"Hmph, so you just let your subordinates go to their deaths?"
"Konoha ninjas are as cold-blooded as ever."
Hearing the Asura Path Pain's merciless mockery, Naruto's face showed no anger at all.
While slowly approaching his opponent, he explained with a smile:
"First, I'm no longer a Konoha ninja, and those two aren't my subordinates."
As he spoke, Naruto rolled up his sleeves.
"Second, I have full confidence in them. This level of opponent can't threaten them."
By the time he finished speaking, Naruto had already reached within five meters of the Asura Path Pain.
"Finally, rather than worrying about them, you'd better worry more about yourself."
"Do you think you're safe?"
Before his opponent could react, Naruto's palm pressed against those three faces, then his muscles exerted force and suddenly embedded the Pain into the floor.
Blade strikes hit Naruto's body, producing metallic collision sounds.
Even the Asura Path's large tail couldn't pierce Naruto's skin.
Compared to this "combat cyborg," Naruto looked more like a weapon forged from steel.
Bang!
Because he deliberately held back his strength, this punch only dented the opponent's head inward without directly destroying the body.
"Speaking of which, there's someone in your organization with Sharingan, right? Can you tell me where he is?"
The Asura Path had no intention of answering, only struggling and counterattacking, but unfortunately it was all futile.
His attacks meant nothing to Naruto.
"Ah, really uncooperative. Fine, I'll chat slowly after I find your main body."
Meanwhile, in the power room below.
"Great Body Golden Thousand Feathers!"
Golden feathers shot downward like they cost nothing, saturated fire covering that suspicious device and Shinnō.
Whether Shinnō or Zero-Tails, when facing such pure physical attacks without chakra, neither could ignore them.
The feather damage accumulated quickly, covering the man below with wounds.
But even with half his head shaved off, Shinnō still stood there properly, showing no signs of falling.
"It's useless!" Shinnō shouted defiantly, his wounds already beginning to heal.
His and Zero-Tails' wounds recovered at extreme speed.
At the same time, this old man was secretly alarmed by the transformations Karin and Sasuke had displayed.
He had never seen this kind of ability before.
Although the devices could extract some chakra that leaked from the two, as long as they didn't use ninjutsu, this amount of chakra couldn't even complete one healing cycle.
Damn it, what are these two? When did Konoha have such power?
As a participant in the Second Great Ninja War, Shinnō naturally recognized Jiraiya, though whether Jiraiya recognized him was another matter.
After all, during that period Jiraiya was still fighting alongside Tsunade and Orochimaru against Salamander Hanzō of the Rain Country, earning the title of "Sannin."
Meanwhile, Shinnō's Sky Ninjas had been gloriously eliminated in their first conflict.
Seeing that Karin's attacks yielded no real results, Sasuke jumped out from the side.
"Let me handle this."
"You—"
Karin was somewhat indignant, but Sasuke couldn't be bothered waiting for her response and jumped down on his own.
His bent legs stepped on the ground, and direct contact resulted in the absorbing force from Zero-Tails suddenly strengthening.
Shinnō was somewhat surprised. Why did this guy directly give up his terrain advantage and come down to die?
Sasuke also felt that chakra-absorbing force, but his face showed no worry.
"Like to absorb? Then let you absorb your fill!"
Black-red Calamity Fire instantly erupted from his body, sweeping in all directions.
Contaminated inanimate objects rapidly began to decay and age, while Shinnō and Zero-Tails felt soul-deep agony.
"Ahhhhh!"
Pain drove Shinnō to launch a fierce attack on Sasuke, a Super Activity Fist moving extremely fast as it struck Sasuke's body.
Smack!
A giant claw steadily caught this punch, and the lower half of Sasuke's face that remained human also showed a smile.
"Doesn't hurt at all."
This was naturally false.
Even after eating a Zoan Devil Fruit, Sasuke's body wasn't nearly as "inhuman" strong as Naruto's, able to completely ignore Shinnō's power.
But this level of damage was just right for Sasuke.
The feedback from "Karma" caused Sasuke's strength and speed to surge again.
Sharp claw tips traced a perfect arc in mid-air; Calamity Fire attached to the claw blades, directly drilling into Shinnō's flesh through the opened wounds.
"Ahhhhh!!"
That was even more painful torment than before. The Zero-Tails behind him also fell into madness, countless black arms extending from its body, trying to grab Sasuke.
But timely waterfall-like feather torrents flew down from above, cutting them off one by one.
Zero-Tails' regeneration was fast, but Karin's feathers seemed endless too. This was the power of a Mythical Zoan.
Seeming to understand that it couldn't deal with Sasuke without eliminating Karin above, Zero-Tails very "humanely" changed targets.
Then that mask split open with a large mouth, and a purple-black beam of Dark Chakra shot out.
"Bright King Unbreakable!"
Karin in mid-air directly used her wings to block in front, her entire form curling into a brilliantly golden sphere.
The beam struck Karin in this state, only managing to push her back slightly, but couldn't break her defense at all.
"It shouldn't be like this! Impossible!"
"Things shouldn't be this way!"
Whether stimulated to madness by severe pain or unable to accept impending defeat, Shinnō's twisted old face began showing hysteria.
Slash. Another claw strike tore open his upper body. This time Shinnō made no defense, enduring the pain to launch a counterattack against Sasuke.
Bang!
This punch hit Sasuke's head squarely, sending his entire form flying back.
The two-to-three-meter giant crashed straight into the wall.
Shinnō immediately let out a strange cry, leaping high to deliver a finishing blow.
But Sasuke, whose output increased with heavier injuries, got up first and instead threw a punch at the airborne Shinnō.
"Eight Impact Fist - Wolf Pierce!"
A fist carrying invisible waves hit Shinnō, then that force transformed into pack after pack of fierce wolves "tearing" at Shinnō's internal organs.
This was a variant jutsu Sasuke had developed for himself after combining his Misfortune Wolf transformation with deep comprehension of Eight Impact Fist.
Its damage was extremely high, and it almost ignored defense.
If hit carelessly, even the current Naruto would feel pain.
Shinnō spun through the air, spurting blood toward the control console behind him.
Crack. The control console was directly smashed apart by Shinnō's impact, then electric sparks and Dark Chakra quickly enveloped him.
In an instant, Zero-Tails and Shinnō's screams echoed throughout the control room.
But Naruto, still punching the Asura Path Pain above, seemed to sense something and frowned.
"Jiraiya-sensei, reminiscing should be about done, right?"
"Time to get to business."
After speaking, he stopped holding back and punched through the Asura Path's chest.
Then, as if unsatisfied, he directly formed his hand into a blade and cut off the Asura Path Pain's head in one stroke.