A tree slowly appeared in the forest outside Konoha Village. It blended into the surroundings, yet was noticeably taller than the other trees around it.

"Nagato, are you really going to do this?"

"Yes. It’s necessary."

"If Hatake Satoru can’t stop me, then it’s also part of this operation to make him know the pain of Akatsuki."

Outside the tree, the Six Paths ninja stood in a line. The Deva Path in the middle took the first step forward.

"From now on, let the world know the pain of Akatsuki."

...

Inside the outpost outside Konoha Village.

"Shift change. Another peaceful day today."

"Yeah, when the shift’s over, let’s go get a drink..." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

As soon as the ninja who had just come out to relieve the guard finished speaking, a black rod pierced through his body.

The other ninja had no time to grieve; he jumped back quickly. But he still couldn’t escape Pain’s attack range. The Asura Path’s elongated hand seized his throat.

"Is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto, in the village?"

"I... don’t know..."

"Seems we won’t get an answer that easily."

With that, the Asura Path snapped the ninja’s neck.

Pain arrived outside Konoha Village’s outer wall.

The Animal Path walked to the Asura Path’s side. The Asura Path used its reinforced arm to hurl the Animal Path high into the air, throwing it into Konoha Village.

The Animal Path passed through the barrier, forming hand seals during its descent.

"Summoning Technique!"

The six of them entered Konoha Village in perfect formation. The operation to capture the Nine-Tails had begun.

"Lord Hokage, the barrier detection system has located intruders."

Shizune rushed to report to Tsunade after receiving the news from the Barrier Team.

"How many?"

"Only one person."

"Send Anbu to investigate the situation first."

"Yes."

Hatake Sōsuke also sensed Nagato’s arrival at that very moment.

"He’s here already?"

"Shisui, you and Itachi wait here for my signal. Sasori, come with me to face them."

Sasori is an unfamiliar face here; even if a fight breaks out, they’ll just think he’s reinforcements from Sunagakure Village.

Hatake Sōsuke teleported out first. He needed to relay the information.

"Kakashi."

Hatake Sōsuke called out to Kakashi, who was on his way to the Hokage’s office.

"There’s more than one intruder this time. There should be six of them. Their real bodies aren’t among them. Report this information to Lord Hokage."

Kakashi was clearly baffled by Hatake Sōsuke’s words. How does he know so much?

"No time for you to space out. I wasn’t just playing around all that time I spent outside the village."

After passing the information to Kakashi, Hatake Sōsuke headed towards Pain’s location.

"Already spread out, huh?"

Hatake Sōsuke had decided long ago who to deal with first.

Inside Konoha Village, several giant summoning beasts suddenly appeared, destroying buildings. They were summons like the centipede and hellhound, called forth by the Animal Path.

The Animal Path sat atop a pterosaur, searching for Naruto’s trail.

"Well, long time no see."

A familiar figure appeared behind the Animal Path. The Animal Path instantly flipped around and attacked Hatake Sōsuke.

"How do you plan to stop me now?"

"Of course by starting with you, the Animal Path who can summon a bunch of monsters."

As Hatake Sōsuke finished speaking, the Animal Path fell from the pterosaur’s back with a thud. Its left side was blown away.

The monsters wreaking havoc in the village vanished along with it. That really saved the Anbu a lot of trouble and maximized the protection of the villagers’ lives.

Hatake Sōsuke hovered in the air, having now removed his eye patch. He was looking for the Deva Path.

Stopping Nagato was, of course, the right thing to do. But driving Nagato back now wouldn’t necessarily be the best outcome.

Meanwhile, Kakashi. On his way to report the intelligence, he encountered Akimichi Chōza and his group locked in a difficult battle with the Asura and Deva Paths.

"Summoning Technique!"

Kakashi summoned all eight of his ninja dogs. He told them the information.

"Make sure this information reaches Lord Hokage."

"Yes, sir."

The eight ninja dogs fanned out, each heading towards the Hokage’s office from different directions. Kakashi then went to support the struggling Akimichi Chōza.

By the time Kakashi arrived, Chōji and Chōza were already covered in wounds. The Akimichi Clan’s abilities are only effective in close combat. The shared vision of the Rinnegan and the Deva Path’s Almighty Push meant their Multi-Size Technique was practically useless.

The Deva Path’s Almighty Push sent Chōza, who was attacking using his Multi-Size Technique, flying back once more. A figure emerged from the rear of the battlefield and caught Chōza in mid-air.

"Are you okay, Chōza?"

"Kakashi? This guy can deflect any attack that gets close to him."

Chōza, having participated in many battles, was much more experienced than his son Chōji. The moment reinforcements arrived, he shared the intel.

"Is that so? Then we’ll use long-range attacks."

"Water Dragon Bullet Technique."

Kakashi used the ninjutsu he had copied from Zabuza. There was no water around, so this move was just to test Pain’s ability.

Just as Chōza said. When the Water Dragon Bullet got close to the Deva Path, it was inexplicably pushed away. It was as if something was enveloping the area around the Deva Path.

"That’s a really troublesome ability."

Kakashi then tentatively used a few more low-cost ninjutsu attacks. Working with the other ninja, he gradually figured out the pattern of the Deva Path’s ability.

"Looks like your ninjutsu can’t be active all the time. It has a cooldown period, right?"

"As expected of the Copy Ninja Kakashi. Your intuition is sharp."

"But unfortunately, you have no chance of winning. Want to know why? It’s simply because you have never known the pain of Akatsuki."

The Deva Path didn’t give Kakashi a chance for another attack, raising its right hand to strike.

"Universal Pull."

Kakashi was pulled directly towards it.

"Ugh... What kind of ninjutsu is this?"

Struggling, Kakashi pulled out a kunai and stabbed it into the ground, barely reducing the pulling force.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Seeing this, Chōji wanted to go help, but the Deva Path immediately extended its other hand. A single Almighty Push sent Chōji flying. Distracted by his worry for Chōji, Kakashi was pulled all the way to the Deva Path.

The Deva Path pulled a black rod from its sleeve and stabbed it into Kakashi’s body.

"Poof!"

The severely wounded Kakashi turned into a puff of smoke and vanished.

"It seems a clone has been in action since before entering the battlefield."

Kakashi’s real body crawled out from the rubble of a nearby fight.

Just now, when his clone was stabbed by the black rod, he felt himself being controlled by some strange chakra. Combining that with the intel Hatake Sōsuke had just given him, Kakashi deduced the real meaning behind "no real bodies."

The person before him was nothing but a puppet. And the black rods filling its entire body were the source controlling its movements.