Two days and one night passed in a blur.
Han, the Five-Tails jinchuriki, had vanished without a trace. No one in Iwagakure seemed to notice, or perhaps they simply didn't care. The Fourth-Tails jinchuriki, Rōshi, had recently butted heads with the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, and walked out. That conflict had dragged Han down with him, leaving him isolated and ignored. It was the perfect cover for his disappearance.
The chakra-formed dragon slowly retracted into the Gedo Mazo's maw, and Han's body crashed heavily to the ground.
Suddenly, one of the nine tightly shut eyes on the Gedo Mazo's face snapped open, darting around like a living person's, scanning its surroundings.
"Success," Pain announced, a rare hint of satisfaction lacing his calm tone.
Kisame rubbed his aching arm and nodded. "Less than two days. Faster than I expected."
Pain glanced at Menma, his expression unreadable. His apprehension was growing.
"The sealing speed depends on the number and strength of the casters," Pain said. "I have to admit, your power has exceeded my expectations."
Pain said "you," but he was talking exclusively to Menma. The process had taken nearly half a day less than he'd predicted, which was a testament to the terrifying chakra reserves Menma possessed. If Pain thought he could actually defeat Menma, he'd be tempted to try extracting the Tailed Beast chakra from Menma's body himself. He wanted to see if he could replace a real Tailed Beast and force the Gedo Mazo to open another eye.
Sensing Pain's gaze, Menma's lips curled into a slight smirk beneath his mask.
"If you want to chat, I can have a proper conversation with you back at base," Menma said. "But I've got things to handle right now. If there's nothing else, I won't keep you."
If this were the old Kazekage, Menma might have worried his Shadow Clones couldn't handle the Six Paths of Pain. But now, with his Mangekyō Sharingan and the ability to activate the combined Susanoo, he had no fear of Nagato's Six Paths. If it weren't for his long-term plans—needing to record the other Tailed Beasts for later exchange—he would have already taken over the entire Akatsuki organization.
"Wait," Konan spoke up suddenly beside Pain. "Akatsuki operates in pairs. You don't have a partner yet."
She turned to Pain. "I'll partner with Menma."
Konan said she wanted to partner with him, but her real goal was to monitor Menma herself. She had just witnessed Deidara and Sasori's attitude toward him, and she was certain Pain had seen it too, though she didn't know what Menma had done. She couldn't risk pairing anyone else with him.
Before she could finish, Pain immediately shot the idea down.
"Konan, Menma's strength is already enough to complete a two-man job on his own," Pain said. "There's no need to waste another powerful partner by pairing him with one."
As he spoke, Pain turned his gaze to Black Zetsu.
"Zetsu," Pain's voice cut through the silence, "from now on, you will partner with Menma."
"Your intelligence-gathering abilities, combined with Menma's strength—which is no less than my own—make for a perfect combination."
Nagato wouldn't allow his only partner, and the object of his secret affection, Konan, to be near the dangerous Menma. He didn't believe she could successfully monitor the cunning man; more likely, Menma would use her as a hostage against him. But he wasn't worried about Zetsu, who was traveling with Obito.
While Nagato looked down on Obito—the man calling himself Madara who always wore a mask—he was also wary of him. However, they shared the same goal: bringing peace to the ninja world, and Nagato couldn't disrupt their fragile alliance.
But sending the scheming Menma over there? That was a good idea. Perhaps he could use Menma to probe Obito's true intentions.
Thinking this, Nagato unconsciously glanced at the spy from Konoha: the equally dangerous Itachi Uchiha. He remembered Menma saying he could help him deal with Itachi, which would open the door to targeting Konoha and the Nine-Tails jinchuriki.
Should he replace Black Zetsu with Itachi and Menma, making it easier for the latter to strike?
Before Nagato could finish his thought, Black Zetsu's hoarse, deep voice rang out.
"I understand."
"Menma, from now on, I'll be relying on you in battle."
Black Zetsu was also curious about the mysterious Menma. He had witnessed Menma's brutal beatdown of Hashirama last time, but he hadn't heard the conversation due to the distance. All he knew was that Menma could use a disguised Susanoo similar to Madara's, making him extremely dangerous and unpredictable.
This unpredictability was exactly what Black Zetsu, an intelligence expert, couldn't tolerate. He didn't want his millennia-long plan to save his mother to go wrong. So, even knowing Menma was dangerous, he still agreed to Nagato's team composition. He was also confident he could escape alive from anyone.
Seeing that Menma had no objections, Pain addressed the group.
"Since no one objects, we're done here."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Upon hearing the dismissal, the seven-colored phantoms vanished one after another.
Pain then looked at Kakuzu and Zabuza one last time, warning them, "Don't make too much noise, and don't hand over your jinchuriki to the Exchange Shop. Don't expose yourselves."
"Understood," Kakuzu replied, leaping down to the ground. He looked up at Zabuza as if he were staring at a dead man.
Zabuza also jumped down, drawing the Executioner's Blade from his back once more.
"Don't worry," Zabuza grunted. "I won't kill him. I'll just teach him a lesson."
Pain: "..."
If he hadn't personally experienced Zabuza's strength, Pain almost would have believed him. Shaking his head, Pain didn't waste any more words on these two. He dismissed the Gedo Mazo and the Psychic Projection Technique, then vanished from the spot.
The very next second after the seven-colored phantom disappeared, Zabuza vanished too.
When he reappeared, he was already behind Kakuzu. His horizontally raised Executioner's Blade sliced through the air, aiming for the back of Kakuzu's neck.
Whoosh!
Clang!
Kakuzu, who had been prepared, didn't even turn his body. He simply extended his jet-black right hand behind his neck, firmly grasping the blade of the Executioner's Blade.
This was Earth Release: Earth Spear—a ninjutsu that concentrated large amounts of earth-style chakra onto the skin's surface, hardening it to the consistency of steel.
"Looks like your strength isn't as tough as your mouth," Kakuzu sneered, turning abruptly. His left fist flew toward Zabuza.
Whoosh!
The fist severed from the wrist, flying off like a cannonball. A dense mass of black, tentacle-like, writhing threads surged from the severed arm, connecting to the wrist the fist had just left. This was Tentacle Fist.
Facing this attack, Zabuza made no attempt to dodge. Instead, he released the Executioner's Blade he held in his right hand. Then, he swiftly drew two kunai from his waist with both hands, thrusting them toward Kakuzu's temples and chest simultaneously.