With White Zetsu's appearance, Uchiha Shūichi quickly shook off the tail following him and escaped the battlefield.
Following the signals the others had left behind, Uchiha Shūichi soon found a cave in the Land of Rain and spotted the Konoha ninjas hiding inside.
"Lord Shūichi! Are you all right?"
Seeing Uchiha Shūichi return, the three of them brightened. He gave a slight nod.
"Don't worry, I'm fine!"
"There were other forces on the battlefield. The Fourth Raikage went after them, which gave me a lucky chance to escape."
He wasn't lying. He had simply concealed the fact that he could detect White Zetsu.
"Other forces really did get involved? And they managed to evade the Byakugan? They must be no ordinary people. The Shinobi World is full of hidden talents!"
Hyuga Homura was a little surprised. Compared with other Sensory Abilities, the Byakugan ranked among the very best for precision and insight. An ability to conceal oneself from it was truly terrifying.
But when he thought about it, even the Fourth Raikage had appeared in the Land of Rain. At this point, it seemed nothing could be surprising.
"Alas, Konoha sent too few ninjas. Lord Hokage took this mission seriously, but he clearly never imagined Kumogakure would send the Fourth Raikage himself."
Yūhi Kurenai furrowed her brow as she assessed the situation. The A and B combination were far too powerful. The four of them had no chance of winning, and even escaping would be extremely difficult.
"All right. Maybe Konoha will send other powerful ninjas to help. You don't need to worry too much."
Uchiha Shūichi smiled as he spoke. He wasn't just saying it for the sake of saying it. At the very least, once Jiraiya got the news, he would surely come take a look at Amegakure.
He just didn't know whether Jiraiya would come looking for them. But if they ran into him, Jiraiya would definitely lend a hand.
Too bad the toads of Mount Myōboku are so cryptic. If only I knew what trump card they had. Then I could just control Jiraiya in the future.
While they were discussing the situation, a thunderous crash sounded in the distance. A gigantic Tailed Beast shot into the sky, letting out a terrifying roar.
"That's... Eight-Tails Gyūki?! Did Sunagakure do this? They actually forced Killer B into his Full Tailed Beast Transformation!"
Hyuga Homura spoke in surprise. The A and B combination were renowned across the world. Even without the power of the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B was still a top Kage Level ninja, and his Lightning Release Chakra Mode was only slightly inferior to the Fourth Raikage's.
It wasn't something just anyone could do, forcing a figure like him to fully transform into his Tailed Beast state. And none of the Sunagakure ninjas seemed capable of it.
Rumble!! Amid a violent tremor, the Eight-Tails, which had been roaring at the sky, was flung backward in an instant, like a ball kicked by someone.
The Konoha ninjas stared in stunned silence, shaken by the sheer scale of the battle. Uchiha Shūichi, however, raised his brows slightly.
"Was that Shinra Tensei? Looks like Nagato Uzumaki has made his move!"
"But come to think of it, that makes sense. The Land of Rain is the Akatsuki Organization's base, and it's where Nagato's deepest attachment lies. There's no way he'd just flee in such a sorry state."
"In that case, demonstrating overwhelming strength to deter other countries from acting rashly is Nagato Uzumaki's only choice."
Before Nagato Uzumaki's true abilities were exposed, he was practically invincible throughout the entire Shinobi World. With the Six Paths of Pain working together, neither Kage Level fighters nor Jinchuriki stood a chance.
In the original story, if not for the leak of his secrets and the Chakra he'd spent destroying Konoha at the start, even the Full Nine-Tails wouldn't have been a match for the Six Paths of Pain.
And that was exactly what happened. In only a short time, Eight-Tails Gyūki could no longer withstand the Six Paths of Pain's coordinated assault. Preta Path soon seized him, draining nearly half the Chakra from his body.
At the critical moment, a flash of lightning knocked Preta Path away and saved Killer B. Uchiha Shūichi guessed that the Fourth Raikage had intervened to rescue him.
The battle was simply too far away. Once the enormous target that was Eight-Tails Gyūki disappeared, the Konoha group could no longer observe its outcome.
But the Eight-Tails had lost eighty percent of its Chakra and could no longer maintain its Full Tailed Beast state. Uchiha Shūichi didn't like the A and B combination's chances.
Of course, the Six Paths of Pain probably couldn't kill the A and B combination either. The two of them weren't as stubborn as Jiraiya. The moment they realized they couldn't win, they'd make a run for it.
As Lightning Speed Ninjas with Lightning Release Chakra Mode, the A and B combination might not be able to beat Jiraiya in Sage Mode, but they could definitely outrun him. And with their duties to consider, they weren't foolish enough to fight to the death.
Still, since Pain had made his move, he wouldn't let the matter drop. He would have to demonstrate enough strength and terrifying techniques to deter the other ninjas. He would probably give the A and B combination a thorough pursuit.
Night slowly fell, and Uchiha Shūichi and the others left the cave. Their mission had run into plenty of complications, but they still had to carry on. The group had simply decided to act within their limits and stick to gathering information on the outskirts.
Apart from Root Ninjas, other ninjas wouldn't knowingly carry out a mission that meant certain death. Konoha's way of doing things also meant a ninja wouldn't be executed just for failing a mission.
The stronger a ninja was, the more freedom they had in this regard. Powerful ninjas were precious assets to their villages.
In the original story, other villages had even issued orders allowing their ninjas to abandon missions if they encountered Namikaze Minato.
Likewise, although it was never stated outright, ordinary ninjas who ran into a village's Kage or a Jinchuriki wouldn't be punished for fleeing. It was an unspoken rule among the ninja villages.
Of the four Konoha ninjas, only Yamanaka Fū, a Root Ninja, was the kind who would sacrifice his life to carry out an order. But Uchiha Shūichi was leading this mission, and Yamanaka Fū wouldn't disobey his orders.
Uchiha Shūichi and his three subordinates captured several ordinary ninjas from the Land of Rain and used genjutsu to question them, learning quite a bit.
For instance, Hanzo of the Salamander had been dead for some time. A god wielding the Rinnegan and an Angel skilled in the Paper Release Secret Technique now ruled Amegakure.
The information wasn't particularly useful, but it still gave Konoha something to show for the mission. At the very least, their efforts had confirmed that the Land of Rain really did possess something known as the Rinnegan.
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