Fear?
Oh yes, I could feel fear.
The mouth of the statue snapped shut, the middle eye opening.
I turned around, just in time to see a body dropping to the ground.
Gaara...
"Nagato Uzumaki, was it?" I asked.
He didn't react.
"I do. I can feel fear."
I turned back to him, my eyes tinging a hateful red.
My mouth came back, jagged red space set in an angry frown.
"But at the moment... " I paused, looking back at Gaara. "You killed Gaara." Gaara's body. Gaara's corpse. "At the moment all I'm feeling is hate."
His eyes widened.
He moved, avoiding a spike of Darkness by the barest of margins, leaping over to the top of the Gedō Mazō.
I absorbed the Darkness, the spike collapsing back into myself.
"I see that fear in you, Nagato." I turned around, facing him.
More and more Darkness flowed into that little wisp of myself, rapidly being consumed.
"Murderer."
He jumped again, a bolt of lightning streaking through where he was.
"Killing Gaara will be your last mistake."
This time, I launched a blast of fire, wide and hot and burning.
He landed on the other side of the room, and my fire washed against the rock wall, molten stone dripping to the ground and hissing.
"While killing the Jinchuuriki is regrettable, it is necessary."
"Necessary?" I asked.
I fired and missed again, that entire area snap-freezing even as Nagato ran away again.
"It isn't 'necessary'. You didn't have to kill him." I turned around, facing him again. "You could have just left him alone, let him peacefully exist in the village he swore to defend. But no, you didn't."
The area around him suddenly flattened, crushed by a moment of extreme gravity.
He settled down on one of the Gedō Mazō's fingers.
"You decided to be a murderer. A killer. And for what?" A pressurized column of water shot at him.
Again, I missed.
"So you could have a Bijuu?" I glared at him. "How many people did you kill to make this statue?"
He looked at me, wary.
"Not going to answer?" I asked, preparing a powerful, powerful, powerful, powerful spell. "Let's try again, then. How many people have you sealed inside this statue?"
There was a curiosity in his Heart. "I have sealed none."
"Do not lie to me. I myself saw you seal the Ichibi within." My eyes narrowed. "Or can it be..."
I held still. "Tell me, are you blind, Nagato?"
An eyebrow rose. "I possess the Rinnegan."
"You do." I agreed. "And since you do, you must see the tens of thousands of souls trapped in this statue."
Beneath us, Gaara's body vanished, a Corridor of Darkness opening up and hold it away, safe.
He stared at me.
"You didn't know. You are blind. You can't see." I shook myself from side to side. "You have no idea what it is that you're using. Oh, Nagato..."
The Darkness continued to gather, hidden inside my wisp, a tiny ball, compressed and compressed and compressed...
"You know, if you hadn't killed Gaara, I might have even been able to forgive you... Funny, that. What a cycle of hatred..."
He stilled.
"You killed Gaara, I hate you. I kill you, and judging by the emotions of that blue-haired companion you had only an hour ago, she'll hate me. Oh well. You started it."
Interesting emotions there, Nagato.
Good thing, too.
He's about as distracted as I'll ever get him.
Let's see you dodge this you little fuck.
The spell -prepared for so long and so compressed and so contained- was released.
I left an instant before it went off, twisting space and leaving the cave.
I wanted to watch this one.
The cave -squirreled away within a mountain, hidden but not from me never from me- was hidden away in the mountain.
I stared down at the mountain.
That was fine.
The mountain bulged outwards, a massive cloud of smoke and dust bursting out as it collapsed inwards.
A few moments later, the sound reached me, the sky quaking as the loud booming sound pulsed through me, followed shortly by the sound of breaking rock and cracking stone.
I glared down at the billowing cloud of smoke and dust, fully able to see the fact that Nagato's Heart was still present- which meant that Nagato was not blown into a million little bloody pieces.
There was a pulse of gravity, pushing away the billowing smoke and dust, revealing a completely unharmed Nagato, surrounded by a faint barrier, his hands clapped together.
He pulled his hands apart, the barrier around him fading.
Oh joy.
"You're going to be an annoying one to kill, I can just tell."
Nagato looked up, staring at me.
Maybe if I throw him into the sun...
Yeah.
Yeah, that'll do it.
I'll throw you into the sun.
He blinked-
And then exploded into smoke, alongside the Gedō Mazō, summoned away.
Animal Path, no doubt.
I turned around, glaring into the distance.
I may not be able to find you, Nagato, but that statue?
Don't joke.
I turned around, glaring in the direction of Amegakure.
Of-fucking-course it's Amegakure. Fine, whatever.
It's not like I can't deal with that. I'll just have to be mindful of the potential collateral damage.
And there was one thing that I had to do first.
I opened the Corridor of Darkness that Gaara's body was in, using a tendril of Darkness to lift it up off of the 'ground'.
I'll go right back to attempting to murder you after I make sure this body is in good hands.
I shifted the destination of the Corridor, before pushing Gaara's body out of it.
It would appear on the ground almost directly in front of Sunagakure, I knew.
After that...
Gaara was dead.
After that, I hunt down the Akatsuki.
Starting with you, Nagato.