The Third Hokage: First Move Send Danzō to Prison

The rain in the Hidden Rain Village never ceased.

Steel towers pierced through the clouds, casting a cold metallic sheen under the relentless downpour. Cloaked figures moved through the shadows of the alleys; inside dimly lit izakayas, the laughter of weary adults echoed warmly. Children ran beneath the eaves, splashing through puddles, while in the distance, enormous pipes spewed steam into the misty air, merging with the rain and fog.

This was no longer the Hidden Rain of the past.

Since Nagato took control, the entire village had transformed its once-battered aesthetic now shaped by a surreal blend of ninjutsu and technology, a cyber-ninja city powered by the mysterious techniques of the Rinnegan.

On the tallest tower, the silhouette of the Deva Path Pain gradually emerged. The concentric ripples of his Rinnegan glowed faintly against the curtain of rain.

"You've come," he said without turning, his voice merging seamlessly with the sound of falling rain.

Sheets of paper fluttered through the sky like white butterflies, swirling together into the form of a woman it was Konan.

"Still watching over the village?" she asked.

Pain's gaze remained fixed beyond the rain. In the dark cityscape, windows aglow with warm light resembled fireflies drifting on a black ocean.

"Pain is slowly leaving this village," he said quietly.

This was his divine realm. Nagato had watched over this war-torn nation through Yahiko's eyes, always with Konan by his side. Together, they had protected this fragile peace born from ruins.

But now…

The Hidden Leaf was preparing to march upon them again just as it had in their youth, when everything was first torn apart.

This time, however, they were no longer helpless.

Konan's eyes followed Pain's, gazing out at the scattered lights of the village. "If what Kuro said is true, then things may be worse than we imagined."

Kurozetsu had recently returned with unsettling news and asked to rejoin the Akatsuki.

Pain didn't respond at first. After a pause, his voice was calm but resolute.

"Gods do not lose."

He possessed the Rinnegan he couldn't believe defeat was even possible.

Still, Konan frowned, her concern slipping through her composed exterior. "But if a battle starts here in the Rain Village… everything we've built might be destroyed."

Konan was not like Yahiko or Nagato.

When Yahiko was alive, she followed him. After his death, she followed Nagato. Behind her stoic facade, she was loyal fiercely so but lacked the grand vision of her comrades.

Yahiko had truly inherited Jiraiya's will: he believed peace could be achieved through dialogue. His dream was to lead the Rain Village out of war and into peace a place where people could live ordinary lives, free from fear.

Nagato, on the other hand, was a man caught in a web of contradictions.

As a child, he suffered deeply at the hands of the Hidden Leaf. Yet he also owed an enormous debt to Jiraiya, who had raised him. When Yahiko died, all those conflicting emotions finally exploded.

Nagato chose to carry on Yahiko's dream turning Yahiko's corpse into the Deva Path, a god to lead both the Rain Village and the Akatsuki. But then came Tobi, an ambitious manipulator posing as Madara Uchiha. He twisted Yahiko's vision, slowly corrupting the Akatsuki into a vessel for his own dark ambitions.

But peace in the Rain Village was the dream they had all shared from the beginning.

If they destroyed their home in pursuit of so-called "world peace," then what would it all mean?

Could a peace without the Rain Village really be called peace?

Back in the tower, Nagato, who shared his senses with Pain, reflected deeply on that thought.

At last, both he and the Deva Path spoke in unison. "Konan, since the Rain Village has been exposed, it's time we step forward."

He intended to rule openly as a god.

Konan nodded. "Alright."

"We cannot let Tobi or Kurozetsu return to the Akatsuki."

Since expelling them, they had lost key intelligence agents. But ironically, without those two, Nagato's thinking had become clearer.

"Sasori's network of spies is more than enough to replace Kurozetsu. And as for Tobi what a clown. According to Sasori's intel, he couldn't even beat Kakashi Hatake."

"Looking back," Nagato continued, "Tobi approached me pretending to be Madara. That was during the reign of the Fourth Hokage. He hadn't even died in battle just lurked outside, playing tricks."

And perhaps the most damning realization: Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki both brought in by Tobi were Hidden Leaf operatives.

Konan had been listening silently until now, her brow furrowing. "He tricked us… for years."

"To think someone that weak pretended to be a god. Unbelievable."

"And Kurozetsu…" she added, "he was always overly eager about collecting Tailed Beasts. Too eager. Suspiciously so."

She recalled Deidara's comment during one of their earlier meetings before the fallout.

"He always acted like some ancient being. No one knew where he came from. Maybe he's the real puppet master behind it all."

Pain gave a slight nod.

"Regardless, we'll need greater strength to protect the Rain Village. Konan, I'm going to absorb some of the Tailed Beasts' chakra to restore my real body."

Konan's eyes widened with joy, the name slipping from her lips before she could stop herself: "Nagato! You've finally come around."

It was no longer "Pain" to her.

Nagato had long been haunted by Yahiko's death ruling the village through Yahiko's face and body, trying to fulfill a dream that was never entirely his.

But now, with the Rain Village at risk, he could no longer afford to live in Yahiko's shadow. His true body had to be strengthened. He couldn't remain Pain's hidden weakness.

Because if Pain lost, then everything Yahiko had stood for would vanish with him.

"We must protect the Rain Village."

Meanwhile, at the Hokage's Office...

"I don't agree with this!"

Jiraiya slammed his hand on the desk, splashing tea from the cup as he shouted across at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The moment he learned of the plan to launch an assault on the Rain Village, he stormed into the office, demanding to speak.

If Nagato and Konan attacked the Leaf, Jiraiya might be able to kill them. But leading a full-scale war against the Rain himself?

He couldn't stomach it.

"Let me try to reason with Nagato one more time! There's got to be a way."

Hiruzen looked tired. Deeply tired. He pressed a button beneath his desk. One of the walls rotated to reveal a massive LED screen.

The screen showed the wreckage of the Hidden Cloud Village reduced to rubble.

"Jiraiya. Look at these. Wake up. They're not the children you remember."

Jiraiya had heard about the Akatsuki's attack on the Hidden Cloud. But seeing it actually seeing it struck him like a hammer.

Everything had been destroyed. Not just the ninja forces, but the civilians too. Scarcely anyone had survived.

If this happened to the Leaf...

A cold shiver ran down his spine.

"How did it come to this?" he thought, guilt gnawing at him. "Was it because I failed to teach them properly?"

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