"Is that so?" Namikaze Minato scratched his head in distress. "Then there's no choice but to fight!"
He hadn't wanted to appear in this form, but there was no helping it—if he didn't show up, his own foolish son would die.
Only under the violent threat of Uzumaki Kushina did he finally decide to come out and save his son's life.
However, whether he fought or not, he would return to the Pure Land soon enough. Now that he had appeared, he might as well do something more for the village.
He was a decisive man. Seeing that words were useless, he resolved to strangle the village's future enemy here and now.
He flicked both hands, and with a series of swish, swish, swish, threw more than a dozen kunai toward Pain in quick succession.
In midair, those kunai collided against one another with ding, ding, dang, dang sounds, instantly altering their flight paths to form a crisscrossing web of trajectories that precisely sealed off Pain's routes of evasion.
Yet against this level of attack, Pain didn't even need to use ninjutsu. With only a faint motion of his body in the air, all those kunai missed their mark.
But just as the kunai brushed past, a flash of golden light flared, and Namikaze Minato's figure appeared behind him, his blade reversing in hand to slash at Pain's head like lightning.
The name of the "Yellow Flash" had long spread throughout the ninja world, and his specialty—the Flying Thunder God Technique—was already known to everyone far and wide.
Pain had learned of his information long ago, and naturally guarded against a surprise attack. The moment Minato vanished from his position, Pain didn't even turn his head—he merely widened his eyes.
"Shinra Tensei!"
With that indifferent voice, a powerful repulsive force burst outward from around him. The invisible field of force surged like a giant wave crashing onto shore, and Namikaze Minato's figure was blown away like a kite with its string cut.
But in the next instant, Minato immediately appeared at the position of another kunai, flicked his wrist, and hurled several more before slashing once again.
Though Shinra Tensei was powerful and comprehensive in defense, its only flaw was the interval delay—it could not be activated freely.
At this moment, with Shinra Tensei just used and the next activation still unavailable, Pain had no choice but to engage in close combat.
He waved his hand, and a black rod slid out from his sleeve to meet the attack.
With a sharp clang, the blades clashed, sending dazzling sparks scattering through the air.
Before he could counterattack, Namikaze Minato's figure again dissipated like a phantom and appeared at the position of another kunai.
The Flying Thunder God Technique is basically a cheat—especially now that Namikaze Minato is controlling half a tailed beast, with not the slightest lack of chakra.
At this moment, going all out, he was practically blinking about, swish, swish, swish in midair, now in front, now behind, coming and going like a ghost. In the sky he was simply a yellow flash darting everywhere.
His blade work was even more refined and transcendent. Every strike precisely targeted a vital point; a chain of rapid cuts came down, practically pressing Pain hard.
But what he did not realize was that Pain was actually a puppet; he did not rely solely on his own eyes to observe. The other Six Paths hidden in the dark were also his eyes. The shared field of vision of six pairs of Rinnegan left none of Minato's blinks anywhere to hide.
Thus even if Namikaze Minato blinked to Pain's rear, it had no effect for Pain.
Namikaze Minato's attack speed had already surpassed the limit of ordinary human eyesight—but the Rinnegan was not an ordinary eye, and Pain was not an ordinary person. Namikaze Minato hacked away with ding, ding, dang, dang, yet still could not break through Pain's defense.
When the cooldown time ended, Pain widened his eyes again.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Repulsive force once more spread out with Pain as the center, bouncing Namikaze Minato away.
However, at the instant Namikaze Minato was flung back, he cleverly adjusted his posture in midair. With a flick of his hand, he shot out several more kunai.
When Namikaze Minato first crossed hands with Pain, he had not yet discovered the timing on Shinra Tensei, but after taking two consecutive hits, he keenly realized where this powerful ninjutsu's flaw lay.
Five seconds was very brief for others, but for Minato, there was far too much he could do.
At once he felt even more confident in his heart about eliminating this great enemy for the village.
At the same time, Pain also discovered Minato's weakness—namely, that his blinking relied heavily on kunai!
The reason Namikaze Minato could exchange blows with him freely in the air was purely dependence on the Flying Thunder God Technique for rapid repositioning aloft. Once there were no Flying Thunder God markers on kunai to serve as coordinates, Namikaze Minato could not fly and fundamentally could not get close to him.
So Pain rapidly swept his black rod, the tip precisely tapping those incoming kunai and batting them all away.
But the Flying Thunder God Technique was fast as well. At the very moment he struck the kunai, Namikaze Minato's figure had already appeared beside them.
Only this time, Namikaze Minato did not fling out new kunai. Instead, he stretched out his left hand and reached to grab that black rod.
He only needed to engrave the Flying Thunder God marker onto the black rod, and he would then be able to approach Pain without limitation, no longer needing kunai for positioning.
But just as his hand touched the black rod, he suddenly felt the chakra within his body turn chaotic.
At the same time, Pain released the black rod from his right hand, while from the sleeve of his left hand, another black rod slid out and thrust forward like a gust of wind.
"Damn it!"
Namikaze Minato cursed inwardly, hurriedly throwing away the black rod and swinging his blade with his right hand to block.
With a light ding, the short blade in Minato's hand shattered on the spot, and the black rod drove straight in.
However, with that brief moment of buffer, the chakra within Minato's body calmed down. His figure flickered and once again vanished from where he stood.
But since all the kunai had been struck away, when he reappeared, his body was already far from Pain, falling from midair.
He hastily threw several more kunai, intending to use the same tactic again.
But this time, it didn't work.
Several missiles suddenly shot up from below at an angle, trailing long exhaust plumes. One of them locked onto those kunai in midair, while the others flew toward Minato.
The missiles collided head-on with the kunai and exploded with a thunderous boom. Those few kunai hadn't even gotten close to Pain before they were blasted away.
The other missiles, upon nearing Minato, also exploded directly, as though several massive fireworks had blossomed across the sky.
A flash of yellow light appeared, and Namikaze Minato, completely unharmed, emerged on the ground, his gaze turning solemn as he looked to the side.
There on the ground, another person had somehow appeared, also wearing the same black cloak with red clouds—the attire of Akatsuki—currently reattaching his right wrist to his body.
Yet what most drew Namikaze Minato's eyes were that pair of Rinnegan identical to the ones in the sky above.
"What is going on?"
"How can there be another pair of Rinnegan?"
"Were those missiles just now a unique ninjutsu of this pair of Rinnegan?"
Namikaze Minato was filled with doubt, inwardly startled.
But in his heart, he knew very well that no matter what ocular technique this pair of Rinnegan possessed, he probably wouldn't be able to accomplish his goal.
He had already seen the members of Akatsuki—their strength was by no means ordinary—but his battle with Pain had been in the sky, where they could not interfere too much.
This new Rinnegan user, however, was different—someone who could truly intervene in his fight with Pain.
If he were to shift the battle to the ground, then with so many people from Akatsuki rushing in, even he would not be able to leave easily.
At that thought, a retreating intent arose in his heart.
But before leaving, he had to kill someone first!
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