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The island upon which the Hidden Mist Village was located could neither be described as particularly large nor especially small.
For Tsunade and Jiraiya to immediately locate Hiruzen within such terrain was an exceedingly difficult proposition. They had pinned their hopes on Mei Terumi. Yet Mei Terumi found herself equally afflicted with a throbbing headache of frustration. She was, of course, a native of the Hidden Mist Village, born and raised within its misty confines. But that did not mean she possessed the supernatural ability to know precisely where any given individual was located at any given moment. That would have been asking far too much, even of her.
Just as Mei Terumi stood frozen in agonized indecision, a colossal surge of chakra suddenly erupted from a position ahead and to their right. The nearby trees shook and thrashed wildly, as though caught in a violent, invisible storm.
"Is that... the Almighty Push?!" Tsunade exclaimed, her eyes widening in alarm.
Jiraiya's expression also darkened into one of grim, steel-edged severity.
"By the time the chakra shockwave reached us, its intensity had already diminished significantly. That means the actual site of the battle is still quite a considerable distance from our current position," Mei Terumi observed, her gaze fixed upon the direction from which the chakra disturbance had emanated. Her heart weighed heavy with apprehension.
Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Mei Terumi exchanged brief, resolute nods. No matter who Pain was currently engaged in battle with, they absolutely had to rush to their aid. The Six Paths of Pain, wielding the terrifying, godlike power of the Rinnegan, were not an adversary that any single shinobi could realistically hope to withstand alone. Even if the person locked in combat with Pain was Hiruzen himself.
"I'll lead the way. Stay close behind me," Mei Terumi commanded tersely before breaking into a full, desperate sprint towards the origin of the Almighty Push. As the four of them raced through the terrain, they encountered a series of massive, monstrous summoned creatures. One of them, a colossal, soaring Great Eight-Span Bird, swooped low over their heads. As it passed, it released its grip on an object clutched in its talons, allowing it to plummet to the earth. The four of them caught only a fleeting, horrifying glimpse of the fallen figure. It was a Hidden Leaf shinobi, his head gruesomely mangled and torn apart by the creature's talons.
"That damn bird!" Might Guy hesitated for a fraction of a second, his gaze locked onto the circling avian monstrosity with visible fury.
"We don't have time for this! If we defeat Pain, every one of his summoned creatures will vanish as well!" Tsunade reminded him sharply.
Might Guy gritted his teeth so hard it seemed they might crack. With immense reluctance, he forced a grim, jerky nod of agreement. Tsunade was absolutely right. As long as Pain remained alive, he could continue summoning an endless stream of these gargantuan beasts. Wasting their time and energy here, hacking away at the summons, would be ultimately futile. Their only true path to victory lay in striking down Pain himself.
The four of them had barely managed to skirt past the Great Eight-Span Bird when another Almighty Push slammed into them head-on. A massive, invisible wall of repulsive force crashed against their forward advance, striking the sprinting quartet with brutal, concussive power. In perfect, involuntary unison, all four of them were forced to stagger backward half a step, as though they had just collided with an unyielding, unseen barrier.
While the technique did not inflict direct, severe damage upon them, the sudden, violent cessation of their momentum sent a jarring, uncomfortable shock reverberating through their entire bodies. The fact that the Almighty Push could affect their movement and even inflict direct harm upon them served as undeniable proof that Pain was now very close indeed. The four of them exchanged silent, meaningful glances. No words were spoken, but their pace increased dramatically.
When the Akatsuki had launched their devastating surprise assault on the Hidden Leaf Village, Pain had demonstrated the overwhelming, cataclysmic power of the Almighty Push. The memory of that technique's horrifying effectiveness was seared into the minds of both Tsunade and Mei Terumi with perfect, painful clarity. Jiraiya, too, had personally witnessed the fearsome might of this technique during his infiltration of the Hidden Rain Village. Whenever Pain unleashed this jutsu, it meant his heart was fully committed to the kill. And by a deeper, more ominous implication, it very likely signified that Hiruzen's situation had grown desperate beyond measure.
The four of them sprinted at breakneck speed towards the direction of the recurring Almighty Push. Finally, after half a minute of frantic, all-out running, they arrived at the site of the catastrophic conflict. What had once been a lush, verdant forest had now been transformed into a perfectly circular wasteland of annihilated, pulverized earth. The radius of the devastation stretched a full fifty meters. At the very center of this blasted wasteland stood Pain, one hand gripping a long, pitch-black chakra rod. Blood dripped steadily from the tip of that rod, spattering onto the ground below. At Pain's feet, a spreading pool of crimson had already soaked into the ruined earth.
"Lord Hokage!"
Tsunade's eyes immediately locked onto the crumpled form of Hiruzen, lying motionless at the very edge of the devastated zone. Her heart seized violently in her chest. Without a moment's hesitation, she sprinted to his side and dropped to her knees. Blood was pouring ceaselessly from a wound in his abdomen—a puncture roughly the size of a thumb had pierced clean through his body. Tsunade had no time for deliberation. She immediately placed her glowing hands over the wound and began administering the Mystical Palm Technique with desperate urgency.
"How is he?!" Jiraiya demanded, positioning himself protectively between Tsunade and Pain.
"I can't say yet. I've managed to slow the bleeding, but... I'm afraid..." Tsunade's voice trailed off, her gaze flickering down at Hiruzen's ashen, bloodless face. His breathing was shallow, erratic, and dangerously unstable. At any given moment, he could simply cease to draw breath altogether. Whether or not he could be saved, even Tsunade herself lacked the confidence to guarantee. Determining whether a wounded individual could be successfully healed typically required consideration of multiple factors: the skill of the medical ninja, the physical condition of the injured person, and, in no small measure, pure, blind luck.
In the past, Tsunade had rarely allowed such extraneous concerns to weigh upon her mind while treating patients. But at this moment, all she could do was create the most favorable conditions possible. Whether Hiruzen could actually pull through now depended entirely upon his own unyielding willpower and the capricious whims of fate. In Tsunade's professional estimation, his odds of survival stood at no more than thirty percent.
"Damn you! Are you Pain?!" Might Guy bellowed, his massive fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles cracked audibly. He glared at Pain with murderous, unrestrained fury.
"I am," Pain replied, his cold, dispassionate gaze settling upon Might Guy. He possessed no interest whatsoever in learning this newcomer's name. After all, in his estimation, a mere jonin was not an opponent that warranted his full, undivided effort.
"Unforgivable!" Might Guy roared, his eyes blazing with such intensity it seemed they might burst from their sockets. A torrent of energy began to radiate from his body in visible, pulsating waves. The internal gates that restricted his chakra flow were being forced open, one after another. Sensing the sudden, dramatic surge of power emanating from Might Guy, Pain finally shifted his focus onto this new threat. But before he could act, Mei Terumi was already moving, charging straight towards him at full speed.
Her strategy was clear and calculated. Ordinary Water Release techniques would be virtually useless against Pain. The range of her Lava Release and Boil Release, while formidable, was also strictly limited. She absolutely had to close the distance between herself and Pain. Pain extended his open palm, aligning it towards Mei Terumi. Yet, out of the corner of his eye, he continued to track Might Guy's transformation, noting the increasingly terrifying concentration of chakra surging through him. With a subtle, deliberate movement, he lowered his hand. Mei Terumi had barely managed to narrow the gap to a mere ten meters when Pain abruptly launched himself into the air, soaring upwards and out of reach.
"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!" Jiraiya's hair hardened into a bristling hedge of steel-like needles and shot forth in a vast, indiscriminate barrage, forming a great, inescapable net that completely enveloped the airborne Pain from every conceivable direction. Pain's brow furrowed ever so slightly. He raised his palm. "Almighty Push!"
Just as the storm of needles was about to perforate him entirely, an immense, invisible repulsive force blasted them all away in every direction. Even Mei Terumi, who had been preparing to unleash her own aerial assault, was caught in the shockwave. Her attack was interrupted before it could even fully manifest. Jiraiya's Needle Guardian, which had already completely surrounded Pain, had been mere moments away from transforming him into a pincushion. Instead, the Almighty Push had scattered the needles harmlessly into the wind.
"Guy! Now's your chance!" Jiraiya shouted with desperate urgency.
Five seconds! After employing the Almighty Push, Pain would require an interval of five full seconds before he could invoke the technique again. This brief, critical window represented their single, solitary opportunity to defeat him.
Might Guy exploded from the ground like a shot arrow, hurtling towards Pain with all the speed and fury of a raging tempest. His fists swung through the air at a blinding, superhuman velocity. The friction generated by their rapid motion ignited the very air, and combined with the concussive shockwaves produced by his punches, the resultant barrage unfolded like the magnificent, dazzling tail feathers of a displaying peacock.
"Morning Peacock!" Might Guy roared at the top of his lungs. His fists, swinging with impossible speed, seemed to ignite the very atmosphere itself, evaporating every last trace of moisture from the air. If he could land this devastating onslaught directly upon Pain, he was confident that a single, glorious blow would be sufficient to end the battle then and there.
But at that precise, critical instant, Pain shifted backward. And in a blur of motion, the Great Eight-Span Bird descended in a sudden, screaming dive, interposing its colossal, feathered body directly between Pain and the oncoming storm. The entirety of the Morning Peacock detonated against the body of the monstrous bird.