Chapter 173: The Utter Defeat of the Six Paths of Pain
The Susanoo, nearly a hundred meters tall, rose from the ground, blocking all the attacks released by the Six Paths of Pain, then reached out to catch the two Jinchuriki falling from high above.
Originally, he thought he could watch the performance of this coup as a spectator today. However, Pain's appearance made it completely impossible for him to remain an outsider.
"Konoha's Fifth Hokage... Uchiha Douhuan." Deva Path Pain hovered in mid-air, looking from afar at Uchiha Douhuan within the head space of the 100-meter tall Susanoo.
"You terrorists, is Kirigakure your target this time?" Uchiha Douhuan began, immediately slapping a big label on Pain. "And listening to you, it seems you've also set your sights on our Konoha's Nine-Tails?"
"The Tailed Beasts in the hands of you great nations only bring endless suffering to this world. I collect Tailed Beasts to make you great nations also experience the pain of war, so that you will cherish the hard-won peace," Deva Path Pain stated coldly.
"Well said, but aren't you just planning terrorist attacks?" Uchiha Douhuan retorted. "Konoha, as a responsible major ninja village in the ninja world, will absolutely not stand by and watch your conspiracies unfold. Today, all your schemes end here."
"You great nations always speak such pompous words, then inflict the pain of war upon us small countries." Nagato, in hiding, was also angered by Uchiha Douhuan's words and controlled the Deva Path to raise its hand.
"Shinra Tensei!"
An immense repulsive force bombarded Uchiha Douhuan's Susanoo. The Complete Body Susanoo didn't budge an inch, but a few cracks appeared on its surface. Uchiha Douhuan raised an eyebrow. The Susanoo drew the divine weapon at its waist, Futsu-no-mitama, and swung it through the air.
With a roar, violent lightning descended from the sky, the intense light illuminating the night of Kirigakure as if it were daytime.
Facing this majestic heavenly might, the few surviving Kirigakure ninjas not far away once again recalled the fear Uchiha Douhuan had brought them during the Third Great Ninja War.
The lightning now was countless times more powerful than it was back then.
However, facing this lightning that made one shudder just by looking at it, Preta Path Pain simply raised its hand upwards, using its chakra absorption ability.
The lightning from the sky was guided into its palm and soon dissipated into the air. The sky became calm once more.
Seeing this scene, a few Kirigakure ninjas who harbored a skin-deep hatred for Uchiha Douhuan couldn't help but cheer loudly, "Whoever you are! Can you kill this demon!"
However, the next second, a Konoha ninja's baton directly smashed into his waist, delivering a Konoha-special osteopathy package. It wasn't hard to see from this technique that this elite Jounin was from the Security Department.
"Konoha's Azure Thunder Douhuan? Merely so-so," Deva Path Pain, unharmed under the Preta Path's protection, stated faintly.
"Is that so?" Uchiha Douhuan said with a half-smile. "You can absorb chakra, but the power within this naturally formed lightning won't just disappear into thin air."
The next instant, Preta Path Pain, having absorbed almost all the lightning from the sky, exploded violently, shattering into pieces on the ground.
"So they're puppets," Uchiha Douhuan watched this scene coldly. "Then what about the others? Puppets too?"
Having suffered a hidden loss in the initial exchange, and with Uchiha Douhuan having guessed some clues about his abilities, Nagato felt his mouth twitch. He controlled Deva Path Pain to say, "Very good. Daring to offend the majesty of a god. I just wonder if you are prepared to endure a god's wrath."
Naraka Path Pain summoned the King of Hell. The King of Hell, bursting forth from the ground, opened its massive mouth and sucked in the scattered parts of the Preta Path. Before long, the Preta Path puppet, resurrected through the King of Hell's Samsara of Life and Death technique, stood beside Deva Path Pain once more.
"There's even a puppet that can repair other puppets?" Uchiha Douhuan glanced around, using the powerful sensory perception of Sage Mode to search for Nagato's real body. After a moment of finding nothing, Uchiha Douhuan raised an eyebrow slightly. "The main body is hidden quite well. Well then, I'll play with these troublesome little toys of yours for a while. Even I'm not sure how strong I am right now. That was just a warm-up. I hope you, who calls yourself a god, can entertain me to my heart's content."
"After all, my Jirai has yet to taste the blood of a god!"
The hundred-meter-tall Susanoo suddenly dissipated. Uchiha Douhuan's figure transformed into a flash of lightning, charging towards the Six Paths of Pain. The Hokage robes embroidered with 'Fifth Hokage' billowed valiantly. Jirai at his waist was already unsheathed. The soft hum of Jirai and the crackling thunder in the sky formed a death sonata from hell.
The descending lightning and Uchiha Douhuan seemed to descend simultaneously like a force capable of cleaving the long night. The Six Paths of Pain scattered to dodge this terrifyingly powerful blow.
Soil and building fragments flew. Uchiha Douhuan stepped on the charred wreckage, his Mangekyou reflecting the six hovering figures.
The lightning coiling around his right hand suddenly surged. A dragon's roar tore through the凝固 (nínggù - solidified/congealed) air. "Lightning Release: Azure Dragon!"
The viscous lightning around Uchiha Douhuan transformed into six roaring thunder dragons, each targeting one of the Six Paths of Pain.
"Shinra Tensei!" Deva Path Pain, facing this ferocious offensive, could only raise its hand, intending to first repel Uchiha Douhuan.
However, before Deva Path Pain's repulsive field could fully expand, Douhuan's figure had already appeared behind the Asura Path. The lightning-infused ninja sword sliced through the mechanically modified body. Amidst exploding sparks, the twelve tracking missiles that the Animal Path had loaded before being cut in two were suddenly launched from the bisected Asura Path's back.
The tomoe in Uchiha Douhuan's pupils spun rapidly. He leaped towards a broken wall forty-five degrees to his right just before being locked onto by the missiles. Simultaneously, the Azure Dragon roaring towards the Asura Path opened its massive mouth and swallowed all the missiles in one go.
An explosion sounded. The thunder dragon, having completed its task, dissipated into arcs of electricity showering the ground. Uchiha Douhuan's figure flickered within the arcs, appearing before the Animal Path in almost the blink of an eye.
His left hand formed the Tiger seal. Azure lightning wove into an electric net amidst the ruins, enveloping the summoning beasts called forth by the Animal Path. The moment the Animal Path's summons touched the electric net, they were stuck fast. High-voltage current passed through their bodies. But before they could even let out a mournful cry, a roaring Azure Dragon devoured them along with their master.
At this moment, the Naraka Path's King of Hell's giant mouth rose from beneath the ground. But Uchiha Douhuan seemed to have anticipated it, retreating seven steps. The Naraka Path's massive mouth shot skyward, almost brushing against Uchiha Douhuan's nose tip, but this attack only managed to ruffle the hair on Uchiha Douhuan's forehead.
Subsequently, Uchiha Douhuan clasped his hands together. The dark night sky suddenly brightened. Within the thunderclouds, the faintly visible treasured form of Acalanātha appeared, majestic and serene.
"Lightning Release: Acalanātha!" The vajra descending from the sky directly pinned the King of Hell statue in place. It was then bombarded into rubble by a subsequently arriving Azure Dragon.
"Bansho Ten'in!" Nagato, seeing this, could only convert the repulsive force in the field to attractive force, wanting to pull Uchiha Douhuan closer. Simultaneously, the Human Path, skilled in close combat, and the just-repaired Preta Path stood ready, planning to surround and attack Uchiha Douhuan once he was close, to buy time for the Naraka Path to repair the two damaged puppets.
The powerful suction began to tug at Uchiha Douhuan's Hokage robes. However, Uchiha Douhuan turned back, grinned at the Deva Path, and used the gravitational pull to accelerate his advance. His Mangekyou Sharingan, flowing with golden light, met Deva Path Pain's Rinnegan in a mid-air gaze. The Jirai in his hand twirled with a flourish.
Clink! The sound of metal clashing rang out repeatedly. In just a few breaths, Uchiha Douhuan exchanged several blows with the Human Path and Preta Path, who wielded kunai. Each of Uchiha Douhuan's slashes accurately cut their kunai in half. The standard-issue kunai on the two puppets were no different from tofu before Jirai.
However, Uchiha Douhuan merely snapped their kunai, then sheathed his sword and changed tactics. Uchiha Douhuan danced gracefully amidst their attacks, like an old man toying with naughty children. The kunai on the two puppets were consumed one by one, yet they couldn't even touch the corner of Uchiha Douhuan's robe. At the same time, Uchiha Douhuan drew closer and closer to the Deva Path.
"You, who possess the legendary Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths, call yourself a god. But can a god's eyes see through the future?" The next instant, Uchiha Douhuan appeared behind the Deva Path. Deva Path Pain didn't even have time to turn around before being slashed in half by Uchiha Douhuan.
After the Deva Path fell, a sealing formula suddenly enveloped Douhuan's entire body. The Preta Path fearlessly clung to Uchiha Douhuan and began absorbing Uchiha Douhuan's chakra.
Uchiha Douhuan stood still, allowing the Preta Path to guzzle his chakra. However, before long, the Preta Path's body began to transform into stone.
"One shouldn't randomly absorb others' chakra, little greedy cat." Uchiha Douhuan exerted slight force, and the petrified arms of the Preta Path clamping Uchiha Douhuan's body shattered with a sound.
Uchiha Douhuan, regaining his freedom, stretched his body. Just then, the last Human Path puppet quietly slipped behind him, stabbing towards him with a kunai. But Uchiha Douhuan seemed not to see it.
However, just as the Human Path's kunai was about to pierce Uchiha Douhuan, three roaring Azure Dragons intercepted and directly devoured it.
After Uchiha Douhuan performed a chiburi (blood flick) with his wrist guard, he sheathed Jirai, then turned to look at Naraka Path Pain, who was still strenuously repairing the first-destroyed Asura Path puppet.
"A pity, these are all just puppets," Uchiha Douhuan chuckled lightly, leisurely strolling towards the Naraka Path, which was immobile while maintaining the King of Hell's Samsara of Life and Death technique. "Otherwise, I could have verified a question: whether gods truly bleed."
Uchiha Douhuan's unhurried footsteps were exceptionally clear under the night sky. Nagato, in hiding, watching him through the Rinnegan, felt his hand-sealing hands tremble slightly. Cold sweat, unnoticed, had already beaded on his gaunt cheeks and forehead.
Uchiha Douhuan's face bore a warm smile. The perennial bloody mist of Kirigakure had been dispersed by the lightning from the battle just now. The westward-tilting moonlight, unseen for a long time, now灑 (sǎ - sprinkled/bathed) this land. The silver patterns on Uchiha Douhuan's face in Sage Mode gleamed under this moonlight. In Nagato's eyes at this moment, Uchiha Douhuan seemed more like that deity from the highest heavens.
"Mr. God, can you tell me, do you know Jiraiya?" Uchiha Douhuan came before the Naraka Path and asked softly.
"Jiraiya..." Nagato, in hiding, heard this name, and his mind wavered.
After all, he had eaten too much bitterness in his life. The only happy times were those spent learning ninjutsu under Teacher Jiraiya.
"According to the intelligence I have, Jiraiya once taught three children in the Land of Rain. One of them possessed a pair of Rinnegan, said to belong only to the legendary Sage of Six Paths. However, the Rinnegan in the intelligence belonged to a child of the Uzumaki clan. He seemed to be called... Uzumaki Nagato, correct?"
The Naraka Path remained silent, merely exerting all its effort to repair the damaged puppets. Simultaneously, it controlled the King of Hell statue to collect the remains of the Deva, Human, and Preta Paths.
However, Uchiha Douhuan let the other party make their petty moves. After a moment, he chuckled lightly and said, "No need to waste your effort. These puppets of yours, if I can dismantle them once, I can naturally dismantle them a second time."
"You always say that we great nations always inflict the pain of war upon small countries like yours. But, don't forget, in war, no one can remain unscathed. Under the dark clouds of war, great nations also have their great pains."
Uchiha Douhuan recited the same words Tsunade had spoken during the destruction of Konoha in the original timeline. But the difference was, Tsunade back then was powerless against the Six Paths of Pain, while Uchiha Douhuan could suppress the opponent as easily as flipping his hand.
Nagato was infuriated by Uchiha Douhuan's words, but in the current situation, he could do nothing.
"There are no happy people in war. However, as Hokage, my duty is to ensure that pain does not fall upon Konoha. Therefore, do not attempt to test my limits," Uchiha Douhuan stared intently at the other's Rinnegan and said, word by word.
The Naraka Path still maintained its silence. Uchiha Douhuan wasn't annoyed either. After passing the Naraka Path, he came before the King of Hell statue and lightly tapped the statue, which was currently at full power repairing the other five puppets.
Uchiha Douhuan's back was thus presented before the Naraka Path. The five gilded characters for 'Fifth Hokage' on his back were exceptionally striking. Although the Naraka Path could attack him with a reach of its hand, Nagato hesitated.
The power Uchiha Douhuan displayed in the battle just now, showing everything was under control, instilled a slight sense of fear in Nagato, who usually regarded himself as a god.
"For Jiraiya's sake, after repairing your puppets, you may leave," Uchiha Douhuan turned and said to the Naraka Path.
Nagato, in hiding, showed a trace of astonishment on his face.
"However, Jiraiya's face will only grant you this one use. Understand?"
(End of Chapter)
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you