Shinra Tensei!
The Deva Path unleashed Almighty Push again, blasting Jizo and Kagutsuchi away within the Susanoo. Protected by the Susanoo construct, neither clone body sustained injury.
However, the prolonged battle was taking its toll. Jizo's body was nearing its limit, his vision already significantly blurred. After this fight, the pair of Sharingan he possessed – originally belonging to Uchiha Teru – would likely be unusable. Unless they could somehow be upgraded to Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan or have Hashirama cells transplanted into the host body, neither of which was currently feasible. Maintaining Susanoo's Fourth Form and constantly clashing with the Deva Path had almost completely depleted Jizo's chakra reserves. He was now barely sustaining the construct by overdrawing the clone body's life force via the Body Activation Secret Technique.
Opposite him, the Deva Path also showed slight signs of fatigue, but his condition was clearly much better than Jizo's. Kagutsuchi's condition was still decent, but his abilities weren't sufficient to fatally wound the Deva Path. In their previous coordinated attacks, Kagutsuchi had managed to unleash several powerful ninjutsu during openings created by Jizo, but they were either absorbed by the Preta Path or simply blasted away by Shinra Tensei.
And this was with only two of the Six Paths of Pain deployed. If Nagato sent out the remaining four, the pressure on Jizo and Kagutsuchi would become immense.
"We can't keep this stalemate going," Jizo said quietly to Kagutsuchi beside him within the Susanoo's command center atop its head. "His Ocular Power is clearly superior to mine. If we keep clashing like this, we'll be the ones to fall."
Kagutsuchi frowned upon hearing this. "What do you plan to do?" He felt extremely frustrated by this battle. With his level of taijutsu and ninjutsu, he was undoubtedly Kage-level. His Fire Style, in particular, included devastating large-scale techniques like Great Fire Annihilation and Great Fire Destruction. Yet, faced with the overwhelmingly powerful and unreasonable abilities of the Deva Path, none of his skills found purchase. After their first coordinated attack nearly injured the Deva Path, their opponent had become extremely wary, preventing them from exploiting the five-second interval again.
"I'm preparing to use that technique," Jizo stated.
"What? If you use that, those eyes will be completely destroyed!" Kagutsuchi responded gravely, strongly disagreeing with Jizo's decision. Although both were clone bodies of Tatsuya, their thoughts weren't always perfectly aligned.
"They'll be ruined after this battle even if I don't use it!" Jizo countered, shaking his head. "If we can't defeat Nagato, Yakugakure cannot be saved!"
"But even if you use that technique to defeat the Deva Path, the Hell Path can just revive him," Kagutsuchi argued.
"Which is why," Jizo said, his eyes fixed intently on the Deva Path's position, "we first need to work together to pinpoint Nagato's true location."
Finished speaking, Jizo once again urged the Susanoo forward, attacking the Deva Path.
Swoosh! Simultaneously, Kagutsuchi's figure shot out from within the Susanoo construct, racing towards the Deva Path alongside it.
Seeing Jizo and Kagutsuchi attacking from two sides, the Deva Path's expression grew serious. He didn't rashly activate Shinra Tensei. The Preta Path also stood close beside him, ready to absorb any ninjutsu from Kagutsuchi.
As Kagutsuchi flew through the air, his hands rapidly formed seals.
Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu!
In an instant, a vast, dense fog erupted from Kagutsuchi's mouth, quickly enveloping the entire battlefield.
Whoosh! Through the thick white mist, the Susanoo's massive fist came whistling, carried by a ferocious gale that dispersed the fog in its path. The Deva Path and Preta Path dodged swiftly.
Flicker! A figure flashed through the air – Kagutsuchi appeared behind the two Paths. He swung his sword rapidly, attacking both simultaneously. At this close range, the Deva Path and Preta Path had no time to evade conventionally.
Shinra Tensei! Seeing this, the Deva Path was forced to use Almighty Push again.
A powerful repulsive force washed over them, blasting both Kagutsuchi's body and the incoming Susanoo fist away. Kagutsuchi's figure flew back half a meter in the air, then vanished with a poof.
It was a Shadow Clone.
Realizing this, the Deva Path's gaze sharpened instantly. Before he could react, another figure appeared via Body Flicker Technique right above him.
It was the real Kagutsuchi!
Kagutsuchi swung his sword down towards the Deva Path. The Preta Path quickly turned, attempting to block for his counterpart. Unexpectedly, Kagutsuchi's descending blade abruptly changed direction mid-swing. It slashed directly towards the turning Preta Path instead.
Unable to dodge in time, the Preta Path could only raise an arm defensively. The razor-sharp longsword sliced cleanly through it, severing the arm at the shoulder. Kagutsuchi immediately snatched the severed arm and retreated rapidly.
Banshō Ten'in! Seeing Kagutsuchi retreating with the Preta Path's arm, the Deva Path instantly understood his objective and used Universal Pull, trying to yank Kagutsuchi back.
Whoosh! At that moment, the massive Susanoo attacked again from above. Seeing this, the Deva Path could only abandon the Universal Pull and dodge alongside the now one-armed Preta Path.
BOOM! A violent impact shook the earth as the Susanoo punched another huge crater into the ground.
Having forced the Deva Path back, Jizo didn't pursue. Kagutsuchi, holding the severed arm, retreated directly into the safety of the Susanoo construct. He quickly extracted a black receiver rod from the arm and tossed it to Jizo.
Jizo caught the rod and, without hesitation, stabbed it directly into his own arm. Instantly, an unfamiliar chakra fluctuation pulsed from a distant location, transmitted through the rod.
"Over there!" Following the direction of the chakra wave, Jizo immediately pinpointed the location of Nagato's hidden main body.
"Not good!" Far off, Konan, who had been tangling with one of Tatsuya's basic clones, saw this development and her expression drastically changed. Ignoring her current fight, her body instantly dissolved into countless paper butterflies, which then flew rapidly towards the direction the chakra signal originated from.
"Go!" Jizo commanded the Susanoo, beginning to charge towards Nagato's location.
Shinra Tensei! Behind them, the Deva Path's cold voice rang out.
A powerful repulsive force slammed into the Susanoo from behind, violently shoving the massive construct sideways. The force of this push was immense.
RUMBLE! The Susanoo tumbled end over end, thrown hundreds of meters before finally crashing to a halt. Atop its head, Jizo and Kagutsuchi were nearly jolted out of the construct by the sheer impact.
Before Jizo could recover the Susanoo, the Deva Path brought his hands together, forming a small black sphere between them. He launched the sphere high into the sky. Suddenly, an incredibly powerful attractive force erupted from the airborne black core.
Chibaku Tensei!
In an instant, the ground beneath began to crack and shatter. Huge chunks of rock and earth were torn free, flying upwards towards the black sphere in the sky. Jizo and Kagutsuchi, still encased in the Susanoo, were irresistibly pulled skyward along with the debris. The other Akatsuki members scattered across the battlefield were not exempt either.
"What is this jutsu?!" Sasori complained, rapidly retreating to escape the growing gravitational pull.
Kakuzu's face showed unprecedented gravity.
This was the first time Chibaku Tensei had been revealed. Its immense attractive power and vast range completely exceeded their understanding. The Leader's strength is truly boundless! they thought. And yet, that Uchiha with the Mangekyō Sharingan managed to fight him head-on for so long... his strength is also astonishing.