"Big brother! He's using us?!"
Killer Bee's voice rang out. Although the giant tentacles were diverted from their original landing spot by Kakuzu's Earth Release, crashing into the sand and kicking up dust, they successfully avoided the Allied Shinobi Forces.
Killer Bee angrily tried to intercept Kakuzu with his tentacles, but the latter had already plunged into the dense crowd!
"Not good! His target is..."
Nara Shikaku, watching from a distance, instantly saw through Kakuzu's intention. His face changed drastically, and his voice rang out urgently through Inoichi's Mental Link.
"Target area! Everyone disperse! Defend! Stop his tentacles from making contact!!!"
However, transmitting orders took time, and Kakuzu's killing move was faster!
In mid-air, his body still enduring the immense pain of a shattered left shoulder and rampaging Lightning Release, Kakuzu's eyes held only greed and madness!
"Earth Grudge: Tentacle Hunt!!!"
Pfft pfft pfft pfft!
Countless pitch-black Earth Grudge Fear tentacles, covered in stitching, suddenly burst forth from Kakuzu's back, ribs, and even the stump of his injured left arm!
They were as fast as lightning, carrying a sharp whistle as they tore through the air.
They pierced precisely and cruelly toward the surrounding shinobi, who were thrown into a state of panic and horror by Kakuzu's sudden intrusion!
The target: directly at the heart!
Rip! Rip! Rip!
The terrifying sound of flesh being torn was incessant!
"Ah—!"
"Help...!"
"My heart is...!"
Cries of alarm and screams instantly drowned out the area!
Several shinobi with slower reactions didn't even have time to mount an effective defense before their chests were pierced by those terrifying black tentacles!
The tips of the tentacles attached firmly to their still-beating hearts like suction cups, greedily sucking away their life force!
"Ugh... ugh..."
The eyes of the pierced shinobi instantly lost their luster, and their bodies shriveled at a rate visible to the naked eye!
At the moment the tentacles pierced the hearts, the shattered wounds on Kakuzu's body began to squirm, and the severed Earth Grudge Fear tissues regenerated at an incredible speed!
Under his charred and shriveled skin, new power seemed to be surging!
That heart heavily damaged by the Raikage, as well as the hearts consumed previously, all needed fresh life force to be replenished!
With the help of the plundered vitality, Kakuzu forcibly stabilized himself the moment he landed.
More Earth Grudge Fear tentacles, like a wave of death, continued to pounce on the surrounding, panic-stricken shinobi!
"Fresh... hearts!"
Kakuzu licked the blood splattered on the corner of his mouth. Beneath his tattered eye mask, he revealed a sinister and greedy smile.
"Damn it!"
The Raikage's face showed a look of fury; he had actually been played.
"Bee!"
"Got it, leave it to me!"
Killer Bee was no longer in Partial Tailed Beast Mode but was now in Full Tailed Beast Transformation. His extended tentacles blocked all paths for Kakuzu toward the Allied Shinobi Forces.
However, at this moment, Kakuzu already possessed an unprecedented number of hearts!
A hint of anxiety flashed in the Raikage's eyes.
They had originally wanted to deal with Kakuzu quickly and then have the Eight-Tails join the Allied Forces to deal with that statue.
But they were forcefully dragged into this stalemate.
Even with the commands of Nara Shikaku and Mabui, two strategists with excellent battlefield judgment, under the Gedo Statue's assault...
The casualties of the Allied Forces were still too high!
...
Obito looked at the two fellow Uchihas before him.
One was his previous opponent, Shisui, and the other was the eldest son of the Uchiha clan head, Itachi.
He wasn't clear on Itachi's strength, but if he could deal with him alongside Shisui, he was likely quite capable.
But his gaze remained on Shisui, especially that pair of pinwheel-like Mangekyo.
"So these are the eyes that prevented me from harboring hostility toward Konoha for a time. Truly an impressive ability."
Obito sighed with emotion.
Shisui didn't reply. His pupils constricted. When he first used it, he knew that Kotoamatsukami could at most affect the opponent's thoughts but could not completely change them.
The wind and sand of the desert carried the roars of the Gedo Statue, and Obito's figure flickered in and out within the distorted space ripples.
Itachi appeared even more composed, his crimson three-tomoe Sharingan calmly analyzing every subtle movement and shift of Obito's.
He also wasn't in a hurry to attack, instead using precise positioning to faintly block Obito's potential thrusting routes.
The Kunai in his hand was ready, searching for that one-in-a-million gap that might exist in the transition of the Kamui's intangibility.
Obito's figure suddenly blurred!
Shisui's Kunai and Itachi's Great Fireball Technique passed through his body almost simultaneously, as if hitting a hollow phantom.
Space ripples undulated where he was attacked, and he remained unscathed.
"Save your strength. Your attacks can't even touch the corner of my clothes." Obito's figure solidified a few meters away, his tone devoid of emotion.
He hadn't launched any substantial counterattack at all.
The focus of those Mangekyo Sharingan didn't stay entirely on the opponents in front of him but instead swept toward the core of the battlefield from time to time.
Toward Tendo Pain floating high in the sky, and that Gedo Statue which was slowly opening its nine giant eyes and emitting an aura of world-ending destruction.
He was waiting for an opportunity, a moment of chaos sufficient for him to snatch the Rinnegan from under Black Zetsu's nose and destroy Madara's resurrection plan.
Tangling with Shisui and Itachi was merely a delay he had to endure as part of his plan.
"He's stalling for time!" Itachi immediately saw through Obito's intention, his voice low and certain.
Itachi's genjutsu probe was once again easily seen through and nullified by Obito.
Shisui understood immediately. His movements suddenly accelerated, turning into a green light for a high-speed taijutsu feint.
"His spatial ability has a time limit! Find that gap!"
He loudly reminded Itachi, attempting to compress Obito's reaction time.
Dense Kunai and Body Flicker slashes enveloped Obito like a violent storm.
However, Obito handled it with ease. His body switched seamlessly between tangible and intangible, like the most eerie phantom.
Every brief manifestation of his physical form was accompanied by precise dodging or parrying, his movements concise and efficient.
Even if the opponents knew some of the weaknesses of his intangibility, catching his flaw would not be so easy.
As long as he didn't have the intention to actively manifest his physical form to attack, he was... almost invincible!
The stalemate became the theme of this part of the battlefield.
Shisui and Itachi were like they were attacking an untouchable ghost; every fierce attack passed through the phantom in vain.
Meanwhile, Obito was more like a patient hunter, focusing most of his mind and calculations on the other side of the battlefield.
The ownership of the Rinnegan, the movements of the Gedo Statue, and the potential surveillance by Black Zetsu.
He knew that killing these two difficult peers before him would be extremely hard.
But their attacks also had no chance of threatening him, who mastered the power of space, in a short time.
Time was his ally now.
He only needed to wait, wait for that critical moment to arrive that would overturn everything.
...
The yellow sand filled the sky, swirling amid the Gedo Statue's roars, and Minato's Hokage cloak fluttered.
Beside him, Jiraiya stared intently at Tendo Pain floating high in the sky—at that face belonging to Yahiko.
"Nagato! Konan!" Jiraiya's voice pierced through the battlefield's roar, carrying a raspiness like grinding sand.
"Stop this... Look at this hellish battlefield! Is this really the peace you wanted?!"
Tendo Pain's Rinnegan slowly turned toward him, the purple ripples cold and emotionless.
After a brief silence, a low voice rang out like a divine oracle:
"Jiraiya-sensei, you are still repeating naive nonsense. It was exactly the 'mutual understanding' you taught that killed Yahiko."
Konan's paper wings trembled slightly, and Pain's tone suddenly became coated in ice:
"Yahiko believed that communication could bring peace and was willing to go to Hanzou's meeting to negotiate..."
"But waiting there was the joint ambush of Hanzou and Danzo!"
The sound of the desert wind seemed to freeze.
Minato's eyes also constricted. Danzo had actually done such a thing?
There was no record of this at all in Konoha's files, so this was another thing Danzo had done while hiding it from Konoha?
Jiraiya stumbled back half a step, his pupils shrinking from the shock.
"To protect Konan and me..." Deva Path raised his hand, palm facing his own chest.
"Yahiko threw himself onto my Kunai. His dying blood soaked the rainy mud and crushed the fairy tale you wove."
Jiraiya's fist clenched until his knuckles turned white.
"The peace you taught requires compromise and sacrifice, but you forgot that human nature breeds betrayal!" Pain's declaration echoed across the battlefield.
"Yahiko proved with his life that the idealism of the weak only nourishes the executioner's blade. And you are the root of all these mistakes!"
Jiraiya felt as if he'd been struck heavily, the taste of iron rising in his throat.
He saw Konan turn her face away, her pale fingertips crushing a paper crane into scraps—a silent agreement.
"So, do you understand now?" The purple light of the Rinnegan flared. "Only by letting the world taste a hundred times our Pain can this rotten cycle be ended!"
Pain delivered his judgment once more:
"Jiraiya-sensei, witness with your own eyes. This new world born from your 'mistake' shall descend in the name of divine punishment!"
At the very moment Tendo Pain's cold declaration echoed across the battlefield, his slowly raised palm suddenly erupted with an irresistible gravitational pull!
"Bansho Tenin!"
The target: Jiraiya!
"Sensei!" Minato's pupils constricted, and he instinctively moved to activate the Flying Thunder God!
But in the next moment, he forced himself to stop.
No coordinates!
In the camp before the final battle began, he had worriedly handed a Special Flying Thunder God Kunai to Jiraiya, only for it to be firmly pushed back.
"Minato," Jiraiya's smile then had been bitter but carried a sense of resolve.
"This is something between him and me... something I must face myself. Your Kunai... shouldn't be used here."
He had refused that safety measure.
Now, that refusal brought fatal consequences!
Whoosh!
The powerful gravitational field instantly enveloped Jiraiya!
His burly frame was uncontrollably yanked off the ground, flying toward the direction where Tendo Pain floated like a kite with a broken string!
His white hair danced wildly in the gale. He tried to form seals to resist, but the core power of Bansho Tenin was too overbearing, greatly disrupting the rhythm of his chakra molding.
"Don't you dare!" Minato's eyes were bloodshot; his desperation to save his teacher overrode his wariness of the Rinnegan! He could wait no longer!
His right hand flashed toward his Shinobi tool pouch, and a Three-Pronged Kunai, carrying all his spirit and infused with a massive amount of chakra...
...turned into a dazzling golden light that tore through space, shooting with unerring precision toward the path where Jiraiya was being pulled!
This Kunai wasn't meant to attack Pain, but for positioning!
As long as the Kunai could fly near Jiraiya, even if it just brushed past, he could instantly teleport there and take his teacher out of danger!
The golden light pierced the sky, its speed surpassing visual perception!
However...
Tendo Pain's cold Rinnegan seemed to have long seen through Minato's intention, even predicting his rescue route!
In the thousandth of a second before the golden Kunai reached its intended coordinates...
"Shinra Tensei!"
Hum!!!
An invisible repulsive force erupted outward with Pain as the center!
Its range, intensity, and timing were precise to a desperate degree!
Clang!!!
That Flying Thunder God kunai, carrying all of Minato's hope, was like it hit an invisible Wall of Sighs, letting out an ear-piercing metallic scream!
The spatial coordinates of the Flying Thunder God Mark on it were instantly disrupted and annihilated by the repulsive field!
The Kunai itself was violently knocked away by this terrifying force, turning into a meaningless streak of light in the sky, completely leaving the battlefield!
"!" Minato's heart instantly sank to the bottom!
He could only watch helplessly as his teacher was dragged away by the gravitational pull, the rescue path completely blocked!
"Nagato..."
Jiraiya looked at Tendo Pain's face, which hadn't changed in the slightest.
In the next second, Jiraiya's body was pulled by gravity to within inches of Tendo Pain!
Without any redundant words, Tendo Pain coldly raised his left hand.
Puchi! Puchi!
Two cold, sharp black rods instantly pierced through Jiraiya's body!
Their positions precisely avoided vital organs but pierced through key Tenketsu nodes!
"Ugh... ah!!!"
The intense pain caused Jiraiya to let out a muffled groan, his chakra dissipating rapidly like a punctured balloon!
Blood instantly stained his robes.
The powerful impact carried him down like a falling meteorite, crashing heavily into the sand below!
Bang!!!
Dust shot into the sky!
Jiraiya's burly frame smashed a deep pit into the sand, smoke and dust filling the air.
He lay at the bottom of the pit, bleeding profusely, the black rods firmly pinning his body.
Not only did they cause severe physical trauma, but they also forcibly disrupted and sealed the massive flow of chakra within him, making him completely lose his combat effectiveness.
Every breath tugged at the piercing wounds, bringing heart-wrenching pain.
Minato's figure instantly appeared at the edge of the pit. Looking at his heavily injured teacher at the bottom, his eyes were full of Pain and self-reproach.
He knelt down, placing his hand on Jiraiya. A bright blue chakra light lit up as he urgently performed hemostasis and stabilized the injuries, while also warily looking up at the sky.
Tendo Pain hovered in place, his Rinnegan coldly looking down at the master and disciple in the pit below.
He didn't follow up with a fatal blow, nor did he even give the heavily injured Jiraiya a second glance.
"Leave this place, Jiraiya-sensei." Pain's cold voice rang out again, devoid of any emotion, yet carrying an unquestionable will.