Pain's Six Paths received the message from Zetsu and immediately gave chase.
After discovering Kurotsuchi's whereabouts, the Asura Path was tasked with pursuing her—
but in doing so, it exposed their location.
Within a short time, Naruto broke through the barrier and escaped using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
At first, Nagato assumed Naruto would flee just like last time,
so he only pursued half-heartedly.
After all, the Flying Thunder God Technique ignored physical barriers,
and with Naruto's immense chakra reserves—
as long as he didn't court death himself, almost no one could kill him.
But this time… things were different.
Instead of running away with the two girls beside him, Naruto turned around and attacked.
That amused Nagato.
So he's delivering himself to me?
But—
Nagato soon felt something was off.
Through the shared vision of the Rinnegan, he saw a gust of wind tearing through the air ahead.
The distance was short, and he could see clearly—
that wasn't mere air flow or ninjutsu.
It was someone moving faster than the average Body Flicker Technique!
The figure glowed with golden light, hair bristling upward,
surrounded by surging blue Lightning Style chakra.
What… is this?!
Nagato had never seen such a form before.
Naruto flew rapidly from a distance and saw the Six Paths of Pain clustered below.
"Yo, ho?" He smirked. "All together, huh?"
Naruto formed a quick seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dozens of golden-shadowed clones appeared in the sky—at least thirty of them.
Nagato, who was secretly controlling the Six Paths, remained calm.
Thirty clones? That's a lot… but shadow clones don't mean much in high-level combat.
However, the next second left him stunned.
All the clones raised one hand toward the sky, gathering dazzling chakra orbs.
Each one formed a massive Rasengan, as large as a two-story house—
and together, they came crashing down from the sky!
The Six Paths of Pain immediately sensed danger and tried to scatter.
But the attack was too dense, too powerful, and far too fast.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Rasengan barrage exploded like a meteor shower,
shockwaves rolling outward as light devoured the Gobi Desert.
When the dust cleared, only Deva Path (Tendō) and Preta Path (Gakidō) remained—
the rest were completely obliterated.
Preta Path lowered his hands and looked around in disbelief.
Except for Deva Path, all his allies were offline.
Before he could react, a streak of golden light plunged down from above.
BOOM!
Preta Path was smashed into the ground, the earth collapsing in a ten-meter radius.
Preta Path—offline.
Naruto withdrew his fist from the crater, lifted his head,
and locked his golden eyes on Deva Path floating in the sky.
Deva Path raised a hand toward Naruto.
"Universal—"
He didn't even finish the technique's name.
Naruto's figure vanished in a flash.
Deva Path hovered midair, scanning around—
until a glimmer of gold appeared at the edge of his vision.
Without hesitation, he switched jutsu: "Shinra Tensei!"
Bang!
Naruto was blasted backward by the repulsive force.
He crossed his arms to brace himself, sliding dozens of meters before halting.
Under the pressure, his muscles tensed painfully—
but thanks to his Uzumaki and Senju bloodlines,
the sting quickly faded.
Deva Path demanded, "What kind of power is this?"
This was Nagato's first time experiencing defeat after creating the Six Paths of Pain—
and it was a crushing one.
The Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki was far stronger than he had ever anticipated.
Naruto didn't bother replying.
He knew Deva Path was only trying to buy time—
there was always a cooldown period between Shinra Tensei uses.
Without wasting another second, Naruto raised his hand and hurled a Flying Thunder God Kunai.
His speed was immense,
but the kunai he threw was even faster.
It zipped in front of Deva Path, who instinctively raised his hand to block it.
But there was a flash of gold—
and a Rasengan slammed straight into Deva Path's face.
Boom!
One of the Rinnegan eyes shattered instantly.
The black receiver rods conducting chakra snapped loose and fell away.
Naruto followed through, driving a lightning-boosted kick into Deva Path's chest.
With Lightning Style Armor and the Super Light-Weight Rock Technique,
his speed was terrifying—
and speed converted directly into power.
Deva Path's body shot downward like a meteor,
slamming into the earth with explosive force.
Naruto didn't let up.
He formed a massive Rasenshuriken and hurled it down.
A few seconds later—
BOOM!
The Rasenshuriken detonated,
and Deva Path went offline.
Naruto knew these were merely corpses,
so he activated Kagura's Mind Eye, extending his sensory perception outward.
His range far exceeded Nagato's remote control distance for the Six Paths.
But strangely—
he couldn't sense any trace of Rinnegan chakra.
What's going on?
Could it be that Nagato's control distance was greater than even his Kagura's range?
Naruto didn't want to believe it, and pushed his senses further—
but still, nothing.
Meanwhile—
In a cave near the border of the Land of Earth,
Nagato's eyes widened as the backlash of Pain's defeat surged through his body.
"This… this is impossible!"
Nagato coughed up blood, his face pale and drawn.
Konan rushed to his side. "Nagato! Are you alright?"
She wanted to help, but the chakra rods embedded in his body prevented her from getting close.
Nagato's face twisted in pain, veins bulging as he grit his teeth.
He muttered weakly, "Yahiko… he's gone."
Konan fell silent.
After a moment, Nagato said hoarsely,
"Konan, keep the barrier active. Otherwise, I'm afraid he'll come here next."
Konan's heart sank.
"Alright… but please, Nagato, don't push yourself. I don't want to lose you too…"
But Nagato seemed deaf to her words.
He whispered almost deliriously,
"The Six Paths of Pain were destroyed instantly… how do we face such a monster?"
"Maybe… maybe I can merge the full power of the Rinnegan into one body."
High above the desert, Naruto hovered quietly in the air.
He murmured, "Can't locate him yet, huh?"
"It must be some kind of barrier protection."
He exhaled lightly. "Never mind. I already know the Akatsuki's location and information.
I'll visit them when the time's right."
Kurama's deep voice rumbled in his mind.
"Naruto… your strength keeps growing. Even I can't fully grasp it anymore."
Naruto just smiled modestly. "You're exaggerating."
In truth, his power increase was inevitable.
With the system's support, the combined Uzumaki and Senju bloodlines,
and Kurama's chakra,
Naruto's strength had already far surpassed the early Super Kage level.
If even the Six Paths of Pain—the very benchmark of super shadow-level power—
couldn't withstand him quickly,
then that would've been the real failure.
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