After successfully capturing the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, Pain and Konan left the Land of Lightning and returned to the Hidden Rain Village.
Before they arrived, the Hidden Cloud Village was one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
In terms of overall strength, before the appearance of the light screen, Konoha was not even as strong as the Hidden Cloud Village.
But this strong village, under the full power of Pain's Almighty Push, was reduced to rubble.
"Ugh."
A squint of his head, A struggled to push aside the debris that was stuck to him.
It's no wonder A has such a strong physique.
Even though he was at the epicenter of the Almighty Push, he didn't die.
Of course, his condition wasn't great.
Conservatively, at least four of his ribs were broken, and his internal organs had varying degrees of damage.
But fortunately, these injuries could heal with proper rest, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
"Boss, are you okay?"
Darui's voice grew closer, and A glanced at him weakly and replied, "I'm not dead yet."
Hearing this, Darui immediately let out a sigh of relief.
The Raikage was the pillar of the group, and they believed that as long as the boss wasn't dead, they could overcome any difficulty.
"How about you?"
A remembered that Darui had already been seriously injured before the disaster, and with Pain's attack, his injuries must have worsened.
"Well, I guess I got lucky. When the enemy used that exaggerated technique, there was an underground shelter right next to me. Fortunately, our shelter was deep enough; otherwise, you might not have seen me again."
As Darui spoke, his hands were still busy.
He was also clearing the construction debris stuck on A's body.
Time passed slowly. When A and Darui had almost finished clearing the debris, A had also gotten out from the pile, and by then, a group of ninja who had survived the disaster had gathered around them.
"Don't waste time around me. Those who are severely injured, go find a place to rest. Those with minor injuries, go help with the rescue."
"Yes, Raikage-sama."
The ninjas left, and Darui went to join the others in the rescue efforts.
A didn't go to help. One reason was that his own injuries were fairly serious, and moving recklessly would make them worse.
The other reason was that he needed time to think.
He needed to think about what Cloud Village should do next.
A climbed up to a higher point of a ruined building using both his hands and feet.
"It's really hell..."
Looking around, all he saw was ruin.
This was the edge of the village.
In the center of the village, there was now a massive crater.
"Damn it!"
A tear unknowingly slid down A's cheek.
This was the first time he cried since attending the funeral of the Third Raikage.
"Is this the pain you wanted me to feel?"
"This is really too painful, you bastard!"
His fists clenched tightly, and at that moment, A's heart was filled with anger.
Anger at the enemy, and anger at himself.
However, Ai was not consumed by anger.
Looking at the miserable surroundings, he appeared calm.
This was completely different from the reckless personality he had shown before.
"I wonder, after all this, will the Hidden Cloud Village still be one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries?"
The Hidden Sand Village is weak enough already.
The whole village only has one kage-level fighter, Chiyo, who is almost buried in the ground.
Even so, the Hidden Sand Village can still rely on a large number of Genin, Chunin, and Jonin-ranked ninjas to stay within the Five Great Shinobi Countries.
Its overall strength is not something that small villages like the Hidden Grass or Hidden Waterfall can compare to.
But the situation in the Hidden Cloud Village is different now.
The Hidden Cloud Village doesn't lack kage-level ninjas, since the village still has the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki holding the line.
But what about the others?
The number of deaths among the Jonin, Chunin, and Genin-ranked ninjas is significant.
Not to mention, a large number of civilians died as well.
The whole village has been reduced to ruins, and just rebuilding it will take an unknown amount of time and money.
If other ninja villages find out about the Hidden Cloud Village's situation, will they take advantage of it?
Not to mention, Onoki is not someone who's easy to deal with.
If things aren't handled well, the Hidden Cloud Village could very well be excluded from the Five Great Shinobi Countries and become a small ninja village.
"Big brother, how did the village end up like this? What exactly happened?"
Just then, Killer Bee returned safely from Turtle Island and came to Ai's side.
It was clear that Killer Bee's expression was very serious.
So serious, in fact, that he didn't even speak his favorite rap.
"It's simple. The village was invaded by the Akatsuki. Everything here was done by them."
"Are the members of this organization that strong?"
Killer Bee didn't doubt A's words; he was just very curious about what kind of jutsu the enemy had used to destroy the Hidden Cloud Village like this.
"Gyūki, this is much more powerful than your Tailed Beast Bomb."
"... Since the Hidden Cloud Village is in such bad shape, I'll let it slide this time."
Inside Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails Gyūki felt both sympathy and a strange satisfaction for what had happened to the Hidden Cloud Village.
Even though he and Killer Bee had become true partners, he still hated the Hidden Cloud Village.
But hate aside, Gyūki would still tell Killer Bee what he needed to hear.
"The Hidden Cloud Village's fate reminds me of some bad things."
"Yo~ Come on, tell me~ Yo yo~ Bastard~"
At this point, Killer Bee, now much calmer, started talking in his usual rap-like style.
To this, Gyūki simply rolled his eyes in disdain before continuing, "In my memory, only old man's Rinnegan could have done this to the Hidden Cloud Village."
From his observations, Gyūki knew that the Hidden Cloud Village had probably been destroyed by repulsion.
After all, he had once seen the Sage of Six Paths use both repulsion and attraction, knowing these powers came from the Rinnegan.
But this level of repulsion, he was seeing for the first time.
"Old man? Who's that? A fool? Son? Grandson? Kid? NO, call me 'old man'!"
"... Can you stop with that terrible rap? It's so bad! Be serious for once."
"No, no, no, you're just jealous. You can't keep up with me, so come rap along with me!"
"... If you keep babbling like this, I won't say anything anymore."
"Okay, Grandpa Gyūki, I won't say anything anymore. It's your turn to talk."
"..."
Gyūki sighed.
He didn't know if his mind was clouded, but how did he end up becoming partners with someone like this?
He had to endure this horrible rap every day.
It was really annoying.
While the Hidden Cloud Village was facing great danger, in a laboratory in Konoha.
Jiraiya was smiling as he looked at the man with orange hair standing before him.
"Welcome back."
"Yahiko!"
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