It was night when Zaydas' clone returned with a corpse.
The smell wasn't important; he simply blocked his sense of smell.
By the way, although she had died years ago, Pakura looked as if she had died recently. As expected of a powerful ninja. The same could be said for Kushina and the others—they were different from Shuri, who was just a skeleton when she was unearthed.
Anyway, that wasn't important right now.
Creating a clone, Zaydas began to perfectly merge with the corpse. Then, he teleported outside the village, to an isolated area in the Land of Fire.
The reason for doing this was simple—to prevent any leaks, especially with Mito being back to life.
Using Modeling, he created an improvised house with the surrounding trees, then started drawing on the ground.
With all the preparations done, he used Edo Tensei, bringing Pakura's soul from the Pure Land.
When he sensed life in the body he had fused with the clone, he used [Outer Path: Rinne Rebirth Technique] and cast a spell to 'cleanse' her. With that done, he patiently waited until Pakura opened her eyes.
Fully awakened, she looked around until her gaze fixed on Zaydas.
Pakura raised her guard against him but took no action. She seemed to be assessing her current situation. Now, depending on what Zaydas did, she would react accordingly.
"This is the Land of Fire?" she murmured, guessing. Then she asked him, "Who are you, and what did you do to me?"
"You don't remember me?" Zaydas asked, pretending to be hurt.
"Huh? Do we know each other?" She was obviously confused by his question.
"I'm your husband," Zaydas said seriously.
Seeing her stunned expression—
He started laughing.
When she saw this, she realized he was messing with her and shot him a hard glare while fireball-like spheres formed—two on each side of her shoulders and another above her head.
"Are you done laughing?" she asked challengingly.
Stopping his laughter, he smiled fearlessly. "Hm, yes."
Perhaps not liking his cocky look, Pakura fired the Heat Style spheres at him.
However, she was stunned when she saw that he remained relaxed, arms crossed. When the Heat spheres hit him, what she expected to happen… didn't happen.
At this point, she understood. He wasn't someone she could easily go against.
"Seriously, who are you?" she asked. This time, there was genuine curiosity in her voice.
"Zaydas," he replied. "For now, a ninja of the Leaf Village."
"For now?" She didn't miss that detail.
"Yes, my current identity is that of a Chūnin from the Leaf Village," he answered.
This was also basically a simple test. If even after hearing this she didn't understand, it would mean her IQ was lower than he thought.
And, as expected, her eyes lit up slightly in understanding.
Her next question was, "What do you need from me?"
"Honestly? Nothing," he replied, and before she could get confused, he added, "I know a little about you. And I managed to find your body. One thing led to another, and I decided to revive you. Although that's not all, that's basically it."
"That doesn't answer my question." She raised an eyebrow in annoyance.
"In short, I think you're talented and wanted to recruit you," he said. "However, everything I know about you is from other people's perspectives, so I want to get to know you and then make a proposal. Understand this—if you end up becoming part of my team, besides becoming stronger, your life expectancy will be extended to thousands of years."
…
She was skeptical upon hearing that.
Well, it was understandable. His words were too grand to be true. And although being revived was something extraordinary, she still wasn't convinced.
However, no matter how much she denied it, she didn't think he was lying: 'Is that really possible? Who exactly is…'
"It seems you don't believe me," he interrupted her train of thought, saying, "But that's understandable. However, I think maybe this will convince you a little."
…
Zaydas commanded mentally: 'Great Sage, replicate and transfer the skill [Sharingan] with three tomoe to her.'
[-4,500 AP!]
[Done!]
At the same time, he noticed something unique about Pakura. Her eyes changed instantly, and the Sharingan became visible.
"This is Sharingan? But how?" Pakura's eyes gleamed like water, and the surprise was even greater.
Blinking, she deactivated and reactivated the Sharingan with total ease.
Well, it was understandable that she could do this right away. What she received wasn't simply a Dojutsu but rather a skill that functioned like a Dojutsu. It looked the same but had differences. For example, it didn't have the flaws of the Sharingan. Even if it evolved later, it wouldn't cause blindness. At most, it would cause exhaustion from overuse.
"Doing something like this for me is simple," Zaydas said. "Now, do you believe me a little?"
She nodded instinctively while still in shock.
Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, her nose was pale and delicate, and her lips were moist and twitching as her small mouth opened slightly, revealing the astonishment in her heart at that moment.
Looking at her with a pair of Sharingan eyes while she was surprised, Zaydas had to admit her beauty. If before she looked charming, now she had a fiery allure. It was like the pinch of spice that was missing to enhance the flavor.
She replied, "I think so."
Although somewhat vague, it was understandable.
After all, who in their right mind would believe such an absurd thing so easily? However, this was a world full of illogical things. And even without fully understanding, she began to believe at least a little.
As for why Zaydas took this approach when he could have done things differently… he had his own reasons. One of them was to make her understand that in this relationship, he had more to offer than to receive from her.
They talked for a few minutes until Pakura grasped the bigger picture, and then came the anger from the betrayal she had suffered.
"I want revenge," she said.
Zaydas replied, "That's understandable, but I hope your vengeance doesn't blind you and lead you to kill indiscriminately. I suggest you go after those who betrayed you and not regret your choice later."
Although a bit surprised by what he said, she became thoughtful and didn't answer right away. However, after a few minutes, she sighed, "Yes, you're right."
She knew herself very well and understood that if she went down a path of slaughter, once her vengeance was complete, she would feel remorse remembering the lives of those who had no connection to her cause but were killed for the sake of her revenge.
She added, "After I get my revenge, I'll be willing to follow you."
"Perfect." Zaydas smiled.
[+21,087 AP!]
───────────
While Zaydas was taking Pakura to the Sand Village, his clones reached Itachi, Naruto, and Kakashi.
'Obito.' Watching him through Itachi's shadow, seeing him try to hide the panic he felt—just like the remaining members of the Akatsuki—made Zaydas in the shadow want to laugh.
He felt particularly malicious but not guilty. He simply wanted to see these two, in particular, suffer.
Of course, he understood that one shouldn't direct anger at the actor who played a hated villain, but this was a completely separate case. They were the real characters he had despised when reading the Naruto manga.
One was the murderer of his own clan; the other played a part in this massacre and later committed other despicable acts, like leading to Kushina's death—even though she had treated him like a son.
"What will we do now that Pain and Konan have simply vanished?" Kisame said. "Also, even Sasori is gone."
When they heard this, everyone fell silent. Even Black Zetsu, fused with a White Zetsu, had no answer.
Obviously, even with his vast information network, it was clear that he hadn't been able to locate Nagato and Konan.
The reason was simple—Zaydas had altered their chakra signatures and even made other people see different faces when looking at them. So how could Zetsu possibly find the two?
As for why he did it, the answer was even simpler: Because he wanted to.