Night had fallen. In the forest, a bonfire burned brightly. On one side of the fire stood a pink-haired kunoichi with her hair tied in a ponytail; on the other side were six ninja, each possessing the Rinnegan.
"Why me?" Sakura Haruno asked, her brow furrowed, her grip tightening on the kunai in her hand. If she remembered correctly, Nagato had only used three Paths of Pain when dealing with Jiraiya. Yet now, she was facing all six.
This was the kind of treatment reserved for a Nine-Tails jinchuriki. Even Pain, after unleashing the devastating Shinra Tensei, had still held his own against Naruto, who had mastered Sage Mode, and had even pushed Naruto to the point of unleashing the Nine-Tails' power.
Although Sakura had learned to use Seijutsu, she still felt a lack of confidence. Without having tested it in actual combat, Sakura wasn't sure if Seijutsu could handle an opponent of Pain's caliber.
Pain looked at Sakura Haruno, his expression unchanging, and slowly said, "Because I empathize with your experience. Betrayed by the village you trusted—I can understand that pain."
"Heh..." A cold sneer tugged at the corner of Sakura's lips. "Sorry, I have other things to do. I can't join your organization."
"Is that so!" Pain's eyes were indifferent. He didn't attack but took two steps forward, closing the distance to the kunoichi slightly.
Seeing this, Sakura's pupils constricted. She instinctively took two steps back, her voice turning icy. "Are you going to fight?"
Observing her reaction, Pain's face remained impassive, but in the distance, Nagato felt a strange sensation. Why was she so wary and cautious of him? A young genius like her should be confident in her own strength at this stage.
Yet, ever since he had appeared, she seemed to be on high alert, as if facing a formidable enemy. This could only be the case if she had some understanding of him. But their only previous encounter was when she had died.
"No." Pain shook his head and continued, "This isn't our first meeting. We met during your duel with Hanzo. So, besides inviting you to join us, I also want to know why you are standing here now!"
"Wh-what???" Sakura was suddenly bewildered by Pain's abrupt statement. "We... we've met?"
"That's right. Only, you were already dead at the time..." Pain said calmly, his Rinnegan eyes fixed on her.
Sakura suddenly came to her senses. Already dead? That means it was after the duel with Hanzo. Junko then... If I'm not mistaken, Junko saved me, and that's when she came into this world.
At this thought, Sakura's eyes narrowed, and her aura flared intensely. The secrets of Junko's era absolutely could not be revealed. Now that Pain knew, he had to die!
Her muscles tensed, and the ground beneath her feet instantly cracked and shattered. Like a cannonball, Sakura shot forward, kunai in hand, thrusting towards the Deva Path.
Watching her charge at him, the Deva Path raised a hand towards Sakura, his expression unchanged.
"Shinra Tensei!"
As the Deva Path's words fell, the air seemed to distort. A visible ripple of force emanated from Pain's body towards Sakura. The remaining five Paths of Pain moved, scattering to surround her.
And then, something happened that surprised Pain. When the Shinra Tensei's wave hit Sakura, she seemed completely unaffected by the repulsive force. Kunai in hand, she was about to strike the Deva Path. The Deva Path quickly retreated, and Sakura's attack hit empty air.
Just as the Deva Path was about to speak, Sakura, kunai still in hand, lunged at him again. With a shh sound, a black rod fell from the Deva Path's sleeve, and he raised his hand once more.
"Bansho Ten'in!"
However, Sakura showed no reaction at all. She abruptly stopped her advance and threw the kunai in her hand at the Deva Path.
Due to the gravitational pull, the kunai shot forward like lightning, whistling through the air as it flew towards the Deva Path's raised hand.
The Deva Path, momentarily stunned because his ability had no effect on Sakura, didn't react in time. With a sickening thud, the tip of the kunai pierced straight through his palm, embedding itself there.
Even with the kunai through his palm, the Deva Path's expression remained largely unchanged. With another thud, he used his left hand to pull the kunai out and tossed it to the ground. When he looked at the pink-haired ninja again, his eyes were no longer as calm as before.
"Why are my abilities ineffective against you?" the Deva Path asked, his voice magnetic.
Neither repulsion nor attraction worked. This was the first time Nagato had encountered such a situation, and it made him vaguely uneasy. Ever since he had unlocked the Rinnegan's abilities, Nagato hadn't met a worthy opponent for a long time. Indeed, this kunoichi was unusual, to have piqued Madara's interest so much.
"Who knows!" A mocking smile played on Sakura's lips. She knew all of Pain's intel, but her own had just been upgraded. Even the omnipresent White Zetsu wouldn't know her abilities.
Sakura naturally knew that fighting these puppets was mostly useless, but her Seijutsu's biological perception hadn't detected any nearby human-like life forms. This meant that if she wanted to find Pain's main body, she might have to resort to Naruto's method.
She glanced at the other Paths of Pain, who had formed an encirclement. They hadn't joined the attack earlier. Heh, are they trying to discern the secret of my abilities through observation?
Unfortunately for them, the forest was her home ground, and with the cover of night, it was almost impossible for them to figure out the secret of her immunity to repulsion and attraction. Unless Pain could utilize natural energy, he wouldn't be able to discover the little trick she was playing. But he couldn't.
After hearing her reply, the Deva Path silently observed Sakura. Suddenly, a series of "clack-clack-clack" sounds rang out. The Asura Path, positioned to her rear-left, rolled up its sleeve and raised its arm. Countless small rockets ignited on its arm and shot towards Sakura.
"The Asura Path's opening attack, huh..." Sakura felt her scalp tingle at the sight of the dense barrage of small rockets. She nimbly dodged the projectiles flying towards her.
At this moment, the other four Paths also sprang into action, attacking Sakura. Seeing this, she raised her fist and threw a punch at the Human Path, which was closest to her.
"Summoning Technique!"
Boom! A loud crash. Her fist collided with a stone panda that had suddenly appeared in front of her. The stone statue instantly shattered into fragments.
The Animal Path, then... Sakura thought with some regret. If she could just hit one Path of Pain, she could extract the black rod receiver from its body.
Before she could react further, a series of sharp whistling sounds came from behind her, followed by a barrage of "booms" near her ears.
"Damn it, those are the Asura Path's missiles, and they have auto-tracking..."
Subsequently, the fiery explosions from the missiles engulfed Sakura's figure. Although the process seemed to involve many steps, it all happened in the blink of an eye.
After Sakura dodged the Asura Path's missiles and punched the Animal Path's summoned stone statue, the Asura Path's missiles had already turned back. In that split second, even with her not-inconsiderable reflexes, she couldn't evade them.
The area was filled with smoke, and the surrounding grass was ignited by the missile explosions. As the smoke cleared, Sakura's figure gradually became visible.
"Bansho Ten'in!"
Suddenly, Sakura felt an immense sense of danger. Her body was being controlled by an irresistible force. A cold sweat broke out on her instantly, and she activated Seijutsu.
The Deva Path watched as her body trembled slightly and then became unresponsive. He narrowed his eyes, recalling the images from the other Paths' perspectives, silently analyzing her abilities.
That was close, Sakura thought with relief. Pain was indeed difficult to deal with. Although neither side was fighting desperately yet, merely probing each other, it was only because she knew Pain's intel and possessed Seijutsu that she had managed to evade the repulsion and attraction.
If it were any other ninja, the fight would likely have ended as soon as the repulsion or attraction was used. And now, without having found Pain's main body, she couldn't reveal her trick for evading those abilities.
If she found the main body, Sakura wouldn't care about exposing it or not. Otherwise, she would just be needlessly giving her opponent information.
Turning to look at the Deva Path who had just sneak-attacked her, Sakura's mind raced. How could she take down one of them within the shared vision of all six, while also guarding against the Deva Path's surprise attacks?
When she used that particular Seijutsu technique, she had virtually no offensive power. She had to think of a way.