The Deva Path controlled by Nagato stood motionless in silence.
Yet the chakra around him quietly boiled, and the glow of his Rinnegan grew ever colder, as though it could swallow the entire world at any moment.
At that moment, the Preta Path appeared beside Konan to support her, blocking one of Jiraiya's Fire Style attacks...
Clearly, as the battle between both sides escalated, Jiraiya found himself increasingly unable to control the situation.
Staring at Danzo before him, nearly all of Nagato's reason had been destroyed. If they had not been in Amegakure, where large-scale destructive techniques were unsuitable, he would have long since been unable to tolerate Danzo's recklessness...
Sure enough...
These great nations were the root of this world's tragedies.
The oppressive air seemed to solidify amid the silence, with battle ready to erupt at any instant...
Without warning, the Animal Path formed hand signs. Amid spreading thick mist, several enormous summoning formations abruptly appeared.
Boom!
Several massive figures leaped out from the formations!
Two Hell Crabs, each as large as a house, charged forward, their gigantic claws sweeping across the ground...
A Chameleon instantly turned invisible and slithered across the ground...
In the air, a Yata Crow spread its enormous wings and dove down with a piercing cry.
Four summoned beasts descended in an instant.
Kakashi moved cleanly and decisively, forming hand signs at once and unleashing a Water Style technique.
Water Style: Azure Rain!
Dense chakra transformed into mist that filled the sky. As torrential rain poured down, Lightning Style chakra gathered in his palm...
Chidori!
Lightning gleamed like a blade as electric arcs streaked through the air. He leaped high, Chidori tearing through the rain curtain and ripping open the Hell Crab's heavy shell in midair.
A blue-white arc instantly severed one of its claws with a violent explosion.
The crab summon roared as it retreated, its massive body cracking the ground beneath its feet.
At the same time, the Asura Path silently closed in on Danzo. The apparatus on his back sprang open, firing a barrage of missiles from its mouth straight at Danzo.
Danzo exhaled a Wind Style attack. Interlocking wind blades precisely intercepted the missiles, and several explosions erupted around him, yet failed to force him back even a step.
Just then, the invisible Chameleon suddenly revealed itself, opening its gaping maw as its enormous tongue lashed out at a speed too fast to react to, stirring up violent airflow.
Yet as though he had foreseen it, Danzo's body shifted slightly. He stepped forward, his evasive angle precise to the extreme.
He nimbly avoided the attack, then counterattacked by slamming a palm onto the ground.
Wind Style: Vacuum Serial Waves!
High-speed wind bullets shot from beneath his palm, striking the weak points in the Chameleon's scales with precision and forcing it back.
The entire sequence was so fast it was impossible to follow.
Danzo, who should have been an aged Konoha elder plagued by chronic injuries, displayed the agility and ruthlessness of an elite ninja in his prime.
His reactions, judgment, output, even his taijutsu movements were crisp and flawless.
Not far away, Jiraiya took it all in.
While controlling his Toad summoning technique to counter the Yata Crow's diving attacks from above, he cast a sidelong glance at Danzo.
"That old bastard..."
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, an odd thought surfacing in his mind.
Those reactions, those movements... no matter how he looked at it, they were not what a ninja past fifty, covered in old wounds, should have been capable of.
"He's really nimble."
He muttered under his breath.
Not merely nimble. He was even somewhat chilling.
At that moment, Danzo seemed like a different person.
His presence was colder and steadier than before. There was not a single unnecessary movement in battle, yet his eyes were exceptionally calm. That coldness was a suppressed, nearly numb cruelty.
And... he had not used the Sharingan.
With only Wind Style and taijutsu, he had already held his own against Pain's summoned beasts.
That in itself was highly unusual.
Danzo... was not right.
But the situation was urgent, and Jiraiya had no time to ponder it. He could only deal with the immediate threat first.
Kakashi's Lightning Style and Water Style had already formed a rhythm. One Hell Crab had been defeated, while the Yata Crow in the air had also been pierced through the chest by the Toad Swordsman.
The battle raged on, and the killing intent had yet to subside.
Kakashi landed heavily, crouched slightly to steady himself, then slowly drew the long blade in his hand.
Before the blade even moved, its killing intent had already appeared.
Water vapor coiled around it like a blade hidden in mist, glinting coldly.
With the Sharingan's enhancement, its sharpness was fully revealed.
Kakashi's gaze abruptly turned cold. His Sharingan spun rapidly, locking onto Deva Path Pain.
The next second...
He moved!
His body became an afterimage within the rain and mist as he surged forward like lightning. Crossing space and distance, his long blade cut through the air straight for the Deva Path's chest.
That speed...
Shinra Tensei!
Deva Path Pain reacted swiftly. His Rinnegan spun sharply as a powerful repulsive force burst forth, a raging wind scattering the rainwater and rubble around him in an instant.
But that attack missed.
Kakashi's figure vanished a second before the repulsive force covered him, as though he had predicted it long ago...
He had gone around it!
The repulsive force's cooldown was five seconds!
In an instant, for some reason, Kakashi arrived at this conclusion...
During those five seconds, he could not defend.
His figure appeared behind Deva Path Pain, wrapped in water mist.
His blade was already raised and locked in place. Guided by ocular power, everything was as precise as a prearranged finishing blow.
Mist rose, the blade fell, and its edge had arrived...
Why did Kakashi know about Shinra Tensei?
At the same time, Danzo also leaped fiercely to higher ground, raising the wooden sword in his hand...
"Stop, Kakashi! And Danzo!"
A familiar voice suddenly rang out, forcibly tearing through the tension.
It was Jiraiya.
His brow furrowed slightly. Kakashi's blade stopped, and the water mist trembled faintly, yet Pain remained expressionless as he watched Kakashi at close range.
At the same time, Black Zetsu's voice came from the shadows. "Leader, wait."
Black Zetsu slowly emerged, his gaze sweeping over the space between Kakashi and the Deva Path before settling in the direction of Nagato's true body, where his consciousness resided.
"We cannot continue fighting Konoha like this."
Black Zetsu forcefully suppressed the resentment and indignation in his heart. Even he had not expected the situation to descend into such chaos.
Uchiha Yuan's influence had already far exceeded his initial estimates.
"By our assessment, Uchiha Yuan's Mangekyō Sharingan... seems to possess some sort of mental influence over members of the Uchiha clan."
"Our man... is currently very likely in a state of mental instability. As for Danzo..."
That person referred to Uchiha Madara, whom Obito was impersonating...
He deliberately paused, his gaze inconspicuously sweeping over Danzo, who stood to one side.
"Danzo holds so many Sharingan taken from Uchiha clan members. Perhaps... something has gone wrong with him as well."
The moment those words were spoken, the scene fell briefly silent.
Even if Black Zetsu was merely grasping at shadows and making wild guesses, the unease in his words still sent ripples through everyone's hearts.
Jiraiya tilted his head slightly, his gaze falling on Danzo.
He stared at the old bastard...
Looking carefully...
Old Danzo...
The gloomy, twisted aura around him was as it had always been, dark and unpleasant.
But upon closer inspection, he did not seem especially different either...
He shook his head.
"Probably... not."
Upon hearing that...
Black Zetsu cursed inwardly that Jiraiya was an idiot too.
He had never wanted to reveal too much in front of everyone. Forced to this point, he could only vaguely bring up Uchiha Yuan's side effects as an excuse to defuse the current situation.
He had not expected Jiraiya to immediately expose his bluff.
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