Chapter 568: The End of the Battle
Heavy rain poured down.
Mei Terumi panted heavily, her tight-fitting outfit soaked with water, clinging tightly to her exquisite curves, making her look particularly disheveled.
The several members of the Mizukage's guard squad had all lost their combat capabilities, either unconscious or severely injured and unable to stand, lying scattered across this small battlefield, becoming the backdrop for the battle between the two powerhouses.
"Step aside, Itachi Uchiha."
The woman stared fixedly at the man in front of her, saying in a suppressed voice. A chilling killing intent overflowed from her lips and teeth, making one shudder.
The man, however, was unmoved.
He casually tore off the already tattered black Akatsuki cloak from his body and quietly looked back at the slightly anxious woman.
In the heavy rain, his short, choppy hair was soaked, sticking wetly to his forehead. His eerie Sharingan seemed to flash with light.
"I'm sorry, but the mission I received is to prevent you from supporting their battle."
Itachi Uchiha said calmly.
Rumble!
A sudden thunderclap exploded in the sky. In an instant, the fierce flash of lightning illuminated Itachi's face, making his features distinct and coldly rigid, like a carved stone statue.
Mei Terumi clenched her jaw tightly.
She knew that the path ahead was probably truly impassable.
Because she could not defeat the man in front of her! It could even be said that no matter how much she gave it her all, she couldn't force out this man's limits!
He was like the wind, like the rain, ethereal and impossible to catch, yet omnipresent and all-pervasive.
Also like a giant boulder blocking a mountain path, stubbornly and rigidly preventing her advance!
The battle in the extreme distance could still be sensed here. The intense chakra fluctuations and the collision of ninjutsu could faintly be discerned. Mei Terumi could imagine just how fierce and magnificent the battle over there was!
It was a grand spectacle of battle far exceeding the one here!
This made Mei Terumi very uneasy.
If the enemy won the battle over there, what kind of price would the village have to pay to stop the advance of such figures?
She was desperate to rush over and support Haruno Sakura, but was firmly pinned here by Itachi Uchiha.
"I'll say it one more time—" Mei Terumi was truly getting a bit anxious, forcefully drawing a breath of chakra to speak angrily, when suddenly a heart-palpitating ninjutsu fluctuation came from the distance, forcibly interrupting her words!
That was Pain's Super Shinra Tensei.
Even Itachi Uchiha furrowed his brows slightly and cast a glance behind him.
The battlefield suddenly fell silent.
"What... kind of ninjutsu was that?" After a long time, Mei Terumi finally said in endless shock.
She had intended this as a mutter to herself, not expecting Itachi Uchiha to actually answer her.
"That is the secret technique of Akatsuki's leader, Pain..." He frowned tightly, softly replying while carefully sensing the distant battlefield.
Can one person's power be this strong? Mei Terumi's understanding was forcibly refreshed by Pain.
But what she was more concerned about was the status of the other combatant: "Then what about Haruno Sakura?"
Itachi remained silent. Neither he nor the Mizukage were sensory ninja; at such a long distance, it was also very difficult to sense Haruno Sakura's presence.
Could Haruno Sakura withstand the attack of that kind of move?
Itachi Uchiha's mind couldn't help but summon the image of that stunningly talented, radiant girl.
Is she... dead?
In fact, Itachi was even more concerned about the answer to this question than Mei Terumi.
He slowly shook his head, and only belatedly said, "It seems the battle has ended, and my mission has also—"
As the man spoke, he suddenly stopped talking, his expression changing, and turned his head.
Only to see that the distant horizon suddenly lit up, as if someone had raised ten thousand suns on that distant horizon!
The blinding light forced Itachi and Mei Terumi to close their eyes.
After a good while, the white light gradually dimmed. At this time, Itachi could finally see the distant scene clearly. At the junction of the sea and sky, a hemispherical transparent wall of air rose, like a giant bowl turned upside down between heaven and earth. It slowly expanded and gradually faded, taking quite a while to dissipate into the horizon.
And at the center point where the white light shone, a thick, grayish-white cloud slowly rose, like a mushroom, towering high into the sky.
The two held their breath and concentrated, not daring to let out a sound, silently watching the celestial phenomenon coming from afar, dumbstruck.
This was Mei Terumi's first time seeing Itachi Uchiha reveal such an unsettled expression; it was highly likely that this was also the first time in Itachi's life he was so shocked and pale.
This was the power of an atomic bomb, fully released for the first time in the ninja world.
That power, which did not belong to ninjutsu but was far superior to it, made all the ninja who witnessed its bloom deeply feel their own insignificance!
When the two recovered from their trance, they suddenly felt that everything happening here had become so meaningless.
In the face of such heaven-shaking and earth-shattering mighty power, human struggles appeared so lowly and ridiculous.
"What was that?" Mei Terumi asked.
Itachi Uchiha was speechless.
After a moment of silence, with the air itself becoming quiet, he finally spoke calmly: "It seems the mission has concluded. Then, it's time for me to leave as well."
After speaking, Itachi took a deep look at Mei Terumi, then disappeared into the air.
And somewhere on the sea, closer to the battlefield, on a faintly visible reef.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
The duo of Rondo and Chojuro climbed out of the sea in a miserable state.
Compared to Itachi and Mei Terumi, who were merely shocked by the explosion scene from a distance, these two appeared much more unfortunate... or rather, much luckier.
Because they had almost experienced the aftermath of the nuclear bomb's power head-on, but had dived into the sea in time, dodging the most severe damage.
It had to be said that, as a sensory ninja, Rondo's senses were extremely sharp.
Holding their breath until they were completely out of air, they finally risked their lives to float to the surface.
"Se-Senior!" Chojuro wiped the seawater off his face forcefully, panting heavily as he asked, "J-Just now, what was that just now?"
Rondo shook his head.
"I don't know!"
He strenuously climbed onto the reef, collapsing onto it, panting rapidly. It took a good while before he spoke with a hoarse voice: "I'm afraid it's a never-before-seen ninjutsu! But I didn't sense the presence of chakra. Where on earth did its energy come from?"
Chojuro also climbed onto the reef after him, looking into the distance with lingering fear: "Maybe it's a type of energy like senjutsu and natural energy that's very hard to sense! Senior, can you still sense those two's chakra? Are they dead? Who exactly won?"
Rondo took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
He used his sensory abilities to probe the battlefield ahead, but found absolutely nothing.
"I can't find their chakra; it vanished without a trace!" Rondo sighed and said, "As for the truth of what happened, who lost and who won, who lived and who died, I'm afraid only they themselves know!"
Rondo was right. As the manipulator, Nagato was the most clear about Pain's ending.
So clear that the final few scenes Nagato saw through Yahiko's corpse would probably never be forgotten for the rest of his life.
Haruno Sakura suddenly appearing, holding a strange water orb in her hands.
Next, the girl abruptly clenched her fist, and a silvery-white metal block converged at the center of the water orb.
The second to last scene was Sakura leaving with Body Flicker, and the water orb suddenly bursting apart.
Finally, there was light.
Endless, boundless light, born from the void!
As if a hundred million suns had been hung in the sky.
No words could describe that blazing scene; no paintbrush could paint that light that illuminated everything!
The moment the power of Shinra Tensei encountered that scorching light, it melted and disappeared like snow under the blazing sun, as if it had never existed at all.
How could a grain of rice dare to shine under the scorching sun?
Pain didn't even have time to form a subsequent thought before thoroughly melting within that eternal light and heat.
"Ninjutsu: Reverse Summoning Jutsu!"
Nagato tried to use this jutsu, but summoned absolutely nothing back.
As if everything had vanished into that all-destroying brilliance.
Only the air shifted slightly, and the wind seemed to blow up a few wisps of dust again.
"I failed..."
Not only was the Deva Path completely swallowed by the fireball, but even the other five Paths that were not at the center of the battlefield were instantly burned to ashes by the scorching radiation!
Nagato widened his eyes, and suddenly violently coughed up a mouthful of dark red blood!
"Nagato!" Konan exclaimed in alarm, hurriedly supporting the man's extremely weak body.
Nagato waved his hand, his chest heaving violently, panting like a broken bellows. It took a long time before he calmed down.
Utterly failed. Nagato had to admit this fact. That jutsu of Haruno Sakura's shattered all his illusions!
"Let's go back." When he said this sentence, Nagato's eyes dimmed for a moment. "It's not safe to stay here for long... Konan, let's return to our secret base..."
His power was greatly reduced, and he also had to guard against that man who called himself Madara. Akatsuki's base was no longer suitable to return to. Calming down to think carefully, Nagato had no other choice.
The man sighed, his expression dim, no longer possessing the high spirits he had when he came.
As for Haruno Sakura's side...
"I was just having a headache figuring out how to get back to the Land of Water from the Shikkotsu Forest," the girl panted, saying weakly. "Fortunately, you were right nearby!"
"With you in this state..." the man frowned slightly. "Can you still hold on to go over there?"
"We have our own methods, so we won't trouble you to worry about it." Another girl replied. "As for you, don't you plan on meeting him?"
If it weren't for the different colors of their eyes, the man could hardly distinguish the difference between the two girls. Did Haruno Sakura have a twin sister? Or was this some kind of peculiar clone? He was puzzled in his heart, but his face remained impassive.
"No, I believe you can handle things well over there." The man said slowly while retracting Katsuyu back into the scroll. "As for me... now is not the time to meet him yet."
Pausing for a moment, he asked again: "Is Pain dead?"
"Right, the Six Paths of Pain should all be dead. Their manipulator behind the scenes, Nagato, has highly likely had his vitality greatly damaged as well." The girl nodded. "Therefore, you can also make your moves appropriately."
The man frowned slightly: "Is this the intention of the Fifth or the Third?"
"No, neither... this is my personal suggestion." She smiled slightly.
Hesitating for a second, the man nodded in agreement.
"I understand."
"Then, see you later!" The other girl also gave a sweet smile and waved her hand, "Mr. Itachi Uchiha!"
She supported the original body and vanished from the sea with Body Flicker.
Itachi Uchiha placed the scroll back into his ninja tool pouch, looking at the empty sea surface. After a moment of silence, he too disappeared from his original spot.