Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

—Even… he actually used the release of ninjutsu to restrain the Preta Path, which was adept at absorbing ninjutsu.

However, Pain underestimated Naruto's chakra reserves.

The Hungry Ghost Path managed to block the Wind Release: Super Giant Rasenshuriken.

The sealing technique absorbed the seal very quickly. The moment the Hungry Ghost Path came into contact with the Wind Release: Super Giant Rasenshuriken, it had already absorbed half of its chakra.

But for Naruto, such a ninjutsu that requires a lot of chakra is just a feint attack on the Preta Path!

Without any pause between casting techniques, the second Wind Release: Super Giant Rasenshuriken came straight at the Preta Path!

Naruto Uzumaki – his fighting style is far too extravagant!

Even though his first attack was dealt with, the amount of chakra in the ninjutsu he used in his next attack did not decrease at all.

Fighting someone with such an abnormally large amount of chakra, you won't even have to wait until he gets tired!

It's pointless to deflect any number of ninjutsu against his attacks!

His ninjutsu power will not weaken even if he consumes a lot of chakra during a prolonged battle.

No matter what stage of the battle, once you are hit by his ninjutsu, you will be inflicted with a large amount of damage in an instant.

Naruto unleashed two consecutive Wind Release: Super Giant Rasenshuriken to suppress the Preta Path's sealing technique, Absorption Seal.

This is also to prevent the animal realm from repeating the same trick and using the art of spirit communication to summon spirits to the hungry ghost realm at a critical moment.

Almost simultaneously, the second Wind Release: Super Giant Rasenshuriken was unleashed, and it made contact with the first Wind Release: Super Giant Rasenshuriken.

Before this, the Animal Realm and Konan had already withdrawn from the Hungry Ghost Realm!

The Animal Path and the Hungry Ghost Path are no match for Naruto.

But nowadays, the animal realm is more important than the hungry ghost realm.

Therefore, Payne decisively abandoned the realm of hungry ghosts.

Meanwhile, the Wind Release: Super Giant Rasenshuriken had already engulfed the Preta Path, tearing its body apart.

At the cost of the annihilation of the hungry ghost realm, the animal realm managed to survive.

Can……

Naruto gave Pain no chance to breathe, and the third Wind Release: Rasenshuriken pierced through the water curtain once again, heading towards the Animal Path!

However, this time, the animal realm is prepared!

He used the Summoning Jutsu for the fifth time during his battle with Naruto.

This time, the Animal Path summoned the other four Pains besides himself and the Hungry Ghost Path!

Even against the Nine-Tails, the strongest of the tailed beasts, capturing it would require relying on a fully-formed god!

Summoned along with the Animal Path, the other four Pains standing before it were the Human Path (with flowing hair), the Asura Path (bald and with a strange appearance), the Hell Path (a burly figure), and—

—The leader of "Akatsuki", the Heavenly Way.

"Shinra Tensei!"

With a simple wave of his hand, the Heavenly Dao unleashed the third Wind Release: Super Giant Rasenshuriken aimed at the Animal Path, which was instantly annihilated.

However, only the "Wind Release: Super Giant Rasenshuriken" disappeared.

The third giant Rasenshuriken was nothing more than a transformation trick!

Although Naruto, who had returned to his original form, was also knocked away by Shinra Tensei, he was prepared.

Or rather, everything he did from beginning to end was preparation for those 5 seconds after the Heavenly Dao unleashed the Divine Raid!

...5 seconds!

First, cut off the line of sight between Payne!

Naruto, who was knocked into the air, formed the "Tiger" hand seal with his hands.

Chakra gathered in Naruto's mouth and completed its nature transformation.

Fire Release—

—Flames were spewed out of Naruto's mouth!

The raindrops evaporated in the intense heat the instant the water gushed from the ruptured pipe came into contact with the flames.

The rain turned into a mist, obscuring Payne's vision.

Under Naruto's control of his Fire Release technique, the mist rapidly thickened, eventually turning into a pure white that completely obscured the view.

...4 seconds!

The fact that their vision was blocked by the thick fog left Payne and his men looking around in bewilderment.

Although they could still sense each other's location, they were no longer able to respond to unexpected situations during the battle as quickly as before.

Although such intelligence gaps have a weak effect, they can still be surprisingly effective.

Naruto suddenly emerged from the ground where the Animal Path was standing, preparing to attack the Animal Path!

Is Naruto preparing to launch a surprise attack using Earth Release techniques hidden in the mist?

Having mastered the art of summoning, the Animal Path has already summoned two other Pains in succession.

Anyone else would have wondered if there were more than six Paynes.

Therefore, prioritizing eliminating the animal realm to prevent him from continuing his spiritual communication is the safest and most correct decision.

however--

—The first Pain to deal with in the battle should be the Hell Path, which allows Pain to be "resurrected"!

Naruto Uzumaki's attack on the Animal Path failed.

The Preta Path, which Naruto had already dealt with, grabbed him from behind.

The thick fog continued to obstruct the view between the Paynes.

However, Naruto, as an enemy, was already in Pain's sights.

The dense fog then lost its purpose.

Is that really the case?

The Animal Path gazed at Naruto, who was bound by the Preta Path.

Naruto showed no panic at being captured.

Instead, he revealed a triumphant expression, as if everything had gone exactly as he had envisioned.

boom--!!!

The one subdued by the Preta Path was merely Naruto's shadow clone!

This shadow clone was covered in explosive tags!

In an instant, two of the six Pains were eliminated: one from the Hungry Ghost Realm and one from the Animal Realm.

...3 seconds!

"Pain!!!"

"I won."

The echoes of the detonation tag's explosion had not yet faded.

Xiao Nan's voice.

Naruto's voice.

At the same moment, it suddenly rang out behind the Heavenly Dao.

Naruto activated Karin's chakra to unleash the Adamantine Sealing Barrier, instantly binding Pain's entire body and restricting his movements.

Naruto's goal from the very beginning was the Heavenly Way!

His way of getting close to the Heavenly Dao is through the Flying Thunder God!

However, Pain had tried his best to avoid direct contact with Naruto during their battle, which resulted in him being marked with the Flying Thunder God Seal.

How exactly did Naruto Uzumaki use the Flying Thunder God Technique to approach the Deva Path, which had just been summoned by the Animal Path?

The only answer is that Naruto had already secretly imprinted the Flying Thunder God Seal on Konan during their previous battle.

The true forms of Pain's Six Paths are all corpses. Except for the Deva Path, which was created using the corpse of his close friend Yahiko, the other five paths can all be discarded and replaced by Pain.

Amidst this mist, facing Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Pain deliberately appeared beside Konan to protect her, who was unable to leave the center of the battle in time.

Even if he were to ascend to godhood, he would be at odds with the entire ninja world... For Pain—no, for Nagato—Yahiko and Konan would always be the bonds he needed to protect.

He has already lost Yahiko in the past, and cannot allow Minami to be in danger again.

But Naruto seemed to have seen through Nagato's thoughts long ago.

This was his first real encounter with Naruto, yet Naruto seemed to know Pain—and even Nagato himself—very well.

This feeling was extremely strange, or rather, terrifying.

"Naruto Uzumaki... how exactly did you gather this information?"

...2 seconds!

Before Pain could finish speaking, the other Pain members who had been drawn away by Naruto's shadow clones began to gather around Pain.

Payne has only one goal!

That is to stop Naruto from taking any further action against the Heavenly Path.

For ninjas, meticulousness is not a characteristic, but rather the norm.

The former Konan, now Nagato.

They sensed something was amiss during their fight with Naruto.

From the very beginning, Naruto's appearance in Amegakure was illogical.

At this point, Naruto should have been hiding with Sasuke, who was on the verge of death after fighting Itachi.

He did indeed disappear from the intelligence networks of various forces once again.

Naruto's disappearance was not a cover-up, but rather a preemptive strike that no one could have anticipated.