With his battlesuit donned, Shiraishi finally revealed his strongest state. The absolute moment the Sword was gripped in his hand, a continuous, rushing torrent of natural energy poured into his body, initiating a magnificent battle as the blinding light of the Core Punisher flared to life.
Having sacrificed himself to the Outer Path Statue to integrate the Six Paths into one, Nagato temporarily wielded the peak power of the Rinnegan, intent on crushing this formidable enemy before him in a single stroke.
With a resounding explosion, four elemental spheres fused into Shiraishi's palm, unleashing a terrifying vortex of energy. However, Nagato initiated Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push), instantly repelling the four elemental spheres entirely.
Rinne Secret Art: Shura Thousand Hands!
A projection of the Outer Path Statue abruptly materialized behind Nagato. Innumerable arms erupted from within the statue, instantaneously hammering down toward Shiraishi below.
The Outer Path Statue was now perfectly attuned and integrated with Nagato. Seeing this, Shiraishi converted the Core Punisher light into an explosive blade of energy. As it cleanly sheared through a vast multitude of the statue's arms, Nagato manipulated two fierce gales to strike at him.
Wind Release blades stabbed outward, met simultaneously by Shiraishi channeling his Whirlwind Slash. As the two Wind Release forces clashed and ground against each other, the Whirlwind Slash generated a high-speed, spinning airflow.
The moment Nagato's fierce gales shattered, it transformed into a secondary spinning blade that cleaved downward.
With a heavy thud, Nagato's Almighty Push erupted once more, forcing even Shiraishi to retreat several steps this time. At that exact moment, countless bizarre hands of darkness abruptly surged from the ground, clawing and gripping at Shiraishi's frame.
The force of a Lightning Strike diffused outward from Shiraishi's body, rapidly shattering these phantom shadows. Simultaneously, Nagato condensed two spheres of pitch-black light within his palms.
Bansho Ten'in! (Universal Pull)
Innumerable pieces of surrounding debris flew rapidly toward Shiraishi. While the latter deployed his gravity swordsmanship to evade, Nagato made the first move.
He did not charge straight at Shiraishi; instead, he drifted outward, kicking up a flurry of wind and snow as he assumed a low, roaming posture, hunting for an opening.
The wind howled, creating a vast, blinding expanse of white. Shiraishi continuously expanded his electromagnetic field, coordinating it with the spatial movement properties of his alternate dimension rifts. He refused to remain trapped in one spot, fighting to seize the absolute initiative.
The cold wind blew fiercely, chilling to the bone. Nagato and Shiraishi constantly shifted their positions, searching for the optimal attacking angle and opportunity.
After multiple rapid maneuvers, Nagato let out a furious roar. Countless purple chakra chains of the Outer Path condensed in his hands and abruptly stabbed toward Shiraishi, out of which a beam of malevolent purple light suddenly drilled forward.
Demonic Statue Chakra Chains!
The dark light flew like a shooting star, heading straight for Shiraishi's throat. Behind it, the body of the Outer Path Statue grew increasingly terrifying, letting out a soul-shaking, primordial roar.
These chakra chains released from the mouth of the Outer Path Statue were capable of suppressing and sealing Tailed Beasts inside the statue; at this moment, they were being deployed directly to restrain and seal Shiraishi.
Simultaneously, pink Fairy Locks diffused outward from all around Shiraishi's frame, tangling and twisting with the purple chains of the Outer Path Statue in a tightly locked struggle. Right then, Nagato thrust forward with a black chakra receiver rod.
Shiraishi dropped his center of gravity and stopped his footsteps. His feet braced inward, and his right arm snapped out, meeting the black rod with a heavy punch. A thick layer of ice surfaced over his arm, and then the powers of electricity and fire perfectly fused with the ice.
Abyssal Cryo-Flame and Wild Volt!
Clang!
The black rod in Nagato's hand remained perfectly rigid from end to end, its sharp edge stern and acute, seemingly capable of piercing through anything.
Even though a highly specialized layer of ice generated by the Abyssal Cryo-Flame and Wild Volt coated Nagato's face, he showed no fear. He forcefully drove the rod against Shiraishi's fist, shattering the ice layer and sinking straight into it, projecting a sensation of absolute invincibility.
In an instant, the chakra and five senses within Shiraishi's body were thrown into complete disarray. Seizing this brief opening, Nagato drove a heavy fist straight into Shiraishi's face. However, Shiraishi retaliated by grabbing Nagato with his backhand while spitting out countless water needles from his mouth.
As the water needles sliced a bloody gash across one side of Nagato's face, the latter initialized Almighty Push once more, blasting Shiraishi away.
Yet, the exact moment Shiraishi was blown backward, two-dimensional rifts opened right behind Nagato. Coordinated with gravity manipulation, they instantly structured a powerful gravitational magnetic field.
Under the intense, crushing pressure, a thread of fresh blood spilled from the corner of Nagato's mouth.
What appeared to be an evenly matched struggle was, in reality, costing Nagato vastly more stamina and resource consumption than Shiraishi. Although the latter had entered his fully realized Sage Mode to fight, he was by no means truly risking his life or going entirely all-out.
"Is this the absolute limit of your capabilities?"
Slowly rising from the dust and smoke, Shiraishi lightly brushed the debris off his battlesuit, looking as though that fierce exchange had barely drained his reserves. Along with his cold words, the ground beneath his boots instantly transformed into a world of pure silver.
At a speed visible to the naked eye, the entirety of the Hidden Rain Village was converted into a sprawling desert of silver sand—a truly staggering display!
The sky-spanning silver sand continuously hovered upward, shaping itself into silver pyramids that burned with an eerie azure flame.
"This is bad... the Kazekage's power is steadily compounding!"
It turned out that throughout his engagement with Nagato, the Inorganic Reincarnation beneath Shiraishi's feet had never stopped operating.
Combined with Magnet Release, it had thoroughly terraformed the surrounding battlefield into a Magnet Silver environment perfectly tailored to Shiraishi's combat preferences.
The Guardian of Alola condensed into form once more. This time, its frame was coated in countless silver magnets, structuring the towering image of a silver samurai giant.
A terrifying electromagnetic field domain manifested across the surrounding quadrants. Under the crushing weight of the wild, turbulent magnetic forces, a massive suppression was exerted upon Nagato's physical body.
An electromagnetic explosion abruptly detonated right beside Nagato. With the powers of Almighty Push and Universal Pull thoroughly disrupted and rendered impossible to release, Shiraishi's Guardian giant brought its blade down in a horrifying, executioner's slash.
The protective barrier Nagato managed to form around himself was completely incapable of offering resistance. Blood splattered across the terrain as a massive, sweeping wound was carved across Nagato's torso, sending him flying backward from the impact.
"Nagato!"
In this exact moment, Jiraiya abandoned his engagement with Uchiha Kaede, dropping rapidly to land right behind Nagato. He channeled the Inorganic Reincarnation healing methodologies of Ryuchi Cave, continuously reconstructing the heavily damaged flesh.
Simultaneously, Konan materialized at Nagato's side, staring at Jiraiya and Nagato with an exceptionally complex expression.
"Jiraiya-sensei, things having reached this point, you should take whatever intelligence you have secured and leave this place," Nagato said softly after catching his breath, seemingly still holding a thread of reservation regarding his complete trust in Jiraiya.
"I will not abandon you."
Jiraiya's definitive statement caused Nagato's expression to shudder. He had completely failed to anticipate that, even under these catastrophic parameters, Jiraiya would still stubbornly insist on fighting by their side.
Staring into Nagato's increasingly resolute eyes, Konan felt a shared conviction. In this exact moment, across the structures of the Hidden Rain Village—aside from the zones thoroughly assimilated by the Magnet Release—innumerable explosive tags that she had meticulously hidden began to surface...
Explosive tags?
Shiraishi recalled from his memories that the sheer volume of Konan's explosive tags was astronomically vast.
To prevent her from unleashing that specific catastrophic technique, while the countless silver pyramids continuously hovered and shifted configurations, Shiraishi extended a single finger and discharged a beam of light!
Photon Geyser!
The signature capability of the strongest Ultra Beast manifested once more upon this world.
A blinding golden light pierced straight into the central pyramid, subsequently fracturing into an endless, infinite expanse of radiant beams that illuminated the sky above the Hidden Rain Village, projecting an exceptionally dazzling, blinding spectacle.
Yet, in that precise instant, the photons plummeted, converting into a sky-spanning matrix of light sources that ruthlessly assaulted everyone present on the field.
The completely unanticipatable method of attack left Jiraiya, Nagato, Konan, alongside Fukasaku, Shima, and Gamabunta simultaneously subjected to photon penetration, their bodies riddled with multiple bloody punctures!
The vast, sweeping light resembled a grand symphony of absolute destruction, echoing loudly across the foundations of the Hidden Rain Village.
It was by no means limited to the handful of combatants at the epicenter of the field. Any Rain shinobi within the village who had not yet evacuated, alongside Sasori of the Red Sand and Kakuzu, who were locked in a bitter struggle against Kikyo, were comprehensively caught and struck by this expanding wave of light.
Among them, the final two remaining hearts within Kakuzu's body were directly pierced and detonated by the photons, claiming his life instantly.
The massive puppet army commanded by Sasori of the Red Sand had the vast majority of its forces obliterated on the spot, allowing Kikyo to seize the absolute opening to deploy her Sealing Arrow, instantly subduing Sasori!
With a single move... the entire tactical theater of the Hidden Rain Village was reversed, directly decimating a powerful hidden shinobi village in the process.
Was this the true, uninhibited capacity of the absolute strongest entity in the modern ninja world?
"To slaughter so many people... is this what you call your method of unifying the Ninja World?"
"On the field of battle, since when has mercy ever been a valid topic of discussion? Master Jiraiya, let us not tell jokes."
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