Punch after punch, when it comes to the size of the Gedo Mazo and the Wood Human, regular ninjutsu has little effect. Fire Style, for instance, is like nothing more than a firework.
At such a colossal scale, it's all about whose chakra is thicker and whose strength is greater!
With the chakra of the Two-Tails sealed inside it, the Gedo Mazo's power has indeed grown significantly stronger.
However, facing Uchiha Akira's Wood Human enveloped in Susanoo armor, Akira's double-layered power was still a level above Deva Path Pain.
For several minutes, the two titanic beings exchanged dozens of blows. The terrain, already altered by the Super Shinra Tensei, had turned into a complete wasteland.
The earth cracked in many places. Uchiha Akira's Wood Human grabbed the Gedo Mazo by its arms and, with its wings flapping violently, took to the skies!
The Vajra Buddha of the Wood Human Technique did not originally have wings, but the full-body Susanoo did!
With the Gedo Mazo in its grasp, Akira flew higher and higher into the sky. The Gedo Mazo, lacking the ability to fly, desperately clung to the Wood Human, its ten tail-like appendages wrapping tightly around it.
Once they reached several thousand meters in the air, Akira's Mangekyo Sharingan flashed, and the power of Susanoo was withdrawn.
With a clever move, Akira slipped free of the Gedo Mazo's grasp, leaving it to fall freely to the earth.
As for Akira, though his Wood Human was also falling, he reactivated Susanoo midway. The Wood Human, now equipped with wings, gently glided down from the sky.
The massive Gedo Mazo, however, plummeted thousands of meters and crashed to the ground with a tremendous impact.
Suspended in midair, Akira controlled the Wood Human to dive down, striking the Gedo Mazo with tremendous force.
The ground shook once more, a massive crater forming from the impact. Deva Path Pain and the Gedo Mazo lay at the bottom of this crater, looking utterly devastated.
Without giving Pain a chance to recover, Akira clasped his hands in a seal, and several black, ink-like runic symbols—like tadpoles linked together—quickly crawled over Pain's body, immobilizing him.
This was Akira's sealing technique!
With Pain now immobilized by the sealing jutsu, Akira raised his hand and removed the black chakra receivers from Pain's body.
These black rods were chakra receivers and were crucial for Nagato's remote control of the bodies.
With the removal of these rods, Deva Path Pain was finally neutralized.
A puff of white smoke exploded—the Gedo Mazo vanished as Nagato acknowledged his defeat, withdrawing the summon.
The other Pain puppets were also unsummoned.
Akira spread out his sensory abilities, attempting to locate Nagato. Whenever Pain appeared, Nagato's true body must have been nearby.
Even with the chakra receivers, there had to be some proximity for effective control.
Yet, despite Akira's efforts, he couldn't pinpoint Nagato's location. He sighed silently.
"Why am I not the protagonist?"
In the original story, when Naruto defeated the Six Paths of Pain, he was able to locate Nagato in Sage Mode, and then, with a bit of talk-no-jutsu, made Nagato surrender.
But Akira? Despite battling Nagato multiple times, even after reaching Super Kage-level strength, he couldn't sense Nagato's position.
If Akira had a weakness, it was in sensory perception.
"So, Yahiko really has been dead for a long time, huh?"
As the battle ended, Jiraiya and the others approached. Seeing Deva Path, stripped of the black rods and lying lifeless on the ground, Jiraiya sighed.
Kakashi stepped forward, lifting Deva Path's eyelid to reveal the pale brown eye, devoid of the Rinnegan's signature lavender rings.
"So, it was true all along—there was only one pair of Rinnegan!" Jiraiya nodded, seeing Yahiko's eyes devoid of their previous form.
All in all, this encounter with the Six Paths of Pain left Kakashi, Fugaku, and Jiraiya gravely injured. If not for Akira's timely intervention, the outcome would have been disastrous.
"Akira, you really saved us this time. How did you know we were going to be attacked?" Fugaku asked after the battle.
"I received the intel five days ago. I pushed myself to the limit to get here in time," Akira said, a note of exhaustion in his voice.
"Five days? You covered that distance from Konoha to here in just five days?" Jiraiya and the others were stunned, looking at Akira in disbelief.
"Yes, I rushed the entire time," Akira nodded.
"You managed to travel five days and still unleash this kind of power? I can't imagine how much chakra you possess," Jiraiya marveled.
"I bet it even surpasses the First Hokage," Fugaku added, astounded.
"It's a level I'll never reach," Kakashi said quietly.
If even Jiraiya and Fugaku were this amazed, what more could Kakashi say? Compared to them, Kakashi had the lowest chakra reserves, barely breaking the ten thousand mark.
After taking some time to recover, the group headed back to Konoha.
"Who would've thought that the three of us, traveling together, would be attacked? I wonder how the other Kage are faring," Fugaku mused on their way back.
"If we were ambushed, the others probably didn't fare much better," Akira said, shaking his head.
According to Akira's Life Simulator, the Six Paths of Pain had attacked Konoha. Originally, both Fugaku and Kakashi were supposed to die, with only Jiraiya surviving.
Perhaps Nagato still harbored some lingering respect for his former mentor, or maybe it was just a matter of fate.
Just as the simulator had predicted.
In the Land of Wind, despite Sunagakure being the weakest among the villages, with the weakest Kage, Rasa, the attackers were Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki.
Due to Itachi's reluctance, only two of Sunagakure's guards were killed, and Rasa managed to escape.
With Itachi holding back, and Kisame lacking Samehada, the attack was half-hearted at best.
Onoki, the Tsuchikage, faced Kakuzu and Tobi.
Kakuzu may have wanted to hold back, but Tobi's power was overwhelming. After a fierce battle, Onoki was mortally wounded and died.
Meanwhile, the Mizukage was attacked by Sasori and Deidara.
However, Ao's Byakugan detected them from afar. With her Boil and Lava Release, the Mizukage managed to fight them off and escape, though she sustained injuries.
The Raikage, among the Five Kage, was the strongest.
Considering Kumogakure's ambitious nature, if the Hokage died, the Raikage might take the opportunity to attack Konoha.
Thus, the Akatsuki chose not to target the Raikage, believing his survival would serve a greater purpose.
After the Five Kage Summit, four of the Kage were ambushed by the Akatsuki. Onoki died, while the others were all severely injured.
Once Akira and his group returned to Konoha, news of the ambush spread quickly, shaking the entire shinobi world.
Who was Onoki? The wielder of Dust Release, an old and experienced Kage-level shinobi, was dead?
The news was shocking, and it also painted a clearer picture of just how terrifying the Akatsuki truly were.
Naturally, whispers spread throughout the shinobi world.
Seven years ago, Onoki had lost a leg to Akira. Now, he was the only Kage who had died in the ambush. It seemed that, while he had once been a powerful Kage, age and injury had diminished his strength, making him the weakest of the Five Kage.
"I knew it…" Upon learning of the Tsuchikage's death, Akira sighed silently.
Despite his personal history with Onoki, Akira had never wished for his death.
Had Onoki been the only one attacked, Akira might have rushed to save him, as he had previously assisted Sunagakure.
But with both the Tsuchikage and the Hokage under attack, Akira could only prioritize saving his own Kage.
Akira wasn't noble enough to sacrifice the Hokage to save the Tsuchikage.
With Onoki dead and the other Kage injured, the entire shinobi world was shaken, and the resolve to unite against the Akatsuki only grew stronger.
The Akatsuki's strength was undeniable—if they weren't eradicated, peace would remain elusive.
Moreover, Akira's feat of traveling from Konoha to the Iron Country in just five days became a story that spread throughout the shinobi world, further cementing his reputation.
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POWER STONE!!!
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Note: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 300+ at patreon.com/Emik01.