"You two have been watching for a while. Aren't you going to come out?" Naruto descended slowly, setting Karin gently on the ground. His voice, though not loud, carried in every direction. No one could hide from his perception. Not even someone buried deep underground could escape his notice, like the plant-like figure lurking thirty kilometers away.
"We've been discovered." An emotionless voice cut through the silence as two figures emerged from the typhoon-swept forest. "With power like yours, it would be stranger if you hadn't noticed us."
One wore a mask, his clothes torn to rags, leaving only scraps of fabric around his neck. His muscular body was crisscrossed with thick stitches, and his small, pea-like eyes watched Naruto with a flicker of unease. The other wore a black cloak patterned with red clouds and a scratched Amegakure forehead protector. Black rods pierced his ears, lips, and the bridge of his nose, giving him a punkish look. He had orange hair, but it was his eyes that were most striking, pale purple, concentric circles.
The stitched man was Kakuzu, an S-rank rogue from Takigakure, though from the state of his attire, he was a new recruit to the Akatsuki. The other was the organization's current leader: Pain. Or, more accurately, the Deva Path puppet Nagato controlled, crafted from the body of his dead friend, Yahiko.
It was Pain, through this very puppet, who had previously declared his intentions to challenge the established order when Naruto had obliterated Kusagakure. In a curious twist of fate, Nagato, much like Karin, was one of the last remaining members of Naruto's own bloodline in this world.
Pain's gaze swept over the former site of Kusagakure, now nothing but a massive crater that had reshaped the very terrain.
'I would need to use Almighty Push with all my might to achieve this level of destruction, and even then, the casting time would make it impractical,' Nagato mused internally. 'Regardless, their strength is formidable. This person's power is no less than my own.'
"So, you're the big shots," Naruto chuckled, looking them over. Logically, Pain was a corpse and shouldn't have any ki. But the puppet was filled with Nagato's chakra, and Nagato himself was a wellspring of it. Besides, even an inanimate object disturbed the air when it moved, creating a faint signature that Naruto could perceive as clearly as a shout.
"You know me?" Pain's voice, devoid of inflection, held a flicker of surprise, a rare emotion for the dead body he inhabited. At this stage, while Akatsuki had been established for some time, Nagato's grand plan had yet to truly unfold, keeping the organization shrouded in relative obscurity.
"No," Naruto shook his head. "But the ki emanating from you is as conspicuous as a beacon in the night. I'd sense it even through a mountain range."
Indeed, the Ki pulsing from Pain, or rather, Nagato, was undeniably brilliant. Kakuzu's Ki, by contrast, was barely a whisper, to be polite, it was faint, to be blunt, it was almost imperceptible.
"Ki..." Pain nodded slowly. "Excellent sensory abilities."
Ignoring the Nine-Tails roaring inside the seal at the sight of the Rinnegan, Naruto pointed a masked finger toward his own eyes. "Unless my eyes deceive me," he said, his voice taking on a deep, gravelly quality, "those are the Rinnegan. The eyes of the Sage of Six Paths himself."
Neither Nagato nor Kakuzu found it strange, if anything, it seemed fitting. No one would have suspected that the being who had leveled a hidden village was a child not yet ten years old. As for Karin, the only one who knew a fraction of the truth, she just clutched a corner of Naruto's clothes and kept quiet.
"Calling you a big shot was no exaggeration, then," Naruto mused. "Anyone in the shinobi world knows the Sage of Six Paths. The one who bears his eyes is destined for something great."
"You seem to know quite a lot," Pain said, then fell silent.
Naruto's power was undeniable. Nagato felt a flicker of hope. If he could recruit someone like this, his plan would be that much closer to fruition. Anyone who spoke of letting the world know pain had to be a kindred spirit. But a man this powerful couldn't be subdued by force like Kakuzu. And then there was the mask he wore, so unnervingly similar to the one worn by the man calling himself 'Madara Uchiha.' The thought made Nagato hesitate.
"I know more than you can possibly imagine." Naruto seemed to read his mind, speaking before Pain could. "Holder of the Sage's Eye, heed my words."
"The Sage of Six Paths unlocked the true nature of chakra. He distributed it to the people of this world, teaching them, guiding them. His goal was to preserve peace, to maintain order... He even created the nine Tailed Beasts..."
Naruto recounted the tale of the Sage, his tone tinged with a strange nostalgia, as if he were recalling a memory, not a story. It was a version of history that was mostly true, with just enough fabrication to serve his purpose.
"During that period, the Shinobi world truly knew peace."
"Alas... a thousand years have passed. With the Sage's absence, human desire swelled beyond all control. War and death followed. Kin betrayed kin, brother turned on brother, villages sold out their own. Trust vanished, and tragedy became the only constant. Hatred has soaked into the very soil of this world, dragging it down into an abyss. If this continues, this world will surely descend into eternal perdition. This world is sick."
His words struck a chord. Kakuzu remembered his betrayal by Takigakure, the sting of being cast aside by his own village still sharp after all these years. It was then he had decided to trust nothing but money, he knew, didn't lie, money didn't betray.
Nagato's mind flooded with images of Amegakure. The destruction of the original Akatsuki. The death of Yahiko. 'Yes,' he thought. 'This world is sick.'
"And if it is sick," Naruto declared, his voice ringing with power, "then it needs to be treated!
"Perhaps this is destiny." Naruto's tone grew progressively more agitated, as if he truly believed every word. He emphasized 'destiny' repeatedly, weaving them into a hypnotic rhythm.
"That this one could meet you here. After so many years, to see those eyes again." Naruto paused then, lost in reminiscing, a deep sense of wistfulness emitting from his voice. "You are the hope of this Shinobi world, the hope of humanity."
"So I ask you, inheritor of the Sage's eyes: are you willing to take up his dying wish? Will you lead this world back to the right path... and welcome an era of true peace?"
--**--**
Narrator:
Pain has fallen into a trap without realizing, getting into talk-no-jutsu as soon as he emerged.
If the Rinnegan is the 'Eyes of the Sage,' and Naruto has god-tier ki sensing, is this just two demigods awkwardly flirting with ideology?
Is it still considered child endangerment if the child is the most dangerous thing in the forest?
How long before Pain hits the realization: 'Wait... am I being recruited?
Naruto's talking about destiny, peace, and the future... did he inhale a full scroll of Prophecy Jutsu before breakfast?
Find out more next time on...
"Naruto's 8-Minute TED Talk on World Peace (Now with 40% More Trauma)"
===============
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