"One step."
"Take."
The ROOM expanded in an instant, its spatial field unfolding and swallowing Nagato whole.
In the next moment, Shigure appeared directly before him. He lifted his gaze, eyes taking in the devastated surroundings of the village before giving a small nod.
"Very good," he said calmly.
"Kirigakure has been completely destroyed by you."
Terumi Mei instinctively tried to approach, wanting to check on Shigure's condition, but he raised a hand lightly.
Two drifting clouds—dense bundles of chakra—formed before her.
"The bodies of Hizuki and Yukika. Look after them first."
Terumi's breath caught. Even without seeing inside, she knew. Hizuki and Yukika—her two guardian shinobi—those who had stood by her side, fought for her, and ultimately died trying to prevent the Akatsuki attack.
Her expression darkened with grief.
"Don't be too sad," Shigure said, still mild. "They don't have to die."
Terumi's head snapped up.
Could they actually be saved?
But Shigure offered no further explanation. His attention was fixed entirely on Nagato.
"You look angry," he remarked.
Nagato's eyes were vibrating with rage.
"Konan is seriously injured and unconscious. I won't let you go—or this entire Hidden Mist Village!"
Shigure nodded.
"Mm. I extracted the tailed beast from her."
He tilted his head.
"Any objections?"
Nagato froze.
The words hit like a hammer.
Everyone knew it: once a jinchūriki lost their tailed beast, death followed.
Konan… would die.
He grit his teeth, lowering his head as he tried to suppress the growing storm inside him.
"Yahiko…"
"You mean the one revived via Edo Tensei? I erased him."
Cleanly.
Permanently.
Nagato's head shot upward.
Konan and Yahiko—his two most precious people. The ones he failed to protect. The ones he swore to avenge.
And now—he had failed again.
Rage detonated inside him.
"You… how dare you…!"
"I'll make you suffer a thousand times over!"
BOOM!!
Shinra Tensei erupted violently—no warning, no restraint.
Shigure didn't move.
He formed a chakra barrier in front of him, letting Nagato's gravity shockwave crash into it head-on.
The two forces collided, sending rings of pressure exploding outward.
The earth beneath them cracked, split, and sank under the sheer intensity of the clash.
Shigure exhaled lightly.
"If this continues, Kirigakure really will be erased."
"Let's move somewhere with more space."
He raised a hand.
Chakra expanded.
Nagato's Shinra Tensei was forcibly suppressed, the repulsive force crushed under Shigure's spatial domination. Shigure slipped through the pressure, seized Nagato by the throat, and lifted him effortlessly.
Nagato struggled to breathe, instinctively swinging a fist—
—but Shigure closed his other hand on empty air.
Transfer.
Space warped.
Both vanished.
And reappeared over the open sea outside Kirigakure.
Shigure casually flung Nagato aside like a discarded weapon.
SPLASH—KRAKOOM!
A massive wave exploded upward, spreading across the ocean as Nagato steadied himself and landed atop the water's surface.
He glared at Shigure, disbelief mixing with fury.
This man's chakra…
was monstrous.
Although Shigure had been strong before, his chakra back then was nowhere near this overwhelming.
When they clashed moments ago, Nagato felt as if he had slammed into a mountain—an oppressive, suffocating pressure that couldn't be ignored.
Shigure suddenly pressed one hand against the ocean's surface.
"Water Release… though this feels a little different. Good time to test it."
He poured chakra into the sea.
BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!
The ocean roared.
From all directions, massive walls of water surged upward, rising like living giants. In an instant they curved inward, forming a colossal cage around both Shigure and Nagato. The water climbed higher and higher until it shaped itself into a monstrous water prison, hundreds of meters tall.
Every shinobi still conscious in Kirigakure froze, staring blankly at the impossible sight.
Controlling this much seawater…
Was this even something a human could do?
Inside the vast water prison, Shigure formed a single-handed seal—the Rat sign.
Immediately, the sea beneath him bubbled like it was boiling. Spirals of water erupted upward, transforming into countless waves and torrents whipping toward Nagato from every angle.
Nagato leapt aside, but even mid-air the assault never ceased. The water blades sliced past him, each one sharp enough to tear steel.
And Shigure didn't even move from his spot.
He shaped the entire battlefield with water alone—every strike, every current, every shift in pressure.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Nagato was hammered downward and plunged into the sea.
Multiple spiraling waterspouts lashed around him, dragging at his body, trying to pull him deeper into the abyss.
But—
Shinra Tensei!
Gravitational force blasted outward, tearing through the whirlpools and ripping apart the water constructs. Nagato shot back into the air, hovering above the waves.
"Hmph… Water Release," Nagato muttered, eyes narrowing.
"Your control over it is terrifying—but I'm not someone you can subdue that easily."
RUMBLE.
Tailed beast chakra erupted from his body.
A cloak of Eight-Tails chakra wrapped around him, and eight spectral tails unfurled behind his back like burning whips.
His power spiked dramatically.
Nagato smiled faintly as chakra began condensing in his chest—dense, violent, spiraling.
A Tailed Beast Bomb.
Shigure paused.
"So the Rinnegan really lets you control Gyūki this easily…?"
It made sense. Otherwise, wielding the Eight-Tails' full power should've been far harder.
Nagato finished shaping the Tailed Beast Bomb with frightening speed.
He stared at Shigure.
"Let's see how you handle this."
Shigure lifted his blade, the edge glinting faintly.
"So this is the Tailed Beast Bomb that terrified the great nations… The power is impressive."
Nagato smirked.
"Then show me your answer."
Shigure raised the sword slightly.
"That's simple."
"You're going to use a sword to stop a Tailed Beast Bomb?"
Nagato scoffed. "How whimsical."
BOOM—!!
The Tailed Beast Bomb launched, forming a crimson beam of annihilation that tore across the sea straight toward Shigure.
Shigure swung his ninja blade—
A simple, almost gentle motion—
Cutting the moon.
And the attack met the edge.