##Amegakure – Pain's Tower##
Yahiko, who had once been Pain's childhood friend, now stood as the Deva Path—one of the Six Paths of Pain—and the strongest among them. From the balcony of the tower, he looked down upon the village of Amegakure.
Much of the village still lay in ruins. The cleanup efforts moved slowly because Pain had poured all available resources into one single objective: locating the corpses he had saved for a very special purpose.
But in the end, it was all for nothing.
He *was* God—no, he *is* God!
By a cruel twist of fate, at the very moment when Naruto and Jiraiya were fighting against Pain, Danzo's Root organization had launched a surprise attack on the village, attempting to split and weaken Pain's forces.
Their assault devastated much of the village, clearly intended to buy time and hinder progress, allowing Naruto and Jiraiya to escape.
One such attack completely obliterated the building where Pain stored his backup bodies.
It happened purely by chance, because the Root organization didn't even know what they had done—it was an absolute secret.
The people of Amegakure only knew that he brought certain corpses back to the tower—none ever saw them again until they rose once more.
Those bodies remained inside until he had need of them.
Now, the corpses he had preserved were buried beneath collapsed rubble.
He couldn't simply use ordinary corpses as puppets for the Animal Path.
Not only did the bodies need to be special, but they also needed to possess great strength.
And the ones he had found had already swollen beyond recognition from the endless rain of Amegakure, making them unusable.
In the battle at Amegakure, none of the corpses left behind were suitable for Pain's needs.
Most of the fallen were low-level Genin, used merely as expendable pawns—sent solely to stall Naruto while Konan made her move.
Of course, there were also the members of the Root organization who had invaded the village.
A few Jonin who had confronted Naruto vanished after he barricaded himself inside an apartment building.
Later, Naruto destroyed the entire building from within while escaping. The bodies of those Jonin were either utterly annihilated or simply vanished—none remained intact.
But this was only the first of many problems troubling the leader of Akatsuki. His control over the organization was gradually slipping away.
Most of his most capable subordinates were already dead or permanently disabled—Sasori, Kakuzu, Deidara, Hidan, and now Itachi had also been defeated.
Besides Kisame Hoshigaki, he had no trustworthy partner left.
Clearly, Black Zetsu answered directly to Madara Uchiha—who had long infiltrated the organization under the guise of "Tobi," secretly monitoring his every move.
Matters had only deteriorated further since Orochimaru betrayed the organization years ago, failing in his attempt to seize control of Itachi's body.
As time passed, the hidden schemes grew increasingly vast.
Motivated by greed and wrath, Kakuzu had slain several members of the organization, sapping its latent strength—even before the grand plan had even begun.
Itachi had planned everything with his own goals in mind, as well as for Sasuke. Their actions went completely against the Akatsuki's interests. As he recalled the battle's outcome, Pain began thinking about the future.
What unsettled Pain the most was Madara Uchiha.
Madara hadn't stayed idle but kept insisting he was the true architect of this plan, trying to force Pain into obeying his commands.
Not long ago, while the Uchiha brothers were fighting Naruto, Madara showed up and ordered Pain to attack Naruto, going as far as declaring that Konoha had to be destroyed at any cost.
Pain could at least come up with two reasons to oppose him.
Firstly, Jiraiya was still alive, and he already discovered the secret of Pain's jutsu. Pain didn't doubt that if a real fight were to happen between them, Jiraiya would be fully prepared. Whether Jiraiya was weakened or not, he remained a dangerous opponent—not to mention the entire village of Konoha stood behind him.
Secondly, attacking Naruto now offered no benefit whatsoever. Although Naruto had been defeated before, he had recovered from his earlier battle against Konan and the entire village. Plus, his body had undergone modifications.
Having witnessed Naruto's earlier battles, Pain understood that fighting a fully powered Naruto would be extremely dangerous.
The issue was, Pain couldn't currently unleash his full power. The loss of the Animal Path greatly diminished his combat effectiveness.
Moreover, Naruto would certainly have allies assisting him, further lowering Pain's chances of victory.
He needed a new corpse to serve as the puppet for the Animal Path. Only then could he plan his next move.
Underestimating Naruto would only result in his unnecessary demise, because Pain had to capture Naruto alive, whereas Naruto had no such hesitation and could kill Pain without restraint.
Pain also harbored a deep-rooted desire—to completely eradicate Konoha's Root faction, especially Danzō.
Since Pain first emerged, this man had been hiding in the shadows like a cunning fox, manipulating everything through what appeared to be mystical and formidable influence. Though he appeared frail, he showed no fear toward any level of ninja.
For decades, he had been a thorn in Pain's side, bringing Pain endless suffering and torment.
Repeatedly abusing Root's power for his own ends frustrated Pain immensely.
Even worse, he had infiltrated troops near Amegakure, evading Pain's perception techniques while waiting for the right moment to strike the village.
Pain stared at the village, his Rinnegan eyes narrowing slightly.
No one could command God. He would settle his own matters first—everything else could wait.
Madara Uchiha couldn't control him.
"I need a new Animal Path puppet… then I'll make Naruto and Danzō answer for their actions."
*******
Konan sat atop Pain's tower, holding a delicate origami bird.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew the origami bird from her hand.
She ignored it, allowing the rain to soak through her clothes.
In Amegakure, rain fell as frequently as sunlight did elsewhere.
The recent battle had left countless people homeless.
They had lost their loved ones—lost everything they once held dear. And yet, Pain issued an order: for them to scour the city's debris—not in search of what they had lost, but for corpses that belonged to him, bodies he could use to craft his puppets.
"He's become no different from Hanzo now..." she mused bitterly.
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