Chapter 55.3- Gamer of the Desert

My sand ripped through the panda, enhanced by wind release to the point that it just ignored the creatures hardened skin and sent it back to the summoning realm. I felt it then. The second the barrier went up. I also had proof of it from one off my clones who popped to send the message back to me. The effect was almost instant. All five surviving paths of Pain froze in place. They didn’t move. And one by one, they fell to the floor. Not keen in wasting time to find out what Nagato would do after losing touch with all his paths, I walked up to one and plucked out the black rod in its nose. I would keep that for sensing Nagato later.

With that done, I got to work on preparing them for sealing. I’d prepared a special kind of storage seal that rejected all intrusion of external chakra once it was active. Instead, the scroll had a timer set for 72 hours and would release whatever it contained once that time was up. That meant there was no way Nagato would be able to interface with them while they were sealed. In 72 hours, I’d be back in Suna and Nagato would be very dead. It was just the way of things.

I had my final clone drop the barrier once I finished sealing the bodies up. I also took custody of Danzo’s body as well. There were still a few intact sharingan on that body so Pain had somehow managed to kill him without Izanagi coming into play. That meant I had a few sharingan in my custody, as well as Shisui Uchiha’s Mangekyou sharingan and Hashirama cells on top of that. I’d come out the undisputed winner of this whole mess. Now I just had to find Nagato and pluck the rinnegan from his skull before seeking out whatever poor fool Danzo saddled with Edo Tensei, killing them, and then putting Orochimaru down for good to bring this whole mess to an end. A perfect ending.

I walked out of the range the barrier had once covered, heading towards the outskirts of the village to begin tracking down Nagato. At least that was the plan. The second I jumped into the air, I felt something slam into me. Something large. And definitely invisible. I allowed the force push me to the ground, and reached out for the invisible creature with my sand. With a hold on it, I did not foresee its mouth opening and a red haired man jumping out with a black rod aimed at my heart. Sage mode still gave me ample time to react, however, and Dark Sister met the rod in a clash of sparks. Whatever chakra I tried funnelling into her to increase her cutting power failed to find purchase against whatever strange metal then rod was made up of.

My eyes met his. The purple ringed gaze of the Rinnegan was narrowed as Nagato looked at me with visible irritation. Like I was a persistent stain on his boot that he couldn’t find a way to get rid of. “You killed my paths. Some sort of barrier seal that prevented chakra from entering into it. That means you knew how my technique worked. With no idea of anything, you knew enough to defeat my technique. And just now, you were surprised to see me. Not surprised to see me in general, but to see me healthy and attacking you. You knew of my former state. Your eyes give you away. No lies can survive the gaze of God. Tell me, Subaku no Gaara, was it Madara who prepared you to face me?” What?

A/N; Slightly shorter snippet than usual. I think I somehow sprained my wrist or something. It hurts something fierce when I try to type. Any suggestions of how I can fix it without entering the four walls of a hospital would be much appreciated.