Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

Naruto Uzumaki easily defeated the elite ninjas handpicked by the Akatsuki organization, and now he has easily destroyed Amegakure, the village from which Akatsuki originated, with just one jutsu.

Pain's Six Paths were also defeated by Naruto Uzumaki.

But there's still a chance!

Although Pain was defeated by Naruto Uzumaki, it also meant that the power that Nagato had scattered among Pain's Six Paths was once again gathered in Nagato, who was the Outer Path.

The human realm, the animal realm, the Asura realm, the hungry ghost realm, the hell realm... and the heavenly realm.

First, using the power of the Animal Path, the Deva Path, which had been taken away by Naruto's Flying Thunder Formation Technique, was summoned back.

If Pain is returned to a range where he can receive chakra through the black rods, Pain can once again take the place of Nagato's frail body and fight against Naruto.

Then, he concentrated all the power of the Six Paths into the Deva Path, and in the form of a fully-formed god, sealed away the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki—Naruto Uzumaki!

"I'm sorry... Yahiko, because of my negligence, Minami—"

Nagato weakly raised his hands, which were almost completely atrophied and skin and bones, and a trace of sadness flashed in his eyes.

The technique Naruto Uzumaki used, called the Great Spiral Wheel Technique, had such a large range that even Pain and his allies could not dodge it.

Konan, who was also at the center of the procedure at the time, naturally...

Of all her former close friends, only Nagato remains.

"Let the two of us take revenge on the Nine-Tails ourselves, and then correct this erroneous ninja world!"

Once the most troublesome of the nine tailed beasts, the Nine-Tailed Fox, is captured, the day when the gods appear before the world will be just around the corner.

At that time, in that correct world, whether it's Konan or Yahiko...

Nagato's hope for the future transformed his grief into strength.

With great difficulty, Nagato clasped his skeletal hands together in front of his chest, forming a hand seal and performing a summoning technique to invoke the Heavenly Dao.

"Spiritual communication—"

However, strange phenomena suddenly occurred.

Countless glowing chakra chains pierced through the disguise barrier that Nagato had created to conceal his true form within the tower. Just as Nagato was about to unleash his summoning technique, these chakra chains wrapped around Nagato's hands, separating his clasped hands!

This technique was not unfamiliar to Nagato.

The sealing technique of the Uzumaki clan—Diamond Sealing Technique!

Immediately afterwards, countless pure white sheets of paper wrapped around Nagato along these chakra chains.

"This is?!!"

The appearance of these blank sheets of paper puzzled Nagato.

Nagato refused to believe his own guess.

But the answer Nagato didn't want to face ruthlessly told him that his guess was absolutely correct.

The white paper covering Nagato's chest began to gather a large amount of chakra, which condensed into the upper body of a woman made of white paper.

With the infusion of chakra, the human-shaped piece of white paper transformed into a figure all too familiar to Nagato.

Xiao Nan!

Yes, the barrier that conceals Nagato's true form is known only to Nagato himself and Konan.

So the one who cast the chakra chains of the Adamantine Sealing Technique that are currently binding Nagato's body is...

After all, Nagato hadn't sensed this chakra before the chakra chains appeared.

The way that chakra suddenly appeared was like the Flying Thunder God Technique, a space-time ninjutsu.

However, outside the dissipating barrier, the red-haired girl casting the Adamantine Sealing Barrier once again stunned Nagato.

It's not Naruto Uzumaki!

The girl's striking red hair and sealing techniques suggest she is Karin, a descendant of the Uzumaki clan who was with Naruto.

Naruto Uzumaki seems to know everything about Pain and Nagato.

Nagato, on the other hand, always felt confused and uncertain about Naruto's every move.

Nagato knew that Karin was from the Uzumaki clan, was proficient in sealing techniques, and was a medical ninja with extremely high medical talent. He even deduced from various intelligence reports that Karin should have extremely terrifying sensory abilities.

Little did they know, Karin also possessed the ability to completely conceal her own chakra.

Naruto had already prepared everything. Karin's ability to conceal her chakra was first demonstrated in the original work at the Five Kage Summit.

Even Hii, the sensory ninja who served alongside the Fourth Raikage and was known as "the Fourth Raikage's left hand," was unable to detect Karin's deliberate concealment.

Nagato is currently focused on how to deal with Naruto, so he won't notice unless he's consciously trying to sense it.

Before Nagato could even get a good look at Karin's appearance, he felt a sharp pain in front of his eyes.

Everything happened in an instant.

Nagato, already weak, was further restrained by the Kongo Lock, leaving him no time to react.

Without hesitation, Konan removed his Rinnegan, plunging him into an inescapable darkness from which he could no longer escape.

In the darkness, Nagato felt a sharp pain in his chest.

The fragile white paper will always be transformed into the sharpest weapon in the ninja world in Konan's hands.

The paper sword pierced Nagato's heart, and the white paper greedily absorbed the blood from his heart.

The originally pure white paper sword instantly turned into a striking bright red.

Even after becoming a god, the physically weak Nagato had thought about his own death countless times.

He had imagined that he would die from finally exhausting his chakra;

He considered dying while trying to capture the Tailed Beasts;

He considered dying in the battle against the Five Kage in the name of God;

He had considered ending the pretense and charade with Madara Uchiha, but unfortunately died at Madara Uchiha's hands during their battle.

Or he might die at the hands of Naruto Uzumaki, since in their previous battle, Naruto clearly didn't know how he obtained Pain's most crucial information.

But Nagato never expected that the person who would ultimately end him would be Konan.

In this painful ninja world, Yahiko, who had already passed away, and Konan, who silently cared for Nagato in Yahiko's place after his death, were the only two people Nagato could completely trust.

"Why……"

Nagato was puzzled by Konan's betrayal.

As his life was about to end, he couldn't help but ask questions.

However, before Konan could answer, Nagato already knew the answer.

"It's that Sharingan!"

Naruto's three-tomoe Sharingan in his left eye had actually made Nagato somewhat wary during the previous battle.

Naruto's refusal to use his Sharingan during his battle with Pain puzzled Nagato.

It seems that Naruto's tactic of having Konan deal with the invaders and buy time before Nagato activated the hibernation pods was instead used against him.

Naruto used the truth to fabricate lies in order to hide his true purpose.

He used "the Way of Heaven" as bait, but his goal from beginning to end was always Nagato's true form.

In the end, in order to lower Nagato's guard, Konan, who was under the influence of genjutsu, "voluntarily" spoke up to remind Pain that Naruto was approaching Pain through the Flying Thunder God mark on Konan.

Even during the final jutsu used to destroy Pain, Naruto conveniently created the illusion of Konan's "death".

"Xiao Nan, wake up! Don't fall into the illusion any longer!"

Blood began to gush from Nagato's throat. Enduring the pain, Nagato slurred as he tried to free Konan from the illusion.

However, his cries were ultimately meaningless.

The genjutsu that Naruto used on Konan was not an ordinary genjutsu.

It is an absolute genjutsu possessed by Uchiha Shisui's Mangekyou Sharingan, which even Danzo Shimura and Obito Uchiha coveted!

He received no response from Konan until Nagato's breathing stopped.

"Nagato is dead."

Konan, who was like a blank sheet of paper wrapping Nagato, knew Nagato's situation better than anyone else present.

Nagato's body became stiff and cold, and his heart stopped beating completely.

"I know."

Naruto's voice rang out behind Konan.

Having received Naruto's reply, the white paper covering Nagato's body fell off and floated in the air.

At this moment, Karin also stopped maintaining the Kongo seal.

The white paper fluttering in the air gathered in front of Naruto and then transformed into a complete Konan.

However, one piece of paper stained red did not return to Konan's body; instead, Konan deliberately delivered it to Naruto.

The red-stained paper wrapped around the Rinnegan that Konan had just taken from Nagato's eyes.

Naruto stared at those purple eyes, the Rinnegan that Madara Uchiha had installed on Nagato. These were the Sage's Eyes that would bring great power to their owners, but at this moment they did not attract much interest from Naruto.

Naruto is more curious about Konan now.

He shifted his gaze from the eye of reincarnation and looked up at Konan.

"It seems your pupil power has recovered."

Konan also stared at Naruto's left eye.

Previously, the Mangekyou Sharingan, which had been forced to "degenerate" into a three-tomoe Sharingan due to the use of Kotoamatsukami, has now had its eye power restored so quickly thanks to Naruto's massive chakra replenishment.

The three-tomoe gem once again transformed into a kaleidoscope.

"You've already cornered Nagato. Is it really necessary for you to be so cautious as to wait until his eye power recovers before showing up again at the last moment?"

Konan roughly guessed why Naruto was late.

"After all, I've learned my lesson the hard way about eyesight, so it's always good to be careful."

Naruto casually replied, looking with interest at Konan's "strange" attitude at the moment.