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According to Sawara Kiri, this was the true name of this attack.
A world-destroying arrow capable of toppling even a divine mountain.
Namikaze Minato had once witnessed the power of this attack. Even Sawara Kiri had to go all out, relying on it as one of his trump cards, burning his entire Chakra to unleash it. It was comparable to Kushina's Biju Bomb, even surpassing it.
Now, such an attack was once again reproduced in his hands.
The brilliant light, like a meteor, pierced through hundreds of meters of rain, instantly igniting the dark clouds. It tore through the sky, filling the vision of everyone present.
Namikaze Minato looked down at the massive, god-like figure beneath Nagato's feet. Even such a colossal entity inexplicably appeared small and fragile before this attack.
At this relatively high speed, the gigantic Outer Path Demonic Statue could not even make the simplest defensive movements.
Nagato, purely by instinct and stimulated by an extreme sense of crisis, exploded with all his Chakra, pouring it into the Outer Path Demonic Statue beneath his feet. This ignited the immense vitality hidden within it, causing countless tree trunks and branches to suddenly sprout from its feet like living organisms, climbing onto its body, forming armor and shields, firmly blocking in front of him.
If Uchiha Madara could have seen this scene at this moment, he would likely have been filled with emotion.
These familiar scenes would surely evoke memories of his past battles with Hashirama, whether it was the Wood Dragon wrapped around his body or the giant wooden golem that could single-handedly block the Biju Bomb unleashed by Susanoo's Nine-Tails. These were all sights he had witnessed before.
However, these wooden forms, which were enough to block the Nine-Tails and tear apart Susanoo's armor, melted instantly like candles encountering an open flame under the brilliant light before them.
This was true for both the main body of the Outer Path Demonic Statue beneath Nagato's feet and the shields on his body's surface.
"Boom—!"
A deafening roar and ripples strong enough to rupture the organs of most ordinary people at close range suddenly spread from the point of impact, forming echoing white ring waves.
Yahiko lay on the ground with difficulty, his hands and feet clinging to the surging earth with Chakra. However, in this god-like confrontation, even the hard and heavy earth flowed violently like ocean waves.
But as comrades, how could they stop at such a time?
After only a two or three second pause.
Once the first wave of the surging air current had passed, Yahiko immediately braved the second, nascent ring wave, advancing against the current towards Nagato and the Outer Path Demonic Statue.
He was not the only one with such determination; Konan also followed him steadfastly.
Just as the two of them, enduring the billowing dust and holding their breath, broke through the mist-like ring wave before them, the world before their eyes suddenly cleared.
However, clear vision brought not only precise information but also pure despair.
Almost the instant he broke through the ring wave, Yahiko had already raised his head.
But his voice suddenly trembled involuntarily.
"This, what exactly is this…"
What kind of scene appeared before him?
The mountain-like demonic giant maintained its rampant posture of advancing forward, with high-rise buildings beneath its feet easily flattened like crushed building blocks. The long spikes protruding from its limbs and back seemed to pierce the sky, and its massive body, hundreds of meters in size, was utterly unstoppable—even Nagato himself needed to stake all his Chakra to control such an unparalleled monster.
However, such a giant statue was now rigidly sprawled on the ground.
It still maintained its forward posture, its left giant arm extended forward, as if trying to touch something.
Only, from its head, and extending straight back along its neck bones, chest, and spine, all the way to the very edge of the vision at the end—
A canyon, smooth and long, as if erased by an eraser from thin air?
Yahiko, usually quick-witted, suddenly found himself at a loss for words when trying to describe this shocking scene.
He suddenly didn't know what words to use to express the unparalleled shock he felt at this moment.
Before he could recover, Konan, beside him, reacted first:
"Nagato?!"
She instinctively cried out, simultaneously completing her hand seals. Paper birds, formed from paper, spread their wings, instantly lifting their bodies and soaring higher into the sky.
At this moment, Yahiko also immediately reacted.
It was only after a moment that the grave expression on his face suddenly changed, and he looked deeper into the Outer Path Demonic Statue, towards the core obscured by another giant hand.
There, the red-haired figure lay on the verge of death, eyes tightly closed.
"Konan!"
Ignoring the wild joy in his heart, Yahiko immediately shouted to his side.
At this moment, he didn't need to say anything more; Konan had already manipulated the paper birds beneath her feet to spread their wings and dive downwards.
However, their opponent was not to be trifled with either.
Even before Yahiko and Konan flew into the sky, Namikaze Minato had already plunged down from the high tower.
It was just that due to the aftermath of their clash earlier, most of the trident Kunai that had been shot around were blown away by the wind, completely losing their positioning. He could only rely on the Body Flicker Technique to cover the several hundred meters distance.
However, even so, his speed was still a step faster than Yahiko and Konan.
More importantly, he was a standard sensory type.
From the very beginning, Namikaze Minato had pinpointed the location of Nagato's faint Chakra.
"Whoosh—!"
The iconic trident Kunai streaked through the air.
"Buzz!"
The golden spear, spiraling and capable of withstanding even Shinra Tensei, once again reflected in the center of Yahiko and Konan's vision.
"Flying Thunder God Technique!"
"How could I let you succeed?!"
This time, Konan, who already had experience, completely ignored everything else. She directly manipulated large numbers of paper birds, converging them towards the trident Kunai being shot into the air.
"Explode!"
"Boom boom boom boom boom"
Dense explosions and expanding light and fire instantly engulfed the short hundred-meter distance between Namikaze Minato and Nagato.
Yahiko, on the other hand, leaped directly down from dozens of meters in the air, falling towards Nagato's location with a reckless abandon, like a leap of faith.
"Bang!!"
A hard landing for a human body.
At this moment, he completely disregarded the battle raging behind him. He forcefully dragged Nagato, who had consumed a massive amount of Chakra to deflect the previous attack, was bleeding from all seven orifices, and whose breathing was faint, out from the fissure.
Immediately after, he heard himself roar, "Zetsu! Get out here!"
"I know you're still watching!"
"Take Nagato away!"
As expected.
Almost the instant he shouted those words, a figure split into black and white squeezed out from the body of the Outer Path Demonic Statue with a deceptively slow speed, and said mockingly:
"Oh my, oh my."
"You're asking for help, yet you still have this attitude?"
"This is truly…"
Black Zetsu's words were cut short as his expression suddenly hardened.
"Whoosh—"
The figure, who had been confronting Konan through the smoke just a second ago, abruptly pierced through space, brushing past Konan's figure as if intertwining, and flashed behind the girl.
"Flying Thunder God: Second Step."
Those clear eyes narrowed slightly, staring at the figure emerging from the Outer Path Demonic Statue's surface.
"So, it was you who has been watching us all along?"
A look of astonishment involuntarily appeared on Zetsu's black and white face.
He seemed to have never considered the possibility of being discovered.
However, before he could say anything.
Namikaze Minato's golden spiral short spear, like a lightning spear, had already shot towards the three of them.
"Spiral Rasengan: Sixteen Forms!!"
Piercing through space.
The instant before he made his move, Yahiko couldn't think of anything. Almost instinctively, he hugged the already unconscious Nagato and rolled over to the other side. Black Zetsu's body tried to dive deep into the Outer Path Demonic Statue's body like a diver.
Unfortunately, the speed of this spatial spiral spear was far faster than any of them had imagined.
Suddenly, an arc of light seemed to cut through the straight distance between them.
Yahiko, still in a rolling posture, felt a searing pain in his left elbow and left abdomen. Nagato, whom he held in his arms, had half of his shoulder blown off. Finally, the stream of light directly pierced through Zetsu's head at the very end.
At that instant, the upper half of the head, composed of black and white, was completely obliterated by the extreme heat in one go. Even his diving motion paused for a moment, and he fell to the ground with a thud.
"You, you bastard—"
At this moment, Konan had just completed her turn.
Witnessing everything that happened in that brief moment, the girl felt as if the sky was falling, and a sharp shriek suddenly burst from her mouth.
—One dead, two incapacitated by severe blood loss, one planned for continued capture.
Namikaze Minato's mind was still calmly assessing the situation up to this point.
That black and white guy gave him a considerable sense of pressure, and his stealth methods were unheard of. If he hadn't been exceptionally sensitive to spatial ripples, he probably wouldn't have noticed the subtle movements when he appeared.
Relatively speaking, this very impulsive young woman seemed much easier to deal with.
Namikaze Minato silently planned—his super-high reaction ability also brought him a thinking speed far beyond ordinary people.
Indeed.
The moment he recovered and raised the trident Kunai in his hand, Konan in front of him seemed to have jammed her paper blade onto his trident's prongs herself, perfectly completing the downward strike.
Namikaze Minato stepped forward, raising the blade in his right hand high while spreading the five fingers of his left hand, igniting Chakra flames at his fingertips in preparation for a sealing jutsu.
However, there are always some people in this world who defy all normal expectations.
For example, Sawara Kiri, and also Black Zetsu.
Almost the same instant he turned around.
The headless corpse, which had just fallen with a 'thud,' suddenly brought its hands together in front of its chest, forming an unusual hand seal.
Even Yahiko, upon seeing this scene, instinctively widened his eyes.
A chilling, muffled voice, emanating from an unknown source.
"Mayfly Jutsu."
In just an instant, invisible spatial ripples spread in all directions, turning into surging waves.
Namikaze Minato's gaze was astonished as he noticed this abnormal fluctuation.
Zetsu's lower face silently revealed a sarcastic smile.
Let me show you.
The survival ability of a thousand-year-old Conspirer.
Mayfly Jutsu, a unique infiltration jutsu that appears to allow one to merge into earth, plants, water, and air, and to pass through barriers, seals, walls, and any other obstacles.
Anyone who had ever witnessed this secret technique had tried to understand its principles more than once and had come up with various conjectures.
But only Black Zetsu himself knew.
This was a spatial Ninjutsu that only he could perform.
However, occasionally, this Ninjutsu could also take other companions along for the ride.
Just as he had taken the aged Uchiha Madara to various parts of the world, and as in another timeline, he had taken Uchiha Obito to infiltrate various Villages silently and pass through various barriers.
Almost the instant this voice fell.
The figures of Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan all rapidly vanished into the depths of invisible space at a speed visible to Namikaze Minato's naked eye.
Namikaze Minato's gaze suddenly sharpened.
Almost entirely instinctively, he simultaneously shot a trident Kunai in the direction of the three.
At the same time, he himself reached out with both hands towards Konan, who was closest to him.
"Flying Thunder God: Guiding Lightning!"
"Buzz—!"
The collision between spatial flows erupted invisibly, with only a brief, piercing hum echoing in Konan's ears, making her dizzy.
It was only when her body was about to be completely distorted into a pretzel by the two opposing spatial flows that Black Zetsu seemed to let out a displeased 'tsk,' and voluntarily released some of the restriction.
Next moment.
"Whoosh!"
The other three figures all vanished into the depths of space.
Only Namikaze Minato remained silently in place, his gaze unusually heavy, gripping Konan's neck with one hand.
He turned his head, looking back at the central area of Hidden Rain Village, which had been turned into a wasteland by their battle, and at Hanzo, who was pinned to the ground in the distance, clearly a porcupine and no longer alive. Finally, he slowly let out a breath.
"Did the mission fail…?"
"These guys are truly too dangerous."
"I need to report this information to the Village quickly."
"Also…"
Namikaze Minato frowned slightly, looking down at the young woman who had already fainted in his hand: "I wonder if Kiri has any way to extract information from this guy's mind."
"What did you say you encountered?!"
Sawara Kiri, who had been quietly sitting at one side of the conference table, head down, filling out the quarterly report and only half-listening to the briefing, suddenly sat bolt upright.
He looked at Namikaze Minato with an extremely subtle gaze.
Minato was also startled at his words and instinctively repeated:
"…A small group affiliated with the Moon Organization, calling themselves Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan."
Then, as if he had come to a realization, he looked at his friend across from him with renewed spirit.
"Kiri, you've been keeping an eye on these guys all along, haven't you?"
"…"
"Something like that, I suppose."
Although Sawara Kiri had long since given up any hope that the plot would develop normally.
But when he heard news related to the Nagato trio in the Konoha 48th year, specifically that the trio had defeated Hanzo, and then Minato had single-handedly defeated them, his mood was still very subtle.
Indeed.
This world had gone completely haywire since his appearance.
Sawara Kiri sighed inwardly, wondering if this outcome was good or bad.
However, after briefly composing himself, he asked again:
"Then, who was the prisoner you just mentioned?"
"Konan."
Namikaze Minato said in a deep voice, "She's currently locked in the dungeon and has been handed over to the interrogation team… I hope we can get some useful information."
"These three guys this time are very difficult to deal with."
"Konan, dungeon, interrogation…"
Sawara Kiri sat upright at his desk, his fingers clasped together under his chin, his gaze calm.
"In any case, take me to see her first."
"That would be great!"
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