Chapter 556: Six Paths of Pain
Haruno Sakura was unmoved by his arrogant demeanor.
The sea breeze, which had been calm for a long time, suddenly blew, fluttering Sakura's hair. The pink strands danced softly, brushing against her smooth chin and teasing the girl's pink lips.
Haruno Sakura reached out her hand, pressed down her restless beautiful hair, and a pair of emerald eyes looked calmly at the Animal Path, a faint smile suddenly hanging on her face.
"Before that," she said, "how about answering a question of mine first?"
The Animal Path frowned.
He remained silent, his eyes signaling the other party to ask the question.
But what Pain waited for was not the girl's question, but a behemoth suddenly rising from beneath her feet!
"Water Release: Water Dragon Biting Drop!"
The ocean environment created excellent conditions for Water Release sneak attacks. The same move had already been used on Konan once, but Haruno Sakura didn't mind using it on the Animal Path again!
The ferocious giant dragon broke out of the water, its crystal-clear sharp teeth almost touching Pain's robe. But the latter's reaction was also extremely fast. The instant he sensed the subtle fluctuation of chakra, he pulled back and jumped up, narrowly avoiding Haruno Sakura's killing move.
The Animal Path escaped a disaster, but the woman behind him had no strength to dodge and was torn to pieces alive by the sea dragon!
Splash—!
The water dragon's strength was exhausted. Having used up the last bit of chakra, it scattered into a sky full of spray in mid-air.
The drifting water mist, mixed with torn white paper pieces, fell profusely and disorderly.
"...A paper clone." Haruno Sakura frowned her delicate eyebrows.
It turned out that woman had already left here long ago, leaving only a paper clone as a smokescreen.
"Tch."
The girl sighed regretfully.
The Animal Path landed, and five equally gloomy, cold, and eccentric people with black rods pierced into their bodies suddenly appeared in front of him.
The one taking the lead had a handsome face, but his eyes were extremely cold. The special ripple-like pattern in his eyes was eye-catching, and the tiny black rods inserted into his nose bridge and lips gave people an extremely grotesque feeling.
The Deva Path, Pain.
Haruno Sakura's gaze stared fixedly at him.
This person was a completely different matter from the Animal Path just now.
She could sense a thick aura of danger from this person, making one's hair stand on end, a chill rising all the way from the tailbone directly to the top of the skull. Every cell in her body was warning her of this man's danger. Her nerves naturally tightened, and her chakra involuntarily accelerated frantically, as if boiling.
That was a feeling Haruno Sakura had never had before. A feeling she hadn't had even when she was deeply trapped in dangerous situations many times, not even when facing Kisame, Itachi, or even the mysterious man she fought in the other world.
I will die.
Unlike the joke-like Animal Path before, who was barely enough for her to warm up. This time, the Six Paths of Pain gathered together meant... if she wasn't careful, she might die by his hands!
No need for intelligence to emphasize, just standing in front of this man, Haruno Sakura already knew his danger level.
Sakura had never fought a battle with so little certainty.
"This is your question?" The Deva Path took a step forward, his eyes cold, his words devoid of temperature.
The Deva Path, the individual born in Yahiko's physical body, the head of the Six Paths of Pain, and also the main perspective through which Nagato manipulated the Six Paths of Pain.
Hundreds of miles away, through the Deva Path's eyes, Nagato "saw" Haruno Sakura for the first time.
"Is she Haruno Sakura?"
The skinny as a rake man sitting on the life-support device said slowly.
While he was speaking, Konan walked in from outside the tree house, her face pale, drenched all over, panting slightly.
After the Animal Path rescued her just now, he sent her back here—relying on Pain's power, Konan used a Substitution Jutsu crossing hundreds of miles to swap places with the paper clone on the island.
The woman pulled down a clean and refreshing red robe from the wall and draped it over her body, covering the graceful figure revealed by her clothes sticking closely to her body after getting wet, while answering Nagato's question.
"Yes." Her eyes flickered, looking up at Nagato, "You must be careful. She... is very tricky."
Nagato glanced at Konan somewhat surprisingly.
That Konan could reach this position today relied not only on her qualifications as a founding elder of Akatsuki, but also on her bizarre and powerful skills. This was not something an ordinary woman, or even an ordinary ninja, could achieve. Without the capacity of enough confidence, without the perseverance to definitely keep up with Nagato's footsteps, she couldn't have grown to such an extent.
However, even such a powerful Konan would actually have a day where she revealed deep apprehension towards another woman in front of him, even her eyes becoming weak...
The battle with Haruno Sakura just now must have left an extremely deep impression on her, right?
Being played in the palm of the opponent's hand, going all out was only at the level of accompanying the opponent to warm up, and finally ending up in such a miserable state, narrowly escaping with her life.
Konan... was beaten into submission.
"I know." Nagato said softly.
Without the woman's reminder, through the Deva Path's perspective, Nagato could also clearly feel this.
The girl standing opposite the Deva Path, in that seemingly weak and slender body, contained such terrifying power.
Just facing her, seriously feeling her momentum, one's blood would naturally accelerate, one's heart full of awe.
A dangerous opponent.
An opponent that even God... would feel is dangerous.
In the entire ninja world, Akatsuki was enemies with the whole world, so Nagato had once imagined scenes of confronting various ninja world experts.
This planet is full of experts, like the Five Kage such as Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, or the Jinchuriki of various villages, top-tier combatants like Jiraiya. To deal with them might require some effort, but it wouldn't be too difficult—even that mysterious man calling himself Madara Uchiha, Pain only guarded against, not to the point of fear.
Only the person before his eyes could be called an opponent.
Nagato's mind was surging with emotions, but Pain was as cold as before, not a trace of ripple seen in his eyes.
The Deva Path stood at the very front of the Six Paths of Pain, as quiet as a sculpture.
He wasn't short, a head taller than Haruno Sakura. When looking at the girl, he naturally lowered his head slightly, faintly carrying a sense of looking down.
—God is still arrogant. Haruno Sakura is worthy of being his opponent, but victory will ultimately belong to God.
In the silence, the girl answered his words.
"I was just confirming..." she said, "making sure the upcoming battle won't be disturbed by irrelevant people."
The girl's tone was still faint and calm.
But killing intent icily overflowed from those soft lips, from those plain words.
"She has already lost her combat power, do you still want to ruthlessly exterminate her?" Pain asked.
"Could it be..." The girl's lip line curled playfully, "You want me to let the tiger return to the mountain?"
Pain was silent, seemingly unable to retort. However, those Rinnegan spreading like water ripples narrowed dangerously.
After a long while.
"Cruel and merciless, and with extraordinary skills." He spoke, "Haruno Sakura, you have already become a grave threat to Akatsuki. Therefore, I will break Akatsuki's convention and handle you personally."
"To be able to receive special treatment from 'God', should I feel honored?" The girl sneered.
"Before killing you, I want to ask a question," Pain ignored Sakura's sarcasm and said indifferently, "How did you guys get my intelligence?"
Haruno Sakura stared fixedly at him.
Pain didn't expect to get her answer, but he still asked like this.
"Do you think I will tell you?"
An expected answer. Pain was neither angry nor agitated, just saying calmly: "It doesn't matter. After defeating you... I naturally have ways to get the answer."
God's arrogance was unreservedly revealed in Pain's calm words.
"Is that so?"
Haruno Sakura's smile disappeared from her face.
Her expression was indifferent, showing neither surprise nor joy, neither anger nor sorrow, only a piece of calm.
However, under this calm exterior, the girl's chakra began to circulate turbulently, heavenly amounts of energy frantically leaking out from the Yin Seal.
"Then... come kill me."
The girl said so.
The sea breeze became restless. The seawater began to surge uneasily.