Chapter 148: Battle Against the Six Paths of Pain
Nagato controlled the Six Paths of Pain by transmitting chakra signals through the black rods connected to their bodies.
If there had been only a single Path of Pain, Yuto likely would not have been able to determine Nagato's location.
After all, controlling one Path of Pain and controlling six at the same time were entirely different matters.
Simply put, controlling only one allowed a single chakra signal to be transmitted over a great distance.
However, controlling six simultaneously meant that if the distance was too great, the signals among the six bodies could become disordered.
This was precisely why Yuto could be certain that Pain was located somewhere around Kirigakure.
Seeing Yuto easily deal with the Asura Path, the remaining five Paths of Pain were clearly caught off guard.
"It seems we underestimated your strength," the Deva Path said calmly.
As soon as the Deva Path finished speaking, the remaining five charged toward Yuto simultaneously from the front.
Yuto revealed a faint smile and was just about to move when, behind him, the Asura Path—whose head had been blown apart halfway—suddenly stood back up.
In an instant, the Asura Path tightly restrained Yuto from behind, forming a circular prison with its arms locked in front of Yuto's chest.
Even after half its head was destroyed, it was still functional. How troublesome.
Yuto frowned slightly and sharply shook his shoulders.
The Asura Path, which was clinging tightly to him, suddenly felt an intense shockwave erupt from Yuto's body.
Its entire body seemed to suffer a devastating blow as countless shattered mechanical parts sprayed backward.
Even so, despite being reduced to a mangled state, the Asura Path still refused to release Yuto.
At the same time, the Human Path was the first to rush in front of Yuto, reaching out toward his forehead.
The Human Path possessed the ability to seize memories and souls, a bizarre power that acted directly on the soul and caused Yuto's eyebrow to twitch slightly.
Was it trying to extract information about Kirigakure from him?
Splash!
Adamantine Sealing Chains surged violently from Yuto's body, instantly snapping the two arms of the Asura Path that were holding him.
At the same time, the Human Path at the forefront was pierced straight through the chest by the chakra chains erupting from Yuto.
To prevent the Human Path from reviving like the Asura Path, a chakra chain wrapped around its neck and twisted violently.
The Human Path's head fell directly to the ground.
At the same moment, the Preta Path also charged in from the side.
The Preta Path reached out and grabbed the chakra chains flowing out from Yuto.
Its ability to absorb all chakra and ninjutsu activated instantly, and Yuto's chakra chains began to be drawn into its body.
"I am usually the one absorbing others. You are the first to dare absorb my chakra," Yuto said, showing interest rather than surprise.
With a thought, Yuto activated the Black Emperor's ability, and the chakra chains that had been absorbed suddenly halted.
Immediately after, the chakra chains were pulled back out of the Preta Path's body, drawing even the chakra within it into Yuto as well.
Unfortunately, the abilities of the Six Paths of Pain were not dependent on chakra, but were inherent powers of the Rinnegan itself.
Yuto's figure flickered slightly, and in the next instant he appeared in front of the Preta Path, driving his fist forcefully into its chest.
Boom!
With a dull explosion, a large hole was blasted through the Preta Path's chest, blood spraying everywhere.
Although it seemed like a long time had passed, the battle had only lasted a very short while, and three Paths of Pain had already been eliminated.
After effortlessly dealing with the Preta Path, Yuto did not pause at all and slightly bent his legs.
In the next moment, like a compressed spring, Yuto vanished from the spot, leaving behind only an afterimage.
The Deva Path and the Animal Path stood at the front, while the Naraka Path—possessing the power of revival—retreated to the rear and rapidly formed hand seals, clearly intending to resurrect the three that Yuto had killed.
Yuto's speed was extremely fast, and even under the observation of three pairs of Rinnegan, only a faint trace of his movement could be captured.
The Deva Path quickly stepped forward, extending its arm and spreading its palm toward Yuto.
Bansho Ten'in!
A terrifying gravitational force erupted from the Deva Path's palm.
A sharp gleam flashed in Yuto's eyes as he offered no resistance, allowing himself to be pulled toward the Deva Path.
When the Deva Path saw Yuto drawing closer, Bansho Ten'in abruptly ended, followed immediately by a repulsive force completely opposite to the earlier attraction.
Shinra Tensei!
Faced with the combined effects of attraction and repulsion, an ordinary ninja would likely be severely injured in an instant, or even lose their life outright.
Yet the Deva Path suddenly realized that Yuto, who had been pulled in by Bansho Ten'in, was not blasted away by Shinra Tensei, but instead continued charging straight toward him.
Attraction and repulsion had already surpassed the category of energy itself, and in a sense were a higher-order form of "force."
Pure attraction and repulsion could not be absorbed by the Black Emperor's ability.
However, being unable to absorb them did not mean Yuto had to be constrained by these forces.
For example, although Yuto could not absorb the repulsive force generated by Shinra Tensei, the rebound force produced when that repulsion collided with his body could be absorbed by the Black Emperor.
This was why the Deva Path found that Yuto was unaffected by Shinra Tensei.
Of course, within the range of that repulsive force, Yuto was not entirely unaffected, and his speed did decrease slightly.
Even so, this speed was still extremely fast from Pain's perspective.
With the momentum from the earlier attraction, combined with Shinra Tensei failing to produce the expected result, Nagato—who was controlling the Deva Path from afar—hesitated for a brief instant.
Taking advantage of that fleeting moment, Yuto easily bypassed the defensive line formed by the Deva Path and the Animal Path, appearing directly in front of the Naraka Path.
At that moment, the Naraka Path's hand seals were only halfway complete.
Splash! Splash!
The power of the Adamantine Sealing Chains shot out, instantly interrupting the hand seals and crushing the Naraka Path on the spot.
"I already told you, if your speed is too slow, do not form hand seals in front of me," Yuto said calmly.
After eliminating the Naraka Path with its revival ability, a relaxed expression appeared on Yuto's face.
He turned around with a smile and looked toward the Deva Path and the Animal Path, who were both staring back at him.
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