CHAPTER 93 — The God of Amegakure Descends
Titus and the Bladeguard stood motionless, boots half-buried in the softened mud. Diana wiped the rain from her cheek, her breathing steady. Gaius rested his warhammer on his shoulder, watching the field with calm focus.
Naruto stood between them, impatience tightening his shoulders. The fight with Obito was over… yet another battle was coming.
The one against the man who killed his teacher, Jiraiya.
Then the air shifted.
Pieces of paper, thin, wet, fluttering, rose from the ground. Some drifted upward, some circled in place. At first, it looked like the wind was simply picking up old scraps from previous fights.
But the pieces kept gathering.
More and more, spinning into a spiral above the field.
Diana frowned.
Gaius said nothing, but he braced himself.
The loose papers in the air gathered together, folding and spinning in a steady spiral. Bit by bit, they formed a human shape.
A woman stepped out of the paper, slowly descending.
Her blue hair framed a calm, unreadable expression. Wings of paper folded behind her before melting into her clothes.
Konan landed without sound.
The forest, the rain, the entire battlefield seemed to hush as her feet touched the ground.
Naruto's breath caught. "Is she the one who was controlling the puppet?"
"Another Akatsuki" Diana said quietly.
Gaius lowered his warhammer and didn't comment."
Konan didn't react. Her eyes passed over all of them, Naruto, Diana, Titus, the Bladeguards, before finally pausing on Gaius. She didn't ask questions or demand explanations. She simply raised her chin slightly, as if acknowledging she'd expected to find them all here.
The silence broke again.
Heavy, metallic steps echoed from behind.
a strange mechanical walker walking toward them. A metal frame, chakra lines pulsing faintly. In its seat, thin, pale, with red hair washed nearly white from exhaustion, sat Nagato.
His body trembled each time the walker shifted. His gaze, however, remained sharp.
Naruto froze the moment he saw him.
"That eye…" His stomach dropped. He recognized it instantly.
This was the one who had been controlling the puppet, not the woman.
Nagato's eyes met Naruto's like they had long been waiting to lock.
Diana stepped up beside Gaius, shoulders firm.
Gaius rested the hammer against the mud and spoke first. "So you're the one controlling those puppets."
Nagato didn't even look at him. He simply inhaled slowly, then spoke as if addressing the rain itself.
"You defeated the Six Paths. You defeated The Akatsuki." His voice was calm, almost gentle, though strained with fatigue. "But you will not leave this land alive."
No anger. No heightening of tone. Just a statement.
Konan lowered her eyes slightly, acknowledging the decision without question.
Nagato continued, "This world must know pain if it wishes to know peace, And that pain will start here."
Diana exhaled through her nose, unimpressed. A child, she thought, repeating the scars of past trauma as if they were wisdom. Pain is not peace.
Nagato then turned directly toward Naruto.
"Jiraiya… your master…" He paused, letting the moment stretch. "He was a man chained to outdated dreams. He failed to grasp the truth. He failed… and fell by my hand."
Naruto's eyes widened, shaking with restrained shock. His voice cracked slightly, but not in a dramatic way, just raw emotion struggling to stay steady.
"You don't know anything about him."
Nagato let out a breath that could've been a laugh. "I was once a student of Jiraiya."
Naruto stopped moving.
Naruto's mouth fell open. "Wh~what? Then why… why kill him?!"
"Because he chose a path opposite mine," Nagato said simply. "And he was too stubborn to turn away."
Naruto's head lowered, fists trembling. Then, without shouting, without dramatic declarations, he moved.
Chakra flared around him.
"You're wrong about him," he said softly. "I don't care what excuses you use."
He slammed his hands together.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Hundreds of Naruto filled the field.
The sudden pressure made even the Marines adjust their footing. Frontline clones charged, kicking up mud and water. Backline clones spread out, forming roiling spheres of chakra, Rasengans growing in dozens of hands.
Konan took a step forward on instinct.
Nagato lifted a hand toward her. "Stay."
Then he raised his right hand and whispered:
"Shinra Tensei."
The world bent.
A violent shockwave exploded outward, flattening every clone in an instant. Clones with half-formed Rasengans vanished like mist.
Gaius shouted, "Shields!"
The three Bladeguards surged forward, slamming their tower shields into the ground. The shockwave slammed against them, mud erupting around the barrier. Diana braced behind them, boots sliding slightly in the slick earth, but she held her ground.
When the wind settled, Naruto, shielded by the three Bladeguards, paused for a moment, still shaken from the backslash that had destroyed all his clones. But he was fine. The Marines remained unbroken.
Nagato sagged in his chair, breathing loudly. Even using that technique once had drained him heavily.
Kakashi, Sakura, and Sai hovered above. Only Kakashi could clearly see the events below with his Sharingan.
Naruto's shadow clones surged forward, but Nagato's wave tore through them, destroying them one by one.
Kakashi watched the four massive warriors fighting alongside Naruto and how they had taken down Danzo. He considered joining the battle, but hesitated. In the end, he neither joined nor tried to stop the fight.
And now Seeing Naruto in danger, Kakashi turned to Sai. "Fly down. Now," he ordered.
The bird swooped lower.
On the ground, Naruto Straighten himself again, glaring at Nagato.
Nagato stared back.
"Nine Tails jinchūriki… do you know why I do this?"
Naruto shook his head once, jaw clenched.
Nagato answered, "Because only through great pain will the world learn peace."
Before Naruto could speak, Gaius stepped forward.
"Enough. We are not here to debate."
He lifted his warhammer.
Diana moved beside him.
Then Gaius charged.
Mud flew behind him as he sprinted with speed contradicting his enormous size. Diana ran at his side, faster and lighter, her bracers glinting with rain.
Seeing Konan preparing a wall of paper, Nagato forced his frail body upright. This time, he attacked with more force, he knew it would only push Gaius back, and that Konan's jutsu wouldn't affect him. He knew how tough Gaius was, so he struck first, taking the initiative.
"SHINRA TENSEI!"
The second blast was stronger.
It struck Gaius head-on. His boots tore deep trenches in the wet ground as he slid backwards, ten meters, twenty, before regaining balance. His armor and body were unharmed, but the power behind the blast cracked the earth beneath him.
Nagato bent forward, coughing harshly. He was reaching the limits of his ruined body.
Konan rushed to his side.
Nagato whispered, "Do it. Konan."
She hesitated only a single breath.
"…Are you sure?"
Nagato nodded once.
Konan stepped forward, facing the Marines and Diana.
"This technique was meant for Madara… if he ever betrayed us," she said quietly. "But you are a far greater threat."
Gaius felt it immediately.
The battlefield seemed to shift around him. Grass rustled unnaturally, and the earth trembled. A wave of danger, immense and layered, pressed down on him. It was impossibly dense, yet he felt no immediate threat to himself, only the sense of how dangerous this place had become.
He scanned the people behind him.
Titus.
Three Bladeguards.
Diana.
Naruto
Naruto was the most vulnerable.
No time for words.
Gaius grabbed Naruto by the shoulder, spun, and launched him upward toward the descending ink bird. He had seen it coming and seized the perfect moment to send Naruto straight into its path.
"Naruto?!" Kakashi reacted instinctively, catching him. He had been watching the ground when he noticed Naruto had been thrown here by Gaius.
"GO!" Gaius bellowed, cold and commanding. "Up!"
Sai didn't wait for Kakashi's command. He guided the bird upward, its wings beating hard as it rose quickly out of the blast zone. Kakashi held Naruto tightly, still unsure of what the threat even was.
Konan spread her arms.
The ground peeled open.
Paper, endless sheets, rose from beneath the mud, shifting, folding, rearranging. The battlefield transformed into a sea of paper tags. Every sheet glowed faintly at the edges as chakra infused them.
Her voice echoed over the storm:
"Dance of the Shikigami…"
The Marines took formation instantly.
Gaius landed in line beside Titus.
"Hold the line! Brace for detonations!"
Titus planted his shield.
The Bladeguards locked theirs into a solid wall.
Diana took the central spot behind them, bracing with both arms.
Konan's eyes sharpened.
"Paper Person of God Technique."
The first layer of sheets flickered,
igniting with explosive light.
And the battlefield vanished into white.
END OF CHAPTER 93
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