I Punch the Tailed Beast Ball

Chapter 450: The End and a New Beginning

In the dense forest, Uzuki Yugao and Hayate Gekkō walked side by side, neither showing much tension on their faces.

After all, Hayate Gekkō had reached the quarterfinals of the Chūnin Exams. Although probably the weakest of the bunch, he was still confident facing this assessment.

"Yugao, be careful," Hayate warned sharply as he spotted a green snake whose scales blended almost perfectly with the surrounding grass.

Whoosh!

Hayate immediately gripped his sword, channeling all his strength into the blade. His breathing shifted suddenly, chakra burst forth, and a six-meter-tall whirlwind slashed forward.

The whirlwind hit the green-scaled snake, sweeping it up in an instant.

Sharp wind blades carved bloodied gashes into the snake’s body, and gray-green blood dripped onto the ground.

Reacting quickly to Hayate’s warning, Uzuki Yugao drew her sword. Seizing the moment while the snake was caught in the whirlwind, she dashed forward and cleanly decapitated it.

After the battle, Hayate praised her:

"Yugao, your sword’s gotten even faster. You’ll need to be more careful during training from now on."

Yugao gave him a sidelong glance, lightly shook off the blood on her blade, then sheathed it and replied:

"If only I really had that kind of skill. I know where I stand."

She was well aware, though they had both trained in Wind Breathing, Hayate had much better compatibility with the style. Not only had he mastered every form quickly, but he’d even developed a few techniques of his own, like the whirlwind and wind wall.

So she wasn’t going to get a big head just because Hayate complimented her. She knew he was stronger.

Still, even knowing the compliment wasn’t entirely sincere, it made her happy. Especially since it came from someone she liked, that made it even sweeter.

"Hehe..." Hayate scratched his head with a goofy grin, saying nothing more.

He wasn’t dumb. Girls are just like that, saying "no" with their words but feeling happy in their hearts.

If he had said something like, "Yeah, you’re definitely still way weaker than me," that’d just be asking for trouble.

So silence and a silly smile were the safest bet.

Just as Hayate expected, Yugao said she wasn’t strong, but her face was smiling as she leaned against him.

"Women are natural-born liars. You gotta listen to what they mean, not what they say," Hayate thought to himself.

Time flew by, and soon six days had passed. The assessment period ended, and everyone gathered at the summit.

Itachi and Kabuto arrived with calm expressions.

They were the first to show up, strolling over as if they were out for a walk.

In fact, they’d reached the summit on the first day, but since the exam wasn’t officially over yet, they weren’t allowed in and just loitered nearby until time passed.

After them, others began arriving.

Hayate and Yugao came next, looking just as relaxed, unlike people who had just survived six days in a monster-infested wilderness.

Those who arrived early all wore easy smiles and had clean, intact clothes.

But the later arrivals looked much worse, faces dirty, clothes bloodstained with fluids from unknown creatures, and hair in complete disarray.

The final few were in even worse shape, torn clothing exposing scabbed wounds from hard-fought battles.

Once everyone had gathered, Nagasawa began checking the tokens, beads hidden inside the monsters.

Not everyone passed the exam and reached the summit, those who couldn’t keep up had already used signal flares to forfeit and be rescued.

For ninja, mountain climbing wasn’t hard.

The real issue was the poisonous insects and monsters.

Most of the failures were due to losing to the beasts, or being badly injured during the fights, reducing their combat ability.

Others were just unlucky, running into multiple monsters at once and having to call for help.

Nagasawa glanced around. As long as they hadn’t quit early, everyone had at least two beads.

Which made sense. Given how many monsters he’d deployed, reaching the summit meant encountering at least three or four.

So unless someone failed midway, they were bound to have enough beads by the end.

"Then, congratulations. You’ve passed the assessment and are now official members of the Special Ops Division. However, since you’re new, your starting rank will be the lowest, Grade E," Nagasawa said with a smile.

The Special Ops had its own internal ranking system: five grades from A to E.

Grade A was the highest below the Pillar, or rather, Pillars were technically Grade A too. A Pillar was more of a title: the leader of a Breathing Style school. Once someone stronger appeared or the current Pillar aged, they’d retire.

Nagasawa created the Special Ops ranking system to highlight the division’s importance and uniqueness, and to motivate the members to train hard and complete missions.

There were two ways to level up , Mission performance, based on task difficulty and number or Strength, you could request a promotion based on proven growth.

But Nagasawa set a high bar.

Basically, you needed Grade C-level strength to even apply for a promotion from E to D through this method.

He didn’t like people who trained but never did missions. He wanted balanced development, no extremists.

"Thank you, Captain! We’ll work hard to level up!"

The crowd roared in unison.

"Good. I look forward to your performance," Nagasawa said, smiling.

He had even once considered creating a fake identity to enter the division himself and become the ultimate tryhard, pushing everyone to grow through sheer competitiveness.

But in the end, faking an identity felt too troublesome. If he got found out, it’d leave a black mark on his shining reputation in Konoha.

"Whew..." Itachi let out a breath, feeling lighter.

It wasn’t the exam that stressed him, but the fact that his journey through the Land of Fire was finally about to begin.

"Time to say goodbye to my family... and to Kabuto and Izumi too..."

His thoughts drifted far beyond Konoha, to the vast land of the Fire Nation.

What would the towns outside be like? Would there be ninja as powerful as those in Konoha? Was the capital more prosperous than Konoha itself?

These were all questions that had filled Itachi’s mind ever since he’d decided to travel.

Looking at the map, Konoha was tiny, just a small piece of the Fire Nation’s vast territory.

He wondered what surprises that great land held for him.

.....

After finishing all arrangements, Nagato also departed from Amegakure and headed for the Land of Fields.

He was the last of the Akatsuki core members to leave. The others had already gone to the Land of Fields.

Of course, there were still many outer members of Akatsuki remaining in Amegakure, keeping watch over the village on Pain’s behalf.

As he prepared to leave the Land of Rain, Nagato looked up at the overcast sky. Dark clouds loomed, and the occasional roll of thunder echoed through the air. Yellow lightning flickered within the clouds, adding streaks of color to the gloom.

It was going to rain.

To Nagato, this was a familiar sight. He’d grown up in the Land of Rain and rarely left except for recruitment missions.

Once, he had been no different from other kids. But then one day, a Konoha shinobi broke into his home and killed his parents. His peaceful life was shattered.

Grief, fear, and rage consumed him, and in that moment, he awakened the Rinnegan and killed the shinobi who murdered his parents.

From then on, orphaned and alone, he wandered.

Despite possessing the powerful Rinnegan, Nagato remained a kind-hearted child. Even in desperation, he never used his power to rob others.

Eventually, he collapsed from hunger and exhaustion. Konan found him, saved him, and brought him to Yahiko. That’s when the three of them met.

Life got a little better after that, but it was still hard. They were just three orphans.

Then they met Jiraiya. He took them in, taught them to be ninja, fed them, gave them a home.

For Nagato, those were the happiest days of his life. Three kids with a great teacher, carefree and full of hope.

But it only lasted three years.

Once Jiraiya saw they were strong enough to live on their own, he left.

Maybe it was the skills they’d learned, or perhaps their own ambitions, but Yahiko soon voiced his dream.

He wanted to end the chaos. He didn’t want more war orphans like them.

He would bring peace to the Land of Rain, and to the world.

So Yahiko founded the Akatsuki. He believed their strength could bring change.

Perhaps due to disappointment with Hanzo, or maybe Yahiko’s charisma, many ninja joined Akatsuki. Their actions soon made waves, and even Jiraiya, far away, heard their name.

It was another beautiful time for Nagato. They fought for a noble goal, gaining new comrades who shared their ideals.

Back then, Nagato thought: If life could stay like this forever, that would be perfect.

But a hidden conspiracy was already in motion. Akatsuki’s fate was about to be rewritten.

Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure and the famed Demi-God, sent envoys to contact Akatsuki.

They said he admired their cause and wanted to join forces to bring peace to the Land of Rain.

Yahiko was ecstatic, he could barely sleep. The leader of the official ruling force of the country wanted to ally with them.

Hanzo was a living legend. And Akatsuki, at the time, was still just an idealistic paramilitary group.

This was a huge acknowledgment of their efforts. Yahiko immediately agreed and shared the news with the group.

Everyone was thrilled. It felt like the hard days were over and a new era was beginning.

Seeing their joy, Nagato felt joyful too.

But when they arrived at the meeting place, they realized it was all a trap.

Hanzo had no intention of cooperating. He’d spent a long time choosing a location where escape was almost impossible.

Konan was captured. The area was crawling with Hanzo’s ninja.

The dream of cooperation was gone. All that remained was a tomb.

The shock nearly broke Nagato. Until Yahiko, with a smile, impaled himself on Nagato’s kunai, choosing to die so Nagato could awaken.

That moment shattered him.

Every hair on his body stood up. A soul-deep chill surged through him.

So cold... so cold... The icy rain hit his face, and he felt a cold like never before.

Tears welled up in his eyes. He screamed into the sky, filled with grief.

Why? Why him?

First, the world took his parents. Now, it had taken his closest friend.

Why was the world so cruel?

In the depth of agony, Nagato’s Rinnegan fully awakened. He summoned the Gedo Statue, annihilating countless enemy ninja in an instant.

He used the chaos to rescue Konan. But Hanzo, ever cautious, escaped after detonating a seal that crippled Nagato’s legs.

After seeing Nagato use abilities he’d never witnessed, Hanzo fled rather than risk it.

When Nagato and Konan returned to Akatsuki’s base, they found corpses, everyone was dead.

Only Nagato and Konan remained.

And from there... everything changed.

As Nagato recalled the past, the rain finally began to fall. Droplets ran down his face.

He stood silently in the downpour, along with Deva Path Pain.

In the end, Nagato wasn’t sure whether the tears on his face were from his memories, or just the rain.

"...Time to go," Nagato murmured.

There was no response.

Because Deva Path Pain was just a puppet, not a real person.