The Clash of the Strongest

Northern part of the Land of Fire.

In just two days, Jue seized a golden opportunity and pinpointed Taiichi's exact location.

In a secluded cave, Pain, who had been motionless, suddenly stirred. His tightly closed eyes opened, and his purple Rinnegan began to move slightly.

"Intelligence—accurate?" His cold voice betrayed no emotion.

"Absolutely true!"

On the other side, White Zetsu stared at Pain with curiosity. It was also the first time he had worked with Pain alone, and White Zetsu found this special Puppet quite interesting.

Black Zetsu quickly suppressed White Zetsu's consciousness; he no longer wanted to listen to White Zetsu's nonsense.

"Many of my White Zetsu Clone are scattered throughout this area. One of them personally witnessed Taichi Matsushita enter that border outpost and hasn't come out yet."

"Very well." Pain stood up, his wide Akatsuki robes drawing heavy arcs in the dim light. "Asura Path, Animal Path —follow me."

Two figures, both dressed in Black-bottomed Red Cloud Robe, emerged from the shadows at the deepest part of the cave.

A burly man, his exposed skin covered with strange mechanical modifications, his eyes lifeless;

The other person appeared relatively normal, except for his equally lifeless eyes and his striking green hair.

Jue's body sank slowly as if blending into the shadows, leaving only a final, light utterance floating in the air:

Have a great hunt, hehe!

On the northern border of the Land of Hot Water, near the Land of Frost, Konoha established an outpost to monitor the movements of the Cloud Village forces within the Land of Frost.

Taiichi was staying at this outpost at the moment, along with the original garrison squad.

In this desolate and suffocating place, the task of guarding the area was no easy one. Fortunately, the Cloud Village had retreated, and this mission was about to end.

Inside the outpost, Taiichi was chatting with the four members of the garrison squad. With Taiichi's addition, the four of them could relax a lot, at least they no longer had to stand guard on the high watchtower.

Taiichi's Chakra Perception constantly scans for any unusual activity within a three-kilometer radius. This is far more efficient than them simply standing guard.

Just as the group was chatting animatedly, three unfamiliar auras entered Taiichi's Chakra Perception range.

Taiichi, who was speaking, paused for a moment, and his expression became serious.

--

He sensed three figures dressed in Black-bottomed Red Cloud Robe slowly walking towards the outpost, and Taiichi's attention was immediately drawn to their eyes.

Rinnegan, or rather, three pairs of Rinnegan. Looking at the appearances of these three people, there's no doubt about it; this is the third of the Six Paths Puppet.

The Deva Path Pain was made from Yahiko's corpse; the one with the modified full-body weapons was the Asura Path; and the last one was unrecognizable.

Upon seeing Taiichi's expression, the people sitting around him immediately stood up and assumed a defensive posture.

They were well aware of their own position; an enemy who could elicit such an expression from this renowned figure in the Ninja World was not someone they could handle.

"Lord Taiichi, have enemies arrived?"

Taiichi dusted himself off, stood up, turned to look in the direction the enemy had come from, and finally said to the four, "The enemy coming later is very strong, beyond your ability to handle. You should retreat to a safe distance."

The four men exchanged glances. While retreating without a fight was somewhat shameful, it depended on who was speaking.

If it were the person in front of them, the four nodded "yes" without hesitation and then quickly left the outpost.

Taiichi also slowly left the outpost and walked towards the enemy's direction.

After all, the outpost was built with money, and rebuilding it after it was destroyed would be another expense. As a responsible Konoha resident, Taiichi wanted to save money wherever possible.

The two walked towards each other, clearly aware of each other's presence, but neither sped up, maintaining a normal pace, displaying the confident and composed mindset of experts.

The two sides eventually met about one kilometer from the outpost, at which point they were only about 20 meters apart.

Taiichi calmly looked at the three figures opposite him. Only by seeing them with his own eyes could he understand what kind of beings they were.

There was no sign of life, yet Chakra swirled around them. These signs were imperceptible to ordinary people, but Taiichi, a top-tier Medical Ninja with an extremely keen Chakra Perception, saw them clearly.

"I thought it would be some kind of enemy, but they didn't even dare to show their faces, sending only three Puppet to deal with me. Do they look down on me, Taichi Matsushita?"

Taiichi was asking a question he already knew the answer to; his aim was to gain the upper hand and demoralize the enemy.

Sure enough, when he heard Taiichi expose his true nature, Pain, the leader, visibly paused.

"Taichi Matsushita, you do have some skill, but that's all it takes." Pain's cold voice rang out, as if pronouncing a death sentence on his opponent.

Taiichi, however, did not take it to heart. He stared at the three Six Paths Puppet for a moment, then, as if following some unknown thread, his gaze left Pain and the other two, and looked to the right in the distance.

When Pain saw that Taiichi was blatantly ignoring his presence, a surge of anger rose within him. But the next moment, it was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head, instantly sobering him up.

The direction Taichi Matsushita was looking in seemed to be the very spot where his true form was hidden.

He detected the path of Chakra transmission between the Black Receiver and even discovered the location of the main body by following the path. This person is truly terrifying.

At this moment, Pain (Nagato) finally realized why Madara Uchiha was so wary of Taichi Matsushita, and even went so far as to start his plans ahead of time for him.

This guy is definitely not to be underestimated.

Taiichi then withdrew his gaze and looked back at Pain and the other two. He had already given them a warning; now it was time to get back to the main topic.

"Judging from your outfits, you three are in cahoots with that Masked Man, aren't you? You were the masterminds behind the Nine-Tails Incident in Konoha?"

Taiichi spoke with absolute certainty, as if he had already made up his mind about them.

Pain looked down at his uniform and realized for the first time that uniforms had this kind of drawback.

At the same time, he couldn't help but resent "Madara Uchiha". If it was a secret operation, why was he blatantly wearing the organization's uniform? Wasn't that just making the organization look bad?

However, since things have come to this, there's no point in saying more. Besides, it's uncertain whether Taichi Matsushita will even be alive after today.

The air seemed to freeze.

An invisible aura slowly rose from the four people present.

Pain didn't bother to explain; since a big fight was going to happen today anyway, there was no point in saying anything more.

Seeing that the other party remained silent, Taiichi knew that it was impossible to get any more information from them, so he simply adjusted his own state and prepared for the upcoming battle.

Just as a major battle was about to break out, a streak of orange light shot straight towards them from the direction of the outpost.

In the blink of an eye, a cute little fox appeared on Taiichi's shoulder.

"Taiichi, you bastard! I just went out for a stroll, and when I came back I couldn't find you anywhere. I didn't expect you to be fighting with someone here."

A cute voice rang out, Taiichi complaining to Taiichi, Nine-Tails finally looked up and sized up the person opposite him.

This sight was quite alarming; it scared the creature so much that its limbs went limp and it almost collapsed onto Taiichi's shoulder.

"Rinnegan... and three pairs at Rinnegan! When Rinnegan become so worthless?"

The Nine-Tails' voice, when it lost its temper, was so shrill that Taiichi couldn't help but rub his ears.

"No, these are all Puppet, just projections of the Rinnegan. But regardless, the Rinnegan has definitely been born. Taiichi, you'd better be careful, don't die here."

Taiichi tilted his head and glanced at the Nine-Tails on his shoulder, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"You're showing concern for me, so why don't you join me in dealing with the enemy before us?"

Like a little girl whose secrets have been exposed, the Nine-Tails immediately jumped up and covered itself up.

"Bullshit! Who cares about you? I'm just worried that if you die, your current comfortable life will be ruined again. Don't flatter yourself, kid!"

Nine-Tails a haughty explanation, but in his heart he was thinking about whether he should really help when the time came. But that was the Rinnegan. Even in its prime, it might not be able to defeat it, let alone now that it only had so little Chakra.

Meanwhile, Pain stared intently at the little fox on Taiichi's shoulder. He couldn't be mistaken; although he had never seen the Nine-Tails before, he was certain that the fox on Taiichi's shoulder was the Nine-Tails.

Although it's unclear why Nine-Tails's Chakra is so limited, this is an excellent opportunity.

"Taichi Matsushita— " Pain Deva Path spoke, his voice devoid of any human emotion, "Your existence is a tremendous obstacle to the path of peace. Surrender the Nine-Tails, and perhaps you can escape divine punishment."

"God?" Taiichi chuckled softly, his voice low but a blatant mockery of Pain.

He tilted his head slightly, a hint of amusement flashing in his dark eyes. "They're nothing but a few pathetic worms hiding behind Puppet, toying with the bodies of the dead. They dare call themselves 'gods'? How laughable and pathetic."

"Insolence!" The emotionless, mechanical voice of the Asura Path suddenly exploded. His modified, massive mechanical right arm abruptly rose, and the dark, multi-barreled cannon instantly locked onto Taiichi. The eerie blue Chakra light rapidly gathered deep within the cannon's muzzle, emitting a destructive wave!

The battle was about to break out, and the Nine-Tails wisely jumped off Taiichi's shoulder, disappearing from the battlefield in a few leaps.

"Deity —an unforgivable sin!" The Animal Path's cold voice rang out at the same time, his hands rapidly Hand Seals, his movements so fast they almost left afterimages.

Boom!!!

Without any warning, the cannons on Asura Path's arm suddenly unleashed blinding blue-white beams of light!

Almost at the same instant the beam of light erupted, the Animal Path completed its hand Hand Seals and slammed its hands down on the ground!

Summoning Jutsu!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

As a huge plume of white smoke exploded, four enormous, Summoning Animal beasts, radiating a terrifying aura, appeared out of thin air on the wasteland!

One of them is Hell Crab that is several thousand meters tall, covered in an indestructible dark red carapace, and has a huge single horn!

One of them was a multi-headed dog with three ferocious dog heads, a huge body, drooling, and six crimson eyes fixed on Taiichi!

One of them is the Yatagarasu, with a wingspan of tens of meters and an exceptionally hard beak!

The last one was a giant chameleon, coiled on the ground like a mountain, covered in rock-like scales, and dripping corrosive venom from its mouth.

As soon as the four ferocious beasts appeared, they let out deafening roars and howls. The violent sound waves mixed with the ferocious Chakra emanating from their bodies, instantly turning this wasteland into a barbaric arena!

Like a fearless fool, the multi-headed dog followed closely behind the Asura Path's Chakra Cannon, launching Taiichi.

The Hell Crab growled and spat out a wave of Utakata at Taiichi from afar.

The Yatagarasu let out a piercing shriek that seemed to shatter gold and split rocks. With a sudden flap of its wings, its massive body soared into the sky, circling continuously, its claws subtly aimed at Taiichi.

The giant chameleon silently blended into its surroundings, seemingly disappearing into thin air, leaving only slightly distorted ripples in the air. Its deadly tongue, like a lurking poison arrow, was ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment!

Pain, the Deva Path Pain, hovered slightly higher in the air, his wide robes fluttering in the turbulent air currents. His purple Rinnegan surveyed everything below, providing all combat units with a global view.

The attack arrived instantly!

It enveloped Taiichi's figure from all angles, leaving no blind spots!

However, facing this deadly combined attack that would make any Kage Level powerhouse tremble, Taiichi's face remained completely calm.

Those deep black eyes didn't even glance at the attacks; instead, they looked up at Pain's figure in the air.

Just as the torrent of attacks was about to touch the hem of his clothes, without warning, Taiichi's figure vanished from the spot like a pencil drawing erased by an eraser!

Rumble rumble rumble!!!

All the devastating attacks missed their mark instantly, slamming heavily into the spot where Taiichi had originally been standing!

The earth groaned in agony as a massive, charred crater, several meters deep, instantly formed, the ejected energy scraping away a layer of the ground within a radius of a hundred meters.

"What?"

For the first time, a hint of astonishment flashed in the Animal Path's cold eyes. His Rinnegan couldn't detect the other's movement at all.

Pain Deva Path, suspended in mid-air, suddenly contracted his purple Rinnegan. It wasn't the Body Flicker Technique; the Body Flicker Technique couldn't evade the Rinnegan's detection.

It's Space-Time Ninjutsu, it's the Flying Thunder God.

"Up there!" Asura Path's mechanically enhanced senses were the first to detect the anomaly. He looked up sharply, and the cannon on the mechanical arm instantly turned around!

However, it was too late.

Taiichi's figure appeared out of thin air, less than three meters above Pain, like a ghost.

His gaze calmly looked down at the pair of slightly contracted purple Rinnegan below, his right hand forming a knife-like shape, with a thin but extremely refined Chakra Light Blade swirling around his fingertips!

Shinra Tensei.

Pain reacted extremely quickly; before the fatal hand chop could strike, a powerful repulsive force erupted from him!

The air seemed to be compressed into a solid wall in an instant, carrying an overwhelming force, and slammed into Taiichi above his head!

The repulsive field arrived in an instant, Taiichi's figure was violently thrown away by this terrifying force, which was enough to flatten a mountain! The speed was so fast that it left a blurry afterimage in the air!

But in Pain's purple Rinnegan, instead of relaxing in the slightest, his expression instantly became extremely serious!

Taiichi after being thrown back, Taiichi's face remained expressionless, and his eyes were still fixed on him.

Moreover, at the instant the other person was struck by the repulsive force, he seemed to see an extremely subtle curve appear at the corner of the other person's mouth.

How did the other person appear above his head? The Flying Thunder God Technique requires coordinates to be used. Could it be that he has the other person's coordinates on him?

All of this made Pain (Nagato) uneasy.