The instant the Fourth Raikage was blasted away, Ōnoki and Mei launched a coordinated attack. Dust Release struck first, followed immediately by Lava Release. Their timing was impeccable.
At their level, shinobi didn't need prior joint training to fight in perfect sync.
The Deva Path's abilities had a brief cooldown and couldn't be used continuously. Dust Release was incredibly fast, but it still wasn't instantaneous. Its startup was obvious.
Pain instantly flashed into the air to evade it, allowing the five Paths behind him to take the attacks head-on.
The Preta Path, standing in the center, suddenly raised both hands and activated Blocking Technique Absorption Seal, completely absorbing both the Tsuchikage's and Mizukage's techniques one after another.
Even though Lava Release was a Kekkei Genkai and Dust Release an even rarer Kekkei Tōta, they were still chakra-based ninjutsu. The Preta Path countered them perfectly and absorbed them with ease.
"It... it absorbed them?"
"That thing can nullify ninjutsu?"
Everyone who witnessed the scene—especially the ANBU from Iwagakure and Kirigakure—looked as though they'd seen a ghost. Their leaders' devastating bloodline techniques had vanished without even causing the slightest ripple.
Who had ever seen a technique that dealt with ninjutsu like that?
With the last trace of pity gone, Nagato no longer intended to give the great nations another chance.
He intended to seize this heaven-sent opportunity—when all Five Kage had gathered together, each accompanied by only ten ANBU bodyguards—to wipe out the leadership of all five great shinobi villages in one stroke and clear the way for the Akatsuki to take control of the shinobi world.
In the past, he might have thought his power wasn't enough.
But things were different now.
He possessed the full power of the One-Tail through the Seven-Tails, the vast majority of the Eight-Tails' chakra, and even a portion of the Nine-Tails' chakra.
Before, it had been his own life force sustaining the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Now, the Demonic Statue had awakened and could feed chakra back into him instead.
Nagato had never felt stronger.
He was a true god now.
And the destruction of the Five Great Shinobi Villages would begin with the Five Kage.
The bald Asura Path on the ground pulled a string of missiles from its wrist while mechanisms opened across its back and head, revealing an assortment of bizarre launchers, missile tubes, and cannon ports.
These weren't the chemical-powered firearms Makoto was familiar with. They were a fusion of chakra energy and machinery—a uniquely shinobi creation.
Meanwhile, the Animal Path rapidly formed hand seals and summoned a horde of bizarre creatures.
The sky and the ground alike were filled with summoned beasts of every imaginable shape and size.
Yet they all shared one thing in common.
Like the Six Paths of Pain, black chakra receivers protruded from their bodies, and each beast possessed a pair of Rinnegan.
That convinced everyone that Makoto's earlier deduction had been correct.
Those eyes were merely projections created by a technique.
Otherwise, were they seriously supposed to believe even dogs could awaken the Sage of Six Paths' eyes?
There was no room left for compromise.
The battle erupted instantly.
Everyone present today—aside from the Five Kage themselves—was an elite ANBU operative, the finest each village had to offer.
The samurai, who lacked the shinobi's endless bag of tricks, along with the few members of Takigakure, who weren't elite fighters to begin with, immediately sensed how dangerous the situation had become. Quietly, they withdrew behind Konoha's forces, allowing the shinobi of the Five Great Villages to stand on the front line.
The Asura Path and the summoned Giant Drill-Beaked Bird opened the battle with a devastating saturation bombardment against the gathered forces.
Even so, they failed to break through the numerous defensive ninjutsu raised by the shinobi.
Once the explosions subsided, the two sides crashed into close combat.
The shinobi held an overwhelming numerical advantage.
The battle to overwhelm their opponent had begun.
The Deva Path, Asura Path, and Animal Path served as the primary combat force, spreading out across the front.
The Human Path and Preta Path provided support, while the Naraka Path remained protected at the center.
Together with the numerous summoned beasts guarding the perimeter—and all of them sharing the same field of vision—they formed a perfectly coordinated fighting unit.
The moment the battle began, that formation demonstrated terrifying offensive and defensive capabilities. The Six Paths of Pain's strange assortment of techniques immediately created enormous problems for the ANBU from the four villages charging forward.
The summoned Giant Drill-Beaked Bird seemed capable of laying an endless supply of eggs. Circling high overhead at tremendous speed, it relentlessly bombarded the battlefield.
The stone panda possessed incredible defensive power, roaming the outskirts and drawing enemy attacks.
The giant crab simultaneously cleansed harmful effects from various ninjutsu with its bubbles while retaliating with offensive Water Release techniques.
The Hellhound split into multiple bodies.
The more it was attacked, the more of it there were.
The giant bull charged recklessly across the battlefield with overwhelming strength, forcing shinobi to scatter wherever it passed.
The chameleon's invisibility wasn't particularly useful in a battle this chaotic, but every so often it would lash out with its tongue, snaring a shinobi and creating openings for its allies' attacks while also using its massive body as a living shield.
The giant centipede tunneled beneath the earth, repeatedly bursting through the ground to launch surprise attacks.
After exhausting the weapons stored within its body, the Asura Path switched to firing lasers from its head and using the long serrated blades concealed within its frame to eliminate targets with surgical precision.
And even if someone managed to force their way inside the formation...
There was still the Human Path's soul extraction.
The Preta Path's chakra absorption...
Even though everyone present was an elite shinobi, Pain's seamless, unified battle tactics threw them into complete disarray. Not only were they unable to break through the formation, but people were being struck down one after another, and casualties quickly began to mount.
They had to separate them.
The Earth Release users coordinated with Iwagakure's ANBU, unleashing one Earth Release technique after another. Soon, earthen walls rose everywhere across the battlefield, the terrain became uneven, and patches of mud swamps appeared throughout the area.
With the battlefield divided, the Six Paths of Pain and their summoned beasts were split apart, and the tide of battle quickly turned.
At that point, aside from the Tsuchikage and Raikage, who were still locked in combat with the Deva Path, Mei and Rasa also entered the fray after gaining a clear understanding of the enemy's abilities.
On Konoha's side, the ANBU had remained by the Hokage's side the entire time.
But regardless of the circumstances, everyone was fighting together now. The Akatsuki were the shared enemy of the shinobi world. Letting the other four great villages witness the Akatsuki's terrifying strength was enough—they couldn't simply leave them to fight alone.
Konoha would stand alongside them.
And at the same time, it would demonstrate overwhelming power.
Minato raised a hand and ordered all of Konoha's forces into battle.
With Konoha's ANBU joining the fight, the remaining five Paths of Pain were routed almost instantly. Konoha's ANBU were clearly on an entirely different level from those of the other four great villages.
Most importantly, half of the ten ANBU who had accompanied them entered Sage Mode the moment they joined the battle.
Every ninjutsu they used was enhanced with senjutsu.
The Preta Path couldn't absorb it.
Yamato rapidly formed hand seals before slamming both palms onto the ground.
Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees!
Having mastered Sage Mode, Yamato was incomparably stronger than the overworked version from Sasuke's world. He was widely known as Konoha's Little Hashirama.
As the battlefield continued to expand, countless massive trees burst from the earth, binding one summoned beast after another—especially the Giant Multi-Headed Dog, which had already multiplied into an entire pack.
Then Itachi activated the skeletal form of Susanoo and charged through the battlefield, systematically eliminating each target.
The Giant Multi-Headed Dog couldn't withstand attacks infused with white natural energy and was destroyed before it even had the chance to split again.
The giant centipede hiding underground was simply too large. The surging Wood Release forced it straight out of the earth.
The Giant Drill-Beaked Bird soaring overhead managed to avoid the grasping trees, only to be caught by the combined sand waves of Rasa and Gaara. It struggled desperately to break free.
Itachi immediately expanded Susanoo into its Fourth Form.
The chakra giant grew legs, its height skyrocketing until it towered over the battlefield like a titan holding up the heavens.
Its enormous size made weapons unnecessary.
With a single outstretched hand, it crushed both the Giant Drill-Beaked Bird and the surrounding sand wave into pieces.
The remaining five Paths and the rest of the summoned beasts were likewise torn apart by the swarm of shinobi rushing in from all sides.
Only then did everyone realize something.
The combat strength of those two Konoha ANBU seemed absurdly overpowered.
Neither Makoto nor Minato had even made a move, yet the entire battlefield had already been pacified in the blink of an eye.
Compared to the Six Paths of Pain, the terrifying Wood Release and the godlike giant Susanoo looked far more like the power of actual gods.
The four Kage stood there in stunned silence.
They had known Konoha was powerful.
But this...
This was far beyond anything they had imagined.
The strength of two ordinary ANBU alone already rivaled that of a Kage.
Besides Higashino Makoto and the Fourth Hokage...
Just how many monsters like this still existed within Konoha?
Watching everything unfold before him, Ōnoki felt as though he were witnessing the rebirth of both Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.
If those two had truly fought side by side back then...
This was probably exactly what it would have looked like.
Taking advantage of the brief moment when the Tsuchikage and Raikage paused their assault, the Deva Path broke free of their pursuit and shot straight toward Killer B.
His priority now was to capture the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki first.
But just as he closed in on his target—
A flash of steel from a kunai filled his vision.
An instant later, a yellow figure appeared before him and slammed a ninjutsu directly into his face.
Senjutsu: Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!
The violent Wind Release shredded the Deva Path's upper garments into tatters, exposing a body covered in black chakra receivers.
Even if he was only a corpse puppet, once struck by a technique infused with natural energy, he would become nothing more than an uncontrollable piece of junk.
Pain reacted with incredible speed.
At the very last instant, he activated Shinra Tensei, blasting Minato away while simultaneously propelling himself high into the sky.
The battlefield, which had been raging moments earlier, suddenly fell silent.
Hovering above everyone, his clothes in tatters, Pain paid no attention whatsoever to the destruction of the other five Paths or the summoned beasts.
Those were all replaceable tools.
The only Path he truly cared about was the Deva Path.
Because it had been created from the body of his best friend, Yahiko.
What truly surprised him was Konoha's strength.
It had exceeded every expectation.
To the Akatsuki's plan, Konoha's threat level had instantly reached the absolute maximum.
By comparison, the other four great shinobi villages had performed exactly as expected.
He didn't consider them worth worrying about.
But a god would never lose.
For the sake of his friend's dream...
For the sake of everlasting peace...
The core forces of the Five Great Shinobi Villages had to die here today.
He no longer even cared about the tiny amount of Eight-Tails chakra that remained.
Anyone who stood in a god's path...
Was beyond forgiveness.
Pain slowly ascended higher into the sky, gathering the greatest amount of chakra he could muster as he quietly recited his declaration of pain.
"Feel pain.
Think about pain.
Accept pain.
Know pain.
Those who do not know pain can never understand true peace."
Super Shinra Tensei.