With the deaths of Yamamoto and the other radicals, that matter came to a temporary end.
Seven days later, the Twelve Guardian Ninja officially disbanded.
Five of their positions had suddenly become vacant, leaving an enormous gap. Combined with the daimyo's growing distrust toward them, dissolution had become inevitable.
The reason it took seven days instead of happening immediately was simple.
The daimyo still had to save face for Konoha's sake. He and Hiruzen Sarutobi had to go through the usual political dance, exchanging blame and polite evasions.
Of the remaining members of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, the three royalists continued to stay by the daimyo's side.
The daimyo trusted them more than the others, and in any case, he could not afford to be without powerful protectors near him.
Chiriku returned to the Fire Temple.
That man was something of a second-generation heir anyway. After a few more years, he would naturally inherit the abbot's position.
One of the others followed him to the Fire Temple as well, having grown weary of all the scheming and intrigue.
Sarutobi Asuma returned to Konoha.
As for the final remaining member, he became a wandering ninja.
And with that, the Twelve Guardian Ninja were completely dissolved.
Standing atop the city wall, the Aizen clone watched Sarutobi Asuma, Chiriku, and the others depart.
He knew that the dissolution of the Twelve Guardian Ninja was only temporary.
One day, the daimyo would realize once again how useful the power of the Twelve Guardian Ninja truly was.
When that time came, he would rebuild them.
Humans were contradictory creatures like that.
The Aizen clone did not immediately give chase.
Sarutobi Asuma still had not separated from Chiriku and the others, and fighting one against three would be troublesome.
Meanwhile, with information provided by White Zetsu, Pain finally found Orochimaru.
Orochimaru really was good at hiding.
If so many White Zetsu had not been deployed, finding him would have taken several times longer.
At this point, Orochimaru was no longer in the Land of Rice Fields.
Instead, he was hiding in the Land of Waves.
He knew perfectly well that the fact he had killed Kakuzu could not be kept hidden from the Akatsuki.
But he did not regret it.
He had already tasted true power.
Even if given another chance, he would still kill Kakuzu.
Earth Grudge Fear…
What a beautiful power.
That fool Kakuzu had never truly been able to draw out its true essence.
During these past days, Orochimaru had been fleeing while simultaneously developing bloodline-based secret techniques.
He had already mastered several elemental bloodline combinations.
For example, by combining Wind Release and Fire Release, he had created Scorch Release.
By combining Wind Release and Earth Release, he had created Magnet Release.
The old Orochimaru had already been a genius.
But he had spread his attention across too many different areas of research.
Now, with the enhancement provided by Earth Grudge Fear, he had achieved what he previously could not.
He had mastered elemental bloodline limits through pure control over nature transformation.
Unlike bloodline limits involving dōjutsu, physical constitutions, or special organs, elemental bloodline limits could, in theory, be learned through training if one's talent was high enough.
The sand-controlling techniques of Sunagakure were, at their core, simply a form of Magnet Release.
They were not passed down purely through bloodline inheritance.
Dust Release in Iwagakure was even more advanced—a kekkei tōta that stood above ordinary bloodline limits.
And even that was not inherited through blood alone.
It was a secret technique that demanded an exceptional level of talent to master.
"Pain, is it? What an excellent opponent."
Orochimaru attacked without hesitation.
He wanted Itachi Uchiha's Sharingan.
He wanted Pain's Rinnegan as well.
One Earth Grudge Fear mask creature emerged on Orochimaru's shoulder.
As Orochimaru rapidly formed seals, the Water Dragon Bullet Technique was completed in an instant.
An enormous water dragon appeared out of nowhere.
At the same moment, the Earth Grudge Fear mask spat out a large amount of Lightning Release chakra onto the water dragon.
Orochimaru knew Pain was powerful.
But he still did not know exactly how powerful.
Now was the perfect time to test him.
This time, Nagato had deployed all Six Paths of Pain.
It should be remembered that in the past, even a single Deva Path had completely overwhelmed Orochimaru.
Many people believed that once you knew the secrets of the Six Paths of Pain, defeating them would be easy.
That idea was laughable.
When the gap in power was too large, what did knowing the enemy's secrets really change?
The Preta Path stepped forward, raised both hands, and activated the Blocking Technique Absorption Seal.
Faced with this devastating combined ninjutsu, it did not dodge at all.
To Orochimaru's shock, the massive dragon of lightning and water vanished.
There was no doubt that combined ninjutsu were terrifying.
Aside from exceptionally durable fighters like Tsunade or the Raikage, or someone like Itachi Uchiha with Susanoo active, almost no one would dare take that attack head-on.
"So it can absorb ninjutsu? Even combined ninjutsu?"
Orochimaru grew even warier of Pain.
He stopped using ordinary ninjutsu after that, and he did not rely on his snake techniques either.
They were clearly useless against Pain.
At that moment, the Asura Path attacked.
Its entire fighting style felt out of place in the ninja world. It was hard to imagine how such abilities had even been developed. The Asura Path's powers were more like scientific weapons from another world entirely.
Meanwhile, the Animal Path used the Summoning Technique and called forth many enormous summon beasts.
"This kind of power could turn the tide of an entire battlefield by itself."
After dodging the Asura Path's missile barrage, Orochimaru's forehead was already covered in cold sweat.
It seemed he had still underestimated Pain's strength.
But if Pain wanted to kill him with only this much power, it still would not be enough.
"Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder!"
Orochimaru decisively unleashed the newly developed Scorch Release.
One blazing fireball after another shot toward the Six Paths of Pain.
The power of Scorch Release far surpassed that of an ordinary combined Wind Release and Fire Release ninjutsu.
Scorch Release was a true fusion of those two chakra natures.
The instant it touched a target, it would evaporate all the moisture within their body and reduce them to a dried corpse.
Orochimaru was very curious whether that Pain from earlier could still absorb this attack.
The answer was yes.
The Preta Path's absorption ability was exceptionally powerful.
Madara Uchiha had once used the same ability to absorb Dust Release.
If even Dust Release could be absorbed, then a mere Scorch Release technique was no problem at all.
"The absorption speed has slowed down. Is that because the attack was stronger than last time? Or because bloodline techniques are harder to absorb?"
Orochimaru observed carefully.
Now mask creatures had appeared on both of his shoulders, helping him deal with the summon beasts.
"These summon beasts just keep increasing. Pain's abilities are truly absurd. In that case… let's try this."
Orochimaru began bombarding the battlefield with all kinds of combined ninjutsu.
He had realized something.
The Preta Path's absorption ability had limits.
When faced with techniques that were too powerful, it still needed time to absorb them.
Three powerful combined ninjutsu blasted toward the Six Paths of Pain.
The last one was an enormous wide-area Fire Release attack.
"Orochimaru really is worthy of being one of the Sannin, on par with Teacher Jiraiya. Using the same secret technique, he is far more dangerous than Kakuzu ever was."
Nagato, hidden in the shadows and controlling the Six Paths of Pain, was genuinely impressed.
But challenging a god was foolish.
Nagato had the Deva Path leap to the front.
"Shinra Tensei."
A terrifying repulsive force erupted outward.
Even Orochimaru's three combined techniques—each one comparable to an S-rank ninjutsu—were crushed in an instant by the overwhelming power of Shinra Tensei.
And that was not all.
The force continued onward and slammed into Orochimaru himself, blasting him dozens of meters away.
Many people believed that if Jiraiya had known the truth about Pain's abilities, he definitely could have defeated him.
That kind of thinking underestimated Pain far too much.
It could be said that many characters at this point in time were weaker than they would later become during Shippuden.
But Nagato and the Six Paths of Pain were exceptions.
At this stage, they were actually stronger than they were later on.
Nagato's physical condition was better now.
He had not yet been completely drained by the Rinnegan the way he was in Shippuden, when even without using Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, he only had a few years left to live.
Urgh!
Orochimaru immediately used the Oral Rebirth Technique, vomiting out a fresh version of himself.
"Impure World Reincarnation."
Orochimaru unleashed this fearsome forbidden technique, summoning the dead to fight for him.
Only now did the real battle begin.
Orochimaru, wielding the incomplete Impure World Reincarnation and the Earth Grudge Fear secret technique, versus the Six Paths of Pain.