What else did you expect?

With a thunderous boom, the crab exploded into fragments, and the Animal Path's puppet body was blasted to ash along with it.

What was the Evening Elephant? It was a barrage of incredibly fast, powerful punches that struck the air, producing continuous air cannons shaped like elephant feet. Forget Six Paths-level Obito-even Madara at his peak would have to think twice before facing that power.

Against the Animal Path of the Six Paths of Pain? It was like crushing an ant.

"All right, that's the first one down." Uchiha Yi smiled, then vanished in an instant.

Meanwhile, far away, the moment the Animal Path's chakra signal cut out, Nagato's face turned black as thunder.

Seeing this, Konan hurried over and asked, "Nagato, what's wrong?"

"The Animal Path has been completely destroyed!"

"What? How is that possible?" Konan nearly jumped in shock.

It wasn't the Animal Path's destruction itself that surprised her. Konoha had deep reserves of strength, after all. If someone truly formidable appeared, even destroying five Paths of Pain wouldn't be out of the question.

But this was absurdly fast! How long had the fighting even been going on? They had already lost one?

"Was it the Fifth Hokage?" Konan guessed first.

"No. It was Uchiha Yi." Nagato's voice was ice-cold, but a moment later, his body jolted, and his expression darkened further.

"What now?"

"The Naraka Path is gone too!"

"What?"

Back in Konoha, on a battlefield left in ruins by explosions, Uchiha Yi suddenly appeared and smashed the Naraka Path to pieces with one punch.

The Konoha ninja who had been desperately fighting Pain froze for a moment, then burst into an uproar.

"It's Lord Uchiha Yi!"

"Thank goodness! Lord Yi is here!"

"Lord Yi really is a badass!"

Most people in Konoha-even some of its ninja-had never figured out just how strong Uchiha Yi was.

Even Tsunade wasn't quite sure of his strength. But the ordinary villagers all knew that Uchiha Yi was engaged to Hinata Hyuga, the Hyuga Clan's next leader.

What kind of family was the Hyuga Clan? Having them agree to marry their princess to Uchiha Yi was an enormous honor in itself.

Besides, Uchiha Yi was a member of the Uchiha Clan. In ordinary people's eyes, anyone who could achieve all that had to be a formidable man.

That impression only grew stronger after he became a trusted confidant of the Fifth Hokage. After all, Uchiha Yi had brought Tsunade back, and Tsunade had personally visited the Hyuga Clan to propose the marriage on his behalf. Naturally, everyone considered him one of the Hokage's own.

Could someone trusted by the Hokage possibly be weak?

Although Uchiha Yi always kept his abilities under wraps, leading quite a few people to wonder whether he had any real skill, today would put those doubts to rest.

An enemy several Jonin couldn't handle had been killed by a single punch. His strength was simply outrageous.

"That's the second one down," Uchiha Yi murmured, vanishing again.

He knew Konoha's layout like the back of his hand. With his current strength, he could teleport wherever he wanted.

In a flash, he appeared right in front of the Preta Path.

Then... he killed it instantly.

Another instant kill!

Even though Nagato was already on maximum alert, he couldn't react to Uchiha Yi's sudden appearance while controlling the Preta Path. Pure brute force blasted the body to pieces, clean and simple.

After finishing off the Preta Path, Uchiha Yi set his sights on the Human Path.

Finally, he appeared on another battlefield, startling Kakashi, who was locked in a desperate fight against the Deva Path and the Asura Path.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei. Why do you look like you just rolled around in the mud?"

Uchiha Yi laughed at Kakashi's bedraggled appearance.

Kakashi ignored the jab, his expression grave. "Yi, be careful. These two have some strange powers."

"Strange?" Uchiha Yi smiled faintly, then vanished.

With a boom and a flash of lightning, Uchiha Yi was already standing in front of the Asura Path.

Under that lightning, the Asura Path's hulking metal body was reduced to a pile of broken parts.

"Kakashi-sensei, what were you saying?" Uchiha Yi glanced back at Kakashi with an infuriating grin.

Kakashi: ...

Did I say anything?

I don't think... I did?

Of the Six Paths of Pain that had invaded Konoha, only the Deva Path remained.

Although Pain's group had caused Konoha some trouble, the damage was nowhere near as devastating as in the original story. It amounted to little more than a minor disturbance, all thanks to Uchiha Yi holding the line.

"Well, Nagato? What are you going to do now?"

Uchiha Yi spoke as he stared at the Deva Path.

Jiraiya-sensei's prized student? Kakashi's eyes flickered. Although Uchiha Yi hadn't explained anything outright, one glance told him that this was the only invader left. That made things much easier.

"Uchiha Yi?"

The Deva Path spoke, his expression utterly composed.

"That's me." Uchiha Yi nodded. "Look, since things have come to this, why don't we talk it over? How about you just retreat?"

Those brief fights had given Uchiha Yi a clear picture of his strength. He was ridiculously powerful now; his physical strength alone was enough to overwhelm the Six Paths of Pain. Against the previous five Paths, he hadn't even used any other abilities. Well, no-he had used Lightning Release once against the Asura Path. But the others had all been smashed to pieces with his fists.

After all that, Uchiha Yi couldn't help thinking that Pain was far too weak. He wasn't even good enough to serve as a practice target.

He had originally thought Nagato would be strong enough to let him test the power of his Transmigration Rinnegan. Yet once they fought, he discovered that the man was absurdly weak-not even worthy of making him activate his Rinnegan. It wasn't that his opponent was weak; he himself was simply too strong!

If Nagato's eyes hadn't been connected to Kaguya Ōtsutsuki and the next evolution of his own Transmigration Rinnegan, Uchiha Yi would never have bothered with all this talk. He would have flattened him with a punch!

Uchiha Yi had actually considered collecting all the tailed beasts himself and bringing out Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. But he didn't know the steps needed to release her seal. If he interfered and Black Zetsu refused to cooperate, Kaguya might never emerge. Without Kaguya, the next evolution of his Transmigration Rinnegan would be delayed for ages. It would be faster to sit tight and reap the rewards at the finale.

But Nagato knew none of this, much less the calculations behind it.

Uchiha Yi's suggestion only made anger flare in Nagato's heart.

"Uchiha Yi, you're far too arrogant!"

"Arrogant? I'm just telling the truth. Your strength isn't anything special." Uchiha Yi shook his head, his expression practically saying, You're hopelessly weak.

"Insect! You dare question a god's power? You profane a god's majesty! You-"

Before he could finish, a heavy bang rang out, and the Deva Path was sent flying.

"What are you babbling about? God this, god that. I've never seen a god this tiresome."

Kakashi was dumbfounded. This has to be fake, right? The enemy I nearly died fighting just got sent flying by this guy's fist? Is this fight rigged? Or am I just that pathetically weak?

The Deva Path climbed to his feet, his voice seething with rage.

"You're courting death!"

The Deva Path extended his hand to pull Uchiha Yi toward him, only to freeze in confusion a moment later. Nothing happened! Absolutely nothing!

At that moment, Nagato experienced the same despair Obito had once felt.

"Banshō Ten'in?" Uchiha Yi laughed. "Could you put that little trick away? Let me show you what a real Banshō Ten'in looks like!"

As soon as he finished speaking, without any visible movement on his part, the Deva Path's body flew toward him. Is this Banshō Ten'in? Nagato's heart jolted. But something even more bewildering followed. When the Deva Path came within two or three meters of Uchiha Yi, he abruptly stopped, suspended in midair as though immobilized.

Uchiha Yi's control over Banshō Ten'in and Shinra Tensei had now reached the point where they obeyed his every whim. Put simply, both techniques manipulated gravity: one pulled, the other pushed. He could wield either with effortless precision.

It isn't Banshō Ten'in? The Deva Path struggled to turn his head and glare at Uchiha Yi. "What technique is this?"

"Take a guess." That answer left the Deva Path speechless.

"Hmph! You think this can hold me? Dream on!" A savage look crossed the Deva Path's face. Although he was merely a corpse and should have had no emotions, that vicious expression came entirely from Nagato's own fury, showing just how enraged he was.

"Shinra Tensei!" The Deva Path forced out a Shinra Tensei and finally broke free of the hold.

But he no longer had a chance to attack.

"Come on. I was trying to talk this out nicely. Why do you insist on pushing things this far?" Uchiha Yi shook his head. "I hate solving problems with violence."

Yet the moment he finished speaking, he turned his right hand over and produced a special Rasengan.

"Sage Art: Rasenshuriken!"

The Rasengan blasted the Deva Path into the sky, then exploded. With a thunderous boom, not even a fragment of the Deva Path remained.

Only then did Kakashi speak, still dazed. "That... took care of it?"

"What else did you expect?"

Kakashi: ... I didn't expect anything. I just can't believe it.

Ever since Uchiha Yi had revealed his Mangekyo Sharingan, then unveiled the even more advanced eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, Kakashi had suspected that his strength was extraordinary. But he had never been able to put a clear measure on just how extraordinary. What he had just witnessed surpassed every expectation he had ever had of a powerful ninja. He even wondered whether he had mistaken an illusion for reality. This was simply too absurd.

Far away, Nagato's real body was watching what happened. Seeing Uchiha Yi blast the Deva Path to pieces left his expression utterly grim. Konan said nothing. His face had darkened with each Path he lost, and now that the Deva Path was gone, all the others were gone too. She understood.

"Nagato, why don't we retreat? We can rebuild Pain and come back for the Nine-Tails later," Konan urged softly. But Nagato cut her off. "No. We can't leave anymore!"

Nagato turned to glare in a certain direction. Only then did Konan notice that someone had appeared there at some point. "Uchiha Yi, who exactly are you?" Nagato stared at him, his eyes full of anger.

Uchiha Yi raised an eyebrow. "What, you still want to fight?" Before Nagato could respond, Konan's paper spear shot toward him.

To her astonishment, Uchiha Yi caught the paper spear in one hand, and she completely lost control of it. Konan wanted to attack again, but Nagato stopped her. "Konan, stand down. You're no match for him."