The Almighty Push unleashed by the power of the Rinnegan was clearly far more mature in its application than the gravitational manipulation Hyūga Yu derived from his Tenseigan.
With practically no formal training, Nagato had intuitively mastered the ability to use repulsive force much like Chakra Adhesion. He could augment his comrades with his own strength over short distances and finely control the blast radius of the repulsive force. This precision ensured that Hyūga Yu, Nagato, and Konan, who stood directly beneath Yahiko, were spared from facing the full brunt of the Almighty Push's explosive power.
Similarly, this single strike completely altered the terrain of the battlefield. A massive crater—one hundred meters in diameter and ten meters deep—gaped open across the wasteland. Only the ground directly beneath the frog-shaped wooden cabin where Hyūga Yu stood remained uncollapsed, though it was now nothing more than a ruined mess of collapsed debris.
From a bird's-eye view, it looked as if a massive, sunken crater had been carved out of the landscape out of thin air.
With his back turned to Yahiko and the others, Hyūga Yu narrowed his eyes slightly. He deeply etched this scene into his mind, meticulously memorizing the shifting parameters and the intricate techniques of manipulating attractive and repulsive forces that Nagato had displayed while unleashing the Almighty Push.
Unlike the perfect control over attraction and repulsion directly granted upon awakening the Rinnegan, the "bootleg Almighty Push" Hyūga Yu possessed was a branch of the Tenseigan's abilities he had developed entirely on his own. It required him to constantly adjust the fusion ratio between the Wind Style factor in his cyan chakra and the Caged Bird chakra. This meant that Yu could continuously refine his proficiency through endless experimentation and learning, eventually training this ability to rival or even surpass the authentic version.
Furthermore, unlike Nagato, who used "borrowed eyes" at the cost of his own vitality, Hyūga Yu's ability was entirely self-developed. Unleashing it required nothing more than an equivalent expenditure of chakra, carrying no extra physical burden whatsoever.
At this moment, Hyūga Yu walked forward, still processing the nuances of the technique that had just unfolded.
Behind him, Yahiko quickly snapped out of his daze and immediately turned around to check on Nagato.
By now, Nagato was panting heavily, pushing himself up with the support of a deeply worried Konan. Executing that single move seemed to have drained a massive portion of his physical stamina.
Yahiko instantly asked in a tense voice, "Nagato, are you alright?"
"Cough, cough... I'm fine," Nagato gasped heavily, barely managing a reply.
Supporting him, Konan spoke up with great concern, "This kind of ability... is too much of a burden on you, Nagato. You should still—"
Nagato pursed his lips slightly. "I know, but given the situation just now—"
Yahiko snapped back to reality at that moment, turning his gaze toward the front. Hyūga Yu stood ahead of them, acting as if he had just performed a completely trivial task. He looked remarkably calm and showed absolutely no intention of apologizing to the trio.
Even though that single blow had indeed wiped out nearly all of their enemies instantly and extracted them from their predicament.
"Hyūga Yu!"
Yahiko glared at Hyūga Yu's back, demanding coldly, "You... are the [Tennin]!"
"So that means our previous encounter wasn't an accident after all? What exactly are you trying to accomplish by getting close to us? And how did you know about Nagato's ability?!"
Without even turning his head, Hyūga Yu simply kept walking forward, responding calmly, "You ask too many questions."
"I will only answer one question for you, so I suggest you calm down."
Hearing this, Yahiko tightened his grip on his longsword. Glancing at the weakened Nagato beside him, a flash of hostility crossed his eyes as he stared at Yu's back.
Yet, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, Hyūga Yu's tone grew ice-cold. "I said, you had better calm down."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Hyūga Yu turned his head slightly, his pure white eyes casting an indifferent sideways glance toward them.
Thrum!
An invisible, undulating wave of force rippled outward rhythmically, centered around Hyūga Yu.
Instantly, the ground began to tremble.
Yahiko immediately felt a massive attractive force acting upon his body.
Uncontrollably, his hand lifted. Under the simultaneous influence of both "attraction" and "repulsion," his shinobi blade flipped around, pointing its sharp tip directly at his own abdomen!
"This is?!"
This sight caused the faces of Yahiko's trio to change drastically all at once. Nagato, in particular, looked up at Hyūga Yu in utter disbelief.
"Wait—" Nagato struggled, trying to force his palm up and spread his fingers to use the power of the Deva Path, intending to counter the sudden display of what was seemingly the only other [Deva Path] power in the shinobi world besides his own.
However, having just overexerted his Deva Path abilities, Nagato needed time to knead his chakra and stimulate his Rinnegan again. At this critical juncture, he was utterly unable to stop Hyūga Yu. Realizing this, a shade of despair could not help but well up in Nagato's eyes.
Just then, Swish!
The longsword in Yahiko's hand ultimately did not pierce inward. Instead, it tore free from his grasp, transforming into a streak of black light that flew toward Hyūga Yu and landed squarely in his palm.
Gripping the shinobi blade, Hyūga Yu recalled the technique Nagato had just demonstrated and precisely manipulated the repulsive force to act upon the sword. Soon, under the horrified gazes of the trio behind him, Yahiko's blade flipped, folded, stretched to its absolute limit, and was ultimately crumpled and crushed into a lump of scrap metal by an invisible giant hand.
Clatter!
The scrap metal was carelessly tossed aside at his feet. Having successfully replicated the newly learned technique using his Byakugan, Hyūga Yu nodded imperceptibly. At the same time, he endured the backlash of interrupting the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique to channel his chakra—his bodily functions momentarily failed to keep pace with his abnormal recovery rate, causing his lungs' self-repair mechanism to begin fracturing.
He forcefully swallowed down the blood welling up in his throat.
Hyūga Yu calmly glanced back sideways at the Akatsuki trio. "Are you calm now?"
Yahiko swallowed hard. He quickly shook off the fury born from seeing Nagato strained and regained his composure.
At the same time, he began to think calmly.
As the brains of the original Akatsuki, Yahiko was by no means a fool. He immediately recalled Hyūga Yu's performance and attitude toward them along the way, thereby deducing the answers to several of his own questions.
First, he ruled out the possibility that Hyūga Yu had approached them deliberately. Throughout their journey, Yu had consistently kept his distance, merely observing without drawing close. On the contrary, they were the ones who needed to approach the "Tennin," especially given that the other party held the power to decide the life and death of the Land of Rain's future.
Secondly, given the capabilities Hyūga Yu currently displayed—which were so similar to Nagato's—he had likely known about Nagato's abilities all along. Yet, he didn't view Nagato's eyes with the same exceptional gravity that Jiraiya-sensei had.
Because to someone who already possessed this kind of "Sage power" himself, it probably wasn't anything rare or unusual at all!
Ultimately, based on these premises, Yahiko arrived at the answers to his questions:
The Tennin's encounter with them was indeed an accident; he had not intentionally approached Akatsuki, and Nagato's ability was no secret to him.
Immediately after, Yahiko looked deeply at Hyūga Yu and calmly asked the single question he most needed to ask: "Konoha's [Tennin]!"
"What exactly do you want to achieve by coming to the Land of Rain?"
Hyūga Yu nodded, the corners of his mouth curving slightly as he offered an approving assessment. "It seems you really have calmed down."
"However," Hyūga Yu turned his head to glance at him, speaking flatly, "That question is one I should be asking you instead!"
"Now that things have escalated to this point, what do you plan to do next?"
Yahiko blanked. "Us?"
He looked around at the devastated, utterly shattered battlefield, the corpses of the "Amegakure" shinobi strewn across the deep crater, and then toward the collapsed secret passage beneath the ruins of the frog cabin on the other side. Looking at the current situation, Akatsuki had indeed established a connection with Konoha's Tennin as he had wished. Simultaneously, "Amegakure" had ambushed them. This meant that regardless of the underlying reason or any accidents, Hanzo had finally torn off his mask of civility with Akatsuki!
The conflict between the two internal factions within the Land of Rain could no longer be concealed; an even higher-intensity clash was on the horizon.
But...
Clearly, this diverged from Yahiko's original intentions.
He had sought to avoid war by guiding both sides into negotiations through peaceful means. Even regarding Hanzo, who had grown thoroughly corrupt while hiding deep within Amegakure, Yahiko had never considered seizing power by directly taking the man's life.
A look of deep distress washed over Yahiko's face.
Hyūga Yu spoke immediately, his voice laced with subtle guidance. "You are conflicted. You are lost."
"You, who attempted to bring about peace through negotiation and mutual understanding, have helplessly discovered—"
"War is inevitable."
"Only by determining a victor can peace truly be achieved!"
"If you do nothing, you will only end up hurting the people around you who believe in you."
"Therefore, Yahiko,"
"This is precisely what I want to ask you, and it is the critical question that determines whether you are qualified to cooperate with me and Konoha—"
"In this situation, what will you do?"
"Will you lead your people to negotiate with Hanzo using your naive ideals, falling right back into today's predicament? Or will you take alternative action?"
"Have you... finally recognized the limitations of your naive philosophy? And are you prepared to change?"
Hyūga Yu watched Yahiko calmly. Between the lines, he was inciting and guiding the youth to discard his naive ideals, wage war, usurp Hanzo, and unify the Land of Rain.
However, if Yahiko truly altered his mindset as easily as he was being egged on to do, Hyūga Yu would immediately turn around and walk away, abandoning their uninitiated cooperation on the spot.
If one could not even hold steadfast to the convictions they had fought for up until now, then in the looming war, they would only be crushed by enemies possessing far richer experience along that alternative path. They would vacillate, paralyzed by hesitation and doubt.
An Akatsuki like that was doomed to fail, even with the Rinnegan.
At this moment, confronted by Hyūga Yu's relentless barrage of questions, Yahiko's expression stiffened. His body began to tremble uncontrollably as he furrowed his brows tightly, his fists clenching hard.
These inquiries directly interrogated his core self, the path he had chosen so far, and whether he could tolerate his cherished comrades paying an irreversible price for the sake of his ideals.
He suddenly understood why Hyūga Yu had thrown him out earlier, forcing Nagato to unleash the power of the Rinnegan.
Long before today's incident erupted, Hyūga Yu had already foretold:
"Lacking the strength of the Sage of Six Paths yet comparing yourself to him, you will ultimately be consumed by this arrogance!"
Today's situation mirrored the future exactly. He was the will of Akatsuki, the bridge supporting his companions along the road to peace, while Nagato was the ultimate weapon meant to inherit and execute that will.
He would eventually encounter a scene like this—an enemy capturing his weak self, who possessed none of the Sage of Six Paths' strength, to force Nagato into a corner.
And when that time came, what choice would he make?
Would he steel his heart, carrying that will through to the absolute end, letting Nagato stand as its ultimate manifestation—the definitive weapon to conquer the world?
Or would he sacrifice his life to protect his companions, irresponsibly thrusting his unfulfilled dreams onto others, uncaring if that very will became twisted and distorted?
Caught in a vice of dilemma, Yahiko looked up at Nagato and Konan beside him. A shameful thought crept into his heart: for the sake of his dream, could he truly abandon these two?
Yahiko pondered over and over, yet in the end... he could not find an answer. Both his companions and his ideals were paramount to him. Until the absolute final moment arrived, he simply couldn't predict what choice he would make.
By the same token, until that final moment, Yahiko wanted both!
He lifted his gaze to meet Hyūga Yu's, suddenly asking, "If I can't make a choice, does that mean you won't cooperate with us?"
Hyūga Yu replied indifferously, "Having no answer is also an answer."
"Valuing your companions is a virtue. However, weighing the pros and cons in advance is always better than scrambling to choose when disaster strikes, wouldn't you agree?"
Yahiko locked eyes with Hyūga Yu and asked, "Then, if it were you, what would you do?"
Hyūga Yu smiled. "I wouldn't let it happen."
Yahiko pressed relentlessly, "But what if it really does happen?"
Hyūga Yu replied flatly, "I am not weak and powerless like you. In my case, there are no 'what ifs'!"
"How cunning, Tennin!" Yahiko laughed as well, gritting his teeth while staring intently at Yu. "You demand a choice from me, yet when faced with the exact same question, you are just like me—unable to give a concrete answer."
"I gave you my answer."
"What?"
Hyūga Yu stated evenly, "Simple. Don't let it happen."
This kind of scenario had, in fact, already occurred. Months ago, Hyūga Natsu—who had joined the Main House's guard unit—had forced Hyūga Yu to make a choice. And Yu's decision had been remarkably simple: to protect the ones he cherished, it didn't matter if everyone else, including himself, died!
Unlike Yahiko, who carried grand ideals, Hyūga Yu would never agonize over such issues or allow himself to fall into a moral quandary.
However, Hyūga Yu never wanted to have to make that same choice ever again in his life!
He would much rather others bear the suffering. Therefore, even if it meant becoming a villain despised by everyone, or kowtowing to Danzo Shimura—the absolute moral nadir of Konoha—to become his disciple, he wouldn't care in the slightest.
Yahiko nodded. Through their dialogue, he had come to understand the will of Hyūga Yu as Konoha's [Tennin]. He couldn't help but look at Yu's back and affirm from the bottom of his heart, "As a companion, following a guy like you must be an incredible stroke of good fortune!"
Hyūga Yu remained noncommittal, merely gazing back calmly as he inquired, "So, what is your answer?"
"I don't know!" Yahiko took a deep breath, looking squarely at Hyūga Yu as he spoke with complete sincerity, "I don't know the answer. I can't make a choice."
"But—"
Yahiko suddenly raised his hand, pointing toward the bodies of the "Amegakure" shinobi scattered across the crater. In a heavy voice, he said, "As far as today's incident is concerned, I believe Hanzo hasn't completely turned his back on us. The guys who attacked us aren't real Amegakure ninja. I've never seen them before, and our Land of Rain doesn't possess such an elite force!"
"There must be a misunderstanding at play. I will find a way to investigate this thoroughly, head to Amegakure, and guide the Land of Rain toward peace through open dialogue with Hanzo!"
"I firmly believe that there is no absolute reason for conflict between us and Hanzo. Our original intentions are identical—we both want to make the Land of Rain a better place!"
"I have tasted the bitter fruit of hatred and understood the agony of my enemies. Therefore, as long as I forge ahead and make them understand my resolve, I believe peace lies just around the corner!"
Hyūga Yu narrowed his eyes, following up, "But what if your enemies refuse to understand your resolve?"
Yahiko smiled. "Then we make them feel the exact same pain! Until they are willing to understand!"
Hyūga Yu nodded, turning back to resume walking forward. "Then let's go."
Stunned, Yahiko hurriedly caught up with Yu, leading a thoroughly bewildered Nagato and Konan. He asked, "Where are we going?"
Hyūga Yu tilted his head slightly, giving him a strange look. "Didn't you already make that perfectly clear?"
"To Amegakure—"
"To make Hanzo, and whoever orchestrated this conspiracy behind the scenes..."
Yu's gaze chilled. "...feel pain!"
Yahiko's lip twitched. "That's not what I meant, you've completely misunderstood me. My point was—"
"Stop lying to yourself." Hyūga Yu forged ahead without looking back, tossing over a cold piece of advice: "Yahiko, this is my final warning to you!"
"If you don't want your companions to be harmed or fall into that kind of predicament, the best thing you can do is,"
"Prevent it from happening!"
"Otherwise, when you reach the very end of your path, you will find that your ultimate enemy..."
"...is me."
Yahiko fell silent.
Although Nagato and Konan hadn't fully grasped the nuances of what Yahiko and Hyūga Yu were arguing about, they still patted him on the back, quietly cheering him on so that he wouldn't lose face in front of Konoha's Tennin.
At this moment, Hyūga Yu added fuel to the fire, teasing with a hint of dark humor, "After all, under these Byakugan of mine, you've been completely seen through—"
"When that day comes..." Yu muttered sinisterly, "I'll capture Konan and force Nagato to take you out. You'll definitely commit suicide without hesitation, dying by Nagato's hand. Then, I'll finish off Nagato and Konan, sending the three of you to reunite in the Pure Land..."
Hearing this from the side, Nagato scratched his head and chuckled helplessly, "No matter how you look at it, that's just way too cruel. Even if you're Konoha's Tennin, you're clearly younger than us!"
Recognizing that Hyūga Yu was just teasing Yahiko, Konan couldn't help but let out a soft laugh and chimed in, "Exactly. Your thoughts are far too dark."
"Hmph!" Hyūga Yu snorted coldly. "What do you expect? I belong to Konoha's Root."
Konan looked at Hyūga Yu's slightly immature, youthfully vibrant face. Comparing it with the string of dark remarks pouring from his mouth, there was a stark sense of contrast. She couldn't help but smile, saying, "You're... way too precocious!"
However, only Yahiko, who had truly come to understand Hyūga Yu's resolve, froze on the spot upon hearing that slightly mocking threat. It was as if he had hallucinated the exact scene Yu described, causing a sudden, violent shiver to run down his spine.
"Yahiko, what are you spacing out for? It's time to move!"
"Ah... Oh! Coming!"
Only when Nagato and Konan's voices snapped him back to reality did Yahiko suddenly realize that the back of his clothes had been entirely drenched in a cold sweat.
————
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