Itachi wanted to offer his eyes to Sasuke, and there wasn't much that could be done about it.
This was his wish, and Akira naturally respected his decision.
At this moment, Akira's wood clones were still in the midst of their battle with Tendo Pain and the others. The massive Susano'o, glowing with a golden hue, looked incredibly powerful. Under the relentless pressure of the Susano'o, Tendo Pain and Obito were completely overwhelmed!
It was only thanks to Tendo Pain's flight ability and Obito's Kamui's exceptional defensive capabilities that they managed to endure this long. If not for these abilities, they would have been defeated already by the two gigantic Susano'o.
Meanwhile, Akira was being kept occupied by both Obito and Pain, making things extremely difficult for Sasuke, who was facing Urashiki Otsutsuki alone.
Although both Sasuke and Urashiki had power at the level of a Super Kage, Urashiki's strength was clearly superior. The Rinnegan consumed a significant amount of chakra, and Sasuke was never known for having an enormous reserve of chakra. To make matters worse, Urashiki's fishing rod could steal chakra with every successful strike. Under such circumstances, how could Sasuke continue the battle?
After fighting for so long, Sasuke was now visibly fatigued, his chakra reserves almost completely depleted.
In the midst of his struggle, Sasuke stole a glance at Akira. There he was, sitting comfortably on a wooden chair made by his Wood Release, looking utterly relaxed. It was an enviable sight.
However, there was no room to accuse him of being lazy. After all, his four wood clones, each covered in a golden Susano'o, were currently keeping Obito and Tendo Pain occupied.
To single-handedly suppress those two was already an impressive feat! As someone who had traveled from a parallel universe, Sasuke was well aware of how powerful Obito and Tendo Pain were.
Elsewhere, Might Guy was locked in combat with Kisame Hoshigaki, seemingly destined to be his eternal rival.
Kisame, now without his signature sword Samehada—which had been destroyed by Akira—was left relying purely on his Water Release techniques.
The other five Paths of Pain had each found their own opponents. Orochimaru, despite having Kage-level strength, was deliberately holding back. Not wanting to reveal his identity, he mostly employed conventional Ninjutsu, severely limiting his combat effectiveness.
Additionally, the ten thousand White Zetsu clones were not to be underestimated. This attack had turned into a bitter struggle for Konoha.
After another seven or eight minutes of battle, Sasuke was struck by Urashiki's fishing rod once again. A large portion of his chakra was extracted, as though it was being reeled in like a fish.
With his chakra nearly depleted, Sasuke could no longer sustain his right eye's Mangekyo Sharingan, which disappeared on its own.
"Damn, I'm out of chakra!" Feeling his dwindling strength, Sasuke cursed inwardly.
"Is this all the chakra you have left?" Urashiki commented with dissatisfaction, looking at the amount he had pulled from Sasuke. He shook his head slightly.
Taking the chakra and placing it into his fishing basket, Urashiki then took out a pill and swallowed it. He instantly felt a significant boost in his chakra reserves.
It was clear that while Urashiki didn't completely outclass Sasuke in raw power, he far surpassed him in chakra reserves. Sasuke's "blue bar" was depleted, while Urashiki's was still at seventy to eighty percent—how could they compare?
Having defeated Sasuke, Urashiki didn't waste any time. He moved swiftly towards Naruto Uzumaki.
At this moment, Naruto was being double-teamed by the Preta Path and the Asura Path. Facing these two Paths, Naruto found himself in a tough spot.
Why? Because the Preta Path could absorb chakra-based attacks, making Naruto's Nine-Tails chakra almost useless. In terms of abilities, Naruto was completely outmatched.
Locking onto Naruto, Urashiki swung his fishing rod, sending the hook flying towards him.
Seeing the incoming attack, Naruto tried to dodge, but the Asura Path fired several rockets, completely cutting off his escape route.
The hook struck Naruto, and as it was pulled back, a huge chunk of his chakra was extracted.
If the chakra Urashiki took from Sasuke was like a small fish, then the chakra he extracted from Naruto was like a big carp.
"That's more like it!" Urashiki said, nodding in satisfaction as he placed the chakra into his basket.
"This guy... he can steal my chakra!" Naruto muttered, shocked as he felt a substantial portion of his chakra being taken away.
After years of training, Naruto had become adept at wielding the Nine-Tails chakra, capable of manifesting up to five tails. But now, after losing so much chakra, the number of tails dropped from five to just three. The extent of the chakra loss was obvious.
"Let's go again..." Urashiki wasn't about to forget his main goal for coming here—to capture the Nine-Tails. Now that he had the upper hand, he intended to take Naruto down first.
"Everything is going as expected," Akira thought to himself, glancing over at Naruto's situation with a calm expression.
After numerous life simulations, the details of Konoha's impending invasion had become increasingly clear to Akira. It was almost as if he had rehearsed this battle countless times. Thus, he knew exactly what would happen during this attack.
Seeing Naruto lose a large chunk of his chakra was still within Akira's expectations.
But now, things were reaching the point where Akira's battle needed to end.
Sure enough, after being pushed back, Tendo Pain used Almighty Push to block one of the Susano'o's punches. Taking advantage of the five-second cooldown of Almighty Push, the other Susano'o raised its fist and slammed it into Tendo Pain.
Tendo Pain couldn't withstand the blow and was sent flying, crashing to the ground and creating a huge crater. It seemed as if every bone in his body had been shattered.
The Susano'o that had been repelled by Almighty Push then used a Lightning Release attack, which shot out like a laser, piercing Tendo Pain's body as he lay in the crater. This substitute body of Tendo Pain was thus eliminated by Akira.
With the end of this battle, the two wood clones also dissipated, and the remaining chakra returned to Akira's body, causing his depleted chakra reserves to surge.
"Obito's Kamui is tricky to deal with, but it isn't without its weaknesses. It can only be maintained for five minutes at a time, which means his chakra should also be running low," Akira thought as he shifted his focus to Obito.
The two remaining wood clones simultaneously dispelled their Susano'o.
"What's this?" Obito, who had been struggling under the assault of the two golden giants, was surprised to see them deactivate their Susano'o. He felt a surge of joy—could it be that their chakra was finally running out?
If that were the case, it would be fantastic!
But before he could finish his thought, Akira's wood clones continued to make their move.
The two wood clones quickly formed hand seals and shouted in unison, "Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Suddenly, countless branches and vines erupted, twisting and writhing like serpents, all converging towards Obito.
In his intangible state, all the branches simply passed through Obito's body. But Akira wasn't in a rush. He continued maintaining the Deep Forest Emergence, ensuring Obito had no time to rest or let his guard down. At the same time, Akira was silently counting the minutes—five minutes.
As the five-minute mark approached, Obito's need to deactivate his intangibility increased, along with the likelihood of him launching a counterattack.
Naturally, Akira was prepared for this.
"Damn it, this guy really knows the weakness of my Kamui!" Obito muttered in frustration. The Deep Forest Emergence had already been maintained for four minutes, showing no signs of stopping. It was clear that Akira knew all too well about Kamui's weakness.
After all, Akira had once stolen his Kamui ability with his eye technique. It made perfect sense that he would understand its limitations.
Surrounded by the relentless onslaught of branches, Obito didn't dare release his intangibility. Yet, as the five-minute mark drew near, he knew his body would soon be forced out of intangibility, whether he wanted it or not.
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POWER STONE!!!
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