Chapter 361 - – 356 The Puppeteer Behind The Puppets

In a dark room with no light, Kuroto who was currently in his Yama disguise retracted his hands from the wooden mechanical walker.

At the same time, at the place where Kuroto initially pressed his hands, a series of sealing symbols spread out, and further covered the surroundings.

This wooden mechanical walker is exactly the device to which the leader of the Akatsuki Organization, Uzumaki Nagato is affixed, curtesy to his immobility because of his leg injury and from here he controls the Pain Rikudo.

Lifting his head, Yama glanced at the body of Nagato. Nagato had the same red hair as Karin symbolizing Nagato's Uzumaki descent, but contrary to a healthy Uzumaki body, Nagato's body is greatly emaciated, although not as thin and frail as Yama remembers from the Canon, weak nonetheless.

Nagato is extremely skinny with skeletal structure clearly protruding and visible to the naked eye… it seemed as if he has been suffering from malnutrition for years now.

But Yama knows that what Nagato has been suffering from is much worse compared to just Malnutrition.

Then there are many Kuroki Jushinki (Black Receivers) embedded in his back and are the primary cause of Nagato's body being emaciated.

In the face of the sudden appearance of the other party behind him, Nagato did not panic.

He glanced at the 'Shisho Fuin' (Four-Symbols Seal) that has spread over from the mechanical walker all the way to his body, then turned his head with disdain and anger to look behind him…

Looking back, he noticed a person dressed in an outfit that although he has never seen before, is extremely familiar with that person based on the intelligence collected by the Akatsuki Organization.

While Nagato was looking, the other party's body was covered in a Cyan Chakra Cloak, and there was only one guess in his mind, "You are… leader of Amatsukami… Yama?"

"..." – Yama did not reply to Nagato, after turning on his Tenseigan Chakra Mode he brought out 'Gudodama' (Truth-Seeking Balls).

About a minute or so before Jiraiya, Shisui, Kakashi and Guy were about to be killed by Pain Rikudo, Yama had discovered the exact location of Nagato, however, when it came to sneak attack and finish Nagato in one shot, Yama noticed that the location around which Nagato was hiding was embedded with multiple Kuroki Jushinki (Black Receivers) as well as several sealing techniques, which formed a spherical induction sphere around Nagato that helps him sense his all chakra fluctuations around his surroundings to the utmost degree.

In such a condition if there appeared even the slightest of chakra fluctuations, then it would have been noticed by Nagato. So, Yama was left with no choice, he gave up on directly using the Golden wheel Reincarnation Explosion because the formation of 'Gudodama' (Truth-Seeking Balls) will cause high chakra fluctuations which would alert Nagato.

He decided to sneak inside the building while continuing to use the Chakra Suppression Technique and then sealed Nagato's Chakra with the paper seal of 'Shisho Fuin' (Four-Symbols Seal), he had prepared beforehand.

Of course, Yama doesn't expect 'Shisho Fuin' (Four-Symbols Seal) to be able to completely subdue Nagato, as long as it can seal Nagato's for as much as fifteen seconds then that would be enough for Yama to condense Golden Sword out of 'Gudodama'

At this time, Yama's body was covered with a Cyan Chakra cloak and Gudodama were circling at his back, looking at these changes Nagato's disdainful expression changed into a horror one. He could feel the danger emanating from those Black Balls.

A sense of crisis that he hasn't felt for such a long time suddenly emerged in his heart, he immediately got into action, one hand was put on the Fuin symbols while the other towards Yama.

The first hand absorbed all the Fuin symbols through, 'Fujutsu Kyuin' (Blocking Technique Absorption Seal), thus giving him access to his chakra, which he used directed towards his right hand and shouted, 'Shinra Tensei!'

'Shinra Tensei!' – Yama also raised his right hand and used the same Jutsu.

Boom… Boom… Boom…

Instantly two explosively large repulsive forces of nearly equal magnitude collided against each other… The point of collision even appeared to be distorted and blackish, as if space was about to tear at that part but it was just extreme compression of air.

However, the change in pressure and impact was so severe that the surroundings all distorted then blew up because of the change in pressure of the system (a bit of physics not, the gaming reincarnation system).

Nagato was taken aback… his face became more solemn.

Even Yama's expression under the mask was not so good.

…

Back to the side of fallen Pain Rikudo.

Looking at the Pain Rikudo who have fallen to the ground as if in an unconscious state, everybody was a bit confused.

Whether it was Shisui, Jiraiya, Fukasaku Shima, Kakashi, or Guy they all looked at each other hoping to get an answer for the sudden strangeness.

A few seconds before all of them were so close to death but out of the blue situation reversed, however, they are now in another predicament as it is very difficult to determine the exact cause of such a situation reversal.

Shisui was of course different from everyone, he knew exactly what was going on… the fact that Pain Rikudo has stopped functioning and fallen to the ground helpless must mean that Yama has made his move, as for whether the result would be a success or a failure is hard to figure out for him at this point.

At this moment Guy jumped off the ground with a Kip-Up and stepped forward to check the body of Shurado Pain, which was apparently closest to him.

The body of Shurado Pain was also covered with multiple Kuroki Jushinki, and the body was also cold with a pale skin texture… it was not too hard to determine that it was nothing but a corpse.

Shocked, Guy once again confirmed, then said to the rest, "There is no physical injury on the body… it's just that…"

Kakashi questioned, "Just what…?"

Guy said, "It's a corpse… whoever he was, has been dead for a very long time… there is no pulse, no heartbeat… no breathing… there are no signs of lives, even the body temperature is cold…"

Everyone can't help but be more confused by what Guy said they all got up from the ground, looked at the other five Pain with vigilance then at the various Kuchiyose.

All the Kuchiyose have suddenly stopped moving or attacking everyone, they were also affected in the same way as the Pain Rikudo who have suddenly stopped functioning and have been standing still in their positions, as if they are in a daze, then disappeared one after another leaving behind nothing but white smoke.

At this time, one shinobi ran towards the crowd. Everyone raised their heads to see who he was and sighed in relief after realizing that he was not an enemy.

Shisui was the first one to ask, "Kuroto-san, did you find anyone?"

Yup, it was Kuroto who came towards them… or not exactly Kuroto… this person is actually Sandaime Kazekage Puppet who is now covering up for Kuroto's absence.

The reason why it is difficult to distinguish him is that Kuroto has used 'Shoten no Jutsu' (Shape-Shifting Jutsu) on Kazekage Puppet similar to how Pain used this Jutsu on two of Suna Jonin to transform into Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame in the canon during Gaara Rescue Mission arc.

And Kuroto doesn't even need to worry about remotely controlling this puppet as he has already practiced this technique with Kazekage countless times so Kazekage can perfectly imitate Kuroto'

Shisui is of course aware of this, therefore, he spoke to Kuroto without any hesitation.

Kuroto shook his head, "Nothing I did not find any of the two, neither Nii Yugito nor Samui…"

Everyone nodded then focused on Rikudo Pain.

For a brief moment, Jiraiya looked up and found that Konan was no longer there after sighing he focused his attention on Pain Rikudo.

Jiraiya spoke, "Hyuga Kuroto, can you confirm whether these six are corpses or not? Or something strange within their bodies that is worthy of attention…"

Kuroto nodded and activated his Byakugan, as asked by Jiraiya he carefully studied the six corpses one by one… after a few seconds of analysis, he said, "There is no heartbeat, pulse, breathing, none of their other autonomy is functioning… even, not even chakra formation, so they are indeed all corpses… but…"

Jiraiya raised an eye at Kuroto's emphasis, and asked, "But what…?"

"Well, there is no cell degradation or bacteria breeding… so I would say that although these bodies are all corpses, they are not disintegrating… there is one more thing, although these bodies are not producing chakra on their own, there are traces of chakra being present within them… what's stranger is that the chakra signatures in all six corpses are exactly the same…" – Kuroto said.

Kakashi questioned, "But how is that even possible? How can six different people have the same chakra signatures?"

At this time, Jiraiya shook his head, and spoke as if he has just realized something, "No… actually, it is possible…" – After a pause, he questioned Kuroto, "Look more carefully, there has to be something more you will find…"

Kuroto said, "Well, there is no need to look, the last thing that seems odd is the arrangements of those piercings… well aside from the facial piercings, the majority of the other black piercings are in the key nodes in the chakra pathway of a human… but because these bodies are not producing chakra on their own, and yet they have chakra, I would say that these piercings are the cause of chakra flowing through them… and with the way these piercings are arranged in all six of them, it can only mean that…"

Shisui continued, "It can only mean that these are some sort of Chakra receivers…"

Kakashi, Jiraiya, Fukasaku, Shima, and Kuroto nodded, on the other hand, Guy was looking at them with a confused expression… and asked, "So? What does that mean?"

Kakashi explained, "It means that these are all puppets… being controlled by a seventh person… those piercings are what gives them chakra as they are all chakra receivers… and up until now we were only fighting against mere puppets, the true person behind them, the person we are up against is a Puppeteer, a very good one at that, he is very skillfully hiding somewhere…"

Jiraiya nodded, "For some time I have been thinking about some things… it was difficult to remember at first, especially with all those changes that have happened to them, but when I thought about it deeply and analyzed all the information we have up until now… I can conclude that all six of them are people I have met at some part of my journey… At the same time, I have also figured out who is the person behind all of them… who is the real Pain…"

Fukasaku questioned, "And who is the real Pain…?"

Jiraiya looked down with sadness and muttered ever so slowly, "The Puppeteer behind these puppets is… Nagato… the person I believed to be the 'Child of Prophecy'."

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