Inside Amegakure, after the start of the raid.
Having detected that battle has broken out on several fronts, Kuroto and Shisui left the sewers. Since the battles have already started so waiting any longer for information from Shinichi is meaningless now.
Instead of just staying hidden within the sewers, it is better to move to the tall buildings, as from there monitoring the situation of the entire Amegakure will become much easier compared to what it is now.
After leaving the sewer, when the two of them came to the ground level of Amegakure, Kuroto and Shisui noticed that not even a single soul can be seen on the roads or streets, or either of the buildings, meaning that they have already been evacuated before the war between tri-Alliance and Akatsuki breaks out.
As for where the people of Amegakure have been evacuated? Perhaps only the members of the Akatsuki Organization know this.
"Well, at least neither side will have to be restrained because of civilian security!" – Kuroto muttered to himself as he was now standing on top of a tall tower giving him a pretty good view of the Amegakure.
As for the problem of being found out? Well, let's just say that it wasn't going to be a problem as both Kuroto and Shisui were hiding under Shisui's Genjutsu, and considering how strong Shisui's Genjutsu is, Kuroto doesn't believe that either of the two will be noticed.
After taking their positions, Kuroto activated his Byakugan to observe the Amegakure.
He doesn't want to give out too strong Chakra Fluctuations as that would be easily perceived by Konan, considering that he is a sensor-class.
Anyway, after observing a little Kuroto soon found out that all the fights that were occurring were indeed occurring outside the village.
Shisui was a little anxious, he really hopes that this raid could wipe out Akatsuki for good but he is also worried that if the raid fails then the village would most likely suffer serious loss.
And for this reason, Kuroto could feel that Shisui's emotions are having some serious fluctuations.
Shisui muttered, "It's already been a few minutes… how come either of the three units has yet to enter Amegakure?"
Kuroto who was trying to locate some shinobi answered for Shisui, "Probably because the elite members of Akatsuki are personally fighting against all the three units at the outskirts of Amegakure."
Shisui frowned, "But their number is quite limited, they shouldn't have been able to hold off against all the fronts at the same time! Is Akatsuki also using the shinobi of Amegakure? And are there any high-level shinobi in Amegakure?"
Kuroto also feels that something is probably wrong here… As Shisui said, Akatsuki shouldn't have enough members to be able to completely stop all the battlefronts at the same time… unless Konan, Obito, and Pain Rikudo themselves also participate in the battle… which shouldn't have been the case, right?
Just when Kuroto was wondering over these issues, he was finally able to see some chakra signatures entering his field of vision, and he notified Shisui, "One side has finally entered Amegakure."
Based and the size of Chakra and the direction from which they were entering, Kuroto would say that these assault troops are from Kumogakure.
Shisui finally heaved a sigh, "At least, one side is here, we can finally start to act!"
Kuroto said, "But it is still too early to judge… only some members of a single unit have arrived… and we don't even know if there are other Akatsuki members still left who are not yet deployed."
As soon as Kuroto's words fell, his speculation was soon fulfilled, the direction from where this Kumo unit was coming towards the Pain tower, there were some successive blasts clearly indicating that another battle has started there.
Looking at the flames and high rising smoke, as well as constant vibrations, Shisui asked, "Should we also make our move?"
Kuroto shook his head, "Until the leader of Akatsuki does not come forth, we are not going to act…"
No matter how upscale the battle goes or who all die here, Kuroto's mentality was not affected in the slightest, his objective is clear, and he knows what really has to be done.
To deal with Akatsuki Organization, it doesn't make much sense to waste your breath in dealing with the normal Akatsuki members.
If Akatsuki has to be eliminated, then that can only be done by eliminating the two current core figures of the organization. One is Nagato, and the other is Obito.
Eliminating Obito is very difficult even for Kuroto, because of Obito's Kamui and Izanagi.
Therefore, there is only one way to severely injure Akatsuki Organization, and that is to eliminate Nagato, and additionally destroy or seize the Rinnegan, this would temporarily put down Akatsuki's plans for good, and then you can take your time to figure out a method to seal Kuro Zetsu.
Everything else is pointless.
Although, Shisui nodded it is still somewhat hard for him to accept this, but he did wait as Kuroto said.
As the time passed seconds by seconds, the battlefield slowly shifted towards the center of Amegakure, and Kuroto was able to notice that the Kumo unit that has entered lacked a lot of its members.
And what made Kuroto more puzzled is that the unit was not being led by the Raikage, rather it was being led by Killer Bee who really sucks at teamwork.
Well, this unit was now intercepted by the duo of Uchiha Shinichi and Biwa Juzo. But from what Kuroto can see, neither Uchiha Shinichi nor Biwa Juzo was fighting at their full strength, they were only suppressing the momentum and slowly guiding the unit led by Killer Bee closer and closer to the Pain Tower.
"Who could have stopped the Raikage?" – muttered Kuroto in wonder, then thought, 'To stop Raikage, it can only be a speedster… hmm, perhaps it was Hiruko with Jinton.'
After reaching this conclusion, Kuroto diverted his thoughts. To be honest, he did not really care about what happened to the Raikage, besides, with Raikage's strength killing him would not be easy even for someone like Hiruko.
So instead of wasting time worrying about Raikage, Kuroto focused on the surroundings, trying to locate the place where Nagato could be hidden.
Whoosh…
A few seconds later, another shadow appeared over the sky of Amegakure, wings spread wide open like an angel, overlooking the battle below with an indifferent expression.
As soon as he saw her, Kuroto's nodded to himself, "Konan has finally appeared, which means that…"
Konan's appearance assured Kuroto that Pain Rikudo are also nearby, and Konan who is hovering in the sky has no intentions of intervening in the battle below. 'Her role must be observation… Hmm, I think I will let him try to deal with her.'
Next, Kuroto shifted his eyesight from Konan to the buildings of Amegakure trying to locate Pain Rikudo, and it didn't take him much longer to find a shinobi with orange hair tied up in a ponytail.
"He is…" – Instantly Kuroto recalled that this shinobi with orange hair tied in a ponytail is one of the Pain.
This Pain did not notice Kuroto and Shisui, instead, he pressed his hands on the ground violently.
Poof…
With a surge of white smoke, a three-headed dog with a black rod embedded on each of its heads appeared, the size of this three-headed was at least as large as several-story buildings.
"Summoning ability? This one is Chikushodo Pain (Animal Path)." – muttered Kuroto.
Now that Pain has appeared, Kuroto was a little nervous… The same nervousness and tension that Kuroto has not felt for quite some time.
With the appearance of the three-headed dog, even Shisui noticed Chikushodo Pain (Animal Path) standing atop the Pain Tower, and he hurriedly said to Kuroto, "Kuroto-san, look, the leader of Akatsuki Organization has appeared!"
"Yes." – Kuroto nodded half-mindedly while he was busy with some other thoughts.
"Uh… shouldn't we attack him?" – Shisui asked in a dumbfounded tone because of Kuroto's nonchalant response.
However, Kuroto didn't seem to notice Shisui's nonchalant tone, but he did shake his head, denying Shisui's idea, "Not yet…"
Shisui was puzzled, "What? But why not? The leader of Akatsuki has already appeared, if we wait any longer then everyone will be in danger!"
At this moment Kuroto recovered from his thoughts and said lightly, "That one is just a puppet being controlled by the real leader of Akatsuki…"
"Puppet?!" – Shisui was baffled and said with an incredulous expression, "But… but those eyes are the same one… it's that same ripple pattern as described by Shinno…"
Kuroto nodded, "Yes, it is, but it is still a puppet… wait a little longer and you will see more of such individuals… with the same ripple pattern in their eyes, all of them are puppets."
Pain Rikudo are just being controlled by Nagato through Chakra Receivers. Therefore, it doesn't really make much sense to reveal himself to the enemy just to eliminate a few puppets.
And the reason why Kuroto did not pass on the secret of Rikudo Pain to the village? Well, let's just say that it is because he doesn't want the element of surprise to go to waste. If there is already someone in the raid unit who knows the secret of Pain Rikudo, then Nagato will become more cautious. Besides, there is hardly anyone in the entire raid unit other than Kuroto who can defeat Nagato and his Pain Rikudo, so there is no point in revealing that secret anyway.
After being attacked, this splitting dog can keep splitting more heads, and each head can separate into individual dogs, practically there are no suitable methods to take down this dog other than to defeat Chikushodo Pain (Animal Path).
Next, one after another, a giant crab, a giant rhino, several giant centipedes, a giant bird beast, several chimera beasts, were also summoned by Chikushodo Pain (Animal Path).
With the appearance of these Summoned Beasts, the situation of the battlefield soon became completely passive, and almost all the Kumo shinobi that were following Killer Bee decided to stay behind and a clear path for Killer Bee, to make sure that Uchiha Shinichi and Biwa Juzo, as well as, these Summon Beasts do not hinder Bee-sama's path.
'Is it just me or are they stopping everyone other than Killer Bee?' – thought Kuroto with a frown, 'If Shinichi really wanted, he could have easily stopped Killer bee… but he did not… initially I assumed that it's probably because he has no intention… but now that I see those Summoned Beasts also specifically targeting everyone other than Killer Bee, it makes sense now… at the same time I understand why Killer Bee could make it up to here… it's because he is being led to the center of Amegakure… does that mean Nagato wants to capture Hachibi too? But isn't this too soon for Akatsuki Organization to start capturing Bijuu? Or has this also changed because of the Butterfly Effect?'
"What am I even thinking? Of course, it has changed!" – Kuroto muttered while shaking his head.
At this time, four more figures appeared in Kuroto's field of vision.
These four figures were hiding in multiple places, one was Jiraiya hiding inside a toad, the toad was slowly approaching Chikushodo Pain (Animal Path), the other two were Kakashi and Guy, while the last one was a white snake.
All four of them were obviously attracted by the battle taking place here.
'Orochimaru is already here… I just hope that he doesn't do anything unnecessary…' – Kuroto thought then put attention on Jiraiya.
Jiraiya's plan wasn't hard to figure out.
When Jiraiya exhausts all his methods, he should be able to deal with the three weaker Pain… and with the assistance from Kakashi, perhaps four Pain?
And combining them together with Killer Bee, the four of them together should be able to hold their own against Pain Rikudo for a little while at least.
'Now, if only I can locate the location where Nagato is hiding.' – with this intention, Kuroto focused on Chikushodo Pain (Animal path) and tried to study the chakra pathway that should give him the right direction of the location from where Nagato is remotely controlling the puppet.
While Kuroto tried to locate Nagato, Jiraiya on the other side also revealed himself.
…
"Ranjishigami no Jutsu!" – Jiraiya's white hair suddenly grew longer, and harder as steel wires and tied Chikushodo Pain (Animal path), in a close binding, restricting all of his moments.
Jiraiya then jumped closer to Chikushodo Pain (Animal path), intent on questioning the person.
Boom…
But before Jiraiya could land closer to Chikushodo Pain (Animal path), suddenly an explosion occurred and he flew out from his position and landed on the road, although he managed to keep up his balance and thus did not incur any injury.
When the smoke cleared, everyone could see two more shinobi other than Chikushodo Pain (Animal path), each wearing the Akatsuki cloak, both of them are fat with one being bald and the other having orange hair similar to Chikushodo Pain (Animal path). What's characteristic is that both of these also had the same eyes, with a ripple pattern which was none other than Rinnegan, and these two are Shurado Pain (Asura Path) and Gakido Pain (Preta Path) respectively.
With the appearance of Shurado Pain and Gakido Pain, Kakashi and Guy also appeared next to Jiraiya by using 'Shunshin no Jutsu'.
Looking at the three Akatsuki members with the same ripple pattern eye standing at the top of the tower, Kakashi was shocked, "What… how could all three of them have the Rinnegan?!"
Jiraiya noticed the arrival of Kakashi and Guy next to him, but he was not in the right mindset to be able to respond to the arrival of the two.
Initially, Jiraiya could have believed that Chikushodo Pain might be Nagato. His appearance has changed a lot but Jiraiya could never forget those ripple pattern eyes.
However, with the simultaneous appearance of Shurado Pain and Gakido Pain who also have the same ripple pattern eye, he was confused and at a complete loss of any understanding of what was going on any longer.
Chikushodo Pain crouched down staring at Jiraiya with indifferent cold eyes, and slowly said, "Jiraiya-sensei, you shouldn't be here."
.
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Read up to Chapter - 606 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. Page: p-atreon.com/Milta_translations