"Those who do not understand Pain can never understand true peace!"
As his voice fell, Tendo Pain's hands suddenly formed hand signs!
A terrifying surge of chakra, far exceeding anything before, erupted with him at the center!
"Summoning: Gedo Statue!"
The sky seemed to darken instantly, and the clouds were churned and torn apart by an invisible force!
"Not good, fall back quickly!"
Minato shouted out suddenly, but it was already too late.
Rumble!!!
The earth shook violently! In the center of the desert, a bottomless, massive rift suddenly tore open the scorching sand!
It was as if the gates of hell had swung open!
An aura mixed with nine distinct yet equally violent and peerless Tailed Beast chakra...
Accompanied by soul-shuddering hisses and roars, it surged out from that abyssal rift!
Waves of sand were pushed aside frantically like a tsunami!
Although most of the Allied Shinobi Forces' front-line Shinobi had retreated, many members who were not agile enough were still knocked over by the shockwave.
Terrified cries were instantly drowned out by the horrific roars coming from beneath the earth!
Under the horrified gazes of tens of thousands of Allied Shinobi Forces, a hideous head so massive it obscured the entire field of vision like a mountain slowly emerged from the abyss tearing through the earth!
Its head was covered in strange, twisted protrusions and keratin, emitting a dark and ancient luster.
Nine tightly closed giant eyes, like nine blood moons about to erupt, were arranged across its hideous face.
That was the Gedo Statue, which was about to undergo its ultimate transformation after absorbing the chakra of the nine Tailed Beasts!
At this moment, with only its head emerging, the destructive aura it emitted had already plunged the entire battlefield into apocalyptic panic!
The ultimate weapon had arrived!
Before the deafening roar could subside, the desert had already turned into a scene of purgatory.
"A... a monster!!" A Kunai fell from the hand of an Iwagakure Shinobi in the front row with a "clang," his pupils shrinking to pinpoints due to excessive horror.
The crowd behind him stumbled back like waves of grain, and their formation instantly collapsed.
Puppets controlled by Sunagakure puppet masters lost control and self-destructed in the turbulent flow of violent chakra; Kumogakure elites' teeth chattered. This was an absolute pressure that transcended their understanding of Tailed Beasts, as if gods and demons from legend had burst into reality.
"This chakra..." Kakashi's Sharingan spun frantically, but cold sweat soaked through his mask.
Beside him, Might Guy had not opened the Eight Gates, yet his muscles instinctively tensed as if facing a natural enemy;
Darui's phrase "What a pain" was completely stuck in his throat.
"Bastard!!!"
Raikage Ay's eyes nearly split from rage, and violent lightning exploded uncontrollably from his body. He stared fixedly at the giant head that blotted out the sky and roared.
"Is this the bullshit weapon he was talking about?! That so-called monster that gathers the power of nine Tailed Beasts?!"
That terrifying aura far exceeded the Eight-Tails' berserk state he had faced before.
Mei Terumī's face was pale. Feeling that vast and chaotic yet forcibly merged terrifying chakra turbulence, her voice carried a hint of imperceptible trembling.
"Nine... nine distinct Tailed Beast chakra essences... though incomplete, they are indeed all within it! This is the leverage he used to threaten the core of the continent!"
She instantly understood that the source of the destructive power in Pain's ultimatum was by no means a lie.
Floating in the air, Ōnoki's cloudy old eyes erupted with unprecedented solemnity and shock, his aged voice carrying an unbelievable heaviness.
"It... actually exists! He actually forcibly stuffed the power of nine Tailed Beasts into this vessel... Is this the confidence he has to declare war on the entire Shinobi World?"
That sense of oppression made even this Tsuchikage, who had weathered countless storms, find it difficult to breathe.
Gaara's hand manipulating the sand paused slightly, and the surrounding sand grains also agitated restlessly under that terrifying pressure.
He looked up at the nine tightly closed giant eyes, his voice low and cold, as if stating an indisputable fact.
"Nagato was not lying... This is a weapon capable of destroying the core of the continent. If we don't stop it here, the entire world will live under its shadow of fear."
That pure, despairing aura of destruction made him, who had once been the Jinchuriki of Shukaku, feel a shudder in the depths of his soul.
In front of the Allied Shinobi Forces, Minato's figure was like a stabilizing anchor.
He was equally shocked by the statue's aura, but his gaze became increasingly firm and sharp.
He knew deeply that this was the final test, the wall of despair that must be crossed to protect the Shinobi World...
The Yellow Flash stood tall before the crashing waves, his Hokage cloak fluttering wildly in the chakra storm.
He looked up at the giant head obscuring the sky, his azure eyes reflecting the nine tightly closed giant eyes filled with destructive energy.
"Entire army!!!"
His voice tore through the gale, infused with chakra to resound across the battlefield, suppressing all the clamor of panic:
"This is not the time for fear!"
"Look at the reason we have gathered here! How can the will to protect our families and defend our future be trampled by this unknown weapon?!"
His gaze, like a sharp sword, pierced through the dust, pointing directly at the suspended Pain.
The final command was decisive:
"Tactical Units One through Five, begin the operation! long-range Ninjutsu units, initiate indiscriminate covering fire on the head and base.
Create opportunities for the close-combat groups! Remember, the entire world is behind us!"
The moment the order fell, Earth Release walls rose with a rumble, and the Allied Shinobi Forces let out a roar like an injured beast, transforming their shock into a fighting spirit for a desperate struggle.
Above the desert, only the low growl of the Ten-Tails' world-ending power and the roars of tens of thousands facing death for life collided violently!
On the battlefield, Tendo Pain floated in mid-air, his Rinnegan coldly scanning the Allied Shinobi Forces Shinobi surging below like a golden tide.
The pale faces intimidated by the Gedo Statue's terrifying aura, the uncontrollably trembling hands, and even those dry-heaving from fear...
These subtle physiological reactions were clearly reflected in his God's eyes that looked down upon all living beings.
However, in the next moment, an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible tremor flickered in the depths of his eyes.
Those ordinary Shinobi, who were clearly so terrified that their physical instincts were resisting, let out beast-like roars from their throats!
They gripped their Kunai tightly, like moths to a flame, charging fearlessly against the soul-tearing pressure!
Their formation scattered in the shockwaves but quickly regrouped, shouting slogans, their eyes burning not with the embers of fear, but with a nearly insane decisiveness!
It wasn't that they didn't know fear, but rather that at the edge of the abyss of fear, they were pushed past that line by a stronger will—the will to protect and the conviction for a last-stand battle ignited by Minato.
They were pushed right through that boundary!
"Foolish..."
Within the Deva Path, the part that belonged to Nagato whispered silently.
But this "foolishness" now carried a heavy power that he could not understand.
"Damn it!"
On the ground, Kakuzu spat fiercely, his green eyes filled with gloom and resentment.
If Minato hadn't stabilized the army's morale at the critical moment, commanded precisely, and forcibly converted fear into fighting intent, the Allied Shinobi Forces would likely have already collapsed under the statue's pressure and scattered in flight!
That would have been the perfect scenario for harvesting bounties and easily crushing them!
Now they had to face a pack of mad dogs pushed to their limits!
Minato's presence had turned what should have been a certain rout into a tough bone to crack.
"This deal is a huge loss!"
The Earth Grudge Fear tentacles behind him churned irritably.
Just then, Deidara's signature wild laughter pierced the air above the battlefield.
"Haha! Struggle! Resist! Despair! Only then, at the moment of explosive annihilation, will the blooming art be most dazzling! Yeah! C2 Dragon!"
A massive clay dragon soared into the sky, lunging toward the phalanx of long-range Shinobi with a destructive aura.
"Hmph, no matter how many noisy insects there are, they can simply be crushed."
Sasori's Hiruko emitted a cold mechanical sound, and the Third Kazekage puppet's Iron Sand swept out like a black tide, meeting the Earth Release units trying to destroy the statue's base.
Hoshigaki Kisame split his shark-like mouth, revealing a bloodthirsty smile.
"Samehada, it's time to eat! Let's enjoy this feast! Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
A monstrous wave emerged out of thin air, rushing toward the main force of the Allied Shinobi Forces charging from the front.
Obito, who had been hiding in a space vortex, scanned the bravely charging Allied Shinobi Forces with his crimson lone eye.
He then glanced at Pain in mid-air, whose eyes flickered slightly but remained cold, and a cold arc curled at the corner of his mouth under the mask.
"The chaos... has begun."
With the core members of the Akatsuki taking the initiative to attack, like several giant black stones thrown into a golden ocean, they instantly kicked up monstrous waves!
The Gedo Statue's body, as massive as a mountain, finally completely broke free from the underground's shackles and stood tall on the desert.
The shadow cast by its hundred-meter frame instantly enveloped a large area of the Allied Shinobi Forces, bringing a suffocating sense of oppression.
As if just awakened from an eternal slumber, it let out a deafening roar. Substantial sound waves mixed with violent chakra shockwaves knocked the front-row Shinobi every which way.
Then, it moved.
It seemed slow, but in reality, it contained terrifying power capable of shattering mountains and snapping peaks.
A giant foot covered in craggy keratin, like a pillar of heaven, rose high and, accompanied by the whistle of tearing air, stomped down hard toward the most densely packed left wing of the Allied Shinobi Forces!
"Rumble!!!"
The earth let out an overburdened wail!
With the point of impact as the center, a terrifying shockwave accompanied by massive cracks spreading frantically like a spiderweb instantly expanded!
Sand and dust rose into the sky like a tsunami, blotting out the sunlight!
The entire Allied Shinobi Forces formation seemed to be hit by an invisible giant hammer. The violent shaking made countless Shinobi unable to stand steadily, causing cries of alarm.
As the sand waves rolled, the Shinobi were like small boats in a stormy sea, forcibly torn apart by this power!
However, the expected scene of corpses strewn everywhere and rivers of blood did not immediately appear.
At the critical moment when the statue's giant foot rose and terrifying power was brewing to explode...
In the core of the Allied Shinobi Forces headquarters, Inoichi closed his eyes, veins bulging at his temples. His vast mental power, like an invisible network, instantly covered the entire battlefield through his family's secret technique!
[Attention everyone! The impact is coming! Left wing second, third, and fifth phalanxes, Earth Release squads, perform the technique immediately—'Earth Release: Mud Wall - Multi-layered Rashomon' formation!
Objective: Redirect and guide the force! Right-side units, immediately evade in a fan shape toward the three o'clock direction!]
Shikaku Nara's extremely calm voice, accompanied by Mabui's information supplements precise to the millisecond, resounded directly in the minds of every Allied Shinobi Forces Shinobi through Inoichi's "Mind Link"!
This was not simple sound transmission; it was the instantaneous sharing of specific tactical intentions, action orders, and even spatial perception coordinates!
It was precisely this real-time command, which transcended the limits of sound transmission, that saved countless lives!
In the locked area of the left wing, the fastest-reacting Earth Release Shinobi, the moment they "heard" the command, almost instinctively completed their hand signs, pouring chakra frantically into the ground beneath their feet!
"Earth Release: Mud Wall!"
"Earth Release: Multi-layered Mud Wall!"
They weren't seeking absolute defense; instead, following the orders, one thick rock barrier after another with specific tilt angles rose from the ground, layered one after another, forming a structure similar to the Rashomon.
Their goal was not to withstand the statue's mountain-crushing power head-on, but to guide the impact force to the sides and upward at the moment of contact!
At the same time, the units on the right side, the moment the command was given, retreated rapidly in the designated direction without hesitation, as if they had practiced it thousands of times, avoiding the core impact area and the most turbulent direction of the sand waves.
Boom!!!
The statue's giant foot fell!
The earth walls let out overburdened groans the moment they made contact, and large chunks of rock crumbled and splattered, but that special construction form did indeed prove effective!
Part of the destructive impact force was forcibly dispersed, though it still caused violent tremors.
Despite large-scale collapses, internal injuries and blood-spitting among some Earth Release Shinobi, and even Shinobi in the peripheral areas who were still blown away or buried because they couldn't dodge in time, the number of casualties was miraculously compressed to the lowest point!
If not for this mental command network precise to the millimeter, this single stomp would have caused devastating losses to the left-wing units and a crushing blow to morale!
The statue seemed to feel a hint of confusion that this attack failed to crush a large number of "ants," and its massive head turned slightly.
Immediately after, its hideous arm, like a pillar reaching to the heavens, swept out with a whistle that tore through the air!
Its target was aimed directly at the Allied Shinobi Forces' center, which had just stabilized its footing!
"Whoosh!"
A massive shadow loomed over them, and the gale of death was so strong it made it hard to breathe!
Inoichi's Mind Link rang out urgently once again.
Shikaku Nara's voice remained steady, and Mabui's supplements precisely pointed out the key nodes on the attack trajectory.
"Well done! Inoichi! Shikaku! Mabui!" Minato felt slightly relieved as he witnessed all this.
This real-time mental command network established by Inoichi was like giving the massive Allied Shinobi Forces a unified brain and nervous system.
It allowed the transmission of complex battlefield information and tactical execution to reach unprecedented efficiency, saving countless lives and maintaining the basic framework of the Allied Shinobi Forces formation under the statue's inhuman destructive power.
But this was only the beginning.
The Gedo Statue's two experimental physical attacks were neutralized, and its nine tightly closed giant eyes seemed to quiver slightly.
The destructive aura surrounding it became even more intense, as if an enraged prehistoric beast was about to open its eyes of destruction.
And the other members of the Akatsuki, under the cover of the statue, had all found their respective opponents.
Everyone understood that to seal the Gedo Statue, they must first defeat this group of 'guardians'!