"Witnessing the end of the old era with your own eyes is... punishment enough for you. Your path ends here. Should you step onto the battlefield again..."
Pain's words did not reach Jiraiya's ears, for Minato had already whisked him away using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Pain—specifically the Deva Path—did not attempt to stop it, nor could he have done so.
He gazed into the distance; although he had dealt a heavy blow, Tsunade was there, and she was fully capable of stabilizing Jiraiya's condition.
Such injuries were severe enough to ensure Jiraiya could not return to the fight before everything came to an end.
Now, all he had to do was wait right here for Minato to return—for return, he certainly would!
However, what he did not know was that Tsunade's role as captain of the medical corps was merely nominal; her hemophobia rendered her completely unable to treat severely injured ninja.
She held the title solely because of her renowned medical expertise.
Konan opened her mouth as if to speak but remained silent, her expression complex.
If it were possible, she truly would not want to witness this scene, but... there were no "ifs."
Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato instantly transported the critically injured Jiraiya to the rear medical camp.
Tsunade was overseeing the treatment of the wounded when she saw Jiraiya, drenched in blood.
Pain's black rods had pierced his shoulder and abdomen; his chakra pathways were damaged, his chakra flow was chaotic, and his vital signs were rapidly fading.
The shocking sight of blood instantly triggered Tsunade's hemophobia.
Her face turned ashen, her pupils constricted violently, and a familiar wave of dizziness and suffocation washed over her.
The scene before her eyes began to blur and distort, as if she were reliving the moments when Dan and Nawaki had fallen.
She staggered backward, clamping a hand over her mouth; her stomach churned, and an overwhelming urge to vomit, combined with a sense of utter helplessness, nearly brought her to her knees.
Clutching her head and trembling uncontrollably, she stood frozen—as if transported back to that despair-filled, rainy night. "Lady Tsunade, Master Jiraiya, he..." Minato's urgent voice snapped her back to reality.
Tsunade looked up to see Jiraiya—his face deathly pale, his breathing shallow, and blood trickling from the corner of his mouth—forcing a wry, pained smile.
"Tsunade..."
Jiraiya's voice was faint as a whisper, yet it pierced through the bloody haze clouding Tsunade's vision like a ray of light.
She jerked her head up, her gaze locking onto his face—haggard from massive blood loss, yet still wearing that forced, struggling smile.
That smile held his trademark playfulness, yet beneath it lay a profound trust and reliance.
As the shadow of death loomed, memories of their past together flooded her mind.
The wild, drunken days of their youth; his persistence in pursuing her, undeterred by repeated rejections;
The times the Sannin fought side-by-side, with him always stepping in front of her, teasingly saying, "I can't let a beauty get hurt."
These warm fragments surged forth like a tide, washing away the terror of the blood.
I cannot... lose anyone else... A crystal-clear voice rang out in the depths of Tsunade's heart.
The dizziness of her hemophobia still swirled within her, but her deep bond with Jiraiya transformed into a source of strength.
She took a deep breath; her hands steadied, and green medical chakra instantly enveloped her palms, precisely covering Jiraiya's wound.
Fear clung to her like frost, yet a stronger emotion prevailed.
Her deep affection for this clumsy companion—who had been part of her life for so long—her sense of responsibility for his life, and the dread of betraying that trust all overwhelmed her physiological revulsion in that instant.
She drew a deep breath, her eyes suddenly sharpening with fierce determination.
It was as if she were forcibly gathering up all her fear and casting it violently aside.
"You idiot... how could you just collapse like this?" Tsunade growled, forcing herself to stand tall.
She let out a low growl; her voice trembled slightly, yet it was filled with absolute resolve. She strode forward, her hands instantly enveloped in a soft green glow of chakra; with precision and steadiness, she pressed them against Jiraiya's most severe wound, pouring in a ceaseless stream of potent life force.
Forcing herself to look away from the glaring red, she kept her eyes locked intently on the state of the wound and Jiraiya's vital signs.
Seeing Tsunade finally overcome her fear and begin treatment, Minato felt his taut nerves relax slightly, though the worry in his eyes did not fade.
Under Tsunade's care, Jiraiya lay upon a makeshift cot in the medical camp.
Blood had soaked through the bandages, and every breath tugged painfully at the wound pierced by the black rod.
He used his remaining strength to grip Minato's arm, his voice hoarse and broken.
"Minato... Nagato... he held back... that black rod missed my heart... when he struck... his chakra was trembling..."
He coughed up a spray of blood; his pupils dilated from the agony, yet he stared fixedly at his blond-haired disciple.
"If... if there is any chance... spare his life... he has been twisted by pain..."
"It was me... I failed them..."
Minato's azure eyes reflected the harrowing sight of his dying mentor, his fingertips digging deeply into his own palms.
He knew this was no mere accident; a warrior of Jiraiya's caliber would never have been so gravely wounded unless he had deliberately lowered his defenses, using his own flesh and blood to test Pain's resolve.
His teacher was staking his life on the humanity still buried deep within Nagato, attempting to tear open a rift of redemption in this hopeless deadlock.
"I understand... Master Jiraiya." Minato's voice was as calm as still water, yet it could not conceal the surging anguish in his eyes.
He gently clasped Jiraiya's cold hand, his gaze sweeping over the grievous wound on the older man's chest and the light of Tsunade's healing—trembling, yet resolute.
Guilt? Hope? No—this was the burden of sin and retribution his teacher had chosen to bear. But as he looked up, the thunderous battle cries from outside the tent, the roar of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and the wails of the Allied Shinobi Forces flooded his ears like a tidal wave.
As the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces of the Five Great Nations, the burden he carried was not the personal bond between master and student, but the lives of thousands and the very survival of the continent.
He made no promises.
He simply rose slowly; the Fourth Hokage's haori billowed sharply amidst the smoke of battle.
"Please... stay alive to witness the answer this world finds." Minato cast one last glance at Jiraiya's pale face before turning to lift the tent flap.
After Minato left, Tsunade, having roughly grasped the situation, sighed and spoke.
"Why put yourself through this?"
The corners of Jiraiya's mouth curled upward as if he intended to smile, yet in the end, no smile emerged.
Meanwhile, back on the battlefield, Minato returned to face the Six Paths of Pain, his eyes flashing with anger.
Even though he knew Nagato had held back and that this had been Jiraiya's own choice...
As a student, seeing Jiraiya gravely wounded, he could not suppress his rage.
Minato returned to the heart of the battle, the Yellow Flash tracing a razor-sharp arc across the sea of sand.
The Six Paths of Pain had regrouped: the Deva Path hovered in the center, the Asura Path and Animal Path flanked it defensively, while the Naraka Path remained protected in the rear.
Minato utilized the Flying Raijin kunai scattered across the battlefield to shift positions at high speed, attempting to break through the defensive line and strike directly at the Naraka Path.
However, the shared vision of the Rinnegan allowed Pain to constantly anticipate his landing points:
Whenever Minato launched a surprise attack via Body Flicker, the Asura Path would instantly fire a laser net to block his path, forcing him to abandon the assault;
If he attempted a direct attack with the Rasengan, the Deva Path would immediately activate Shinra Tensei, using a repulsive force field to blast both the jutsu and Minato himself backward;
Meanwhile, the giant bird and splitting dog summoned by the Animal Path kept up a constant barrage of interference, constricting Minato's room to maneuver. Minato detected a 0.5-second lag in the chakra fluctuations transmitted from Nagato's true body through the black receivers; he repeatedly attempted to exploit this brief window by throwing specially crafted kunai to close in on the Naraka Path.
However, Nagato saw through this strategy; the Preta Path constantly guarded the Naraka Path's flank, instantly activating the Absorption Seal whenever a kunai drew near, thereby nullifying the chakra within the Flying Thunder God mark.
The battle devolved into a grueling war of attrition.
Minato's Flying Thunder God technique prevented Pain from effectively tracking his true location, and even when he was spotted, Pain could not devise a countermeasure before Minato teleported away again.
Conversely, the all-encompassing defense of the Six Paths of Pain and the ocular powers of the Rinnegan left Minato unable to find a decisive opening.
Amidst the swirling dust, the standoff—played out across a field of puppets and kunai—seemed to echo the fateful cycle of the days when Jiraiya had mentored the young Nagato.
The chasm between their ideologies and the balance of their powers dragged this clash between master and disciple into a protracted struggle.
Yet, this was precisely what Nagato desired, whereas Minato needed a swift resolution.
Nagato sought to buy time for the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to undergo its transformation; Minato, meanwhile, was painfully aware of the Allied Forces' helplessness against the statue, yet found himself unable to turn the tide.
If he abandoned his assault on Nagato to intervene elsewhere, the threat Nagato posed was no less severe than that of the Demonic Statue.
What, then, was to be done?
...
The central battlefield in the northern desert had been transformed into a living hell.
The Demonic Statue's nine massive eyes swiveled and flashed; each sweep unleashed a torrent of destructive energy, causing the earth walls—erected by the Allied Forces at the cost of their lives—to crumble as if made of paper.
Ōnoki hovered in mid-air; the white light of his Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu sliced into the statue's shoulder, yet the charred wound was restored within seconds by the surging Tailed Beast chakra.
The chest of this master of Dust Release—a pinnacle figure in the ninja world—heaved violently; the repeated use of the dismantling technique, pushed far beyond his limits, had nearly drained him of all chakra. Yet, even though their efforts had little effect, they had no choice but to continue; if the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path were allowed to act unchecked, the Allied Forces would suffer catastrophic casualties.
Elsewhere, Mei Terumi's sea of acidic lava splashed against the statue's legs; beneath the corroded surface, a new layer of chakra-based armor instantly surged forth.
Her Boiling Release steam blast caused the statue to merely hesitate for a moment before she was forced back by a sandstorm whipped up by its lashing tail.
Despite unleashing the full power of her Kekkei Genkai, she remained unable to inflict any real damage on the statue.
If Mei Terumi couldn't do it, there was no hope for the other ninja.
Consequently, the primary mission for most of the Allied ninja was to follow the strategist's orders and jointly execute large-scale terrain-altering Jutsu, simply to stall the statue.
They had abandoned any thought of actually defeating the Demonic Statue; their goal had shifted to merely holding it back.
They sought to buy time for the elite fighters to take down the person controlling the statue.
They could only pin their hopes on the idea that once Nagato was defeated, the statue would lose its animation and could then be sealed away.
Yet, even this fallback objective proved far from easy to achieve!
Kitsuchi led the Rock ninja in unleashing the "Super: Earth-Moving Core" (Chō-Sando no Jutsu); two massive rock formations clamped down on the statue like closing palms, only to shatter amidst the vibrations of its skyward roar.
Hundreds of ninja maintaining the barrier collapsed, incapacitated by the backlash, as the sandy ground was stained dark red.
Reports of casualties flooded into Nara Shikaku's mental network like an avalanche.
He roared out orders to adjust the formation: "Seventh Echelon, fill the gap on the left flank! Medical units, abandon the mortally wounded—prioritize saving those who can still fight!"
The orders were cold and unyielding, yet they were designed to buy time at the lowest possible cost.
Just as the Allied Forces struggled to withstand the statue's rampage, a sudden shift occurred...
The mountain-like statue abruptly froze in place, and its nine tightly shut, crimson eyes snapped open!
The desert earth began to collapse violently around it, with sand and gravel sucked toward the statue's base like a waterfall flowing in reverse. Under the horrified gaze of the Allied Forces, the Golem's twisted torso rapidly expanded.
Ten massive tails, wreathed in an aura of destruction, tore forth from its body as if rending the heavens; each was coiled in a tangible thunderstorm of dark-purple chakra.
Its head transformed completely into a grotesque, tree-crown-like structure, and a blood-red, single Rinnegan eye split open in the center of its brow—deep within the pupil swirled a black hole that devoured all light!
An overwhelming, terrifying pressure instantly enveloped the battlefield.
The very environment groaned in agony; the sea of sand was crushed into a hard, glassy plane by an invisible force field, and the ground beneath the Allied Forces cracked and splintered, the chakra anchoring their ninja boots forcibly ripped away.
"ROAR!!!"
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path—no, what should now be called the incomplete Ten-Tails—let out that thunderous roar.
In an instant, a destructive shockwave, carrying the violent, combined chakra of the nine Tailed Beasts, swept across the wasteland.
Its power far surpassed the pressure the Golem had previously exerted!
The sound waves materialized into a physical impact, causing the makeshift Earth Wall defenses erected by the Allied Forces to disintegrate like paper.
Gravel was churned up into a sandstorm that blotted out the sun; hundreds of low-ranking ninja suffered ruptured internal organs and collapsed, bleeding from every orifice.
The roar was infused with a millennium of Tailed Beast hatred and the will of "Pain" instilled by Pain himself; the mental defenses of many Allied soldiers shattered completely.
Some even dropped their weapons, collapsing to the ground and wailing:
"It's impossible to win... this is divine retribution!"
Nara Shikaku's tactical command system was completely paralyzed, and Yamanaka Inoichi's telepathic network was flooded with screams and despair, forcing him to temporarily sever the connection.
Survivors watched in horror as their comrades were reduced to bloody pulp; the flag of the "Five Great Nations Alliance" was torn apart and buried beneath piles of corpses, while cries of wavering faith rose and fell across the battlefield. "Die to protect? But we can't even get close!"
The Raikage A's "Liger Bomb" was mere inches from Kakuzu's head, yet his Lightning Release Chakra Mode flickered erratically under the impact of the sonic blast.
Kakuzu's black tendrils froze in mid-air; the heart he had just seized exploded as his chakra flow reversed.
Both men turned their heads toward the Ten-Tails; veins bulged on the Raikage's forehead as he roared, "This monster... is a hundred times more terrifying than the Eight-Tails in a rampage!"
Kisame's "Water Prison Shark Dance" was shattered into mist by the sound waves; Kakashi's Lightning Blade spiraled out of control, backfiring on his own arm; and the aura of Might Guy's Eight Inner Gates was forcibly suppressed back into his body.
The three stood frozen in place; Kisame's Samehada trembled and shrank back into its bandages as he stared at the Ten-Tails, muttering:
"Is this... the true weapon of the apocalypse?"
Deidara's giant clay bird disintegrated in the shockwave, yet he reached out in ecstasy, as if trying to touch the sound waves themselves.
"Yeah! The rhythm of the ultimate explosion!"
Sasori's "Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets" collapsed into the sand like puppets with severed strings; he gazed silently at the Ten-Tails' Rinnegan, while his puppet core emitted a chaotic, rattling clack for the very first time.
Whether they belonged to the Allied Shinobi Forces, the Five Kage, or the Akatsuki, everyone was stunned by the transformation of the Ten-Tails!