Sasuke Feels Something Is Wrong After Calming Down

The conflict between Taka and Nagato escalated with Sasuke's outburst, only to end in an instant when Nagato shattered Sasuke's Susanoo with a single punch.

Konan remained seated quietly, not moving an inch. In her eyes, Nagato was inherently invincible; now that he had gained the power of senjutsu and Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred, Taka's attempt to strike at Nagato was nothing more than self-humiliation.

Kisame grinned at Suigetsu, who stood frozen in place clutching his Kubikiribōchō, then glanced at Sasuke lying at Nagato's feet. With a cold look in his eyes, he thought, Itachi, you would be disappointed to see your brother's performance, wouldn't you?

He had originally been eager to use this conflict to gauge just how much power their leader truly possessed. As it turned out, Nagato hadn't even moved from his spot, taking down the entire Taka team almost one punch at a time, like an adult playing with children, without revealing any of his true capabilities.

He had always been puzzled by how Itachi Uchiha could have lost to Sasuke given his strength, but now it seemed the water Itachi had let into the fight back then was likely at an SSS-tier level.

He didn't believe Nagato could win so easily against Itachi. If nothing else, Nagato would never dare to use Banshō Ten'in on Itachi so casually. After all, no one knew the true nature of his Yata Mirror and Totsuka Blade; if he were to be stabbed by the Totsuka Blade, it would be a disaster.

"Zetsu, go take a look over there..."

Obito glanced at Nagato's silhouette standing in the room, then at the massive hole Jugo had been sent flying through. After giving the order to Zetsu, he walked toward the fallen Sasuke.

He had seen the Susanoo Sasuke just unleashed; no wonder the kid was so eager to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village—he had obtained such power.

It was just a pity he ran into Nagato...

As Obito approached and bent down to look at Sasuke, who lay on the ground unable to move, Nagato walked away expressionlessly, leaving Obito to deal with Sasuke—a "kill but don't bury" attitude.

Although Sasuke looked miserable at the moment, as if he might die at any second, Obito could tell his injuries were not fatal; Nagato must have held back.

Under normal circumstances, given Nagato's strength, Sasuke would have had no chance of survival once caught by Banshō Ten'in. Was he using his fists to solve the problem just to test a new technique?

Obito pondered this while beckoning to Karin.

"Come here..."

Cold wind and raindrops blew in through the hole in the tower, sending a chill through Karin and Suigetsu. Seeing Obito beckoning, Karin, who had been desperate to heal Sasuke, ran over and pulled up her sleeve, offering her arm covered in bite marks to Sasuke's mouth.

"Oh~~." Accompanied by a groan that was easily misunderstood, Sasuke, who had been lying on the ground like a dead dog, bit into Karin's arm like a starving beast. As Karin's chakra entered his body, Sasuke's wounds began to heal.

"This girl." Tsunade looked at Karin, then turned to Nagato, asking curiously, "She's your relative?"

"She's your relative!" Nagato retorted unpleasantly, then said to Obito, "Madara, I'll leave the rest to you. I'm going to wait in the next room. Bring Sasuke to see me as soon as possible; we don't have much time left."

The room had a massive hole in it and was clearly unusable, and he was too lazy to stand here watching the mess; it was better to move to another room and be more comfortable.

Although Karin was also of the Uzumaki Clan, she was a "simp" without the house—a rare specimen in the world of simps who ended up with nothing and even had to deliver her rival's baby.

"I'm coming with you."

After Nagato and Konan left the room, Tsunade quickly followed.

There was no helping it; any normal person would feel uncomfortable seeing the bite marks on Karin. Yet, she seemed perfectly willing to be bitten, while Sasuke remained cold and showed no gratitude. Faced with such a scene, Tsunade could only choose to look away.

As she left, she glanced at Sasuke's hand gripping the floor. As his strength returned, his trembling right hand gripped the ground tighter, filled with unwillingness, and the corner of his mouth biting Karin's arm twisted further.

This Uchiha was clearly unwilling to accept defeat; this matter was far from over. Although she had held some goodwill toward Sasuke because of Naruto, since the kid wanted to destroy Konoha, it was better that he be crippled by Nagato. Tsunade felt that for an Uchiha brat to run into that red-haired Nagato was just deserts—a case of a villain being punished by an even greater villain.

"Power... I need power..." After Tsunade left, Sasuke let go of Karin's arm and made his request to Obito.

"Hm? Do you want to transplant Itachi's eyes?" Obito asked, staring into his eyes.

Sasuke fell silent. Not long ago, he had arrogantly rejected Itachi's eyes, claiming that what he wanted to do was not what Itachi would have wanted to see. Was he supposed to slap his own face now?

"Didn't you say earlier that the person who attacked the Hidden Leaf Village failed?"

He was starting to doubt his own reality; was the Hidden Leaf Village, a place even Orochimaru couldn't handle, really that strong?

Sasuke's previous standard for judging strength was simple: Orochimaru had been instantly defeated by Itachi's Susanoo, and since he now possessed Susanoo, he was stronger than Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was stronger than Konoha, and Konoha was stronger than Nagato. By that logic, that red-haired guy shouldn't be anything special, right? How did he almost shatter him with a single punch?

Sasuke was truly terrified by that punch from Nagato.

That feeling of the heavens changing and the weight of Mount Tai pressing down could not be mistaken; it was simply not something he could contend with at his current level.

Sasuke knew clearly that Nagato had held back with that punch. After shattering the Susanoo, the blow had stopped in mid-air and never actually landed on him. The injuries inside his body were merely caused by the shockwave of the punch.

This result was inconceivable to Sasuke; having no idea what natural energy was, he couldn't understand how someone could injure another with just the force of a punch.

Moreover, if Nagato hadn't held back and had landed that punch squarely, he would have been smashed into a pulp. Sasuke didn't think his body was tougher than a Susanoo.

When the cold chakra within his body condensed into Susanoo, only to be shattered by Nagato's punch, Sasuke had instantly calmed down.

Facing the aura Nagato unleashed at such close range, he finally understood what Karin meant by chakra more vast than the Eight-Tails. That was why he had decided to lie on the ground and not move—he knew very well that for a monster like that, controlling his strength to avoid killing him was already a difficult task. He, Sasuke Uchiha, liked to act cool, but he didn't like to throw his life away.

"That was the report Zetsu gave me." Obito stared at Sasuke's pale face with his right eye, throwing the blame away without hesitation. "According to Nagato, he gave up on capturing the Nine-Tails of his own accord."

"Is that so?"

There was still doubt in Sasuke's eyes. After calming down and reviewing the battle, he felt as if the skills he had acquired were bootlegs.

Whether it was Amaterasu or Susanoo, in Itachi's hands, each was stronger than the last, and everyone who saw them was left in awe. Why was it so trashy when he used them? The impact of Nagato shattering his Susanoo with one punch was too great; Itachi's Susanoo hadn't looked that fragile.

The younger brother clearly hadn't heard Black Zetsu's explanation and didn't know that Itachi's Susanoo was powerful because it was equipped with two divine artifacts. So, the question he really wanted to ask Obito was why his Susanoo was so weak, but he was too embarrassed to bring it up.

Sasuke's inner pride made it impossible for him to accept that he was inferior to anyone, even Itachi.

"Madara, I've brought this guy back."

At that moment, Zetsu, drenched in rain, walked in carrying Jugo with a gloating smile. "He really flew quite a distance."

"Use your clone to heal him." Obito stood straight and glanced at Sasuke. "Come with me, Sasuke. Think clearly about your position this time; don't act recklessly again."