The water vapor spreading across the sea gradually dissipated, and the environment on the sea surface was visible once again. The Deva Path looked around, his brows furrowed, having failed to find any trace of the enemy for a long time.
"Did they escape?"
The Deva Path muttered to himself, a hint of disappointment in his eyes.
The fact that Jiraiya was able to find the Land of Rain indicated that he had gained a certain understanding of the Akatsuki organization.
For them, keeping Jiraiya and the others in the Land of Rain would naturally be the ideal solution. Even if they couldn't continue to hide the location of their base, weakening the strength of the Konoha ninja would be a great thing, beneficial for the future.
However, if Jiraiya were to escape successfully, Akatsuki would undoubtedly be put in an extremely passive situation. While Nagato was very confident in his own strength, he still held some "awe" towards the power of the Five Great Nations; otherwise, Akatsuki wouldn't need to develop in silence.
If Jiraiya escaped, it was foreseeable that Akatsuki's future living environment would become difficult. Konoha would certainly try every means to investigate the Land of Rain, putting immense pressure on their rule.
Now that he thought about it... It was necessary to prepare some countermeasures.
"Let's go, we're returning!" The Deva Path, after waiting for a long time on the sea surface, suddenly spoke. He wasn't talking to the other puppets, but to "Uchiha Madara," who was hidden in the darkness.
As he spoke, the puppets turned around and headed towards the Amegakure (Village Hidden in Rain).
However, just as they were about to leave, the calm sea surface suddenly surged, raising waves several meters high that swept down toward the Paths of Pain.
"Hmm!?"
Sensing the movement behind him, the Deva Path paused his steps and murmured. Turning around, he saw Jiraiya riding the crest of the wave straight toward them. Compared to their first encounter, Jiraiya's appearance and aura had undergone a massive change.
Parts of Jiraiya's body had undergone a toad transformation; his hands had turned into webbed feet, the oil paint on his face became thick, and many wart-like blemishes appeared on his usually clean face, while his eyes had transformed into toad eyes. At the same time, two small, elderly toads now stood on his shoulders. The aura of the one man and two toads was completely linked in the Deva Path's perception, their energies perfectly merged into one.
Moreover, the Deva Path could clearly sense an overwhelming pressure emanating from Jiraiya. As he rode the wave closer, it caused the Deva Path to tightly furrow his brow.
"Jiraiya-sensei... what is the meaning of this ugly appearance?"
This was the first time the Deva Path had addressed Jiraiya as "Sensei" since their first meeting. Even as he spoke, the Deva Path reached out towards the incoming wave and immediately activated Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push).
"Boom!!!!"
The towering giant wave was instantly halted, as if it had struck an invisible wall, its forward momentum abruptly suppressed. Jiraiya, already in Sage Mode, also stumbled, feeling a terrifying, repulsive force strike his body.
The momentum of the wave instantly stalled, and Jiraiya fell from the wave crest the moment he was struck by the terrifying repulsion, disappearing from everyone's sight.
Being attacked by the Deva Path was not Jiraiya's main concern at the moment. Although the repulsive force was strong, it didn't cause him much trouble now that he was in Sage Mode. Though he was blasted into the sea, Jiraiya himself was not injured. Seizing this opportunity, Jiraiya submerged underwater and swam rapidly toward the location of the Paths of Pain.
However, as he advanced, Jiraiya couldn't help but recall the name the enemy had just called him.
Jiraiya-sensei...
The name felt incredibly familiar, but Jiraiya couldn't immediately recall having such an old disciple. Yet, that address made Jiraiya re-examine the speculation he had previously dismissed.
He had originally thought the leader of Akatsuki was not Nagato, but combining the opponent's address and the pair of Rinnegan, Jiraiya guessed that the person was indeed Nagato!
Although Nagato's appearance and hair color had changed, those Rinnegan would not lie.
As for why there were so many Rinnegan, that was a question that needed further investigation, and the answer to that question should soon be revealed!
"Gurgle gurgle—"
Jiraiya swam rapidly underwater. After entering Sage Mode, his perception capabilities had greatly improved. Even without seeing the scene on the surface, he could clearly determine the Pains' positions.
His target was the Deva Path, who had just attacked him. Jiraiya had also observed Shin'ichi's fight with the Deva Path and had some suspicions about his abilities.
Attraction and repulsion...
The enemy possessed such troublesome abilities and needed to be dealt with first.
Soon, Jiraiya arrived beneath the Deva Path's feet. He took no action himself underwater; instead, Fukasaku-sama (the Elder Toad Sage) on his shoulder opened his mouth, and a stream of seawater turned into a sharp water blade, shooting directly toward the Deva Path.
On the sea surface.
The Deva Path seemed to notice something, flipping his body and quickly leaving his spot. The moment his figure dodged, a water blade shot out rapidly from the sea surface, missing its target.
Before the Deva Path and the others could catch their breath, there was more significant movement underwater. Water blades erupted from the sea surface one after another, attacking the five Pains standing on the sea from all sides.
The Deva Path's movements were agile, dancing gracefully to avoid the edges of the water blades. However, it was clearly not easy for Nagato to simultaneously control so many bodies to perform such dexterous evasions.
In his attempt to dodge, the Jigokudō (Hell Path) was accidentally struck on the arm by the water blade (Mistake in text: it was the water blade, not Minato, who struck). The arm, accompanied by blood, fell directly into the sea.
Among the Pains, the Gakidō (Preta Path) was the most composed. A transparent sphere seemed to envelop his body, and the water blades that touched the sphere were instantly stripped of their chakra. Although Fukasaku's chakra was absorbed, the seawater he spat out was physical matter, not "water element" transferred by chakra.
Although the water blade lost its power, the seawater still soaked the Preta Path's clothes.
As the five Pains dodged the water blades, Jiraiya clearly noticed that the Hell Path's dodging movements were not agile enough, unsure whether it was due to the puppet's inherent stiffness or because Nagato was dedicating less focus to this particular puppet.
Though he didn't know the reason, Jiraiya keenly sensed an opportunity. Shima-sama (the Elder Toad Sage) on his other shoulder quickly performed hand seals, and her tongue instantly transformed into a whip, shooting out rapidly from the sea.
Distracted by the water blade attacks, the Hell Path was caught unaware and was firmly bound by the extended toad tongue. Before the Hell Path could react, Shima's tongue instantly tightened, slicing the Hell Path's body into pieces. A sky-full of blood mist burst open in mid-air.
With two successive strikes, Jiraiya had already eliminated two of Pain's bodies.
The movement behind him caused the Deva Path's expression to harden. The moment he turned his head, he personally saw the Hell Path die from the unexpected attack. Pain's strength was actually relatively balanced. Although the abilities and focus of each body were different, their consciousness all originated from Nagato, inheriting his fighting style and will.
Perhaps the Hell Path had weaker foundational capabilities, but being defeated so easily by Jiraiya indirectly proved the enemy's strength.
What concerned the Deva Path the most was that since Jiraiya's appearance, he seemed not to have repeated any ninjutsu. This meant the Deva Path was completely unaware of the techniques Jiraiya was using.
This also meant the Deva Path had temporarily failed to find Jiraiya's weakness.
Jiraiya, on the other hand, had already deciphered the Preta Path's abilities.
"That fellow seems to be able to absorb my chakra?"
Jiraiya's intelligence analysis capability was also very strong. Even without Hyuga Shin'ichi's reminder, he had already sensed certain things during the battle with the enemy.
Just as he was considering using the Taijutsu technique, Frog Kata to deal with the Preta Path, a black shadow suddenly descended onto the water's surface.
"Puff—"
The black shadow ignited its tail flame upon entering the sea and instantly rushed towards Jiraiya.
"What is that thing?"
Jiraiya had never seen a missile before. This was a technique of the Shuradō (Asura Path), one of Nagato's puppets. The Asura Path was full of "thermal weapons"; its various weapons even exceeded the average technological level of this world, making it the "Vegapunk" of the ninja world.
While ninjas had not even started using the most basic matchlock guns, the Asura Path already had laser cannons at its disposal. Missiles... were merely one of its more conventional attack methods.
Nagato clearly felt how troublesome Jiraiya was, and to force him out of the sea, he had to let the Asura Path fully utilize its arsenal.
"Bang!!!"
Even Jiraiya's speed underwater was not as fast as the Asura Path's missile.
With a muffled sound echoing in the sea, the missile released by the Asura Path exploded right in front of Jiraiya. Jiraiya used a water wall to block the initial attack, but before he could catch his breath, more missiles plunged into the water and shot rapidly toward him.
To evade the opponent's attacks and primarily to surface for air, Jiraiya quickly swam towards the sea surface. Fukasaku-sama, standing on his shoulder, seeing the missiles relentlessly pursuing Jiraiya, used water blades to cut and prematurely detonate the incoming missiles.
As the missiles exploded underwater, the surging waves pushed Jiraiya faster toward the surface.
"Ah!"
Jiraiya's head broke the surface, and he heavily exhaled. However, at that moment, a black shadow descended upon him.
The Asura Path appeared with a serrated steel sword in hand, swinging it down directly at Jiraiya, who had just surfaced.
Jiraiya pushed against the sea surface with one hand, propelling himself out of the water, and quickly dodged with a backflip.
The Asura Path missed its strike but showed no intention of retreating. It instead pressed close to Jiraiya, stabbing with the steel sword in its right hand. Its left hand had transformed into a Gatling gun barrel. As the steel sword missed again, the Asura Path raised its left hand, and the barrel instantly spewed out countless bullets.
It was a very un-ninja-like method of attack, but the effect was extremely good.
The pouring bullets forced Jiraiya to flee frantically. However, no matter how fast Jiraiya ran, he was not faster than the bullets. Seeing that he was about to be riddled with bullet holes, Jiraiya quickly performed hand seals and used a powerful Fire Release technique to push back.
Sage Art: Goemon!
Jiraiya spat out toad oil. Shima-sama, on his shoulder, used Fire Release, and Fukasaku-sama, on the other side, used Wind Release. When these three combined, they became a terrifying, sky-obscuring Fire Release technique. Under the mixture of oil, fire, and wind, the incoming bullets were instantly swallowed. Even on the sea surface, Jiraiya's Sage Art: Goemon exhibited astonishing effectiveness.
Flames instantly spread across the sea surface, and the Asura Path had no way to avoid an attack of this magnitude; it could only dive into the water.
However, what it hadn't anticipated was that the toad oil, along with the flames, immersed themselves in the sea, creating the bizarre sight of flames burning underwater. The Asura Path, which had just plunged into the sea, was swallowed by the flames and failed to escape.
"Shinra Tensei!"
As the flames of Sage Art: Goemon surged towards the Deva Path, the Human Path, and the Preta Path, the Deva Path quickly floated into the air. With the flames coming fiercely and about to engulf him, the Deva Path ultimately spread his hands and released Shinra Tensei.
Shinra Tensei may not be the most lethal offensive technique, but when used for defense, it certainly counts as a unique form of "absolute defense."
Even Jiraiya's Sage Art: Goemon was forced back by Shinra Tensei and could not get close.
At this moment, a space of absolute defense, several zhang in diameter, formed around the Deva Path, impenetrable by either water or fire.
Simultaneously, the Preta Path and the Human Path quickly positioned themselves below the Deva Path. As the Preta Path rapidly absorbed the power of Sage Art: Goemon to create a stable area for the Deva Path to land, the Human Path stood behind the Preta Path, vigilantly watching Jiraiya in the distance.
Although the Deva Path himself successfully blocked Jiraiya's assault, when he looked down at the Asura Path that had vanished in the sea of fire, his expression was as gloomy as the day's weather.
Animal Path, Hell Path, Asura Path.
With just one opponent, three of the Six Paths had already been defeated, and what made Nagato most distressed was that the Hell Path was among them.
If the Hell Path were still active, the destruction of the other bodies would be irrelevant, but now...
With the young man who mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique not even interfering yet, the situation had already devolved into this state. Nagato subtly felt that the situation was starting to slip out of his control.
Far out at sea.
A contact toad emerged from the water.
"Shu!"
Following a whistling sound, Hyuga Shin'ichi appeared beside the contact toad.
Looking at the battleground, ablaze with fire, with his Byakugan, a slight smile appeared on Hyuga Shin'ichi's face:
"The results are even greater than expected."
"Getting rid of the Animal Path early allowed Jiraiya-sensei to preserve a large amount of chakra."
"Now he has successfully entered Sage Mode, and with the assistance of Shima-sama and Fukasaku-sama, he has achieved the 'Permanent Sage' state. This way, even against the Deva Path, Human Path, and Preta Path, he still has the strength to fight."
"Can they use the Frog Song Genjutsu?"
"Nagato has no intelligence on this Genjutsu. This is a chance to resolve everyone at once!"
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