The Battle Begins!
A sense of impending doom began to fill the air.
The sky, which had just become bright, suddenly dimmed again.
The distant clouds churned and converged toward the center of the battlefield, pressing lower and lower until they gradually turned into a deep, inky black.
The light dragon roamed among the clouds, and the deep rumble of thunder echoed across the earth.
Beneath the clouds, the sea breeze howled.
It sounded like the low growl of some wild beast, or a somber war song.
The seawater grew increasingly restless, surging erratically and stirring up towering waves.
Only in the center of the battlefield, where the two stood, was the sea eerily calm, as if the sea breeze and waves dared not make a sound, for fear of disturbing the two.
Sakura Haruno stood silently, appearing like an unmoving stone statue in the dim light.
Only those emerald eyes remained bright, gleaming with an intimidating light.
A hundred meters away, Pain stood silently as well, his eerie Rinnegan gazing at the girl's clear eyes from afar, their gazes meeting in the air.
Silence fell, and then Chakra began to overflow.
It leaked from the two ninjas, seeped into the air, flowed into the sea, and permeated every particle in the earth.
At the same time, even more astonishing than the aura of Chakra, two magnificent and imposing auras rose slowly from the sea.
It wasn't murderous intent, but a more intense and powerful aura, as if it could solidify and stretch across the sea, enveloping both the sky and the ocean!
One side resembled an ancient glacier, frigid and bone-chilling;
On the other side, it was like the blazing Natsuhi sun, intensely hot.
The clash of energies seemed to divide this place into two worlds!
Far away.
Rondo's face turned deathly pale.
His Adam's apple bobbed, and he couldn't help but swallow.
His exquisite perception made him feel as if he had traveled dozens of miles to the center of the battlefield, where he was simultaneously pressed down by two vast auras!
Sensing the astonishing momentum that kept rising and seemed to have no limit, the man was sweating profusely, his heart was pounding, and his whole body felt weak and powerless, leaving him frozen in place.
Experiencing the power of those two people firsthand is by no means a pleasant feeling.
His once-proud keen senses have now become a burden!
Chōjūrō was standing to the side, was much less perceptive than him, and therefore did not react as strongly at this moment.
He vaguely sensed two terrifying Chakra clashing in the distance, and although he felt uneasy, he managed to force himself to remain calm.
"Senior, are you alright?!"
Upon noticing Rondo's predicament, Chōjūrō quickly asked.
He patted his senior's shoulder abruptly, causing the latter to stumble and nearly sink into the sea. Chōjūrō pulled him up, Rondo snapped out of his shock, touching his forehead and back to find them soaked with sweat.
"I'm fine."
He shut off his senses, steadied himself, and his voice was a little hoarse.
Chōjūrō sensed that Rondo didn't seem to be alright at all, but he didn't press the matter, only asking, "How's the situation over there?"
"Pain is here." Rondo a deep breath, his stiff body gradually returning to normal. "The battle is about to begin."
He gazed intently into the distance, his focus settling on the other side of the sea beyond the dark horizon.
"We were right... Sakura Haruno didn't fall for the trap; she was intentionally waiting for Pain to appear."
Rondo said slowly.
"But there's one thing we seriously misjudged..." He paused, turning to look at Chōjūrō, his voice terribly hoarse, "Sakura Haruno and Pain are far stronger than we anticipated!"
"This will be a battle that even I, as a sensory ninja, cannot fathom..."
As if by some unseen force, the moment Rondo finished speaking, a battle broke out on the other side of the sea.
Call out--!
She didn't raise her hand, nor did Chakra.
It was as if Sakura Haruno had been standing there silently just a moment ago.
The next moment, the Wind Blade Torrent was unleashed without warning.
A silvery-white line of water, with a faint bluish glow on its surface due to the change in Wind Release Nature Transformation, shot out from in front of the girl!
The water blade's extremely high speed made it seem as if it ignored spatial distance, and in an instant, it landed in front of Six Paths of Pain.
... Such a fast technique!
Pain's pupils contracted sharply, and the moment the thought arose, the water blade had already struck the Six Paths.
The six individuals of the Six Paths of Pain were originally lined up in a row; the Path of Pain stood in the middle, stepping forward, with the Human Path on the far left.
With a soft cracking sound, the burly body of the Human Path was sliced in two like tofu by the silver thread, the corpse breaking into several pieces that fell into the water.
One thought leads to life, one person dies.
In the blink of an eye, one of Pain's was killed by the water blade!
The Asura Path... Get out of the way!
Pain and his men had a second idea.
Asura Path was second from the left. His reaction was quick; the moment the water blade struck Human Path, Asura Path had already crouched down, trying to dodge the attack.
However, he underestimated the sharpness of the water blades. The Human Path's body did not hinder the Wind Blade Torrent for even half a second before the latter had already cut it down, the silver thread piercing through its body, just in time to meet the crouching Asura Path —he was too slow.
The head of the Asura Path flew high into the air.
One thought leads to another death!
Preta Path... Absorb it!
This was Pain's third thought.
The Preta Path, originally standing on the far right, now moved with incredible speed, bypassing the Animal Path and Naraka Path to block Water Blade's path. His original form was a chubby, clumsy fat man, but after being turned into one of the Six Paths of Pain by Nagato, his skills and reactions became extremely fast, allowing him to keep up with the pace of the battle!
In an instant, he was already squatting steadily in front of the Animal Path, a confident smile on his face, his palm aimed at the silver line that was slashing horizontally.
Absorb!
The ability of the Preta Path is to absorb the Chakra contained in the enemy's Ninjutsu and nullify it. This strange and powerful ability should completely counter ordinary ranged Ninjutsu, but the Water Blade Technique used by the girl is an exception.
A water jet is created by applying high pressure to water and ejecting it from a special nozzle, resulting in a high-speed, high-pressure, and high-cutting-force water jet. Water jetting is a physical phenomenon.
The water-based Ninjutsu used by the time traveler—including Wind Blade Torrent —is essentially just Ninjutsu created by using Chakra tools to increase the range and power of the water blades.
The Preta Path effortlessly absorbed all the Chakra contained in the Wind Blade Torrent, but it could not absorb the water blades, which were a physical phenomenon.
In an instant, the Wind Blade Torrent degenerated into the most primitive form of water blades.
High-speed, high-pressure, high-cutting-force waterjet.
The waterline, capable of easily severing steel plates, ruthlessly pierced through the outstretched hand of the Preta Path, landing on the Preta Path's chest.
Then... penetrate, cut, kill.
The fat man's upper body detached from his torso and crashed to the ground, his bloody internal organs spilling everywhere. The smug look on his face hadn't even faded before it stiffened.
One thought leads to life, one person dies.
Preta Path, die!
The vanished Chakra reappeared on the water blade, and the high-pressure water lines transformed back into Wind Blade Torrent.
It carried the murderous aura of someone who had killed three people, and with overwhelming force, it slashed horizontally through the air!
In the blink of an eye, only three of the Six Paths of Pain remained. Faced with this unreasonable attack, the Human Path had no chance to resist!
And the next one... is the Dao.
Stop it!
New ideas arose in the remaining Pain's mind.
Dao's gaze remained calm as he witnessed the first three Six Paths being instantly killed by Sakura Haruno's technique, his eyes still radiating unwavering confidence. Suddenly, he stretched out his hand—
"The Rinnegan's Secret Technique..."
Almighty Push!
[I created an account to let loose and write more, and I've rediscovered some of the writing rhythm. I'll see if I can increase the update frequency soon.]