A dog that could split infinitely, a giant bird that dropped explosive eggs... These strange and peculiar summoned beasts were truly incredible. Orochimaru, who had roamed the ninja world for so many years, was seeing such things for the first time, which genuinely broadened his horizons.

However, such tricks weren't enough to pose any real threat to him.

The seemingly overwhelming chain of explosions left behind nothing but smoke and flames, but once it cleared, Orochimaru stood unharmed on the scorched and ruined ground. He lifted his head, smiling as he locked eyes with the Animal Path standing on the platform above. The air was filled with grayish dust, swirling and coming together to form human shapes.

And then—

The three reanimated Edo Tensei shinobi, blown to pieces, reappeared once again.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu."

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bomb Jutsu."

"Wind Style: Infinite Breakthrough."

These reanimated shinobi, devoid of consciousness and immune to pain, retained only their battle instincts. Once they identified an enemy, they would persistently attack without hesitation. Most of the time, they didn't even need Orochimaru to control them directly. Guided by their deeply ingrained combat instincts from countless battles and the highest rule of eliminating enemies, they made the right choices on their own.

A combination attack of Wind Style and Fire Style was launched toward the massive bird diving in for another bombing run.

Boom!

White smoke was consumed by a flow of fire.

At the last moment, the Animal Path dispelled the summoning, making the giant bird disappear. Summoning useful beasts wasn't easy, and he didn't want to lose too many in this fight. Besides, that previous attack had already proven that the bird posed no threat to Orochimaru. The bombing didn't hurt him at all, so there was no point in keeping the bird around.

However, Orochimaru's strength was indeed worthy of being one of the legendary Sannin.

The Animal Path realized that relying on summoned beasts alone wouldn't be enough to take down Orochimaru. The most troublesome factor was the three immortal Edo Tensei shinobi. Conventional methods couldn't stop them. He had to resort to unconventional means.

"Summoning Jutsu."

This time, the summons were no longer strange beasts.

But three people.

Deva Path, Human Path, and Preta Path.

As the summoning was completed, the three Uchiha clan reanimations dashed up through the drainage pipes toward the platform, attacking relentlessly. Summoned back from the underworld, these reanimated corpses had no weapons to wield. Uchiha-style swordsmanship and Uchiha-style throwing techniques were useless in their current state.

They could only rely on taijutsu (hand-to-hand combat) and ninjutsu.

As for genjutsu, with their cognitive functions erased, they couldn't use the Sharingan for illusions. Fortunately, the dynamic vision of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was still intact. The three Edo Tensei shinobi ignored the newly summoned trio and, following Orochimaru's orders, charged straight at the Animal Path.

Two of them lunged at him, while the third stood at the platform's edge, forming seals to cast a ninjutsu.

However—

Bansho Ten'in (Universal Pull).

An irresistible force pulled the three Edo Tensei shinobi toward the Deva Path. Before they reached him, the Human Path stepped in, grabbing two of them by the heads, activating the power known as Soul Extraction.

In the face of this eerie and unpredictable power, the Edo Tensei shinobi were as fragile as newly hatched chicks being crushed by a falling boulder.

Their souls were ripped away.

The moment their souls were pulled out, everyone saw their faintly glowing spirits.

As the souls left their bodies, the reanimations crumbled immediately, the dust coating their bodies fell away, revealing the corpses of two shinobi wearing the headbands of the Hot Water Village.

"What is this?"

Orochimaru, standing atop a newly summoned giant snake, witnessed the soul extraction, his heart racing.

For the first time since developing his Immortality Jutsu, Orochimaru once again felt the shadow of death looming over him.

He would die!

His instincts screamed at him.

If his true body were hit by that attack, he would certainly die. As for whether the cursed seal could revive him... he wasn't sure. The seal hadn't been around long enough, and it hadn't gone through multiple rounds of upgrades and improvements. Honestly, he wasn't confident it would work as expected.

"So, this is the Rinnegan, huh?"

"A power that directly targets the soul... even more terrifying than the Spirit Transformation Technique."

In developing the Immortality Jutsu, Orochimaru had studied various forbidden jutsu. One that helped him greatly was the Edo Tensei, but also the Spirit Transformation Technique. Tsunade's deceased lover, Kato Dan, had mastered the Spirit Transformation Technique, and Orochimaru had witnessed him silently kill enemies with it many times.

However, compared to the Human Path's effortless soul extraction, the Spirit Transformation Technique paled in comparison.

The third reanimated shinobi didn't escape either. The Preta Path restrained him and began absorbing his seemingly endless chakra. The Animal Path considered for a moment—could these immortal shinobi serve as a chakra source to replenish his own energy?

But soon, he realized that the reanimations' chakra wasn't truly infinite. It only regenerated quickly, with an upper limit. The amount of chakra extracted merely balanced out the consumption needed to use the ability.

The idea was pointless.

The chakra gain was uncertain, but the mental and physical toll on him would be immense. The Rinnegan was indeed powerful, but using it came at a great cost. The chakra consumption was just one part of it; the mental strain was equally exhausting.

The Human Path swiftly approached, extracting the third shinobi's soul.

As the body's disguise disintegrated, it revealed yet another ordinary-looking shinobi, this one wearing a headband from the Land of Frost. Not that it mattered—Deva Path barely glanced at him before turning his attention back to Orochimaru.

The battle was far from over.

Destroying the three Edo Tensei shinobi hadn't harmed Orochimaru in any way.

And—

Orochimaru wasn't one to give up easily. The massive snake reared its head and charged toward the platform viciously, but before it could crash into it, the Animal Path used the summoning technique again, calling forth a giant centipede to entangle the snake in combat.

Orochimaru, who had been standing on the serpent's head, suddenly disappeared.

Konan couldn't catch where Orochimaru had gone.

"Where did he go?"

Konan frowned.

"Isn't he right up there?"

Uchiha Obito responded casually.

Despite having only one eye left, his dynamic vision was still exceptional, and Orochimaru's movements couldn't escape his sight. Not only Obito, but the four people from the Deva Path, Animal Path, Human Path, and Preta Path — with a total of eight eyes — had also captured Orochimaru's every move. The Deva Path turned around and looked up at the high ground behind them, where Orochimaru had somehow appeared, clinging to the outer side of the drainage pipe. He opened his mouth wide and launched his attack.

Ninjutsu: Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!

Countless dark brown serpents surged out of Orochimaru's wide-open mouth, which at that moment looked like the gate to a hell filled with venomous snakes. The gate had opened, and an almost infinite number of serpents poured out like a rushing tide or an avalanche crashing down toward the platform below.

"Whoosh!"

Konan flapped her wings and flew off the platform.

So many snakes... it was downright disgusting.

Anyone with ophidiophobia would likely collapse on the spot seeing this sea of snakes. In fact, no creature could survive in front of such a massive snake swarm; they'd be devoured without leaving a trace. Too bad for Orochimaru, though—today, his opponent was Pain!

The Deva Path looked at the falling mass of snakes, raised both hands high with his palms facing upward, and the power of the Rinnegan was unleashed once again.

Shinra Tensei!

A vast, invisible force erupted, repelling all the falling snakes. One by one, the snakes were crushed into piles of bloody pulp by the overwhelming force. The massive swarm, which had looked like an endless sea of snakes, was instantly wiped out.

Even Orochimaru was sent flying.

He crashed through drainage pipes like a cannonball, broke through walls, and punched a hole through the dome near the tower's top. Flung high into the air, he plummeted back down and landed with a splat on a platform above.

"Is he dead?" Konan asked aloud.

"He's still alive," the Deva Path replied.

The giant centipede summoned by the Animal Path was still wrestling with Orochimaru's summoned python. If Orochimaru had died, the summoning jutsu would've been canceled, and the python would have vanished. But the Deva Path wasn't confirming Orochimaru's survival through that — rather, the Animal Path, riding on the giant bird, had seen a small white snake crawl out from the bloody mess on the platform.

Then, Orochimaru once again crawled out from the snake's mouth.

His body was intact, with all his limbs present. There wasn't even a scratch on him, just some wet, sticky mucus clinging to his body, but that too quickly dried up. By this time, both the Deva Path and Konan had flown up to the platform, and Uchiha Obito silently appeared in the corner.

"Orochimaru, do you still want to continue?" the Deva Path asked coldly.

Orochimaru stretched his neck, eyeing the Deva Path up and down. That cold, emotionless face gradually overlapped with the image of a young boy in his mind. He confirmed yet another thing — it was indeed those kids. Now, only the red-haired one hadn't shown up yet.

And also...

The Rinnegan was truly extraordinary.

The abilities they had displayed so far were bizarre and unfathomable. Orochimaru was starting to feel dizzy. The Reanimation Jutsu had been neutralized, and it seemed he had little hope of defeating the Rinnegan's wielder by himself... Sigh! It made sense why Uchiha Sougen hadn't tried to covet the Rinnegan; it was for a reason! What Orochimaru had seen so far must be just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the Rinnegan's powers.

"How unfortunate!"

Orochimaru sighed regretfully in his heart.

The Rinnegan... It wasn't something he could get his hands on for now. He would have to leave it for the future!

"No need to continue. I've fully experienced the power of the Rinnegan. Ask me anything you want, but before that... can you explain who exactly is Pain? Why are there so many pairs of Rinnegan?" Orochimaru's puzzled gaze swept across the Deva Path, Human Path, and Preta Path.

"We are all Pain."

"All of you? But surely there must be one in charge?"

"Orochimaru, enough talk. You have two choices: either join the Akatsuki or be sent to hell. You have ten seconds to decide," the Deva Path stepped forward and raised his hand toward Orochimaru again, making Orochimaru's eyelid twitch.

"…The Akatsuki, huh? I'll join."

Orochimaru agreed decisively.

"A wise choice," the Deva Path lowered his hand.

"Since you've chosen to join the Akatsuki, as a sign of good faith, tell me how you learned about the Rinnegan," the Animal Path, Human Path, and Preta Path flew off on the giant bird, leaving only the Deva Path — now the sole Pain.

"It was Uchiha Sougen who told me."

Without hesitation, Orochimaru sold out Uchiha Sougen.

"Uchiha Sougen?"

Pain raised his eyebrows slightly and glanced at Uchiha Obito. Of course, Orochimaru didn't miss this exchange. He looked at Obito with great interest. "Speaking of which, you're also an Uchiha, aren't you? What's your relationship with Uchiha Sougen?"

"...Orochimaru, don't ask questions you shouldn't. Even if you've joined the Akatsuki, I'll still kill you," Uchiha Obito warned coldly.

Seeing this, Pain didn't press the matter and instead asked Orochimaru, "How did Uchiha Sougen learn about the Rinnegan?"

"That, I don't know. I just made a deal with him. He gave me two pieces of information, and I gave him a ninja tool, nothing more," Orochimaru said sincerely.

"Two pieces of information?"

Pain cast him a questioning look.

"Yes, one was that the Rinnegan might exist in Amegakure, and the second... he said that the Uchiha clan's ancestor, Uchiha Madara, is still alive!" Orochimaru said, his gaze fixed squarely on Uchiha Obito.

Uchiha Obito was silent for two seconds before snorting coldly. "That wretched descendant — I'll deal with him sooner or later." Though annoyed, his anger didn't cloud his judgment. He used this opportunity to confirm that Uchiha Madara was indeed still alive!

Orochimaru's pupils shrank suddenly.

Could this man really be Uchiha Madara?