Hanzō shouted in panic, "Minato Namikaze, you dare?!"
Danzo shouted at Minato, too. "Minato, don't! Only the power of the Rinnegan can stop Uchiha Madara."
But Minato wasn't listening to anyone now.
A mortal body simply couldn't withstand the Rinnegan's power. Just look at Nagato, who was practically a skeleton. Even the Uzumaki Clan couldn't wield the Sage of Six Paths' eyes.
If he brought the Rinnegan back to the Leaf Village, his wife, Kushina, might become its sacrifice.
Minato wouldn't allow that. He had to destroy the Rinnegan completely.
But he... still made it in time!
"Just what... are you going to do to my eyes?!"
A cold voice suddenly joined the battle. A sixty-meter-long great cleaver dropped from the sky, its tip aimed at Minato, who was about to reach Nagato.
Danzo shouted, "Minato, get out of there!"
It was too late. The blade came down, splitting the entire high ground with a massive fissure and cutting the battlefield in two.
Minato's fate was unknown.
Nagato quickly used the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to shield himself, Konan, and Yahiko's corpse. Otherwise, the shock wave alone would have reduced them to dust.
But after doing all that, Nagato's breathing grew terrifyingly faint. His head drooped, his hair had turned white, and his lifeless locks hid both of his Rinnegan.
He was spent! Nagato had burned himself out!
Konan broke down. "Nagato—!"
At the critical moment, Hanzō used Body Flicker to dodge the Giant Chakra Blade. He stared, stunned, at the enormous deep-blue figure beside the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
"What in the world is that thing?"
A hundred-meter-tall deep-blue armored warrior towered over the land, its face covered by a high-nosed Tengu Mask. A deep-blue Chakra aura radiated from its body, exuding an overwhelming pressure.