Shazo Raised the Curtain on Battle (Keep Pushing, Update 1/3)

Shazo's words were so pointed that Nagato was naturally greatly shocked.

Only then did he realize that the Fifth Hokage knew of the Rinnegan's existence and had defined it as Ninja 'Rinnegan power rather than Gods's power.

Like a frog at the bottom of a well, unable to immediately grasp the vastness of the sky.

Having never witnessed the power of the Sage of Six Paths Level, Nagato was like a frog in a well, unable to comprehend the Fifth Hokage's disdain for him, and wondering what gave him the right to say such things.

However, this does not prevent Nagato from giving a higher estimate of Shazo's strength, believing he should be stronger than Jiraiya.

Jiraiya, Shisui Uchiha, and the Fifth Hokage were three extremely powerful Kage-level Ninja. Although Nagato was confident he could defeat them, he wasn't sure he could control the scope of the battle.

After Nagato and Konan killed Hanzō, they were busy rebuilding the Akatsuki and constructing Amegakure.

It takes countless hours and effort over the years to achieve the prosperity we see today.

Nagato couldn't bear to part with his hard work, so he decided to accept the Fifth Hokage's suggestion.

Pain Heavenly Dao stared intently at Shazo and said, "I know a great battlefield where even if you go all out, you won't cause much casualties or destruction."

All the Ninja participating in this battle were Kage-level Ninja, and they quickly moved to the designated battlefield.

The Akatsuki had Six Paths of Pain, Uchiha Itachi, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Kakuzu and Konan who arrived later, a total of ten Kage Level fighters.

The artistic duo, Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sands, were away on a war mission, while Zetsu and Obito Uchiha traveled to the Land of Water; neither of them were in the Land of Rain.

The number of people on Konoha's side was smaller. The Fifth Hokage Shazo, Jiraiya, Shisui Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake, although all of them were Kage-level Ninja, there were only four of them.

The three members of the Flying Thunder God Genma Squad— Genma Shiranui, Namiashi Raidō, and Tatami Iwashi— were too weak. As soon as Shazo arrived, he ordered them to retreat.

Looking at the 10:4 numerical advantage between the two sides, Shazo couldn't help but joke, "If only we had brought Lord Orochimaru with us. With him here, we could get support from the First Hokage and Second Hokage, which is true Kage Level strength."

Jiraiya unwilling to give up, advised, "Fifth Hokage, if things get bad, you must retreat as quickly as possible. Don't worry about me and Shisui."

Shazo glanced at him unhappily, but seeing that this simpleton was thinking of him, he held back his Jonin and commanded, "Jiraiya, I am the Hokage. On the battlefield, you should obey my orders, not give them to me."

"Alright, I understand. Don't say anything more."

"Jiraiya, you have Jonin mission."

Shazo pointed at Konan and ordered, "This Ninja is your disciple. You deal with her and don't let her interfere with my battle."

Jiraiya opened his mouth as if to say something, but under Shazo's stern gaze, he changed his words and said, "Yes, Lord Hokage."

Shazo looked at Shisui Uchiha and smiled gently, "Shisui, your mission remains the same. I hope that when you return to Konoha today, you will be carrying the head of that missing-nin."

Shisui Uchiha nodded heavily, without saying anything.

But his suddenly opened Mangekyō Sharingan, the overwhelming killing intent that erupted from his body, and the powerful Chakra fluctuations spoke volumes without words.

The Mangekyō Sharingan of the true water possessed a tangible threat in its gaze, forcing Uchiha Itachi to also awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan and meet the gaze of his once most admired older brother.

Jiraiya Shisui Uchiha's stance, Jiraiya sighed deeply, then formed hand Hand Seals and slammed them on the ground, summoning Gamabunta.

However, he did not intend to rely on Gamabunta for the battle. Konan's paper wings were agile and maneuverable, and Gamabunta, who was good at strong attacks, could not deal with them.

"Gamabunta, go back and tell the boss I need to enter Sage Mode."

Gamabunta snorted in dissatisfaction, "Jiraiya, you're getting more and more of a coward!"

"What kind of enemy can't I, Gamabunta, handle? You want to call my Pops and mom out? Don't I, Grandpa Gamabunta, have any dignity?"

As he spoke, Gamabunta, with his nostrils flared, bent down to see what kind of enemy they were dealing with.

Yes, Toad don't have necks; they can only bow their heads by bending over.

Then it saw six pairs of pale purple Rinnegan, two pairs of blood-red Mangekyō Sharingan, and a shark -Chakra Shark Face with far more chakra than its own, a dead face that looked nothing like a living person.

Even more critically, the Fifth Hokage Shazo, was actually on the battlefield—someone whom the Great Toad Sage had repeatedly mentioned 10 times in the past 15 days.

The above are said to be ruthless individuals no less formidable than the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.

He was truly a ruthless Ninja who dared to kill anyone.

Gamabunta gasped, realizing how worthless his pride was; could that thing be worth three Bug and two butterflies?

The enormous Toad said in a deep, booming voice, "Jiraiya, my brother! I'll go get my parents right now to help you out."

Before he finished speaking, Gamabunta voluntarily dispelled the psychic connection, transforming into a cloud of white smoke.

The smoke was then washed away by the rain and disappeared.

Ignoring the farce between Jiraiya and the Toad, Shazo turned to Kakashi Hatake and said, "Your strength is Kakuzu weak here, so you'll be in charge of Kakuzu, the weakest opponent."

Kakashi Hatake broke out in a cold sweat. "Excuse my bluntness, Fifth Hokage, Kakuzu a renowned mercenary Ninja Bounty Station, a veteran Kage-level Ninja. I am truly no match for him."

"Why don't you send me to deal with Kisame Hoshigaki?"

Shazo Zuo laughed heartily, "Kakashi, the battles between Ninja are essentially intelligence battles. I believe that once you know Kakuzu's specific information, you'll definitely be able to take him down."

"Even if we can't kill Kakuzu outright, we can force him to retreat."

Then, Shazo Kakuzu told Kakashi all the information about Kakuzu, focusing on the characteristics of Earth Grudge Fear and the fact that it has five hearts and five lives.

Finally Shazo said with a smile, "Kakuzu might say later that he once fought against the First Hokage."

Kakashi Hatake asked in surprise, "Is he bragging, or is it true?"

Shazo replied, "All I know is that he did receive a mission to assassinate the First Hokage, and he did carry it out, but returned severely wounded."

"But only he knows the specifics; in any case, the other party involved, the First Hokage, has no recollection of it."

Shazo chuckled maliciously, "Perhaps the assassination attempt was carried out because when the First Hokage was attacked, he casually swept across the battlefield with a Wood Release, completely unaware of the assassin's presence."

Kakashi Hatake:

Shazo chuckled twice and asked, "Are you confident you can take down Kakuzu now?"

Kakashi Hatake composed himself. "I'm confident I can defeat him, but he has five lives, four chances to try and fail. I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to kill him outright."

Shazo said nonchalantly, "It's alright, defeating Kakuzu is enough. You'll get an A-rank Mission when we get back."

After saying that, he walked towards Pain Heavenly Dao, who was at the head of the group opposite him.

As he walked, Shazo Zuo looked around at his surroundings and said, half-guessing, "Could this be the battlefield where Hanzō and Danzo attacked the First Akatsuki, taking Konan hostage and causing Yahiko's death?"

Pain, expressionless, calmly said, "Heavenly Dao Fifth Hokage, you seem to know a lot?"

Shazo chuckled, "It's alright, there are many details I don't know either."

"But I'm curious, what are you trying to express by bringing me here? Is it a way of remembering Yahiko?"

Pain Heavenly Dao replied, "I didn't think that far ahead. This is the closest no-man's-land I know of."

"Yahiko died here, half of the First Akatsuki members also died here, and Hanzō's body was crushed here by me."

"Fifth Hokage, this place is entirely worthy of your burial."

Shazo glanced at Pain Heavenly Dao and sneered, "Just these six puppets? Even if you add the Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, the Sunagakure's Puppeteer, the Bounty Station's ace headhunter Ninja, and the Paper Angel Konan, you still wouldn't be a match for me."

"Nagato, unless you appear before me yourself, Akatsuki has no chance of winning today."

Pain Heavenly Dao fell silent again before speaking, "That's an exaggeration. If you could defeat eight Kage Level fighters—"

"Then let's give it a try."

Shazo stopped talking, took off his straw hat, activated his Swift Style mode, and instantly disappeared from everyone's sight.

"Let's give it a try!"

Pain Heavenly Dao suddenly spoke, "Shinra Tensei!"

An invisible repulsive force suddenly erupted from his body, repelling all the Chakra and matter that Nagato deemed harmful.

This included Shazo was rushing towards Pain's Naraka Path at high speed.

Shazo's speed was unbelievable. In the instant he was thrown back, he used the impact of the repulsive force to accelerate to a speed far exceeding the propagation of the repulsive force, thus avoiding the terrifying power of [Shinra Tensei].

He looked at Pain Heavenly Dao in surprise. "I know that the Rinnegan's dynamic vision far surpasses that of the Mangekyō Sharingan, and there are six pairs of Rinnegan here. It's impossible for me to avoid your gaze."

"But I never expected that Shinra Tensei could be triggered so quickly."

The Heavenly Dao said calmly, "Your understanding of the Rinnegan is too shallow. I, who possess the Eye of God, am the Gods of the Ninja World!"

"Give up the struggle, and I will grant you a dignified death; you won't feel much pain."

Shazo laughed loudly, "Even ants try to survive, and you actually advise me to give up resistance? Do you really think you're a god?"

"My Gods, how dare you, such a noble being, fight Ninja like me on muddy ground?"

Nagato's self-perception was deeply ingrained and could not be shaken by words. He completely ignored Shazo's words and calmly said through the Heavenly Dao, "Before the gods, all resistance is as powerless as ants."

Pain Heavenly Dao raised his hand and emitted a gravitational force that was completely opposite to the repulsive force of Shinra Tensei, capturing Shazo's body and forcibly attracting him.

[Banshō Ten'in]

At the same time, in the other hand of the Heavenly Dao, a black iron rod rapidly formed, one end held in its hand, the other end continuously elongating and becoming sharper.

Clearly, he intended to lure Shazo over and then deliver a crushing blow.

Not only was the Heavenly Dao making preparations, Pain the Human Path also appeared beside the Heavenly Dao, assuming a pouncing stance.

Shazo was caught off guard and pulled into the air, but he quickly reacted and activated his Magnet Style Kekkei Genkai.

With no tall metal buildings nearby, he could only maximize his Magnet Style technique, directly connecting to the planet's magnetic field beneath the earth, using magnetic force to counteract gravity and stabilize himself in the air.

As we all know, the Earth's magnetic field is very weak.

In order to counteract the gravitational pull of the Rinnegan, Shazo had to expand the magnetic force to its limit, connecting with the geomagnetic field of tens of thousands of square kilometers.

Such a powerful outburst was extremely strenuous for Shazo; he had to exert all his strength and simply couldn't sustain it.

Fortunately, Pain Heavenly Dao's Rinnegan was only one-sixth complete, so [Banshō Ten'in] could only last for a shorter time, and its gravity weakened faster than Shazo's magnetic force.

Shazo sensed the weakening of gravity and unleashed his Storm Release without hesitation.

[Storm Release: Hundred Forms: Light Fang]

The surging Chakra soared into the sky and merged into the rain clouds that seemed to exist almost forever in the Land of Rain.

The next moment, through his own Storm Release Chakra, Shazo indirectly controlled the rain clouds, condensing the immense energy and moisture contained within the thick clouds—energy beyond human capability—and easily drawing down nearly a thousand blue-white Laser.

Under Shazo's control, Light Fang precisely targeted Six Paths of Pain, Kakuzu, and Sasori of the Red Sands attack.

He also took the opportunity to unleash a concentrated barrage of fire on Konan, who was flying in the air.

The inherent speed and extremely long range of Storm Release allowed all the Akatsuki members to evade the attack in time.

On the contrary, Konan, unable to adjust her trajectory, was hit on the wings by a barrage of Light Fang and fell to the ground, turning into a scattering of papers.

With her Paper Manipulation Technique nearing perfection, Konan is practically immune to all physical damage.

Nagato felt utterly powerless at this moment; this was the first time he had felt this way since he killed Hanzo of the Salamander.

Using the unique abilities of the Rinnegan, he sensed the Storm Release Secret Technique that Shazo was using and instructed Pain Preta Path to prepare in advance to absorb Chakra and neutralize the Ninjutsu.

But he never expected that this Storm Release Secret Technique would be so vast. Even with all his strength, the Preta Path could only absorb a little over a hundred Storm Style: Light Fang.

But what Nagato didn't expect was that the main energy in [Storm Release: Light Fang] was not Chakra, but natural Inazuma energy.

More than a hundred bolts of Inazuma engulfed him, and the Preta Path was as if struck by lightning more than a hundred times, instantly turning into a charred charcoal flaming with blue-purple flames.

The Naraka Path quickly approached, swallowed the charred piece of food from the Preta Path realm, chewed it a dozen times, and then spat out a complete Naraka Path.

Even the Black Rods that had been blasted away by Inazuma reappeared on the face of the Preta Path.

Shazo Zuo feigned shock and snorted coldly, "Repulsion, attraction, Chakra absorption, resurrection, quite a comprehensive set of abilities."