Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke passed through the barrier and entered the Hidden Leaf Village.
They headed straight for the Root organization base of Shimura Danzō.
After traveling for a while, Uchiha Sasuke suddenly stopped and turned to look toward the direction where battle smoke was rising, slightly frowning.
Seeing Sasuke stop, Uchiha Itachi tapped his shoulder and said with a smile,
"No need to worry, Sasuke."
Sasuke said nothing, regained his focus, and continued on. Itachi glanced into the distance and thought to himself: After all, that guy is here.
Smiling faintly, Itachi continued on with Sasuke.
Meanwhile, Rorin, who was confronting the Six Paths of Pain, stomped the ground and charged toward the Naraka Path.
Seeing that Rorin was targeting the Naraka Path, the Asura Path and Human Path instantly moved to stand in front of it.
Bone spikes protruded from Rorin's body, and bone blades formed in his hands as he slashed at the Asura Path and Human Path.
Clang!
The Human Path and Asura Path blocked Rorin's attack with black rods, smiling faintly.
Behind Rorin, the Deva Path and Preta Path appeared, raising black rods to stab into his back.
Rorin cast a sideways glance, and then bone spikes suddenly burst outward from his body!
Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Larch!
His body spun to the side, and the long bone spikes forced back the Deva Path and Preta Path. Rorin suddenly looked up, only to see a massive three-headed hellhound opening its jaws, its sharp fangs biting down toward him.
In an instant, Rorin used Flying Thunder God to evade the attack, thinking to himself: Looks like I should take out an easier target first.
He stopped focusing on the Naraka Path. His foot bent slightly, and his figure vanished like a ghost, reappearing behind the Preta Path.
Bang!
Bone spikes grew wildly from Rorin's entire body, piercing through the Preta Path's corpse and eliminating it.
Just as the Animal Path was about to use a summoning technique to retrieve the Preta Path's body—
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!
Uzumaki Naruto, having entered Sage Mode, arrived and hurled a Rasenshuriken toward the Animal Path.
Seeing this, the Deva Path raised its right hand.
Almighty Push!
Boom!
The Rasenshuriken slammed into the ground, instantly kicking up clouds of dust.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Immediately afterward, many Hidden Leaf Village ninja arrived as well.
"Sorry, Rorin—we're late." Naruto clenched his right fist and struck it into his left palm as a gentle breeze stirred his hair.
Rorin waved his hand. "Not late at all. It's only just begun."
The Deva Path glanced at Naruto, its eyes narrowing slightly as it spoke.
"The Nine-Tails, huh? Looks like you've delivered yourself to me."
"So these are Pain…" Naruto muttered to himself as he looked at the six figures before him.
The Deva Path slowly raised its right hand again, locking its gaze onto Naruto.
Universal Pull!
Naruto felt his body being uncontrollably dragged toward the Deva Path.
Rorin's eyes flashed. In an instant, he used Body Flicker to appear beside Naruto and used Flying Thunder God to pull him out of the attraction field.
The two reappeared beside Kakashi. Naruto expressed his thanks, and Rorin gave a slight nod.
Rorin then looked at Kakashi and said sincerely,
"Kakashi-sensei, could I trouble you to help stop those summons? They keep interfering with my fight."
Kakashi nodded slightly. "No problem."
Rorin then turned to Naruto.
"Naruto, wait for the right moment and use another Wind Release: Rasenshuriken."
Naruto nodded slowly. After giving his instructions, Rorin charged into the enemy ranks once more.
The Deva Path looked at the approaching Rorin and said calmly,
"Now that the Nine-Tails has been found, there's no need to waste time with you."
"That's not for you to decide," Rorin replied with a faint smile. Bone armor formed over his body as he stepped forward and rushed at the Deva Path.
Seeing him attack, the Human Path and Asura Path moved to intercept. Rorin continuously swung his bone blades, closing the distance toward both the Deva Path and the Naraka Path.
His eyes flashed, and a bone spike shot toward the Naraka Path, only to be knocked down by its black rod.
Seeing this, Rorin glanced back before using Flying Thunder God to leave his original position.
On the other side, Naruto finished forming another Rasenshuriken and threw it toward the Deva Path.
"The same trick again," the Deva Path said disdainfully as it raised its right hand.
Almighty Push!
Rorin smiled faintly. Using Flying Thunder God again, he appeared beside the bone spike he had thrown earlier at the Naraka Path—it bore his Flying Thunder God mark.
"Finally dealt with," Rorin said calmly as bone spikes surged violently from his body, piercing through the Naraka Path completely.
With that, he eliminated the most troublesome of them—the Naraka Path. Earlier, the Deva Path had stayed close to it. Almighty Push was both a killing move and a life-saving technique.
However, it had a five-second cooldown after each use.
Rorin then turned his gaze toward the Deva Path, his eyes narrowing as he released the limit on his chakra.
Eight Gates: Gate of Wonder—Open!
Rising Dragon!
A dragon-shaped whirlwind surged toward the Deva Path. Unable to use Almighty Push temporarily, the Deva Path was forced to endure Rorin's taijutsu.
The fierce winds continuously slashed at him. Rorin suddenly appeared in front of him and delivered a powerful kick, sending him flying out of the Hidden Leaf Village.
The Deva Path was blasted nearly a kilometer away before finally stopping, dust billowing into the air.
Below, Konan saw the Deva Path being kicked out of the village. Her eyes narrowed as paper wings formed behind her, and she slowly rose into the air.
From the sky, Konan dropped two hundred Explosive Tags onto the ground before flying toward the outskirts of the village.
Boom! Boom!
The Explosive Tags detonated continuously. Everyone dodged the explosions, but some still suffered minor injuries. Meanwhile, many summoned beasts in the village remained unresolved.
Rorin nodded slightly, then looked at Naruto and Kakashi, handing them the Katsuyu on his shoulder as he spoke calmly.
"Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, I'll leave the other Pains in the village to you. I'll deal with that one. And leave Katsuyu here to help with healing."
Kakashi frowned. "You should take it with you. If you get injured, it can help heal you."
Rorin smiled and shook his head.
"Compared to me, the others in the village need it more."
As his words fell, Rorin activated Sage Mode. With its activation, bone armor formed again, and black Curse Mark patterns gradually spread across the originally pure white armor.
He then forcefully handed Katsuyu to Kakashi, flapped his bone wings, and flew toward the outskirts of the village.
Naruto and Kakashi exchanged a glance before throwing themselves back into battle.
Flying through the sky, Rorin narrowed his eyes—everything was under control!
...
On the other side, Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke finally arrived at the Root base.
"Long time no see, Danzō," Sasuke said coldly as he looked at Shimura Danzō.
Danzō's eyes narrowed slightly.
The battle was about to begin!