Although two more people had joined, Shinnō did not hesitate for long before launching his attack. In his view, while the two new reinforcements weren't weak, they still weren't at a level that could make him wary.
Facing the aggressively advancing Shinnō, it was Uchiha Hikari who met him head-on. To his surprise, even though he had already opened the Eight Gates Released Formation, the girl's taijutsu was still evenly matched with his. This further confirmed his earlier guess.
This girl from the Uchiha clan was the greatest threat. As long as she was dealt with, the rest posed no concern.
Once the two clashed, the others didn't idle either. Asuma and Kurenai took on Hidan, while Shion and Fū, brought along by her, engaged in a prolonged entanglement with Kakuzu, who had already released the beasts from his remaining masks.
...
In the chaotic battlefield, Pain—who was searching for the Jinchuriki's traces—was intercepted by Furina blocking his path. It was as if she had been waiting for a long time. Without any pleasantries upon meeting, a blade gleaming with cold light had already arrived in front of the Deva Path.
Looking at the blade now mere inches away, the Deva Path's expression showed no change. He simply took a slight step back, and immediately a massive repulsive force surged outward from him in all directions.
Furina, who had already used Body Flicker to arrive at his side, was also sent flying backward. But before Nagato could even breathe a sigh of relief, in the next instant, Furina's figure broke through the dust stirred up by Shinra Tensei and once again appeared before him.
This time, however, he could no longer use Shinra Tensei to extricate himself.
"Mm!"
Although this terrifying speed made Nagato's heart jolt, now was clearly not the time to dwell on such thoughts. No matter how he retreated, he could only watch the blade draw ever closer.
At the critical moment just before being struck, a ferocious figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere and blocked in front of the Deva Path, taking Furina's unexpected blow for him.
"?"
Seeing the Asura Path blocking her way, Furina was not surprised. From earlier, she had constantly felt a sense of being watched, and the sudden appearance of the Asura Path was the reason.
Glancing at the gradually materializing chameleon not far away and the other four Paths beneath its body, Furina already had her answer. The next moment, with a flash of blade light, the Asura Path's body was cleaved in two at the abdomen.
Exposing the mechanical parts inside—even a body made of steel was as fragile as paper in front of Furina.
However, although the Asura Path had been bisected, it had not sacrificed itself in vain. Taking advantage of the brief opening during Furina's attack, the Deva Path—this main combat force—managed to pull back to a safe distance, and the cooldown for Shinra Tensei had reset.
But in Furina's eyes, none of this mattered. These corpse puppets were all utterly fragile before her—even the strongest Deva Path was no exception.
After sweeping her gaze over the group of Pains ahead, Furina's attention then drifted intentionally yet casually toward the Preta Path nearby. Although the Deva Path had the greatest combat power, for her, the Preta Path was actually the more disgusting one.
Absorbing ninjutsu and such—she hated that the most.
Although she had mentally set the Preta Path as her first target, Furina's eyes remained fixed on the Deva Path, giving the impression that she considered him the biggest threat and intended to deal with him first.
Noticing her gaze, Nagato also controlled the other Pains to shield the Deva Path at the rear, positioning it alongside the Naraka Path—clearly already misled by Furina.
"Licking your wounds right in front of me? You really don't take me seriously at all."
While pondering, Furina suddenly noticed a massive King of Hell appearing beside her. It extended its tongue, wrapping around the Asura Path's corpse and attempting to drag it into its mouth.
Seeing this, Furina's lips curled into a grin, her expression turning somewhat dangerous. Then Muramasa, its blade glowing with azure light, swung out—one horizontal slash followed by one vertical—forming a massive blue cross-shaped wave that cleaved the retreating King of Hell into four pieces, forcibly dispersing it.
At the same time as the King of Hell dissipated, Furina felt a faint chill, as if something had locked onto her. But toward this kind of powerless, childish tantrum-like behavior, Furina had always sneered in disdain.
Then her chakra erupted, and the chilling sensation on her body vanished instantly.
Facing the aggressively advancing Furina, the first to meet her were various summoned beasts—rhinoceros, eight-tailed bird, panda—but without exception, they all turned into mist and vanished after a single sword strike.
The multi-headed hellhound caused a bit more trouble due to its splitting ability, but after several divisions, it too was eradicated by Furina using ninjutsu.
The subsequent battle became even simpler. The remaining Pains performed no better than the summoned beasts. After the Preta Path was taken down by Furina in a surprise attack while off guard,
her Water Release completely suppressed all the remaining Pains. During this time, the Deva Path's Shinra Tensei had no chance to counterattack—how could a cooldown-limited ability compare to her continuous Water Release?
It didn't take long for the battle to end. All the remaining Pains were defeated under the combination of Furina's Water Release and taijutsu. By now, the surrounding area had turned into a vast lake.
This was still the result of Furina holding back somewhat. If she had gone all out, she was genuinely worried she might flood distant Konoha as well.
However, defeating Pain's corpses was naturally not the end. Looking at the water surface beneath her feet, Furina suddenly broke into a smile. No helping it—thinking about what was coming next made her unable to stop grinning.
With her hands clasped together, under Furina's control, the massive volume of river water at her feet transformed into several water pillars shooting toward the sky. Soon after, light rain began to fall across dozens of kilometers around.
By infusing her own chakra into the water, Furina could precisely and dramatically enhance her perception through the falling rain. Everywhere the rain touched, every movement escaped her senses.
And Nagato's true body, hidden somewhere unknown, was naturally no exception. Since he needed to control the Six Paths of Pain, he could not possibly be too far from the battlefield. Furina's next target was him.
As for the inspiration for this ability, it came from Nagato himself—that technique, what was it called again? She forgot. Nagato used it to observe the situation in Amegakure.
Now Furina was merely cosplaying it to turn the tables on him. Wasn't this a form of NTR?
"Found you."
It didn't take long before Furina sensed something off about a tree seven kilometers away. Considering the original plot, if nothing unexpected happened, Nagato's hiding spot was right there.
"You came all this way but kept hiding and refusing to come out. Then let me invite you out—with this little greeting gift."