“Are you sure about this?” I ask, choosing not to hide the worry in my voice

“Yes. We’re ending this tonight.” He responds. I can hear the full force of his conviction embedded in his deep voice. I wish that it was enough to convince me that this was the right decision. I just can’t seem to shake this uneasiness that’s plaguing me. Something just doesn’t feel right.

I try to say something, but the sound of thunder cuts me off before I can get it out. The rain is especially harsh tonight, but that’s to be expected this time of year in Amegakure. Though the rain is consistent year round, it becomes especially severe, and even dangerous, during these months.

He was able to use it to his advantage during our initial attack. With the rain obscuring both their vision and hearing, he was able to force them to retreat back to their stronghold. While it would have been easy enough to finish them all out here, in the forest, he let them get away so that he could finish the battle there, on their turf.

He truly intends to blow them all away, here and now.

I turn towards the mountain, admiring the pillaged castle that The Salamander and his men have claimed for themselves. It once belonged to one of the Nations Lords’, but The Salamander claimed it as his own after taking the lives of the Lord and his military forces singlehandedly.

And now he has an entire army of his own waiting in tow. It was one thing fighting them out here where they least expected it, but it’ll be something entirely different trying to face them inside of their stronghold.

A bolt of lightning flashes overhead as I say, “let me come with you.”

“No.”

“It just doesn’t make sense! If not me, then call someone else - we have dozens of allies who could lend their assistance!” I plead, “it doesn’t have to be just-”

“This is my fight, and mine alone.” His voice is stern, and I know that my attempt it futile. Even if I tried to contact one of our allies, he wouldn’t wait for their arrival. And if I made an attempt, he’d just end up wasting energy trying to incapacitate me. It’s pointless to try and fight him on this one. I may not like the idea of him bargaining in their alone, but I know that there’s no changing his mind now. Still..

“The power of all six Paths will be more than enough to handle them,” he says over the sound of thunder and rain.

The Six Paths. They’re powerful, yes. But, the sheer number of enemy combatants, combined with the traps that are surely lying in wait. It’s going to be impossible for him to reach The Salamander, let alone defeat him. It’s ridiculous for him to even try it alone.

I can’t help but think of the last time we attempted confronting The Salamander and his crew, and how badly it went for all of us, especially for..

“Don’t worry,” he snaps me out of my trance. “I plan on making quick work of them all.”

I turn to face him but then quickly turn away.

“It still bothers you,” his voice is softer, and I can just barely hear it over the sound of the pouring rain.

“It’s,” I swallow hard, “still difficult, yes.”

Difficult is an understatement. I think. It’s unbearable.

I turn back to him and see that he’s turned his head away from me, more than likely ashamed because of my reaction. I want to apologize, but I can’t apologize for how I feel. I’ve always been against the idea of using him for this.

I take a moment to admire his form. He wears the standard attire of our organization, an all-black cloak with bright red clouds scattered throughout the design. A red trim covers the edges of his sleeves, the bottom of the cloak, as well as the high collar that wraps around his head, slightly obscuring the bottom half of his face.

I wish it covered it all.

The face is one that is somehow simultaneously familiar and unrecognizable to me. It isn’t the fact that his skin, which was once so filled with color and life, was now as white as paper; it isn’t the fact that his face and ears are now covered with black chakra rods, which protrude from his skin, like piercings; it isn’t even the fact that his once brownish-orange eyes were now replaced with the cold, unnerving Rinnegan.

I could handle those things, drastically different though they may be.

But, that wasn’t what really shook me.

What bothered me was the way he never smiled.

The way his face was frozen in a permanent scowl, the way his eyes were so filled with despair and loneliness, yet also chocked-full of anger and rage. Like he was both in pain and ready to dish it out.

I hated seeing Yahiko like this.

But, this isn’t Yahiko. I remind myself. Not anymore.

Yahiko is dead. His life claimed by The Salamander.

I remember that day so vividly.

It was supposed to be a peaceful meeting between our organization, the Akatsuki, and The Salamander and his men. At least, that’s what we thought it would be.

But it was an ambush, one wherein I was kidnapped. Yahiko was our leader then, and he led the team that searched for me. However, upon locating me, he was forced into an impossible situation which left him sacrificing himself to keep me safe.

I feel a rage start to build inside of me. Anger at myself for letting myself be captured, anger at Yahiko for sacrificing himself for me, but more than anything I feel an anger towards The Salamander for orchestrating the entire event. He has to pay for taking Yahiko from us, for the pain he has inflicted upon us.

He turns his gaze back towards me, and I look into his grey eyes.

The Salamander will come to know Pain.

“I’m going to kill him, Konan.” He says.

“I know you will, Nagato.” I reply.

“With this act, we’ll be that much closer to achieving our goal of true peace.” He pauses as the sound of footsteps come from the forest behind him, “and this world will come to know Pain.”

Just as he says the final word, five other individuals jump from the shadowy forest behind us and take their positions next to him. Each one wears an identical cloak, sports similar facial piercings in the form of Chakra Rods, have identical Rinnegan eyes, and have the same bright orange hair as Yahiko.

The Paths have arrived.

At first glance it might seem as though they were all siblings, or at least closely related. But that was by design. Nagato’s design. He wanted them all to resemble Yahiko, perhaps as a sort of tribute to our fallen comrade. I find it unnerving, like looking at different versions of Yahiko – none of them as flattering as the original.

All of them just as dead.

Yahiko’s Body – the Deva Path – turns to me and says, “I’m heading out now.”

I admire the Six Paths of Pain for a moment, wanting to put my faith in their – in Nagato’s – ability to complete this mission. Because not only is this mission a personal one for us, it is one that will bring an end to the civil unrest that has been plaguing our nation for the past seven years. We need this win. And, if anyone can do it, I’d have to imagine that it would be Nagato and his Six Paths of Pain.

I lock eyes with the Deva Path - with the man I once knew as Yahiko.

“Very well,” I say.

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART II