"Has he finally appeared?"
While looking at Izayoi in the sky, he was not actually on the battlefield—he was using the Mayfly Technique, merging with the earth and plants, exposing only his upper body. On top of a rocky mountain, Black Zetsu and White Zetsu were watching the battle. White Zetsu said, "This kind of chakra… seems like it really is his main body this time."
"White hair, and this chakra level—he is indeed of that lineage." Black Zetsu said in a deep voice, "Record his chakra signature. After the war, launch a full-scale sweep. Even if we can't find him, we must locate the spatial passage he uses to return to the moon."
"Understood." White Zetsu immediately released his perception and recorded Izayoi's current chakra aura.
Uchiha Obito also stopped toying with people. He allowed the attacks from Cloud Ninjas and human puppets to pass through him harmlessly.
Staring up at Izayoi in the sky, fear flashed in Obito's eyes.
There was no need to fight. Just from the pressure Izayoi emitted, Obito felt an intense sense of oppression.
Other than Uchiha Madara, he had only ever felt this kind of pressure from three people: Tendo Pain, the current Uchiha Itachi, and the late Namikaze Minato.
Now, Izayoi was the fourth.
"He never appeared before, and now he suddenly shows up. What is he planning?" Obito thought. "Could it be… he orchestrated everything just to wipe out Akatsuki?"
"This kind of chakra... Samehada, you feel it too, don't you?" Hoshigaki Kisame grinned while holding the violently trembling Samehada.
Uchiha Itachi remained silent, staring at Izayoi with a thoughtful look.
"Brother Sasori, look—it's that guy from last year!"
On the other side, Deidara shouted in excitement from the art duo's location.
Sasori of the Red Sand also smiled. "The one controlling the human puppet army… it really is him."
"One billion ryo, for real…" Kakuzu muttered as he looked at Izayoi.
In contrast to Akatsuki's reactions, the Cloud Ninja Corps was full of hatred. They glared at Izayoi with murderous intent.
Some of the Cloud Ninjas who were good at long-range ninjutsu already prepared to attack.
This was the man who had not only destroyed their village, but also killed their comrades, stole their bodies to make human puppets, and now stood before them as an enemy.
At that moment, another figure flew in, reaching the same height as Izayoi.
Looking at Izayoi, whose face was hidden behind a completely white mask without even eye holes, Tendo Pain asked the question that everyone had on their mind: "Who are you?"
Akatsuki and the Cloud Ninja Corps, who had tacitly stopped fighting to deal with the puppet army, all pricked up their ears.
Even the strongest among them looked up at this "king vs. king" encounter in the sky.
"Who am I?"
Izayoi spoke with an echoing voice like a movie villain and smiled. "Haven't you all been looking for me? After so long, you haven't gathered any information?"
Tendo Pain didn't answer directly. He simply said in an expressionless tone, "Take off your mask. As the nemesis of fate, the one who possesses the second pair of Sage's Eyes shouldn't be a coward who hides his face."
"The second pair of Sage's Eyes? So that's what you found out?" Izayoi acted surprised, then chuckled playfully.
Tendo Pain frowned. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well... for you monkeys, it's already impressive that you know about the Sage's Eyes." Izayoi praised mockingly, then added with a chilling tone, "But my eyes are not the eyes of the loser Sage of Six Paths."
These words swept across the ears of everyone present like a gust of wind, giving many goosebumps.
At that moment, whether they were knowledgeable or not, everyone stared at Izayoi in disbelief.
"What does he mean? Not the Sage's Eyes?"
"He called the Sage of Six Paths a loser? Does that mean the legendary Sage is real? That the Shinobi Sect truly existed? That the story about the Sage creating the moon is real? How is that possible?!"
"Is this… the secret of the ninja world?"
"…"
Many with weaker minds completely lost their composure.
As a result, many Cloud Ninjas were distracted and struck by puppets—injured or killed.
"You gotta be kidding me…"
Even the members of Akatsuki were shaken.
The ancient Kakuzu even questioned his worldview: "Was there an era before the Warring States period? Then why isn't it recorded anywhere?"
"The eyes of a loser…"
Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Obito's pupils contracted.
They were rational enough to catch the disdain in Izayoi's tone.
He clearly looked down on the Sage's Eyes, but wasn't afraid of them either.
Could it be that… there existed a dojutsu equal to or greater than the Sage's Eyes?
"Yo! Hachibi, did you hear that?"
Killer Bee, who had returned to the battlefield, shouted and danced with a rap rhythm, "The legend of the Sage of Six Paths~~ is real! The duel of Sage Eyes vs. mystery eyes~~ The ancient truth revealed, so cool~~"
"The Sage of Six Paths is real, Bee," the Eight-Tails Gyūki replied, revealing a shocking truth, "We tailed beasts were created by the Sage of Six Paths."
"…"
Killer Bee froze in place, stunned. Even he couldn't react to such a revelation.
As the crowd fell into an uproar, Izayoi in the sky slowly raised his hand to his mask and smiled. "You should feel honored. You might be the first monkeys to lay eyes on these eyes."
Then he removed the mask before everyone.
A pale, handsome young face, with eyebrows as white as his hair, appeared in everyone's sight. It was the future 19-year-old Otsutsuki Toneri.
However, no one paid attention to his appearance.
Everyone's gaze was drawn to his eyes.
From afar, they seemed blue-white, with flowing white light forming a dynamic ring around the pupils.
Looking closer, one would realize it wasn't a pattern—but the edge of his black pupils was surrounded by a glowing white corona, radiating immense ocular power.
No one knew what kind of dojutsu this was, but just by looking at them, Nagato's body and eyes reacted instinctively—these were eyes on par with his.
So, controlling Tendo Pain, Nagato asked again: "Who are you? What are those eyes called?"
Izayoi released a burst of invisible repulsive force, blasting the mask in his hand into powder. He raised his hand to comb back his white hair. His tone was no longer light and teasing, but carried an icy arrogance—like a higher-dimensional being looking down on a lower lifeform.
He introduced himself calmly:
"My name is Otsutsuki Toneri. I come from the moon. I am the owner of this generation's Samsara Eye. My mission in coming to Earth is… to reclaim the Outer Path Gedo Statue."
His words were like thunder, once again shocking everyone on the battlefield.
"The moon…? The moon can be inhabited?!"
"Samsara Eye—is that the name of his dojutsu?"
"What's the Gedo Statue?"
"…"
Aside from Black Zetsu and White Zetsu, no one understood what "Otsutsuki" meant.
Everyone was too busy reacting to "the moon" and "Samsara Eye."
"He really is Hamura's descendant," Black Zetsu muttered hoarsely. "That unfilial son's dojutsu is called the Samsara Eye? So they had noticed the Gedo Statue had returned to the ninja world. No wonder they've been targeting Akatsuki. He came here with a mission."
"This is bad!" For once, White Zetsu reacted sharply. "He started this war just to force Akatsuki and the Six Paths of Pain to reveal their power—and now that he's shown up, it means he already judged their strength and is confident he can win!"
Hearing this, Black Zetsu's expression finally changed. He said urgently, "Quick, send a White Zetsu to inform Obito!"
"Got it."
White Zetsu immediately relayed the order.
"Reclaim the Gedo Statue?"
Tendo Pain noted the word "reclaim". Did that mean when he summoned the Gedo Statue, he had pulled it down from the moon?
Though confused, he didn't linger on the thought. Instead, he looked at Izayoi and asked, "Is the Samsara Eye also a type of Sage's Eye?"
"That's not something a monkey like you can understand."
Now that Izayoi had revealed his new identity, he dropped the facade. He raised his hand and unleashed gravity, pulling Tendo Pain toward him with an invisible divine force.
"These eyes… really do contain the power of the universe."
Tendo Pain didn't flinch and countered with Shinra Tensei—repelling force.
"Your repulsion is too weak," Izayoi sneered. Then his gravity instantly reversed into repulsion.
There was no explosion, but for a moment, the sky seemed to turn green.
Those sensitive to chakra thought they saw a giant wave ripple through the sky.
Tendo Pain was like a child with no resistance—he was swallowed instantly, turning into a blur and flung out of the battlefield sky.
With one move, Tendo Pain was blown away, and Izayoi disappeared into thin air.
Before the perceptive ninjas could finish their detection techniques, a loud bang drew their attention.
Izayoi reappeared in front of the returning Hungry Ghost Path and, before the Six Paths of Pain could react, punched the Hungry Ghost in the face.
Slowed down dozens of times, his fist sank directly into the Hungry Ghost's skull.
The shockwave from the chakra blast caused the face to deform and twitch grotesquely.
But the Hungry Ghost Path was still strong—its head wasn't completely blown apart.
Still, with Izayoi's punch, the head flew off like a kicked ball, and the body became a dark blur, flying back.
Before Nagato or the rest of the Pains could react, Izayoi flashed in front of Jigokudo, grabbed his face, slammed it into the ground, and released a burst of invisible repulsion.
The ground caved into a crater, and a shockwave of dust radiated outward, blasting away all nearby Pains and enemies.
When the dust cleared, Jigokudo lay at the crater's bottom—his body mangled, black rods broken, and already disconnected from Nagato.
In just moments, Izayoi had eliminated the second most threatening Pain, Hungry Ghost, and the resurrection-capable Jigokudo.
"Flying Thunder God Technique? No… Not just that. There's Lightning Release and Wind Release chakra transformation too…"
The remaining Pains were emotionless, acting as observers and using the Rinnegan's shared field of vision to report Izayoi's condition to Nagato.
Nagato immediately analyzed Izayoi's movements.
His expression turned grim.
"His repulsion conversion speed is too fast. Tendo Pain can't beat him one-on-one. And the Flying Thunder God counters Chibaku Tensei—he can't be sealed. He hasn't even used meteor showers yet. Does he possess the Six Paths Technique too…?"
Right now, Izayoi was like a non-disabled, non-terminal-illness Nagato from a side story.
To challenge him, Nagato would need either to return to his prime or summon the Gedo Golem, unleash Chakra Dragon, and land a successful strike.
Alternatively, he could call all Akatsuki members, reveal Shinra Tensei's cooldown weakness, and team up to repel him.
But doing so would damage his authority and divinity as their leader.
Nagato hesitated.
In that brief moment, Izayoi had already eliminated the weakest remaining Pains—Human Path and Animal Path—with his monstrous fists.
Now, only the strongest two remained: Tendo Pain and Asura Path.
Just as Nagato refocused on the battlefield, space twisted before him, and a black hole the size of a fist appeared.
From within, a distorted figure emerged—Uchiha Obito.
Nagato's eyes narrowed with caution.
In a cold tone, he asked:
"Madara… what are you doing here?"