Amidst the curtain of rain, the light from the church seemed to grow even brighter.
Two figures emerged from the forest, quietly piercing through the downpour.
Konan looked at the town before her and frowned once again.
Inside the small town, every household was lit with an orange glow.
Due to the rainy weather, it was difficult to tell the exact time, but it felt roughly like midday.
The residents were starting to cook, causing a faint, lingering aroma of food to drift through the air.
Furthermore, the fields displayed a scene of a bountiful harvest. The wheat fields were growing vibrantly, with kernels so full they seemed ready to burst.
Although the town appeared quite cozy, a strange sensation kept flickering in the back of her mind.
Something is a bit odd, she whispered as a warning.
"Indeed. Be careful."
Pain answered simply and led Konan into the town.
The streets were empty of people. However, whenever they passed by, a window would crack open, and a blurred silhouette would flash behind the glass, seemingly observing their movements.
Konan and Pain shared a look but did not pay it much mind.
After all, the Land of Rain was a turbulent nation. It was perfectly normal for these residents to be wary of outsiders.
They continued walking through the town and encountered a casino. The raucous noise from inside reached their ears clearly even through the rain.
Pain's deep gaze swept past the casino and landed directly on the white church at the end of the street.
"Let us go straight there."
"Understood."
Konan nodded. This inexplicable, strange feeling was making her feel slightly suffocated.
Regardless, it would be fine as long as they found the priest White Zetsu mentioned, right?
As for an ambush, she did not believe that the combination of herself and Pain would face any real danger within the borders of the Land of Rain.
Just as they were about to head toward the church, the noisy sounds from the casino suddenly died down.
"What do you intend to do at the church?"
A cold voice came from behind them. Unbeknownst to them, the casino doors had opened. The gamblers who were previously immersed inside were now standing on the street, staring coldly at their backs.
Konan's brow furrowed as she turned around. "Why? Is there some reason we cannot go to this church?"
Upon hearing this, more and more residents emerged from the houses on both sides of the street, surrounding the two outsiders like a rising tide.
"The church enshrines our Great Lord. Only the most devout believers are qualified to go there."
"That's right! The Lord granted us food, flesh, souls, and new life!"
"You outsiders are not worthy of being the Lord's followers!"
"Praise the Great Lord!"
Quite inexplicably, all the residents raised their hands in unison to chant the Lord's name, leaving Konan completely bewildered.
Pain, however, narrowed his eyes and turned to look at the church, which was emitting a soft light in the rain.
Konan looked at Pain and asked, "Did you discover something, Pain?"
Without time to answer his companion's question, Pain raised both hands and clapped them together firmly in front of him.
"Genjutsu, Release!"
A vast and powerful chakra instantly erupted from Pain's body, enveloping the entire town like a tsunami.
Under the influence of his chakra, the exquisite houses rapidly decayed and became dilapidated. The ripening rice fields turned into piles of rotting stalks. The bulging sacks of grain in the residents' homes transformed into clusters of writhing maggots.
Feeling the changes around them, the residents on the street instinctively reached into their pockets.
Sure enough, the banknotes and gold they carried had turned into bloody pieces of human skin and eyeballs covered in sticky mucus!
Suddenly, a melodious bell tolled from within the church.
Along with the bell, it felt as if thousands of Sanskrit chants echoed in their ears.
"It's them! These two outsiders did this! They have offended the Great Lord!"
"The Lord has brought down divine punishment!"
"Seize these two blasphemers and burn them to death to appease the Lord's wrath!"
"O Great Lord! Please do not abandon us!"
As the bell rang, the entire town descended into a chaotic frenzy. Various wails and roars rang wildly in Pain and Konan's ears like a chant from hell.
The entire world began to distort. The ground swayed like ocean waves, and the surrounding houses were stretched out, eventually pressing in toward them as the center.
Another Genjutsu...
Pain lowered his voice, his tone becoming incredibly cold. A terrifying anger erupted from him.
As the wielder of the Rinnegan, he had never been forced into such a state by a Genjutsu.
"I said... Release!"
A red-haired man hidden several kilometers away also opened his eyes wide. Terrifying chakra poured out of him, dispelling all the encroaching illusions!
By the time Pain finished this, Konan was already drenched in sweat.
But the situation was far from over.
Although the world stopped its transformation, the residents who surrounded them like a tide of corpses suddenly sprouted hideous mouthparts, twisted compound eyes, and dense... tentacles!
"Blasphemers, die!"
Thousands of voices rang out together, enveloping the two of them like a sonic tsunami.
"Is this also a Genjutsu?"
Konan's face had turned pale. She had experienced countless battles over the years, but she had never seen one manifest so bizarrely.
Pain shook his head.
His Rinnegan possessed powerful sensory abilities. These twisted monsters before them were genuine... humans.
"Though I do not know how he did it, these are indeed real."
Faced with the surging monsters, Pain unhesitatingly activated his ability.
He rose into the air and slowly spread his arms. A terrifying power exploded from within his body.
"Almighty Push!"
An incredibly violent and turbulent repulsive force exploded outward with Pain as the center, crushing the surrounding air, houses, the ground, and those monsters into fragments!
In an instant, the center of the entire town was engulfed in a terrifying white light, and then...
It was leveled!
A massive crater appeared in the center of the town. Countless broken limbs were scattered haphazardly across the ground; many were even ground into meat paste and fluids by the powerful repulsive force.
"Truly an impressive ability."
Under the thick screen of smoke, two figures emerged. Simu smiled and adjusted his glasses as he spoke.
Beside him, Hidan looked at the debris covering the ground and unhesitatingly mocked him. "Dummy Simu, the experimental subjects you prepared for a month were destroyed in a single move."
Simu replied with composure, "It was just an experiment. If it's destroyed, so be it."
In one month, he had already collected enough data.
"To you, are all these human lives just an experiment?"
Pain stared calmly at Simu with his Rinnegan, his deep eyes showing no trace of joy or anger.