Naruto: Starting from the time when the Six Paths of Pain was Kira Yoshikage

"How did you do that?"

Faced with such a bizarre phenomenon, even Kakuzu felt a chill run down his spine. His voice was no longer as calm as usual, and even without his own awareness, it unconsciously trembled slightly.

The goosebumps, combined with the fine sweat secreted from the skin's surface, caused Kakuzu to feel a stinging pain from the friction of his clothes.

It's been so many years... I haven't felt this way before.

"He didn't do anything!"

No, that's not right...

This man said one thing...

As if hearing Kakuzu's thoughts, Pain spoke at just the right moment: "God is merciful, and tonight he will grant them eternal sleep in their dreams."

This repeated emphasis caused the five hearts inside Kakuzu's body to pound wildly.

He wasn't joking!

Yes, that's what the man said...

"Eternal sleep in a dream"—a single sentence caused the entire village of Takigakure to die, leaving them completely bewildered as if they had truly died in a dream.

It can only be explained as the power of God...

Witnessing this extraordinary phenomenon firsthand made Jiao Du involuntarily have a thought arising deep within his heart—could he really be a god?

Kakuzu, who had never believed in the existence of gods, was now wavering.

simply...

It's simply unimaginable, okay?

Even if the Sage of Six Paths himself were to come, he couldn't do that, right?

What if he wanted to kill me?

"Could I withstand such mysterious and unpredictable methods?"

Humans are afraid of the unknown. The abilities that Pain has shown so far have exceeded Kakuzu's understanding. Although Kakuzu has gained a lifespan far beyond that of ordinary people by means of "Earth Grudge Fear" and even has five hearts in his body, he is still within the realm of humans.

So unsurprisingly, he felt fear, a deep fear, of Pain.

The desire for strength is a fundamental logic for almost all living beings, and ninjas are no exception; they are even more so.

Perhaps... this man... no, god... can truly bring peace to this corrupt and decadent ninja world...

A faint glimmer of light appeared on Kakuzu's previously stagnant and broken heart, filled with despair for the world—a light called hope.

"The Akatsuki... the Light of Dawn... heh... this organization I've joined seems more interesting than I imagined."

Defeating him head-on with an invincible attitude represents the absolute power of Pain, the Deva Path; plunging the entire Takigakure village into silence with a single sentence represents unpredictable and bizarre methods.

Adding the two together...

At this moment, Kakuzu had completely submitted to the power of Pain and sincerely joined the Akatsuki organization, without having the slightest thought of resistance.

Kakuzu's reverence for Pain reached its peak after the two obtained all the funds of the entire Takigakure village.

Pain gave Kakuzu his share without hesitation.

"This man keeps his word! He really paid!"

Kakuzu carefully tucked the sealed scroll containing the cash into his pocket and kept it close to his body. In his heart, his respect for Pain had almost reached the level of worship.

In reality, what Kakuzu received was just cash on paper. The assets of Takigakure cannot be counted in terms of working capital alone; there are also many industries under its control that are not included. However, ninjas do not engage in production, and most ninjas do not understand this principle. For Kakuzu, even working capital is already a large sum of money.

The two had not gone far from the Takigakure village leader's building when Pain seemed to sense something and suddenly stopped. Kakuzu, though puzzled, also stopped because of his trust in Pain.

Before long, a middle-aged man appeared in their field of vision, staggering.

Upon seeing Pain and Kakuzu, he exclaimed excitedly, "We were attacked by an unknown creature, and all the brothers on guard duty are dead! Go report to the leader immediately..."

However, after walking only halfway, when he saw the two men clearly, especially the scar on Kakuzu's forehead that marked him as a rogue ninja, he immediately stopped and assumed a defensive stance, staring at them warily as if facing a formidable enemy: "You are not from the village..."

Death 13 is indeed a powerful Stand, but it also has many shortcomings. One is that only those who are asleep can be pulled into a dream and killed by Death 13; if they are not asleep, they will not be affected. Another is its attack range; the Stand's range of only E is its biggest weakness.

For the engine to start successfully, both the patient must be asleep and the patient must be at close range.

Not everyone in the vast Takigakure village fell asleep at the same time. A very small number of residents and Takigakure ninja were still awake. These people were killed by the Stand Summoning Beasts, such as Gray Tower and Dark Blue Moon, who had been waiting for a long time. However, there were bound to be some who slipped through the net, such as this middle-aged man.

"Did you do this?"

"Kill them all!"

When the man questioned him loudly, Pain did not respond at all.

"Not asleep?"

Pain nodded thoughtfully as soon as he finished speaking: "I see. It was the Seven-Tails inside you that sensed something was wrong and woke you up."

The middle-aged man in front of me is the current Jinchūriki of the Seven-Tails of Takigakure. In the original story, the Jinchūriki of the Seven-Tails, Kaede, was not yet a Jinchūriki, and perhaps he never will be.

Even if the relationship between a Tailed Beast and its Jinchuriki is extremely hostile, they will still join forces when faced with a life-or-death situation, since the Tailed Beast will die along with the Jinchuriki. Although the Tailed Beasts will not truly disappear, experiencing death is never a pleasant thing.

In theory, Bleach 13 can pull any creature that enters his dream state into his dream, but whether tailed beasts count as creatures is still debatable.

Once you're pulled into a dream, you become a lamb to the slaughter, just like the leader of Takigakure. Pain didn't even know where the other person died.

Even if he didn't die, it was just something he did on a whim.

"Never mind, whether I wake up or not, the outcome will be the same."

Pain looked at the middle-aged man before him without a trace of emotion, as if the man was not a person but some kind of object in his eyes: "Since you don't want to die painlessly in your dream, then I can only let you feel a little pain."

"Don't worry, it will be over soon."

Pain paused here, then turned to Kakuzu and asked, "Interested in becoming the Seven-Tails' Jinchūriki?"

Without a second thought, Kakuzu shook his head decisively: "I don't want that kind of beast residing inside me."

If Kakuzu wanted to, he would have been the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki long ago. When he stole the Takigakure secret technique "Earth Grudge Fear" and killed all the Takigakure leaders, he didn't even try to take the Seven-Tails with him.

For a normal ninja, becoming a Jinchuriki is not a desirable thing, even if it brings immense power.

Not all ninja villages have seals as strong as Konoha's. For most ordinary ninjas, becoming a Jinchuriki is a form of mental torture. Even if the Tailed Beasts don't deliberately cause trouble, the raging Tailed Beast chakra within their bodies will constantly interfere with the Jinchuriki's thoughts, and occasional berserk behavior is commonplace for other Jinchuriki.

If one were to unfortunately encounter a Tailed Beast like Shukaku, who is talkative, lively, and prone to causing trouble for Jinchūriki, it would be a double torment of both body and mind.

Seeing the middle-aged man's face gradually darken, Kakuzu reminded him, "Boss, since he is the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, please try not to kill him. After all, the Seven-Tails going berserk is a very troublesome thing."

"I know what I'm doing."