The New Akatsuki

Yahiko confides in Nagato that he wishes to hand leadership of the Akatsuki over to him, only for Kyūsuke to burst in with word that an envoy from Hanzō has arrived. The visitor calls himself Kanzō, though he is truly a disguised Danzō Shimura, and he claims Hanzō blesses their cause and wants to talk peace, presenting a scroll of invitation. The members are elated, and Yahiko waves off any suggestion of bringing backup, declaring the day one for celebration. Unknown to them, Hanzō and Danzō have arranged the entire summit as a snare, and while on patrol Konan is knocked out by gas from booby-trapped corpses and hauled away by Hanzō's men.

The following morning Nagato again rebuffs Obito's recruitment before the group sets out. On the way, a messenger mouse delivers warning that Konoha's Root operatives mean to assassinate the Akatsuki's leaders, and Obito and Zetsu block the path. Kyūsuke throws his life away in a failed lunge at Obito, and the remaining members are cut down by a Wood Release technique. Arriving too late, Obito and Zetsu watch Hanzō corner Yahiko, demanding that Nagato slay his own friend to spare the captive Konan. As Nagato wavers over the kunai, Yahiko drives himself onto the blade, begging Nagato to reshape the world before he dies. Nagato's Rinnegan then halts the follow-up assault, and though Hanzō maims his legs with a fire technique, he summons the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, whose dragon devours the assembled troops. Hanzō concedes that Nagato was the true leader all along before slipping away, leaving Nagato crippled and gaunt, the black receivers now fused into his spine.

Episode 348 sits in the Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax arc of Naruto: Shippuden and adapts the origin of Pain. It premiered in Japan on January 30, 2014, and in English on July 5, 2016, opening with Size of the Moon and closing with Rainbow. The chapter also seeds later events, as Obito's Eye of the Moon Plan eventually draws Nagato and Konan to his side, and Yahiko's corpse is repurposed as the Deva Path, the first of the Six Paths of Pain.