The next day.
Just as Kiyohara was about to leave with the others, Nagato stopped him.
More precisely, it wasn't Nagato himself who stopped him.
It was Nagato's puppets that blocked Kiyohara's path, while Nagato sat farther back on some strange puppet-like machine.
"These are my Pains,"
Nagato explained, noticing Kiyohara's gaze.
The word Pain meant suffering.
His belief was that only through pain could people truly understand one another.
"I see."
Kiyohara gave a slight nod.
Strangely enough, Nagato himself liked to let his red hair cover his Rinnegan, making him look gloomy and withdrawn.
But his Pains displayed their Rinnegan openly and without restraint.
Even if those Rinnegan were fake, they still carried a fraction of the true Rinnegan's power—and outsiders had no way of knowing they were fake.
When Orochimaru first saw the Deva Path, he had been deeply interested in its "Rinnegan," mistakenly believing it to be real.
"I want to fight you and see how strong you are now,"
Nagato said.
The Akatsuki had been preoccupied with the affairs of the Land of Rain, so they had barely taken part in the Third Shinobi World War.
Now that the war was over, Nagato wanted to test Kiyohara's strength and use that to gauge where he himself stood in the shinobi world.
"Nagato."
The moment Konan heard his proposal, she called out to him.
Nagato absolutely could not fight recklessly right now. It would only worsen the drain on his life force.
Nagato raised a hand, signaling for her not to worry.
"Alright."
Kiyohara accepted immediately.
"I'd like to see your power for myself too."
Kiyohara took Rin and Guren outside.
Nagato guided his puppet machine after the Six Paths of Pain, and Konan followed as well.
A steady drizzle was falling outside.
Kiyohara and Nagato picked an open area.
Nagato then cleared the Akatsuki members away, telling everyone else not to come near.
Kiyohara also told Rin and Guren to wait farther away so they would not get caught in the crossfire.
Rain fell onto the ground between them, splashing up into tiny droplets.
At the entrance to the base, Konan stood there with a slight frown.
Beside her, Rin held Guren's small hand, equally tense as she watched.
"Big Sister Rin…"
Guren spoke softly, and for the first time since the day before, a flicker appeared in those once-empty eyes.
"Will Lord Kiyohara… win?"
After spending time together, Guren had already learned Kiyohara's and Rin's names.
Rin lowered her head and looked at her.
That thin little face was full of careful, timid worry.
"He will,"
Rin said softly, tightening her grip on Guren's hand.
"Kiyohara-kun… is very strong."
The next moment—
Kiyohara raised both hands and formed a seal.
Tiger.
Chakra surged out of his body, racing through his chakra pathways before gathering deep within his chest.
His chest expanded slightly, and faint firelight flickered in his throat.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Kiyohara opened his mouth.
A torrent of crimson flame burst out!
The heat was terrifying. Wherever it passed, the rain evaporated instantly, and even the air warped from the heat.
The fire rapidly condensed and compressed in midair, eventually taking the shape of eight enormous fire dragons!
Each one was over ten meters long, roaring as they charged toward the Pains.
A wave of heat swept outward. The rainwater on the ground vanished the instant the dragons passed over it, leaving behind scorched black trails.
The Pains looked up.
In their eyes, the oncoming fire dragons were reflected clearly.
The Animal Path formed hand seals and pressed a palm to the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
A series of explosions of white smoke burst forth!
Three enormous shapes emerged from the smoke.
A winged hellhound, its body covered in pitch-black feathers, raised its three heads at once and let out a shrill screech.
A giant bird, its wings spread wide enough to span several meters, circled overhead.
And a massive chameleon, its whole body covered in dark green scales, opened its mouth as its long tongue quivered in the air.
All three summons—six eyes in total—were marked with the purple ripple-patterned Rinnegan.
Just like the Pains themselves, the summons shared vision with one another.
Kiyohara arched a brow slightly.
The instant the eight fire dragons came crashing in, the hellhound met them first.
Its three heads opened their jaws wide and bit into the necks of two of the dragons.
The flames exploded. The hellhound's three heads were scorched black, letting out miserable shrieks.
Then, in the very next instant, its body began to split apart.
New heads and new bodies sprouted from the charred flesh.
One became two. Two became four.
In just a few breaths, the original three-headed hound had become a seven-headed beast!
The giant bird dived from the sky, charging straight at Kiyohara.
Meanwhile, the chameleon's body began to turn transparent.
Its scales blended into the surrounding environment, and in the blink of an eye, it vanished into the rain.
Kiyohara slapped a hand to the ground as well.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Bang!
A cloud of white smoke erupted, even larger than the one from his fire jutsu earlier!
A graceful figure slowly emerged from the smoke.
A white robe, long hair flowing down her back, delicate features, and golden slit pupils.
Tagitsuhime.
She stood at Kiyohara's side and looked up at the overwhelming attacks crashing toward them.
"Kiyohara, are you using me as a hired thug now?"
Her voice was seductive, tinged with a hint of helplessness.
Kiyohara smiled faintly.
"Think of it as a chance to stretch a little."
Tagitsuhime glanced at him, and then her body began to swell.
Her graceful curves vanished, replaced by something enormous.
Crimson scales!
A gigantic serpent body!
In the blink of an eye, a crimson snake dozens of meters long appeared in the open field!
Her coiled body rose like a blazing red mountain.
Then, like a streak of scarlet lightning, she shot across a hundred meters in an instant!
Her jaws opened wide.
And with a single bite, she clamped down on one of the hellhound's split heads!
Crunch!
The head was torn clean off. Black blood sprayed through the air, only to be instantly vaporized by the searing heat radiating off her body.
The hellhound let out a horrific scream, and its remaining six heads turned all at once and lunged at Tagitsuhime.
She flicked her head, throwing the still-twitching corpse far into the distance.
Then she reared up and swept out her tail!
Boom!
The six lunging heads were sent flying by a single tail strike!
But the instant those heads hit the ground, their bodies began splitting again.
One head became two. Two became four.
In just a few breaths, the six-headed hellhound had become a twelve-headed beast!
They came at Tagitsuhime from every direction, their black fur thrashing in the rain.
Tagitsuhime narrowed her eyes.
"What an annoying thing."
She opened her jaws.
Deep in her throat, flames began to churn.
The next second, a blazing crimson pillar of fire exploded from her mouth!
The temperature of those flames was even higher than Kiyohara's Fire Release. The air itself seemed to burn wherever it passed.
The fire swept across the battlefield, swallowing up the charging hellhounds entirely!
The twelve heads writhed and shrieked in the flames before scattering across the ground.
But the corpses were still moving.
Beneath the scorched black skin, new flesh was writhing.
They were going to split again.
Tagitsuhime frowned slightly.
"This thing… can't be killed?"
In the distance, the Animal Path stood in the rain, those Rinnegan eyes calmly watching everything unfold.
That was the hellhound's defining trait.
As long as the Animal Path was not defeated, the hellhound would keep multiplying endlessly until it drowned its enemy completely.
The "Enhanced Summoning Jutsu" he used was a special kind of summoning technique.
Its condition was simple: the more it was attacked, the more it multiplied.
Kiyohara looked at the corpses starting to writhe again, then raised his head and glanced at the giant bird circling above.
The bird was still circling.
On the ground, the chameleon had turned fully invisible. Only the tiny splashes made by raindrops hitting its body faintly outlined its shape.
The chameleon was approaching.
Slowly. Silently. Creeping closer to Kiyohara.
A faint smile tugged at Kiyohara's lips.
He could see it.
In his eyes, the chameleon had nowhere to hide.
Within those Mangekyō Sharingan, the creature's distorted outline was perfectly reflected.
And just then—
A figure lunged in from the side!
So fast it was almost impossible to follow—within a blink, it was already at Kiyohara's flank.
The Human Path!
He thrust out his hand, palm open, aiming straight at Kiyohara's abdomen.
The soul-draining technique!
The ocular power of the Rinnegan surged, and an invisible force poured from his palm, trying to invade Kiyohara's body.
But in the very next second, his movement froze.
Because Kiyohara's hand was already pressed against his chest.
"Too slow."
Kiyohara spoke flatly.
Then he threw a punch!
Steel Release!
Earth Release: Earth Spear!
Boom!
The Human Path's chest was blasted through by a single punch!
The puppet body exploded apart. Broken parts scattered everywhere, and the "person" that had seemed alive just a moment earlier was reduced to a heap of scrap metal.
The Human Path flew backward and slammed heavily into the ground, going completely still.
Nagato's brow furrowed slightly.
That punch…
Too fast.
The moment he had sent the Human Path in, he had already anticipated how Kiyohara might react.
But that anticipation had been meaningless.
Because Kiyohara's speed exceeded his response time.
"Interesting,"
Nagato murmured.
Then another figure moved.
The Naraka Path.
He strode quickly to the remains of the Human Path and formed hand seals.
"Summoning Jutsu: King of Hell Rebirth!"
Bang!
A huge cloud of white smoke erupted!
It was a giant face.
The King of Hell!
Its face was grotesque, and on its forehead was a golden character for "king."
It opened its mouth, and a long purple tongue with a hand at the end slowly extended outward.
The tongue moved like a living snake, reaching toward the broken remains of the Human Path.
The hand grabbed the remains, and the tongue retracted back into the King of Hell's mouth.
Then the King of Hell began to chew.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
The sound of its chewing made one's scalp crawl.
From the summoning to the chewing, the whole process took only a second.
Everything happened in a flash.
Then the King of Hell opened its mouth—
And the Human Path stepped out again, completely restored, his face as blank as ever.
Kiyohara watched the scene, and a trace of interest flashed through his eyes.
He had deliberately watched the King of Hell repair the Path.
Because he was observing the flow of chakra within it.
In the distance, Tagitsuhime was still battling those endlessly multiplying hellhounds.
Her flames burned them to ash over and over, but they kept reviving, splitting into more and more.
The original twelve-headed beast had now become over twenty heads.
They surged from every direction, their black fur whipping violently in the rain.
Tagitsuhime's frown deepened.
"Kiyohara, this thing is too damn annoying!"
Her voice came from the serpent's head, full of irritation.
"I can't kill them all!"
Kiyohara withdrew his gaze.
"Just keep them occupied."
The moment he finished speaking, yet another figure had already charged in front of him.
The Asura Path!
His right arm had completely transformed. It was no longer a human arm, but a mass of machinery.
Three mechanical arms extended from his shoulder, each built from intricate metal components.
Asura Path: Mechanized Armor!
He raised one of those mechanical arms, and the wrist suddenly split open.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Countless thin mechanical wires shot out from within!
Lightning flashed beneath Kiyohara's feet.
Lightning Release: Lightning Body Flicker!
His figure vanished from where he stood.
The wires lashed through empty air, writhing for a moment before retracting back into the Asura Path.
"There!"
The Asura Path's vision shifted, and all three mechanical arms rose together.
Their wrists split open, and the wires shot out again!
This time, the wires were faster and covered a wider area.
Kiyohara's body flickered through the air again and again, easily dodging every one.
The Asura Path seemed to lose patience.
Its third mechanical arm lifted.
The front end of that arm transformed, reconfigured, and expanded.
In the blink of an eye, a massive cannon barrel had formed at the end of it.
Chakra began gathering inside the cannon.
Asura Path: Attack of Asura!
"Fire!"
Boom!
A thick beam of energy blasted out from the cannon!
Its heat was incredible. The air burned in its wake, and the ground was gouged open into a deep, blackened trench.
The beam shot straight at Kiyohara.
But it still wasn't fast enough.
Kiyohara hurled a Flying Thunder God kunai, and his body vanished instantly.
In the next moment, he was already in front of the Asura Path.
His right fist shot forward!
The Asura Path raised a mechanical arm to block.
Bang!
The punch slammed into the arm, causing it to shudder violently as cracks spread across its surface.
But the Asura Path's counterattack came at once.
It raised the arm that had turned into a cannon and aimed it at Kiyohara's chest.
That eerie blue light began to gather again.
Seeing that, Kiyohara directly unleashed a Lightning Release technique.
A dense web of electricity exploded outward from his body in an instant.
Chidori Current!
Crackle!
Blinding lightning erupted!
The Asura Path was hit with the current immediately and paralyzed.
"Gahhhhhh!"
The Asura Path let out a shriek of pain. Its mechanical components shook violently, sparks flying in every direction!
Smoke began to rise from its body.
And in that exact instant, another figure rushed in from the side.
The Preta Path!
He raised both hands, palms aimed straight at Kiyohara.
Blocking Technique Absorption Seal!
An invisible suction force surged from his palms, swallowing up all the spreading lightning.
The arcs of the Chidori Current disappeared before the Preta Path's hands like mud sinking into the sea, leaving nothing behind.
The Asura Path staggered backward. Most of its machinery was now twisted and deformed, but it had at least survived.
Kiyohara looked at the Preta Path, and a trace of curiosity passed through his eyes.
"So it can absorb ninjutsu…"
He nodded slightly.
"The Rinnegan's abilities really are interesting."
The Preta Path did not respond.
He lifted both hands again, palms facing Kiyohara.
At any moment, the Preta Path could use the Blocking Technique Absorption Seal to create a shield that absorbed all ninjutsu.
As long as he stood there, any chakra-based attack would be useless.
In the distance, Tagitsuhime had finally managed to suppress the hellhounds for the time being.
Her massive serpent body coiled tightly around twenty of them, crushing them in place.
The dogs were still struggling, still trying to split again, but under her monstrous strength, they could not move at all.
"Kiyohara!"
Her voice carried from the serpent's head.
"I can't hold these things for much longer!"
Kiyohara gave a small nod.
He could see it clearly.
The hellhounds' nature was to multiply endlessly the more they were killed. Unless the Animal Path was defeated, they could never truly be eliminated.
And the Animal Path stood in the distance, controlling those summons.
Beside it was the Deva Path.
The strongest of the Pains still had not moved.
Kiyohara took a deep breath.
Chakra surged through his body.
The diamond-shaped mark on his forehead began to glow.
Yin Seal: Release!
Interlacing markings spread out from his forehead like a blooming purple flower, covering his entire face, trailing down the sides of his neck, and disappearing beneath his collar.
A tremendous amount of chakra burst out of the seal and flooded his whole body!
In that instant, Kiyohara's presence soared!
The Preta Path's brow twitched slightly.
He could feel it—Kiyohara's chakra had become even stronger.
But it didn't matter.
No matter how powerful the chakra attack was, his Blocking Technique Absorption Seal could absorb it.
As long as he remained standing here, Kiyohara had no chance of defeating them.
But then, in the very next second, the Preta Path realized Kiyohara had disappeared.
His speed was unbelievable—so fast the Preta Path couldn't react at all!
In the blink of an eye, Kiyohara was already right in front of him.
His right fist shot out!
The Preta Path instinctively raised an arm to block.
Bang!
The punch smashed into his forearm and sent his whole body flying backward!
He tumbled through the air several times before crashing into the ground and carving out a massive crater.
The Preta Path lay at the bottom of the crater, gasping.
That punch…
It was so heavy.
It wasn't a chakra attack at all—it was pure taijutsu.
The Blocking Technique Absorption Seal had no effect on taijutsu.
He struggled to get back up.
But Kiyohara gave him no chance.
Kiyohara's figure appeared in front of him again.
His right leg rose high—
Heavenly Foot of Pain!
Boom!
His heel crashed down onto the Preta Path's chest!
The ground shook. The crater expanded even further, and broken stone exploded everywhere!
A dull cracking sound came from the Preta Path's ribcage.
The light faded from those Rinnegan eyes.
Kiyohara pulled his leg back and glanced down at the puppet, now completely inert.
Then he raised his head and looked into the distance.
The Animal Path and the Deva Path stood there.
Behind them, the Human Path had just been revived by the King of Hell and was already back on its feet.
The Asura Path was badly damaged, but still barely able to move.
And those hellhounds Tagitsuhime had pinned down were still thrashing wildly.
Then, at last, the Deva Path moved.
He raised his right hand.
His five fingers spread open, palm aimed straight at Kiyohara.
"Shinra Tensei."
An invisible force of repulsion erupted from his palm!
It surged outward like a tidal wave, blasting everything aside!
The ground was ripped up. Stones were swept into the air. Even the rainwater was blown backward!
That force of repulsion came straight at Kiyohara.
Kiyohara stood where he was, expression calm.
Repulsion?
Perfect.
He could use it too.