A constant, harsh wind was batting against his face, clothing flapping incessantly during his apparent descent. His eyes opened, narrow slits being the best manageable against the assaulting natural resistance. Despite this, the impressive distance from the ground had them widening unintentionally, momentarily stinging his ringed orbs as a wetness formed.

Swiftly judging that there was a ways to go whilst exiting one fluffy white cloud to the sight of yet another, Nagato began to register a few… oddities.

In some unexplainable way, he was alive. Impossible as it was, the breaths being inhaled to his lungs and the chakra he felt coursing within his body, though mysteriously lower than normal, were proof of that very impossibility.

All of his senses were working perfectly, sight taking in the still-rapidly-flapping attire of his. The garb's appearance brought a thoughtful look to Nagato's demeanor. Upon him were the clothes of the old Akatsuki. Yahiko's Akatsuki. A thin, somewhat wan smile formed at the view, better times coming to mind. Ones when he felt whole.

Curious, Nagato brought a hand up to his forehead protector, fingering the indentations upon the metal plate, having his suspicion confirmed. No slash.

Suddenly twisting over, the redhead dimly registered its trailing as the largest abnormality took root within his mind.

'That was all too real,' Nagato thought with conviction, eyebrows scrunched together as he pondered at the encounter with his master. Even now, warmth faded from Jiraiya-sensei's points of contact during the tight embrace.

Slowly, he allowed a small smile to form. His master… had forgiven him. Somehow, some way, his near father figure had found it in himself to forgive the unforgivable. Nagato let his orbs shut, just enjoying the free fall for a few moments.

'Thank you, sensei.'

Inhaling deeply, the ninja deftly readjusted himself back around, eyes narrowed at his dropping point in determination. Not a thing obscured his ringed wince as the jumble of colors slowly became more distinct shapes, a body of water quickly becoming distinguishable, as well as a now-slim structure that appeared to be above it.

Nagato sharpened his descent, speed increasing alongside the wind's roar as the construct was revealed to be a remarkable bridge spanning the vast ocean to a rather impressively sized city, one that housed buildings rivaling the heights of even Ame's. However, head-tilt-inducing as the sights were – not to mention those multi-colored things moving in rows on the bridge – his altitude was becoming a rather pressing issue, now rapidly approaching the sea's vast surface whilst becoming level with the long construct's pinnacle.

'Tendo...'

His fall began to slow, sleeves calming in their constant movement with the rest of the garb, turning more fluid as Nagato neared the ocean below. He flipped himself upright, descending calmly to the water until his feet soundlessly touched its surface. As his body followed the water's ebb, Nagato turned to regard the bridge, head turned upwards as he took in the sight of its coverage and size, enjoying the new perspective.

From his distance, he could make out a couple of the rows of those objects moving a singular direction, a whole rainbow of colors zipping by before his gaze. Focusing, Nagato was able to make out the objects more, being of metal origins with rotating wheels – mechanical in nature. They varied in size and were a strange sight, but it was the passengers within that held his gaze in the direction. Confusion spread throughout Nagato at the absence within them all: chakra.

'...'

For a minute longer his ringed orbs scanned for the energy, none to be seen. Two blinks passed before he shifted to regard the city on the other end. The immensity of it was now more apparent, Nagato taking in the long expanse of buildings – from the closer smaller districts to the further… taller one.

Light, watery steps were taken in its direction.

So far, not a thing was making sense. Not this location, not chakra's so-far absence, not his living, nothing. As such, the large city was a sight for sore eyes, for if there was one thing it offered a ninja of his calibre, it was information; and if the size of it was any indication, there would be plenty to be had.

The shinobi's pace heightened, continuing until all below the lower thigh became a blur, the surface's splashing evening out to a smooth indentation to the sea's surface. In no time, a beach came into view, being pleasantly populated at the present. In the next few seconds, he was upon it, sand kicking up high in his sprint's wake and appropriately startling the civilians.

Clearing the sandy setting, Nagato began to immediately jump from building to building at incredible speed, so as to avoid pedestrian contact. He was in a neighborhood of sorts, houses being the predominant buildings surrounding him, those strange machines at many of their fronts. Green grass and trees littered the area, as well as large streets and sidewalks, sometimes coming across larger buildings with names suggesting them being markets of sorts or some apparent service.

He focused chakra to his soles for the coming jump, nearing the first of the large city's buildings. Using a thick tree branch, Nagato leapt a great distance, clearing many stories he was sure, and landed gently on one of the four concrete sides of it, a spanning window taking up a centered large portion of the building's faces. He was within the first few steps of his continued sprint when his orbs chanced a glance to his reflection.

Nagato's eyes widened as he stumbled in his slowing velocity, staring at his so much younger features. He was the spitting image of his old self. Vaguely he was aware of this explaining his lowered chakra pool, but the realization was unfocused in favor of one specific memory whilst he stared at his reflection, still maintaining a brisk sprint.

The last time he was this way…

'Yahiko,' the redhead's best friend's dying smile, filled with belief, flashed in his memory as the name was thought.

Reaching the top, Nagato came to a stop at the building's opposite end, the grand city's scale taking his focus for a good moment, eyes going from sad to wide and somewhat perplexed. The sun shone from behind, it seeming to be later in afternoon, covering most of the tall buildings' upper portions in the wake of the abundant clouds. The tall constructs were of plentiful shapes and sizes, a particularly odd one further back, its pointed top reaching higher than all others.

Down below, the streets were considerably more populated with the civilian operated vehicles, the sidewalks mirroring this change with the number of people upon them. Greenery was considerably more sparse, Nagato noted, gray and whites being the dominant colors now, alongside the varying signs of just as diverse colors. Adorning some of said signs were even the faces of people unknown to him. Advertisements, he ventured to guess, seeing the promotional wordings and… number to call. A brow was raised at the implication.

However, reconnaissance was in dire need, the shinobi bringing his hands through a set of signs, ending on the snake seal.

"Ukojizai no Jutsu."

The clouds overhead began to rapidly take on a darker shade, spreading to the surrounding clouds for a number of miles – though never coming close to encompassing the city's entirety. Shortly it began to drizzle, before an all-out storm poured to all below, the rain revealing countless people in the area, even vaguely registering the movement of those wheeled transports.

No chakra. Nagato frowned thoughtfully whilst the rain further soaked his hair, strands sticking as he stared down at the lively city. Civilians were now sparse upon the walkways, having taken refuge from the sudden rain. This made two entities increasingly noticeable; they moved considerably faster and seemed to be using a similar means of travel: buildings-tops.

Unimpressive as their speed was, the two located more inward to the city mass would be best avoided. The couple could very well be authoritative figures of the city, and confrontation of any sort was unwise at this time. Nagato turned toward the outer sections of the large city, running to the end of his building and leaping off the edge, bringing the storm's seal back up to better encompass his destination whilst he descended. The rain shifted with the storm's migration, him shortly and seamlessly landing upon a smaller building with a loud clap of his boots, headfirst in his clearing of its top and ascent to another.

So far it was apparent that he was on Earth. People existed, the animals were the same so far, and plant-life seemed convincingly unchanged. Civilization was a thing, though this location and its… well, everything, didn't hold any resemblance to anything existing in the Elemental Nations, same as the bridge leading here. It was a godsend that the language was one parallel. And it was this similarity that Nagato planned to exploit fully, currently seeking and hoping to find a public library.

After a few minutes of searching, the shinobi dropped the snake seal, storm in place, centered around a further section of the outer city lying in his path. Block after block went by, some names recurring as Nagato went, an eerie feeling building within. Though the rain brought a sense of familiarity, their cool touches did not extinguish the unrest his unfamiliar surroundings brought forth, frown unchanging whilst his rippled orbs continued their surveying movements.

Not long passed before he found his objective.

That uncanny feeling intensified the moment he sighted a world map in his henged search, having swiftly ended his brief appreciation of the ease of infiltration. Earth, yes, but his own it most definitely was not. Its features were reminiscent of his location, though more along the lines of completely mind-boggling; for a good while he'd taken in a multitude of unfamiliar names upon the sea of land cut-outs, before having his fill and searching out the building's historical section. This had led to the eventual discovery of three key groups of current: The Justice League, a smaller branch of younger so-called "heroes" belonging to the former, and something referred to as "The Light".

A rather fair amount of intel had been gathered on the first two, the third being the antipode in that regard. Mentions of the criminal organization were there, but none of those few articles ever had anything of real substance.

By the time he'd left the public establishment into the still-raining night, Nagato's head was a pounding mess from the information overload acquired from his lengthy visit, quickly seeking a peaceful location after visiting hours ended to sift through it all. Thankfully, it was not long that he spent walking before he came upon a metal bench sheltered by a mostly-glass structure with a metallic base. Near it was a green sign headed with the word "bus stop", numbers descending down it next to what he now knew to be a representation of the vehicle. It being late, not to mention raining, the streets were scarcely populated, making for a pleasant silence in the rain.

Fortunately, the seat was near enough the protecting structure that he could lean back to rest his head against the cool glass, closing his eyes against the slight relief and enjoying the storm's cool winds whilst they rustled surrounding foliage. A world of heroes and villains – literally – of all things. To make things that much more mystifying, extraterrestrials were common-place, though their appearances far from moved him; Akatsuki's eventual members prepared him for nearly any sight.

Intangibility could prove to be a rather annoying capability to face, as well as telepathy and magic. Though he supposed he'd learn somewhere down the line. Simply put, there wasn't even the slightest chance these men or children would ever wish to work with someone having his past.

'Not with that no-kill policy,' thought Nagato wryly, it vaguely showing on his false features. The best he could do was the action as an absolute last resort. The fact was that people with his occupation tended to have people die within their vicinity, and he in particular this held true for.

'Friends and foe alike...' The thought stung. Not one of his family had he been able to save, and one even died by his own hand. Possibly two.

And that concluded any thought of alliance with groups holding themselves to morals.

'The Light, however,' Nagato thought, opening his eyes to look at nothing in view, 'are very likely a different story.' If the people involved in that group were as bad as Nagato figured them to be, even managing to keep themselves mostly out of the papers, then he figured them to be a group bearing notoriety of similarity to Akatsuki in his world. And The Light would have interest in him and his… talents. He'd have to show them secondhand, but their attention would be gained. Eventually.

Unfocused narrow eyes adorned his features as he thought on who best to go to for information. It would have to be a high ranking member. One immediately came to him, even earning an amused scoff at the man's photos within those particular articles. Literature that, thankfully, led to his finding of this location: Star City, of heroes Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Red Arrow. Whoever those earlier two travelers of significance were, he was fairly certain it was of those three, considering the lack of panic surrounding them. However, none of those protectors was of major standing in the heroic group.

Deciding that there was no time like the present, the henged teen moved to stand, releasing the disguise. The action somewhat alleviated his head's pain, giving way to the notion that his younger body was not able to handle too prolonged use of both jutsu simultaneously. Not yet anyways. However, the storm would have to stay for his journey. There would be many heroes along the way to watch for, and he'd prefer to not be spotted in his travels.

Northward he looked, starting his sprint down a series of roads, since they were practically dead at the hour; after some miles into this, a swift eastward pivot would be stuck to for a good long distance. Nagato brought the snake seal back up before he reached a steady higher speed, the plentiful droplets shifting in trajectory a second time.

The journey had been long, and far from uneventful. Many times over, though the unfamiliar distances varied in their spanning, a stand-out entity or group would pop up; the fliers were of more concern, but cover was never a problem. It was doubtful that they were all of the heroic standpoint, having also gathered a decent amount of information of most of this similar yet so different world's villains. As well as sensed the commotion surrounding some of them.

All had been avoided amidst his travels. And he was sure to avoid Metropolis. No such confrontations were wanted along the way by the shinobi.

However, aside from those somewhat plentiful divergences in course, his route had been pretty straightforward, though a bit of a distance. Nagato was glad this founding Justice League member had made finding him so easy, the redhead staring upon the brightly garbed man, speaking to some blonde woman in front of a camera. Taking shelter under a building's outer extending cover were the trio, the still-going jutsu gliding cleanly down his cloak's surface whilst he watched them from a moderately distanced rooftop.

Rinnegan watching the reporter and hero's pleasant interview, Nagato prepared to test a hypothesis. Moving up a few buildings, the shinobi got within range for his jutsu, the speedster having just begun to lean on a support beam of the covering building's; he seemed quite into the conversation, eyes never leaving the reporter's.

'Public and careless,' the ninja thought with a frown, now on a building ledge with his right sleeve-covered arm completely outstretch towards the hero.

"Banshō Ten'in."

The Flash's eyes immediately turned wide, the pull starting before even the civilians' expressions could change. Thrust towards him as he was, Nagato lifting his other arm to ready a black receiver from the sleeve's hidden depths, target wincing at the sight and turning his head back in fearful preparation as Nagato firmly grasped and broke off a piece with a twist of the wrist... The rod's fleshy pierce echoed with the man's interrupted cry – joined by undisturbed ones of the news crew and nearby witnesses alike – as his throat was blocked by the casting hand's grip. Held helplessly for all to see, Nagato eyed the man with a stoic stare, grim satisfaction coming forth from a theory proven correct: an ambush firstly removing the Founder's traction would lead to quick and clean capture.

Quickly beginning to sweep the onlookers for any outliers, one of immediate attention within his periphery brought the prompt shift of his ringed orbs at her person. She tried to hide it, the civilian really did. This news reporter. To her eyes it may have seemed as though she'd dropped that arm in time, but she could never dream of moving beyond his rinnegan's comprehension.

Though it really mattered little, he supposed, for even though that seemed to come to her like instinct, her eyes were the only amongst the onlookers' to never leave his victim's person. They were glued to The Flash. Worry seemed to be etched within, contrasting the body's calm.

'Interesting,' thought Nagato, quickly following with 'Shuradō,' before the return of his unwavering purple gaze to the hero at hand, quickly facing them parallel to the building-side whilst forming another rod. Just as quickly, his other shoulder was impaled by a chakra receiver, Nagato tilting his head in the slightest to focus on her very telling muttering of what was probably the man's real name. Regardless, he couldn't care less about that part of the revelation, ignoring the hero's unsuppressed grimace against the straining pain whilst his latex-covered throat released a guttural groan, eyes painfully wide as he seemed to note his body's lack of cooperation.

On an equally important note, two would be more than enough, it felt, turning and taking off whilst influencing The Flash's movements to have him mirror his travel direction; Nagato wasted no time to force the man into removing all miscellaneous gear on his person during their speedy trek amongst the city, ignoring the man's pained monochrome orbs whilst he quite futilely attempted to resist the foreign influence. An earpiece seemed to be all he had on his person, the device being plucked by the speedster's very own fingers as they sped off together, concern clearly etched on the hero's masked face.

It was somewhat irking that the ambush's revelation might be a little more vicarious than initially hoped, since the recorder had dropped said device a few seconds into the first impalement; but faster the ninja went, making the fully capable hero keep up, ignoring the man's singular stare from beside him whilst maintaining a detached focus on the storm's detections in their haste. Movement from far north and south came by air, the latter the quicker of the two – by a large margin – Nagato increasing the storm's power to a storming ferocity with both a quick raising of the snake seal and forced turning of the hero's head, pumping a decent amount of chakra into the former action.

Thinking quickly, Nagato took the lead, them darting within a sizable multi-story parking lot building. His halting was sudden, feet skidding into the hard surface in the too abrupt deceleration before a sharp mid-air twist joined by an uplifted leg greeted the fast-approaching hero's gut, rocketing the man into a concrete support beam with a booming crack that sent spanning veins of cracks in all directions. Amidst The Flash's crumbling to the ground alongside trailing rubble, Nagato deftly dropped down into a crouch upon landfall, hands flat on the ground with a quickly muttered "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." Two sizable clouds of smoke formed, the larger outside the parking building while the smaller took place before Nagato. Running through the clearing cloud of his chameleon's summoning with hero under-arm, it wasn't long before they rested within the lizard's jaws, the beast cloaking and going before either summons' mists cleared, the hulking bird leaving its own in the same instance along with a mighty caw.

Towards the Southeast went the bird. East caught up, the forces clashing in a brief quarrel as North's managed to speed even more incredibly, bringing the bird to the ground swiftly upon arrival. But West went the green lizard, cloaked upon the rapidly passing surroundings before the two back-ups realized their folly.

It was amazing how fast that Kyptonian could move, in mid-air no less. What was displayed during the Green Lantern's admittedly persistent trailing had been beyond even the rinnegan's comprehension. Fortunately, the two seemed to have been quite ruffled in their angry pursuit, Nagato's giant gray bird piercing the winds with its large yellow beak whilst it maneuvered around sizable virescent beams passing by from the green hero. Despite the summon's size, its speed was greater than his own, so when the brief interlude in their paths was coming to an end, that mix of blue and red had blurred straight into the side of the sight-sharing familiar, bringing a remarkable descent through the rushing wind of the storm unto a set of large streets.

A couple of important lessons were to be learned from this operation, firstly being the punctual response. The Lantern's means of arrival he wasn't sure of, but Superman's entrance to the raging rain had been aerial and from the outside; the former's point of origination had been within an outer section of the jutsu, beginning from the ground.

Equally as pressing, though, was the Kryptonian's combination of incredible speed and strength. Both surpassed his own, and he was doubtful that even his toughest means of improving defense would be capable of withstanding his might. The number of chakra receivers that would be required to control him sufficiently was a subject that had caught his curiosity, though the likelihood of that ever happening or him going that far seemed rather abysmal. At least at the present.

'It's not as if I couldn't heal it,' the redhead thought lightly, Hell Realm coming to mind. The feeling was admittedly unpleasant, but the end-result was what mattered.

However, when his gaze shifted to the easily-captured unconscious hero for the sixth time in the few minutes of standing in their new forested setting some excessive ways from before, Nagato decided that this man was not living up enough to his namesake. Despite the hero's haggard appearance, darker splotches of red having long dried over around the two puncturing black masses, time was pressing, in all likelihood. It was with a quick and simple performance of hand-seals that his cheeks bulged, the redhead leaning forward slightly before a large spray of water smacked into the unsuspecting hostage.

The Flash sputtered for a moment, the jutsu ending quickly while he spit water out, Nagato reigning in a small portion of his chakra's influence.

"My apologies for the rough take-down, but you are a founding member."

"Well thank goodness you didn't decide on Batman," replied the flash sarcastically, none of the joy he'd seen expressed in the photos and interview present in his head's demeanor.

Nagato actually grinned at that, small as it was, and apparently unsettling to the older man, white orbs slightly widening.

'He speaks as he moves. Apparently quicker than he thinks, too, at least for the moment,' observed the shinobi, mentally noting the mentioned Founder's endurance as likely the lowest of all. Useful as it was, this conversation needed to steer in the opposition's direction.

Slowly manifesting a rod from his sleeve, Nagato continued, "We are going to come to an understanding." Pronouncing the statement, his hand audibly grasped the rod, going through the motions he knew this hero before him to know well enough by now. The fearful expression certain–

"Wait – you-haven't-even-told-me-what-you-want!"

Amazing as the flow of words were, the redhead still brought the rod's sharp tip up against Flash's jugular, earning a remarkably audible inhale at the action. Slight pressure pressed it further to the gland, indenting the red latex above. A constant thought for his captive, whom despite his felt protests at subjugation, could not manage but a simple turn of the head. The desired silence cued the speedster's understanding of the order of things.

Regarding him with a stoic frown, brows pulled together in threatening attention alongside a piercing gaze, Nagato spoke, "Any and all information regarding The Light." The group's name brought on a gleam of suspicion to Flash's away-facing expression.

"And wh–"

Hearing the beginning of a definite question, Nagato pointedly said, "That woman seemed to care quite extensively for you, Barry." His ringed gaze bore into the hero's widened ones, and they went unchanged even as Flash's teeth grit in fearful frustration. Not to his surprise, "The Fastest Man Alive" did manage a peep before he forced his mouth shut, forcing the man's head completely straight ahead. The shinobi fixed The Flash with a threatening glare, putting a sizable amount of his power into the look, the non-carrier still managing to feel the intent. That flame died, a whole myriad of inadequately hidden looks of worry passing by in a just as impressive rate as his speech. Though he knew not what meanings the hero was assigning the vague threat, it was obvious that he was doing the ninja's job for him all on his own. The ground was soon of immense interest, the man hardly even seeming to notice the allowed motion, that flame having long died out - at least by this one's standards.

'Another piece of information I did not desire.' It was somewhat ironic. The plan was to apprehend the hero with the intention of learning The Light's make-up and maybe even a location to start his search. Yet so far, he'd gotten more on the heroes.

'Hopefully this progresses better. That was my last available threat...'

"Vandal Savage..." came the gruff, quiet reply, "The leader's name is Vandal Savage," the man replied stronger, now facing his captor's rinnegan stare bravely. And so began the flow of sought information.

"That's all I've–"

A swift, open-palmed hand struck the man's forehead, promptly ceasing his speech and consciousness before the head even pivoted completely back in response. Yet still Flash stood, the rods and chakra's hold still true. Nagato willed the receivers' existence to end, them doing so with a cracking deterioration that blew listlessly in the breeze before fading, Flash immediately falling to the ground in pure rag-doll fashion.

For a moment, he eyed the fallen hero, frown adorning his features at the man's beaten state. His decision was swift, having his camouflaged summon open its mouth before stepping backwards onto its tongue, mouth closing afterward.

'Jigokudō.'

Burning purple flames covered a circular area near The Flash, the King of Hell sprouting from the ground at a lax rate until fully revealed, Nagato viewing the fallen hero from three angles whilst the head opened its mouth to let out an elongated, tongue-like appendage. The hand grasped Flash by the head, lifting him and feeding him into its large jaws.

Deciding it time, he took his leave as the chewing began, chameleon speeding off with no particular destination in the summoner's mind. Anywhere unpopulated. Somewhere he could recuperate from the near-endless usage of chakra over the past few days. In addition, a peaceful setting would make the drafting of his next move that much more pleasant of an experience.

However, the location would have to be a ways from here thanks to his helping of The Flash, whom just now exited the King of Hell's Jaws in his namesake, stopping with a visible shiver going up his form even as he stared in unnerved confusion at his healer. The latter emotion seemed to fade somewhat when the man took notice of the ringed eyes watching him, but that was the last thing Nagato saw before the summon descended back into the flames.

Stomach rumbling, he pulled an apple from his pocket – one of many stolen food items – and took a refreshing bite, chewing thoughtfully whilst sitting with crossed legs atop the lizard's soft tongue.

'So not even the League knows much of them,' Nagato thought with another bite, frowning as he recalled The Flash's rather unimpressive information on them. While more than was given by the few articles during his library visit, it wasn't hard to improve upon a simple naming of the clearly dangerous group. However, four names alongside their respective abilities and the organization's purpose was something, even if not enough.

He couldn't help shaking his head at the playing of God the organization held, but figured he wasn't exactly the best person to judge. Then again, the one apparently was a God – of destruction, Flash had said – so perhaps the God-complex of their objective wasn't such a surprise.

In any case, his information pool was unsatisfactory. And considering his definite acquisition of world-wide notoriety, he was beginning to feel a bit impatient.

Taking one last bite of his fruit, Nagato tossed the stem to the rear of the summon's mouth, vaguely feeling the motions of the lizard's swallowing it. The redhead plopped his upper half down and outstretched his legs, sleep coming steadily as the summon continued its trek.