Not long after he released the artificial human—Nohara Rin Unit—from the sealing scroll, angelic-looking Konan appeared in Uchiha Ensei's line of sight.
Pain appeared alongside her.
"Only the Deva Path came? Aren't you underestimating me?"
Uchiha Ensei smiled calmly. As he spoke, powerful chakra erupted from the newly released Nohara Rin Unit.
The dense chakra nearly solidified as it enveloped Nohara Rin. Three tails emerged uncontrollably, and intense malice spread in every direction.
The sight nearly made Kakashi Hatake doubt reality itself.
"Where did you get Nine-Tails chakra?"
Kakashi Hatake asked through gritted teeth. If they had not been facing a powerful enemy, he truly would not have been able to contain his anger.
Seeing this, Uchiha Ensei curled his lips into a faint smile and said with a hint of pride, "Familiar, isn't it? This weapon made specifically for Obito Uchiha seems pretty effective."
The moment he finished speaking, Nohara Rin Unit shot forward like a sharp sword, appearing before Deva Path Pain in an instant with tremendous force.
Her fist, wrapped in a Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak, drove straight ahead. Yet just before it struck, it was repelled by an unknown force.
The two immense forces stalemated for a moment before the victor was decided.
Nohara Rin Unit was blasted far away, and only then did Deva Path Pain's voice slowly ring out.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Nohara Rin Unit, sent flying away, crouched on the ground and roared like a beast.
Chakra surged in her mouth. Yin and yang chakra in an eighty-twenty ratio condensed into a miniature Tailed Beast Bomb, which she fired.
Only a small portion of the Tailed Beast chakra from the night of the Nine-Tails attack had been collected.
Even after Uchiha Ensei's years of cultivation, it was only equivalent to a tiny fraction of the Nine-Tails' power—perhaps half an One-Tail?
Uchiha Ensei made the baseless guess.
Normally, a Tailed Beast Bomb could not be used under such circumstances.
But since Minato Namikaze had developed the Rasengan based on the Tailed Beast Bomb, Uchiha Ensei could naturally replicate a miniature version of it.
After all, the composition of a Tailed Beast Bomb was already clear: yin and yang chakra in a two-to-eight ratio.
Even the Deva Path could not withstand the power of a Tailed Beast Bomb head-on.
But there was no need to. A new figure stepped in front of the Deva Path and directly absorbed the incoming Tailed Beast Bomb.
"Nohara Rin Unit, use taijutsu attacks."
Uchiha Ensei noticed this and immediately reminded her.
Upon hearing Uchiha Ensei's order, Nohara Rin Unit rose again. Four arms abruptly extended from beneath her ribs, making her look exactly like a monster.
"Can you... not give Rin's name to something like that?"
Kakashi Hatake was feeling especially miserable, but he still could not help complaining to Uchiha Ensei.
Hearing that, Uchiha Ensei replied reasonably, "Oh, that? No problem."
"That name was only meant to provoke Obito Uchiha. This thing's real name is actually Zero-Two."
While Uchiha Ensei chatted with Kakashi Hatake, Konan, hovering in the air nearby, silently watched the battle as well and showed no intention of intervening.
Empowered by Nine-Tails chakra, Zero-Two's speed became incredibly fast. A ninja blade extended from each of her six palms, their edges glimmering with a sinister purple light that made it obvious they had been coated in potent poison.
But at this moment, poison was utterly useless against the Six Paths of Pain.
Yes, exactly. As Zero-Two fought the Deva Path and the Preta Path, the other four figures appeared on the battlefield at just the right moment and joined the siege.
"Hey, hey. Nagato, you're being a little unsporting here..."
Seeing this, Uchiha Ensei hurriedly threw out two more scrolls.
As two clouds of smoke drifted through the air, two familiar figures joined the battle once more.
For a moment, the battlefield changed from six against one to one against two.
"Ensei... isn't this... going a little too far?"
Kakashi Hatake watched the two newly appeared figures, the corner of his mouth twitching as an indescribable sense of absurdity rose in his heart.
"They're famous people, after all. I'm just borrowing their appearances. Setting combat power aside, isn't this look alone enough to make people tremble?"
Uchiha Ensei spoke with a chuckle as he began recording data on his artificial humans' combat performance.
Overall, he was quite satisfied with them.
On the other side, Kakashi Hatake was completely speechless after hearing that answer and did not want to say anything more.
This damned brat had actually made the First and Madara Uchiha into puppets. At this moment, Kakashi thought this was some new kind of puppet.
And putting aside the Mangekyō Sharingan in the eyes of the First, whose body bore the number Zero-Three, why had the eyes of Madara Uchiha, whose body bore the number Zero-One, become Byakugan?
You were messing with your own ancestors like this—did your clan head know?
And were those Mangekyō Sharingan and Byakugan merely decorative, or were they real?
If they were just decorations, that would be one thing. But if they were real...
Kakashi Hatake thought of that possibility and suddenly did not dare let his imagination run wild any further.
"Zero-Three, Zero-One! The enemy is fighting dirty. Suppress them with firepower!"
Seeing the various weapons launched by the Asura Path, Uchiha Ensei immediately shouted in displeasure.
At Uchiha Ensei's command, large holes split open in Zero-Three and Zero-One's shoulders. Four miniature Gatling guns then rose from the black openings.
Four streams of fire erupted at once, and countless bullets poured out, blasting the Asura Path's body into a mangled mess.
But that was all. These technology-based weapons were useful for ambushes or against Genin, but they were ineffective against true powerhouses.
They might not be faster than bullets, but they could move faster than you could swing the gun barrel.
The remaining Pains began displaying their true power. The Human Path actually dragged a blurry-looking soul out of Zero-Two's body...
Had Zero-Three not arrived in time to support her, Zero-Two would likely have been scrapped by now.
Kakashi Hatake's brows furrowed tightly at the sight, while Uchiha Ensei pulled out a notebook and began taking notes.
"I've gathered enough experimental data. There's no need to keep playing."
As he spoke, Uchiha Ensei took out a soybean-sized sphere from his clothes, crushed it, and released blood from within.
"Summoning Technique: Exploding Fly."
As the Summoning Technique array appeared, a cloud of smoke drifted away, and a massive swarm of flies was summoned, blotting out the sky...
The flies were incredibly fast, covering the Six Paths of Pain from head to toe in the blink of an eye.
Yes, all six paths. The Asura Path that had previously been torn apart by the miniature Gatling guns had already been revived by the Naraka Path during the battle.
"Art is Patrick Star... Boom!"
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