Chapter 92 — The Rain Has Not Ended
The storm didn't calm after the battle.
If anything, it grew heavier, droplets striking the ruined clearing with a steady rhythm, like a quiet drumbeat repeating the truth:
The fight was not over.
Gaius and Diana walked calmly through the steaming field, their heavy steps pushing aside thin layers of mud. The burnt trees around them leaned like broken pillars, their branches still glowing faintly from Obito's warped flames.
Neither of them rushed.
They walked as if they already understood the next piece of the mission.
Diana wiped rain from her cheek, then lifted her mission panel. A panel of their mission current Status.
She frowned.
"Gaius," she said quietly. "Our mission isn't finished yet. The target for avenging Naruto's teacher… hasn't been completed."
Gaius didn't look surprised.
He continued walking, hammer resting against his shoulder.
"It should be the puppet controller," he said. "The true one behind the bodies we fought. The one who commanded those Corpses."
Diana nodded once, understanding immediately.
She whispered, "Wouldn't he have taken the chance to escape?"
Gaius finally stopped walking.
He lifted his head slightly, letting the cold rain hit the surface of his helm.
"And it seems the one who controls the puppets didn't escape," he said.
Diana blinked.
"the rain still has chakra," Gaius answered. "The one who made it is still watching us."
Thunder rolled faintly in the distance.
~~~
Far away, inside the tall metal tower of Amegakure, Nagato sat within his mechanical frame, his thin fingers gripping the controls of his chair. His breathing was heavy, chest rising and falling with effort. The strain of the destruction of all his puppets and the Chakra consume to fight Gaius and Diana, took a toll on his already fragile body.
But his face didn't show it.
His expression remained calm, eyes cold behind the rings of the Rinnegan.
Konan stood beside him, soaked from the rain, paper wings folded back. She looked at him with quiet worry, sensing the tension but not the full truth.
Nagato kept his sight outward, focusing on the rain falling over the battlefield miles away. With his technique, each droplet carried information. He could feel everything happening.
Every death.
Every movement.
Every surge of chakra.
Every step Gaius and Diana took.
Konan hesitated, then asked softly:
"Nagato… is everything okay outside?"
He didn't answer immediately. His face twitched for the first time, not in fear, but in recognition of reality.
The Akatsuki he sent out were gone.
His Paths were destroyed.
And the one, he once considered a huge threats… had been defeated so easily.
He closed his eyes.
"…The Akatsuki is defeated," Nagato said.
Konan jerked slightly, shock spreading across her face.
"What? But, that's impossible. Madara wouldn't allow this. He needs the Akatsuki for his plan."
Nagato's eyes lowered.
"Madara…"
A pause.
"…Madara is also defeated."
Konan's breath caught in her throat.
"Was he killed?"
Nagato shook his head faintly.
"No. He escaped."
Konan looked down at the floor. The truth felt unreal, the organization they built, the years of planning, the power they relied on… shattered in a single confrontation.
The room fell silent except for the sound of rain striking metal outside.
Konan swallowed hard.
"Then… should we escape, Nagato?"
Nagato didn't respond right away.
He looked down at his hand, thin and shaking slightly. He remembered Yahiko's smile. The original Akatsuki standing together. Their dream of peace. Their vow.
Running now… would mean abandoning everything.
He closed his hand into a fist.
Then released it with a slow breath.
"I will not run," Nagato said quietly.
Konan stared at him.
His voice held no anger, only resolve and acceptance.
He turned to her, eyes softening only slightly.
"But you, Konan… you will leave. Run from this place. Run far from the war. Live the peaceful life Yahiko once wanted for all of us."
Konan shook her head immediately. Tears formed in her eyes, mixing with the rain still dripping from her hair.
"No," she whispered. "I'm not leaving you."
Then she steadied her voice.
"I still have a trump card. Something I prepared to stop Madara if he betrayed us."
She clenched her fists.
"I'll use it on them instead."
Nagato looked at her for a long moment.
He wanted to insist.
To force her to leave.
To keep her safe.
But through the Rinnegan, he could see everything, her trembling shoulders, her determination, her fear, her loyalty. He saw the same expression she had the day Yahiko died.
He exhaled slowly.
"I see…"
The rain outside trembled as if responding to his decision.
Nagato placed a hand on his chair's controls.
"Then bring me to them, Konan."
His voice was calm, steady.
"…Let's end this."
Konan nodded once, wiping her tears with the back of her hand, eyes becoming sharp and resolved.
The two prepared to leave.
~~~
Gaius and Diana stepped out from the ruined clearing and into the forest path where Titus, the Bladeguard, and Naruto stood among the defeated ROOT operatives.
The Marines formed a natural defensive line, shields lowered, bolters lowered but prepared to fire if any Intruders came. The rain pattered softly against their ceramite armor, rolling off in small streams.
Naruto spotted Gaius first and waved.
"Gaius!" Naruto called. "The old man you threw back to Konoha showed up again! He came to drag me back, but with Titus and everyone here, we stopped him!"
Diana smiled warmly at the boy.
"Is that so?" she said, amused by his pride.
Gaius' gaze shifted to Titus, who stood in the center of the clearing, bolter held loosely in his hand, three ROOT bodies lying at his feet.
"Report," Gaius said.
Titus straightened slightly.
"We guarded the area," he said. "And handled any variables that appeared."
Gaius nodded.
"Good job."
The Bladeguard stood silently, forming a wall behind Titus. Their armor was scratched from blades and jutsu but completely intact. Naruto glanced at them with awe, still amazed by what he had seen earlier.
Rain continued falling, washing the battlefield clean.
But the tension didn't fade.
Diana's eyes sharpened.
"Gaius," she said quietly. "He's coming."
Gaius turned his head toward the east, the direction where the rain felt the heaviest, almost like extra weight behind the drops.
"Yes," he said. "The controller of the puppets is approaching."
Naruto blinked, confused.
"Who?"
Gaius looked down at him, tone steady.
"The one behind your teacher's death."
Naruto's breath stopped for a moment.
~~~
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