"Yahiko's... body?"
Pain's words left Kū momentarily speechless. 'What would I want with Yahiko's corpse?'
'Talk-no-Jutsu?'
Yahiko's persuasion skills could only fool the naive folks of the previous generation. Anyone with a bit of experience and exposure to darkness would see right through it, how could it compare to Naruto's?
"Calm down!"
A sudden voice cut off Pain just as he was about to go all out.
In the next moment, a storm of paper sheets wrapped around and crashed into the towering trees.
BOOM!!
A massive explosion echoed as countless trees were blown apart into fragments.
'Exploding tags?'
Waving away the flying debris, Ku looked up toward a woman now hovering in the air. Her paper wings stretched wide.
It was the user of the unique Paper Release ninjutsu: Konan.
"Everyone has already evacuated to the shelters. An enemy of this level doesn't require your power."
As Konan spoke, eight paper clones emerged from the shadows. Each one just happened to appear beside one of the scattered Flying Thunder God kunai.
One of them picked up a kunai with the seal:
"Special kunai marked with space-time coordinates… you've thrown eight already. How many more do you have?"
Ku smiled and pulled out a scroll.
"Release."
With a puff of smoke, a pile of Flying Thunder God kunai was replenished in his ninja pouch.
"Not that many left. Just a few dozen or so. I heard that the Yellow Flash of Konoha used this technique to instantly kill 50 enemies back in the day, so I figured I'd prepare more than enough."
He glanced at Konan, who seemed momentarily speechless, and added:
"Honestly, I'm just here to borrow something. There's no need for all this fighting."
Seeing Pain about to go full chuuni again, Ku quickly clarified:
"Relax, I don't want Yahiko's body. I'm not into that kind of thing."
Pain stepped forward and asked in a deep tone:
"Using transformation jutsu to take Yahiko's form and sealing the other five Paths of Pain into scrolls, your intentions are obvious!"
"But the power of the Rinnegan isn't as simple as you imagine. Even if you obtained those bodies, you'd never wield the Rinnegan's strength."
'So… this was a misunderstanding?'
Pain's words made it clear he thought Ku was after his Rinnegan. While not entirely wrong, the target was off.
Ku wasn't after Pain's Rinnegan; he was after Nagato's, the one connected to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path in the tower.
Just as Ku was about to explain, a space-time vortex suddenly appeared in the ruins.
Out of it stepped a man in a mask, voice altered by a voice modulator.
"Ah, well, isn't this Uzumaki Ku? How's my arm working out for you?"
It was Masked Obito, his tone playful, but inside, he was deeply unsettled.
Having just arrived, he could tell from the battlefield's devastation that the Wood Release used earlier was far beyond what his arm alone could achieve.
Without White Zetsu's enhancements, no one should've been able to wield that arm's power so effortlessly. He knew firsthand just how potent Hashirama's cells were.
Ku glanced at Obito and retorted, "Looks like your arm grew back. But honestly, it's useless to me now."
Obito chuckled, scanning the area. "Just you here? Figures. You're not a Konoha ninja, after all. Last time was just luck. In that case… You might as well stay here forever!"
BOOM!!
Suddenly, massive trees burst from the ground again, cracking it open as they surged toward Ku from behind.
But just before they struck, they halted and began coiling, lifting Ku into the air to meet his opponent eye-to-eye.
"Still using Wood Style at a time like this? With your level of power, it's laughable."
Ku then turned back to Pain:
"My target was never the Six Paths of Pain. The reason I went straight to the tower… was to see you, Nagato."
The moment he said it, Nagato and Konan were both stunned.
The fact that he knew about Nagato's true body inside the tower, and even his real name, was an absolute secret within Amegakure.
Now that Uzumaki Ku had revealed it so casually, both of their expressions darkened.
"Who the hell are you?!" Pain demanded sharply.
Konan turned to Obito: "Do you know who he is?"
Obito, now clearly more cautious, narrowed his Sharingan and shook his head:
"I don't know his identity. His name is well-known in the black market, and his red hair suggests he's an Uzumaki."
"But red hair doesn't guarantee an Uzumaki heritage. The name could be fake too. He knows Flying Thunder God, which belonged to Konoha's Fourth Hokage, and from what I've seen, his grasp of Wood Style surpasses even mine."
Obito's eyes stayed locked on Ku.
There was still a lot he hadn't said.
For example: this man clearly knew too much about him. Or how, two years ago, during the operation in Konoha, Obito had suffered total defeat because of him. If it weren't for White Zetsu, he might've been killed.
And now…
If this man revealed his identity, the "Uchiha Madara" persona he used to control Nagato would be useless.
Nagato's Rinnegan was critical to his plan. No matter what, he couldn't let Ku reveal who he truly was.
"Even though I don't know how you know so much…None of it matters anymore. The timing is just right."
As he finished speaking, Obito lunged straight at Ku.
Swish!
Chains flew through the air, only to be casually batted aside by Ku.
"I seriously don't know where you got the confidence to act like this. Is that it?"
Forming the Ram seal, Ku summoned another forest.
Massive trees surged in from all directions, their trunks piercing through Obito's body again and again.
Obito's intangibility was annoying, but it had a time limit. Ku knew it could be countered.
BOOM!!
The ground shattered as the trees constricted with relentless force. Still, Obito remained calm, calmly dragging the trees into his Kamui space one by one.
Finally, he emerged before Ku, Mangekyō Sharingan spinning.
Swish!
In response, Ku tossed six kunai.
The kunai flew through Obito and collided midair, changing trajectories.Three of them suddenly curved back toward Obito.
'Now! Time was up, Kamui's cooldown had ended.'
Swish!
Splurt!
Ku suddenly reappeared via Flying Thunder God, but as he looked down at his abdomen, a thick iron chain had already pierced through him.
Splack
Blood dripped down and shattered against a massive tree branch.
'How…?'
Ku ignored the pain and looked at Obito, who held the other end of the chain:
"Speed? No…Even with the Mangekyō Sharingan and Senju cells, you shouldn't be able to react that fast."