Shinra Tensei Failed! Reiatsu Slash

The earth shattered completely at that moment.

Countless massive slabs of rock were forcibly stripped from the ground by the pitch-black gravitational core and pulled skyward. Amegakure's steel towers groaned beneath the terrifying gravitational force, their steel supports twisting and rivets flying loose.

"Chibaku Tensei!"

As Deva Path Pain roared, the black sphere that embodied sealing and destruction slowly rose into the sky, ready to devour everything in the world.

And yet.

Amid the rocks and ruins swirling through the sky, a golden figure completely ignored the gravitational force powerful enough to tear the earth apart.

Chiya Uchiha.

Using Flash Step, he planted each step on empty air. His figure streaked like lightning as he charged straight toward Deva Path Pain, who hovered in midair, against the pull of Chibaku Tensei!

"What?!"

For the first time, astonishment flickered in Deva Path Pain's normally unruffled Rinnegan.

Just how powerful was Chibaku Tensei's gravity? It was a Sealing Jutsu capable of forcibly capturing even a tailed beast! Anything within its gravitational field should have been unable to move.

But this man...

The golden-red cloak of reiatsu around him was like a perfectly slick layer of oil, leaving gravity nowhere to gain purchase!

"Trying to run?"

Chiya's voice cut through the thunderous collisions of rock and reached Pain's ears with perfect clarity.

"You think making a little moon will trap me?"

"Nagato, your imagination is pathetic!"

In the blink of an eye, Chiya broke through the torrent of rubble and closed to within twenty meters of Deva Path Pain!

At that distance, Ryūjin Jakka was already poised to strike in Chiya's hand. Its terrifying heat even singed a lock of Pain's orange hair.

"Too close!"

Inside the tower, Nagato's real body suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Although Chibaku Tensei had been activated, forming a complete sealing mass took time. If Chiya got close now, the Deva Path would be destroyed!

Once the Deva Path was destroyed, the remaining Naraka Path and Human Path would never be able to stop this monster, and the location of his real body would be exposed at once!

"I have to... push him away!"

A glint of resolve flashed in Nagato's eyes.

Even if it shortened his life, even if it placed an even greater strain on his body, he had to crush this mortal who blasphemed against God right here, using his strongest power!

"Chiya Uchiha! Don't get too arrogant!"

In midair, Deva Path Pain abruptly withdrew the hands controlling Chibaku Tensei. He concentrated all his chakra in his palms and aimed them at the oncoming Chiya.

This was his strongest defense, and his strongest attack.

An absolute repulsive force that indiscriminately flung away all matter, ninjutsu, and even air!

"This is God's domain!"

"Get-down!!!"

"Super Shinra Tensei!!!"

BOOM-!!!

This was no ordinary Shinra Tensei, but a massively amplified version fueled by Nagato burning through his life force!

In an instant.

With Deva Path Pain at its center, space seemed to collapse and distort visibly.

A terrifying, transparent repulsive field spread outward in a hemisphere, surging toward Chiya with overwhelming force at the greatest speed of its existence.

The repulsive force was so powerful that it instantly pulverized the rocks that had just risen from below! The air compressed into something like a solid wall, producing a deafening sonic boom!

"So this is... the power of God..."

On the ground, Sasuke had only just found cover from the gravitational pull. Watching the distorted scene in the sky, his mouth fell open in despair.

Before such power, humans were no different from ants facing a tsunami.

It was the might of heaven, utterly impossible to resist!

"Chiya! Dodge it!!" Sasuke screamed himself hoarse.

And yet.

Faced with the oncoming wall of repulsive force powerful enough to destroy an entire village.

Chiya did not dodge.

He did not even use Flash Step.

He forcibly halted in midair, shifting from a one-handed grip on his sword to holding its hilt firmly with both hands.

"Shinra Tensei?"

Chiya watched the invisible wall of air hurtling toward him. Rather than showing fear, the red light in his eyes burned even more fiercely.

"A jutsu that repels everything?"

"Sounds pretty unbeatable."

Chiya took a deep breath.

But rather than drawing in air, he poured the boiling reiatsu within him into Ryūjin Jakka like countless rivers rushing into the sea.

HUM-!!!

The flames on Ryūjin Jakka's blade... vanished.

No, they had not vanished.

They had been compressed!

At that moment, Chiya forcibly compressed the raging golden flames into the razor-thin edge. The blade turned a dazzling white, and the surrounding space cracked into fine black fissures, unable to withstand that density.

"Before a Death God's blade..."

"There is nothing that cannot be cut."

"Not even-repulsive force!"

Chiya raised his long sword high with both hands. Facing the oncoming Super Shinra Tensei, he used no flourish, only a simple-

Karატake-a straight downward slash!

"Reiatsu Slash-cleave in two!!!"

SCREECH-!!!

There was no earth-shaking explosion.

Only an intensely sharp, grating sound, like nails scraping a chalkboard amplified ten thousand times, instantly pierced everyone's eardrums.

It was the sound of two ultimate powers colliding at the level of the rules themselves!

Sasuke and Izumi clamped their hands over their ears in pain and looked up in horror.

Then they witnessed something that could overturn everything the Shinobi World thought it knew-

The transparent wall of repulsive force, which should have hurled away and crushed everything, met Chiya's blade and instantly...

Stopped.

Then.

RIP!

It was like a taut piece of cloth being brutally cut open by red-hot scissors!

The invisible repulsive field actually... split down the middle!

"What?!"

For the first time, genuine fear appeared on Deva Path Pain's eternally icy face.

What was he seeing?

He saw the long sword blazing with white light forcibly cutting into his Shinra Tensei field!

The repulsive force roared and resisted, trying to fling the blade away.

But the high-density reiatsu coating the blade was like a rule from a higher dimension. It ignored the physical repulsion formed from chakra and sliced downward with unstoppable momentum!

"Split-open!!!"

Chiya roared, his arm muscles bulging as he drove the blade down!

BOOM!

That Super Shinra Tensei, powerful enough to destroy Konoha, was forcibly cleaved straight down the middle-into two halves!

The divided currents of repulsive force went out of control and slid past either side of Chiya's body.

RUMBLE!

Two Amegakure towers behind Chiya were instantly struck by the uncontrolled currents, snapped in half, and collapsed with a thunderous crash!

Only the straight line where Chiya stood remained calm.

He stood unharmed in the passage he had cleaved through the repulsive force, sword in hand, like a demon god who had parted the Red Sea.

"This... is impossible..."

Deva Path Pain stared at the blade right before him, his mind blank.

How could anyone physically cut through repulsive force?

This was the power of the Rinnegan! The power of the Sage of Six Paths! How could a sword cut it apart?!

But there was no taking it back.

Chiya's slash was not finished. After cutting through the repulsive field, the blade continued toward Pain's face without losing momentum!

"Dodge!!!"

At the last instant, Nagato's survival instinct erupted, and he desperately forced Deva Path Pain to throw his head backward.

SWISH!

A streak of white light flashed past.

Time seemed to stop.

A few orange strands drifted slowly through the air.

They were Deva Path Pain's bangs.

Then.

CRACK.

A crisp snapping sound rang out.

The black rods embedded in Deva Path Pain's face to receive chakra were instantly severed at their bases by the keen edge of that slash!

And across his impassive face, a thin line of blood appeared, stretching from his left cheek to the base of his right ear.

SPURT!

Blood gushed out.

Although the Deva Path was a corpse and could not bleed, this wound was deep enough to expose bone and had even severed some of the chakra pathways inside.

"Urgh..."

Deva Path Pain tumbled backward for dozens of meters before barely managing to steady himself.

He covered the wound on his face and stared at the severed black rods in his hand, his Rinnegan filled with shock.

It had been far too close.

If he had reacted a tenth of a second later, it would not have been the black rods that were cut apart, but his head!

"How is this possible..."

Pain's voice trembled slightly. This was the first time "God" had lost his composure before a mortal.

"Someone can actually... cut through Shinra Tensei?"

"What kind of power is this?!"

On the tower platform, Chiya slowly lowered his sword. The white light faded from the blade, and golden flames flared up once more.

He shook out his slightly numb wrists. Looking at Pain, whose entire view of the world seemed shaken, his smile brimmed with mockery.

"Surprised?"

Chiya began walking, stepping on empty air as he approached the wounded Deva Path one step at a time.

"Nagato, this backward ninja world has shackled your perspective."

"You think repulsive force is invincible?"

"You think ninjutsu is the ultimate truth?"

Chiya extended a finger and pointed at his heart.

"In this world, there is a power that stands above chakra."

"And that is-reiatsu."

"As long as my reiatsu is dense enough, never mind your repulsive force. I could even cut through space for you!"

Chiya's words were arrogant in the extreme, but at that moment, no one thought he was bluffing.

The ruins cleaved in two and the savage wound on Pain's face were the best proof.

"I don't believe it!!"

Deva Path Pain suddenly roared.

Nagato's pride would not allow him to accept such a defeat. He was God! The god who would bring peace to the world! How could he lose to a barbarian who could do nothing but swing a sword?!

"Chibaku Tensei is still active!!"

Pain abruptly pointed toward the sky.

Although their clash had lasted only a few seconds, the black gravitational sphere that had risen into the sky had already fully formed!

The rocks shattered by the repulsive force were now caught by gravity again, frantically converging on the black sphere.

The earth trembled as the whole of Amegakure was torn from the ground.

An enormous shadow engulfed the earth. An "artificial moon" several kilometers across hung above Chiya's head.

Its oppressive presence was ten times more terrifying than the Shinra Tensei just now!

"Even if you can cut through repulsive force, can you cut through this celestial body?!"

Deva Path Pain pressed his palms together, pouring out chakra furiously.

"Chiya Uchiha!"

"Let's see where you can run this time!!"

"This is God's final judgment-Chibaku Tensei: Seal!!!"

Rumble!

A terrifying pull erupted, warping even the space beneath Chiya's feet. His body flew uncontrollably toward the black sphere in the sky. Countless massive rocks closed in on him like a cage.

And yet.

Trapped in a desperate situation, Chiya looked up at that enormous "moon."

There was not a trace of panic on his face.

Quite the opposite.

He slowly raised Ryūjin Jakka, holding the blade horizontally before him.

His Mangekyō Sharingan held the boredom of someone who had seen through it all.

"Cut through a star?"

Chiya chuckled.

"Nagato, have you misunderstood something about me?"

"Didn't I just tell you..."

The Reiatsu surrounding Chiya began to undergo a fundamental transformation. An ancient, weathered presence, like a sigh from the depths of hell, began to awaken within the blade.

"If I want to..."

"Never mind the moon..."

Chiya assumed an opening stance never seen before.

"Even if it's the Sun..."

"I'll cut it down for you!"

[System notification: Host's emotional resonance has reached the critical threshold!]

[Ryūjin Jakka: Prototype Bankai-Second Unlock!]

[Technique unlocked: Zanka no Tachi: North-Tenchi Kaijin (Imitation)!]

"Watch closely, Nagato."

"This is what you call-Divine Punishment."