In the northeast of the Land of Rain, Danzo, with his Root Ninja who had finally recovered some Chakra, and Hanzo, with his Amegakure Anbu, were facing off.
Between them was a black-robed, blue-haired woman, bound and with her Chakra sealed. That's right, it was Konan; she had been captured.
Originally, she had been somewhat wary. Faced with the sudden attack from Hanzo and his Anbu, she decisively flew into the air, only to be ambushed in the sky by Root Ninja using Super Beast Imitating Drawing.
Under the encirclement, she was captured with some effort and was currently still unconscious. At this moment, Danzo and Hanzo were contending over who would control Konan to threaten Nagato into handing over the Rinnegan.
"Danzo, you are not my opponent, let alone with your severed arm. You are not fit to bargain with me now."
Hanzo, wearing a rather futuristic breathing mask and holding a scythe-like Ninja tool, stared coldly at Danzo, who was leaning on a cane. He still didn't know why Danzo had come.
"Don't put on that 'demigod' act in front of this old man. It's only out of respect that I call you a demigod. Don't be ungrateful. My subordinates can temporarily use Wood Release at any time. Do you want to experience it?"
For the past half-year, Danzo had been conducting insane Wood Release human experiments. Fortunately, the Land of Rain had no shortage of displaced people, so there was no lack of experimental subjects, and no one could control him.
Now, half a year later, the Wood Release experiments were not without results. If it weren't for the instability, he would have already given himself a Hashirama cells arm.
"Danzo, why are you here? This old man is here to eliminate the Akatsuki Organization, which is spreading deceptive words in the Land of Rain and planning to usurp me. That has nothing to do with you, does it?"
Hanzo did indeed feel some threat, and at this time, it was not suitable to fight Danzo to the death. He hadn't gotten his hands on the Rinnegan yet, so he couldn't rush.
"Heh heh, this old man is here to stop you. After you eliminate the Akatsuki Organization, you'll probably turn your attention to this old man, won't you? This old man will not allow the stable situation to be disrupted."
Danzo was speaking nonsense under a pretense of righteousness. He was also here for the Rinnegan, but he also had the idea of disrupting Hanzo's scheme if things didn't go his way.
Underground, Black Zetsu somewhat wanted to complain about these two old geezers. They had been arguing for a long time, and Yahiko and Nagato were about to arrive.
"There's no point in talking further. This old man doesn't want to be an enemy of Konoha, so you don't have to worry about me attacking you. Retreat quickly, and I'll pretend you never appeared."
Hanzo had exhausted every persuasive argument to make Danzo leave, but unfortunately, it was still useless. He was already considering using force.
"Leader, Nagato has appeared five kilometers away. Should we bring him here?"
A Rain Ninja Anbu immediately knelt beside Hanzo to report, and Danzo heard everything clearly.
He immediately thought of something. Shouldn't Hanzo, if he was dealing with the Akatsuki Organization, have Yahiko, the Akatsuki leader, come? Why Nagato? Did he know about the Rinnegan?
The more Danzo thought about it, the more he felt it was possible. That mysterious person couldn't have sold the information only to him. Moreover, Hanzo's appearance was strange; he didn't even care about the Chunin Exams, just to capture Konan and make Nagato come.
So, to test Hanzo, Danzo decided to lay his cards on the table.
"Hanzo, you're here for the Rinnegan, aren't you? I am too. We can cooperate; there are two Rinnegan."
Danzo opened his eyes and coldly uttered words of division, causing Konan, who had already woken up on the ground, to skip a heartbeat. She bit her lip to prevent herself from making a sound.
She worried that Nagato would truly arrive. She couldn't let Nagato pay for a mistake caused by her own carelessness.
She already had a desire to die, but she couldn't even commit suicide now. She could only wait for an opportunity, and in her heart, she prayed.
"Nagato, Yahiko, you absolutely must not... must not come!"
"It doesn't matter if I die. I don't have any dreams to fulfill. I'm just a burden."
"But Nagato and Yahiko, you still have a great future, with dreams to fulfill. I don't want you to give all of that up for me."
Unfortunately, Konan's thoughts could only be heard by herself, while a few kilometers away, Nagato was being led alone by the Rain Ninja Anbu to Konan's location.
On the other side of the mountain ridge, Yahiko used Earth Release to approach the cliff where Danzo and Hanzo were. He had used some unknown technique, as neither the Rain Ninja Anbu nor the Root had sensed him.
On the cliff, Hanzo stared coldly at Danzo, with intense killing intent in his heart. Danzo competing with him for the Rinnegan had touched his bottom line; now there was one more reason to kill Danzo.
"Let's talk about it once the Rinnegan is in hand. Then, it'll be each to their own abilities." Hanzo pondered for a moment before chiseling out a few forceful words.
"Agreed, that's what this old man thinks too." Danzo's sinister eyes also held a cold killing intent like a venomous snake. He planned to kill Hanzo after this matter was concluded.
Both of them simultaneously issued death warrants to each other in their hearts, because they knew that after the Akatsuki Organization was destroyed, they would inevitably have a battle, a battle that would determine the allegiance of the Amegakure.
Underground, Black Zetsu grinned sinisterly. It would never allow the Rinnegan to fall into the hands of these two old farts. The Rinnegan didn't have to be in Nagato's hands; if not Nagato, then someone else.
But the Rinnegan absolutely could not be destroyed. This was related to its mother's resurrection plan, and after a thousand years, this was the closest it had ever come to success.
At this moment, the confronting Hanzo and Danzo, as well as Konan lying on the ground and Black Zetsu underground, all four had different thoughts in their hearts.
And a dozen kilometers away, Ling finally used Telescope Technique with the lowest resolution expanded to the maximum observation range, finally seeing a few scattered Chakra markers in the northwest direction.
Clearly, that direction was most likely where Hanzo and his group were. He wondered what their situation was now. Would he have to face the summoned "mobile toilet" as soon as he arrived?
The rampaging Nagato, using the Gedo Statue to create a Chakra Dragon that reaped souls, was incredibly powerful. He might not be able to defeat it.
"By the way, Danzo and Hanzo, they haven't gotten it yet, have they?"
"Black Zetsu should also be on site, so it's probably not very likely."
Ling quickly saw that cluster of Chakra light points through Telescope Technique. Clearly, they hadn't started yet.
To avoid being discovered by Black Zetsu, Ling landed on the ground early, then used Curse Power to envelop himself to mask his Chakra fluctuations, and then used the ability of the great snake after Technique Reversal of Ten Shadows Technique to move underground.
Ling soon arrived at the scene. After using Curse Power to confirm the positions of Danzo, Hanzo, Black Zetsu, and Konan, Ling looked at another person who had been brought.
Although Ling had never met Nagato and Yahiko, he knew this should be one of them, and a few hundred meters away, on the other side of the cliff, another soul fluctuation was hidden in the earth.
Ling was very curious who that was, being able to get so close under the perception of Danzo and Hanzo. Although Black Zetsu had also discovered the other party, Black Zetsu didn't make any moves.
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