Chapter 558: Betrayal
In an instant, a transparent barrier seemed to appear in the air.
Facing Haruno Sakura's fierce attack, the expression on Pain's face remained calm and unruffled, not a trace of ripple in his calm Rinnegan.
The opponent's ninjutsu was certainly formidable, but the Deva Path still firmly believed that the Rinnegan's secret technique was the strongest ninjutsu.
And immediately after, in a split second, the Wind Blade Torrent brazenly collided head-on with Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push)!
Clang—!
An extremely ear-piercing, bizarre loud noise transmitted from the point of collision.
Clearly it was a collision between a Water Jet and an invisible force field, yet it emitted the crisp sound of metal and stone striking each other. The sound was high-pitched and sharp, making one's heart numb.
Amidst the noisy, strange sounds, the contest between the sharpest spear and the sturdiest shield concluded with the Wind Blade Torrent collapsing and turning into a sky full of water mist.
Shinra Tensei... was a cut above!
"A very dangerous ninjutsu indeed."
Through the faint water mist, Pain's words transmitted clearly.
"Almost... could have killed me."
The water mist dispersed, actually becoming thicker. Pain's figure was hazy within it, vaguely visible standing proudly in place with his hand extended.
His face still carried a faint cold arrogance, and his words of praise sounded more like condescending contempt.
As if God was looking down on mortals.
In God's perspective, all living beings are ants. And Haruno Sakura was nothing more than a slightly larger ant.
...Although this ant's bite hurt quite a bit.
Haruno Sakura raised her delicate eyebrows, her eyes narrowing slightly, but she didn't speak.
"This move is the so-called improved version of 'Water Severing Wave', right? As expected of a ninjutsu passed down from the Second Hokage, full of power..." Through the water mist, Pain sized up the girl and continued speaking.
The Deva Path, or rather Nagato, also remembered Jiraiya-sensei mentioning this jutsu back then, Tobirama Senju's signature Water Release, Water Severing Wave, unfortunately long lost. Past intelligence heavily emphasized that Haruno Sakura could also cast this jutsu, a move full of lethality. She seemed to have improved this move; the water line became thinner, the ninjutsu's power more concentrated on that single point, so its lethality was even a bit superior to the Water Severing Wave.
The intelligence also emphasized that besides its huge power, this move's extremely fast activation speed and very flexible attack route were also what made Haruno Sakura's jutsu difficult to deal with.
Unlike the Second Hokage's traditional method of holding water in his mouth and spraying it out.
Haruno Sakura condensed a ball of water in her palm and used her arm and fingers to assist in guiding the cutting direction of the Water Jet. Doing this certainly increased the difficulty of the ninjutsu, but also brought many benefits, such as a cooler posture... The most important point was that waving a hand was easier for adjusting direction than turning one's head, making the Water Jet's pursuit more flexible. When facing an enemy behind her, she could also deal with them calmly without needing to turn her head or body around.
"For a long time, your Water Severing Wave has always been raising your hand first and then activating it, giving us an illusion... mistakenly thinking that this move can be dodged the instant you raise your hand."
The Deva Path's gaze landed on Haruno Sakura's right hand naturally hanging by her side.
Just now, her arm clearly hadn't been raised, but the Wind Blade Torrent was activated concealedly at that instant.
This required extremely, extremely brilliant chakra manipulation skills.
"You deliberately misled us. What a clever little trick," Pain said slowly. "However, as long as one carefully pays attention to your chakra fluctuations, your little trick won't work..."
A very interesting little trick, just like Itachi Uchiha hiding his hands in his robe to form seals with one hand to cast ninjutsu concealedly—effective, can plot against people, but can only be used once.
Pain completely analyzed Haruno Sakura's thoughts with cold and calm words.
Haruno Sakura, however, was not angry but smiled.
"Saying all this... you wouldn't think you've cracked my ninjutsu with this nonsense, right?" The girl sneered and said, "That's right, relying on Shinra Tensei can indeed block the Water Jet..."
She paused, looking meaningfully at the Deva Path gradually disappearing in the thick fog.
"But, this move of yours has a 5-second interval every time it's used..."
And Sakura's Water Release had no such thing as a cooldown time! So, Pain could block the first shot, but what about the second shot, the third shot?
Pain remained silent. Not only was he checkmated verbally, but more importantly, the secret of his jutsu was actually spoken from this girl's mouth!
Why... would she know this?!
For a moment, Pain, who was as cold and hard as a ten-thousand-year glacier, actually felt a bit of alarm and unease rising in his heart.
"If you aren't apprehensive of my Wind Blade Torrent, why did you use thick fog to hide your figure, Pain?"
Pain didn't respond, and Haruno Sakura didn't stop, continuing to speak.
"Or rather, the one hiding behind the Six Paths of Pain..."
"Nagato?"
Nagato.
The girl's voice, cold and ethereal in the dense water mist, carried a strong penetrating power in its emptiness. It penetrated the thick dense fog, crossed a distance of hundreds of miles, transmitted into Pain's ears, and transmitted into Nagato's heart.
The Deva Path's pupils shrank violently, and Nagato, sitting on the life-support chair, suddenly widened his eyes.
She... knows my identity?
Akatsuki's biggest secret, actually spoken in one sentence by Haruno Sakura?!
This is impossible.
How is this possible!
Cold sweat suddenly broke out on Nagato's forehead. He lost control of his emotions, his breathing accelerating frantically.
In an instant, Nagato's skinny body began to heave like a bellows. He hung his head, panting heavily. The man's physical body was extremely weak; a slight emotional fluctuation could affect his body.
Calm down. Deep breath.
"Nagato! What's wrong?" Konan supported his hand in surprise.
Nagato was, after all, the man who manipulated "God", and his rapid breathing soon calmed down.
"I'm fine." The man shook his head.
Calming down, Nagato thought of a lot. Konan would never betray him no matter what, and the only person who knew these secrets and had the motive to betray him was obviously only one.
That mysterious man calling himself Madara Uchiha.
This man knew everything, yet from beginning to end had never been of one mind with them. He hid his head and showed his tail (T/N: meaning being secretive/sneaky), repeatedly acted on his own, had his own purposes, and as the Tailed Beast capture plan progressed, he increasingly didn't hide his ambitions.
Nagato had expected long ago that in the near future, he and that man harboring ulterior motives would part ways, even break up, view each other as enemies and stumbling blocks, and fight to the death.
But he never thought Madara Uchiha would tear off all pretense so early.
Leaking Akatsuki's intelligence to my enemies so they can consume my power? Nagato thought in his heart.
Good stratagem. Striking first to gain the upper hand, as expected of your style of doing things.
But, the Tailed Beast capture plan is only a little over half completed... are you in such a hurry, Madara Uchiha!
Nagato secretly gritted his teeth.
"I just discovered a fact." Having recovered, Nagato said calmly to Konan.
The man raised his head, looking at the empty front, his eyes extremely cold.
"A traitor... has appeared among us."
Konan held his overly skinny arm, her expression unexpectedly not showing surprise to Nagato.
She just raised her eyebrows, frowned and said: "You are also... suspecting Madara Uchiha?"
"Yes, he betrayed us."
Nagato clenched his fists. His voice was still weak and powerless, but his eyes were cold and firm.
And Haruno Sakura, hundreds of miles away, probably couldn't have imagined that things would develop like this.
She just wanted to drop a hint and sow discord in Akatsuki's internal relationships...