Uchiha orphan, so what if I'm ruthless?

Nagato went alone to the base of the God Tree.

This place had long become a forbidden area in Amegakure.

Without Konan’s written order, no one was allowed near. Checkpoints were set up on the outskirts of the mountainous region where the God Tree was located, with ninjas on patrol. A wooden sign stood at the entrance of the area, bearing the words “Forbidden Ground” in striking red ink.

Of course, this restriction naturally did not apply to Nagato, nor to the few people close to Uchiha Taiga. He could freely enter and exit this mountainous area without any procedures or anyone’s approval.

Nagato walked along the familiar path, passed through several checkpoints, and arrived beneath the God Tree.

He raised his head and looked up.

The God Tree had grown even more since its initial stage, its height more than doubling. The trunk was thicker, and the canopy was larger, obscuring an even greater expanse of the sky.

It was now nearly five thousand meters tall.

No matter which direction one looked from in Amegakure, it truly stood as a pillar supporting the heavens and the earth.

Looking up from the village streets, one could only see the bottom of the canopy, pressing down on the sky like a layer of green clouds.

Only by standing on the mountain ridges outside the village could one see its entirety: a massive pillar rising from the ground, piercing straight into the clouds, with a canopy like a giant umbrella propping up the space between heaven and earth.

The area around the God Tree was shrouded in dense mist.

The mist was thick and heavy, moving with the wind. It drifted down from the canopy, seeped out from the trunk, and squeezed through the leaves, enveloping the tree layer by layer.

The inner layer of mist was almost tangible, a vast expanse of white that obscured everything within. The fog was so dense it seemed solid; looking from the outside, one could only see a wall of white.

The outer layer of thin mist would be blown away by the wind and carried everywhere.

When the wind blew from the west, the mist drifted east. When the wind blew from the east, the mist drifted west. It floated over fields, villages, and rivers, traveling to places far, far away.

Anyone sensitive to natural energy, or who knew of it, understood the preciousness of this place.

Such a concentration of natural energy could not be found anywhere else in the ninja world. Even the Three Great Sage Regions—Mount Myoboku, Ryuchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest—which also gathered massive amounts of natural energy, fell short in comparison.

Although the Three Great Sage Regions hidden within the ninja world had not shown themselves, they had secretly sent out scouting methods to investigate.

Nagato could sense them.

His Byakugan could see those scouting methods—in the distance, a few toads clung to trees, their eyes fixed in the direction of the God Tree. A few snakes hid in the grass, flicking their tongues. There were also a few slug clones stuck to rocks, remaining perfectly still.

They were all watching.

However, neither Uchiha Taiga nor Nagato paid them any mind.

Nagato withdrew his gaze and took a deep breath.

The mist entered his lungs with his breath, a cool sensation spreading from his throat all the way to his chest. His chakra became even more active and abundant within the mist.

He stretched his body, then leaped into the air.

His body sprang from the ground, shooting toward the sky like an arrow. He moved incredibly fast, so fast that only a white blur could be seen streaking through the mist, leaving a long trail behind.

He flew higher and faster.

The trunk of the God Tree blurred past him, the patterns on its bark clearly visible, running in lines like rivers. Branches swept past him, lush with foliage, swaying gently in the wind.

He flew for several minutes before approaching a branch.

That branch was slightly small for the God Tree, but that was only relative to the tree’s colossal size.

Though considered small, it was still hundreds of meters long.

The branch extended from the trunk, growing diagonally upward, so thick that dozens of people linking arms couldn’t encircle it. It was lush with leaves, densely packed and overlapping, completely blocking out the sunlight. The branch exuded an incredibly vigorous life force; standing near it, one could feel a warm aura radiating from it, like standing next to a giant furnace.

Nagato hovered beside the branch, looking at it.

Then, without any hesitation, he raised two fingers and formed a hand sign in front of him.

With a poof, white smoke burst outward.

After the smoke cleared, a figure appeared beside him.

The figure wore a long black robe, had orange hair, and several black piercings on his face. His eyes were no longer the Rinnegan, but the Byakugan.

Pain, a Pain created from a ninja’s corpse.

The current Six Paths of Pain had lost the abilities they possessed during the Rinnegan era, but to Nagato, they were still useful tools.

Of course, the Deva Path was an exception; he held a special attachment to it.

After this Pain appeared, his body dropped from mid-air and landed on that branch.

His feet stepped onto the branch with a soft thud. The leaves rustled slightly beneath his feet.

He crouched down, reached out, and pressed his hand against the branch.

His palm pressed flat against the bark, fingers slightly curled, applying force.

*Snap.*

The sound wasn’t loud, but it was crisp, like the sound of a twig snapping.

Immediately after, a series of loud cracking noises echoed out.

The sound was deafening, coming from inside the branch, as if something was fracturing within. Cracks spread outward from beneath Pain’s palm, extending from the bark to the xylem, and from the xylem to the pith.

That branch, hundreds of meters long, detached from the trunk.

It separated from the trunk and began to fall.

The branch was massive and heavy, tearing through the air and kicking up a fierce gale. The wind blew down from above, making Nagato’s clothes flap wildly and his hair whip in the wind.

The branch fell faster and faster, accelerating from a slow drop to an extreme velocity. Like a giant meteorite plummeting from the sky, it smashed toward the ground.

Nagato watched the falling branch and reached out his hand.

He opened his palm, aiming it in the direction of the branch.

An attractive force surged from his palm, bursting from his body like a violent storm. The force was so immense that the air was compressed into a white mass.

The gravitational pull latched onto the falling branch.

Its descent slowed, transitioning from extreme speed to a crawl. It paused in mid-air, then began to rise.

Soon, the massive branch, hundreds of meters long, flew toward Nagato under the pull of gravity.

It moved through the air, bringing with it a howling wind.

The wind was deafening, sounding like a roaring beast.

An ordinary person facing such a situation would undoubtedly pale in terror.

A branch hundreds of meters long flying out of the sky, blotting out the sun, was like a moving mountain.

But Nagato instead revealed a look of surprise.

He looked at the branch flying toward him and furrowed his brow slightly.

Because he noticed something.

The trunk of the God Tree was actually trembling.

The trembling started from the base of the trunk and spread all the way to the top. It couldn’t be seen from the outside, but with his hand pressed against the trunk, Nagato could feel the vibration.

The trunk was shivering, as if enduring something.

Then he heard a sound.

*Creak, creak…*

The sound was very soft and faint, coming from inside the trunk, like something crying out.

Nagato recognized it.

It was the God Tree’s emotion.

It was conveying a feeling of pain.

It was hurting.

It was crying out.

It was expressing its discomfort to Nagato.

Meanwhile, the branch flying toward him began to change in mid-air.

Nagato’s pupils shrank sharply.

He watched as the massive branch, hundreds of meters long, actually began to shrink in mid-air.

Its length contracted from several hundred meters down to mere dozens. Its volume continuously compressed, as if an invisible force was squeezing it, crushing it down.

Countless leaves rustled loudly, and the smaller twigs on it began to merge.

They drew close, touched, and fused together. Two twigs became one, three became two, four became three. During the fusion process, they emitted faint sounds, like bones growing or muscles healing.

By the end of the fusion, only five relatively thick branches remained.

Watching this scene, Nagato’s pupils contracted slightly.

His eyes widened, his lips parted slightly, and his breathing grew a bit ragged.

He only felt that what this scene represented was far too absurd.

Looking at the branch, he spoke softly.

“Life creation!?”

His voice was very soft, so soft it sounded like he was muttering to himself.

His Byakugan could see even more details.

He saw the internal structure of the branch reorganizing, cells dividing, and tissues growing. The xylem was turning into bone, the phloem into muscle, and the leaves into skin.

That branch was transforming from a plant into an animal.

Its life form was undergoing a fundamental shift.

That branch, originally hundreds of meters long, eventually shrank to about a hundred meters in length.

Its main stem became a torso—straight and thick, like the torso of a living being.

Four of the five branches on it became limbs, two in the front and two in the back, complete with shoulder joints, elbow joints, wrist joints, and finger joints.

The remaining branch became a tail, extending from the end of the torso, long and thick, swaying gently in the air.

The branch’s original color vanished, replaced by a pale yellow.

That yellow was very bright, like autumn wheat shining in the sunlight.

Patterns began to appear on the surface of its body.

Not the texture of bark, but the pattern of fur. Fine lines emerged on its body, wrapping around it entirely like a net.

Tiny electrical arcs began to spark across its body.

*Crackle, pop.*

The electrical arcs leaped from its skin. They were small and thin, crawling over its body like tiny snakes, emitting faint noises.

Then, its head appeared.

Its head was formed from the convergence of countless leaves.

Those leaves grew from its shoulders, its neck, and the top of its head. They layered over one another, fusing together piece by piece to form a complete head.

That head had eyes, a nose, a mouth, and ears.

Its eyes were black, large, and bright, like two polished black gemstones.

Its mouth opened slightly, revealing a pale yellow tongue inside.

Then, it let out its very first sound since being born into the ninja world.

“Pika pika… chu!”

The sound was loud, echoing through the empty sky.

Accompanied by this sound, countless bolts of lightning erupted at that very moment.

The lightning surged from its body as if a bomb had detonated inside it. The electric light spread in all directions, illuminating the entire sky.

The light was so blindingly bright that even Nagato couldn’t help but close his eyes.

It was as dazzling as a miniature sun.

At this moment, Nagato had only one thought.

‘What is this? A yellow mouse?’