Main Street.
Once bustling, the street now lay in ruins, scattered with debris.
"Now, you should at least begin to understand our pain," Pain coldly said, staring at Kakashi before him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Kakashi suppressed his anger, searching for an opening.
"Don't understand? It seems the suffering we've given you still isn't enough!" Pain murmured to himself.
"Good chance!" Kakashi's eyes sharpened. His real body, hidden underground, suddenly burst forth, lunging at Pain with a kunai.
However, the kunai halted just short of Pain's body, blocked by an invisible force, then violently repelled away.
"Is this all you've got?" Pain mocked, extending a black rod directly from his palm toward Kakashi.
Just as the rod was about to fire, two figures leapt from the surrounding ruins, each throwing kunai at Pain.
Pain calmly repelled them, yet as they flew back, they simultaneously threw chains that bound Pain tightly.
Meanwhile, Kakashi seized this opportunity and charged at Pain with his Lightning Cutter.
"It's going to work!" Everyone around watched intensely.
"Die!" Kakashi roared inwardly, only to feel his right hand strike a steel plate.
It was the Asura Path, blocking the attack at the last second with his own body!
"It's my turn!"
...
By the time Tsunade arrived, Kakashi and the jonin who had just joined the battle had already been defeated!
Pain yanked injured ninjas from the rubble, extracting their souls and reading their memories.
"Damn it! Someone, help me now!" Tsunade furiously threw a punch.
Pain raised his right hand, unleashing an invisible repelling force to deflect the attack.
Tsunade hesitated for a moment mid-charge, then unleashed a surge of power, forcing her way through the repelling force. She landed a punch directly on Pain's head, sending his twisted face flying through the air!
The surviving ninja nearby stared in disbelief, then burst into cheers, moved to tears.
"Great! Hokage-sama defeated the strongest enemy!"
"Everyone, pull yourselves together! Follow Hokage-sama into battle!"
The other five Paths remained expressionless. The Naraka Path stepped forward, catching the Deva Path before tossing him into the Yama (King of Hell) summoned from his mouth.
Tsunade's face changed as she recalled Sage Fukasaku's warning. She strode forward powerfully, like a raging dragon charging at the Naraka Path.
The Asura Path and Human Path blocked her way, but both were smashed aside by her brute force.
Yet she arrived just a moment too late. When she reached the Naraka Path, the Deva Path Pain had already revived, immediately repelling her with an enhanced version of Shinra Tensei.
Witnessing this, the morale of Konoha's forces plummeted once again.
Nearby, having followed Tsunade halfway, Sakura stumbled to Kakashi's side, injecting Yang Release chakra into his body and crying loudly, "Kakashi-sensei, wake up, please wake up!"
Ino stood nearby, her throat tightening. Hadn't she been just like this when Asuma died?
Pain turned his neck and looked at Tsunade in an indifferent tone. "After all, you were someone once considered equal to Master Jiraiya. I underestimated you a bit."
"It really is you!" Tsunade's heart sank. "Jiraiya really taught three ungrateful disciples!"
Pain didn't get angry. "You're wrong. Master Jiraiya abandoned his Ninja Way!"
"What did you say?"
"Master Jiraiya said that I was the Child of the Prophecy who could bring change to the shinobi world! I accepted his beliefs and carried them out, determined to suppress war through fear and achieve peace and stability."
"But what about Master Jiraiya? He betrayed himself. When he realized the flames of change might spread to Konoha, he abandoned his own beliefs. He not only refused to support us, he even tried to stop our transformation!"
"I killed him so he could return to his true self! I'm sure... he felt relieved before he died."
"What nonsense!" Tsunade was furious, her chest heaving violently. "Jiraiya never said change should bring destruction. Besides that, peace built on fear is absolutely not true peace!"
"True peace?" Pain sneered. "You great nations consider yourselves the protagonists of the world, imposing shallow peace upon us that actually brings endless suffering!"
"It's true the great nations have done wrong things! But what does that have to do with us, Konoha? We always fight only in self-defense. The pain we've endured isn't any less than yours!" Tsunade argued strongly.
"Those of you who keep bringing pain to the world through endless wars really know what pain means?" Pain bent his knees and leapt into the sky. "Those who don't understand pain can't possibly comprehend true peace!"
At the same time, the other Four Paths were summoned away in advance by the Animal Path that had already left Konoha.
"What does this bastard want to do?" Tsunade had a vague bad feeling, especially after seeing those four clones being summoned away.
"There's no time to think about it!" Tsunade clenched her teeth and released the Yin Seal, channeling the accumulated chakra continuously into Katsuyu.
Deva Path Pain soared into the sky and gazed down at all of Konoha at once. He spread his arms wide. "From this moment on, let the world feel pain—[Super Shinra Tensei]!"
A repelling force as if to destroy the world burst forth in an instant. The entire Konoha ground collapsed downward. The buildings were like crumbling rocks blown away by the wind, instantly disintegrating!
In the blink of an eye, Konoha became a massive crater, its former prosperity gone in an instant!
"Cough! Cough!" Sakura struggled out from beneath Katsuyu, looking dazedly around while coughing occasionally.
Although being wrapped by Katsuyu reduced the impact, she still felt terrible, as if she'd been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer.
If even she felt like this, then the civilians or regular ninja must be even worse.
Even though Katsuyu softened most of the impact, most people were still barely breathing, on the verge of death.
"Stay strong!" Tsunade shouted desperately, not knowing whether she was urging the villagers or Katsuyu to stay strong.
"Damn it! I'll help too!" Sakura bit her finger, formed a hand seal, and slammed her palm onto the ground.
In the next moment, she summoned a medium-sized Katsuyu.
Although she had given it her all, the small Katsuyu that split off from her medium-sized summon were just drops in the bucket.
"What should I do?! What now?!" Not only Sakura, but all the remaining ninja around her were filled with despair.
Just at that moment, a drizzle began to fall from the sky.
At first, Sakura didn't think much of it, but when the raindrops touched her skin, she suddenly jolted, as if struck by lightning!
"What incredibly powerful Yang Release chakra!"
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