Blinded by the scale powder, Nagato braced himself. "We have to find a way to suppress Pain's offensive, then take them out one by one with my Human Path or Itachi's Totsuka Blade!"
Sasuke held two fingers upright before his chest.
"I have a jutsu that requires an enormous amount of chakra. If it works, it can suppress all of them!"
"So we need to buy you time!"
—Preta Path!
Nagato spread his hands, deploying a Sealing Barrier that absorbed the scale powder in massive quantities.
Once the scale powder vanished, Itachi and Nagato stood together in front of Sasuke, guarding him!
Atop the Demonic Statue, Obito also maintained his hand seal. The being he was about to summon needed time to gather chakra as well!
Shikaku said, "Look at their formation. They're covering Sasuke so he can use some kind of trump card!"
Obito's gaze darkened. "Just what I wanted. This is the perfect chance to kill those two, especially... Itachi!!"
Boom!!
Han of the Five-Tails charged out, revealing his new Asura Path form [Roshi was previously the Asura Path; this has now been changed to Han]!!
Nagato said, "So the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, the most Burly of them all, is the Asura Path after all!"
Whoosh...!!!
Han sprang into the air, striking with a heavy Asura punch!
Muscle fibers wrapped around the arm of Itachi's Susanoo as it met him with a crushing punch!
Boom...!
The two wildly disproportionate fists collided, yet their strength was evenly matched!!
Hiss, hiss, hiss...!
Just then... huge quantities of steam blasted out of the vents in Han's elbow joint!!
Nagato's pupils contracted sharply. "A combination of Boil Release steam and the Asura Path's mecha fist? Watch out, Itachi!!!"
Bang!!
The steam's terrifying internal pressure blasted the monstrous Asura arm free, driving it fist-first