"Cough—cough…"
At the same time, somewhere else in Amegakure—three kilometers away from the ruined battlefield—Obito tumbled out of a warped space vortex and landed hard atop a towering building.
He looked like a disaster.
Mud caked his clothes, rainwater streamed off his cloak, and even his breathing sounded uneven—as if his lungs were still drowning in what he'd just witnessed.
His single visible eye trembled.
"That guy… that guy…"
His voice came out ragged, almost broken.
"How… how can he use Kamui?!"
The images refused to leave his mind.
That instant—five kills in one breath.
Five Paths of Pain erased like they were nothing.
Not one by one, not with struggle… but with casual efficiency. Like someone clearing a dungeon they'd run a thousand times.
Even remembering it made Obito feel suffocated.
When the panic finally loosened its grip, only cold fear remained—followed by a sick, grateful relief.
"…That brat's strength is terrifying."
"Good thing I ran fast back in Konoha."
"And good thing I didn't charge back in after I got slammed into the water…"
He didn't even want to imagine what would happen if those golden sealing chains caught him again.
The Adamantine sealing chains were among the most dangerous techniques in the shinobi world—something that could bind both body and soul.
Even he was wary of them.
Obito wiped rain from his face, swallowing the bitterness in his throat.
"…Looks like it's time I take my eye back."
"Otherwise…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
He just stared toward the distant battlefield for one last second—then vanished again, swallowed by space.
Rain fell heavier.
Back at the ruins, the drizzle returned to a downpour—thick, steady, relentless.
Uchiha Kai looked up as the water sheeted down from the sky, his gaze narrowing slightly.
"Let the rain fall… completely?"
He could tell what it was.
Amegakure's signature surveillance technique—Rain Tiger at Will.
A sensory net woven into every drop.
But why activate it now, mid-fight?
What was Pain planning?
Kai lifted himself upward with a light, almost ridiculous motion—left foot stepping onto right, right stepping onto air, climbing as if the sky itself had become stairs.
Step.
Step.
Step.
He came to a stop near the center of the ruined battlefield, hovering calmly, and dusted off clothes that weren't even dirty.
A pale silver glow circled his body in shifting rings, flickering through the rain like a moon trapped in a storm.
His eyes, however, didn't flicker at all.
Those crimson pupils remained sharp, steady, amused.
Kai raised his head and locked onto the last remaining figure in the sky.
The Deva Path.
"So now it's just you left, blondie."
His voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the rain with ease.
He even emphasized the last two words on purpose—because everyone knew Jiraiya's "child of prophecy" obsession had one key requirement:
Blond.
A low tremor rolled through the air.
"Human… you've successfully piqued my interest."
Pain's voice sounded like cold metal grinding on metal.
The arrogance was gone now.
Only murder remained—thick, heavy, and sharp.
And buried beneath that killing intent was something even uglier:
Humiliation.
A god being looked down on by a child.
Slowly, Pain lifted both hands, palms facing each other.
Hummm—hummm—hummm!
A force far beyond his earlier Almighty Push or Universal Pull gathered rapidly between his arms.
But this time the target wasn't Kai.
It was the sky above them.
Crack.
Crack-crack-crack—
The rain itself was dragged upward, violently reversed, as if the heavens were being peeled open.
Below, the battlefield began to revolt against gravity.
Boulders. Steel fragments. Splintered beams. Even debris from distant Amegakure towers—
Everything rose, seized by an unseen hand and pulled into the air.
Against all logic.
Against nature.
Against common sense.
A deep black sphere formed—dense, abyssal, swallowing the world's light as it expanded.
Chibaku Tensei.
Pain's ultimate technique.
"That… what is that?!"
Jiraiya's voice shot up, sharp with alarm.
For a moment he genuinely wanted to turn and run.
The black sphere overhead radiated something that crushed courage before the body could even react.
Overwhelming.
Unstoppable.
It didn't feel like a jutsu.
It felt like judgment.
Nearby, Itachi's Mangekyō spun wildly as he stared at the core of the black sphere, trying to grasp something hidden inside it.
He almost had it—
Almost—
Then his eyes erupted in needle-like pain.
His body was too weak.
Even watching an attack like that was pushing him past his limit.
"This is divine punishment…"
Kisame rolled out of the mud and scrambled back, staring at the ground where he'd been lying.
Chunks of earth were already being torn away and pulled upward.
He shuddered, and for once his relief came quicker than his pride.
If he'd been a second slower, he'd have been dragged up with the mud like trash.
Still, deep in his chest, something hot flickered—something dangerously close to admiration.
"Chibaku Tensei… no wonder it's one of the strongest finishing moves early on."
Kai shook his head lightly, almost casual.
"But… I've seen the answer, bro."
He didn't flee.
He didn't use his silver domain to hard-block it.
Instead, he jumped—following the pull.
Straight toward the swelling black core that was devouring everything.
"Kai—are you insane?!"
Jiraiya's voice cracked.
He couldn't stop it—could only watch, helpless, as the boy threw himself at a force that could bury a village.
A body—flesh and bone—getting dragged into that?
There was no fighting that.
There was only death.
High above, the moment Kai was about to be swallowed by the forming satellite of rubble, he moved.
He raised his right hand—its skin darkened slightly, the aura around it thickening like heat over steel.
In his palm, stacked power surged awake at once:
Eight Gates—First Gate.
Nine-Tails chakra.
Sage Mode.
Lightning-enhanced body flow.
Everything he had, pressed into one point.
Then—
The air detonated.
An ultra-compressed shockwave burst from his palm.
A strike so dense the atmosphere visibly warped.
A single palm attack—refined to the extreme.
Super: Eight Trigrams Air Palm!
The pressure screamed as it tore forward, leaving behind rings in the air like ripped-open seams—nine consecutive Mach circles blasted outward behind it.
The target was simple.
The heart of Chibaku Tensei.
The core.
The black sphere shook.
It didn't explode like a normal object.
It buckled—like an overinflated balloon suddenly squeezed too hard.
It trembled violently, collapsed inward—and then shattered.
Crack-crack—CRK?!
The pull vanished.
The rubble paused midair for a single surreal instant—
Then began to fall.
Like a second rainstorm.
Boulders and shards of steel crashed down with a thunderous roar, slamming into the flooded pits below.
SPLASH!
SPLASH!
In the depths of Amegakure, inside a hidden cave…
"PFF—!"
Nagato vomited blood again.
His body convulsed violently against the cold stone seat, like the last strength in his veins had been wrung out.
The Rinnegan's glow dulled.
Not disappearing—but fading beneath exhaustion.
Only confusion remained.
"He… he saw through Chibaku Tensei's weakness…"
Nagato's voice was hoarse, thin, barely holding together.
"That fast… in seconds…"
His breath hitched.
"How can his eyes be that strong?"
Nagato—Pain—still hadn't escaped the fundamental weakness of information warfare.
A technique revealed became a technique that could be countered.
Back at the ruins, chunks of debris and dirty water continued to fall.
Konan's white paper wings snapped out and folded protectively around herself and the Deva Path, shielding them from the downward storm.
But her eyes weren't on the rubble anymore.
They were on Kai.
The strange light in her gaze grew clearer with every heartbeat.
Strong enemies were appearing more and more often.
Not only "Madara."
But this Uchiha child as well.
So—Akatsuki needed more.
Money.
Power.
Backups.
A foundation solid enough to keep Nagato from collapsing.
Far away, thousands of kilometers from the battlefield…
In a dark, bustling underground exchange…
Kakuzu sat with a thick stack of freshly acquired bills, counting with the satisfaction of a man who trusted only one god.
Money.
His green eyes gleamed.
Then, suddenly—
A chill crawled up his spine.
He froze.
For a brief second, he felt as if something horrifying had turned its gaze toward him.
"…Hm?"
Kakuzu slowly looked up.
People passed by. Noise continued. No one seemed to be watching him.
His brow furrowed.
"A mistake?"
He shrugged and went back to counting, lips curling into a cruel grin.
"Doesn't matter."
"If some idiot comes for me, I'll kill him and take his money too… heh."
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