Chapter 368: Li Yao Enters the Battle Himself
Snap!
Nagato clapped his hands together, producing a crisp sound in the air. But beyond that—nothing happened.
At that moment, Nagato's eyes became glazed. He had fallen into a genjutsu world.
"So in the end… they weren't really his eyes."
Li Yao looked at the completely subdued Nagato and shook his head with a faint sigh.
Unlike Li Yao, who had replicated the Rinnegan's ocular chakra and could truly wield the Six Paths' abilities…
Nagato was merely channeling the power of Madara's transplanted Rinnegan. He didn't control it himself.
Put simply, the Rinnegan was like an excavator, and Nagato was just sitting in the operator's seat—he could destroy a house with it, but that didn't mean he possessed the strength to do it without the machine.
That's why, despite wielding the Rinnegan, Nagato's resistance to genjutsu was average at best.
Li Yao, on the other hand, was different. After replicating the Rinnegan's ocular chakra, even standard genjutsu posed no threat to him. Unless it was a reality-breaking illusion like Kotoamatsukami or Izanami, nothing would affect him.
In the end—someone else's eyes are still someone else's.
Li Yao stepped forward, dug out Nagato's Rinnegan, and then removed his own eyes to replace them with Madara's.
Looking one last time at Nagato, Li Yao smiled and said, "Your theory of peace wasn't wrong… just too narrow in scope."
Then he used Black Hole Space to erase Nagato completely—from the world and from existence itself, soul and all.
Nagato had the right idea: humanity only unites in the face of shared crisis.
Gather all Nine Tailed Beasts, and any of the Great Nations that disobeyed and started wars would be punished with overwhelming destruction. Peace through fear.
Not a bad idea—but too limited.
As long as the Five Great Nations remained and the shinobi world wasn't unified, the risk of war would always exist. Fear wouldn't end conflict—it would only push nations to develop stronger weapons to overcome that fear.
True peace could only come from unification.
Once the entire shinobi world became a single nation, and after decades of Fire-Will-style indoctrination, the next generation would stop thinking in terms of five nations.
Even if it took another few decades, it would come.
Unification was the only path to peace.
If Nagato had truly unified the world after collecting all Nine Beasts, peace would eventually follow.
But unfortunately, no matter how grand his ideals, Nagato's borrowed Rinnegan made all his efforts meaningless.
Still, at least Li Yao could help him avenge what Konoha had done to him.
In the original story, the writers gave us a flashback to "justify" how Konoha ninja killed Nagato's parents as a misunderstanding—framing the killers as innocent, like some kind of twisted excuse for their actions.
It was like those clowns who try to justify dumping nuclear wastewater into the ocean after a meltdown.
Three Konoha ninja invaded Nagato's home and killed his parents. Later they claimed it was a "panic-induced mistake."
It's as ridiculous as someone getting shot three times in the head and the police saying it was suicide.
Li Yao didn't know how others felt—but when he read that scene, it made him uncomfortable.
Killing is killing. There is no such thing as a "mistake."
Li Yao wouldn't act like that. He killed Nagato—and he wouldn't lie about doing it "to free him from pain."
"Konoha… you're up next."
"I'm not Nagato. Naruto's talk-no-jutsu won't work on me."
With a cold gaze, Li Yao activated Perfect Transformation and took on Nagato's appearance. He then sat in Nagato's wheelchair and used Shadow Clone Jutsu to create six clones.
Each clone then used Spirit Possession to enter the original Six Paths bodies.
Meanwhile, back in Konoha—
The moment Nagato was caught in genjutsu, the Six Paths of Pain collapsed like puppets with their strings cut.
"What happened?"
"Why aren't they moving?"
"Are they… dead?"
Confused, Konoha's shinobi hesitated, wary of a trap.
Not until Kakashi used a Lightning Blade from his shadow clone to pierce Tendō Pain's heart did they confirm that the Six Paths had suddenly lost function for some reason.
The rest were quickly subdued by the village.
Morino Ibiki, commander of the interrogation corps, touched the female Animal Path's body—it was cold, no different from a corpse.
"Wait a minute…"
Ibiki yanked out a black receiver from her body and felt the chilled blood seeping from it. This wasn't a freshly dead body—it had been dead for a long time, kept functional only through chakra.
He was certain. He'd handled enough corpses to know the difference.
"Quick, get this info to Inoichi. It's key to deciphering Jiraiya's code."
A subordinate ran off at once.
Ibiki then ordered the Animal Path's body to be taken away.
They didn't know why the Pains had stopped moving, but it was safer to secure the bodies.
The other Pain corpses were also gathered by Konoha shinobi.
"Nagato!!!"
Realizing she hadn't been summoned back by Animal Path, Konan instantly knew something had gone wrong.
Whoosh whoosh!
She took to the skies, flying rapidly toward Nagato's location.
"You're not getting away!"
"After her!"
Several Aburame clan members pursued Konan through the air. After what she had done to Konoha, they weren't going to let her escape.
A blood debt had to be paid in blood.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Just then, Li Yao's six clones in spirit form arrived—each entering a different Pain body.
Crackle!
Purple lightning sparked. Tendō's chest wound instantly healed, and his eyes sprang open.
Slash!
Lightning Blade!
Kakashi, standing nearby, reacted instantly. Sensing something wrong, he thrust a Lightning Blade toward Tendō's head.
"Shinra Tensei!"
BOOM!
A massive repulsion force blasted outward like a missile strike, flattening the area and thundering across the entire village.
"What was that?!"
Nearby ninja shielded their eyes from the blast wind and turned to look toward the source.
Crash crash crash!
Kakashi was sent flying through three walls before coming to a stop.
Spurt!
Blood gushed from his mouth. But he didn't care—his eyes widened in shock as he looked ahead.
In a fifty-meter-wide crater stood Tendō Pain, floating in midair.
His chakra felt entirely different from before—far more intense.
(END CHAPTER)
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