"You shouldn't greet someone with a Tailed Beast Ball like that."
As the smoke and dust gradually cleared, visibility returned.
The Iwagakure ninjas, already on edge like birds startled by a bowstring, looked up at the sound and were stunned to see a young man hovering midair.
With bright red hair and an upright posture, he revealed a unique, never-before-seen pupil.
"Is that Akatsuki's leader, Nagato?"
Rōshi immediately assumed a defensive stance. Even under the moonlight, he recognized Nagato right away.
It could only be because Nagato's appearance was simply too distinctive.
What puzzled Rōshi most was why Nagato had stopped short of continuing his attack.
"Congrats—you got it right."
"Shame there's no prize for that."
Nagato gave a casual shrug, making it clear he didn't take the Iwagakure ninjas seriously at all.
"This is the one who defeated the Hokage?"
"What kind of bizarre jutsu was that just now?"
"Lord Rōshi and Kitsuchi were both blown away!"
...
Scared Iwa ninja screamed silently in their hearts as fear slowly spread among them.
Some nervously swallowed hard, while others shook so badly their legs nearly gave out.
With just one move, Nagato had already become an extreme threat in their eyes.
"Why have you come unprovoked to invade our Land of Earth?"
Kitsuchi had taken some injuries—blood trickled down his forehead, but he didn't dare wipe it away, giving him a rather battered appearance.
"Hmm… If you absolutely must have a reason."
"How about… we just don't care much for your Land of Earth?"
Nagato paused thoughtfully before giving what sounded like a joke answer.
"Nonsense! Are you treating us like three-year-olds?"
Rōshi instantly flew into a rage, feeling his intelligence had been severely insulted.
"No, no, no—I'd give you credit for maybe five or six years old."
That mocking tone from Nagato's lips pushed Rōshi past his limit.
"Die then!"
Roaring furiously, Rōshi pushed off with all four limbs, rocketing skyward like a missile. The sheer force left four deep cracks where he had launched from.
His appearance began changing again.
Ending his half-Tailed Beast form, molten lava completely enveloped Rōshi's body, significantly enhancing both offensive power and defense.
After witnessing Tsunade's strength firsthand, Rōshi immediately activated his Lava Release: Chakra Mode.
"Combining one's own abilities with Tailed Beast chakra—actually kind of impressive."
Nagato showed no intention of dodging and even gave Rōshi a critical evaluation.
[Earth Release: Stone Dragon Technique]!
"Forget about us—go handle the other Akatsuki ninjas!"
Seeing Rōshi attack, Kitsuchi wasted no time either, shouting commands behind him while forming hand seals.
As an enormous earth dragon roared and lunged toward Nagato's back, the Iwa ninja had no more time to think and charged forward accordingly.
"Well then, let me play with you a bit."
Nagato paid no mind to those insignificant Iwa lackeys. Nonou might not be especially strong, but she was no ordinary opponent for regular ninja.
Slightly sidestepping, he raised one palm outward—and the charging earthen dragon struck an invisible barrier, unable to advance another inch toward Nagato.
Right before Kitsuchi's eyes, it swiftly shrank and disappeared completely in an instant.
"Wha—?"
Kitsuchi's face was filled with shock. Even though he had heard about Nagato absorbing the Tailed Beast Ball before, witnessing it in person was still hard to believe.
If ninjutsu had no effect, how could they keep fighting?
At that moment, however, Rōshi bared his teeth in a savage grin. His fist was already inches from Nagato's face.
He believed that in the next second, this annoying, arrogant kid would be smashed into the ground by his iron fist.
He could already picture Nagato's battered form, blood all over his face.
"You're getting too cocky too soon."
Nagato suddenly turned his head, and Rōshi's expression changed drastically.
How could such a short distance suddenly feel like an unbridgeable chasm?
Before Kitsuchi could fully recover from his shock, he once again felt overwhelmed.
Rōshi's lava-covered fist was tightly gripped by a mechanical arm, unable to break free.
Another mechanical arm clamped down on his neck, pain flashing across his face.
But it wasn't over yet— one mechanical arm split open upward, and from the gap, several wires shot out, wrapping tightly around Rōshi.
At that moment, Kitsuchi couldn't begin to describe what he was feeling.
It was bad enough that Rōshi's attack had no effect, but how did it end up feeling like he'd just walked straight into someone else's trap?
"Is this really your limit?"
Nagato cast a glance at Kitsuchi, then fixed Rōshi with a cold stare.
Following Nagato's command, the mechanical arms loosened their grip on Rōshi's fist and transformed into a cannon barrel pointed directly at Rōshi's forehead.
The massive amount of chakra gathering inside the barrel and the flickering light within made Rōshi smell death—his own.
"Is the gap really this big?"
"He's just absurdly strong."
"This is still the power of a human being?"
Rōshi had never felt death this close before—the last shreds of confidence in his heart nearly crumbling away.
[Earth Release: Rock-Cutting Slash.]
As the cannon barrel prepared to fire, Kitsuchi's hands moved faster than ever before, breaking past his own limits.
Several massive slashes made of rock tore toward Nagato at incredible speed.
A faint, unreadable smile crossed Nagato's face as two mechanical arms were instantly severed—a look Rōshi couldn't comprehend.
Cut off from its power source, the cannon barrel dimmed as it tumbled downward.
Having barely escaped with his life, Rōshi had no way to regain his footing and plummeted toward the ground.
"This~"
Kitsuchi seemed slightly disbelieving, as if he had actually succeeded.
Could it be that the jutsu absorption ability has a cooldown period?
Oh...!
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"You actually escaped."
"But there won't be a next time… I promise."
Nagato indifferently retracted his damaged mechanical arms, completely unharmed himself.
"It's possible his absorption ability has a cooldown period."
Kitsuchi rejoined Rōshi and quickly put some distance between them and Nagato.
"Really???"
Rōshi's spirits lifted—he had no intention of trying taijutsu again.
That suffocating grip around his throat, constantly teetering on the edge of death—he never wanted to feel that again.
"I can't be sure."
"But my jutsu worked just now. I thought you…"
Kitsuchi didn't finish his sentence, but Rōshi understood perfectly well.
If Nagato's absorption ability didn't have a cooldown period, Kitsuchi's Earth Release technique would've already turned him into a corpse.
The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. A flicker of confidence returned in Rōshi's heart.
But how could they know? This was all an illusion—Nagato had been intentionally holding back.
If everyone were killed here, the true victor would be the Cloud Ninja Village—an outcome Kawaki absolutely wanted to avoid.
Before the battle, Kawaki had clearly instructed Nagato that they needed to force Cloud to focus all their attention on Iwagakure.
Otherwise, with Nagato's power, dealing with just Kitsuchi and Rōshi would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
It might be an exaggeration to claim he could decide precisely how they died, but one thing was certain—they wouldn't walk away alive.
"Since you two aren't making any moves, I guess I'll have to take the initiative then."
Nagato also feared that if he held back too obviously, it would raise suspicion—after all, no one simply defended without counterattacking.
[Composite Ninjutsu: Lightning-Water Gun Wave.]
After completing the complex hand seals, Nagato opened his mouth and spat out a massive wave of water infused with lightning chakra.
An enormous torrent, enough to form a lake, crashed down toward Rōshi and Kitsuchi.
Water Release beats Fire Release, and Lightning Release counters Earth Release. The only option left for Rōshi and Kitsuchi was to evade desperately.
Despite their best efforts, they barely escaped unscathed as the blast reached them.
Upon contact, their bodies went numb, their chakra thrown into chaos. Even the molten rock coating Rōshi dulled significantly.
Enduring the pain, both men stumbled out of the water blast's range.
They hadn't even caught their breath before Nagato appeared right in front of them.
With tremendous force, he kicked Kitsuchi so hard it nearly made him spit blood, sending him flying far until dust rose from where he landed.
Rōshi fared slightly better—he blocked Nagato's roundhouse kick with crossed arms and only slid back a dozen steps.
Seeing this, Nagato couldn't help feeling proud; he was quite satisfied with his own taijutsu performance.
In truth, this was actually out of necessity. He genuinely feared accidentally killing them if he used ninjutsu carelessly.
Compared to that, taijutsu gave him much better control over the level of force he applied.
As Nagato continued his "battle" with Rōshi, Nonou had already engaged with the Akatsuki ninja and Iwa shinobi.
She also intentionally held back, leaving herself free to aid any endangered Akatsuki members when needed.
While this fight raged intensely, the Fourth Raikage A had quietly returned to the ship from the Land of Earth.
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