The drifting dust had not yet settled. Grief and sorrow remained buried deep within hearts, left unspoken, pressed silently into their souls, as they steeled themselves for the battles to come.
At this very moment, every second was crucial. Every heartbeat served a fleeting opportunity that could vanish in an instant. Both sides were racing against time.
One command after another was swiftly relayed through Minato, ensuring preparations were in place to intercept the second wave of attack.
A crucial Flying Thunder God mark had provided Konoha with vital intel.
Not far away, the Six Paths of Pain rapidly approached, soon to bring about a second clash within the village.
Because every second now mattered, even lifeless bodies lay untouched, still sprawled across the cold ground.
Those familiar faces, once full of life and memory, were now silently pushed to the back of everyone's mind.
Every Konoha shinobi moved at top speed to rebuild a defense line against the invading enemy, leaving no time to gather the fallen.
With regret, guilt, rage, and grief mingling together like streams into a river, their emotions now formed the village's hardest, most unbreakable wall.
The Six Paths of Pain arrived at Konoha's outskirts. On the shoulders of the Asura Pain, two extra arms unfolded, giving it four in total. It grabbed the Animal Pain, aimed carefully, and hurled it toward the main battlefield.
Whoosh!
The Animal Pain's body flew like a rocket, cutting a graceful arc through the air before crashing down into the area previously leveled by Shinra Tensei.
The landing was slightly off-target, but close enough to still fall within that flattened zone.
"They're here." Minato's eyes sharpened as he looked up at the descending shadow.
At this time, not many Konoha shinobi remained in this zone. Even though the Flying Thunder God mark allowed them to know where Deva Pain was, it gave no insight into the enemy's precise intentions, so defense couldn't be focused in one spot, but rather spread out.
Simultaneously, while defensive lines were forming, another elite team had already moved toward Nagato's location.
When the Six Paths of Pain had been summoned away, Minato had sensed the point of origin, deducing it as the location of the real mastermind.
Later, he detected that the Flying Thunder God mark was moving rapidly toward the village, which suggested that the Deva Pain they had previously defeated had been revived through some unknown means. If that was true, then the key to victory was to strike down the true puppet master.
The elite team sent to confront Nagato directly was led by the experienced Third Hokage. Alongside him were no weaklings: Kakashi, Obito, Rin, Kurenai, and Asuma were all in the group.
Within the village, Tsunade led the medical squad to treat the wounded, while Minato, heading the remaining combat-ready ninja, prepared to intercept the Six Paths of Pain.
Uncertain whether the enemy would strike one point or scatter like last time, they had to spread their defenses accordingly.
Now it seemed… the enemy was focusing on a single point.
While still over ten meters from the ground, the Animal Pain began summoning the other five Paths mid-air.
All six had once again descended upon Konoha.
Even though Minato had warned them in advance, the Konoha ninja in this area were still shocked to see the Six Paths of Pain, previously defeated, now reappearing unscathed.
They had sacrificed many comrades to defeat Pain. Seeing the enemy revived so casually was hard to accept.
Still, the battle raged on.
Minato's area hadn't been chosen by the enemy on purpose, but seeing all six Pains grouped together, his taut nerves loosened slightly.
A portion of their elite had been sent to strike Nagato directly. If the Six Paths of Pain had scattered again, the cost of repelling them would've been much higher.
Now that all six were concentrated in one place, they would be harder to fight, but the damage to the village could be minimized.
At the moment, the only main fighters in this area were Minato, Guy, and a few elite jōnin from major clans. The rest were scattered across the village.
"We need to alert the others," said the communication shinobi. Without needing Minato's orders, he followed their pre-agreed strategy and rushed to notify the other squads to reinforce the main battlefield.
Since the enemy was concentrated here, the other forces could be redirected to support.
As the Six Paths of Pain emerged from the white mist, Minato took a deep breath, but did not activate Sage Mode. A small slug sat quietly on his shoulder.
With the Flying Thunder God mark, Minato had ample time to activate Sage Mode once Pain entered the village perimeter. But he chose not to. The surrounding Konoha shinobi were still dispersed, and even Guy was some distance away.
The tiny slug remained silent on Minato's shoulder. As Minato's gaze locked onto the Six Pains, he moved with a flicker, striking first.
The Animal Pain could summon giant beasts, but most of them had been dealt with in the previous battle, and it hadn't summoned anything else since. The threat was minimal.
The Asura Pain could weaponize its body with missiles and lasers, but its attacks were easier to dodge.
The Human Pain could extract souls, similar in nature to the Yamanaka clan's abilities. The Naraka Pain, according to Kakashi's report, could summon the King of Hell and store souls in its mouth. These two worked well together but were weaker offensively.
The Preta Pain could absorb chakra and ninjutsu. As long as it was present, large-scale ninjutsu would be neutralized.
The Deva Pain was the strongest, with control over repulsion and attraction forces.
Minato had thoroughly memorized all this intel from their first engagement. With this, defeating the Six Paths again wouldn't be impossible. The key was to eliminate the Preta Pain first, then coordinate long-range attacks with allies to minimize casualties.
Before the surrounding Konoha ninja could even regroup, Minato had already moved.
Using a Flying Thunder God mark he had previously left behind, Minato instantly crossed a kilometer to appear near the Deva Pain, right between the Six Pains.
With superior control, he instantly formed a Wind Release: Rasengan in his palm and pressed it toward the Deva Pain.
His actual target was the Preta Pain, but since his Flying Thunder God mark was on Deva Pain, it was the only point from which he could strike fastest.
So, the Wind Release: Rasengan had to be aimed at the Deva Pain.
"You think the same trick will work again…"Inside the giant tree, Nagato's eyes narrowed. His reaction was lightning-fast. The moment Minato disappeared from his field of vision, he already deduced that the next second would bring a close-range assault.
And indeed, it happened just as predicted. Minato appeared beside Deva Pain, Rasengan in hand.
The surrounding Konoha ninja were still far from the scene, including Guy, though no one knew why it had been arranged this way.
Because of this, the Six Paths of Pain all had their attention fixed on Minato, who had boldly charged in alone.
Nagato had not randomly arranged the positioning of the Six Patin. The Preta Pain, their main defense, had been placed closest to the Deva Pain.
This gave Preta Pain a chance to shield against Minato's assault. With a flash, he stepped between Deva Pain and Minato, erecting a transparent barrier that completely neutralized the Rasengan's immense power.
The chakra-infused Wind Release: Rasengan was effortlessly absorbed by the Sealing Absorption Barrier.
After the attack was absorbed, the other four Pain bodies did nothing. Only Deva Pain acted, using Banshō Ten'in to yank Minato straight into Preta Pain's arms.
This assault by Minato appeared overly simple, almost careless, with no backup plan, which felt suspicious. But Nagato didn't notice anything strange.
As Minato was pulled in, he collided with the Preta Pain, who immediately began draining his chakra with sealing absorption.
In just one exchange, Minato's attack had failed decisively. Pulled in and trapped, Preta Pain would be able to drain all his chakra within ten seconds.
"Is he unable to use his space-time jutsu once he's caught in the sealing technique?" Nagato frowned. When Minato had been pulled in with Banshō Ten'in, he hadn't escaped via Flying Thunder God, allowing Preta Pain to subdue him easily.
This felt too smooth, far easier than their previous encounters.
As Nagato pondered, the Minato that Preta Pain was clutching suddenly burst into smoke with a loud poof.
"What?!" Nagato was shocked.
In the next instant, a figure reappeared like a ghost, once again between the Deva and Preta Pains, without a single warning.
"That is…!"
The figure that appeared without warning was Minato, now in Sage Mode, with a small slug perched on his shoulder.
He had materialized silently, without summoning a powerful Wind Style: Rasengan, without holding any weapons, just standing there.
From the very beginning, Minato's true target had never changed: the Preta Pain. The Minato who had been caught earlier was merely a shadow clone.
Frog Kata!
Natural energy gathered into his palm. Before Nagato could react, Minato appeared in front of Deva Pain and behind Preta Pain, striking the latter's back with an open palm.
Fully aware of the Preta Pain's ability to absorb chakra-based jutsu, Minato avoided using Wind Style: Rasengan in this second close encounter. Instead, he used a toad-style physical technique powered by Sage Mode.
By concentrating natural energy in his palm and releasing it in a burst, the resulting impact surpassed even Tsunade's monstrous strength produced by pure chakra.
His palm smashed into Preta Pain's back with a thunderous boom. The plump body of Preta Pain shot forward like a black arrow, hurtling across the field in a sharp, backward C-shaped arc.
After blasting Preta Pain away, Nagato instinctively reacted, commanding Deva Pain to strike Minato's back. From Deva Pain's palm sprang a sharp black rod.
Swish!
It was a swift and decisive counterattack, but it struck only air.
Minato had long planned to retreat using the Flying Thunder God technique regardless of whether his hit landed. So the instant Preta Pain was sent flying, Minato teleported away, and Nagato's counter missed completely.
On the surface, it had looked like Minato was quickly defeated by the Six Paths of Pain, but that was only his clone. The real one had successfully one-shot the Preta Pain.
Returning via Flying Thunder God to his original position, Minato stood firm, having seized the initiative in one swift strike. The nearby Konoha shinobi, now within range, began forming hand signs, ready to unleash a barrage of ninjutsu on the remaining five Pains.
They had expected a second assault from the Six Paths of Pain, but didn't know where it would strike, or whether it would be a focused or dispersed attack. But for someone like Minato, who had left Flying Thunder God markers everywhere, positioning was never an issue, he could relocate at will.
As it turned out, Pain's second assault was concentrated in a single location, the very one Minato had best prepared. That's how he managed to execute such an effective first strike.
The seemingly reckless frontal assault on the Six Pains was just a shadow clone, which explained why it hadn't entered Sage Mode. Its only purpose was to feint.
Using the Flying Thunder God mark, Minato teleported next to Deva Pain and launched the attack, not to actually damage Deva Path, but to bait the Preta Path into defending it thereby drawing it closer.
Nagato had indeed fallen for the trap.
While Shinra Tensei could have blocked the Wind Style: Rasengan, its omnidirectional effect risked harming the other Pains nearby, something Nagato himself was aware of and something Minato had accounted for when formulating his plan.
So everything unfolded just as Minato had predicted... Preta Pain moved to defend Deva Pain, absorbed the clone's Rasengan, then helped eliminate the clone with Deva Pain.
The small slug perched on the clone's shoulder wasn't for healing, it was there to maintain communication with the real Minato and coordinate the timing of a decisive strike.
The real Minato couldn't wait until the clone disappeared before launching his attack, because by then, it might be too late. But without that disappearance, he wouldn't get a clear signal.
That's where the slug came in.
To an observer, it looked like Minato had appeared right as the clone vanished. In reality, he struck even earlier.
This swift and clean takedown of the Preta Pain was entirely the result of intelligence and timing. And his preparations for countering the Six Pains weren't done yet.
Now the surrounding Konoha shinobi began unleashing waves of powerful ninjutsu on the remaining five Paths.
Flames, lightning, wind, water. All manner of dazzling and deadly jutsu filled the sky in a coordinated bombardment.
Normally, the Preta Pain would have neutralized all of it, but with it now eliminated, these attacks posed a real threat.
Watching the incoming flood of jutsu, Nagato's brow furrowed deeply. There was no doubt about it, Konoha had seized control of the battle in just one exchange.
At this critical moment, he had no choice but to sacrifice a few pieces to protect the rest...
The Asura Pain and Human Pain each grabbed one of their allies, Animal Path and Naraka Pain and flung them backward out of the kill zone.
Nagato had Asura Pain throw the Hell Pain directly toward the area where the Preta Pain had fallen.
Then, as the ninjutsu onslaught neared, Nagato commanded Deva Pain to prepare for a Shinra Tensei…
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Currently on Chapter 589 - 10 Seconds