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Intense arcs of lightning blazed across Konan's body.
It had to be said, Kagaya's mastery of ninjutsu was truly nothing special. Although he had struck Konan with this Lightning Cutter, its actual effect was hardly impressive. If it had been Kakashi executing this Lightning Cutter, Konan would likely have suffered a significant injury.
But because it was Kagaya executing it, Konan hadn't sustained any obvious, serious damage. She had merely been fiercely jolted by the electrical current, leaving her body slightly numb and her movements sluggish.
However, for Kagaya, this was already sufficient. He had never expected his ninjutsu to defeat Konan. At the end of the day, a full seventy percent of Kagaya's abilities lay in his eyes. Why would he ever rely on his weak area—ninjutsu—to defeat his enemies?
The purpose of using ninjutsu was always singular: to facilitate the application of the Eternal Mangekyo.
A golden skeletal arm instantly shot forth and seized Konan in one motion. Unable to use her Dance of the Shikigami because she had been struck by the Lightning Cutter, she was caught completely.
Two enormous fingers pinched Konan's head, forcibly turning her face toward Kagaya. Then... their eyes met.
Genjutsu!
Kagaya's genjutsu, truth be told, wasn't particularly outstanding either. But there was no helping it—the tier of Kagaya's eyes was simply far too high. With the Eternal Mangekyo, an eye approaching the realm of legend in this era, even if his genjutsu was lacking, it could never be truly weak.
If she hadn't been restrained, it would have been quite difficult for Kagaya to cast a genjutsu on Konan. After all, she wasn't a fool. With her chakra reserves ample, even if she appeared to be speaking to you, she wouldn't actually look into your eyes.
But once restrained, that was an entirely different matter. Her chakra had been momentarily disrupted by the Lightning Cutter and couldn't be properly mobilized. Her head was forcibly held in place by the Susanoo, forcing her eyes to meet Kagaya's. Under these circumstances, planting a genjutsu was naturally as easy as could be.
In the very next second, Konan felt several immense chains suddenly materialize around her body, binding her firmly and rendering her utterly immobile.
This genjutsu of Kagaya's hadn't stripped Konan of her conscious awareness, but had instead stripped her of control over her physical body.
Genjutsu, genjutsu—it was, at its core, a technique to disrupt perception. As long as Kagaya disrupted and severed Konan's perception of her own body, she would naturally be unable to execute any ninjutsu whatsoever.
Kagaya brushed off his hands and spoke.
"Alright. Can we now discuss the matter of the Five-Tails?"
Only, this time, before Konan could even reply, Ajisai jumped out once again, utterly dumbfounded and stammering.
"Y-y-y-you... you d-d-defeated... the Angel?!"
Kagaya sighed. "Look... can you just maintain that usual composure of yours? Also, don't casually interrupt other people's conversations. It's basic courtesy."
Ajisai still refused to let it go. "But... but... how could anyone possibly defeat the Angel?! And besides... you can't kill the Angel!"
Kagaya turned his head and looked directly into Ajisai's eyes. Ajisai refused to back down and stared right back at him.
Kagaya casually cast a genjutsu on her, rendering her unable to speak. He teased,
"Locking eyes with the Sharingan... you've really got guts."
Ajisai's face was full of defiance, yet not a single syllable could escape her lips.
Kagaya turned back and continued looking at Konan.
"Mm. Now we can continue."
Even now, there was still very little fluctuation in Konan's eyes. Even though she had been captured, even though she could die at any moment, her eyes seemed to cradle a dead, still sea within them—never rippling, never stirring.
"What do you want the Five-Tails for? And how did you know the Five-Tails was captured? How did you know it was here in the Hidden Rain?"
Kagaya looked at Konan and smiled without speaking.
Seeing this, Konan also sighed.
"True enough. Right now, I am the defeated party. You couldn't possibly answer those questions for me. In that case, I'll tell you as well: regarding the whereabouts of the Five-Tails, I also cannot tell you."
Kagaya nodded, then looked around.
"If you won't say, that's fine. Someone will talk eventually. By the way, where's Pain? Why hasn't he come out yet?"
The Hidden Rain had long since been managed by Pain into an impenetrable fortress. Any outsider who entered would be discovered extremely quickly. Kagaya, for instance, had just entered via the Flying Thunder God, and not long after, Konan had appeared right before them.
So, if anyone claimed that Pain didn't know Kagaya was here, that would truly be fooling a child.
And since Pain knew Kagaya was here, why was he taking so long to appear?
Kagaya furrowed his brow.
"As I thought... he's in the middle of sealing the Five-Tails. No wonder Karin can't sense the Five-Tails' chakra."
At the very beginning, Kagaya had asked Karin to sense the location of the Five-Tails within the Hidden Rain Village. But Karin hadn't been able to detect it. So Kagaya had used the Flying Thunder God to enter a random tall tower.
Now that he thought about it, it was probably because Pain was in the process of sealing the Five-Tails, suppressing its chakra and preventing Karin from sensing it.
The golden giant hand lifted Konan high into the air. Kagaya shouted toward the surroundings.
"Hey! If you don't come out soon, she's going to die."
To Pain, there might be others he didn't care about, but Konan was different. From Nagato's perspective, there was absolutely no way he could leave Konan to die.
Just as expected, a few seconds later, six men with orange hair instantly appeared at this location.
The Six Paths of Pain!
Kagaya clicked his tongue.
"Right from the get-go, the entire lineup appears, huh."
Standing at the very front, Pain spoke without any expression.
"Uchiha Kagaya. Release Konan. Surely you haven't forgotten our agreement?"
Kagaya gave a cold snort. "Agreement? Why don't you go ask that masked man about that first before coming to me! Who was the one who broke the agreement first? Do you really take me for someone you can bully and humiliate at will?! Don't give me that useless crap! Right now, immediately, hand over the Five-Tails!"
The very mention of the agreement made Kagaya's blood boil. That bastard Obito—the whole affair of hunting down Karin and Haku was eighty to ninety percent his doing. And now he still had the nerve to talk about an agreement?!
Pain was silent for a moment, then spoke.
"Let's discuss Konan first. What will it take for you to release her?"
Kagaya answered, as ever. "It's all the same. Hand over the Five-Tails!"
Pain narrowed his eyes.
"Must it be this way?"
Having just recalled the incident with Karin and Haku, Kagaya was already nursing a simmering fury. Now, sensing that Pain was inclined to use force, he directly stepped forward. Terrifying chakra erupted from his body.
"You want to fight? Bring it on!"
Pain was taken aback. He had merely been hinting at the possibility of using force, intending to use it as leverage to negotiate with Kagaya—much like when a customer says "I'm not buying anymore" while shopping; it's usually not a genuine refusal, but an attempt to negotiate with the seller. Pain's intent was more or less the same.
What he hadn't expected was such an explosive reaction from Kagaya. This left Pain somewhat at a loss. And most importantly... in less than two years, this bastard's chakra had increased this much?! What kind of monster was he?!
Waves of fear surged within Pain's heart. An enemy being stronger than oneself wasn't what was frightening. What was truly terrifying was that not only was the enemy stronger, but his rate of growth was like a rocket ship, widening the gap more and more.
In truth, as he aged, Kagaya's chakra had been continuously soaring at an astonishing pace. After all, he wasn't Kakashi—he couldn't possibly be perpetually short on chakra. The reason he had seemed somewhat lacking in chakra during the Warring States era was because of who he was being compared to. In that era, Kagaya's points of comparison were Hashirama! And Madara.
Compared to those two monsters, wasn't Kagaya just like Kakashi—always running low on chakra?
But setting those two aside, if compared to normal shinobi, Kagaya's chakra reserves were still extraordinarily vast. He certainly couldn't compare to the total chakra of a Tailed Beast, but compared to roughly one-third of a Tailed Beast's chakra, Kagaya should still come out on top.
If not for possessing such chakra, Kagaya couldn't possibly be running around activating his Susanoo whenever he pleased.
Pain drew a deep breath.
"Release Konan. Then we'll discuss the Five-Tails."
Kagaya smiled, then pulled Konan directly in front of him. He extended his hand and gently pressed on the side of her neck for a moment. Immediately after, he released the genjutsu. The Susanoo's arm then flung Konan away.
After regaining control of her body, Konan landed beside Pain and swiftly steadied herself. She then raised her hand to the spot Kagaya had just touched. There... was the mark of a small black sword.
"What is this? What did you do to me?"
The golden radiance surrounding Kagaya intensified. Then, golden bones began rapidly growing and expanding. Along with the bones, golden flesh also began to materialize.
BOOM!
The tall tower was burst apart from within by the sudden emergence of the half-body giant. Because Kagaya and the others had been at the very top of the tower, the spire instantly snapped off and plummeted toward the ground. Replacing the spire was a golden, half-body giant, roughly six meters in height.
"Forget it. I no longer feel like negotiating with you. Since you don't want to talk... then we'll fight. At worst, I'll raze this entire Hidden Rain Village to the ground. That way, I'm bound to find the Five-Tails eventually."
As mentioned before, after his journey to the Warring States era, Kagaya had come to regard human life very lightly. It was the same here. Razing the Hidden Rain Village to the ground would inevitably result in countless deaths. Yet, Kagaya's heart felt very little disturbance.
Also, that mark on Konan's neck—that was Kagaya's Flying Thunder God mark. An indelible, eternal mark, it destined that Kagaya could threaten Konan's life at any time from now on.
Although Konan's Dance of the Shikigami rendered her immune to physical attacks, she couldn't maintain it at all times. She didn't have nearly enough chakra for that. But Kagaya... could appear beside her at any moment and pierce through her throat with a single blade.
Pain retreated two steps and looked at Konan.
"Konan, leave first."
Since the creation of the Six Paths of Pain, this seemed to be the first time Pain had retreated before the battle even began! Truly, the pressure exuded by this golden giant before him was simply far too immense!
BOOM!
A beam of light shot forth, instantly striking the Susanoo's body.
This was the Asura Path's head-mounted laser cannon!
What a pity, this beam of light produced absolutely no effect whatsoever. It couldn't even leave the faintest trace on the Susanoo's body. Kagaya didn't even bother glancing at it.
Looking at Nagato's Rinnegan, Kagaya smiled.
"What a pity. The one bearing these eyes is named Nagato, not some other name. Otherwise... I might really not be able to win."
The Rinnegan was undoubtedly superior to the Eternal Mangekyo. But if the wielder was lacking, then there was nothing to be done about it.
After his trip to the Warring States era, Kagaya's perception of the gap between different wielders of the same eyes had become even more pronounced. In the Warring States era, Madara, wielding an Eternal Mangekyo that had only just evolved not long before, had beaten Kagaya to the point of utter helplessness. And now, Nagato, holding the Rinnegan that Madara had spent his entire life striving to obtain, was instead being bullied by Kagaya in return.
This disparity... was truly the difference between heaven and earth.
Three magatama materialized in the palm of Kagaya's Susanoo, spinning rapidly. Kagaya looked toward the Naraka Path.
"I'll start with you."
Yasakani no Magatama!
Whoosh!
This attack was extremely fast. The Naraka Path couldn't possibly evade it!
But...
"Almighty Push!"
A colossal repulsive force erupted, directly deflecting the Yasakani no Magatama!
The three magatama veered off course, hurtling toward another tall tower in the distance. Immediately after, violent explosions and blazing flames erupted.
Kagaya stared at Pain. That the Yasakani no Magatama could be blocked—this was something Kagaya hadn't anticipated. It seemed that after being caught off guard by Kagaya's speed the last time, Pain had now prepared countermeasures against him and no longer feared attacks that were too swift.
The Rinnegan was, after all, the Rinnegan. The shared vision granted them greater reaction time and made it impossible for them to be ambushed.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
While Kagaya was making his move, the Asura Path off to the side hadn't been idle for a single moment. He continuously fired shells, lasers, and the like at Kagaya. But regrettably, he still couldn't breach the Susanoo's defense.
The Susanoo extended its hand. Kagaya prepared to use his signature weapon.
But...
"Universal Pull!"
An immensely powerful gravitational force erupted, directly interrupting Kagaya's action and dragging the Susanoo hurtling toward Pain.
Then, just as they were about to reach Pain, the gravitational force vanished.
Seizing the opportunity, the Asura Path pressed its head directly against the Susanoo. Massive amounts of chakra began condensing. Then, a blue laser beam shot forth!
The tremendous force directly blasted Kagaya off the tall tower!
Kagaya rapidly condensed chakra onto the soles of his feet, sticking to the tower's surface. Then, with a forceful leap, he brought the Susanoo back up to the top of the tower.
Looking at the spot where the Asura Path had just fired, there was now a crack—not particularly large, but present. After all, it was an ability of the Rinnegan. Taking a direct hit at close range still dealt considerable damage.
Yasakani no Magatama!
The three magatama reappeared in the Susanoo's palm, then were hurled once more toward the Naraka Path!
"Almighty Push!"
Yet again, however, it was deflected.
Has the five-second interval already passed?
Kagaya cursed inwardly. Then, the very instant the Almighty Push faded, an invisible force swept across. The Naraka Path was bisected cleanly in two!
This was Kagaya's Sword of Decay! Now manifested in the Susanoo's hand!
Knowing that Pain possessed Almighty Push, it was naturally impossible for Kagaya not to have prepared a follow-up. Kagaya remembered that Pain's Almighty Push had a five-second cooldown. Pain had just used it once. Kagaya had intended to test whether the five seconds had already passed, but Pain had slapped him in the face with reality.
Fortunately, during the moment he had fallen off the tower, Kagaya had already condensed the Sword of Decay in advance. Then, upon leaping back up, he had immediately launched a Yasakani no Magatama. After Pain exhausted his Almighty Push, in the very instant it entered its cooldown, Kagaya had directly cleaved the Naraka Path apart with a single slash!
When fighting Pain, without a doubt, the first target had to be the Naraka Path. Otherwise, if he kept resurrecting his teammates, they would simply wear you down to death.
Kagaya had no desire to be worn down by Pain in a battle of attrition. So, the Naraka Path had to be eliminated first.
Pain stared expressionlessly at the golden giant before him. Within his heart... a trace of despair actually began to emerge. His side had fought with everything they had, yet only managed to leave a small crack on the opponent's ninjutsu (the Susanoo). Yet the opponent, with just a few casual attacks, had directly taken out an absolutely critical member of his own side.
Facing this golden giant... could I really win?
Pain didn't know. Nagato, behind the scenes, didn't know either.
But the Tailed Beasts were crucial tools for realizing their ideal. They couldn't be handed over so easily!