Deva Path Ability Restored

The situation on the battlefield was now clear.

Naruto's side was aggressive and held a slight advantage in combat power. However, the key figure in their camp, the Hokage of Konoha, had fallen into the hands of Nagato.

The summoned beasts currently engaged in battle saw this and were forced to stop, each returning to their respective sides.

The toads from Mount Myoboku stood behind Naruto, while Pain and his summoned beasts regrouped beside the Deva Path.

"It seems you, too, have come to understand the pain I once felt!"

The Deva Path cast a cold glance at Naruto, then sat directly on Tsunade, manifesting a Black Receiver in his right hand and pressing it against her neck.

"Back in my country, people from your Konoha did the exact same thing to me."

A flicker of memory crossed the eyes of the Deva Path: "Shimura Danzō, a high-ranking official of Konoha—I wonder if you have heard that name."

"Shimura Danzō? I think I've heard that name, but so what?"

Although Tsunade's eyes dimmed further upon hearing the name Danzō, Naruto's mind clearly wasn't working fast enough to recall who this person was.

"Then how about this?" The Deva Path sneered, using the Black Receiver to prick Tsunade's neck, from which blood quickly began to flow. "Naruto, kill that little toad who summoned you right now. Otherwise, I will kill Tsunade."

The words of the Deva Path stunned all the toads present. The toads of Mount Myoboku stared blankly at Naruto, and Gamakichi, who had been singled out, broke into a cold sweat.

Lying on the ground, Tsunade immediately struggled, attempting to move her neck to commit suicide, but the Deva Path noticed in time and stepped on her head, rendering her unable to move.

"In the past, Danzō of Konoha and Hanzo did the same thing. They captured my companions and forced me to let my most important companion die by my own hand."

The Deva Path scanned the reactions of Naruto and the toads with composure, carving a bloody gash into Tsunade's neck with the Black Receiver: "So I think, a choice like this should be quite easy for someone from Konoha to make, right?"

The cold words made Naruto take an involuntary step back. At that moment, he suddenly recalled the past.

Back then, he had just graduated from the Ninja Academy and was participating in the first field exercise of Team 7.

At that time, Kakashi, while teaching them about teamwork, had sat on Sasuke in the same way, stepping on his head and asking him and Sakura what they should do if they encountered such a situation.

But this was not an exercise, and the person he faced was not Kakashi. It was Pain, a true enemy. Watching Tsunade being trampled under the feet of the Deva Path, Naruto was lost.

What should he do? He didn't know, so he thought of Kakashi again. Every time he didn't know what to do, Kakashi always had a way.

But...

Why, as a Sage, could he no longer sense Kakashi's Chakra?

"Can I ask you a question?" Thinking of this, in the midst of the silence, Naruto asked the Deva Path with a trembling voice, "Do you know the Konoha ninja Kakashi?"

His voice sounded like an old man with a dark premonition, terrified of hearing bad news.

Tsunade closed her eyes in pain.

"Ah—" The Deva Path stared coldly at Naruto, "I know him well; I just killed him!"

The blunt, cold-blooded answer pierced Naruto's heart.

His body trembled slightly, his fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his flesh. His eyes became bloodshot, and the whisker-like marks on his face grew deeper and thicker, influenced by the toxic, churning negative emotions within him.

Naruto stared fixedly at the Deva Path, baring his teeth in a snarl that looked like the fangs of a beast.

In the distance, Konan's paper clone had already gouged out Kakashi's Sharingan. The Asura Path had even confirmed the state of Kakashi's corpse, ensuring that he was well and truly dead.

This time, no one would use the Samsara of Heavenly Life to resurrect Kakashi.

"My power, it has finally recovered!"

In the silence of the battlefield, where only the sound of Naruto's gnashing teeth could be heard, the Deva Path watched Naruto's struggling face without moving. After a while, sensing that his power had fully recovered, a flash of light crossed the Rinnegan of the Deva Path, and he stood up from Tsunade.

Re-pinning Tsunade's limbs together with the Black Receiver, the Deva Path threw the immobilized Tsunade to the Animal Path in the air. The Animal Path manipulated the Yatagarasu beneath him to open its beak and swallow her.

He did not intend to continue using such base methods to force Naruto into making that choice.

The act of taking Tsunade hostage earlier was merely to buy time for the Deva Path to recover his abilities.

Nagato's goal was to become a god, not a despicable, shameless villain.

"What are you trying to do now?!" Naruto shouted loudly at this moment. "Are you trying to turn Granny Tsunade into bird droppings?!!"

Seeing the Deva Path feed Tsunade to a bird right in front of him, Naruto was absolutely incensed.

The battlefield fell into silence once again.

Clearly, Naruto was a child with a good heart, and his starting point was merely concern for Tsunade.

However, every humanoid being and toad present was still stunned by Naruto's statement.

The Pains couldn't help but blink in unison.

The toads also shared a telepathic moment, all looking at Naruto with expressions that suggested he was mentally challenged.

"Cough, little Naruto." Fukasaku had to remind him, "Lady Tsunade being thrown into the mouth of a summoned beast does not mean she has been eaten..."

What followed was silence. Because there were some things Fukasaku was embarrassed to say. Namely, that even if Tsunade were eaten by the giant bird, it would still take some time for her to turn into bird droppings...

"Truly the most unpredictable ninja." The Deva Path was also taken aback, not knowing what to say about Naruto.

It wasn't as if Naruto hadn't seen others store items in this manner before. Orochimaru had done things far worse than this, and Naruto had clearly witnessed them with his own eyes. To hear him say something like this now made one wonder if there was something wrong with his brain...

At this moment, the Human Path had already been repaired by the Naraka Path and was standing beside the Deva Path.

"Huh? Wasn't that Pain just defeated by me?" Upon seeing the Human Path, Naruto developed a new question, seemingly entering a mode of endless curiosity.

Unfortunately, Nagato would not give them the opportunity for leisurely conversation or tactical analysis.

The Deva Path's abilities had recovered, and the Human Path had finished repairs; it was time to move against Naruto.

"Those Pains are all puppets! One of them has the ability to resurrect the others!" Fukasaku hurriedly explained. "Naruto, be careful, they're coming."

The four Pains didn't say a word and charged directly at Naruto.

The Human Path and Preta Path were in the front, the Deva Path in the middle, and the Naraka Path in the back. At the same time, the Rhino, Bull, and Cerberus lunged at Gamabunta and the others, with the massive summoning creatures clashing into a chaotic melee once again.

"Four of them? Aside from the one in the air, that means there's still one hiding in the shadows?" The petite Shima, crouching on the scroll behind Naruto, analyzed the situation nervously.

They had never faced so many Pains at once before.

Although Shima had great confidence in Naruto, and Mount Myoboku had brought out all its combat power to support him, seeing the Pains rushing toward them with those cold, metallic eyes still made her heart tremble.

These were, after all, the legendary Rinnegan, the same eyes as the Sage of Six Paths.

"Stop talking, wife, it's time to act!"

Standing on the scroll behind Naruto alongside Shima, Fukasaku issued a reminder.

"Banshō Ten'in!"

While running, the Deva Path suddenly extended his right hand toward Fukasaku. Caught off guard while forming hand seals, Fukasaku felt as if he were being pulled by an invisible force, flying straight toward the Deva Path.

"Grandpa Fukasaku!" Naruto was startled. He leaned forward and lunged toward Fukasaku, but he missed and tumbled to the ground.

"Old man!" Shima let out a cry, her long tongue shooting out in an attempt to reel Fukasaku back. Unfortunately, after being caught by Banshō Ten'in, Fukasaku's flight speed was too fast; in the blink of an eye, he flew into the group of Pains and was grabbed by the Human Path.

"Sonic-based attacks are quite troublesome." After saying this coldly, the Human Path, right in front of Naruto and Shima, pulled Fukasaku's soul directly out!

Fukasaku's body twitched powerlessly in the Human Path's grip before going limp and still.

"Old man!!"

Amidst Shima's sorrowful cry, the Human Path tossed Fukasaku's soul and body toward the Naraka Path.

The Naraka Path summoned the King of Hell, which swallowed both the soul and the body.

"He was swallowed..." Naruto, lying on the ground, watched this scene in disbelief.

Another important companion had died at the hands of Pain, and he couldn't even recover the body.

"Pain!!" Naruto let out a roar of fury.

"Senpō: Rasenshuriken!"

With a face full of rage, Naruto created two shadow clones, formed a massive sphere, and held it high. After shouting the name of the technique, he threw it at the Pains. The moment it left his hand, the Rasenshuriken grew larger and larger in the air.

"You love making spheres so much, why are you called Naruto? Why not just call yourself the Sphere Boy?" the Deva Path muttered to himself.

Although it would have been safer to use Almighty Push to deflect the attack, there were things he wanted to confirm, so he simply let the Preta Path charge to the front, opening his arms to catch Naruto's sphere.

The expanding Rasenshuriken began to shrink rapidly, being absorbed into the Preta Path's body.

"Is this what Senjutsu is?"

Nagato focused his attention on the Preta Path and muttered, "It doesn't seem like much!"

The chakra absorbed by the Preta Path could not be transferred to the main body, so Nagato had to experience the power of Senjutsu Chakra through the Preta Path.

"It actually... disappeared?"

Naruto found it inconceivable. He knew exactly how powerful his Senjutsu sphere was. Yet, it had no effect at all, absorbed completely by the Preta Path like a stone dropped into the ocean.

"So-called Senjutsu is nothing more than this," Nagato commented coldly through the mouth of the Deva Path.

In the original events, the Preta Path had turned to stone after absorbing the Rasenshuriken and then grabbing Naruto to absorb an unknown amount of Senjutsu Chakra.

This was completely different from the situation where Naruto and Jiraiya, while training in Senjutsu, would immediately begin to turn into frogs upon first contact with natural energy. Under the influence of Nagato's chakra, the Preta Path's adaptability to Senjutsu seemed ridiculously strong.

Thinking of this, Nagato's eyes lit up. He had found a path to becoming stronger and felt that he would certainly learn Senjutsu faster than Naruto.

"Kid! That Pain has the ability to absorb ninjutsu, you have to be careful!"

The dim-witted Naruto remained frozen in place, while the sharp-witted Shima wanted to warn him but had no time.

Seeing the four Pains reach them, Naruto wanted to show off his frog kumite as he had before, but the current Nagato would never give him that chance. He raised his hand and unleashed an Almighty Push.

Naruto and Shima were blasted away by the Deva Path and crashed to the ground. Then, the four Pains leaped up in unison, wielding Black Receivers, and pinned Naruto firmly to the ground.