"Shinra Tensei!!!"
An icy voice, devoid of all emotion, rang through the heavens.
BOOOOM!!!
Within the cramped space sealed tight by the golden flames of Flame Barrier, an immense, suffocating force of invisible repulsion erupted without warning, surging in every direction from the woman lying on the ground!
The force was utterly tyrannical, answering to no reason and distinguishing neither friend nor foe.
It was like an invisible hand of God, determined to forcibly erase every impurity in the world.
Sssss!
For the first time, Chiya's golden wall of fire, powerful enough to burn all things, wavered before this ultimate force of physical repulsion.
The tongues of flame that had been collapsing inward to devour Konan were forcibly driven back!
Heat and repulsion clashed violently in the air, producing teeth-grating detonations. The surrounding steel railings, the stone tiles underfoot, and even the moisture in the air were pulverized in an instant, then hurled away.
"Oh?"
Chiya raised an eyebrow and slid half a meter backward.
Rather than resist the repulsive force head-on, he used it to retreat, casually twirling Ryūjin Jakka in his hand before cleaving the incoming shock wave in two.
"Finally willing to show yourself?"
Chiya steadied himself, his scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan peering through the flying rubble and smoke toward the figures ahead.
Whoosh!
The repulsive force dissipated.
The sea of fire that had trapped Konan had been forcibly scattered, leaving only a scorched black ring dozens of meters across on the ground.
And at the center of that ring...
Six figures in black robes patterned with red clouds stood silently amid the smoke, like six towering gravestones.
They all had the same orange hair.
The same icy faces.
The same eerie black metal rods piercing their bodies.
And... the same eyes, marked by concentric, pale-purple ripples and radiating supreme ocular power-
The Rinnegan!
The leaders of the Akatsuki.
All Six Paths of Pain had arrived!
"Those are... the Rinnegan?"
Standing behind Chiya Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha felt his mind thunder the instant he saw those six pairs of eyes. The oppressive force struck at his very blood and soul, making even him, a member of the Uchiha Clan with an awakened Sharingan, instinctively want to lower his head rather than meet their gaze.
They're too powerful!
They merely stood there, yet the rain around them seemed to gain a will of its own, automatically avoiding their bodies.
"Cough, cough..."
Clutching her burned arm, Konan struggled to rise from the ground. She looked at the figure leading the others before her, guilt flickering in her eyes.
"I'm sorry... Pain. I lost."
"Stand down, Konan."
Standing in the center was the core of the Six Paths of Pain-the Deva Path, Yahiko's corpse.
He stared expressionlessly at the black-clad youth holding a flaming sword before him, his voice as cold as ice that had remained frozen for ten thousand years:
"You did your best. Defeat against power beyond the ordinary is not your fault."
"Leave the rest to me."
Deva Path Pain slowly took a step forward.
As his foot came down, a pressure ten times heavier than before instantly engulfed the entire platform atop the Amegakure Tower.
"Chiya Uchiha."
The Deva Path's voice echoed through the rainy night, each word seeming to strike at everyone's heart.
"You have disturbed the peace of the Land of Rain."
"You have slaughtered my subordinates."
"You even dared encroach upon this divine domain and harm my angel."
The Deva Path slowly raised his hand, palm facing outward. His Rinnegan remained utterly calm, as though Chiya were already a dead man in his eyes.
"Your power is indeed impressive, enough to reign supreme in this mortal world."
"But..."
"Before a god, all power is insignificant."
"You are far too arrogant, Chiya Uchiha."
Arrogant?
Chiya laughed at the word.
He stood amid the raging wind and rain, his robes snapping around him, but his sword hand remained rock-steady.
"Arrogant?"
Chiya tilted his head, studying the man who called himself a "god."
"Nagato, is that your opening line?"
"You hide in a dark little room, controlling these puppets, and you actually think that lets you look down upon all living beings?"
The moment Chiya finished speaking, all Six Paths of Pain narrowed their eyes.
The Asura Path and Human Path, in particular, instantly tensed, seemingly especially sensitive to the name "Nagato."
"You know too much."
Deva Path Pain's tone remained flat, but his killing intent intensified. "It seems you are not merely an intruder, but a variable that must be erased."
"A variable?"
Chiya scoffed.
"No. I'm your reckoning."
"The reckoning for those of you who seek to deceive the world with a false peace."
Chiya slowly raised Ryūjin Jakka, pointing its tip straight between Deva Path Pain's brows.
"And you were wrong about one thing."
"You said power is insignificant before a god."
"I'll say the same to you."
HUM!!!
Reiatsu even more terrifying and unfathomable than when he had used Sōkatsui suddenly erupted from Chiya's body!
If Pain's aura was a suffocating ocean abyss...
Then the reiatsu Chiya released at that moment was an erupting volcano!
The dark-red reiatsu even distorted space, instantly boiling and vaporizing the falling raindrops in midair.
"A god?"
The red light in Chiya's eyes flared, laying bare his utter contempt for that supposed "divine authority."
"You think these cold corpses make you gods?"
"These scraps of metal stuck into your bodies?"
"You think you're worthy of that name?"
Chiya's voice suddenly rose, and golden flames blazed once more along Ryūjin Jakka-the roar of the strongest Zanpakuto in the death god system!
"Today, I'll show you."
"In this world, besides self-proclaimed gods like you..."
"A death god-is a god too!!!"
BOOM!!!
With Chiya's furious roar, the steel platform beneath his feet collapsed instantly.
He wasted no more words. Transforming into a golden meteor, he used the blistering speed of Flash Step to cross dozens of meters in an instant and charge straight at the Six Paths of Pain's formation!
"Obstinate fool."
Deva Path Pain watched Chiya charge with cold indifference, making no move to dodge.
"Since you wish to witness a god's power, you shall know pain."
"Asura Path!"
Clack, clack, clack!
A burly bald man standing on the flank-the Asura Path-underwent an instantaneous transformation. His arm abruptly split open, exposing densely packed missile launch ports, while a massive, serrated mechanical tail extended from his back.
"Strange Arm Rocket!"
Boom, boom, boom!
Several chakra missiles trailing fiery exhaust locked precisely onto Chiya's path and blasted straight toward him!
"You're actually bringing out toys like these?"
Still in midair, Chiya did not even swing his sword at the incoming missiles.
"Bakudō #81: Dankū!"
Hum!
A massive, transparent wall of light, formed entirely from densely concentrated reiatsu, instantly materialized before him.
BOOOOM!
The missiles struck the wall of light, erupting in violent bursts of flame and smoke.
But the wall did not budge!
"What?!"
Konan stared at the scene in shock. The Asura Path's missiles could flatten a small building, yet they could not even break through his defenses?
"Flash Step: Senka!"
Before the smoke could disperse, Chiya had already vanished.
The next second...
He appeared like a phantom above the Asura Path's head, bringing Ryūjin Jakka down in a vicious slash with the momentum to cleave through anything!
He's so fast!
The Asura Path had no time to react and could only raise his mechanical arm to block on instinct.
But before Ryūjin Jakka's heat, capable of reducing all things to ash, steel?
It was nothing more than butter!
Sssss!
There was no resistance.
Chiya's blade severed the mechanical arm the Asura Path took such pride in, melting through the missile launcher on his shoulder along with it!
The cut was as smooth as a mirror and instantly carbonized. Not even a drop of machine oil spilled out.
"One."
Chiya coldly voiced the count.
But he did not linger. The instant his strike landed, he used Flash Step to retreat.
Because at the moment he attacked, the broad, heavyset Preta Path had already lunged forward with both hands spread, clearly intending to absorb the chakra from Chiya's body.
"Want to absorb it?"
Watching the Preta Path's greedy movements, Chiya curled his lips into a cruel smile.
"My fire isn't so easy to digest."
Chiya did not evade the Preta Path's grapple. Instead, he reversed his grip and viciously drove Ryūjin Jakka's hilt into the Preta Path's abdomen!
"Absorb this!!"
BOOM!
Chiya released no ninjutsu. Instead, he poured the savage, destructive reiatsu at Ryūjin Jakka's core directly into the Preta Path's body without holding anything back!
The Preta Path's ability, Sealing Technique: Absorption Seal, could absorb chakra.
But although reiatsu and chakra were similar, they were fundamentally different.
And this was Ryūjin Jakka's reiatsu! It embodied the concept of "all things in the universe reduced to ash"!
"Urgh!!"
The Preta Path's body instantly swelled like an inflating balloon. His eyes rolled back, and thick black smoke poured from his mouth.
"Too hot... I can't absorb it..."
Nagato immediately severed his chakra connection to the Preta Path, having sensed a terrifying heat traveling back through the Black Rods that nearly scorched his soul!
Bam!
Chiya kicked the Preta Path away just as he was about to explode.
The Preta Path traced an arc through the air and slammed into the ground, black smoke rising from his body and his skin blazing red. His insides had clearly been thoroughly burned out.
"Two."
Chiya landed and shook the heat from his blade.
Two of the Six Paths of Pain were now out of action. Though they were not dead, they had temporarily lost the ability to fight.
Utter silence fell.
Sasuke and Izumi watched, their blood surging with excitement.
Those were the legendary Rinnegan! Those were the leaders of the Akatsuki, hailed as "gods"!
Yet before Chiya, two had been disabled in an instant, as if he were merely dismantling toys?!
"So this is the power of a death god..."
Sasuke clenched his fists. The fear in his eyes vanished completely, replaced by boundless fervor.
"Summoning Technique!"
At that moment, the Animal Path, who had been hiding at the rear all along, finally acted.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
White smoke burst outward.
An enormous Multi-Headed Dog, a Giant Crab as big as a house, and a Yatagarasu circling overhead appeared out of thin air!
The massive Summoning Beasts instantly crowded the High Tower platform, letting out deafening roars.
"ROAAAR!!"
The beasts' shadows engulfed Chiya, Sasuke, and Izumi.
"Chiya! Watch out! You can't kill that dog by cutting it-it'll split!" Sasuke shouted a warning, recalling the information he had read in his clan's scrolls.
"Split?"
Chiya looked up at the drooling, immortal Multi-Headed Dog, then glanced at the crab beside it, waving its enormous pincers.
Rather than fear, his eyes showed a hint of... appetite?
"Perfect. All that running made me a little hungry."
Chiya abruptly plunged Ryūjin Jakka into the steel floor beneath his feet.
"Since you're here, don't bother leaving."
"You'll be just right for a little... barbecue party."
"Ryūjin Jakka · Fire Rejection · All-Directions Burst!"
RUMBLE!!!
This time, Chiya held nothing back.
A massive tornado of fire a hundred meters tall erupted around him, like a Fire Dragon Ascension, instantly sweeping across the entire High Tower platform!
So what if it was a Multi-Headed Dog?
So what if it was a Giant Crab?
So what if it was a Yatagarasu?
Before heat capable of instantly vaporizing steel, their cells could never divide faster than they were carbonized!
"AWOOO!!!"
Agonized screams echoed throughout Amegakure.
Those Summoning Beasts, each powerful enough to destroy a small nation, thrashed wildly in the fiery tornado. But within mere seconds, their fur burned away, their flesh roasted dry, and they finally collapsed with thunderous crashes into enormous heaps of charcoal.
A strong smell of burning filled the air... or rather, the aroma of meat.
The flames dissipated.
Chiya stood unharmed amid the enormous heaps of charcoal.
He pulled Ryūjin Jakka from the floor, its blade still blood-red.
Step by step, he approached the only ones left: Deva Path, Human Path, and Naraka Path.
With every step, his imposing presence grew stronger.
"What other tricks do you have?"
"Go ahead. Use them all at once."
Chiya looked at Deva Path Pain's grim expression and smiled with wild, unrestrained arrogance.
"Otherwise, this little god-slaying show will be over far too soon."
Deva Path Pain surveyed the wreckage strewn across the ground, the incapacitated Asura Path and Preta Path, and the annihilated Summoning Beasts.
At last, a trace of an emotion called "anger" appeared in his Rinnegan.
"Chiya Uchiha..."
Deva Path Pain slowly rose into the air, hovering high above the rainy night like a true god looking down upon the mortal world.
"You are indeed strong."
"But you have no idea what true pain is."
"Since you insist on challenging the authority of a god..."
Pain spread his arms, and immense amounts of chakra began gathering furiously within him.
"Then let this world feel pain alongside you."
"Shinra Tensei!!!"
Before you continue