Chapter 8: Pain, Concerned About Members

Chapter 8: Pain, Concerned About Members

Intervention, a skill where an angel descends.

After noting the effects of the Intervention skill, Uehara Naraka finally felt a bit relieved; he wouldn't have to worry about instant death anymore.

Intervention: Grants an invulnerability shield to oneself or others for 3 seconds; simultaneously, purifying blades appear around the invulnerable person, dealing massive damage to the surroundings.

Chakra cost is related to duration. Minimum skill cost: 100 chakra. Cooldown: 160 seconds.

"Naraka!"

Konan's real body waved at Uehara Naraka in the air. After he landed, she asked, "Hey, Naraka, was that technique just now a Kekkei Genkai (Bloodline Limit)?"

The power of the Life Form Disintegration Ray was stronger than she had imagined!

When the purple energy first touched the paper clone, it didn't feel like much; however, not even a second later, a burning pain bored out from within!

It was like forcefully erasing the body itself!

"Um, I don't know."

Uehara Naraka shook his head, immediately deflecting the question, "I'm not sure if it's ninjutsu or a bloodline limit. If my father were still alive, I could ask him if our family has any rather strange bloodlines..."

"..."

Konan shook her head and didn't pursue the question.

Perhaps it was because there were too many bizarre ninjutsu within Akatsuki, like Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear, Sasori's immortal human puppets, and so on.

Pain, however, walked forward and spoke coldly, "His taijutsu is too poor, even worse than yours, Konan. In battle, this will become a fatal weakness..."

Konan: "..."

Pain insulted both of them with one sentence.

Besides, Pain had previously said that regardless of Uehara Naraka's strength, he had to participate in Akatsuki's revenge mission. Why was he being so picky now...?

But what Pain said did make sense. Uehara Naraka's taijutsu was full of flaws; even she, a ninja not particularly skilled in taijutsu, could see it.

Uehara Naraka scratched his head a little.

His taijutsu was indeed somewhat lacking, but once his Life Energy stat stacked up in the future, it would naturally improve.

"Alright."

Pain glanced at Uehara Naraka, then turned back to Konan, "Now that you've tested him, his strength is sufficient to participate in that mission!"

Uehara Naraka looked up, watching the light-blue-haired woman obediently, "Konan-sensei, what exactly is the mission we'll be participating in?"

"Attack the Amegakure stronghold, force Hanzō of the Salamander to gather his trusted subordinates, and finally, execute them all!"

When Konan mentioned that person's name, her face became icy cold, "Twelve years ago, Hanzō of the Salamander, hailed as the Ninja Demigod, broke his promise, colluded with Konoha's Shimura Danzō, and murdered Akatsuki's leader and most of its members..."

Everything that happened that day, she remembered day and night!

The Akatsuki organization, which they thought was heading towards the light, was destroyed overnight. Besides her and Nagato, everyone else was killed!

Among them was Akatsuki's leader, Yahiko.

He was the companion they grew up with, who led her and Nagato to survive through the harsh wars, who led those who trusted him to chase the dream of peace...

He didn't die on the path to stopping war, but died in that conspiracy, leaving a huge shadow in the hearts of his two best friends.

Furthermore, Nagato's legs were injured by exploding tags, losing mobility ever since. He even reached an agreement with those two evil men, leading Akatsuki down a terrifying path.

For revenge, and also for remembrance, Nagato chose to preserve Yahiko's corpse, creating it into the strongest of the Six Paths of Pain, the Deva Path, making the Deva Path Pain the eternal leader of Akatsuki.

Twelve years.

Konan and Nagato endured patiently for a full twelve years. Only after the Six Paths of Pain were completely finished did the two of them gain a shred of confidence to head to Amegakure for revenge.

Since it was revenge, naturally, others shouldn't interfere.

But who would have thought that when they wanted to visit their old place to reminisce before attacking Amegakure, they would coincidentally run into another youth who ought to join their ranks of vengeance.

Uehara Naraka pondered with his head down. Their attack on Amegakure this time should go without problems. Based on the strength of the Six Paths of Pain, taking down Hanzō of the Salamander shouldn't be difficult. In other words, this was purely a 'soy sauce trip' (tagging along without doing much).

The main purpose was to complete a few quests.

For example, a certain series of quests that Uehara Naraka had long ignored.

Advancement Quest 1: Kill ten wandering ninjas (10/10). Reward: 100 Life Energy, 100 Chakra Energy. Mission Complete.

Advancement Quest 2: Kill ten official Genin (3/10). Reward Unknown.

According to Uehara's guess, future quests should be a series targeting Genin, Chunin, Jonin, etc., and maybe eventually even Kage-level figures.

Okay, there probably definitely will be.

Based on his current strength, facing Kage-level powerhouses was truly impossible. And given the personality of the system's issued quests, those Kage-level targets would surely be the Kage of the Five Great Shinobi Countries' villages, not rogue ninjas like Kakuzu.

Now, Uehara Naraka's only hope was that the system's future Advancement Quests would target ordinary Jonin, not bugged Jonin like Might Guy and Kakashi—that would be deadly.

But if he wanted to improve his strength, the Advancement Quests had to be done. Uehara Naraka estimated these quests all rewarded Life Energy and Chakra Energy.

The rewards shouldn't be too low.

When Uehara Naraka first transmigrated, he had encountered some unimpressive wandering ninjas. Relying on his few skills, killing them was more than easy enough.

However, official Genin mostly belonged to their own villages and moved in groups. Even Uehara Naraka, during his wandering days, had only occasionally encountered one rampaging Iwa-nin (Rock Ninja) squad in the Land of Rain.

To complete the required number for the Advancement Quests, he had to find a gathering place for ninjas. There was no place more suitable than a hidden village.

Being able to complete a large number of Advancement Quests at once, thereby significantly strengthening his power—such an opportunity was rare.

During the preparation time that followed, Uehara Naraka felt the situation become somewhat strange.

According to the Naruto world information he knew, Nagato usually stored the Paths of Pain away when not needed to conserve his chakra.

Who would have thought that during this period right before the battle, Pain not only didn't return to where he should be, but frequently appeared at his and Konan's training ground, criticizing Uehara Naraka, who was training taijutsu, and pointing out a bunch of problems.

"Arm strength too soft, insufficient to crush the enemy..."

"Leg speed too slow, allows the enemy to seize your opening..."

"Too pathetic, kid! Are your fists meant to tickle the enemy?"

The orange-haired man just stood at the edge of the training ground, occasionally making critical comments, truly damaging the image of the Deva Path Pain who came with his own background music.

Uehara Naraka found it hard to retort.

Konan found it somewhat unbearable and defended him, "Pain, Naraka is only twelve. He's still very young and has a long time to grow..."

"I am merely concerned about the members of the organization."

The orange-haired man spoke righteously, as if it were perfectly natural.

(End of Chapter)