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Hiruzen tossed Enma aside, allowing him to revert to his true form. At the same time, he completed a set of hand signs and slammed his hands against the ground, causing a wall to rise from the earth in rapid succession.
In terms of sheer effectiveness, the best choice would undoubtedly have been the Rashomon, but that technique required an enormous amount of space. As Hokage, he had to minimize the damage as much as possible. So instead, he employed the Earth Style Wall.
The Yatagarasu smashed through the earthen barrier and continued skidding forward upon landing. Enma positioned himself directly in the bird's path, bracing his fists against the sliding creature and forcefully prying its beak apart.
"Multi-Combination Technique!"
Hiruzen summoned four shadow clones, and together they unleashed five different chakra natures simultaneously. These techniques converged and were discharged directly into the Yatagarasu's pried-open beak, surging all the way through to the far end of its body. From within the bird, the compounded forces expanded violently outward. The Yatagarasu's body swelled rapidly in turn, until it finally reached its breaking point. With a thunderous detonation, the creature dissolved into a spray of blood and gore.
Hiruzen took two deep, labored breaths. His eyes darted once more toward the nearest Pain. The moment he saw that figure forming hand seals, he didn't waste a single word and launched an attack. But just as Hiruzen completed his own seals, the Animal Path summoned yet another creature—a massive bull. Without a moment's hesitation, the bull charged at Hiruzen with all its ferocious might.
Enma suddenly leaped in front of Hiruzen. After forming his own hand signs, the ground beneath transformed once again into a sprawling quagmire, and the bull sank instantly. At that same moment, Hiruzen's ninjutsu was unleashed. A combination of lightning and water natures gave birth to a Water Dragon Bullet wreathed in crackling lightning, which surged forward with overwhelming ferocity, aimed directly at the nearby Animal Path.
The Animal Path watched the oncoming Lightning-Water Dragon Bullet with cold, unblinking eyes and did not dodge. The instant his hand signs were completed, a figure appeared directly in front of him. That figure faced the raging torrent head-on and absorbed the attack without flinching.
Hiruzen's gaze never left the Lightning-Water Dragon Bullet. He was initially surprised to see another Pain suddenly appear, but the thought that followed was simple: if he could take down another Pain in the process, that would be a welcome bonus. The notion flickered through his mind in an instant. Yet almost immediately, he realized that this line of thinking was completely wrong—the Lightning-Water Dragon Bullet had inflicted no damage whatsoever. It was as though the attack had never struck its target at all, but had instead been entirely absorbed. If that were truly the case, then matters had just become far more difficult.
"Where on earth did these guys come from?" Enma had also discerned that these Pains were no ordinary opponents.
Hiruzen opened his mouth as if to speak, but then realized he hardly knew where to begin. He let out a sigh instead. "It's a long story."
"Then make it a short one."
"They're part of an organization called the Akatsuki. Their leader possesses the Rinnegan. Their objective is to gather all nine tailed beasts and merge them into the Ten-Tails. Now only the Six-Tails and the Nine-Tails remain, and both are currently in the Hidden Leaf Village."
"Why are they so formidable?" Enma pressed further.
Hiruzen rolled his eyes in exasperation. He wanted more detailed intelligence himself, but the problem was, Midorima hadn't told him anything. Then again, how could Midorima possibly have known such deeply concealed information? And since Midorima and Jiraiya didn't know, Hiruzen had no way of knowing either.
"What do we do next? Take them both on at once? But if he really can absorb chakra, then fighting them as opponents... we'd really need to think this through carefully," Enma observed.
Hiruzen nodded. He extended his open right palm toward Enma. Without another word, Enma transformed back into the Adamantine Staff and landed in Hiruzen's grip. Since ninjutsu was useless against them, taijutsu was the only remaining option. Unfortunately, compared to his mastery of ninjutsu, Hiruzen's taijutsu was far less exceptional.
"Your purpose in coming here—is it for the Six-Tails and the Nine-Tails?" Hiruzen pointed the Adamantine Staff directly at the Animal Path and the Preta Path.
"Yes," the Animal Path replied without evasion.
"A pity, then. The Nine-Tails isn't here," Hiruzen said with a cold smile.
"I am well aware of that. We came here for the express purpose of preventing you from reinforcing the meeting hall," the Animal Path stated.
Hiruzen's expression flickered with alarm. But then he remembered—the leaders of all the great shinobi villages were gathered there. In terms of sheer combat power, the meeting hall was far stronger than this location. With that thought, he calmed himself and let out a derisive snort. "You think your little schemes will succeed?"
"No. You simply have no idea how powerful the Akatsuki truly is. The reason we act in secrecy isn't because we fear the great shinobi villages, but because while our members are all elites, our numbers are limited. If we scatter, facing all five great villages simultaneously would prove taxing. However, when all our elite forces are concentrated in one place, even against the leaders of those villages, we will not be at a disadvantage. The reason we are holding you back here boils down to a single, simple reason—we have no need for uncertain variables."
A chill slithered down Hiruzen's spine, and an inexplicable sense of dread rose in his heart. His gaze swept involuntarily toward the direction of the meeting hall. After Pain's pointed remarks, Hiruzen indeed sensed something amiss there. The source of that abnormality was the fluctuation of chakra. Under normal circumstances, even if a battle were taking place that far away, sensing the chakra would be nearly impossible. But when massive quantities of chakra flared simultaneously, even Hiruzen could feel it.
It was at that very moment that three shinobi dropped down from the rooftops, two in front and one behind.
"Lord Hokage, please allow us to handle things here!"
Hiruzen turned to see who it was—Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, and Asuma Sarutobi.
"You three? Weren't you supposed to be evacuating the villagers?" Hiruzen asked, clearly perplexed.
"The Uchiha and Hyuga clans have also joined the battle now. That's what freed us up," Kakashi explained.
"Have you recovered?" Hiruzen eyed him suspiciously.
Though Kakashi looked much the same as ever, the truth was that without his Sharingan, his combat prowess had diminished drastically. It wasn't just that the eye's abilities were exceedingly difficult to replace. More importantly, Kakashi had spent so many years fighting with the Sharingan that suddenly losing it meant he had to completely re-adapt to combat without it—essentially overhauling the vast majority of his accumulated battle experience. That had an even greater impact on him.
"Not yet," Kakashi admitted with a shake of his head. "But I can't remain stuck in the past forever."
"That one over there, the bulkier-looking shinobi—he can absorb chakra..." Hiruzen pointed toward the Preta Path.
Might Guy pounded a fist against his chest. "Lord Hokage, leave this one to me! I certainly won't let him absorb any chakra from me." In other areas, Guy might not dare make such bold guarantees, but in the realm of taijutsu, he would absolutely never concede defeat.
Hiruzen paused, studying the three remarkably confident shinobi before him, still harboring some hesitation. Then Asuma added, "Lord Jiraiya is here too. It'll be fine. They may be formidable, but we're not exactly weak either."