At first glance through Pain's eyes, Nagato mistook the fireballs for meteors. But their size…
He urged the Six Paths toward them. Konan followed.
The fireballs slowed slightly from air friction but still crashed with meteoric force before the Six Paths and Konan. A deafening boom echoed, carving two craters mere dozens of meters apart, toppling trees with the shockwave.
"Just meteors?" Nagato muttered, disappointed.
"No!" Konan's voice cut through.
The Six Paths snapped their heads up. Through the Rinnegan's shared vision, Nagato saw life signs in the craters. Rising from their centers were… Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki.
If Pain's faces could show more, shock would've painted them. Nagato felt it keenly. Falling from such a height at that speed, unscathed—not even their clothes damaged?
"Cough," Kisame hacked, "Thought we were done for, getting dropped from that height. You okay, Itachi-san?"
"Fine," Itachi replied from the other crater. "Some technique protected us." His eyes scanned the seven figures—Pain, Konan, and the five mysterious others—settling on the Heavenly Path, the Akatsuki leader's public face.
"Leader?" Kisame noticed them too.
"What… happened?" Heavenly Path's voice was flat, but the question betrayed inner turmoil.
Itachi found it odd. After a pause, he said simply, "That man took us to the sky and dropped us."
Nagato's expression, through Pain, stiffened. What kind of answer was that?
Still, he caught a detail. "Sir?" he pressed, echoing Itachi's respectful term.
Itachi had been a reliable Akatsuki member, flawlessly executing missions, yet Nagato never pierced his guarded heart. Such a title from him was unprecedented.
"That man is beyond imagination," Kisame said, gazing skyward. "Or rather, unfathomable. Yet, it's impossible to muster any disrespect."
Nagato's heart sank. Kisame's earlier reports hadn't carried this reverence. Such a shift in so little time?
"Tell me everything. Every detail," Nagato commanded through Pain, his tone heavier.
Kisame and Itachi exchanged a glance and began, starting with Konoha. Kisame led, Itachi supplementing. Itachi omitted their mental conversations with Shen Mo, intent on maintaining his undercover role until he could stage his "death," burying the Uchiha massacre's truth.
Nagato listened calmly at first, but his composure cracked. Through Kisame's badge, he saw the Destiny Stage's footage.
"What a joke!" Pain's face stayed rigid, a puppet's limit, but his words burned with fury. "Beings from other worlds? Cans granting wishes? A stage of destiny? This won't bring peace!"
True peace, to Nagato, came from shared pain and war's despair, forcing people to abandon desires and ambitions. Only mutual suffering could foster understanding and peace. But this merchant preached fighting one's fate, offering hope and battle stages—antithetical to Nagato's vision.
"He's making us slaughter each other," Pain said, glaring at Itachi and Kisame. "Giving us power and selfish hopes, driving us to fight like caged beasts for amusement. Will you accept such a fate?"
Shen Mo's actions directly undermined Nagato's goal. To achieve peace through pain, he'd need to defeat this merchant or ensure despair outweighed Shen Mo's hope. Otherwise, his dream was doomed.
"Even without him," Itachi said slowly, meeting Pain's gaze, "we fight endlessly for our desires."
"No! That can change!" Pain retorted.
"Nagato!" Konan's voice rang in his mind, urging calm.
He steadied himself, realizing his slip. His true goal—peace through pain—was unknown to most Akatsuki members. They saw the organization as lawless, war-stoking, and ambitious, aiming to conquer with Tailed Beasts.
They couldn't grasp his vision, forged from pain far beyond theirs.
Silence fell. Moonlight bathed the forest, casting a frosty glow, chilling the air.
Itachi studied the Akatsuki leader. Despite years undercover, he knew little of this Rinnegan-wielding enigma's face or true purpose. The man rarely showed emotion.
But tonight, he did—anger, disjointed from his flat tone, as if a plan had unraveled. That final claim, to change the world's state, didn't sound like someone fueling wars.