The underground ruins trembled violently under the force of Haido's attack, and the falling rocks around them also revealed the true form of the Gelel's Vein.
"It's over..."
"The vein is going out of control..."
Shikamaru glanced up at the glowing Gelel's Stones and couldn't help but ask the old man beside him, "Old man, if the vein goes berserk..."
"What will happen?"
Kahiko pondered for a moment and said with a grim expression, "If this vein destabilizes completely, it could destroy the entire world!"
"DAMN IT!!!"
When Shikamaru and Sakura heard this, their hair stood on end.
At this time, the energy from the vein erupted toward the surface, gradually forming a hundred-meter hurricane.
And under the influence of the Gelel's Stones, this hundred-meter hurricane is still getting stronger.
Pain, who had just arrived nearby, along with the forces of the two cults led by Sasori and Deidara, were instantly blown away by the violent winds.
"Deidara! Sasori!"
"Get out of here now!"
When Pain saw the powerful hurricane, even though he called himself a god, he knew this was beyond his power, so he immediately ordered his subordinates to flee.
"Leader, you go first!"
"Leader, you go first!"
Deidara and Sasori shouted in unison. They really wanted to leave, but there were still believers from their own church behind them. How could they abandon these people and escape alone?
Their loyalty made Nagato pause.
Seeing the two of them caring for him, for the first time in a long while, he felt the warmth of true comradeship.
He looked at the two of them reluctantly and said seriously, "You can't deal with this kind of power!"
"All of you… leave!"
"I'll hold it off and buy you time!"
As the leader of Akatsuki, Nagato certainly couldn't let his two beloved subordinates die here.
Without waiting for their response, he raised a hand and repelled everything within a hundred meters, sending them flying to safety.
Then, he floated in the air alone, using the power of the Rinnegan to fight against the devastating hurricane.
…
"Naruto! Whatever you're going to do, DO IT NOW!"
"Otherwise, the world will really be doomed!"
Shikamaru screamed at Naruto, who seemed lost in thought.
He knew that even if he left this place, the world would be destroyed, so he might as well stay here and see if Naruto could provide a solution.
"Big fox, hurry up and make your move!"
"Otherwise, I'll let Temujin blow up the whole damn vein!"
Naruto was also very anxious.
He originally wanted to claim the vein for himself before it went berserk, but thanks to that bastard Haido, things had spiraled out of control.
If there was no other choice...
He'd have to destroy the vein.
"Relax!"
"Leave it to this Immortal Emperor!"
After Kurama said this, a huge amount of Chakra exploded from Naruto, and soon, a huge red fox appeared on the scene.
"Huh???"
"Did the Kyubi go berserk?!"
Shikamaru looked very confused when he saw Naruto suddenly turned into a fox that looked very much like a pig.
'Wait…'
'Since when did Kyubi look like this?'
"Is that even a fox?"
Sakura looked at the mountain-like body of Kyubi in front of her suspiciously and voiced her doubts quietly.
Luckily, her voice is too quiet for Kurama to hear, otherwise, she would have gotten smacked.
"ROOOAR…"
Kurama raised his head and roared, then opened his mouth wide and began to swallow the surrounding veins.
But this scene scared Naruto a lot.
"BIG FOX!!"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"
"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF?!"
Naruto was really scared by Kurama's actions.
He had no idea how Kurama was absorbing this energy, but swallowing random, unstable power sources was always a terrible idea!
And he was afraid that Kurama would explode if he absorbed too much.
"Don't worry about it!"
"Watch this Immortal Emperor refine this spirit stone vein!"
Naruto: "..."
Kurama was very confident and the speed at which he absorbed the Gelel's Stone was gradually increasing.
Thanks to his relentless devouring, the violent energy of the vein that was about to get out of control began to calm down.
Kahiko and Temujin, who were watching all this, were almost dumbfounded.
"Stop! STOP!"
"Naruto, absorbing this much Gelel's Stone's energy will kill you!!"
But their words seemed to stimulate Kurama, and the speed of his absorption increased again.
The color of the surrounding glowing veins began to gradually dim.
A few minutes later, with a satisfied belch, the energy of the vein was completely absorbed by Kurama.
Naruto discovered that after absorbing the energy, aside from a slightly bluish tint on Kurama's fur, Kurama looked absolutely fine.
"Done."
"This Immortal Emperor is going into seclusion to refine this energy."
"Don't disturb me unless it's important."
After he said so to Naruto in his heart, Kurama immediately retracted his Chakra and returned to the sealed space.
'Whatever...'
'No point worrying about this guy anymore.'
'As long as the problem is solved, it's fine.'
Naruto scratched his chin. He felt that he could be considered a savior this time, right?
Kahiko hurried over to Naruto and circled around him. After observing him for a while and making sure that he was okay, he stammered in disbelief, "Th-that's... it? It's... resolved?"
"How are you completely fine!?"
"That's impossible!"
After hearing this, Naruto wanted to kick this old man a couple of times.
"What kind of nonsense is that??"
"I just saved everyone, and you're wishing something bad happened to me?"
"I..."
After Kahiko made sure that the boy was okay, he opened his mouth but couldn't find the right words.
'Damn it!'
'This kid isn't human, is he?!'
'He absorbed an entire mine's worth of energy and didn't show even the slightest change… not even in his appearance changed.'
"Squeak, squeak…"
The ferret Nerugui suddenly popped out from somewhere and leaped onto Naruto's shoulder, excitedly scurrying around his neck and shoulders.
It looked absolutely thrilled.
Kahiko looked at this scene with a look of loss on his face.
"Nerugui..."
But no matter how much the old man called, Nerugui paid him no attention.
The aura of the Gelel's Stone on Naruto was utterly intoxicating to the ferret.
"Alright..."
"We should head back now."
Shikamaru glanced at Naruto, who was playing with the ferret, and spoke up. He really didn't want to stay with Team 7 any longer than necessary.
It was way too taxing on his nerves.
'If anyone else had been assigned to this mission with them today...'
'I guess they would've been driven to the brink of a breakdown on the spot.'
Naruto nodded and opened a portal to take everyone out of the underground.
Before returning to the village, since Nerugui really didn't want to follow Kahiko, the old man had no choice but to entrust the ferret to Naruto's care.
Meanwhile, after resisting the hurricane, the Six Paths of Pain finally made it back to the Akatsuki's hideout.
At this moment, Nagato just felt very tired.
On his way back, he kept thinking...
'Wasn't my goal to make the world understand pain?'
'Why had things ended up like this?!'
'And also…'
'What are those Shinobi Villages even doing?!'
'The world is about to be destroyed, why don't these people take action yet!?
The more Nagato thought about how he'd single-handedly resolved two world-ending crises without seeing any intervention from the other villages, the angrier he got.
'As expected!'
'I still have to let these guys feel pain too!'
As he controlled Pain, Nagato mentally 'greeted' the entire family trees of every Kage from the Great Shinobi Villages.
But as he walked deeper into the hideout, he suddenly heard the voices of the masked man and Itachi.
"Itachi?"
"What do you mean by wearing a mask?"
"Are you trying to copy me?"
"Or are you planning to replace me as Uchiha Madara!?"
Obito glared at Itachi furiously. He didn't know whether this guy did it on purpose or it was a coincidence, but the mask Itachi was wearing was exactly the same as the one he was wearing!
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Pain looked at the two guys, who were also wearing the same white masks and Akatsuki's black robes with red clouds pattern. If he hadn't heard their voices, he would have been unable to recognize them.
"What are you two doing?"