"You didn't pay?"
Ōnoki stared blankly at the Deva Path of Pain floating in the sky, then looked down at Kakuzu, and finally turned toward Kitsuchi behind him.
Kitsuchi looked just as stunned. He clearly remembered ordering the people below him to pay the Akatsuki.
"There has to be some misunderstanding here. Iwagakure has worked with the Akatsuki for a long time—we have never broken faith in matters like this!"
How could Ōnoki not understand by now? Iwagakure had rot inside it—and not just a little, but the kind of rot that ran deep.
Out of the daimyo's one billion, even he had only dared skim off seven hundred million. And yet the people below him had pocketed two hundred and fifty million outright?
Ōnoki had already made up his mind. Once today's matter was over, he would investigate Iwagakure thoroughly—mercilessly thoroughly.
"No, there is no misunderstanding."
"Didn't your Iwagakure people say the Akatsuki was just some no-name little organization? That we should be grateful to get even fifty million?"
"And now that we've come to your doorstep, you want to call it a misunderstanding?"
The Deva Path looked coldly at Ōnoki. He could tell that someone in Iwagakure had probably pocketed the Akatsuki's money—but so what?
They were your people. It was your village that swallowed the money. And it was your village that spat out those arrogant words.
Since the Akatsuki had already come knocking on Iwagakure's door, there had never been any intention of letting this end lightly.
"And what is it that you want, then?"
Ōnoki looked at the young Deva Path and inwardly groaned.
There was an unspoken rule in the shinobi world: not every strong person could fly, but anyone who could fly was definitely strong.
He couldn't see through the Deva Path, but he could see Konan's strength in the distance as she fought his disciple Deidara. And if Konan was that strong, then the man who was obviously the leader could hardly be weaker.
And as for himself?
Ōnoki had reached the age where moving a little too quickly was enough to throw his back or twist his leg.
On the other side, the Deva Path hadn't expected Ōnoki to be this reasonable. He was so reasonable that Pain almost started wondering if he was the one being unreasonable.
As for what he actually wanted—truth be told, the Deva Path hadn't really thought that far ahead.
By his logic, shouldn't Ōnoki have stubbornly resisted first? Then he'd beat him down, injure him, take Deidara away, and make Iwagakure feel some pain along the way. Wasn't that how storming someone's doorstep was supposed to go?
"And don't you think it's a little late to say that now?"
Ōnoki wasn't following the script, but Pain clearly intended to keep following his own.
After all, the Akatsuki couldn't exactly come all the way here just to turn around and leave empty-handed.
"Don't push your luck!"
Ōnoki had been willing to resolve things peacefully because Iwagakure was in the wrong here. But after hearing Pain's utterly merciless tone, his face slowly darkened.
Yes, Iwagakure had made mistakes—but did that mean the Akatsuki had done nothing wrong at all?
"Old man, why are you wasting your breath on them?"
"They've already marched right up to our front gate—just fight them!"
On the other side, Deidara was gaining absolutely no ground against Konan. Her paper clones were truly ghostlike, and on top of that, the sheer number of explosive tags she wielded was downright unreasonable.
Deidara believed explosions were art—but right now, he was suddenly realizing that if the art was happening to him, it wasn't quite so beautiful after all.
He was still young at this point, not yet the future Deidara who would throw everything away for art itself.
If it had been the fully mature Deidara, he would've absolutely tried blowing himself up together with Konan.
Ōnoki's face went pitch black. In his eyes, Deidara was practically flawed from head to toe—yet somehow, this was the one brat most likely to inherit Dust Release. Where exactly was the fairness in that?
"Shut up!"
Ōnoki roared, and at the same time, a translucent cube-shaped barrier rapidly formed in his palm. As it took shape, it radiated a white glow that made the heart tremble.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
With that cry, the translucent cube exploded with white light and shot toward the Deva Path at an unbelievable speed.
Before that white glow, even the air itself seemed to be broken down into its most primitive particles. Wherever it passed, even sound seemed to be erased.
Out of sheer respect for the fact that the Deva Path could fly, Ōnoki didn't bother with even the slightest test strike—he went straight for the kill.
Seeing the white beam of Dust Release flying toward him, the Deva Path's Rinnegan didn't flicker in the slightest. He simply raised his right hand.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Invisible repulsive force burst from Pain's palm and collided head-on with the Dust Release.
BOOM!!!
The two powers, each capable of destroying everything, slammed into each other in midair with a deafening roar.
Dust Release's white beam should have been able to break down all matter—but after colliding with Pain's repulsive force, it instead erupted into a violent explosion.
Shockwaves burst outward in ring after ring. The clouds above Iwagakure were ripped apart in an instant, while buildings on the ground shook violently from the aftershocks, and countless stones and broken roof tiles were flung into the air as if the end of the world had arrived.
Half of Iwagakure stood there in confusion, staring at the white light blossoming in the sky while struggling to keep their footing amid the violent tremors.
Ōnoki's brow furrowed so hard the veins in his temples bulged.
His eyes were filled with uncertainty, because he could feel that his Dust Release was being pushed back—little by little—by some unseen force.
"How is that possible…"
Kitsuchi, watching from below, felt his heart pounding.
He knew better than anyone how terrifying his father's Dust Release was.
For a very long time, Kitsuchi had believed Dust Release could disintegrate anything in the shinobi world. Even the famous Susanoo of Uchiha Chizumi—he had thought—might well be erased by Dust Release in one blow.
And yet the man floating in the air had blocked it?
The Deva Path's expression didn't change at all, as though what he'd just done was nothing worth mentioning.
"Dust Release… a kekkei tōta, hm? It really is a formidable power."
Pain spoke quietly. This was his first time facing Dust Release, and the first time he had encountered a power that even Shinra Tensei could not fully repel.
"Unfortunately, you are too old. Your body can no longer support a prolonged battle."
The moment Pain's words fell, Ōnoki's heart sank.
He knew Pain was right. Dust Release consumed a terrifying amount of chakra, and his body was long past its prime.
"Then this old man will end it quickly!"
Ōnoki gritted his teeth. As he pulled on every last bit of chakra in his body, he drove the output of his Dust Release to its absolute limit.
The white barrier unique to Dust Release expanded several times over in an instant, and the white light within it became like a terrifying blade of brilliance capable of cleaving heaven and earth apart.
And as Ōnoki erupted with all his might, even Pain's eyes showed a trace of seriousness.