his arms… he recognized this pose. It was unmistakable.
Nagato was about to unleash a catastrophe.
Below, Danzo instinctively sensed it as well. The sensory ninja at his side confirmed his fear: "Lord Danzo, enormous chakra buildup! He's about to use a powerful technique!"
Danzo's eye narrowed. "The Rinnegan's power... Let me see it. Let me see if it's truly worth the risk."
He tore away the bandages on his arm and head, revealing the Sharingan embedded within. The eye spun rapidly, trying to analyze Nagato's technique.
But it was futile.
Shinra Tensei—a technique beyond the comprehension of most Sharingan.
From the sky, the words were cold and final:
"Shinra Tensei."
An unimaginable repulsive force exploded downward.
The entire town was obliterated in a single instant. Root operatives, reanimated bodies, buildings—everything—was crushed to dust and hurled away. The earth caved in under the pressure.
Danzo didn't feel pain. There was no time.
His final thoughts weren't of resistance, but of regret—he had underestimated the godlike power of the Rinnegan.
Only two figures were left untouched: Nagato, hovering motionless in the sky… and Kawaki Aoba, higher still, watching silently.
But they weren't alone.
From the outskirts of the annihilated town, another figure had witnessed the destruction.
Orochimaru.
He had come not out of allegiance, but curiosity. And distance had saved him—he had stayed far back to avoid Danzo detecting him.
Now, with wide, reptilian eyes, he gazed at the devastation, awestruck.
"…That power… Danzo never stood a chance."
He licked his lips, already calculating. "Still… it was wise to let him go first. He made a fine test subject."
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