Chapter 161: Finding Nagato Himself
In the center of the battlefield, the dust and smoke gradually settled.
Uchiha Taiga stood there, the pale golden chakra flames still burning across his body.
Dozens of meters away, the Deva Path hovered slightly, his feet a few feet off the ground.
Both of their robes fluttered gently in the wind.
The Deva Path's Rinnegan locked onto Uchiha Taiga. After a moment of silence, he spoke.
"What are those eyes of yours?"
His voice remained deep and emotionless, but the question itself already spoke volumes.
Uchiha Taiga hadn't expected him to ask, but since he did, he had no intention of hiding it.
"It's the Tenseigan."
"The ultimate evolution of the Byakugan."
Uchiha Taiga continued, "In a way, they share the same origin as your Rinnegan and exist on the exact same level."
After saying that, he didn't elaborate further.
Nagato was a smart man; a few hints were enough. This information was plenty for Nagato to figure out a great deal on his own.
The Deva Path fell silent for a moment, his gaze lingering on Uchiha Taiga as if trying to identify or confirm something.
"I see. I acknowledge your power."
Uchiha Taiga slightly raised an eyebrow.
"And then?" he asked.
"Next time we meet, we will settle this."
Uchiha Taiga was mildly surprised. He thought Nagato would keep fighting. Although their previous clashes were intense, neither had gone all out; they were still testing each other's limits.
He was just about to kick things up a notch, only for the other party to say 'next time'.
That was it?
"So you're leaving?"
He asked.
The Deva Path didn't reply.
*Poof!*
The Deva Path's body exploded into a cloud of white smoke, reverse-summoned away.
The white smoke quickly dispersed in the wind, leaving absolutely nothing behind.
Uchiha Taiga stood rooted to the spot, a bizarre expression on his face.
He just left?
He looked around at the ground swept by shockwaves, the shattered rocks and churned earth, the snapped trees and overturned boulders.
This battle had started abruptly and ended just as hastily.
All Six Paths of Pain deployed, Shinra Tensei unleashed, a head-on clash, a back-and-forth tug-of-war... and it all ended with the guy saying "I acknowledge your power" before dipping out.
The anticlimactic ending left him feeling thoroughly unsatisfied.
"Seriously, what do you take me for, kid?"
Just then, the sound of approaching footsteps grew louder.
Rasa was the first to run over, his Gold Dust still swirling around his body. Maki followed closely behind, his face bearing a complex expression as if looking at something completely beyond his comprehension.
Chiyo and Ebizo arrived as well, the two elders moving much faster than their usual pace.
Along with them came the Jonin of Sunagakure and the shinobi of Kusagakure. A large crowd surged in from the edge of the battlefield, standing upon the utterly devastated wasteland with grave expressions.
Rasa walked up to Uchiha Taiga and looked him up and down.
Seeing that he was completely uninjured, Rasa's expression relaxed slightly.
"Taiga-kun, who was the enemy?"
His voice wasn't loud, but his tone was dead serious.
Uchiha Taiga shook his head, naturally having no intention of exposing Pain's identity right now.
"I'm not entirely sure."
He paused, his gaze sweeping toward the direction where the Deva Path had vanished.
"That guy followed us the whole way. I originally planned to track him down in secret, but I didn't expect him to show himself first."
Rasa frowned.
Followed them the whole way? Since when? Since they were in the Land of Rain?
He recalled their journey through the Land of Rain, the escorting shinobi from Amegakure, and the seemingly peaceful roads. He had assumed everything was normal, never realizing someone had been eyeing them from the shadows all along.
"I will have Sunagakure gather intelligence on this enemy."
Rasa spoke decisively. He wasn't just being polite; he was taking the matter very seriously.
An enemy capable of fighting Uchiha Taiga to such an extent was a threat Sunagakure absolutely had to respect.
Uchiha Taiga nodded.
"Yeah, I appreciate it."
After saying that, his brow suddenly twitched. He turned his head, looking off in a specific direction.
In that direction lay a continuous stretch of rolling hills covered in trees, looking no different from the surrounding scenery. His gaze pierced through the woods and the undulating terrain, landing on a spot very, very far away.
The corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
"Finally found a trace," he muttered under his breath. His voice was so low that only Rasa, standing right next to him, heard it.
Before Rasa could ask anything, Uchiha Taiga turned back to him.
"Please let Yugito know that I'll be back soon."
Without waiting for Rasa's response, he dashed straight in that direction.
His speed was incredible—so fast that Rasa only saw a blurred shadow flash before his eyes before Taiga vanished into the distant wooded hills.
Rasa opened his mouth, then closed it.
He stood there, staring in the direction Uchiha Taiga had left, and remained silent for a few seconds.
"We're heading back."
He issued the order with a decisive tone.
Maki was taken aback and hesitated. "Lord Kazekage, shouldn't we follow him and see?"
Rasa shook his head.
"We wouldn't be able to keep up."
He said it calmly. It wasn't modesty; it was simply a statement of fact.
With Uchiha Taiga's speed, it would be a miracle if they could even track his dust.
Rather than chasing someone they could never catch, it was better to handle the matters at hand.
He turned around and walked toward Kusagakure.
"We'll go back and wait for news," he said.
The others exchanged glances, but no one voiced any objections.
Maki followed behind Rasa, Chiyo and Ebizo trailed them, and the Sunagakure Jonin and Kusagakure shinobi brought up the rear.
The large group soon disappeared down the road they had come from.
The wasteland returned to a dead silence, leaving only the scattered rubble, cratered earth, and churned soil as proof of the cataclysm that had occurred here.
Uchiha Taiga moved rapidly through the mountains and forests.
The pale golden chakra flames on his body had vanished, having deactivated his partial Tenseigan mode, but his forward momentum didn't slow in the slightest. He turned into a blurred streak of light, weaving through the woods.
At this moment, Uchiha Taiga's speed was so extreme that the trees on either side blurred into solid walls, and the ground beneath his feet turned into a single continuous line.
He swept across the wilderness like a beam of light. The wind in his wake flattened the tall grass, violently shook the branches he brushed past, and startled flocks of birds into the sky.
He covered the distance of dozens of miles in a very short time, ultimately arriving at a secluded mountain valley.
This valley was incredibly well-hidden, surrounded by several small mountains with a very narrow entrance. Unless someone was specifically looking for it, they would never discover this place.
The valley was filled with trees, and among them stood one that looked completely ordinary.
That tree was indistinguishable from the rest—the same trunk, the same branches and leaves, the same height, and the same thickness.
If he hadn't caught that faint, almost imperceptible thread of chakra connecting back to this exact spot earlier, he would never have noticed it.
From this distance, he could already sense the situation inside the tree.
There were two distinct chakra signatures inside. One was massive, and the other was calm.
The massive chakra signature gave Uchiha Taiga a very peculiar feeling—it felt exactly the same as the Deva Path from moments ago.
Uchiha Taiga withdrew his gaze from the large tree and stepped forward.
He walked at a leisurely pace, his steps steady and his hands tucked into his pockets. His expression was completely relaxed, as if he were merely out for a stroll.
He stopped when he was less than ten paces away from the ordinary-looking tree.
Uchiha Taiga looked at it, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Leaving so soon? Aren't you going to come out and meet me face-to-face?"
His voice wasn't loud, but he knew with absolute certainty that the people inside the trunk could hear him.
There were no birds in the trees, no insects in the grass; the surroundings were as quiet as a painting.
The wind blew into the valley, rustling the leaves of the large tree with a soft swishing sound.
The silence lasted for about three or four seconds.
Then, the tree began to change.
A vertical line appeared right down the middle of the trunk, extending from top to bottom. It then split apart from the center, opening up like someone pulling back a pair of curtains.
Inside lay a hidden sanctuary—a hollowed-out tree cavity. The space wasn't massive, but it was large enough for a few people to move around comfortably.
In the center of that space was a man. He sat in a massive contraption that encased his lower half, looking like a cross between a chair and a machine.
Long, black needles were pierced into his back, looking as though they were meant to skewer him completely. It was a deeply unsettling sight.
The man was incredibly emaciated, so thin that he barely seemed to have any flesh left. His cheeks were deeply sunken, his cheekbones jutted out, and the outlines of his collarbones and ribs were clearly visible beneath his paper-thin skin. His hair was red, long, and draped over his shoulders.
His eyes were closed, but his eyelids twitched slightly. It was obvious that he was in poor condition, his breathing somewhat labored.
Beside this man stood another person.
It was a woman with short, light blue-purple hair, wearing a black cloak patterned with red clouds. She had pale skin and delicate features, but her expression was ice-cold.
She stood next to the emaciated man, one hand resting at her side and the other slightly raised, as if preparing to weave hand signs.
Her gaze fell upon the direction where the tree trunk had opened, locking onto Uchiha Taiga standing outside.
Uchiha Taiga stood at the entrance of the large tree, looking at the two people inside.
His gaze swept past the woman and landed on the emaciated man.
He smiled.
"I finally found you."