Natsuki returned to the conference room and resumed his so-called "conserving strength" by charging chakra batteries.
After all, the upcoming battle with Madara would absolutely consume an enormous amount of chakra. While he had time, the more he charged, the more he would have on hand when the time came.
Fortunately, his chakra recovered very quickly, so he was not particularly worried about the drain from charging.
And Tenten had specially prepared a large number of batteries just for him, so he could charge to his heart's content and not have to worry about running out of chakra in battle later.
"Sigh… Black Zetsu didn't show up."
Natsuki let out a breath. He had thought Black Zetsu would, just like in the original story, go raid the plateau where the daimyō were.
But it seemed he was overthinking it. The "original" plot here had already been scrambled beyond recognition. At best he could still borrow some intel on specific people; everything else was useless.
As for Obito's ambush on the daimyō, Natsuki didn't worry too much.
With Neji and the others there, it was enough.
Obito's Kamui (Divine Authority) intangibility couldn't be hit, but while he was intangible he couldn't hurt anyone either. And the Rinnegan's abilities were being countered by the Tenseigan (Reincarnation Eye), so there definitely wouldn't be any real problem.
However, the chakra consumption situation for the new Six Paths was another matter entirely.
Right now, Yamato was controlling vines in a tug-of-war against chains. Those black rods were chakra transmission controllers, used to operate the Six Paths of Pain. As long as a single rod was removed, even if the "Pain" bodies could still move, their control would become unstable.
Simply put, the puppet techniques they usually saw used chakra threads, which were wired.
This was wireless.
And the black rods were the wireless signal devices.
So pulling out the rods was absolutely necessary.
But Obito began his classic villain monologue. "These black rods aren't the same as Pain's before. They're connected to special chains that can absorb the chakra of whoever touches them, making that chakra unstable!"
Oh, they could absorb the chakra of anyone who touched them?
That really was useful information.
Yamato truly was grateful. It was only because he had been some distance away earlier that he had chosen to pull from afar with vines. That was the only reason he had luckily avoided touching the chains. Otherwise it really would have been dangerous.
But with that, there was no way to pull the rods out anymore, which meant they could not force the new Six Paths to go out of control.
The key point was that the new Six Paths were Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation) bodies. If they were damaged, they would automatically regenerate, so you practically couldn't fight them in any meaningful way at all.
Seeing Yagura about to regenerate fully, Yamato suddenly had no idea what the best move was.
At that moment, Shino flickered over. "Yamato, swap opponents with me. You go pin down Yugito and Roshi. I'll try this one."
"Alright!"
Yamato agreed without hesitation.
He didn't know what Shino planned to do, but he had no better option right now, so he could only trust him.
And compared to racking his brains trying to make Yagura go out of control, he was more willing to wrestle with two Edo Tensei jinchūriki.
Yamato immediately used Wood Release and sent vines snaking toward Yugito and Roshi, but one spat fire and the other spewed lava, giving him a massive headache. It really felt like Wood Release was being hard-countered.
On the other side, while Yagura had not yet fully recovered, Shino released a massive number of kikaichū (parasitic destruction insects).
Once the kikaichū entered Yagura's body, they immediately began ravenously devouring chakra and rapidly swelling in size, ripping apart the half-regenerated body in an instant. They even seemed intent on nesting and laying eggs inside him, because Edo Tensei bodies had so much chakra that the bugs could gorge and breed to their hearts' content.
Before long, Yagura's entire body had become a bug hive. He was covered from head to toe in kikaichū bigger than his own head. It looked terrifying, but it worked surprisingly well.
Because the kikaichū grew so large, Yagura's body simply could not regenerate properly. Whenever his body tried to reform, it would be bitten apart and smashed apart again, and with so much chakra being drained in the process, his regeneration slowed even further. Bit by bit, it was as if a tiny closed ecosystem had formed. The Edo Tensei body provided all the chakra. The kikaichū simply had to keep absorbing chakra and laying eggs nonstop.
And that wasn't all. The kikaichū also found the black rods in the way and started working together to pull them out.
Suddenly, there was a sharp crack. One of the black rods had actually been bitten cleanly in half by the bugs.
At that point, it became much harder for Obito to control him.
Mei was overjoyed. "Shino-kun, over here! Do the same to Fuu!"
Shino didn't hesitate for a second and immediately headed toward Fuu.
Obito panicked. Worried that the new Six Paths would lose another member, he had Han launch Shōki Ressha Geki (Steam Train Charge), and in the blink of an eye Han was barreling straight toward Mei.
What greeted him, however, was one of Chojuro's chakra blasts.
Twin Swords: Hiramekarei was no joke. Its chakra blast was powerful enough to knock back Sasuke's Susanoo. Knocking a mere jinchūriki flying was nothing.
There was still one more jinchūriki though. Utakata blew out a mass of bubbles, and just a glance was enough to see how dangerous they were.
Mei wasn't about to let them get close. She opened her mouth and spat out Yōton (Lava Release) acid, intercepting the bubbles. Sure enough, they exploded immediately, and the blast was nothing to scoff at.
By then, Shino had reached Fuu's position and started releasing kikaichū again.
Afraid that the new Six Paths would lose yet another member, Obito had no choice. He fired off Shinra Tensei (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God), blasting Shino on the spot into a swarm of scattering insects.
It was an insect clone!
Shino had been guarding against that exact move.
Seeing this, Onoki did not hesitate and unleashed Jinton (Dust Release), sending it roaring straight at Fuu.
Dust Release was what Obito feared most. Once any of the Six Paths were hit, the black rods inside them would be reduced to nothing. Even if their Edo Tensei bodies regenerated afterward, they would no longer be under his control.
So he absolutely had to stop it!
"Kamui…"
"Hakke Rokujūyon Shinkūshō (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Divine Air Palms)!"
This was exactly what Neji had been waiting for. In the instant Obito activated Kamui, his body was not intangible, making it the best possible moment to strike.
Obito jumped in shock, almost forgetting there was a Tenseigan locked onto him the whole time.
To make matters worse, he had just used Shinra Tensei, and its five-second cooldown had not ended yet. Onoki also knew how to pick his timing, forcing Obito into a nasty three-way choice.
Naturally, he chose to save himself.
He phased out again, turning intangible as he could only watch Fuu being erased into nothingness by Dust Release.
Before long, a tiny black speck appeared in the nothingness, gathering itself together like ashes swirling back into the shape of burnt paper. Slowly, it reformed into Fuu's body.
Edo Tensei could not be killed, so even being reduced to nothing by Dust Release wasn't permanent.
The good news was that the black rods inside her had vanished, and her eyes were no longer Mangekyō or Rinnegan. She was no longer under Obito's control.
The bad news was that she was still one of Kabuto's Edo Tensei summons and thus still an enemy combatant, so she had to be sealed away immediately.
Sealing techniques… anyone of a certain age knew at least a few.
Mei instantly activated a sealing technique and sealed Fuu completely.
Oh, sorry, Mei. "Certain age" wasn't meant to be calling you old in particular…
(End of Chapter)
[Get +20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 500 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]