The girl's soft and gentle voice drifted through the wind and rain. Ye Zi watched her calmly and asked coldly, "You... who are you?"
Konan quietly gazed at Ye Zi without answering, instead asking, "Why did you go to Konoha?"
Ye Zi remained silent, suddenly forming hand seals without warning. A beam of lightning shot out from his palm, piercing Konan's heart in an instant.
Konan's expression froze, and her body suddenly turned into countless paper fragments, reforming a moment later nearby. A scorched mark appeared on her cloak where her heart had been.
She looked down at the scorched mark, her expression as calm as ever. She vaguely understood that in the harsh environment of the past, perhaps Ye Zi, like them, had encountered a Konoha ninja. The difference was that the Konoha ninja they met chose to stay and teach them, while the one Ye Zi met chose to take him back to Konoha.
But for reasons unknown, Ye Zi eventually defected from Konoha.
"It seems you've forgotten," Konan said softly as a pair of wings made of paper slowly formed behind her.
"You lost everything here, even almost your life. You were fortunate enough to go to Konoha, and now you've left Konoha."
"What is it that you want?"
The beam of lightning slowly retracted from the distance, eventually disappearing into Ye Zi's palm.
Ye Zi coldly looked up at Konan, and he suddenly realized that everything was related to this place, connected to his previous life.
Perhaps, before he took over this nearly-dead body, it had once encountered this girl.
However, that was the past life's concern, and it had nothing to do with him. When he woke up in the rain that night, he became who he is now, with no ties to anyone.
"You can't keep me here," Ye Zi said as he began to retreat.
"After all you've been through, do you not yearn for peace?" Konan asked, her voice suddenly louder as she watched Ye Zi prepare to leave.
Ye Zi's retreating body paused, and he sneered, "Peace? What does that have to do with me?"
The cold voice cut through the layers of wind and rain, piercing Konan's ears.
A ripple of emotion passed through Konan's usually calm expression as her wings flapped and she ascended into the air. She looked down at Ye Zi below and said, "Then I have no choice but to kill you."
"You can try," Ye Zi replied, his eyes cold as he watched her. He felt that this battle was meaningless, and he didn't want to waste energy on it, but if she insisted, he had no qualms about killing her.
Konan flapped her wings, and countless paper shurikens shot toward Ye Zi below.
With a loud boom, Ye Zi's figure was engulfed by the paper shurikens, and a powerful impact kicked up dust in the wind and rain.
Konan didn't relax in the slightest, still holding paper balls infused with explosive tags in her hands.
A faint crackle of lightning came from the distance.
Konan suddenly turned toward the sound, her hands moving swiftly as the explosive tags flew toward the source of the noise.
However, the figure approaching from afar was moving at an incredible speed.
Before the explosive tags could spread out, the figure had already closed in, and a dazzling lightning flash erupted in Konan's peripheral vision!
A spray of blood shot into the air as half of Konan's paper wings fell to the ground, and her body plummeted.
Ye Zi stood where Konan had been, having sliced off half of her wing. He then turned to look at the falling Konan, quickly forming a Body Flicker Technique seal, and in the blink of an eye, he chased after the now airborneKonan, his blade, Thunder fang, crackling with lightning, reflecting his cold expression.
Konan's eyes widened in shock as she looked at Ye Zi, who was now within arm's reach. She had never imagined that he would be this strong.
Ye Zi's foot pressed against her abdomen, and he raised his blade to stab her in the heart.
At that moment, a figure suddenly appeared and kicked Ye Zi hard in the ribs, sending him flying and crashing through a building.
The figure, who had saved Konan, landed firmly on the ground with her in his arms. His long hair partially covered his face, but one of his eyes, an eerie one, locked onto Ye Zi.
This figure was none other than Nagato, the wielder of the Rinnegan.
"Nagato," Konan said, letting out a sigh of relief as she looked at his profile.
In that brief moment, she had been completely powerless. If Nagato hadn't arrived in time, she might have died from that strike.
"Sorry, I underestimated his strength," Nagato said apologetically, his eyes still fixed on the cloud of dust rising from the collapsed building.
Konan shook her head slightly, whispering, "I didn't expect him to be this strong either."
"You step back, I'll handle the rest."
"Nagato," Konan said as she retreated a few steps. "That person, he's the child we met in Saltwater Town."
Nagato's expression faltered briefly before he coldly replied, "But that was the past. He almost killed you."
Konan fell silent at his words and withdrew to a safer distance.
As the dust settled, Ye Zi emerged from the ruins, looking somewhat battered. He hadn't expected to be caught off guard like that.
"Two ribs broken."
He touched his ribs with a cold expression and looked at the person who had kicked him. When he saw those strange eyes, he paused for a moment but didn't react much.
Having been in Konoha for so many years, Ye Zi had seen Sharingan, Byakugan, and other such techniques, so Nagato's rippling eyes didn't surprise him much.
Staying any longer would be pointless. He didn't want to waste unnecessary energy on this battle.
After a brief glance at Nagato and Konan, Ye Zi's figure flickered as he moved to the rooftop of a tall building, his body surrounded by lightning as he prepared to leave.
"Trying to escape!" Nagato's eyes narrowed as he extended his palm toward Ye Zi and clenched it in the air.
"Hmm?"
Ye Zi suddenly felt a powerful force pulling at him. Before he could react, his entire body was yanked toward Nagato, rendering him immobile.
His expression changed, and a spirit emerged from his back, rushing toward Nagato at an even greater speed.
Nagato's eyes flickered with surprise as he withdrew his hand and leaped backward, creating distance.
The pulling force disappeared as Nagato retreated.
Ye Zi landed steadily on the ground, and the spirit quickly retracted and merged back into his body.
He coldly watched Nagato and said, "My target isn't you. If you continue to interfere, I won't mind spending a little time dealing with you."
Nagato remained silent. The soul-related technique Ye Zi had just used bore a striking resemblance to the method he used to summon the Gedo Statue, a dangerous jutsu. However, unlike Ye Zi, Nagato had to pay a certain price to use his technique.
Soul-based attacks were always difficult to deal with, and when facing such an opponent, it was best to avoid conflict unless absolutely necessary, especially when Yahiko was away with the bulk of their forces. So, he stayed silent, tacitly agreeing to Ye Zi's statement.
Seeing Nagato's silence, Ye Zi wasted no time. He turned and disappeared from the area with a Body Flicker.
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