The clash between Taka and Nagato escalated when Sasuke exploded into action, then ended in an instant when Nagato shattered Sasuke's Susanoo with a single punch.
Konan sat quietly in her seat, perfectly still. In her eyes, Nagato had always been invincible. Now that he had Senjutsu and Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred, Taka challenging him was only inviting humiliation.
Kisame grinned at Suigetsu, who stood frozen with Kubikiribōchō in hand. Then he glanced at Sasuke, sprawled at Nagato's feet, and his eyes turned cold. Itachi, you must be disappointed by your little brother's performance.
He had been eager to see just how powerful their leader was. But Nagato hadn't moved from where he stood. With practically one punch per person, he'd taken down all of Taka, like an adult swatting children. He hadn't even revealed much of his strength.
Kisame had never been able to figure out how someone as powerful as Itachi Uchiha could have lost to Sasuke. Now he understood. The restraint Itachi had shown back then must have been at an SSS level.
Kisame didn't believe Nagato could beat Itachi so easily, either. For one thing, Nagato would never dare use Banshō Ten'in on Itachi so casually. No one knew what was going on with his Yata Mirror and Totsuka Blade. If Itachi took advantage of the opening and stabbed him with the Totsuka Blade, it would be a disaster.
"Zetsu, go check over there..."
Obito glanced at Nagato, standing motionless, then at the large hole Jugo had crashed through. After giving Zetsu an order, he headed toward Sasuke, who lay on the ground.
He'd seen the Susanoo Sasuke had just used. No wonder the kid had been so eager to destroy Konoha. He'd gotten his hands on that kind of power.
Too bad he'd run into Nagato...
When Obito reached Sasuke and bent down to look at him, helpless on the ground, Nagato walked away without a word, leaving Obito to deal with Sasuke. He'd taken care of the beating, but had no interest in the cleanup.
Sasuke looked miserable, like he could die at any moment, but Obito could tell his injuries weren't fatal. Nagato must have held back.
Normally, with Nagato's strength, Sasuke would have had no chance of surviving once Nagato caught him with Banshō Ten'in. Had he used his fists instead just to test out a new technique?
As he considered this, Obito beckoned to Karin.
"Come here..."
Cold wind and raindrops blew through the hole in the tower, leaving Karin and Suigetsu chilled to the bone. When Obito beckoned, Karin—already desperate to heal Sasuke—hurried over, rolled up her sleeve, and held her arm, covered in bite marks, to Sasuke's mouth.
"Ohhh..." With a moan that could easily be misunderstood, Sasuke, who'd been lying on the ground like a dead dog, lunged at Karin's arm like a starving dog and bit down. As Karin's Chakra entered his body, his injuries began to heal.
"Miss," Tsunade said, looking at Karin before turning to Nagato in surprise. "She's your relative, you know."
"You're my relative!" Nagato snapped back. Then he said to Obito, "Madara, I'll leave this to you. I'll wait next door. Bring Sasuke to see me as soon as you can. We don't have much time."
The large hole in the room made it unusable, and Nagato had no desire to stand around amid the mess. He'd be much more comfortable in another room.
Karin was part of the Uzumaki Clan, too, but she was a simp without a home. In the end, she'd not only gotten nothing, but had to help deliver her rival's baby. She was a true oddity among simps.
"I'll go with you."
Once Nagato and Konan had left the room, Tsunade quickly followed.
Anyone would feel uncomfortable seeing the bite marks on Karin's arm. Yet Karin looked perfectly willing to be bitten, while Sasuke remained cold and showed no gratitude at all. Faced with a scene like that, Tsunade could only choose to look away.
As she left, she glanced at Sasuke's hand, gripping the ground. As his strength returned, his trembling right hand clenched ever tighter, full of resentment. Even the corner of his mouth, where he bit down on Karin's arm, twisted further and further.
This Uchiha clearly couldn't accept defeat. It was obvious this wasn't over. Because of Naruto, Tsunade had originally felt some goodwill toward Sasuke. But if the kid wanted to destroy Konoha, then it was better for Nagato to cripple him. Tsunade thought it served the Uchiha brat right to run into that red-haired monster. It was a case of evil meeting its match.
"Power... I need power..." Once Tsunade had left, Sasuke let go of Karin's arm and made his demand of Obito.
"Hmm? Do you want to transplant Itachi's eyes?" Obito asked, staring into his eyes.
Sasuke fell silent. Not long ago, he'd refused Itachi's eyes with great confidence, saying that what he intended to do wasn't something Itachi would want to see. Was he really going to eat his words now?
"Didn't you say earlier that the guy who attacked Konoha failed?"
He was starting to question his whole life. Was that lousy village, the Hidden Leaf Village, the one even Orochimaru couldn't handle, really that strong?
Sasuke's assessment of strength had been simple: Orochimaru had been taken down instantly by Itachi's Susanoo, and now Sasuke had Susanoo too, so he was stronger than Orochimaru.
Orochimaru was stronger than Konoha, and Konoha was stronger than Nagato. By that logic, the redhead shouldn't have been anything special, right? So how had one punch nearly shattered him?
Sasuke was genuinely terrified after Nagato's punch.
That terrifying feeling, like the skies had changed and Mount Tai was crashing down on him, had to be real. He couldn't stand against it—not as he was now.
Sasuke knew Nagato had held back with that punch. After smashing his Susanoo, Nagato's fist had stopped in midair instead of landing on him. The injuries inside his body were only from the force of the punch.
To Sasuke, this result was simply incomprehensible. He had no idea what Natural Energy was, and couldn't understand how someone could injure another person with the force of a punch alone.
And if Nagato hadn't held back—if that punch had landed squarely on him—Sasuke would probably have been smashed into pieces. He didn't think his body was tougher than Susanoo.
When the cold Chakra inside him had formed Susanoo, only for Nagato to shatter it with one punch, Sasuke had instantly calmed down.
Only after facing Nagato's overwhelming presence up close did he understand what Karin had meant when she said his Chakra was even greater than the Eight Tails'. So he wisely decided to lie still on the ground. He knew that for a monster like this, controlling his strength well enough not to kill him was already no easy feat. Sasuke Uchiha might like to show off, but he didn't want to die.
"That was what Zetsu reported to me." Obito stared at Sasuke's still-pale face and unhesitatingly passed the blame to Black Zetsu. "According to Nagato, he gave up on capturing the Nine Tails himself."
"Is that so?"
There was still some doubt in Sasuke's eyes. Now that he'd calmed down and thought back over the fight, he couldn't help feeling that all the abilities he'd gotten were cheap knockoffs.
Amaterasu and Susanoo—Itachi had made both look incredibly powerful. Everyone who saw them had been amazed. Why were they so pathetic when Sasuke used them? Watching Nagato smash Susanoo with one punch had shaken him badly. Itachi's Susanoo hadn't looked that fragile.
Apparently, the kid hadn't heard Black Zetsu's explanation and didn't know Itachi's Susanoo had been so powerful because it was equipped with two legendary weapons. What Sasuke really wanted to ask Obito was why his Susanoo was so pathetic, but he was too embarrassed to say it.
Sasuke's pride wouldn't let him accept being inferior to anyone—not even Itachi.
"Madara, I brought this guy back."
At that moment, Zetsu came in, soaked with rain, carrying Jugo. He wore a gleeful grin. "He flew a pretty long way."
"Use one of your clones to heal him." Obito straightened and glanced at Sasuke. "Come with me, Sasuke. Think carefully about where you stand this time, and don't act recklessly again."
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