"Huh? Where's Orochimaru?"
"That guy fled again?"
"I didn't see him. Maybe he ran off after spotting Naraku-sama."
"Exactly. Naraku already eliminated Orochimaru once before. Now he doesn't dare face Naraku again."
"Naraku-sama is incredible!"
"You don't need to tell me that. Did you see that sword technique just now? It was so powerful it defied description."
"Tch, do you actually know any sword techniques? Explain it then."
"Who says I don't understand swordplay? I simply prefer fighting other ways."
As soon as Shihouin Naraku appeared, he crushed Pain's Six Paths with unquestionable strength, allowing everyone to breathe sighs of relief and even find time for casual conversation.
Jiraiya stroked his chin while regarding Naraku with admiration. Every time he witnessed him in action, he felt that Naraku's strength had increased substantially.
At this level, could strength still grow so rapidly?
Jiraiya felt puzzled. Logically, after everyone's power reached certain thresholds, improvement rates would slow dramatically—potentially showing no progress for years.
But Shihouin Naraku was different. It seemed that every time he took action, his strength had increased.
Truly unbelievable.
"Pervy Sage, is Big Brother Naraku really your student? Everyone says Granny Tsunade is Big Brother Naraku's teacher."
Uzumaki Naruto watched in shock as Naraku displayed overwhelming power, easily defeating the opponents who had just overwhelmed him.
Looking at Jiraiya beside him, he questioned what the Pervy Sage had told him.
Could Pervy Sage really train such a powerful shinobi?
He couldn't see how.
Noticing Naruto's suspicious expression, Jiraiya argued excitedly, "What do you understand? Look at Tsunade—she's either drinking or gambling away money every day. How could she have time to teach Naraku ninjutsu?"
"Back then, I taught Naraku out of kindness because I saw no one paying attention to him. You see, Naraku's current strength stems from the foundation I provided."
"Is this true or false?"
"Of course it's true, you little brat!"
"Then why is Big Brother Naraku so much stronger than you?"
Jiraiya smiled warmly. "That's exactly how it should be. Naturally, students should surpass their teachers. That's a teacher's pride."
"Didn't I tell you the Fourth Hokage was also my student, and he surpassed me too?"
"As a teacher, you must guide students to become better than yourself. That's true strength."
"Really?"
Uzumaki Naruto still didn't quite comprehend, but this didn't prevent him from thinking Pervy Sage was somewhat impressive.
The Konoha tracking team shinobi standing behind them exchanged glances...
After all, regarding the Fourth Hokage...
"Obito, what should we do?"
"Nagato clearly can't match Shihouin Naraku. If this continues, I'm concerned he'll discover Nagato's true location—that would be catastrophic."
Uchiha Obito and Zetsu stood atop trees, observing the one-sided battle as White Zetsu spoke with worried tones.
"Nagato is such a fool. I don't understand why he mobilized the entire Akatsuki organization. This was the most foolish possible action."
"Even wanting to eliminate Orochimaru as a defector didn't require such enormous commotion. Now look—we've provoked Shihouin Naraku."
Black Zetsu's voice interjected timely, "The problem now is persuading Nagato to withdraw!"
Regarding Pain's Six Paths—they were merely puppets, and Nagato wouldn't fight personally. As long as they retreated before Shihouin Naraku discovered them, there shouldn't be problems.
However, doing so would mean abandoning other Akatsuki members.
After all, if Nagato could escape, they wouldn't have opportunities to flee.
Besides...
"Tendo Pain was created from Yahiko's corpse. Nagato will never abandon him, so persuasion is impossible."
"This..."
"They're fighting again!"
Obito observed Tendo Pain being dominated by Shihouin Naraku before turning toward Nagato's hiding location.
"I'll devise something..."
Black Zetsu pondered while watching Obito depart.
Shihouin Naraku had promised not to interfere with Akatsuki's tailed beast collection plans. If he intended killing Nagato here, then what purpose would collecting tailed beasts serve...
Black Zetsu could only hope now that Shihouin Naraku would honor his word and not become carried away, directly seeking Nagato for elimination.
"Seriously? There's nothing to discuss about Orochimaru. The entire shinobi world is hunting him. What connection do you have? You're simply creating trouble."
Zetsu's figure slowly sank into the ground and vanished.
"Shinra Tensei!"
"Getsuga Tensho!"
The pale, transparent repulsive force continued advancing, attempting to destroy the crescent-shaped blade energy, but the energy displayed tenacious strength, cutting through the repulsive barrier relentlessly!
Boom!
Finally, both forces erupted violently.
"What kind of technique is this? Sword energy? Sword energy can actually slice through repulsive barriers?"
Tendo Pain understood that Shihouin Naraku possessed tremendous strength!
Previously, when he and Konan had traveled to the Flame Mountain, they'd hoped to gather intelligence about Shihouin Naraku.
The result was nearly being overwhelmed by the Flame Mountain before even encountering Naraku himself.
Both returned covered in dust, having never seen the actual person, departing empty-handed.
Of course, even so, the perpetually burning Flame Mountain demonstrated how terrifying Shihouin Naraku's power truly was.
But now both Nagato and Konan discovered their mistake—a grievous error.
Shihouin Naraku's strength exceeded their imagination by hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of times.
Especially Nagato—he was experiencing Shihouin Naraku's terrifying power firsthand through Tendo Pain.
Slice!
Tendo Pain's right arm was severed by Naraku again, leaving him completely armless.
"Damn it!"
The only option was retreat, attempting to draw Shihouin Naraku away from here.
After all, if he wanted to use the Naraka Path to restore others, he required the King of Hell—but Shihouin Naraku couldn't witness this process.
If discovered, he would easily destroy both the Naraka Path and King of Hell.
Should that occur, other Paths couldn't be restored.
Clang!
Tendo Pain had just produced a black receiver, intending close combat with Naraku, when Kurikara severed it in half the next second.
Indeed, when black receivers struck enemies, they caused chakra disruption and could even temporarily seal abilities.
The problem was that black receivers weren't particularly durable materials. Even Hyuga Hinata could break them—how could they remain intact under Kurikara's razor-sharp edge?
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Several missiles whistled in, falling toward Naraku's position.
Exploding thunderously!
The previous bombardment hadn't worked, but this time would definitely succeed!
In a flash, Shihouin Naraku emerged from the flames completely unharmed.
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