Jiraiya and the others had been tangled up with the new Six Paths for quite some time, and they had been on the back foot the whole way.
The new Six Paths really were strong. The four jinchūriki could partially transform into their Tailed Beast forms, and the Bijū chakura (Tailed Beast chakra) they unleashed was terrifying. Yagura and Pakura were also throwing out lethal attacks nonstop, making them almost impossible to guard against.
Even Gamabunta, the big toad, had taken an accidental hit and had no choice but to dispel his Kuchiyose (summoning) and return.
Fortunately, Jiraiya and his group were all veteran, battle-hardened shinobi. They were not so easy to defeat.
Even in such a difficult situation, they still managed to hold on.
But this could not go on forever. At this rate, Jiraiya's broken leg really might end up needing amputation.
Just then—bang!
A massive shadow suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and it came with a heart-rending scream. It was the Gedō Mazō (Demonic Statue of the Outer Path) that had been reverse-summoned earlier. It had actually come back.
And the Gedō Mazō looked miserable—it was missing a leg.
Oh, wait, that leg had come back too!
Jiraiya immediately locked onto his target. He quickly linked chakra threads to his teammates and plucked them to send Morse code: "Everyone, we probably can't beat them as we are. Sealing the Gedō Mazō or killing Obito is unrealistic, but that severed leg… we might be able to seal it and take it with us!"
Shino understood right away. "Gedō Mazō needs its body to be whole to fuse into the Jūbi (Ten-Tails). If it's missing a leg, that changes everything."
Samui said, "Then we'll handle the distraction. Jiraiya-sama, you go seal that leg!"
Everyone came to an agreement and sprang into action.
Obito, meanwhile, was still a bit dazed. He could not figure out how the Gedō Mazō could have gone away for such a short while and then come back missing a leg. What in the world had it run into?
Even if it had encountered Hashirama revived, it should not have ended up like this, right?
Just then, Obito noticed Jiraiya's group suddenly launching a full-out assault. He instantly realized they were going to gamble everything on one play, trying to destroy or seal Gedō Mazō.
There was no way he was going to let them succeed.
Akatsuchi slammed both fists into the ground. "Doton: Ganbashira (Earth Style: Rock Pillars)!"
Bang! The earth suddenly heaved up into massive stone pillars, thrusting the new Six Paths into the air.
Shino promptly released a vast army of insects, sending them swarming over everything, while Konan ruthlessly scattered a storm of explosive tags and detonated them. As long as the enemy died, it did not matter if it was death by a thousand poisons.
Samui charged in at the front, her short blade dancing.
Jiraiya followed close behind her, both hands busy preparing a sealing jutsu. That leg was not just any leg. He had to seal it properly.
Obito quickly understood the six-man team's plan. "You want to take that leg? Don't even think about it! Six Paths, stop them with everything you've got!"
"Hi Nezumi Dama (Fire Mouse Orbs)!" Yugito spat out mouse-shaped blue flames.
"Yōton: Shaku Karyūgan no Jutsu (Lava Release: Scorching River of Flowing Rock Technique)!" Rōshi spewed magma spheres like crazy.
"Futton: Kairiki Musō (Boil Release: Peerless Might)!" Han exploded with a shockwave of steam.
"Kyōsan Gasu (Strong Acid Gas)!" Utakata exhaled a cloud of corrosive mist.
"Suiton: Teppōdama (Water Style: Water Bullet)!"
"Kajōsatsu (Oversteam Kill)!"
Faced with the overpowering counterattack from the new Six Paths, Shino, Akatsuchi, and Konan struggled desperately to hold out. They even got themselves injured when they slipped up, but all of them endured it.
Samui was even more reckless. She actually met the charging Han head-on and was sent flying on the spot by the Five-Tails jinchūriki.
Thanks to everyone's efforts, Jiraiya finally managed to reach the severed leg of the Gedō Mazō. Without a moment's hesitation, he unfurled his scroll and began the sealing process.
But Pakura had already arrived. Her kunai stabbed toward him, though what she really intended to unleash was Kajōsatsu.
For a moment, Jiraiya was trapped in a dilemma. He did not want to interrupt the sealing, or everyone's efforts would be wasted. But if he continued, he would almost certainly be turned into a dried-out corpse by Kajōsatsu.
What a hassle.
At that very moment, three figures suddenly flashed into existence behind him. One of them snapped a kick into Pakura's body, sending her flying like an arrow loosed from a bow, and half her body was blown away in the impact.
"Speed is power. Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
That familiar voice made everyone light up with joy.
Shino could not hold back his delight. "Natsuki! You're here!"
Samui, Akatsuchi, and Konan all broke into smiles as well. "Reinforcements! This is great!"
Jiraiya was happy too, but he did not stop his sealing work. Fortunately, it did not take much longer. He successfully sealed the Gedō Mazō's severed leg into the scroll and finally let out a long sigh of relief.
He had really thought he was going to die just now.
Onoki and Mei took in the battlefield with a glance, then immediately locked onto the one-legged Gedō Mazō and Obito.
Mei said, "So that's the Gedō Mazō. It really did lose a leg. Jiraiya-sama made a decisive call. I'm guessing he couldn't deal with Gedō Mazō head-on, so he gambled everything on sealing the leg. It's not a bad choice."
Onoki's expression was far from pleasant. "Rōshi, Han… those two idiots."
Those two had once been Iwagakure's jinchūriki. One had gone wandering outside the village and been captured, the other had been hidden deep in the village and still got taken. Onoki had been furious back then.
He had not expected that their Edo Tensei bodies would end up being turned into new Six Paths and used as enemy weapons.
"Natsuki, Jiraiya-sama, Shino, you're all right?" Natsuki asked, though he could already see for himself that they were fine. It felt like a pointless question.
"Barely." Jiraiya wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "You really showed up at just the right time. Thanks to your help, I managed to seal the Gedō Mazō's leg—though I still don't know how it got broken in the first place."
Natsuki blinked. "Oh. I broke it."
Oh, so it was y—nani?! Say that again!
How did this end up being your doing?!
Natsuki could not be bothered to explain. He locked onto the Gedō Mazō and smiled.
Gedō Mazō also sensed Natsuki's arrival. Thinking of the hatred over its severed leg, it let out a roar of pain and terror, as if it wanted nothing more than to kill Natsuki on the spot to vent its rage.
Onoki cracked his knuckles. "Gedō Mazō and Obito are both here. We wipe them out in one go, and then there doesn't need to be any kind of Shinobi World War."
Mei nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Kirigakure has only just recovered. We have no desire for a great war right now. So those two can go die for us."
Natsuki immediately hurled a marked kunai at the Gedō Mazō. Once the kunai reached a point near the statue, he flashed over in an instant.
Onoki and Mei still had their hands resting on Natsuki's shoulders, so they came along with him in the same shunshin.
"Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu (Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique)!" Onoki unleashed a terrifying column of white light.
"Yōton: Yōkai no Jutsu (Lava Release: Melting Monster Technique)!" Mei opened her mouth and spewed a stream of highly corrosive acid straight at the Gedō Mazō.
"Like hell you will!"
Obito panicked.
He knew how terrifying Onoki's Dust Release was. It could disintegrate anything down to its atoms. While his own Rinnegan techniques could withstand it, Gedō Mazō could not.
Worse, he was not even close to Gedō Mazō right now.
"Damn it! Kamui (Divine Authority)!"
He chose to use Kamui, violently twisting space and dragging Onoki's Dust Release into his pocket dimension.
(End of Chapter)
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