While walking along the rugged mountain paths, Nagato and Konan crossed who knew how many mountains.
At some point, though, the two of them stopped talking.
Konan still had both hands in her pockets, looking cool and aloof as ever.
Nagato, who had already sealed the box full of bounty money into a storage scroll, was equally expressionless.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
As they were about to climb over yet another mountain and passed an open stretch of ground, Nagato suddenly turned toward a slope at about the eight o'clock direction and exhaled a blast of flames.
The moment the fire left his mouth, it swelled into a massive meteor-like fireball, then slammed into the slope with the speed of a falling meteor.
With a thunderous boom, the meteor-shaped fireball exploded into a vast sea of flames. If the mountain had been covered in trees, the whole thing would have turned into a volcano in no time.
Just as the flames spread, a figure that was almost impossible to catch with the naked eye leaped down from the slope.
After a few body flickers, he appeared atop a rocky hill not far from Nagato and Konan, looking down at them from above.
Konan kept both hands in her pockets and merely turned her head to glance at Yahiko, her calm gaze showing no surprise at all.
Compared to Konan, who clearly had no interest in even fully turning to face him, Nagato studied the black-robed Yahiko with a grave expression and asked in a low voice, "You're not on the bounty board. Who are you, and why are you following us?"
Yahiko was also sizing up his targets. Staring at that pair of purple ripple-patterned eyes, and with his senses greatly sharpened by fusing with A'fei, he could clearly feel the terrifying eye power contained within them.
So this was the miracle power spoken of in the same breath as the space-time bloodline?
Even the story of the Sage of Six Paths was real… could ninja really create a moon?
Yahiko pondered silently, while outwardly introducing himself without a trace of expression.
"My name is Yahiko, the future god of the new world, and the guardian who will guide you, the bearer of the Rinnegan, onto the path of miracles."
Konan, who had shown no interest in him at all, turned her head again and glanced at him. Her brows knit slightly, and a trace of displeasure flashed through her eyes.
Her focus was not on the fact that he also knew about the Rinnegan. It was that line about being the god of the new world.
That had offended her.
So Konan said coldly, "Nagato, kill him."
"Yes."
Nagato, who had still been wondering what exactly the Rinnegan was, instantly changed expressions.
Without the slightest hesitation, he formed a seal with one hand and exhaled a stream of air at Yahiko.
The next moment, that stream turned into violent wind, sweeping through the entire mountain region like a hurricane.
Every blade of grass on the plain was uprooted in an instant.
Even pebbles and boulders rooted in the earth were ripped free, cracks spreading across them, some shattering on the spot.
Seen from above, a massive high-pressure vortex storm had formed in the mountains.
Everything caught inside it was either uprooted and split apart, or outright shredded by the terrifying cutting power of Wind Release.
And that was only a single Wind Release jutsu from Nagato, cast with one-handed seals.
Unlike the original timeline, thirteen-year-old Nagato had not grown up in any kind of sheltered environment. A greenhouse never produces strong flowers. Even Yoru's progress in recent years had slowed because he'd gotten used to being wrapped in warmth.
In the original story, Naruto spent three years with Jiraiya and mostly just strengthened his fundamentals, upgrading the Rasengan into the Big Ball Rasengan.
Sasuke, on the other hand, spent three years training under Orochimaru. His fundamentals completely outclassed Naruto's, and he even developed the S-rank Lightning Release: Kirin, enough to fight Deidara—the same Deidara who had defeated Gaara—on even footing. He was a bona fide ace.
Following Konan, Nagato had not only learned her discipline, but also wandered with her through constant grave robbing, all while receiving Madara's hidden support. He first inherited the Uchiha clan's Fire Release legacy and Senju Tobirama's Water Release legacy, then gradually mastered the other three elemental affinities as well, becoming a master of all five basic natures.
With that kind of power, the two of them even became bounty hunters. Most of the time, Nagato handled enemies head-on, and only if he couldn't win did Konan step in.
Because his battle experience was still lacking, and because they often lacked enough intelligence on their targets, Nagato—despite awakening both the Senju and Uzumaki bloodlines and possessing chakra reserves that far exceeded either clan's norm—had nearly been killed many times and often ended up covered in wounds.
Under the pressure of life-and-death battles, perhaps because his body was finally receiving proper nutrition, or perhaps because his will had changed, Nagato awakened two of the Uzumaki clan's signature abilities in succession: Constitution Healing and the Mind's Eye of the Kagura.
Thanks to the monstrous vitality granted by both of his bloodlines, Nagato's healing ability and recovery were every bit as absurd as Kushina's, even with the Nine-Tails as her baseline.
Nagato now, just like in the original story, had mastered all six nature transformations and become an all-rounder who was proficient in every mainstream ninjutsu in the shinobi world.
More accurately, he was even more versatile—and even stronger—than in the original.
Creating a violent explosive wind vortex like this on a whim was only the tip of the iceberg.
"Three Directions Seal."
The hurricane-like storm swept through the entire mountain region, and Konan was caught in it too.
She still stood in place with both hands in her pockets, calmly watching Nagato show off.
But black paper lines suddenly spread across her body, then sheet after sheet of white paper flew out, weaving into white chains that stabbed into the ground and formed a triangle.
The next second, three emerald-green walls of light appeared out of nowhere, creating a pyramid-shaped barrier that enclosed Konan inside.
Neither the vortex storm nor the flying sand and stone could reach her.
This was Konan's application of Paper Release.
More accurately, it was Yoru's application of Paper Release.
Just like Jiraiya's hair techniques, the Akimichi clan's Expansion jutsu, and even Hashirama's Wood Release—which was a bloodline born from the fusion of Water and Earth Release, yet still used Yang Release as its core without being classified as a bloodline elimination—
the Uzumaki clan's Adamantine Sealing Chains were also a derivative of Yang Release, turning chakra into chains that extended from the body.
Yang Release had form. Yin Release was formless.
Anything with form, anything visible, and anything controlled physically by the body could be traced back to Yang Release.
Paper Release secret arts were the same.
So when Yoru used Spirit Transformation to possess Kushina and Konan in turn, he discovered that Konan's Paper Release was strangely similar to the Uzumaki clan's Adamantine Sealing Chains in the way it interacted with sealing techniques.
The chains weren't just anti-tailed-beast tools. Once they bound a target, they could act like Wood Release and apply sealing techniques remotely—because the chains themselves were simply manifested chakra.
Paper Release, which could create explosive tags, could do the same thing: manipulate the chakra embedded in paper to cast techniques remotely.
It could be used not only for sealing arts, but also barrier techniques.
With Yoru acting as a cheat-code old grandfather, Konan had already become a top-tier sealing master in the shinobi world. Many of the sealing and barrier techniques she knew had been delivered to her through different methods by both Yoru and Madara.
Standing inside the barrier, Konan suddenly narrowed her eyes.
In the middle of the storm, the boulder under Yahiko's feet was torn apart just like everything else.
But once the rock shattered, Yahiko himself wasn't blown away at all. When he landed, he stood there like some towering ancient tree that no storm, lightning, flame, or frost could ever damage.
Compared to Konan's cleanly defensive method, Yahiko's way of tanking such a terrifying Wind Release head-on had far more visual impact.
The explosive vortex storm continued for a long time before finally dying down.
By then the ground had become a complete wreck. Only Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan remained.
Looking at Yahiko—who had endured a full Wind Release: Pressure Damage without a scratch, and hadn't even been forced back a step—Nagato's eyes were filled with wariness.
This guy… was strong.
"A very impressive greeting. Now… my turn."
Yahiko praised Nagato's attack, then clapped his hands together and spoke the name of a technique that made both Nagato and Konan's expressions change drastically.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
The mountains and earth shook violently.
Nagato and Konan felt the ground under their feet shudder hard.
Cracks suddenly tore open in the earth ahead of them. Green shoots burst from the fissures, then rapidly expanded, swelling into huge trees.
But before one tree could fully stand upright, another burst from the ground beside it, crowding out its space and piling into the first. The result was that the advancing forest looked like a nest of giant serpents flooding across the land, a green wave surging toward Nagato and Konan.
The scene was visually overwhelming.
Compared to that kind of raw, physical devastation, even a water technique of comparable scale suddenly felt a lot less impressive.
Against an attack like that, even a fire technique strong enough to ignite it would probably need an absurd amount of chakra just to hold it back.
Nagato knew what Wood Release was.
Or rather, everyone did. It was the legendary bloodline created from the fusion of Water and Earth Release, the same bloodline that had once pacified an age.
That had even become one of the great unsolved mysteries of the shinobi world.
Because plenty of masters of elemental transformation had tried fusing Water and Earth in hopes of reproducing Wood Release.
They did manage to combine the natures—but what they got wasn't Wood Release.
It was Dissolution Release.
Yes, Dissolution—not Lava Release.
Lava Release could at least make magma. Dissolution Release only spat corrosive liquid. It wasn't even worthy of holding a candle to Boil Release.
At least Boil Release could be used on the body and had helped make Han, whom Yoru had already killed, famous as the Steam Ninja.
As a fusion of Water and Earth, Wood Release not only possessed the mass of earth, but also an enormous amount of water. The biggest difference between Wood Release trees and natural trees was how difficult they were to burn.
To truly burn away Wood Release, you first had to burn off the chakra saturating it. Otherwise the trees would extinguish the flames themselves—or even use the fire to make themselves stronger and keep advancing.
Trying to fight this kind of mass of wood with fire carelessly would likely get you killed.
So crackling with arcs of lightning, Nagato vanished in a blur.
It was Lightning Release chakra stimulation.
Konan stopped simply spectating as well. She dispelled the Three Directions Seal, spread a great pair of white paper wings from her back, and shot into the sky.
White sheets drifted from her body as she ascended, like angelic feathers.
Until now, Konan had wanted to keep letting Nagato handle enemies head-on, the same way she always had, so that the Rinnegan bearer could continue tempering himself.
But the moment she saw the enemy use Wood Release, she discarded that plan without hesitation.
This person—who looked to be the same age as them—was a massive variable, and very likely the biggest obstacle to Yoru-sama's plans.
To ensure he didn't interfere with Yoru-sama's future, Konan instinctively wanted him dead, not merely reported later.
That mindset required real strength to back it up.
Soaring high above, Konan's eyes seemed almost telescopic. She instantly locked onto Yahiko's position amid the dense vegetation below.
Then she raised a hand. A wind spiral formed, creating a tiny cyclone small enough to fit in one hand.
The next moment, sheet after sheet of white paper was flung into the air by the miniature tornado, forming a white blizzard as they drifted downward.
But their descent grew faster and faster, until the air was filled with sharp whistling sounds.
Because those falling sheets had already transformed into white shuriken.
More than that, each one was coated in Wind Release chakra, giving them terrifying cutting power.
Even stones would be pierced—or sliced in half—if they were struck by those paper shuriken.
When the white blizzard of shuriken fell into the half-formed forest below, the mountain echoed with wet slicing sounds, like blades biting flesh.
Boom boom boom boom—!
A chain of explosions followed, producing a spectacular sight across the mountains.
Flashes of fire blossomed in the forest one after another. Smoke and dust rose into mushroom clouds. Then, driven by the wind, great stretches of flame spread rapidly outward, trying to turn the entire forest into a sea of fire.
The reason, of course, was that the shuriken weren't ordinary paper at all.
They were explosive tags.
Explosive tags infused with Wind Release chakra didn't just blow up harder—they covered far more area as well.
This one move alone gave Konan a terrifying level of strategic threat.
Unlike Nagato's previous wind attack, which Yahiko had tanked head-on, Konan's aerial bombardment was something he instinctively chose not to tank.
No choice.
He had trauma where explosive tags were concerned.
The three teens had each opened with just one move, and already the mountain clearing had become a hellscape.
The visual impact alone was enough to overwhelm.
There were very few ace combatants in the Five Great Nations who could achieve that level of devastation.
And those who could were almost certainly Water Release specialists.
It wasn't that others were too weak.
It was that their chakra reserves just weren't high enough.
This was a battle between chakra monsters.