The clash with Minato happened in the blink of an eye, and his offensive pressure did indeed give Nagato quite the headache.
At that moment, if it hadn't been for the shared vision of the Rinnegan, even though Shinra Tensei doesn't require hand seals, Nagato still might not have reacted in time.
Moreover, Shinra Tensei couldn't actually injure Minato, and with its five-second cooldown, it was clearly insufficient to deal with him.
If Minato were to discover this weakness, he could undoubtedly organize a fierce offensive and severely damage the Deva Pain.
"Abilities that are split up will never be as complete," Nagato muttered to himself.
The Six Paths of Pain have irreplaceable value, when used properly, they can be very effective in killing the enemy. But there's also a downside... Dividing the Rinnegan's powers among six puppets means none of them are as strong as the original body.
Not only are the abilities split, but so is focus, making it impossible to unleash their full power.
That's the flaw. While it doesn't negate the advantages of the Six Paths, when facing powerful opponents, the drawback becomes glaringly obvious.
Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique somewhat counters Shinra Tensei, because it's a space-time jutsu. When teleporting close, it doesn't carry the kinetic force that traditional taijutsu attacks would.
Because of this space-time movement, there's no momentum propelling the body forward, which significantly reduces the destructive force Shinra Tensei can exert.
If Minato were to fight the Third Raikage, he likely wouldn't be able to do much to him. But if the Third Raikage were to face Deva Pain, his lightning-speed attacks would result in even harsher recoil damage when repelled by Shinra Tensei.
There's a subtle counter-relationship at play here.
The harder you charge, the more damaging the backlash when Shinra Tensei activates.
Minato's Flying Thunder God allows him to dodge most of that damage altogether.
Looking at the Konoha shinobi before him, Nagato knew that if he didn't personally step in soon, Deva and the Preta Pain would be dealt with by Minato's team.
"With just Deva and Preta Pain, they can't withstand Konoha's elite squad. I'll need to step in personally soon," Nagato said inside the giant tree.
Hearing this, Konan's expression shifted slightly. Hadn't the attack only just begun? Were the Human Path and Naraka Path already being treated as expendable? And now even the main force, Deva and Preta Pain, were in trouble?
"Mm." At this moment, all Konan could do was respond with a sound, there was nothing more she could offer.
"But before that… I need to extract every bit of value from the Six Paths," Nagato confirmed he needed to go to Konoha himself, but not yet. The Six Paths of Pain still had power to wield, he could still extract more from them.
If their flaw was being fragmented, their greatest strength was being unafraid of death, and being repairable.
Even if all six bodies were destroyed, Nagato wouldn't immediately head to Konoha. He would simply repair and resurrect them, then send them in again. After two rounds of attrition, that would be the time for his true body to appear.
In the end, what Nagato relied on was not the Six Paths, but his own strength. So even if they were destroyed or failed completely, it wouldn't affect him.
Ultimately, it would be his true form that decided the outcome.
...
On the battlefield of Konoha
Once Nagato made his decision, the tide began to shift subtly.
Even though the Human Pain and Naraka Pain were used as pawns, their fearless charge still gave Kakashi's team a hard time. Quite a few comrades were killed. Even when their arms were severed, the enemy's expressions remained utterly blank.
It really did feel like they were puppets.
Over on the Asura Pain's side, its summoned beasts were slowly being suppressed, but still managed to take the lives of several Konoha ninja in moments. The Asura Path's own destructive power had been forcibly restrained. As for the Animal Path, its combat power was essentially zero and could be ignored.
The scales of victory were tilting toward Konoha.
....
Main battlefield
After the first round of probing attacks, Minato planned to mark Deva Pain with the Flying Thunder God seal. This way, even if he were blasted away by Shinra Tensei, he could immediately return to Deva Pain's side and launch a fatal strike.
"Cover me." Minato relayed to the others as he charged straight toward Deva and the Preta Pain. This time, he didn't use the Flying Thunder God to teleport, instead, he simply held a marked kunai in hand.
Sage Mode not only strengthened his power, but also greatly boosted his speed. Even without relying on teleportation, Minato's taijutsu was formidable.
As soon as he moved, the Konoha ninja on the field immediately split and fanned out to both sides, trying to surround Deva and Preta Pain.
Itachi was the youngest in the team, but his strength was by no means weak. Since joining the Anbu, he had spent nearly all his free time training with Shisui, and together with his mission experience, he had amassed considerable battle prowess.
Now, running side-by-side with Shisui, both had activated their three-tomoe Sharingan.
The Fourth Hokage's command was to provide cover, and that was exactly what Itachi specialized in. During missions, his assigned role had always been to protect Shisui, enabling him to kill more effectively.
Among the team, Itachi was the first to act while dashing. He flung out eight kunai in one motion toward Deva and the Preta Pain, using precise and subtle technique.
Seeing this, Shisui smiled slightly. He knew full well that Itachi's go-to move for providing cover was exactly this, his impeccable skill with throwing weapons.
"At the crucial moment, I can't just stand by and do nothing… Even if it costs me my sight," Shisui thought silently. The Mangekyō Sharingan came with the heavy price of eventual blindness. There were ways to counteract this, but neither he, Itachi, nor Obito had been able to overcome it yet.
Itachi's thrown kunai were numerous, but not as fast or powerful as Minato's.
Deva and Preta Pain sidestepped the attack with ease, each moving a few steps to the side. Their attention was fixed on the rapidly approaching Minato.
Shinra Tensei had a five-second cooldown which was not too long, but not short either. In the ever-shifting chaos of battle, five seconds felt like an eternity.
After the first bout of probing, Minato hadn't immediately resumed his attack, so by the time he launched this second assault, Shinra Tensei had already cooled down and was ready.
"Even Banshō Ten'in is countered. For Shinra Tensei to truly shine, it must… hmm"
Clink clink.... Just then, the sound of kunai clashing behind them drew their attention. Outside of their field of vision, some of the eight kunai Itachi had thrown earlier had collided mid-air, altering their trajectories. Two of them curved sharply and returned, aiming right for the backs of Deva and the Preta Pain.
"Beautiful!" Minato, now closing the distance, couldn't help but mentally praise Itachi's technique.
Changing kunai trajectory by mid-air collision wasn't difficult, but predicting the enemy's new position after dodging was the real challenge. And Itachi had nailed it. The returning kunai were flying straight for where Deva and Preta Pain had moved after evading the initial throw.
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