Nagato's method of controlling the Six Paths of Pain was, of course, to transmit chakra signals through the black rods embedded in their bodies.
If there had only been a single Path of Pain, Yuto might not actually have been able to determine Nagato's location.
After all, controlling one Path and controlling all six were two entirely different things.
Put simply, if Nagato were only controlling one body, the single chakra signal could be maintained over a very long distance.
But when controlling all six at once, if the distance grew too great, the signals among the six bodies could easily become chaotic.
That was why Yuto could be so sure that Pain's real body was somewhere in the vicinity of the Mist Village.
Seeing Yuto casually take out the Asura Path, the other five Paths were clearly a little taken aback.
"Seems we underestimated your strength," the Deva Path said calmly.
As soon as he spoke, the remaining five charged toward Yuto all at once.
Yuto's lips curled into a faint smile as he was about to move, when suddenly, behind him, the Asura Path—whose head had previously been half blown apart—abruptly stood up again.
In an instant, the Asura Path grabbed Yuto from behind in a bear hug, both arms locking firmly around Yuto's chest like an iron cage.
"Even getting half your head blown off doesn't put you down, huh? Annoying," Yuto muttered, frowning as he suddenly shook his shoulders.
The Asura Path, clamped tightly around him, suddenly felt a tremendous impact explode from Yuto's body.
It was as if a powerful shockwave had slammed into him; countless shattered components flew from the Asura Path's body, scattering backward like broken machine parts.
But even with his body reduced to such a wreck, the Asura Path still clung to Yuto with stubborn tenacity.
At the same time, the Human Path was the first of the remaining five to rush up in front of Yuto, stretching out his hand and reaching for Yuto's forehead.
The Human Path possessed the ability to seize memories and souls. This eerie power, which acted directly upon the spirit, made Yuto raise an eyebrow slightly.
Trying to use me to steal the Mist Village's secrets, huh?
Splurt.
The Kongō Fūsa (Adamantine Sealing Chains) erupted from within Yuto's body, instantly snapping both of the Asura Path's arms that were clamped around him.
At the same time, the Human Path, who'd been charging at the front, had his chest pierced clean through by the chakra chains bursting out of Yuto.
To prevent the Human Path from getting back up again like the Asura Path, one of the chakra chains coiled around his neck and gave a savage twist.
The Human Path's head dropped to the ground.
Meanwhile, the Preta Path had already lunged into range.
He thrust out his hand and grabbed directly at the chakra chains surging from Yuto.
The Preta Path's ability to absorb every kind of chakra and ninjutsu activated in an instant, and Yuto's chains began to be sucked into his body.
"Usually I'm the one doing the absorbing. You're the first person who's ever tried to absorb my chakra," Yuto said.
Instead of surprise, an intrigued look crossed his face.
With just a thought, Yuto activated the ability of Black King.
The chakra chains that had been sucked into the Preta Path's body suddenly halted.
Then, not only were the chains pulled straight back out of him, but even the chakra within the Preta Path's body was dragged out and devoured by Yuto.
Unfortunately, the Six Paths of Pain's abilities weren't actually tied to their chakra. They came from the Rinnegan itself.
Yuto's body blurred, and in the next instant he was already standing right in front of the Preta Path. He drove his fist straight into the other's chest.
Boom.
With a dull bang, a massive hole burst open in the Preta Path's torso, blood spraying everywhere.
It looked like a lot had happened, but from the start of the fight until now, hardly any time had passed at all.
After taking down the Preta Path with ease, Yuto didn't slow down in the slightest. He bent his legs slightly—
And then, like a compressed spring snapping free, he vanished from his spot in a blur.
Of the remaining Paths, the Deva and Animal Paths stood at the front, while the Hell Path, who possessed the power to revive the others, was at the back, hands flying through seals. Clearly, he intended to bring the three bodies Yuto had just destroyed back to life.
Yuto was blindingly fast, but even so, the three pairs of Rinnegan managed to catch a faint trace of his movement.
The Deva Path stepped forward sharply, thrusting out his arm and opening his palm toward Yuto.
Banshō Ten'in (Universal Pull).
A terrifying attraction burst from the Deva Path's hand.
A sharp light flashed in Yuto's eyes. He didn't resist at all, allowing the pull to drag him straight toward the Deva Path.
As Yuto was drawn closer and closer, the Deva Path suddenly cut off Banshō Ten'in (Universal Pull). In the next moment, a repulsive force completely opposite to that pull exploded outward from his body.
Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push).
Faced with the combined use of attraction and repulsion, an ordinary shinobi would have been seriously injured in an instant—if not killed outright.
But to the Deva Path's shock, Yuto, who had just been dragged toward him by Banshō Ten'in (Universal Pull), was not blown away by Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push). Instead, he continued surging straight at him.
Attraction and repulsion, in essence, were forces that transcended simple "energy." In certain ways, they were a higher category of power than chakra itself.
Pure attraction and repulsion were beyond Black King's ability to absorb.
But just because he couldn't absorb them didn't mean Yuto had to be constrained by those forces.
For example, the repulsive force from Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push) couldn't be absorbed directly—but the recoil produced when that repulsive force slammed into Yuto's body could be absorbed by Black King.
That was why, from the Deva Path's perspective, Yuto looked completely unaffected by Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push).
Of course, within the radius of that repulsive blast, even if Yuto wasn't heavily impacted, his speed still dropped slightly.
But even a reduced speed was still incredibly fast from Pain's point of view.
Using the momentum from the earlier pull, combined with the fact that Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push) had failed to achieve the effect the Deva Path had expected, Yuto closed in.
Back in the distance, Nagato, controlling the Deva Path, froze for just an instant.
Taking advantage of that single heartbeat of distraction, Yuto slipped right past the defensive line formed by the Deva and Animal Paths and appeared in front of the Hell Path.
At that moment, the Hell Path's hand seals were only halfway complete.
Splurt! Splurt!
The power of Kongō Fūsa (Adamantine Sealing Chains) shot out, not only disrupting the Hell Path's jutsu, but crushing him to pieces in an instant.
"I told you, if you're too slow, you really shouldn't be forming hand seals in front of me," Yuto said.
Having eliminated the Hell Path, who possessed the power of resurrection, Yuto looked completely at ease.
He turned around with a bright smile and met the gazes of the Deva and Animal Paths as they stared back at him.
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