(NORMAL POV)
My rage bubbled and boiled beneath my skin as I felt the lives of those in the village get snuffed out all of a sudden. It was a visceral and terrible sensation like the Uchiha massacre all over, just faster. The few who survived where either gravely injured or had been at the edge of the attack and not nearly prepared enough for what hit them. Even with the barrier warning everyone of the attack by flaring up to stop it there simply wasn’t enough time to try and escape or defend yourself.-
Even as my emotions caused my full power to surge out violently I still maintained enough sanity not to destroy my house as I shot out of it. Using Magnet release to lift me into the sky above the village my rage went full circle to the point I was so filled with wrath that I felt absolutely nothing at all. I didn’t waste any time at all removing the seals on me as I flew over the village and soon arrived above the center of the massive crater where the perpetrator of this attack stood waiting with a blank expression.-
“Do you hate me? Can you understand pain now?” The tall narrowly built man with orange hair and many black rods pierced through his face asked calmly.
With Jiraiya’s warning and what my own eyes saw I could tell that these six “people” were in fact merely corpses being remotely controlled from a distance. There was no lifeforce within them nor vitality. The chakra in their bodies wasn’t even coming from them but was being sent in through those black rods piercing through various parts of the bodies.
“Hate? Why should I feel hate for the dead?” I said and meant it.
These corpses were mere puppets so why should I bear them any hatred? No all my rage and wrath was firmly directed at the one controlling them. I didn’t bother speaking again and simply lifted my fist and swung out at full power straight at the group of six. The one that spoke raised his hands and I watched as a pulse of chakra came into it’s body and then a wave of pure force erupted to counter the pressure of my punch. I didn’t even bother trying to clash with this puppet again and clapped my hands together.
‘Sage transformation: Saint ascension!’ I thought as I drew in vast amounts of natural energy and forced my balance to swap with natural energy taking the main portion.
This was the first time after Orochimaru pulled his trick that I had used this and I immediately pin pointed the difference from when I used it on Kakuzu all that time ago. My body wasn’t struggling to contain this power all that much anymore. If I had to equate it to anything I’d say it was likely about the same level of strain the fifth gate being opened put on Guy’s body.-
It was heavy sure but it wasn’t nearly to the point of causing irreparable damage unless I stayed in this state for a long time. Once again I raised my fist and punched down at full strength and it was as if the world itself broke as my fist vanished in a distorted spatial storm and at the next instant there was a massive hole where the six corpses were previously standing. It was as if reality had glitched and just deleted everything within that space in the shape of a pillar.-
I breathed out and let Saint mode fade away as I slipped back into standard sage mode. Tracking the energy that was controlling those corpses was easy with my eyes and using Magnet release I rocketed across the sky towards the source of the chakra. It was a small mountain not that far away from the village, maybe ten or twenty miles. On this mountain there was a single tree that was abnormally sized and to my eyes couldn’t be more obviously the hiding place of the one controlling the corpses. I threw a punch at the tree and sheared away the land around a specific area as the mastermind blocked my attack.-
There within the false tree was a woman who could be considered gorgeous with smooth lilac hair and gentle features. She summoned what appeared to be a lot of slips of paper defensively when she saw me after my attack failed to kill her and the man she was with. And you can imagine my surprise to recognize that red hair on his gaunt bodies head, an Uzumaki. The rods sticking out of his back aside he looked mere moments from death and my eyes told me why easily, his eyes were killing him ever so slowly.-
Oh did I recognize those eyes from all my research into the Sage of six paths, the Rinnegan. Supposedly capable of creating anything from nothing and even bringing the long dead back to life. Don’t think I didn’t see the ominous similarities to my own eyes that seemed to have uncomfortably close abilities though with some notable differences. Still I saw the opportunity to have those killed returned to life by the ironic power of the one who killed them in the first place.-
“Who are you and why are you attacking us!?” the woman demanded while her paper moved as if awaiting her orders.
“That is what destroyed the Pains.” the man said and her eyes narrowed in shock and horror.
“Six thousand eight hundred and fifty two.” I stated coldly.
“What?” The woman said confused and I explained with incredible control over my emotions.
“The number of people killed when you attacked Konoha. Six thousand eight hundred and fifty two. Of that amount I will only be able to revive half that number without doing irreparable damage to my own lifeforce. The Rinnegan is said to be able to restore the dead to life so I will give you only one chance to do so before I kill you.” I said ignoring the woman and giving the man a dead stare.
“Not if I kill you first!” she yelled and a wave of her paper shoots from her and slams into me ineffectually.
It was like thousands of kunai being slid across me and while the force and sharpness of the paper was impressive it wasn’t nearly enough to break through my defenses and even scratch me. When the paper vanished so the woman could no doubt see her handiwork I simply raised a finger and used Zero release the reduce her to a dead block of ice, I was all out of mercy at this point.-
“Before I die can you tell me why nobody knows you exist?” The man asked with a resigned look in his eyes.
“I was living peacefully. Despite all my power I wanted nothing to do with the matters of politics or war. But you, you had to come and kill so many and level the whole village. Why?” I demanded finally letting my emotional state crack through even if I knew I shouldn’t.