Yamato was already a few years older than Lain. With him now staying in the glassware for over a year, his Chakra started to grow upon the initiation of the integration, at a rate that’s even a faster than hers.

Moreover, he did not get Lain’s sudden drop in Chakra levels. Therefore, his Chakra eventually reached a level that’s comparable to hers.

Speaking of Lain, she has been now for a year in the school, and was doing so good that she immediately skipped 3rd grade to fourth grade.

In the Academy, it wasn’t out of the ordinary that genius children would skip a year or more. It’s just that before Lain’s attendance, this was exclusive to two current students: Uchiha Izumi, and Uchiha Itachi.

Lain was one year older than the two, but she was far behind the level of Itachi.  He did better in Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and even in written exams.

In fact, even Izumi was stronger than Lain. This prevented the latter from ever feeling at ease, and pushed her to work harder and harder.

A lot of what special about the Uchiha was related to their Sharingan. At this age, they usually don’t have it opened. Izumi did open it upon witnessing the death of her father on the Kyubi’s Attack Night, but she never used it, and was not even conscious about it.

Lain, however, had perfect integration of Hashirama’s genes with her own, gaining vitality and wood release that’s similar to his. With such a “hack”, the gap between her and the two Uchiha was getting smaller and smaller.

Eventually, she could beat Izumi in a match. A few days later, she did the same against Itachi, getting to the top of her class.

The loss had its impact on Itachi, who decided to practice a lot more diligently. Izumi was more indifferent to the loss, but she felt embarrassed upon watching her crush train so diligently. Under Shisui’s guidance, the two improved very rapidly.

Within just a few days, Itachi beat Lain again!

Being Ryo’s sister, Lain gradually became as relentless, and was not the type to admit defeat. To get back to the top of her class, she looked around for someone who could guide her training…

There was no more obvious choice than the Kage Tier monster who also happened to share household with her! Ryo, who had nothing to do recently, immediately agreed. He was interested in how this rivalry between the great Uchiha Itachi and the heir of Hashirama’s Wood Release was going to turn out.

…………

Meanwhile, in the Rain Country….

At the Akatsuki’s new headquarters, two of the leaders of the Organization were not seen by its members for a long time.

For a whole year, the one who was in charge was Konan. She did not do well managing the organization, and her direction brought the Akatsuki heavy losses.

In fact, not too long ago, the organization’s base was destroyed, and many of its members were caught by the Rain Village. Poor Konan was helpless, and the members of the organization could not bear the situation any longer, and they decided to find Yahiko and Nagato at any cost.

In fact, it wasn’t just them; Konan hadn’t seen Nagato in so long as well. Every time she tried to barge in through the door of the room in which he locked himself, she would be bounced off by a strong repulsive force.

She tried enough times to give up, but today she was faced by the members of her organization, and she could only bring them to Nagato’s room.

“Yahiko and Nagato are inside, but I can’t open the door; you can try for yourselves!”

The members of the Akatsuki looked at each other, and they finally decided to assign the one who’s most powerful physically to try to push the door open.

Things obviously did not go any different, and the poor man was pushed far away from the door. However, the others did not believe that entry was impossible, and they tried to push the door in together, and together, they were sent flying back.

“Perhaps… Perhaps you should try Ninjutsu!” Konan had enough; she also hadn’t seen Nagato for too long, and wanted to see what he was doing.

The Akatsuki agreed, and they all prepared to attack the door together.

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Just then, the door opened, and they saw a familiar face: Yahiko! However, this did not make them happy at all, for their attacks had been launched, and they were all going towards their leader!

Very calmly, Yahiko raised his hand, and a strong repulsive force bounced off all their Ninjutsu.

Konan breathed a sigh of relief, and then immediately ran over to her companions.

She knew very well that Yahiko was dead, and could estimate that his “resurrection” had something to do with Nagato’s eyes, because now, the same Rinnegan were in Yahiko’s sockets as well.

“Konan, long time no see!” Nagato waved to Konan.

“Long time no see, Nagato! Has Yahiko recovered from his… injuries?” Konan’s voice tensed up greatly upon mentioning the “injuries”.

Nagato immediately answered: “Yes! However, his throat was injured to severely, and it did not get healed yet. So for now, Yahiko will not speak.” Nagato controlled Yahiko to nod.

Seeing all three of their leaders standing before them, the Akatsuki felt better at last. However, things were urgent, so they talked of the demolition of the base and their companions who were caught.

Upon hearing about the Rain village, Nagato remembered once again how Yahiko was ambushed and killed. After sighing coldly, he controlled Yahiko’s body to fly into the sky, and sent it out of the base.

Familiar with Yahiko, the rest of the Akatsuki were stunned! If Yahiko could fly, how come they never heard of that?

Seeing everyone’s surprised expressions, Nagato quickly explained: “Yahiko’s injury was in a way, both a blessing and a curse. While he had to be on the sidelines for over a year, his near-death experience awakened his Kekkei Genkai. Flying is one the abilities it grants.”

Although this explanation was rather flawed and vague, the Akatsuki members chose to believe their leaders unconditionally.

On the other side, Yahiko’s body flew into the Rain Village, and following the information the Akatsuki had, he quickly arrived at the place where the captured members were detained.

In the base, Nagato could see everything through Yahiko’s eyes, and he found that the captured Akatsuki were held in a cave.

Hundreds of Rain Ninjas were hiding around the pits, to ambush whoever would come from the Akatsuki.

Nagato closed his eyes, transferring the power of his Rennigan to Yahiko’s body. The latter landed, and then raised his hands pointing their palms at the Rain Ninjas.

“Bansho Ten’in!” Nearly a hundred Rain Ninjas who were exposed to the attack were pulled in towards Yahiko’s body.

“Shinra Tensei!” The Rain Ninjas who were just pulled in where pushed away violently, slamming into the distain rocks!

Yahiko’s body continued to move forwards down the hill, to reach the cave where his companions were being held. Whenever he encountered someone that he didn’t know, he just used Shinra Tensei and sent them away.

Gradually, no more Rain Ninjas dared to move in. As he reached the portal to the inside of the cave, he used the Black Receivers to destroy the seals closing it, and then freed all the captured Akatsuki members.

At the base, after “Yahiko” returned, he went into Nagato room with both Nagato and Konan.

“Nagato; what’s this thingon Yahiko?”

Nagato had nothing to hide from Konan, telling her everything: “This is what I managed to come up with following Ryo’s advice. The power of the Rinnegan is transferred to Yahiko’s body through these Black Iron Rods. This way, his body his preserved, could be moved, and use a portion of my Rinnegan’s power. “

Konan nodded, murmuring: “I feel awkward witnessing Yahiko move again… Hey, can you only control one?”

“Six; the Rinnegan has six main abilities! I will collect the appropriate corpses in the future, spreading these 6 abilities among them. They will be called Pain, and Yahiko will be: Tendo Pain!