Chapter 66: Confiscating the Tools of Destruction
Now, among the Six Paths of Pain, only the Deva Path remained, floating alone in the sky.
Although the Deva Path had powerful abilities, its strongest move, Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push), had a cooldown period of five seconds. During that window, it could only fight using chakra black rods and Banshō Ten'in (Universal Pull). His strengths and weaknesses were perfectly balanced.
After all, the Deva Path was meant to be used in conjunction with the other Paths of Pain to reach peak combat performance. In one-on-one combat, its effectiveness dropped significantly. An experienced jonin who had figured out its patterns could even defeat it.
At this point, the outcome of the battle was clear. Unless Nagato had some divine revelation and used a Chō Shinra Tensei (Super Almighty Push) or Chibaku Tensei (Planetary Devastation) inside his own Rain Village, he had no other options left.
But even Chō Shinra Tensei was ineffective against a single powerful opponent. Its true power lay in its massive area-of-effect destruction—great for slaughtering the weak, not defeating a top-tier fighter. As for Chibaku Tensei, facing someone with Ayaan's speed, it wouldn't even get the chance to form properly.
Ayaan looked up at the Deva Path in the sky. Technically, the Yami Yami no Mi only gave him the power of attraction—it wasn't true gravity. So unless he transformed his body using the Baku Baku no Mi to mimic flight physiology, he couldn't truly fly.
However, with the Third Gate of the Hachimon opened and his overwhelmingly strong physique, stepping on air through pure physical power wasn't difficult.
With a burst from his feet, Ayaan shot into the air like a rocket. The Deva Path met him with a cold expression, unleashing Shinra Tensei. Ayaan simply extended his hand, and a surge of black mist erupted—darkness devoured the repulsion wave and then engulfed the Deva Path completely.
After landing, Ayaan casually tossed the defeated Deva Path aside.
"Alright, Jiraiya, now you can try talking to him," Ayaan said with a relaxed grin. "I don't think he's going to pretend to be a god this time."
Jiraiya gave a bitter smile while Nagato, hidden in the distance, coughed in frustration. A panicked Konan quickly patted his chest.
While Jiraiya tried to converse with the Deva Path, Ayaan walked away, narrowing his eyes slightly. He extended his Observation Haki across the Rain Village, probing for signs of life.
Back when he first learned Observation Haki in the Drum Kingdom, Ayaan's training leaned toward medical applications—designed by a doctor to analyze internal organs. That training had helped immensely when modifying his body with the Baku Baku no Mi.
However, there was a trade-off. His Haki was incredibly precise but had limited range. Great for close-quarters sensing, not so great for wide-area detection.
Even with his current Haki mastery equal to a typical Yonko commander, his sensing radius was only around 800 to 900 meters. For comparison, senior officers under the Four Emperors typically had a range of 2 to 3 kilometers.
Fortunately, precision was on his side. Ayaan could feel a slight chakra resonance from the black rods implanted in the Deva Path's body—faint but traceable.
"It should be in that direction... though I can't be sure of the exact distance."
"But it can't be too far. In the original timeline, Nagato was found relatively easily. With this rough direction and distance, I'll find him."
"Now it all depends on how well Jiraiya can talk things out…"
BOOM!
Jiraiya was blasted backward by another Shinra Tensei. Apparently, the discussion hadn't gone well.
With a second bam, the Deva Path was immediately recalled—summoned back to Nagato.
"What happened? That talk broke down too fast," Ayaan asked with a raised eyebrow.
Jiraiya gave a tired smile and slowly got up. "I asked him to surrender the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and the Rinnegan… but yeah, you saw how that turned out."
Ayaan rolled his eyes. "You do realize the Rinnegan is the entire foundation of Nagato's so-called divinity? And the Gedo Statue is literally the tool he uses to execute his peace-through-terror plan. Asking him to give that up is like asking him to give up his soul. Of course he refused."
"But that just means he's signed his own death sentence!" Jiraiya said, clearly agitated. "The Gedo Statue and the Rinnegan can only be used at the cost of his life."
"If a man does not fear death, what can a god do?" Ayaan muttered, more to himself than to Jiraiya. "It's not like Nagato doesn't understand that. To him, death is just the price of peace."
Of all the hidden masterminds in Naruto's world, Nagato was perhaps the most idealistic.
Black Zetsu and Kaguya? Pure destroyers.
Obito? A bitter child destroying the world over a breakup.
Uchiha Madara? Deluded, self-declared god with a god complex.
Nagato, though he called himself a god, did so to maintain mystery and control. He knew he didn't look divine. His body was frail and skeletal—he couldn't even live past 40 without the Rinnegan draining his life.
And he knew that using the Rinnegan and the Gedo Statue would kill him.
Did he misunderstand that? No. He simply accepted it. He was determined to bring peace to the world, even at the cost of his own life.
His path may not have been correct, but compared to Obito or Madara's Moon's Eye Plan, it was far more realistic.
Even Hashirama Senju, the so-called God of Shinobi, had similar ideals—distributing the Tailed Beasts for balance. Nagato's plan of creating a superweapon wasn't all that different.
"What now?" Jiraiya asked, anxious. "If we lose them now, who knows when we'll find them again…"
"Leave that to me," Ayaan said calmly. "They're not getting away."
Jiraiya's expression shifted. "And when you do find Nagato… what are you planning to do?"
Ayaan glanced at him. "Don't worry. For your sake, I'll only confiscate his world-ending toys."
"World-ending toys?" Jiraiya blinked. "You mean… the Rinnegan and the Gedo Statue? Isn't that what I wanted too?"
Ayaan's eyes were cold. "There's a difference… I won't ask for permission."
---