The energy unleashed by the Wind Release: Rasengan was astonishing. Its dazzling light formed swirling patterns, tearing even the air apart. The shrill sound was like glass being scraped, piercingly sharp, before being drowned out by a thunderous explosion.
The sheer force drew everyone's attention. Anyone hit by the Fourth Hokage's technique surely had no chance of survival.
As expected, once the blinding light faded, what remained at the center was a massive crater. Jagged cracks, like the slashes of a blade, spread across the ground. Deva Pain's clothes had been completely shredded by the wind, and his body was covered in countless deep lacerations, his condition was too gruesome to look at.
With both enemies down, the Konoha ninja responsible for this sector finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, Minato did not lower his guard. Based on his earlier deductions, these two enemies were likely just puppets.
He didn't yet know how they were being controlled, but it was surely tied to the power of the Rinnegan.
Even though it was almost certain the real enemy hadn't revealed themselves yet, Minato deactivated Sage Mode.
In theory, as long as one maintained proper chakra circulation, Sage Mode could last over five minutes. Minato was capable of sustaining it beyond that, but if it wasn't needed, deactivating it was the wiser move.
With two enemies already defeated, now was the perfect time to release it.
"Don't lower your guard. These two enemies are very likely puppets." Minato's warning snapped everyone out of their brief relief.
"Puppets?!" His words made everyone jolt.
Puppets? But weren't chakra threads supposed to be visible? And what about the puppeteer?
The others quickly associated "puppet" with Sand shinobi puppet techniques. But if that were the case, the controller shouldn't be far away. Plus, if chakra threads were being used, they should have been noticed by now.
More importantly, these enemies had bizarre, powerful abilities, unlike any puppet they had ever seen.
"So they were puppets…"Shisui was struck with realization. That could explain why Kotoamatsukami had no effect. Even Ye Zi, when affected, only broke free after falling under the illusion.
Kotoamatsukami forcibly alters the target's will. But if the target has no will, being a puppet, then it simply doesn't work.
Yet these puppets moved like humans, had chakra flowing through their bodies, and even performed ninjutsu.
Under normal logic, chakra flow can be disrupted to trap a person in a genjutsu.
That might have worked here too. But Kotoamatsukami doesn't disturb chakra flow, it infects the mind to change a person's will. A puppet without a brain or will is immune. That explanation made complete sense.
Thus, Shisui fully accepted Minato's conclusion.
Because they trusted him, even if the theory sounded strange, the Konoha shinobi immediately became alert once more.
"Stay battle-ready. Don't relax. I'll check on the other two sectors." Minato left those words and vanished via Flying Thunder God, headed to Kakashi's location.
Although all three battles had taken place within the same village, the other sectors had yet to report in. Only Minato's teleportation could verify the situation at top speed.
When he arrived at Kakashi's zone via Flying Thunder God, the battle was already over. Human Path and Naraka Path lay on the ground, lifeless. Their corpses were in terrible shape, littered missing limbs and broken bodies.
"Lord Fourth!" The Konoha ninja greeted Minato as he arrived.
He nodded and quickly surveyed the area. The fight here had also ended.
"These two enemies were most likely puppets. Stay on high alert and prepare for another battle."
"Puppets?!" The reaction was the same. Shock, confusion, and disbelief. But no one outright doubted Minato's words.
A few ninja started to realize it made sense. During the earlier fight, both Human and Naraka Pains had behaved oddly, they seemed to be unreactive to pain. Their limbs had been severed during group attacks, and neither showed any signs of distress.
If they were puppets, that would explain it, even if this puppet technique was nothing like the Sand's.
"Sensei, what should we do now?" asked Obito.
Minato glanced at the corpses and replied: Have the corpse recovery team take these two to the hospital. Then we'll...hmm?"
He was about to leave again. These puppet-like enemies with Rinnegan eyes could be useful for research.
But before he could finish speaking, both Human and Naraka Pain's disappeared in a puff of white smoke, leaving behind only severed limbs.
"What just happened?!"
Even Minato was stunned.
"This white smoke… It's just like a summoning technique being reversed."
"So were they not puppets, but summons?"
"No way! Human-shaped summons? That's unheard of. And don't forget, one of the enemies at another front could summon many creatures too!"
Confusion spread through the crowd. This strange scene, paired with Minato's earlier analysis, just didn't add up.
There was simply too little intel on the Six Paths of Pain and the Rinnegan. Even Minato couldn't make sense of it. But with Flying Thunder God, he could go confirm the last battlefield immediately.
"Hold your position. Stay alert." Without giving anyone time to respond, Minato vanished again.
In the next instant, he arrived at the Asura and Animal Pains battlefield.
With Tsunade and the Third Hokage leading, the defenders had successfully taken down both of them. Most of the summoned beasts were defeated too, except for a few troublesome three-headed hellhounds.
At first, not knowing the hellhounds' special traits, their attacks only caused the beasts to multiply. Even after defeating Asura and Animal Paths, the remaining hellhounds had yet to be fully subdued.
Meanwhile, Nagato had already begun recalling all incapacitated Paths back to the giant tree. The process happened simultaneously, so by the time Minato arrived at Tsunade's location, the defeated Asura and Animal Pains had also vanished.
This eerie development cast a persistent shadow over Minato's thoughts. The enemy's abilities were simply too strange.
After relaying all known information quickly and clearly to the Third Hokage, Minato vanished once more, leaving behind a group of Konoha ninja with deeply grim expressions.
They had just defeated the enemy, and at a high cost, only to be told those powerful foes were merely puppets… and the real enemy hadn't even appeared yet. It was a major psychological blow.
After verifying two locations, Minato returned to the battlefield where Tendo had been defeated.
Upon his return, the Konoha ninja immediately reported that Deva and Preta Pain's corpses had also disappeared in white smoke.
Minato nodded and shared the situation from the other sectors. Uncertainty about the enemy's true nature now hung like a dark cloud over everyone's hearts.
With all three zones now connected via a basic "communication system," Minato quietly began sensing the location of the Flying Thunder God mark he had planted on Deva Pain.
That mark wouldn't disappear, so if Deva Pain vanished, he had almost certainly been summoned back by the controller.
By sensing the location of the mark, Minato could determine where the real enemy was hiding.
While he was doing that, Nagato had already begun repairing the Six Paths of Pain inside the giant tree, summoning the King of Hell.
With cold, eerie energy, the King of Hell opened its gaping mouth, and Nagato threw the broken bodies of all six Paths inside.
The King of Hell chewed briefly, then in just ten seconds, reopened its mouth. From the chaotic, icy light emerged the restored figures:
The Deva, Asura, Animal, Human and Naraka Pains all emerged unharmed, even with their clothes fully restored.
"The abilities of the Six Paths of Pain have mostly been exposed… but the Jinchūriki has yet to appear. This might turn into a long battle. I'll gather all six Paths at one point, and continue my assault on Konoha."
Nagato, while speaking, began controlling the Six Paths of Pain and sent them rushing toward Konoha at full speed.
"After this… once the Six Paths of Pain are defeated again, it will be my turn to act personally."
As he watched the Six Paths leave, Nagato remained calm, almost as if, the moment he sent them out a second time, he had already accepted that they would likely fail again.
Of course, he could use Deva Path ability to unleash the most powerful version of Shinra Tensei and simply destroy the entire village. That would certainly reduce Konoha to rubble. However, such a move wouldn't achieve a high kill count, and it would place considerable strain on his body.
If he truly had to use that power, it wouldn't be through Deva Pain, it would be him, Nagato, who used it directly.
"Mm," Konan softly responded, silently offering him her emotional support.
...
Konoha's South District, now leveled
Minato's eyes suddenly sharpened. He sensed the Flying Thunder God seal he had placed on Deva Pain, and it was moving rapidly.
This information shocked him, but he quickly calmed himself. He was confident that Flying Thunder God's seals don't just disappear. Which could only mean… Deva Pain had been revived and was heading back toward Konoha. Given the earlier deduction that the Six Paths were puppets, Minato now surmised that the controller had the ability to repair them.
His mind raced, piecing together one accurate deduction after another.
And now… he also knew where the controller was located.
Minato immediately vanished from his spot, off to find Obito.
The three battle zones were far apart. To quickly issue new orders, he needed Obito's help.
The enemy… would strike again very soon.
On Konoha's side, there was little understanding of the Six Paths of Pain or Nagato's abilities, but likewise, Nagato didn't fully grasp the mechanics of Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique. In that brief, decisive moment earlier, Nagato had failed to correctly analyze or infer the nature of Minato's final strike.
Nagato had laid out his plan from the beginning: Once the Six Paths were wiped out, he would repair and re-deploy them for a second wave of attrition. During this phase, he aimed to wear down Konoha's strength and gather as much intelligence on their combat abilities as possible, before stepping in himself to decide the outcome.
But Minato, thanks to the seal he had discreetly planted earlier, had already gleaned vital information, and was now moving quickly to set up the next line of defense.
In other words, when the Six Paths of Pain reappeared in Konoha, they would no longer be a deadly surprise. The Konoha shinobi, now armed with firsthand knowledge from the first encounter, would be better equipped to counter them.
That reality slightly disrupted Nagato's carefully laid plans.
However, this time, Nagato did not plan to send the Six Paths out separately. He intended to keep them together and have them focus on Minato. Then, using Human Path ability, he would extract Minato's soul to find the Jinchūriki's location.
Why had Konoha endured an attack without the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki, Kushina Uzumaki, making an appearance?
Nagato considered two possibilities: Konoha knew he was targeting the Nine-Tails, so they had hidden her away to prevent her from participating in battle.
The Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki wasn't in Konoha to begin with.
Nagato did not know that Kushina was actually no longer in the village.
In fact, long before Jiraiya's death, Kushina had already left Konoha and gone to a faraway place.
Otherwise, given her personality, she would never sit idly by while Konoha was under attack.
If the village were being invaded, and Konoha had forcibly confined her for fear of her being captured, preventing her from fighting and making her watch helplessly from the sidelines, there's no way Kushina would've accepted that.
Call it reckless if you will, but with great power comes great responsibility, and Kushina understood this better than anyone.
She could control the Nine-Tails, not entirely, but at least half of its chakra. Even that much gave her top-tier combat strength.
Having both the power and the will to act, it was impossible for her to stand idly by and let the village be destroyed without doing anything.
So, the reason Kushina never appeared during the attack, despite the Six Paths destroying buildings and killing many comrades, was simple...
She wasn't in Konoha.
She was at Shikkotsu Forest, one of the Three Great Sage Regions.
She had arrived there two months ago and hadn't left since.
Just like Mount Myōboku and Ryūchi Cave, Shikkotsu Forest was a sacred place with its own unique traits. It was an otherworldly location protected by barriers, which was not easily accessible by ordinary people.
Ryūchi Cave, as its name suggests, is a vast, interconnected cave network.
Mount Myōboku is a mountain with a rich ecosystem, far more diverse than Ryūchi Cave. It's a true sanctuary, complete with mountains, water, and plant life.
As for Shikkotsu Forest, true to its name, its defining trait is moisture.
It's a habitat ideal for slugs, who thrive in such an environment.
The word "Shikkotsu" means "wet bones," and the forest itself is made of numerous structures resembling white bones. Though not literally skeletal, they are deeply connected to the concept of bones.
These bone-like structures are plants, born through a mysterious process involving actual bones. They come in only one color... chalk-white, like real bones.
They take many forms like stones, trees, or the open feathers of a peacock's tail and the forest is composed of these endlessly varied structures.
These "bone trees" can survive in a place where acidic fluids constantly flow, because they cannot be dissolved by the acid secreted by slugs.
Kushina had been living there for over two months.
But the environment of Shikkotsu Forest is harsh for humans, not only incredibly humid, but filled with acidic mist. For most people, it's completely uninhabitable.
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Currently on Chapter 586 - Three Susanoos