Time rewound back a bit.
When Pain was gathering pupil power to use Shinra Tensei, Black Zetsu, who was with Hiruko, immediately sensed it.
"Nagato left the Uchiha lands?"
Black Zetsu rejoiced and checked the direction, toward the Daimyo's office.
Without having time to speak to Hiruko, he slipped underground and headed straight for the Daimyo's office.
———
Pain's first appearance sent a tremendous shock through the entire shinobi world.
Before he ever used such a wide-range Shinra Tensei, no one knew he possessed such a deadly move.
Hiruzen's camp was flattened by him in one blow.
This place was close to the Daimyo's office; scouts from various countries were everywhere.
When something this huge happened, everyone hurried out to investigate.
But when the scouts saw the enormous crater, they were stunned, standing there like fools, staring at it.
So many of Hiruzen's men had been wiped clean, only a few remained near the edges.
All kinds of mangled corpses were mixed in with the debris that had been blasted outward.
You couldn't tell who was who anymore.
"How terrifying, what kind of secret jutsu is this?"
"Hiruzen is finished…"
"Who's this strong?"
The scouts' faces were pale with fear, and none dared approach.
Facing a calamity-like secret jutsu, everyone swallowed hard, cold sweat pouring.
Inside the Daimyo's office, Asuma received the news and rushed out toward the Sarutobi clan's lands.
From the piled sand and debris at the edge, a hand slathered in Nine-Tails chakra thrust out.
A battered figure crawled free.
Sarutobi Ishishu's clothes were in tatters; only the hilt of a blade remained in his hand, his pouch of tools was gone.
Taking in the ruined scene with a veteran's eyes, he stood there stunned.
He slowly turned his head and found Koharu Utatane's head and one-third of her body.
Not far from Koharu's corpse, Homura Mitokado lay folded into a V, prone among the ruins.
Bodies were bent backwards, organs spilling out.
Everywhere he looked were severed limbs and mangled corpses.
This encampment had been much smaller than Konoha; the destructive force was utterly different.
In the original timeline's Konoha, most corpses were almost whole.
Here, intact bodies were less than half.
At the center, Pain slowly descended to the ground. At that moment Minato and the others teleported back with Flying Thunder God.
Seeing such terrifying devastation at the scene, Minato, Kushina, and Tsunade were shaken, only Konan remained calm.
Konan approached Pain and looked at him expectantly.
That move had consumed a massive amount of chakra and pupil power.
If Nagato had used it while in a sickly state, the Deva Path would have been unusable for some time.
But Nagato's body had recovered, and that downtime was greatly shortened.
Pain shook his head slightly at Konan, indicating he was basically recovered.
"Hiruzen should now be able to feel pain," Pain said coldly.
Hiruzen's face was ashen, he looked as if he'd aged twenty years in an instant.
The once-robust veteran demeanor had vanished; he looked like a man at death's door.
Tsunade's face wore a vindictive smile, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! wonderful. Rengoku was right; this is killing someone's soul."
"Hiruzen is still alive, move!"
Tsunade waved her hand and a group rushed toward Hiruzen.
At that moment a figure appeared in the air nearby, Sarutobi Ryunosuke, using Nue's ability, had slipped into another dimension.
From that space he could watch the outside world.
Ryunosuke had seen the whole process; though he was shaken, he didn't freeze, he immediately returned and rushed to Hiruzen's side.
"Clan Head, get out of here!", Ryunosuke's voice snapped Hiruzen awake.
Startled, Hiruzen's eyes flared with massive grief and hatred, "Ryunosuke! Leave here! Take Asuma and Konohamaru with you!"
Sarutobi Ishishu drew closer and said, "Clan Head, you go! I'll cover the retreat."
Hiruzen's gaze flicked between Ryunosuke and Ishishu for a moment.
"Don't waste words! All of you, go!", he barked.
But it was clearly too late, Minato, the fastest shinobi in the world, had already blocked their escape.
Tsunade closed in from behind.
"None of you are leaving today!", she snarled.
"Hiruzen, like this gift? You wiped out my Senju clan, today I'll make the Sarutobi vanish from the shinobi world!"
"All that scheming for years, now the Sarutobi clan will be destroyed by your hands! HA! HA! HA! HA!"
Tsunade's words were like knives, cutting deep into Hiruzen's heart.
Hiruzen felt his heart bleed; his eyes were full of pain and despair.
"Tsunade! Even if I die, I won't let you go!"
Hiruzen shoved Ishishu and Ryunosuke aside.
"By my authority as clan Head, I order you to break through and leave!", he cried.
He then gripped his diamond staff and charged at Tsunade.
Sarutobi Ishishu burst with Nine-Tails chakra, gritted his teeth, and tried to leave the battlefield.
But Kushina darted forward, her Adamantine Sealing chains shot out and wrapped around Ishishu.
Ishishu drew his short blade and hacked, but could only cut a few of the chains.
The rest bound him into a tight bundle.
"ARGHHH!", Ishishu exerted all the Nine-Tails chakra he could, his red chakra cloak brilliant as blood.
But it was useless.
The Nine-Tails power he had struggled to obtain was suppressed by Kushina; he could not move.
"How could this be!"
Under the Adamantine Sealing, even as a Nine-Tails jinchuriki, he was like a toy.
Ishishu could not accept it, without Senku here, he had learned how to resist the Uchiha's Mangekyo, to no avail against a former Nine-Tails jinchuriki.
The Uzumaki clan specialized in sealing, Uzumaki Kushina.
No matter how Ishishu roared, he could not escape the fate of being bound by Adamantine seals.
Minato flashed beside Sarutobi Ryunosuke, but Ryunosuke's figure vanished at once.
In his place stood a monster with a monkey-like face, the body of a tanuki, tiger limbs, and a snake tail.
It was Nue.
Minato thrust a kunai at Nue's eye, but Nue merely shook its head and Minato's kunai slid off with a ting, skidding across the creature's scalp.
The next instant Minato felt his chakra being attracted and absorbed into the creature.
Frowning, he flashed twice to get out of its attack range.
Nue's body began to swell like a balloon.
Minato surveyed the battlefield, made a gesture to Konan, then vanished.
[T/N: New novel is up—🔥I Became a Character in Honkai: Star Rail🔥. Enjoy~]
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