Slaying the Heart Demon, Reverse Frequency Lock

Above the Hokage Rock, the air had been reduced to a vacuum by the intense Chakra.

Naruto's right arm was filled with such thick Golden Yang Release Chakra that it was almost dripping water. He looked at Deva Path Pain, who had floated up again and was radiating a repulsive force several times stronger than before, and then created a sonic boom by stepping on the ground.

"A hastily cobbled-together shoddy piece of junk trying to block the way?"

Naruto made no Hand Seals, nor did he test the waters. The dark red steam from the Gate of Wonder intertwined with the golden light of Yang Release, and his entire body transformed into a heavy armor-piercing hammer, crashing straight into the repulsive force wall in front of Deva Path, a wall so powerful it could distort even light.

"Shinra Tensei!" The hollow voice of the Deva Path Dao resounded amidst the raging wind.

Two forces, each powerful enough to level a mountain, collided violently in mid-air.

There was no deafening explosion, only an extremely piercing, teeth-grinding grinding sound. Naruto's right fist was pressed firmly against the repulsive force wall, and visible black cracks even appeared in the space around his knuckles. Deva Path's cold face was less than half a meter away from Naruto's fist, and Naruto's violent laughter was reflected in his Rinnegan.

"You can't stop him." Naruto grinned, his gleaming white teeth gleaming wildly in the golden light.

As he finished speaking, he twisted his waist and abdomen, Chakra in his body surged wildly into his right arm in a spiral.

Click.

The first crack appeared on the surface of the repulsion wall. Then, it spread rapidly like a spider web. The broken body of the Deva Path Dao trembled violently, and two of the Black Rod on its back were snapped off by the violent reaction force.

Inside the tower of Amegakure, Nagato coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, his white hair even beginning to dry out. But he didn't stop, his hands clasped tightly together, his Rinnegan fixed on the front.

"We can't... lose here."

Nagato forcibly reversed the Chakra circuits. In mid-air Deva Path suddenly abandoned maintaining the repulsive force wall, and his body plummeted backward with the force of Naruto's punch. In that instant of retreat, Deva Path rapidly Hand Seals, and the remaining Six Paths Chakra transformed into a rain of black mist.

Dozens of sharp Black Rod bypassed Naruto and, like guided missiles, pierced directly into the weakest point of defense below—the medical transport station!

There, Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred Light was maintaining the foundation, while Sakura Haruno, her hands covered in blood, was pressing on the carotid artery of an Anbu to stop the bleeding.

"Trash." Naruto's eyes turned cold. Just as he was about to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to defend, an extremely dazzling black-purple lightning bolt suddenly erupted below.

Sasuke stood with one foot on the collapsed roof ridge, his left hand gripping the Chidori Sharp Spear, his crimson Two-Tomoe Sharingan spinning wildly.

Lightning Release: Chidori Stream!

The violent electric current surged upwards from the ground, weaving a dense web of lightning in mid-air. The Black Rod that hurtled down struck the lightning web, producing a series of explosive sounds, and were all deflected and pulverized.

But Sasuke's movements suddenly froze.

In order to block this attack, he had forcibly pushed his Chakra beyond its limit. The extremely subtle, high-dimensional, cold Chakra the wound on his left shoulder, which had been pierced by the Human Path's Black Rod, instantly rushed into the back of his neck through his blood vessels.

There, the three black Tomoe- shaped Cursed Seal suddenly came to life, like leeches that had smelled blood.

"Ah--!"

Sasuke let out a low growl of extreme pain, his knee slamming heavily through a roof tile. Eerie black patterns visibly crept up his neck and onto his cheek. His left eye quickly became bloodshot, and a shadowy vertical pupil, unlike any other Uchiha's, appeared deep within its depths.

Orochimaru's remaining will, left in the Heaven's Cursed Seal, has awakened.

The real world before Sasuke's eyes began to distort and peel away. He found himself standing in a pitch-black sea of blood, with the corpses of Uchiha clan members lying all around him.

In the shadows not far away, a huge white snake coiled up, its scarlet tongue flicking out. Orochimaru's hoarse, sticky voice echoed in all directions.

"What a pathetic struggle, Sasuke-kun." The white snake slowly lowered its head, its vertical pupils fixed on Sasuke. "Your Sharingan, which you are so proud of, is not even a joke in front of that monster named Naruto Uzumaki."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, remaining silent, his right hand gripping the Kusanagi Sword at his waist tightly.

"Look at that figure in the sky." Orochimaru's voice was piercingly seductive. "You've been following him, but he's leaving you further and further behind. Are you really willing to be a burden who needs him to turn back and rescue you at any moment? The man who slaughtered your entire clan is still waiting for you in the distance."

The white snake opened its blood-red maw, revealing countless fangs. "Give me your body. If you nod, all my years of accumulated knowledge, forbidden techniques, and power surpassing that of the Nine-Tails serpent will be yours."

Blood seeped over Sasuke's knees. An extremely cold, yet comforting force, so intense it made him want to give up thinking, was seeping into his very bones along with the flow of blood.

All you have to do is bow your head and accept it.

Sasuke slowly loosened his grip on the sword.

Orochimaru's remnant soul let out a smug chuckle. He knew this avenger all too well. The Uchiha Clan's extreme thirst for power was their most fatal weakness.

However, just as the white snake's fangs were about to bite Sasuke's forehead...

"Smack."

Sasuke suddenly raised his right hand, not to draw his sword, but with his five fingers like hooks, he gripped the white snake's vital spot tightly.

Orochimaru's laughter stopped abruptly.

"Have you been in the sewers for too long and ruined your brain?" Sasuke slowly raised his head. In those eyes that should have been corrupted by the Cursed Seal, the scarlet Two-Tomoe Sharingan were spinning at an unprecedented speed, faintly showing a tendency to connect into a windmill shape.

He looked at Orochimaru, who was so close to him, and a cold, blood-tinged smile appeared on his lips.

"I, Sasuke Uchiha, do indeed crave power."

"But what I find even more disgusting is being treated like a dog!"

Sasuke's mind flashed back to Sakura's back as she braved the explosion to save people, and to the madman in the sky who was completely unreasonable and clearing a path with his fists.

"In this life, I only recognize what I've earned myself. Your pathetic tricks of using someone else's body to reincarnate are as good as dead!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Sasuke suddenly formed an extremely complex hand seal with his left hand.

In the real world, the golden Yang Release Seal left by Naruto on the back of his neck suddenly erupted.

This time, however, it wasn't Yang Release suppressing the Cursed Seal. Instead, Sasuke forcibly detonated the Lightning Release Chakra within his body, brutally pouring it into the Yang Release Mark. The extremely powerful and Yang lightning and the vibrant golden light merged perfectly, transforming into an invisible blade that cleaved straight at the core of the Cursed Seal on the back of his head.

In the illusion, the white snake let out an extremely shrill scream. Its huge body was instantly sliced into dozens of pieces by black and purple lightning, turning into ashes and dissipating.

"Sasuke —you'll regret this one day!" Orochimaru's unwilling roar sank completely into the sea of blood.

Debris flew everywhere.

Sasuke suddenly opened his eyes, panting heavily, sweat mixed with blood splattering onto the roof tiles. The three black Tomoe marks on the back of his neck, under the dual attack of lightning and golden light, had completely lost their luster, turning into a dead burn scar.

He propped himself up on his knees, drew his Kusanagi Sword, and pointed the tip at the distant ruins. Kakashi and Shikamaru were quickly clearing away the remains of several Pain summons there.

A deafening roar that shattered the clouds echoed from the sky.

Naruto delivered a powerful downward kick, slamming it squarely into Deva Path Pain's shoulder. The sound of bones shattering echoed throughout half of Hidden Leaf.

In the brief moment between kicks, Naruto glanced at the sword-wielding figure on the rubble below. Seeing the black runes fading from Sasuke's face, Naruto didn't even turn around, simply letting out a cold snort based on his aura, "You've got guts, otherwise I'd whip you too."

Sasuke wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, said nothing, and simply channeled his Lightning Release Chakra back into the blade. "Mind your own business, or I'll have to collect your corpse after you lose."

"The person in this world who can collect my corpse hasn't been born yet!"

Naruto let out a wild laugh, withdrew his gaze, and his right fist once again erupted with dazzling golden light, preparing to smash the orange head of Deva Path.

But he didn't notice.

Just a fraction of a second after Sasuke forcibly used Lightning Release combined with Yang Release Lightning Release to strangle Orochimaru's Cursed Seal, an extremely subtle and chilling Chakra fluctuation tore open the previously impenetrable Yang Release aura of the battlefield below.

This fluctuation was extremely weak.

But for the Deva Path, who possesses the Rinnegan, this is enough.

The shattered body of the Deva Path Dao folded strangely in mid-air. Instead of dodging Naruto's punch, which was powerful enough to shatter a mountain, he tilted his head back slightly, letting Naruto's fist slam heavily into his right chest.

"Pfft!"

Naruto pierced through Deva Path's chest. A fist gust mixed with dark red steam shot out from behind him, creating a vacuum tunnel a hundred meters long in the air.

This punch completely crippled Deva Path's ability to move.

But there was no trace of pain on Deva Path's expressionless face. Taking advantage of the moment when Naruto's fist was stuck in his chest and could not be pulled away instantly, he clenched his hands together tightly.

It is not a mark of retaliation, but a perception.

Taking advantage of the slight opening created by Orochimaru Cursed Seal, the Rinnegan Chakra within Deva Path's body transformed into an invisible probe, following the wind from Naruto's punch, and pierced into the core of the Eight Trigrams Seal in his abdomen.

Extremely precise. Extremely lethal.

Inside the tower of Amegakure, Nagato's eye was split open, two streams of black blood flowing from it. Yet, his withered lips parted into an extremely gruesome arc.

The Black and White Zetsu figure behind him suddenly contracted its yellow pupils.

"Detected." Nagato's voice was hoarse, like rusty iron, filled with a fanatical obsession. "Naruto Uzumaki. Within your perfect Yang Release shell, the chains sealing the Nine-Tails... vibrate at a frequency of seventy-two times per second."

Half of the Hidden Leaf were in the air.

With a gaping hole in his chest, Deva Path Pain suddenly raised his remaining left hand, palm aimed at Naruto's abdomen.

"Phantom Dragons Nine Consuming Seals - Reverse Starting Technique"

The hollow voice of Deva Path became the last few words uttered from his body.

A strange pulling force, which even Naruto's Sage Body couldn't instantly block, bypassed the physical body and fiercely grabbed the orange giant fox deep within the Eight Trigrams Seal.

Naruto's pupils contracted sharply. The Nine-Tails within him let out a roar filled with extreme frenzy and pain.

Deathblow Frequency Lock, start the game!