Bang!
Uchiha Raizen summoned a Shadow Clone. The clone flickered to Hinata Hyuga's side and scooped her up into a princess carry.
"Ah! Brother Raizen, what are you doing?" Hinata's face instantly flushed crimson. This sudden intimacy left her completely flustered.
"Big Hinata, your current strength isn't enough to handle a battle of this caliber. You stay back and watch; one person is enough to deal with this guy."
Raizen gave her a wink, and the Shadow Clone activated the Flying Thunder God, whisking her away to safety beside Tsunade and Sakura.
With the distraction gone, Raizen's gaze turned cold and sharp as he faced the Deva Path. The Deva Path stared back indifferently; having recovered his strength, he no longer held Raizen in high regard.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
With a puff of smoke, three massive beasts were summoned by the Animal Path. They lunged toward Raizen imdiately.
Seeing the charging behemoths, the small Katsuyu whispered in Raizen's ear: "That multi-headed hound splits when attacked, the lizard can turn invisible..."
Raizen looked at the black rods piercing the beasts' hides and quickly formulated a plan. These creatures were already dead—nothing more than corpses controlled by the Rinnegan.
He sheathed Sōnga and drew Tenseiga. Facing the three oncoming monsters, he unleashed three consecutive strikes of idō Zangetsuha.
In an instant, three spherical portals to the underworld expanded, swallowing the giant summons whole.
Tsunade and the others stared, eyes wide with disbelief. Those persistent, near-immortal summons had been erased with such effortless ease.
"Lord Tsunade... perhaps this senior really can defeat Pain," Sakura said, her voice trembling with rising hope.
Hinata's face was filled with joy as she cheered internally: Good luck, Brother Raizen!!
Tsunade felt a surge of relief. This mysterious man had brought hope to their despair. Simultaneously, she rembered their earlier promise: if he wins, I'll marry him. A faint, maiden-like blush colored her exhausted face.
Was he serious? I'm fifty years old... would he truly want to marry ? And if he does... should I actually keep my word?
The Power of Sōnga
Konan and Nagato were equally stunned. Konan, standing behind the Deva Path, watched in shock. "He swallowed the Animal Path's summons whole... what kind of technique is that?"
Nagato, controlling the Deva Path, felt a flicker of apprehension. If those black spheres could swallow giant beasts, they could certainly swallow a human path. His gaze turned wary.
The Asura Path opened its chanical arms, firing two missiles at Raizen.
"idō Zangetsuha!"
Two more portals opened, consuming the projectiles. However, the mont the portals closed, the remaining four Paths of Pain lunged simultaneously.
The Hungry Ghost Path tried to grapple Raizen to drain his chakra, but Raizen vanished with a Body Flicker. Imdiately after, the Asura Path flipped open its head-plate, launching over a dozen missiles at his landing point.
Rumble—!
The explosion leveled the ruins where Raizen stood.
"Did we get him?" Konan murmured.
"Brother Raizen!" Hinata cried out in fear. "No! Senior!" Sakura gasped.
"I haven't even married you yet! Don't die!!!" Tsunade shouted. Naruto was gone; this stranger was the village's last hope. He couldn't fall now.
As the dust settled, Raizen's figure appeared, completely unscathed.
"How? The missiles hit him directly! How is he unhard?" Konan stared in disbelief.
The Deva Path narrowed its eyes. Was that a barrier? Being the closest, he had seen a spherical, shimring shield manifest around Raizen the instant before impact.
"My turn."
Raizen walked forward slowly. He drew Sōnga once more, his voice dropping to a frigid tone. "Dragon Twister (Gokuryūha)!!!"
A three-headed dark dragon phantom roared behind him. A terrifying, violent tornado of hellfire and shadow condensed at the tip of the blade before erupting toward the Six Paths.
The Hungry Ghost Path leaped to the front, arms outstretched, attempting to absorb the technique. Unfortunately for Nagato, the Dragon Twister wasn't composed of standard chakra; it was the condensed demonic energy of an ancient evil dragon. Raizen's chakra was rely the spark that released it.
The Hungry Ghost Path was torn apart instantly. The storm continued, sweeping through the next two paths. Finally, the Deva Path gritted its teeth and roared: "Almighty Push (Shinra Tensei)!"
An invisible wall of repulsive force collided with the unstoppable tornado. Seeing the Deva Path hold the line, Raizen let out a cold laugh and unleashed a second Dragon Twister!
The second vortex slamd into the first, doubling the pressure.
BOOM!
The Deva Path let out a choked cry as he was sent flying like a cannonball. He tore through several mountain peaks before being slamd deep into a massive cliff face.
"What terrifying power..." Sakura's eyes were nearly bulging out of her head.
"Brother Raizen is incredible!" Hinata stared at the two massive, scorched trenches carved into the landscape, reaching toward the horizon.
"Those strikes... they were like Tailed Beast Bombs," Tsunade marveled.
High above, Konan—in her angel form—was thoroughly shaken. The landscape of Konoha had been physically altered by just two swings of a sword.
The Final Gambit
The Deva Path, though battered, wasn't finished. Using Earth Style, he erged from the mountain ruins and stood at the peak, glaring down at Raizen.
Inside the paper tree, Nagato was coughing up blood, his breathing ragged. "If this man lives, he will be the greatest threat to Akatsuki. I must end him today, no matter the cost."
Nagato's face contorted with effort. He clasped his hands, channeling a massive amount of chakra.
"Planetary Devastation (Chibaku Tensei)!"
The Deva Path threw a black sphere into the sky above Raizen. Instantly, a gargantuan gravitational pull began to rip the earth apart. Rocks, trees, and massive chunks of the village were sucked into the air. Even the ground Raizen stood on was hoisted up.
Hovering in mid-air, Raizen looked bored. "Are you an idiot, Nagato? Do you really think such a clumsy jutsu can trap ?"
He found it hilarious. He was a master of the Flying Thunder God; did Nagato really think a slow-moving gravity trap would work?
With a thought, Raizen vanished from the rising sphere. He reappeared instantly next to the shocked Tsunade.
"Brother Raizen, you're safe!" Hinata asked, relieved.
"I'm fine," Raizen said simply.
"You're amazing, Senior!" Sakura's eyes were sparkling with admiration.
Raizen gave them a wink. "Of course. How else can I fulfill our 'arrangents'?"
Tsunade looked at him, her eyes misty. "Thank you..."
"Don't thank yet. The real body hasn't been dealt with." Raizen wiped a tear from Tsunade's eye and looked up at the moon-like core growing in the sky.
He estimated that a single Dragon Twister wouldn't be enough to shatter the core of Chibaku Tensei in one go. To break it, he needed a single, overwhelming point of impact.
His pupils shifted, spinning until they settled into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
A surge of prismatic chakra erupted from him. A towering giant, radiating seven-colored light, began to materialize.
Perfect Susanoo.
Raizen manifested the Susanoo's blade. He held the celestial sword in one hand and Sōnga in the other. He took flight, soaring toward the gravitational core.
"Ha!"
He swung both blades simultaneously. One released a blinding prismatic light, the other a massive Dragon Twister. The two attacks rged into a single beam of absolute destruction.
BOOM!
The sky shook. The fully ford Chibaku Tensei core was struck at its center, vibrated violently for a millisecond, and then exploded into a million fragnts.
"Impossible..." The Deva Path stood frozen at the sight.
In that mont of shock, a blade pierced the Deva Path's heart.
"How... how are you so fast?" the puppet gasped, looking at the dark steel in its chest.
"I'm always quick to finish," Raizen remarked, "except for when I'm in the bedroom."
Seeing the Deva Path fall, Konan lunged to intervene. Thousands of paper cranes sward toward Raizen, each laced with explosive tags.
Raizen didn't hesitate. He wrenched Sōnga out of the puppet's chest and unleashed Shisui's Body Flicker. Dozens of "real" afterimages surrounded the falling Konan.
"I'm over here, Konan!"
Raizen appeared behind her and gently tapped the back of her neck. Konan gasped, spinning around and retreating to a safe distance.
"Baby, are you scared? I wouldn't hurt you," Raizen said, shrugging playfully.
"Who are you!? Why are you doing this? I don't know you!" Konan demanded, her breath shallow. If he had wanted to kill her just now, she would be dead.
"Baby, in another space-ti, you're my woman."
"Another space-ti?"
"Exactly. I'm not from this world. In mine, we're very close."
"That's... preposterous!"
"Is it? Go on, Konan. I won't stop you. This puppet is important to you; take him and go."
Half-believing, Konan wrapped the Deva Path's body in paper. Seeing that Raizen genuinely remained still with a smile on his face, she gave him one last, deep look and flew away.
The Bitter Victory
"We won!" Sakura collapsed to her knees, tears streaming down her face.
"There is no winning here," Tsunade sighed heavily. "We didn't kill a single enemy—only puppets. But our losses are countless... even Kakashi is gone."
"Kakashi-sensei!" At the ntion of her teacher, Sakura broke into renewed sobs. Hinata also began to weep softly.
Raizen appeared behind Tsunade. Without warning, she turned and hugged him fiercely, burying her face in his chest as she sobbed. Sakura, seeing this, threw herself into the embrace as well, wailing loudly. Hinata looked on, wishing there was room for her, but settled for crying where she stood.
"Sister Tsunade, stop crying. The true culprit is still alive," Raizen said, patting her shoulder.
Tsunade pulled back, wiping her eyes. "Why did you let that woman go? Why didn't you capture her for questioning?"
"If I didn't let her go, how would she lead to the real mastermind?" Raizen asked, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.
"So..." Hinata said, her eyes widening in realization. "You let her go on purpose so she would return to the source, and we can track her?"
Raizen nodded and smiled. "Exactly. You're very sharp, Big Hinata. A girl after my own heart!"
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