Later, Ulquiorra and Hinata were arriving in the Land of Snow (now renamed the Land of Spring) by Garganta to see that it was winter, now.
After all, the heat generators they used to give their land spring had to be maintained.
Ulquiorra held Hinata's hand as they walked to the Feudal Lord's palest castle and, once at the door ,Ulquiorra let go of her hand, opened the door, bowed and told her, "Ladies first, dear."
Hinata then blushed and walked in, saying, "Why, thank you, dear."
Ulquiorra then walked in, closing the door behind him. They both turned to see the Feudal Lord Koyuki Kazahana sitting on her throne.
Ulquiorra bowed. "Lady Koyuki. Long time no see," he spoke with no emotion.
Koyuki stood up from her throne. "Yes. It has,"she responded, looking at Ulquiorra's Hollow hole and still not wanting to believe that this was once Naruto.
"Now, Lady Koyuki. Have the Kage's arrived?" Ulquiorra began, getting straight to the point.
"Yes. Follow me," Koyuki told him. She then walked off with Hinata and Ulquiorra following her.
Meanwhile, with the in the Akatsuki lair…
Nagato was in his throne room.
Suddenly, Aaroniero Arruruerie walked in. Nagato's eyes grew wider when he saw the other Akatsuki's dead bodies behind him, looking half eaten.
Nagato started trying to summon his Six Paths of Pain, but to no avail. "Who are you?"
Aaroniero spoke in a high voice. "I'm Aaroniero Arruruerie." He then added in a low voice, "The 9th Espada."
Returning to his high voice, he spoke again. "Don't even try to summon your six meat puppets." He added in his low voice, "I already took care of them and your underlings."
He then put his hand to his mask and spoke in his deep voice, "And before you ask, I ate their souls so that I could become them."
He then removed the mask to reveal his two shrunken skull heads in a jar, making Nagato gasp.
"Thanks to Ulquiorra, we also have Itachi and his fish-faced partner's soul," the bottom skull piped up in a high voice.
Nagato didn't even gasp as he just stood there. "If you have all of their souls, what do you want from me? What is there to gain?"
Aaroniero then morphed into Itachi Uchiha right before his eyes, making Nagato gasp as he saw the Mangekyō Sharingan form in his eyes.
"The soul holds the power. When I devour a soul, I can change into that person, taking all of their powers and with the soul comes their minds and memories, letting me fight and act just like them. In other words, I become them and you hold the Rinnegan, the only force that could defeat Master Ulquiorra." Itachi informed him. He then added, "And as for proving that I am now Itachi, I'll do this."
He then summoned the gigantic humanoid chakra giant known as the Susanoo, destroying the base and making Nagato scream in fear.
The Susanoo was complete, holding the sword of Totsuka and the Yata mirror.
Itachi was surrounded by the Susanoo's body.
"Now, then. Seeing as I have the power of your Akatsuki, a Soul Reaper and thousands of what you would call demons, and you have a dying body unable to even use any of your powers, I'll be taking your soul now."
He then removed one of his gloves to reveal the slimy tentacles with a mouth that was his Zanpakutō, Glotonería. He called out making Nagato scream more.
Itachi spoke again. "I used to only be able to do this when I was out of the sun's light, but, thanks to Lord Ulquiorra, I can do this anytime, anywhere. Devour him, Glotonería." He then transformed into his released form, making Nagato's eyes bug out of his head and fear fill his face and soul.
"This is the combined form of all of the souls I hold, so, now I'm a one man army. Let's finish you off with the power of your underlings, shall we?" Itachi taunted.
He then used all of the Akatsuki powers at once, destroying everything for hundreds of miles, and the blast, it's said, was heard and seen everywhere from the Land of Spring to the five great Villages and, when it was over, what looked like a young Nagato – as he was before his body became emaciated – in the outfit of the 9th Espada appeared, looking out at the world through his Rinnegan eyes.
"The Akatsuki are no more, and I now hold all of their powers. Master Ulquiorra will be pleased with me," Nagato stated triumphantly. He then opened a Garganta and walked through it.
To be continued…
