Chapter 85: Just Get It Done
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Swish!
At the critical moment, the six figures used Body Flicker to vanish from their positions, causing the explosive tags to miss their mark.
Genjutsu? When did he cast it?
Thoughts flashed like lightning through Pain's mind. Was all that talk earlier just a ruse to lead my line of sight?
Sizzle!
In an instant, the chakra disruption from the black receivers inside the bodies disturbed the flow of their chakra, breaking Tonbo Tobitake's illusion.
What a powerful Genjutsu.
"Where are the others?" Pain frowned, seeing only Tonbo remaining. The other three had already vanished.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
At the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain.
In the sky, a black-and-white ink bird carried the team toward Konoha.
"Those guys are terrifying!" Murakumo said, still feeling a lingering fear.
Just moments ago, after receiving the Captain's signal, they had slipped away under his cover. Using his secret technique, they were now soaring through the sky, out of the enemy's line of sight. But even those few glimpses of the enemy had left him with a crushing sense of oppression, as if they were facing an invincible force.
"Who were they? Those eyes with the concentric circles... is that some kind of Bloodline Limit?" Mibu Shinobu asked.
He was determined not to fail his teacher's expectations; they had to get this intel back. Drawing on his years of experience as a ninja, he too felt the immense pressure. Those individuals were anything but ordinary.
Enkui spoke up: "Likely so. Regardless, we must return to Konoha as quickly as possible. I don't know how long the Captain can stall them."
He didn't hold much hope for Tonbo holding off six of them. His Root training told him that a temporary sacrifice was sometimes necessary.
"I've already sent out the signal. Reinforcements should be here to meet us soon, so we should be fine," Murakumo added.
Mibu Shinobu wanted to go back and support his teacher, but considering his own strength, he knew he would only be a burden. He touched a concealed pocket in his vest. With his ability to create things like this, Sensei should be fine, right?
Rumble!
Zip! Zip!
Tonbo used Body Flicker to evade the Asura Path's missile strikes while engaging the Preta Path in close-quarters combat with his short blade.
"Those black rods have chakra-disrupting properties and act as signal receivers for Nagato's main body. What a pain!"
Clang! Clang!
He applied Body Flicker and Taijutsu to their absolute limits, blocking the melee attacks from the Human, Preta, and Asura Paths.
Only by experiencing it firsthand did Tonbo realize how troublesome the Six Paths were. Even with prior knowledge of their abilities, he felt restricted. The Preta Path absorbed chakra. The Human Path ripped out souls. The Asura Path was a human puppet-tank. And the Deva Path sat on the sidelines using Universal Pull for support—it was more sinister than stagnant water.
With the reaction speed of the Six Paths, a normal Genjutsu only lasts for less than a tenth of a second before being broken by the black rods. Now that they are on guard, the Preta Path's ability makes standard Genjutsu useless...
Tiger-Tiger-Hare-Hare—
The Human Path's black rod thrust into Tonbo's chest, piercing through. However, it made a mechanical clack sound, as if stabbing through a machine.
Tonbo smiled slightly, flickered backward, and quickly wove hand signs.
Pain's eyes narrowed from a distance. Such incredible hand-sign speed! He used the exact moment the Human Path attacked to cast a Genjutsu, making it too late for the Path to disrupt its own chakra to break it?
This level of neural reaction was not that of an ordinary ninja.
Meanwhile, the Asura Path's arm was shattered by the Human Path, whose vision had been distorted by Tonbo's visual-range Genjutsu.
Zzzzt!
Electric sparks flew from the severed joint of the mechanical arm.
"I'm not done yet! Earth Style: Earth Spikes!"
Tonbo slammed his hand onto the ground, and dozens of spikes impaled the Asura Path from every direction.
Zip! Zip!
He immediately reached into his tool pouch and threw kunai laced with explosive tags toward the Asura Path.
"Almighty Push."
Pain repelled all the kunai.
"I'll give you something to repel."
Tonbo seized the interval of the five-second cooldown. He raised his hand and unleashed the Eight Scents of Fire. He knew the Six Paths shared vision, making it nearly impossible for them to miss it.
The sensory feedback would travel back to Nagato. Even if the black rods could break the illusion quickly, it still took time—time enough to trigger a visceral reaction in the opponent's gustatory nerves.
Whoosh!
The Preta Path appeared behind him, reaching out to grab the sign-weaving Tonbo. It was met with a smirk.
Poof!
A log replaced Tonbo. Substitution Jutsu.
Inside a large tree at a distance, Nagato suddenly gagged, feeling extremely nauseous.
Blegh!
The Six Paths of Pain were merely puppets; their sensory input was experienced only by Nagato. He was the one bearing the brunt of the "Eight Scents."
The six puppets slowed down by a visible half-beat.
"Nagato, what's wrong?" Konan asked, looking at his distressed state.
"It's that man's ninjutsu. He's a formidable opponent!" Nagato had to admire the man's mastery.
Zip! Zip!
For a moment, despite Tonbo's tenacious resistance, the Six Paths only held a slight advantage—mainly because it was six against one. The Asura Path, which had been taken out by Tonbo's Genjutsu, was dragged back by the cheating Naraka Path, chewed up, and spat out fully repaired.
If Tonbo hadn't been able to weave signs with one hand at lightning speeds, his Genjutsu wouldn't have even lasted as long as the enemy's dispelling speed.
"Almighty Push."
Having tested Tonbo's capabilities, Pain didn't want to wait any longer. Those other three could not be allowed to escape back to Konoha.
Using the Deva Path as the center, a massive invisible force erupted, surging toward Tonbo. Tonbo tried to use a visual-range Genjutsu to make the distance appear infinite, but it had no effect.
Bam!
He was hit. His chest, facial features, internal organs, and skin were struck by an invisible heavy hammer.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Asura Path's missiles followed immediately.
"Genjutsu: Self-Repair."
Tonbo cast a Genjutsu on himself, deceiving his own cells, nerves, and platelets to revert his body to its state from one minute ago. He then crunched down on a Food Pill to replenish the nutrients needed for the repair.
He used the momentum from the Almighty Push to retreat rapidly—back, back, back... until he was out of range of the push and the missiles.
"Are you kidding me? I thought he could only repel ninjutsu, but he can repel Genjutsu too? What a bugged jutsu."
Tonbo lamented how useful the Rinnegan was.
"In that case, I'll have to use my ultimate move. Psycho Mind Transmission: Depression."
Puchi!
A wooden stake shot through the air. Under Murakumo's frantic control, the ink bird dodged the attack, but it was hit soon after and dissolved into a pile of ink.
The three tumbled from the sky. With their sharp eyes, they immediately spotted a figure.
A white swirl-patterned mask. The man stood there silently, watching them fall.
Shasha!
The three landed lightly on the treetops. "Who are you?"
"There's no need to worry about who I am. Dead men don't need to know."
The Swirl-masked man held long iron chains in his hands, staring at the three of them expressionlessly.
"Putting the Rinnegan on him is truly a waste if he can be fooled by a Genjutsu of that level," the playful voice echoed in the masked man's ear, filled with deep dissatisfaction.
"Yes. If I hadn't stepped in to help, they might have actually escaped back," the masked man replied.
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