"P—!"
Nagato spat a mouthful of blood.
His body collapsed backward into Konan's arms.
That was the price of forcing himself beyond his limit.
Konan's voice cracked.
"Nagato!"
Gen Takuya dispelled the boulders and faced them again, calm.
"Now can we talk?" he said. "I'm not interested in your Rinnegan."
It was a lie.
He was interested.
But if he tried to take Nagato's eyes, Obito would interfere.
And Gen Takuya wasn't ready to face Kamui.
While Gen Takuya spoke, paper slips mixed with wet soil surged toward him like a silent tide.
Konan hadn't been idle.
Nagato had reached his limit.
Now it was her turn.
She lowered Nagato onto the ground and gripped a kunai.
"Konan, don't—" Nagato coughed violently, trying to stop her.
Konan took a deep breath and charged.
"Nagato," she said fiercely, "now I protect you."
Gen Takuya watched with faint amusement.
"Oh? Cornered already?"
He drew his own kunai and met hers.
Clang.
But the impact felt wrong.
The force was too light.
Even for a woman, even for a non-taijutsu fighter—
It shouldn't have been that weak.
Gen Takuya's eyes narrowed.
Konan's face rippled—
Lines appeared—
And then she burst apart into fluttering sheets.
Dance of the Shikigami.
Gen Takuya frowned as if seeing it for the first time.
"This is…"
From the earth behind him, paper surged up, reforming Konan at high speed.
A paper kunai formed in her hand and stabbed forward.
"Got you!"
Konan felt resistance.
Her face lit up with relief—
Until Nagato's desperate scream tore through the rain.
"Konan—RUN!"
Konan's smile faltered.
Why—
Then she saw it.
Gen Takuya was too calm.
Too relaxed.
No panic.
No shock.
In the next instant—
The "Gen Takuya" she'd stabbed exploded into smoke.
"A shadow clone?!" Konan's eyes widened. "When—?!"
But the clone didn't vanish like a normal one.
The smoke rolled—
And within it, the clone collapsed into flowing water.
The water surged up her arm, wrapped around her body—
And exploded outward.
A prison of water swallowed her whole.
Water Release: Water Prison.
Konan's pupils shrank.
But Water Prison required the caster to keep contact—
So where was he?!
Then the answer came.
The earth beneath her shifted.
"Earth Release: Headhunter Technique."
Gen Takuya emerged from the ground, one hand maintaining the water prison as he rose.
Konan glared at him through the water, fury burning in her eyes.
Gen Takuya studied her for a beat, eyebrow lifting.
So this was the "Angel" of the future Akatsuki.
But right now?
She was still far from that level.
Her deadliest threat would be those countless explosive tags one day.
Not today.
Not yet.
This wasn't a normal shadow clone.
It was a Water Release clone—like Kakashi's Lightning clone, but adapted to Gen Takuya's style.
And Gen Takuya had gone even further—
He had fused the Water Prison into it.
A trap layered inside a trap.
The moment Konan committed to the strike, she was already caught.
Nagato tried to rise, trembling—
And coughed blood again, unable to move.
Then he forced out words through clenched teeth.
"Release Konan," he said, unnaturally calm. "I'll give you the Rinnegan."
Gen Takuya's breath caught for a heartbeat.
Temptation flared like a blade against his throat.
A Rinnegan.
Even if Obito and Black Zetsu hunted him afterward…
A Rinnegan was worth almost anything.
For a moment—
Only a moment—
His mind drifted toward that abyss.
Then he forced it back down.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Because reality was cruel.
Even if Nagato offered it, Gen Takuya might not be able to keep it.
Even if he stole it, Obito and Zetsu would make his life hell.
And even if he somehow escaped—
A Rinnegan couldn't be turned off.
He couldn't walk back into Konoha with those eyes.
They'd be nothing but a display piece locked in a lab.
And transplanted Rinnegan wasn't fully yours.
Not truly.
Nagato himself couldn't access certain deeper powers.
Gen Takuya's desire cooled into something sharp and controlled.
He met Nagato's gaze and spoke evenly.
"I told you," he said. "I'm not interested in your Rinnegan."
Nagato froze.
Konan couldn't speak inside the water, but her eyes widened.
Then Nagato swallowed blood and said hoarsely:
"Fine."
"As long as you release Konan… the Demonic Statue is yours."
"And I swear—on everything I have left—I will never summon it again."
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
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