Summons

Chakra suddenly erupted.

Boom--!

Nan instinctively closed his eyes, bracing himself for the icicles to explode.

"--Um?"

The Dance of the Shikigami did not activate. The Paper Angel opened his eyes and found that the ice pillar had been shattered, and he was pulled up by a familiar figure.

Pain... is here.

Not far away, a giant chameleon, over ten meters long, had somehow concealed itself and, the instant the girl raised her hand, stealthily approached Sakura Haruno and launched a surprise attack!

The Chakra eruption was caused by the battle between one person and one weapon.

BOOM!!

Amidst the roar, water splashed and filled the air, dispersing into a hazy mist.

The chameleon's massive body flew backward from the mist, its back bent into an inverted U-shape at an extreme angle. Blood gushed wildly from the huge gash on the beast's head, staining the chameleon's translucent shell a dark red.

"Aww--"

The beast's mournful roar faded away in mid-air. It crashed heavily onto the sea, its heavy body sinking uncontrollably. It struggled several times to stand up, but its body was too weak to even manage the simple act of standing.

It let out a mournful cry and fell into the water, where it was completely swallowed by the thick seawater. A pool of bloody sewage remained on the surface of the sea, gradually dissipating and staining the area red.

The Animal Path stood indifferently on the sea, letting the chameleon fall beside him, unmoved and not even glancing at it.

He's a piece of trash who falls at the first blow; he doesn't deserve his attention.

But the moment the giant beast was sent flying backward, a slight upward twitch appeared on his cold face.

That woman... she's incredibly strong.

That must be what they call "Monstrous Strength Fist," right?

From afar, the Animal Path gazed at the place where the water vapor was dissipating, its gaze seemingly able to penetrate the mist and see the girl's proud and elegant figure.

This man was originally a ninja of the Fuma Clan. After his death, he was created by Nagato as the Animal Path, one of the Six Paths of Pain. He specializes in Summoning Technique and can summon various giant beasts with different abilities, as well as the other five Pain. He is the individual that the Six Paths of Pain often use to probe first and launch the main attack.

His eyes were narrow and cold. He narrowed them slightly, his gaze instantly sharpening, and a murderous aura appeared.

The water gradually calmed down. The bubbles left behind by the sinking beast gurgled on the surface of the sea. After the sound disappeared, the faint sound of water splashing could be heard in the distance.

Light and rhythmic footsteps.

In the mist, the girl walked gracefully across the mirror-like water, the ripples spreading out like lotus flowers beneath her feet, her hazy figure gradually becoming clearer.

The Animal Path stood indifferently, shielding Nan behind him, and looked at the girl, saying, "As you wish... I've come."

"You're Pain?"

Sakura Haruno stopped and sized up the man in the distance.

His long ponytail was tied behind his head, his face was stiff, pale and lifeless, looking like a resurrected zombie. No... the Six Paths of Pain were themselves made from corpses.

Sakura shook her head. "No, the Six Paths of Pain are six individuals; you are just one of them."

"What about the other five? You don't actually think... you can take me on by yourself, do you?"

The moment she spoke, a high-pitched eagle cry pierced the sky, suddenly ringing out behind Sakura Haruno, sharp and shrill.

Heh--!

It was a giant eagle that had somehow circled above the girl's head, its sharp beak raised, and swooped down towards her!

Sakura Haruno seemed to have anticipated this.

She turned around calmly, her Ninjutsu already completed. With a flick of her left hand, a silvery-white stream of water shot out from the tip of her sword-like fingers.

Call out--!

A slender silver line sliced through the air, emitting a shrill cry sharper and more mournful than an eagle's wail, sending chills down the spine, before landing on the giant beast that had launched the sneak attack.

It looked like a piece of blood tofu had been cut open.

A flower of blood bloomed in mid-air, black, white, yellow, and red, a chaotic mess, raining down a torrent of blood and flesh.

Sakura Haruno stood in the rain, the chaotic falling pieces of corpses were pushed aside by an invisible repulsive force and scattered around the girl.

Is there anything else?

Sakura crossed her arms and gave a cold laugh.

This is not the end.

The girl, dressed in a traditional Chinese style, lightly stepped on the water's surface, and with a splash, a vast force seeped into the sea.

The next moment, the Chakra transformed into a giant dragon, bursting out of the water, its ferocious and terrifying mouth revealing a three-headed hellhound lurking in the sea.

The hellhound, several people tall, was as weak and thin as a puppy in the sea dragon's jaws. It struggled howling, its hind legs kicking wildly in mid-air, blood streaming down its face. The amplification summoning spell that Pain had cast on it took effect; the hellhound was almost bitten in two by the dragon, but it did not die. Instead, its body swelled up, and more heads sprouted from its wounds, transforming it into a gigantic multi-headed hellhound.

In the blink of an eye, the hellhound swelled several times its original size, sprouted dozens of heads on its neck, and twisted violently to tear at the sea dragon, becoming both ferocious and disgusting.

--Is it really just endless proliferation and division?

The girl frowned slightly.

Snort.

She lifted her toes and lightly Water Walking again, making a crisp splashing sound.

With this stomp, the sea dragon underwent a new transformation; its already enormous size suddenly increased several inches, and its sharp teeth, formed from Water Release mimicry, became exceptionally solid and hard, with a faint crystalline sheen. With a deafening roar, the dragon opened its mouth, filled with sharp teeth, to its limit, and then bit down fiercely, tearing the vicious dog in two!

The next moment, with a deafening roar, the giant dragon self-destructed, blasting the ever-growing hellhounds into a bloody pulp!

The deafening roar carried gusts of wind, creating ripples on the water's surface.

The girl crossed her arms and watched with great interest the hellhound's carcass pieces falling from the sky, wondering if, after being blasted to such an extent, it could still multiply and grow more heads.

The answer is, of course, no.

Every Ninjutsu has its limits. The so-called infinitely multiplying hellhound cannot be cut 64 times and split into 64 to the power of 64 hellhounds—that's an astronomical number. The total mass of 184.4 trillion hellhounds is greater than the mass of the entire biosphere.

However, before reaching its limit, this physique, which grows stronger the more attacks it receives, is quite intimidating and troublesome. Even an ordinary ninja would struggle to deal with this summoned creature.

Sakura Haruno is clearly not an "ordinary ninja".

The Animal Path confirmed this.

"Not bad," he said calmly. "As expected of the ninja who killed a member of our Akatsuki, Konoha's talented young woman Sakura Haruno."

"If it were you, it wouldn't be surprising if you could easily take care of the chameleon and the hellhound. But there's one thing I'm curious about: how did you find the transparent chameleon and the hellhound hiding in the ocean?"

Sakura Haruno remained silent.

But without Sakura's reply, the Animal Path had already found the answer.

"It's water. You infused your Chakra into the seawater and mist!" He looked at the excessively calm sea at the girl's feet and understood.

It's very similar to his Rain Tiger at Will Technique. It's Sensory Ninjutsu that infuses Chakra into water to form a barrier-like barrier. This requires extremely precise Chakra control or a huge amount of Chakra. No matter how well the chameleon and hellhound hide, as long as they are in the sea or on the water, they will never escape Sakura Haruno's senses.

"In that case, a sneak attack won't work on you. It's a flawless tactic," the Animal Path said slowly. "A direct assault won't do you any good, and a sneak attack is useless. If I were alone... it would indeed be a bit difficult. So—"

"We have no choice but to summon them."

Sakura Haruno wasn't short; at 165 cm, she was considered tall in this world. But the Animal Path looked at her always carried a faint sense of condescension.

"Before you are killed, I have one more question."