The battlefield beyond the walls of Konoha was a chaos of pulverized stone, smoking craters, and uprooted trees. The shadows of the Six Paths of Pain rose like vengeful gods at the edge of the disaster, with the dark figure of Sasuke Uchiha planted among them. Around him, the air crackled with pure electricity; his chakra stirred like a contained storm.
"It's now or never..." thought Sasuke as he took a deep breath and let the Lightning Breath run through his body. His muscles tensed, his skin briefly glowed, and in a flash, he vanished from the Paths' sight.
The first to react was the Asura Path, launching a cannon from its right arm. But Sasuke was already gone. He reappeared behind them, his katana sheathed in lightning, and with a clean slash, severed two arms and the head of the Human Path. The creature made no sound, but its movements became erratic and collapsed.
"I can't let them coordinate. I have to break their synchronization."
In a fluid motion, he combined his Chidori Nagashi with a direct thrust to the Asura Path's chest. The impact knocked it down, but did not destroy it; its body began to reassemble with mechanical whirs.
The Animal Path summoned a giant rhinoceros that charged Sasuke with brutal fury, the ground trembling under each step. From above, the Deva Path watched. With a serene gesture, he activated his attraction. Sasuke barely managed to form a partial Susanoo to withstand the attraction and the charging beast that slammed into the spectral bones of the Susanoo, creating a chakra shockwave that cleared nearby debris. Simultaneously, Sasuke prepared and fired a black Amaterasu arrow at the Naraka Path, which attempted to restore the Human Path.
"Not this time!"
The arrow pierced Naraka's chest; the black flames devoured him, forever silencing any chance of restoration. His body trembled, mouth opening in an attempt to summon the King of Hell... but it was in vain. Sasuke watched him collapse into ashes.
A bitter smile crossed his face. "Two down."
But victory was short-lived. From a blind angle, the Asura Path fired a barrage of missiles, followed by an extended spear. The roar was deafening; his Susanoo cracked and crumbled under the accumulated pressure. Sasuke, forced to improvise, deflected the missiles with a second Chidori Blade, only for the Preta Path to emerge from the smoke like a cursed shadow. Completely ignoring the Sharingan's hypnosis, it grabbed him by the neck and began draining his chakra.
"Tsk... Damn it!"
Sasuke roared, his body trembling as he gathered the last of his energy. He activated Lighting Breath – Second Form: Lightning Blade, focusing all his strength into his still-free arm. A violent flash crossed the air, the sword accelerated beyond physical limits, and the Preta Path's arm was severed. Freed, Sasuke jumped away, but his own arm collapsed from the strain. It was unusable.
Katsuyu quickly landed on Sasuke's shoulder, beginning to channel healing chakra into his damaged arm.
Taking advantage of his weakness, the Asura Path launched a cable that wrapped around Sasuke's waist and slammed him into the ground with brutal force. The air escaped his lungs as a spear of energy approached his chest...
Until Jiraiya appeared.
"Enough!" roared the sage, still in Sage Mode, though his body trembled with exhaustion.
He intervened and moved Sasuke at the last second. The spear pierced his side, blood erupting like an uncontrolled fountain.
"Jiraiya!!" shouted Katsuyu from his clothes.
Sasuke, still dazed, saw a clone of himself, prepared in advance, rescue him along with the wounded sage. One of the miniature Katsuyus on Jiraiya's robes spoke.
"I'll take care of him... Sasuke. Focus..." said the slug, channeling healing chakra desperately.
Once Sasuke recovered, his clone continued the task of extracting Jiraiya from the battlefield.
The Animal Path, wasting no time, summoned more beasts: giant dogs and a colossal bird, which it mounted before taking flight. The creatures surrounded Sasuke, who activated his half-formed Susanoo, its skeletal frame wrapped in Amaterasu flames.
But the Deva Path raised his hand.
A pause.
An inhalation.
Then, an invisible burst: Shinra Tensei.
Sasuke was ripped from his Susanoo like a weightless doll. The air fractured with a sonic crack, and his body was hurled into the ground. The impact formed a deep crater; the earth exploded like an open wound.
The figures of the Paths —Deva, Asura, and Preta— approached slowly, as the Animal Path watched from above.
And then, the wind changed. A sudden, dense, wild pressure.
Gamabunta and Gamaken landed with a devastating leap, followed by Naruto, wrapped in a red cloak and with a large scroll on his back. Shima accompanied him, her toad eyes gleaming with fury.
Naruto scanned the battlefield. He saw Sasuke crushed into the earth, the massive silhouettes of Pain towering above. He clenched his fists.
"I won't let you hurt anyone else!"
The Deva Path barely shifted his gaze. "It's irrelevant... Everyone here will know… Pain."
The Asura Path lunged at Sasuke, aiming to end him. Naruto vanished in a gust of wind, his body a blur. He reappeared above the Asura Path and drove a Senjutsu Rasengan into its spine, shattering it in a spray of chakra and metal.
"Sorry I'm late, Sasuke."
Katsuyu's chakra was already restoring Sasuke, who managed a faint smile. "Took you long enough..."
Shima, spotting Fukasaku's wounded form, released a sharp breath. Her grief ignited into fury.
"You bastards…"
She leapt and unleashed her technique: Sage Art: Frog Sound Disruption. A piercing wave of sonic power engulfed the field. The Deva Path staggered, momentarily dazed.
The dogs and rhinoceros launched themselves at Naruto and Sasuke, but Gamabunta and Gamaken collided with them, steel meeting fang.
Naruto summoned a clone. Together, they shaped a rasenshuriken and hurled it toward the Deva Path. But Preta stepped in, absorbing the Jutsu.
Immediately, Preta Path rushed Naruto with three arms raised. Katsuyu's warning rang in his ear: "He absorbs chakra—avoid contact!"
Naruto concentrated to maintain his Wind Breath – Dance of the Wind Leaf and danced around Preta's strikes with unmatched speed and unnatural grace. He landed four clean hits, enhanced by senjutsu, each one sending shockwaves through the enemy's frame.
With one final kick, Preta was sent crashing into the forest beyond.
Above, a Sasuke clone hidden atop Gamabunta jumped high in the air. He cut the wing of the Animal Path's bird with a Lightning-Forged Shuriken, then tethered himself to it with wire. In Midair, he drove a Chidori through its chest. The Path died. Its summons vanished.
The clone whispered, "Three down," before vanishing in a flash of smoke.
Shima prepared to strike again, but the Deva Path retaliated with a short-range Shinra Tensei, launching her far beyond the field.
Seeing Naruto and the toads close in, the Deva Path rose into the air.
A heartbeat.
A silence.
SHINRA TENSEI.
Reality folded. The shockwave shattered stone, uprooted trees, and flung Gamabunta and Gamaken like ragdolls. Naruto crashed to the ground, Sage Mode fading.
But his breath had bought time. Using his scroll, he performed an inverse summoning. A clone from Mount Myōboku appeared, replenishing his sage energy. Sage Mode returned.
The Deva Path started directly to Naruto.
"You don't understand pain, Naruto Uzumaki... but your sacrifice will bring peace."
Naruto's clone pulled him aside just in time to avoid a black spike. But behind them, the half-functional Asura Path fired a missile into Naruto's back.
The explosion threw him into the air.
Before he could recover, the Deva Path pinned him to a stone slab with a black spike. Then, four more impaled his limbs. Chakra disruption surged through him like poison.
"You've failed, Naruto Uzumaki. You still don't know pain."
Smoke shifted. Lightning sparked.
Sasuke staggered forward, body broken, face bloodied. With one last Chidori in his working hand, he shouted:
"Shut up and die already!"
But the Deva Path dodged, he saw the attack through the Asura Path's eyes.
SHINRA TENSEI.
Sasuke's body slammed into the ground. He didn't move.
The Deva Path approached him.
"Now, you will know… Pain."
He drove the rod into Sasuke's back.
Naruto screamed.
And the chakra around him twisted.
The air rippled.
The Kyūbi was unleashed.