Naruto: Start By Punching Trees And Shocking Kurama!

'Holy shit!?'

'What the hell is Pain doing here?!'

When heard that this guy started with a Shinra Tensei, Naruto looked up to see Pain was hovering in the air, with his arms raised.

But luckily, seemed Pain was attacking the two cults on the periphery.

But remembering Gaara's sudden appearance, along with the giant Kankuro...

Naruto had a strong feeling he knew why Pain was here.

'He is most likely here to capture the Ichibi's Jinchuriki!!'

"Sakura, Shikamaru!"

"Get in the portal!"

The moment Naruto opened the glowing portal, the entire fortress began to shake violently, and Sakura and Shikamaru entered the portal without hesitation.

As for Naruto himself...

He has to rescue Gaara and Kankuro first.

…

"Holy Son! You need to get out of here!"

"The leader must be coming for me. If he sees you here..."

"It'll be trouble!"

"Go!"

Sasori, who is now wearing the Cult Mechanicus's black robe, pushed Gaara away, not realizing that Pain had given him the task of capturing the Ichibi's Jinchuriki.

Naruto happened to arrive at the scene at this time, and when he heard what Sasori said, he stood there in a daze.

'Wait…'

'This doesn't make sense.'

'Sasori, since when did you become a traitor?!'

'Wasn't Pain supposed to order you to capture Gaara…'

'Why are you rescuing him?!'

"No! Sasori-senpai, we need to leave together!"

Gaara grabbed his arm, unwilling to part with this technical advisor who had only recently joined them.

Naruto's brain was about to short-circuit.

"Damn it!"

"Just move already!"

"Gaara, Kankuro, you two are coming with me now!!"

In a flash, Naruto appeared in front of Gaara, yanked him and Kankuro by their arms, and dragged them through the portal before vanishing.

But Gaara was still resisting, shouting something about how the Cult Mechanicus couldn't lose Sasori-senpai.

Naruto didn't care about what he said. After all, if the entire Akatsuki showed up for a team fight, escaping would be a lot harder.

…

In the air above the fortress, Pain stared coldly at the corpses below.

His gaze lingered on Deidara for a long moment before he finally spoke, "What's going on with you and Sasori?"

"And who are these people?"

Although his tone was flat, Nagato was secretly very angry.

During this period, he'd noticed something seriously wrong with Sasori and Deidara.

They hadn't completed any of their recent missions, and they also didn't show up for any of the meetings.

If the masked man hadn't told him that the two guys had jointed some cults, Nagato wouldn't even know how long he would have been kept in the dark.

Nagato was very angry.

Even though they had joined the Akatsuki, they actually went on to join other organizations.

In other words…

Nagato felt like he'd just been NTRed by two cults.

How can he not be angry?

So, Pain had come here to demand an explanation from these two.

When Deidara saw his companions from the Scientific Truth Society dying nearby, he felt unprecedented anger in his heart.

In the past, he didn't care about killing. He didn't care about other people's lives. He didn't even care about his own family.

But now, he can care about nothing, but he cannot give up his new family in the Scientific Truth Society.

They all shared the same dream, to pursue something even greater than art itself.

How could he let them fall here?!

Deidara clenched his fists tightly, suppressed the anger in his heart, and did not dare to make any rash moves.

Because there are still some members of the Scientific Truth Society hiding in the shadows.

If not for them, he'd have already tried to fight Pain head-on.

"Deidara."

"Explain. What is this 'Scientific Truth Society'?"

Pain landed in front of him and looked at Deidara coldly with his Rinnegan.

When he saw Pain's eyes, Deidara instantly felt a strong sense of oppression, which made it impossible for him to muster the will to resist.

Sweat drenched his back, and Deidara's mind was spinning wildly at this moment.

'If the leader knew that I and Sasori had not been collecting information on the Ichibi's Jinchuriki these days, but had been hanging out in the church...'

'He will definitely kill us.'

Beads of sweat kept dripping from Deidara's chin, and he looked like he had been fished out of the water.

Just when he really couldn't think of a solution, Deidara glanced at the huge land fortress nearby and immediately came up with a plan.

'That's it!'

'Just pin everything on those outsiders!'

Pain stared at Deidara, waiting to see what kind of excuse he'd come up with.

After all, to put it seriously, this matter can be regarded as a betrayal to the Akatsuki.

"Leader."

"You've got it all wrong."

"Sasori and I came here because we heard about this mysterious organization appearing here..."

"They actually said they were going to rule the Shinobi World!"

Pain: "…???"

Deidara's acting skills were average, but as luck would have it, those outsiders had actually said that.

But when Nagato heard this, his mind nearly short-circuited.

'Wait…'

'What is going on in the Shinobi World recently?'

'First, there were people trying to destroy the world, and now others wanted to rule it?!'

'Did they really not take me, the God, seriously?'

Boom…

At this moment, Haido, who had used the Gelel's Stone to transform into a gray-skinned monster, rushed out of the fortress and kicked Sasori flying.

"HAHAHAHA!"

"Shinobi?"

"You think you can stop me?!"

Haido threw his head back and laughed, his words were practically tap-dancing in Nagato's minefield.

Pain soared into the air, caught Sasori, and threw him at Deidara.

"Deidara, take care of him."

"I'll let this slide for now."

Nagato finally understood why these two had been acting so strange lately. He thought that they had deliberately infiltrated the enemy's ranks for the sake of the Akatsuki.

He suddenly felt as if he had figured out many things.

'Good, good, good!'

'So there really are people out there bold enough to challenge a god, huh?'

Without hesitation, Nagato summoned the rest of the Six Paths of Pain and launched an assault on the monster in the sky.

Deidara and Sasori looked at each other, both of them had complicated feelings.

'…Did we just trick the leader into fighting our battles for us?'

"Hmph!"

"Another fool seeking death?"

Haido raised his hand and two shock waves came out, and Pain merely lifted his palm in response.

"Bansho Ten'in…"

Haido had no time to react before his body flew towards the other party uncontrollably.

He desperately activated the Gelel's Stones embedded in his hands, but this power was unlike anything he'd ever encountered. He could only watch helplessly as he hurtled toward his doom.

"IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Who the hell are you?!"

"What kind of power is this?!"

Pain calmly drew a black rod from his sleeve.

"This… is the power of God."

Pfftt!

The instant the words left his lips, the Six Paths of Pain impaled the monster with their black rods, pinning him to the ground like a specimen.

"N-No… Impossible..."

"How… could I die here…?"

Haido raised his head with difficulty, trying to see Pain's face clearly, but in the end, he could only see the other's silhouette.

As his head slumped, his heart stopped beating.

However, no one noticed that the Gelel's Stones in Haido's hand was gradually dimming.

When Pain saw that the other party was dead, he turned his attention to the remaining foes.

In his eyes, anyone who wasn't his allies are enemies.

"Leader, wait…"

"Wait!"

Both Sasori and Deidara shouted to stop him. Now that the enemy leader has been killed, if Pain kept fighting...

Not only would their respective cults suffer heavy losses, but they'd also lose access to the fortress's valuable technology.

Pain looked at the two, his eyes already brimming with killing intent.

"What now?"