"...Nagato. It's been a long time."
Under a sky heavy with gray rain, Captain of the 2nd Division, Uchiha Shisui, stood in a pure white haori, gazing at the red-haired youth before him whose eyes now carried the weight of conviction. His expression was complicated.
Like Yuki Yoru, Shisui was one of the few who had witnessed with his own eyes the transformation of Nagato into what he had become.
That incident—manipulated in the shadows by both Danzō and Hanzō, with Obito pulling strings from behind—had turned Akatsuki, once brimming with dreams and hope, into the suffocating, twisted organization it was now. Shisui had been there, watching it all unfold.
And his own path—from a loyal Konoha shinobi to the man standing here now—had also begun in that battle.
Perhaps, their fates had been intertwined long before either of them realized.
"Uchiha… Shisui…"
Nagato mouthed the name, and upon sensing the other's aura, his Rinnegan constricted sharply.
Although there was no chakra on Shisui's body at this moment, he could not be mistaken about that aura.
Of all the people present that day, most had already died by his hand. Even Hanzō had fallen to him.
But there were still a few who he had not dealt with.
Yuki Yoru was one.
And the man standing before him—Uchiha Shisui—was another.
A strange surge of emotion welled up inside Nagato. In his vision, Shisui's figure blurred and overlapped with the image of the Konoha ANBU who had stood on that valley years ago.
"So… it was you!"
"That's right."
Shisui understood perfectly why Nagato had lost composure. He made no attempt to hide it, simply nodding openly.
"I remember a man named Yahiko—the leader of Akatsuki back then. A man full of dreams, full of life… but tragically naïve. That day, when Hanzō moved against you, I was there. So don't expect me to hold back, or for there to be anything between us except blood debt—even without the Fourth's assessment hanging over us, you and I were bound for this."
"Show me your strongest, Nagato. You and I—"
"Banshō Ten'in (Universal Pull)!"
Nagato didn't need Shisui to finish. Even now, though he claimed to see the truth of the world, his greatest weakness remained his bond with his friends.
The moment he realized Shisui had been one of the culprits who aided Hanzō in that ambush, leading to Yahiko's death, Nagato's rage spiked to its limit. He raised a hand—violent gravitational pull erupted forth.
But the next instant, something happened that left him stunned.
The scene he had expected—Shisui being yanked helplessly toward him—didn't happen.
Nor had Shisui used any Shinigami-style technique to nullify the Rinnegan's basic ability.
Instead… a power utterly familiar to Nagato radiated from Shisui's body.
That was—
Gravity.
The exact same pull as his own Banshō Ten'in.
"How…? Is that your Zanpakutō ability?" Nagato blurted without thinking.
To fight Yuki Yoru, he had studied the powers of Soul Society's Shinigami in depth, with intel from Obito and Black Zetsu fully digested.
Kidō, Hakuda, and Hohō were just basics. He had also learned how bizarre Zanpakutō abilities could be. So when Shisui displayed this ability, his first instinct was to assume it came from a Zanpakutō.
But then, when his Rinnegan's ultra-sharp vision fell upon Shisui's eyes—he froze.
In those sockets… was the same pair of eyes that had made him the "Child of Prophecy" in Jiraiya's eyes, the same eyes that Obito and Zetsu had sought out.
The legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths—
The Rinnegan.
"You… you have the Rinnegan too?!" Nagato's voice trembled with shock. Even now, though freed from his old savior-destroyer delusions, he still carried a certain reverence toward his own eyes.
"Did that guy, Jigen, not tell you the origin of those eyes?"
From the side, Yuki Yoru spoke lazily: "Those eyes in your head don't actually belong to you. Uchiha Madara transplanted them into you when you were a child—just to make Obito's plan work."
"So you mean—"
"You mean… you've reached Madara's level, and awakened your own Rinnegan?" Nagato quickly adjusted. Jigen had already told him much of this. He just hadn't expected Shisui to awaken them at such a young age.
"To awaken the Rinnegan, you need to wield the power of all creation and push the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan to its limits at the brink of life and death."
"According to my intel, Madara fought Senju Hashirama, used Izanagi to cheat death, and awakened his Rinnegan afterward. I can't detail how Shisui did it, but you should get the idea."
Yoru's amused explanation spilled every detail about the Rinnegan and Shisui, without the slightest care that Shisui himself was right there.
Nagato took a deep breath. All traces of underestimation vanished.
He knew full well how powerful a Shinigami captain could be—these were beings who could crush someone like Hiruko without effort. And now, Shisui had the same eyes as him.
No wonder Shisui could be used as my test by Yuki Yoru. If I don't use all my power...
Nagato's gaze locked onto Shisui. Shisui met it head-on. Two pairs of sage-like eyes met midair.
"Come!"
Purple light flared from both pairs of Rinnegan. Vast ocular power surged. In the same instant, their figures vanished—colliding with explosive force!
Though they were still human bodies, the impact shook the air with sonic booms. The misty rain exploded into vapor with each exchange.
Their high-speed battle raged from mountaintops to valley floors, from land to water, fists and feet clashing in relentless rhythm.
Under normal circumstances, neither should have such monstrous taijutsu—one was "low on chakra," the other "drained dry by a portable toilet."
But becoming a Shinigami, augmented by spiritual power and nature energy, and fusing Senju Hashirama's cells to awaken the Rinnegan, had transformed Shisui's body entirely.
The same was true for Nagato.
Right now, both could count themselves among the top five in the entire shinobi world in terms of physical prowess.
"Hah!"
Nagato's leg swept horizontally past Shisui's chest, using his waist to spin into a back-roundhouse with the other leg.
Shisui crossed both arms to block—classic Konoha-style taijutsu—and grunted as he deflected the blow, then flipped his palm, edge-sharp like a blade, slicing toward Nagato's shin.
The palm-edge drew a spray of blood.
Their fighting styles were pure, almost mirrored—both rooted in standard Konoha-ryū taijutsu.
One had learned it from Jiraiya of the Sannin. The other was a master of both Konoha-ryū and Uchiha-ryū.
Their exchanges were like two monsters colliding. Identical insight, identical mirrored techniques—the fight was dead even.
Another steel-on-steel clash knocked both backward.
They raised their hands simultaneously—
"Hadō #54: Haien (Abolition Flame)!"
"Wood Release: Exploding Wood Spear!"
Nagato's left hand sprouted a massive wooden spike. From Shisui's palm, a disk of flame burst forth, burning the wood to ash. At the same time, Shisui gathered spiritual power in his other hand, unleashing a violent gale—
"Hadō #58: Tenran (Tornado)!"
Wind fed the fire, and fire rode the wind.
Nagato snorted coldly, flinging out a Shinra Tensei to repel the attack, while his right hand unleashed a storm of Wood Release thorns like a rain of senbon.
Shisui met it head-on—his own repulsive force flared, blocking the barrage. His Rinnegan spun, and from behind him, a colossal skeletal arm erupted—swinging down at Nagato's head.
BOOM!
Nagato's Rinnegan were transplanted from Madara, so he couldn't use the downgraded Sharingan powers—meaning he couldn't match Shisui's Susanoo in kind.
Shinra Tensei blasted Shisui back, shattering Susanoo's skeletal arm. But Shisui's overwhelming ocular power instantly swelled the deep-green construct to a larger form, donning thick tengu armor and wielding a spiraled long spear.
Susanoo – Third Stage!
"Susanoo: Ninety-Nine!"
Susanoo's power spiked. Its chest armor opened, unleashing a rain of green spiritual-power arrows toward Nagato.
Nagato didn't flinch—he expanded the Gakido's barrier, absorbing every shot.
"He can even absorb spiritual power?"
Yoru was a little surprised, then understood upon sensing a faint, special aura from Nagato.
Hiruko had been unable to absorb spiritual power with his Dark Release because its density was beyond normal chakra. Similarly, in the original story, Nagato's Gakido (Preta Path) couldn't absorb the Rasenshuriken for the same reason.
But jutsu strength came from the user's body. Nagato's true body far outclassed his Six Paths puppets. Combined with his current power and the thick natural energy within him, absorbing spiritual power through the Rinnegan wasn't strange at all.
After absorbing the barrage, Nagato didn't let the energy linger—he knew better than to mix foreign power in his body. He thrust out his hand, triggering the Asura Path.
Missiles trailing fire roared forth; as they neared Shisui they split into a swarm of thumb‑sized micro‑missiles, bright flares and sharp detonations bursting one after another.
"Feel the true power of the Uchiha, Nagato!"
Smoke billowed—but as always, smoke means no damage.
Through the haze, Shisui's deep-green Susanoo loomed even larger, spear tip gathering multiple magatama-shaped projectiles—
Yasaka Magatama!
They shot toward Nagato the instant the smoke cleared.
Nagato slammed both palms into the ground—trees erupted like titanic serpents, coiling and lashing upward without end.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
RUMBLE!
The earth shook violently. Giant trees burst from the ground, growing madly, colliding with the magatama in the sky.
An even bigger explosion and shockwave descended, but both of them were still unscathed.
The drizzling rain continued to fall. Under the hazy sky, Shisui, who was using the Fourth Stage Susanoo, didn't say much, and simply continued to release the ocular power of his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Countless chakra flames attached themselves to the half-body Susanoo and grew wildly, slowly lifting Shisui's body until he was hundreds of meters in the sky.
In the blink of an eye, the fully-formed Susanoo spread its wings, standing on the ground like a towering mountain, spiral spear in hand—an emerald war-god.
Nagato was expressionless. He clasped his hands together, and the chakra in his body was continuously released. The trees beneath him surged wildly, lifting his body to the same height as Shisui, who was in the energy crystal of the Perfect Susanoo.
Wood Release: Wood Golem Technique!
"What an unbelievable fight…"
Yoru's tone carried awe. The two had wordlessly refrained from using most of the Rinnegan's ocular powers, instead wielding their most specialized techniques.
It was like watching Madara and Hashirama at the Valley of the End all over again.
BOOM!
Perfect Susanoo and the Wood Golem slammed together, shaking heaven and earth. The roar of the impact dwarfed all their earlier clashes.
The shockwave tore the gray sky of the Land of Rain apart, revealing clear blue for the first time in a century.
But neither them cared for the rare beauty overhead. To ordinary shinobi, these two were like gods—and gods had no time for scenery.
Yoru clicked his tongue in admiration… then sighed, shaking his head.
"Without the whole 'Madara!' 'Hashiramaaa!' shouting match, it's missing something… Yeah, imitation is still imitation. The original's the real deal."
His gaze moved between the towering Susanoo and the Wood Golem. He could feel it—neither had reached their full power yet.