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In an instant, a dazzling light, like a swirling vortex in the deepest part of the ocean, swallowed the vision of everyone present, as if even the perpetual dark clouds and rain curtain in the sky were covered by this single strike.
The grim air under the overcast sky was entirely filled with the heat emanating from that rotating spearhead.
Even Namikaze Minato, who had unleashed this strike, felt a strong surge of joy and excitement the moment he witnessed this scene with his own eyes.
This beam of light spear condensed seven years of his sweat and effort.
If the difficulty of integrating ordinary five-element Chakra into the Rasengan was rated from one to ten, then integrating his Specialties time-space ninjutsu Chakra into it would be at least one hundred.
Correspondingly, it possessed unparalleled and unstoppable penetrating power.
Although Namikaze Minato had never said anything after that overwhelming defeat by Sawara Kiri in the examination, deep down, he had always been striving towards Sawara Kiri, who now symbolized invincibility in the Ninja World.
This strike, even Sawara Kiri's Limitless, absolutely cannot withstand!
Namikaze Minato had such confidence!
"Boom—!!"
A dull sound echoed like a heavy hammer striking a drum.
After the incandescent glow dissipated, an extremely strong oppressive force, accompanied by violent wind and waves, instantly swept across the entire cross-section of this Amegakure high-rise tower, roaring and swirling the rain curtain.
The extreme violence entwined with ultimate penetrating power, like a giant's arrow, suddenly pierced through thousands of meters of distance behind this high-rise tower, tearing a long gash under the gloomy sky.
Nagato, still maintaining the posture of activating Shinra Tensei, stood rooted to the spot.
Yahiko and Konan, blown down by the hurricane, lay on the ground.
As the deafening sound and the overwhelming light dissipated, they suddenly regained consciousness, almost instinctively raising their heads in unison to look towards Nagato.
Immediately after, the girl's mournful cry echoed in everyone's ears:
"Nagato!!!"
Even Hanzo couldn't help but be awed by that previous strike, staring blankly at Namikaze Minato who had landed on the ground for a moment, then instinctively turned his head upon hearing the mournful cry.
What met his eyes was the red-haired young man frozen in place.
Nagato's Rinnegan seemed to look forward with some bewilderment, apparently not having expected that a divine technique like Shinra Tensei could be broken by other techniques.
On his side, a head-sized, smoothly cut hole, like a sudden texture, appeared on the surface of his body.
Unstoppable blood flow and slippery internal organs continuously leaked out from that hole, like a faucet accidentally turned on.
An unprecedented weakness and fear instantly engulfed his mind.
'Besides Sawara Kiri, are there still monsters of this level in Konoha?'
'What exactly was that strike just now?'
'Am I going to die?'
'What about Yahiko and Konan?'
'Who will stop that madwoman Uchiha Hikari?'
'I—'
Nagato had never imagined that in this instant before his death, he could have so many thoughts surge forth at once.
Until the moment Konan called out his name, these countless thoughts in Nagato's mind suddenly changed.
The previously rambling, chaotic thoughts seemed to suddenly twist into a single rope, every word, every sentence, every punctuation mark, all repeating the same thought.
—I cannot die!
Almost the instant this thought arose.
"Boom!"
The suddenly erupting Chakra engulfed his body like flames, sweeping upwards like a torch, like a surging wave, like a sky pillar, like a waterfall flowing against the sky.
At this moment, Nagato had never felt the substance of his life so clearly, and even those unfamiliar eyes connected to his visual nerves seemed to have developed a will.
And this will was connected to a distant place.
Almost instinctively, Nagato, with his eyes wide and blood flowing from his seven orifices, suddenly clapped his hands together, making a 'thwack' sound.
Driven by this strong desire to survive, which felt like a heartbeat, he shouted:
"Summoning: Outer Path Demonic Statue!"
Almost the instant he shouted the first syllable, Namikaze Minato, who had already reacted, felt a bad premonition.
It was too late to condense a second Rasengan Swift Gale Light Flash Arrow: Sixteen Forms now; in such a short time, he couldn't even finish shouting the name of the technique.
Naturally, just like in the thousands of practice sessions, Namikaze Minato threw the three-pronged Kunai in his hand at the fastest speed, and the Flying Thunder God Technique was activated almost instinctively at that moment.
Over a short distance of a dozen meters, with the throwing technique of a Jonin, the speed at which the Kunai was shot out was even much faster than the initial muzzle velocity of a bullet; the violent whistling sound was practically going to pierce one's eardrums.
But—
"Pfft!"
Just as Namikaze Minato, who had reappeared via the Flying Thunder God Technique, was holding the Kunai in mid-air and decisively plunging it into Nagato's neck.
A smile, like that of a victor, appeared on the pale face of the red-haired young man.
"Bang—!"
An extremely heavy sense of oppression suddenly, along with the unique smoke and muffled sound of a summoning, abruptly covered Namikaze Minato, making him feel as if even his brain was being crushed by some heavy object.
He instinctively turned his head, looking with his peripheral vision and perception at the colossal object that had suddenly appeared behind him.
And then, Namikaze Minato's vision was filled with a monstrous, entirely wooden, blindfolded, and gigantic figure that seemed to crush this tower—no, it was crushing it!
"Boom!"
That colossal being, whose body length alone exceeded a hundred meters, making Namikaze Minato's figure appear as tiny as an ant before it, instantly, like a mischievous child lying on fragile building blocks, tore and crushed the underlying structures as if they were brittle biscuits.
The surging dust even overwhelmed the slowly returning drizzle, with its wooden spikes on its back pointing towards the sky.
A violent roar instantly broke through the auditory limits of everyone present.
"Roar—!!!"
Behind Nagato, who stood rooted to the spot, it was as if a completely black tree had instantly grown.
Countless black rods, entirely composed of Yin-Yang Release, burst forth in clusters, growing tens to hundreds of meters in a mere instant, and connecting to that colossal creature, causing him to suddenly let out a piercing wail, inhuman in its agony.
Namikaze Minato, who was floating behind him, was startled and instinctively used Flying Thunder God to return to another designated point, looking at the scene before him with astonishment.
Not just Namikaze Minato alone.
Hanzo, Yahiko, Konan, and the unfortunate Amegakure Ninja rushing over from afar…
Everyone stared blankly at this scene.
Even Yahiko and Konan didn't know that Nagato still had such a trump card hidden.
It's just, why did the appearance of this giant statue seem a bit… familiar?
They seemed to have seen it somewhere before.
The moment this thought arose in his mind, Yahiko, whose brain was more agile, immediately found a scene from his memory.
That was the first time they were led by that woman Uchiha Hikari into a certain underground cave.
That time, they had witnessed the strongest duel in this world, or perhaps in history, between two Uchiha.
He clearly remembered that on that day, standing behind Uchiha Madara… seemed to be a monster of this very appearance.
"Nagato…?"
Yahiko couldn't help but murmur instinctively.
However, at this moment, Nagato's rationality was almost blurred by the severe pain that felt as if it would tear him apart.
But in contrast to this blurred rationality was his body, which was undergoing super-regeneration.
At this moment, his body, like an insignificant punctuation mark, was dotted upon the incredibly gigantic Outer Path Demonic Statue, gasping for breath.
However, the look in his eyes as he gazed at the ground beneath him was one of disbelief and extreme, ecstatic excitement.
From being on the verge of death one second to being invincible the next.
Such drastic ups and downs were naturally not something a normal person could instantly accept.
Not only could he not accept it.
Hanzo, who had been instantly defeated by this guy earlier, was even more unable to accept it.
"Mon—monster!!"
As the leader of Amegakure and located in the very heart of Amegakure, even with his personality, he could not tolerate retreating without a fight.
Perhaps it was battle instinct, or an unconscious desire to protect something, but Hanzo immediately completed his hand seals, summoning his colossal salamander to join the fray.
However, the venomous salamander, which normally could suppress most Ninja and stood over ten meters tall, seemed as fragile as a kitten before a brown bear in front of this monster.
"Ibuse, Poison Mist Spray!"
He roared in defiance, and Ibuse, the salamander linked to his life, was indeed brave enough.
Deep purple poisonous mist, compressed by its bulging cheeks, swept like a venomous dragon across the Outer Path Demonic Statue's massive body.
"Poof—!"
Unfortunately, their full-power attack was like someone spitting on the ankle of the monster before them.
It had no offensive power, but it was incredibly insulting.
Nagato glanced in his direction.
The next moment, the mountain-like monster suddenly raised its hand towards the salamander.
A shadow comparable to the sky immediately enveloped his entire vision.
Hanzo's pupils suddenly constricted.
At this moment, he couldn't care about anything else; he leaped vigorously to the side, rolling dozens of meters away.
When that giant palm fell, whether it was Ibuse beneath his feet or the fragile Amegakure high-rise further below, they were all crushed into a muddy pulp like tofu.
Even Hanzo himself, who had leaped far away, was pushed back by the powerful wind generated by the blow, slamming heavily into a collapsed wall and spitting out a mouthful of blood.
However, before he could even catch his breath.
Following the descending giant palm, countless waves immediately surged from the bottom of the earth's soil layers, as if some distorted creature was rapidly crawling beneath the ground at an incredible speed.
Hanzo, already weakened from his second injury, was at the end of his rope.
Even though his eyes had already detected the danger, his heavy, aging body prevented him from reacting in time; his body merely rolled to the side out of instinct.
"Puff puff puff—!"
Countless root-like thorns suddenly emerged from where he had just landed, shooting out in all directions, piercing through large chunks of surrounding rubble as soon as they appeared.
Despite Hanzo's best efforts to dodge, a wooden thorn still struck his thigh.
The sudden surge of pain made him instinctively look down; it was clearly just a normal penetrating wound, yet a strong sense of danger suddenly rose in his heart.
As expected.
Nagato, standing atop the Outer Path Demonic Statue, raised two fingers and bellowed:
"Wood Transfusion Technique."
"Sizzle sizzle sizzle!"
Centered around that single wooden thorn, dozens, even hundreds, of wooden thorns grew rapidly, drilling through everything around them like a sea urchin.
Hanzo's body suddenly stiffened.
Head, torso, waist, thighs...
His entire body was impaled like a porcupine.
The generation's powerhouse, once renowned as invincible, who had rampaged during the Second Shinobi World War, making the Fire, Earth, and Wind Nations wary, and who had enjoyed considerable fame throughout the Ninja World, died silently.
Namikaze Minato, on the other side, didn't even have time to spare him a glance.
"Whoosh!"
Darts of three-pronged Kunai shot out at lightning speed towards various corners, doing their utmost to avoid the large areas covered by the Outer Path Demonic Statue's attacks, forming a circle around its massive body as much as possible.
This was Amegakure, not Konoha.
Therefore, Namikaze Minato naturally had no obligation to protect the Amegakure villagers.
So the measures this Ninja World's fastest Ninja could take were naturally much more flexible than when he faced the Nine-Tails in the original timeline.
At this moment, the golden figure flickered like an illusionary light under the gloomy rain, constantly moving around the colossal monster, trying to find a weak point on its surface.
The Outer Path Demonic Statue, controlled by Nagato, was also like a cat playing with a mouse, constantly rotating its body, striking and sweeping its tail in various corners of the ruins, trying to uncover Namikaze Minato's figure and crush him in one go.
And, he was clearly more urgent than Namikaze Minato.
The reason was simple.
Nagato pressed his lips together, his face pale as he watched the constantly moving man.
Every second after summoning the Outer Path Demonic Statue, he was consuming an incredible amount of Chakra.
If he couldn't quickly eliminate this bastard...
At this thought, Nagato's heart hardened, and he spread his hands.
"Bansho Ten'in!"
"Sealing Technique Absorption Seal!"
"Soul Extraction Dragon!"
Maintaining the Outer Path Demonic Statue while simultaneously casting three different Ninjutsu.
Almost the moment he shouted these three names, thick, distorted, worm-like blood vessels bulged on Nagato's forehead, and faint blood streaks subtly appeared in his pale purple Rinnegan.
In contrast, there was an extremely efficient sealing ability.
As soon as Bansho Ten'in was cast, Namikaze Minato immediately felt as if he was being pulled by chains, flying towards Nagato at an incredible speed.
His reaction was extremely fast; the moment his body was captured by gravity, he completed the Flying Thunder God Chakra activation seal.
Just as he was about to break free from the restraint, he suddenly realized that his well-honed Chakra operation trajectory was abruptly affected by some subtle interference, momentarily pausing.
His nerves suddenly tensed.
The next moment, a snake-like, dragon-like shadow had already shot out from the Outer Path Demonic Statue's abyssal maw towards him.
The winding dragon shape had no physical form; it was entirely composed of Chakra.
And precisely because of this, the speed at which the dragon-shaped Chakra shot out exceeded the reaction limits of most Ninja.
However, this was clearly not Namikaze Minato's limit.
"Whoosh!"
Even if the Flying Thunder God didn't materialize, in terms of Body Flicker Technique alone, Namikaze Minato was one of the fastest in the Ninja World.
Despite still resisting the strong gravitational pull, Namikaze Minato's body actually slid dozens of meters across the flat ground, and then, with another Flying Thunder God leap, instantly jumped hundreds of meters further away.
"Hoo hoo..."
Namikaze Minato knelt on one knee atop an Amegakure high-rise, gazing into the distance at the Outer Path Demonic Statue, a wry smile appearing on his handsome face.
"Seriously, I messed up."
"I didn't expect there to be such a master hidden in the Ninja World."
He sighed, looking quite helpless as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a strange-looking talisman.
Although there were other ways to deal with the opponent, to resolve it quickly, he still needed to rely on this item.
This was a new creation that Orochimaru had developed two years ago, primarily functioning to seal 'information' that had once existed within a certain spatial range, using a space-time locking method—reportedly, it was a technique replicated from Ryumakyu information.
Due to the precious materials required, the extremely complex process, and the massive consumption of human and material resources, only a few of these had been made over the past two years.
Sealed within the talisman in Namikaze Minato's hand was a full-power attack from Sawara Kiri.
Minato's wry smile grew even more pronounced, perhaps thinking of something.
"Ultimately, I still have to rely on your strength..."
"It's truly shameful."
However, by the time he stood up again, the helplessness on Namikaze Minato's face had transformed into serene calm.
He stood up straight, gazing into the distance at the Outer Path Demonic Statue.
Nagato evidently also spotted him, controlling the colossal Outer Path Demonic Statue to turn around and abruptly raise its hand towards the direction he was standing.
Then, Namikaze Minato was seen raising his hand as well.
The square talisman stood still without wind, firmly locked within the narrow spatial range in front of Namikaze Minato, solidified as if glued.
Watching this scene, Nagato's heart was suddenly filled with an unprecedented fear, though he didn't know why.
However, the information presented within his sensory range was completely contradictory—he couldn't feel any Chakra fluctuations within Namikaze Minato's body.
The blond man looked at the floating talisman before him, forming a sword with his fingers.
He made a horizontal slash.
Namikaze Minato's voice, along with the 'information' transmitted from the talisman, resonated in parallel; his figure seemed to overlap with Sawara Kiri, who stood atop a mountain in that information, pointing forward with his fingertips, and speaking in unison:
"Shatter."
"Mountain Tremor, Tomorrow's Fuel."
Nagato looked up in a daze, gazing at the figure standing atop the tower, and the brilliant light reflected behind him.
At that moment, the sky was torn apart.
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