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

Deep inside Amegakure, where the village leader resides, is a very cyberpunk-style building.

"This annoying rain has been falling for seven days and seven nights now."

The ninja in charge of the outer patrol, wearing a Rain Ninja headband, looked at the misty sky and said with a tone of disgust, "At this rate, I feel like I'm going to get moldy."

"That's how it is here, in Amegakure; the rain seems to never stop, day and night."

Compared to this rain ninja, his companion seemed quite used to it, half-jokingly saying, "It rains for at least three quarters of the year, as if we're cursed by the rain god."

"I knew I shouldn't have come here. I would have been better off being a ninja next door."

Clearly, this ninja, despite wearing a Rain Ninja headband, is not a true Rain Ninja. In fact, he was not a native Rain Ninja; to be precise, he wasn't one three months ago.

He was originally a wandering ninja. Three months ago, while wandering the ninja world, he heard that Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure, was offering generous rewards to recruit ninjas, so he came to become a glorious Amegakure ninja.

Most wandering ninjas were either rogue ninjas or self-taught, spending their lives with bandits, pirates, and thieves, committing almost every imaginable atrocity, including arson, murder, and robbery. It's easy to imagine what Hanzo's recruitment of these people would bring to Amegakure. In the eyes of the common people, Amegakure ninjas were no different from villains, and perhaps even worse than ninjas from rival villages.

But this is a last resort, for a very simple reason...

There's no one here.

Amegakure was originally a small ninja village. Although it gained fame after the Fourth Shinobi World War, it suffered countless casualties and lost many talents due to fighting against several major ninja villages at the same time. It took a long time to recuperate and its strength was barely restored.

As a result, after the destruction of the Akatsuki organization, the situation returned to the period immediately following the end of the Second Shinobi World War.

The Akatsuki was originally an organization that rose to prominence within Amegakure, and it recruited almost all of Amegakure's elites from the civilian population, as well as a small number of ambitious individuals from other ninja villages.

If Akatsuki and Hanzo had reached a consensus and joined forces, they might have truly brought peace to Amegakure.

However, due to his own stupidity and believing Danzo's lies, Hanzo attacked the Akatsuki organization, destroying them. At the same time, Nagato's rampage led to the annihilation of the last wave of elite ninjas from Amegakure in the ensuing chaos.

The result was a lose-lose situation. Apart from Hanzo, Amegakure was left with only his Amegakure guards and a few cats and dogs.

Furthermore, because he was terrified by the power that Nagato had displayed, he lost his mind and issued a policy of retreat, which resulted in the Amegakure Guard only being responsible for protecting him. If they did not recruit wandering ninjas, Amegakure might not even be able to maintain its basic operations.

These wandering ninjas are not only morally corrupt, but also incredibly weak... It's already difficult enough for them to be ninjas, so don't ask for too much.

The wandering ninja, bearing the title of Rain Ninja, commits all sorts of evil deeds—the lower classes are filled with resentment—while the higher-ups only care about themselves and do nothing.

This vicious cycle has brought Amegakure to the brink of destruction.

That's why Nagato said, "People have already suffered enough." How could the Rain Ninja, living in such a harsh environment, not have suffered enough?

"If you don't want to be a Rain Ninja, then you don't have to be one."

As a cold voice sounded from behind, before he could react, a large, icy hand pressed down on the neck of the former wandering ninja.

"I'll never have to be one again."

A crisp, subtle cracking sound was heard.

The ninja then fell into eternal slumber.

His sleeping posture was rather unsightly, with his head tilted at a 180-degree angle.

Another Rain Ninja also met the same fate, almost instantly following in his teammate's footsteps the moment he "fell asleep".

Pain appeared at the entrance of the building where Hanzo was hiding.

Even the Jonin of the Fuma clan in the Land of Rice Fields were like chicks in front of Pain, let alone these two oddballs.

Pain glanced up slightly at the rather imposing building, then strode straight inside without any attempt to conceal his presence.

He was even unwilling to use the power of Death 13, as letting the other party die in a dream would be too easy for him.

Soon inside the building, Pain's presence was met with carnage, with countless ninjas wearing Rain Ninja headbands falling into pools of blood.

Unless he himself is willing, no Rain Ninja has the ability to get within five meters of Pain.

Without exception, they were all killed with a single blow; their foreheads were pierced, and they died with their minds wide open.

Stand Summoning Beast - Gray Tower.

This Stand, which caused Jotaro and his group considerable trouble in the JoJo world, is now extraordinarily powerful with the support of Nagato's chakra.

Of course, it's also because the opponent was too weak.

The once noisy building quickly fell silent, so quiet that it seemed as if not a sound existed, and the entire space became exceptionally still.

A staged assassination, a silent infiltration, to kill only the target.

A true assassination leaves no survivors, killing every living creature in its path.

Pain slaughtered his way from the first floor, leaving the Rain Ninja's corpses scattered throughout the entire building, but he found no trace of Hanzo even when he reached the top floor.

Hanzo isn't here?

不 ...

Hanzo must be here, and could only be here.

"I see."

Pain's gaze gradually shifted to his feet, and he muttered to himself, "Not up there...it seems he should be down there."

If it were an ordinary person who couldn't find the other person after searching the entire building, they might have left.

But Pain, the Deva Path, is different. Although his perception is not as sharp as Nagato's due to remote control, it is still far stronger than that of an ordinary ninja.

The moment Pain stepped onto the rooftop, he discovered that a very special seal had been placed within the building beneath his feet... The seal had only one effect: it could distort the senses of others.

Hanzo's true hiding place was not on the rooftop as most people would imagine, but deeper underground.

Even Pain, the Deva Path, didn't notice it for a moment... right?

"Everything that was in the way has been cleared away..."

Pain, with a completely expressionless face, said...

Nagato, or rather Pain, sensed from the beginning that Hanzo wasn't on the top floor; his attack from the bottom to the top was purely intentional.

The Rain Ninja who stood on Hanzo's side...

Every single one of them deserves to die.

"The real show is about to begin."

Pain stomped his feet slightly, and the floor melted instantly like snow in March melting on a red-hot iron. He vanished from the spot like a ghost.

Top floor—tenth floor—ninth floor...

In the blink of an eye, he was back on the first floor.

I casually walked into one of the dark rooms on the first floor, and what came into view was a small, empty room.

Pain's gaze slowly shifted to the wall of the room. He could clearly sense that behind this wall lay Hanzo's true hiding place.

With a gentle lift of the hand, the wall disappears, revealing a pure Japanese-style tatami room.

"I've found you."

Pain uttered a few words softly.