In the cave, the concerns of Black Zetsu and Obito were not unfounded. Obito's power, in essence, was based on trickery.
His defense seemed invincible, but his offense was largely limited to opponents on the ground. When the enemy took to the sky...
While Nagato was alive, Obito never dared to defy him. It wasn't just that he wasn't confident he could win, but also that he couldn't fly. If Nagato took to the heavens, all Obito could do was glare up in frustration.
Nagato had infused the abilities of the Six Paths into several different puppets, with the Deva Path controlling gravity, allowing him to fly freely.
But this mysterious new person clearly hadn't dispersed the Rinnegan's power. He used it all himself. In Obito's eyes, this made him potentially even stronger than Nagato, because Nagato's body...
Nagato was not the original owner of the Rinnegan, so the burden on his body was immense. He had been withered into an emaciated, skeletal figure. One only had to look at Kakashi to understand; after transplanting a Sharingan, his strength hadn't grown for over a decade.
And Nagato had transplanted the Rinnegan—two levels above the Mangekyo Sharingan—and had managed to grow so powerful. It had not come without a price. The price was his life.
The reason Nagato was confined to a chair wasn't because the injuries to his legs couldn't be healed. Even Deidara's arms could be restored; the Akatsuki's medical ninjutsu was not lacking. Nagato was in a wheelchair because the Rinnegan constantly drained his life force, and he had relentlessly pushed its abilities, weakening him to the point where he could only sit.
For Nagato, in that state, to fight another enemy with the Rinnegan...
"We'll take it one step at a time," Obito decided. "White Zetsu, if Nagato is defeated, you must not let his Rinnegan fall into the hands of others. Retrieve them immediately."
"Understood..."
"After we've captured a Tailed Beast, find a way to have Nagato place one of them with me. Whether our opponent can defeat Nagato or not, as long as I have one, he won't have a chance. And the Eye of the Moon Plan will eventually succeed..."
Obito had absolute confidence in his Kamui dimension. As long as the Tailed Beast was sealed away and he hid himself inside Kamui, no one would be able to take it from him.
"The Three-Tails is in the Swordsmith Village..." Otsutsuki Urashiki muttered, dropping a ninja to the ground.
The ninja's eyes were still glazed over; he was under the influence of a Rinnegan genjutsu.
Having learned a hard lesson from his lack of intelligence about the Sage of Six Paths' treasured tools in the parallel world, Urashiki didn't rush headlong into the Mist Village this time.
Instead, he captured several Mist Anbu and interrogated them with his Rinnegan. That's when he learned that the Three-Tails had been sent to the Swordsmith Village.
And the Uchiha Nagi who had tricked him before was the Kage of that very village. The thought of his opponent's space-time ninjutsu, which didn't even require coordinates, gave Urashiki a flicker of apprehension.
His own Yomotsu Hirasaka was a space-time ninjutsu, but it was more like a portal. Its flexibility was on a completely different level from his opponent's.
That was why he had been consistently outmaneuvered by Namikaze Minato in the other world.
"Hmph. I'll settle the score with him after I've collected more Tailed Beasts. First, I'll gather the others..." Urashiki sneered, activating Yomotsu Hirasaka and heading in a different direction.
Unlike in the original timeline where they had collected the Tailed Beasts at a leisurely pace, the sudden appearance of another Rinnegan user had put real pressure on Nagato. The Akatsuki were now rushing to capture the beasts.
"Sigh, I'm exhausted. This Four-Tails is taking forever."
In the Akatsuki's underground cavern, Deidara stretched his shoulders. Being forced to hold a single jutsu for days on end to seal the Tailed Beast into the Gedo Statue was a real pain.
"Stop complaining. Kakuzu and Hidan have already captured the Six-Tails. They're on their way back now," Sasori said, shooting Deidara a look before descending.
Sealing a Tailed Beast into the Gedo Statue didn't strictly require ten people. Later on, Obito had managed it all by himself.
It was just that many hands made light work, and more people shortened the time required.
"Once Hidan and Kakuzu get back, we'll have three Tailed Beasts," Pain announced suddenly.
"Three?" Deidara counted on his fingers. "My man Sasori and I caught one, and Hidan and Kakuzu caught one. Isn't that two?"
"Tobi and Konan have gone to capture the Five-Tails," Pain clarified.
"Hm? Tobi? Isn't that guy just a backup member? Does he have the strength for... oh, right, Leader Konan does..."
Konan had volunteered to go with Tobi to capture the Five-Tails. Only by observing him in combat up close could she get a better understanding of his abilities.
Meanwhile, near a hot spring in the Land of Hot Water, Jiraiya, with Naruto in tow, had found Tsunade. He explained the situation in Konoha: the Hokage was dead, and there was a mysterious new enemy with the Rinnegan.
"What's that got to do with me? Whoever wants to be Hokage can have the job. I couldn't care less. Anyone who wants to be Hokage is a fool," Tsunade said dismissively. The Hokage dream... how grand. But when the people she loved had all died for that dream, her feelings for the position had turned to disgust.
"Don't you dare talk about the Hokage like that! You can only become Hokage if everyone acknowledges you! It's not just a dream for one person; it's about being someone the whole village can believe in!" Naruto jumped in, arguing passionately.
"Oh? You want to be Hokage too, little blondie?" Tsunade chuckled. He was about the same age as her brother when he had died.
"Of course! I, Naruto Uzumaki, am going to be the future Hokage!" Naruto declared, pointing confidently at himself.
"Naruto, I don't mean to discourage you, but your dream of becoming Hokage might have to be put on hold," Jiraiya said suddenly, his usual cheerful and boisterous demeanor replaced by a stern seriousness.
"Huh? What's wrong, Pervy Sage?" Naruto asked, scratching his head in confusion.
"The worst possible enemy is here. Tsunade, I need you to protect Naruto. I'm going to have to summon the two great sage toads from Mount Myoboku for help..."
Jiraiya's face was incredibly grim as he looked up at the sky. Naruto and Tsunade followed his gaze. A man in white robes was slowly descending.
And in the pupils of the man's eyes were concentric rings.
"The Rinnegan?" Tsunade was completely shocked. The enemy Jiraiya had just mentioned had actually appeared—an enemy who possessed the Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths.
"Hehe, found you," Otsutsuki Urashiki sneered.
He swung a fishing rod, and the hook shot towards Naruto. His target was the Nine-Tails sealed inside him.
Tsunade immediately grabbed Naruto and dodged. Whatever that glowing chakra fishing hook was, dodging it was the right move.
Just then, Urashiki seemed to sense something. His Rinnegan's prediction kicked in. He dodged, and a massive forked spear slammed into the ground where he had just been.
After dodging, Urashiki saw that his attacker was a toad over a hundred meters tall.
"I really am clumsy. I couldn't even hit him," Gamaken said. He held a shield in one hand and a forked spear in the other. Jiraiya stood on his head, his hands clasped together, not letting go.
Jiraiya had learned his lesson. He had almost been killed by a single sword strike last time. This time, facing an enemy, he went all out from the start, summoning the two sage toads and preparing to enter Sage Mode.
"Gamaken, watch out for his fishing hook! Don't let that thing touch you!" Jiraiya yelled.
"I know!" Gamaken replied.
Otsutsuki Urashiki swung his fishing rod and flew towards Gamaken, but the toad's massive shield was no mere decoration. It blocked the attack easily.
He then thrust his spear at Urashiki. This time, however, Urashiki didn't dodge. He just mockingly held out a hand towards Gamaken.
[Shinra Tensei]
BOOM!
With a loud crash, Gamaken, relying on a last-second instinct, blocked the attack with his shield.
But the shield dented, and Gamaken was sent flying, crashing into the ground and leveling a large section of buildings.
"I really am clumsy," Gamaken coughed up blood. The Almighty Push had been too close.
The closer one was, the greater the repulsive force. Shinra Tensei was a jutsu based on gravity. No matter how many people or how heavy they were, as long as they were at the center of the gravitational field, they would all be pushed away. Gamaken had been thrown so hard he had broken several bones.
"Hmph. Overestimating yourself," Urashiki glanced disdainfully. So what if it was a summoning animal? The Tailed Beasts were nothing more than pets to the Otsutsuki clan.
"Die!" a powerful female voice yelled. A fair, delicate fist was flying towards Urashiki. It was Tsunade.
Urashiki was initially dismissive, planning to block it with his fishing rod or his own taijutsu and then hook away this woman's chakra. But in the next second, his Rinnegan foresaw a different outcome.
After one punch, he would be hit squarely by that seemingly soft and delicate fist. His divine fishing rod would be completely unable to block it. His entire body would feel as if it had been hit by a high-speed object and would be instantly reduced to a pile of minced meat...
"What?!" In that critical moment, it was his Rinnegan that saved him. He used Shinra Tensei to push Tsunade away.
BOOM!
"How is that possible? That woman's fist..." Urashiki stared in terror at Tsunade's hand. His Rinnegan's prediction was never wrong. That woman's fist could pulp him with a single punch.
"Damn it! What was that jutsu?" Tsunade groaned, picking herself up from the ground.
Her body was tough; a small injury like this was nothing. But what happened next filled her with dread.
The brief fight had scraped her skin. She was bleeding.
"Blood... blood..." Tsunade trembled, staring at her arm. Her mind went blank, filled only with the image of her lover and her brother before their deaths, the scene covered in blood...
"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune shoved Tsunade aside, taking the hit from Urashiki's fishing hook herself.
"Ahhh!" she screamed.
After pushing her away, Shizune was struck by the hook. Her entire body's chakra was ripped out, and she collapsed limply to the ground.
"Are you okay, big sis?" Naruto, seeing this, immediately formed a hand seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
After a puff of smoke, hundreds of clones appeared and rushed to swarm Urashiki.
But Urashiki just sneered and swept his fishing rod, and a large swath of shadow clones dissipated into smoke.
He then extended a hand, and Naruto, who was in the middle of forming a Rasengan, was pulled towards him by an irresistible force.
"Ahhh! What's happening? I can't control my body!" Naruto lost his balance. This was the Deva Path's ability—Bansho Ten'in.
"Got you, Nine-Tails!" Urashiki's smile lasted less than three seconds before Naruto suddenly dissolved into a puff of smoke. It was a clone.
"Rasengan!"
The real Naruto suddenly appeared behind Urashiki, charging at him with a Rasengan in hand.
Unfortunately, his strategy was good, but his taijutsu was terrible.
With a single prediction from his Rinnegan, Urashiki easily dodged the Rasengan, then slammed his fishing rod into Naruto's stomach, sending him crashing to the ground. He swung the hook, and all of Naruto's chakra was instantly pulled out.
"What's happening? My chakra..." Naruto was terrified. He collapsed to the ground, completely drained of strength.
"Hmph. Hand it over, Nine-Tails..." Urashiki looked greedily at Naruto. He swung the fishing hook again, latching onto Naruto's body.
"Hm?!"
Urashiki tugged hard but found that the seal on Naruto's body was incredibly tight. He couldn't pull the Nine-Tails out at all.
"How is that possible? I pulled out the One-Tails with ease..."
Just as Urashiki was wondering what was going on, a burly man with long white hair charged at him, holding a massive Rasengan.
"Giant Rasengan!"
It was Jiraiya. He had finally completed his Sage Mode, with the help of the two sage toads.
The unique toad-like markings of Mount Myoboku's Sage Mode appeared on his face.
Jiraiya's Giant Rasengan was, of course, predicted by Urashiki. He smiled mockingly and successfully dodged it.
However, just as he dodged, two long, sticky tongues shot out and wrapped around his legs.
"Σ(°ロ°)!?"
"Giant Rasengan!"
Urashiki was hit hard, and a large hole was blown through his body, killing him...
The above was just what Urashiki's prediction had shown him. But no matter how he predicted, he couldn't avoid this attack.
[Shinra Tensei]
In the nick of time, Urashiki used the absolute defense of Shinra Tensei to protect himself.
Jiraiya, sent flying into the air, was caught by one of the old toad's tongues, which had wrapped around a distant tree. He landed gracefully like Spider-Man.
"Sorry to keep you waiting! The sage of Mount Myoboku, Jiraiya, has arrived!" Jiraiya struck an exaggerated pose.
"Little Jiraiya, stop posing and deal with the enemy! He's a bit tricky," the old toad said.
"Use Sage Art: Goemon."
"Right."
The two toads and one man all shouted together, "Sage Art: Goemon!" x3...
One spat wind, one spat fire, and one spat toad oil from Mount Myoboku.
The three attacks combined into a roaring inferno that flew towards Otsutsuki Urashiki.
And this was ninjutsu in Sage Mode; each element was amplified by sage art.
"What?" Otsutsuki Urashiki gritted his teeth. It's over. Shinra Tensei is still on cooldown...