Land of Water, Ninja World.
"Ah, finally, it's time," a figure murmured as they hovered in the rain-filled sky.
Surrounded by a faint red glow, the rain droplets never touched him, as the glow acted as a barrier.
As he spoke, two figures appeared behind him—one cloaked in darkness, and the other wearing white armor.
"Palkia, cut this area off from the rest of the ninja world, including the ground below and the sky above. I don't want anyone inside to escape," Dak instructed the white figure while gesturing toward the country below, more specifically, the region where the core members of Akatsuki were gathered. The area wasn't large, but it was enough.
Palkia nodded, raising its arms as purple energy began to gather.
Spacial Rend.
Twelve purple slashes expanded outward, forming a cube that severed the space from the rest of the ninja world, isolating Akatsuki's hideout.
For Palkia, the space deity, such a task was not difficult—it had even shown similar abilities in past battles.
"Darkrai, deal with any escape attempts, especially from that half-black, half-white plant thing. Focus on the black part, it's troublesome," Dak added, referring to Black and White Zetsu.
Zetsu was two beings in one—Black Zetsu and White Zetsu.
To the uninformed, Black Zetsu seemed to be a creation of Madara, brought to life using Yin-Yang Release to embody his will.
Madara, believing Black Zetsu to be his creation, had no idea that it was actually the will of Kaguya, born from her chakra just before she was sealed away. It had only pretended to be a creation of the Uchiha.
Meanwhile, White Zetsu was a creature extracted by Black Zetsu from those who had fallen victim to the Infinite Tsukuyomi and stored within the Gedo Statue.
The reason Zetsu was considered two beings, not just one, was simple—Black Zetsu was the brain, and he could be killed.
In fact, Kaguya's resurrection, as well as Madara's, hinged entirely on Black Zetsu's plans. For centuries, it had been manipulating events, while White Zetsu acted as little more than a grunt.
Killing Black Zetsu would prevent Madara and Kaguya from ever being resurrected. Without it, their revival rituals—whether through spiritual fusion or Yin-Yang Release—would be impossible.
Therefore, taking out Black Zetsu was key to stopping the ninja world's biggest future threats before they even emerged.
If Black Zetsu died, Uchiha Madara's and Kaguya's resurrections would never happen. The next major antagonist would be Uchiha Obito, with Nagato as the second most dangerous figure.
But to be frank, could either of them truly live up to the title of "boss" at this point?
While White Zetsu was essentially just a body, and there were countless copies of it, Black Zetsu was the brain and its death would render the remaining White Zetsus leaderless.
Once Obito, posing as Madara, was dealt with, White Zetsu would be like headless chickens, easily manageable. They might even make good research subjects for Vegapunk.
While such biological experiments might sound cruel, progress in the field required it. Even on Pokémon Island, there were biological experiments—though they used death row prisoners sent to Vegapunk's lab.
Having an endless supply of White Zetsu clones would solve the problem of running out of test subjects.
"Looks like we've been discovered."
Below, ten figures wearing black cloaks adorned with red clouds stood on a lake, gazing up at Dak.
As for Palkia and Darkrai, Palkia had concealed itself in the space between dimensions, maintaining the separation from the ninja world, while Darkrai lurked in the shadows, preparing to strike at Zetsu.
In simple terms, Dak was now facing all ten of them alone.
There was a bit of pressure, but that was exactly what he wanted. Dak had come here to test himself in battle, and deliberately left his Pokémon out of this fight.
He knew he was strong, but he didn't know just how strong, having rarely participated in high-level battles personally. Usually, his Pokémon, like Darkrai, handled things.
He couldn't help but glance at his own stats.
[Dak]
Abilities: Strength Lv. 8, Agility Lv. 8, Stamina Lv. 8, Training Lv. 8, Psychic Powers Lv. 10, Door-Door Fruit Lv. 10, Conqueror's Haki Lv. 10, Armament Haki Lv. 10, Observation Haki Lv. 10, Aptitude Detection.
His stats hadn't changed much since he last checked—only his physical attributes had risen to Level 8 through daily training.
Level 8 physical stats were on par with an admiral of the navy.
Dak looked down at the ten figures, analyzing their power.
Pain (Nagato).
Konan.
Zetsu.
Uchiha Itachi.
Kisame Hoshigaki.
Sasori.
Deidara.
Kakuzu.
Hidan.
Uchiha Madara (Obito).
At this time, Jūzō Biwa had already died, and Orochimaru had left Akatsuki. Kisame had taken Jūzō's place, and Obito was still posing as Madara.
"Hm," Dak frowned, his thoughts a bit jumbled.
This group wasn't easy to deal with, but only Nagato stood out as a real threat. The others were strong, but they weren't quite on par with the Kage of their respective villages.
In terms of Pokémon levels, their average strength was around Lv. 50. Their abilities were tricky, making them hard to kill.
If Dak hadn't known their abilities beforehand, even with Palkia's space-severing barrier, some of them might have slipped away.
"Should we kill him?"
"You go kill him."
"What's the rush? He doesn't look like an ordinary person."
"Let's see what he wants first."
"Maybe he wants to join us."
As Dak paused, thinking, the members of Akatsuki below had already begun discussing among themselves.
What surprised Dak a little was that they hadn't attacked immediately.
"State your purpose," Pain, the current leader of Akatsuki, called out to Dak.
"Ah, well, I'm here to kill you all," Dak said nonchalantly, deciding there was no point in lying.
"..." x10.
A heavy silence fell over the group as they stared at Dak, unsure where his confidence came from.
"Who's going first?"
Pain didn't seem to take Dak seriously, merely glancing at his comrades.
This overconfidence was one of Akatsuki's greatest downfalls.
In the original story, if they had fought as a team instead of one by one, the heroes wouldn't have stood a chance.
"I'll test him out," said the yellow-haired rogue from Iwagakure, Deidara, raising his hand.
Explosive Clay: Giant Bird.
A white bird made of clay flew from Deidara's hand, soaring toward Dak.
"Deidara…"
Dak tilted his head. For a moment, he wasn't sure how to attack.
In simple terms, he lacked battle experience—he had no established fighting style or strategy, which made him pause to consider his options.
If he had been acting as a trainer, commanding his Pokémon, Dak would have wasted no time. He had long since developed solid battle strategies for his Pokémon.
However, he didn't dwell on it for long. Deidara was already making his move.
"Explosive Clay: Twin Birds," Deidara called out, sending several clay birds flying toward Dak. But that was all—no follow-up attacks, indicating that he was likely testing Dak's capabilities.
While Deidara had a straightforward personality, he was a cunning and cautious fighter.
Swoosh.
The white birds shot toward Dak at high speed.
Dak raised an eyebrow and flicked his fingers.
A portal opened in front of the birds, and they flew through it before it closed behind them.
The birds vanished as though they had never existed.
"...?" x10.
The members of Akatsuki all stared in confusion.
"A space-time jutsu?" Sasori muttered, glancing at Obito.
In his mind, Obito was the expert in space-time techniques, so this move seemed similar.
Obito, however, was quietly alarmed.
Dak's ability had indeed looked very similar to his Kamui.
"Explode!" Deidara tried to detonate his clay birds but failed.
It felt as if his chakra connection to the birds had been severed. He couldn't sense or control them anymore.
Deidara frowned, growing cautious.
From that single move, every member of Akatsuki could tell that this person wasn't going to be easy to deal with.
(End of Chapter)
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