The Human Path's "soul devouring" was a technique that directly extracted the enemy's soul. The Preta Path's "demonic pounce" and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's "chakra dragon" were likewise techniques that extracted chakra. The difference between them lay in the fact that the Demonic Statue's extraction ability was stronger. The instant it made contact, it could drain all of the enemy's chakra completely, thereby causing the target's death.
And at this moment, the external manifestation of Nagato's chakra was extremely similar to the chakra dragon. Clearly, he had established a connection with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path through some method.
In other words, this was a technique that could simultaneously extract soul and chakra, completely eliminating the enemy from both aspects. Whoever it touched died.
This Total Sealing Technique was a new move Nagato had developed specifically to deal with Hagoromo after the Rinnegan's abilities had become known to him, and after using those techniques in the ordinary sense no longer produced any obvious effect.
Through Sage Mode's exceptionally powerful sensory ability, Hagoromo could clearly perceive that Nagato was using more than just his own power. But right now, he had no time to pay attention to that point.
Any ninjutsu with tentacle-monster properties was extremely dangerous. Although he still did not know that merely brushing against those things on Nagato's body would cause him to instantly die, Hagoromo absolutely would not allow an unknown technique formula to touch his body.
If he considered the worst possible outcome, then this "unknown" represented death.
Because he had dodged in such haste, Hagoromo was directly caught by Nagato's Banshō Ten'in. After being struck head-on by that tremendous attractive force, Hagoromo had no way to resist and was pulled over.
His body charged straight toward Nagato's chakra cloak, completely out of control.
A critical moment!
But even now, Hagoromo remained calm.
The instant before he came into contact with that chakra cloak, he adopted an extremely simple and violent method of escape—known in short as Naruto-style combat, or, put another way, the art of dumping out a mountain of chakra first and asking questions later.
Hagoromo extended the index and middle fingers of both hands at the same time, crossing them to form the "ram" seal.
In Sage Mode, he had the capital to explosively release chakra, and so there was this technique:
Ninja Art: Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
Hagoromo threw one thousand Hagoromos at Nagato.
At that moment, barely over four digits' worth of shadow clones appeared instantly, then rushed ahead of the main body and crowded all around Nagato. At the same time, they filled the effective range of the Total Sealing Technique.
Because of the Total Sealing Technique's effect, Hagoromo's clones existed for only an instant. Immediately afterward, all the "Hagoromos" simultaneously turned into clouds of white smoke and disappeared.
But that single instant was enough for Hagoromo's real body to escape the danger zone.
"Sage Mode… has been released."
Although missing with one strike was regrettable, Nagato remained calm despite feeling it was a pity. The ten dragon pillars were still dancing behind him like tentacles.
In order to escape the other party's Banshō Ten'in and avoid having "skin-to-skin contact" with that ominous chakra cloak, the price Hagoromo paid could not be called small. The consequence of bursting out so many clones was that he had consumed most of his senjutsu chakra, and even Sage Mode had been forcibly released.
At this moment, the facial markings representing Sage Mode had completely vanished from Hagoromo's face.
"A sealing technique?" Hagoromo did not respond to Nagato's topic. Instead, he asked this in return.
Although he was asking, Hagoromo was already quite certain of the answer.
The chakra of the destroyed clones had not returned to the main body. Correspondingly, Nagato, who had "absorbed" so much natural energy, had not shown any negative reaction. If one reasoned from that, the result was obvious: what Nagato was using was not an absorption-type ninjutsu at all, but a sealing technique.
"And a powerful sealing technique at that. It feels similar to the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. Contact, then death—the two are directly connected."
Moreover, judging by its effect, this technique was far more convenient than the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
It could be said that Hagoromo's analysis was rather accurate, because in that brief instant just now, he had completed over a thousand near-death experiences.
If the process repeated a thousand times, any ordinary person would notice something, let alone Hagoromo. With his understanding, analytical ability, and attainments in sealing techniques, he would naturally perceive part of the underlying principle.
"It does indeed have a certain similarity," Nagato replied directly.
As for what the Dead Demon Consuming Seal was, he had once discussed it with Uchiha Obito, who had directly faced the Fourth Hokage. Therefore, he could understand what Hagoromo meant.
"I see. Then I can more or less understand it…"
Although, because of its "suicidal" nature, no one had taught Hagoromo the Dead Demon Consuming Seal back then, he had still researched that technique after the Nine-Tails incident.
And when Hagoromo understood something, that was when things became most ominous for his opponent.
"In other words, this is a rather unsolvable technique. Even more unfortunately, my Sage Mode has already been released. Since that's the case… I've decided to run."
His senjutsu chakra had been completely consumed, and once Sage Mode was released, that meant Hagoromo could not enter that mode again in a short period of time. After all, he had no means of instantly replenishing natural energy. As for trying to gather natural energy while constantly moving in battle?
Sorry, Hagoromo did not have that kind of skill.
And although his tone just now sounded like a joke, in reality, Hagoromo immediately turned and "ran for it."
Not the slightest bit hesitant.
Not the slightest bit ashamed of fleeing.
For the White Yaksha, this was far too improper, wasn't it?
Nagato's Total Sealing Technique was indeed extremely troublesome. It could even be said to be a move that could not be defended against and could only be dodged. But in truth, it was still far from "unsolvable." At the very least, one could use long-range ninjutsu to attack Nagato.
So what was with Hagoromo's escape?
Had his chakra truly been exhausted completely?
No. That was not the case.
Now the positions of the two sides instantly reversed. The pursuer became the fleeing one, and the fleeing one became the pursuer. Just as Hagoromo had not allowed Nagato to escape earlier, after gaining the advantage, Nagato would not allow Hagoromo to slip away either.
Fortunately, both Nagato and the semi-transparent dragon pillars had rather limited movement speed. While retreating, Hagoromo could still dodge with relative ease.
Nagato would only use Banshō Ten'in again when he was certain he could "catch" Hagoromo.
Maintaining his connection with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path while also using three or more Rinnegan abilities placed a considerable burden on Nagato.
Although Hagoromo was faster, the distance between him and his pursuer did not open too far. Or rather, he had deliberately maintained this relatively safe distance the entire time.
He was neither too far from Nagato nor too close.
"Speaking of which, although it isn't anything important, I probably never formally introduced my name before… Fortunately, it still isn't too late."
More accurately, the timing now was just right.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ueishi Hagoromo. I am… the disciple of Uzumaki Kushina, who died at your hands."
"So, when it comes to killing you, I have a perfectly legitimate reason."
Hagoromo conversed while moving forward. When he first opened his mouth, he still carried that teasing tone. But by the final few words, his voice already held a bone-piercing chill.
He was simply telling Nagato one thing:
You truly deserve to die.
When Hagoromo glanced back to the side again, those changed eyes could already be seen…
This was precisely what was troublesome about Hagoromo. He always needed several minutes to open those eyes.
After that, something happened that should have made Nagato feel delighted, yet also absolutely not delighted.
Hagoromo directly turned around, then charged "suicidally" toward one of the incoming dragon pillars.
Did he not know that this thing could kill him instantly?
No. After testing it with his clones, Hagoromo naturally knew this perfectly well.
Then what reason did he have to dare countercharge under these circumstances?
Because before this technique could kill him, he could kill it first.
Before the semi-transparent dragon pillar came into contact with Hagoromo's body, he slashed first.
"It's use—"
Those three words, "It's useless," should have been spoken, but Nagato never managed to say them. Because halfway through, that dragon pillar was directly cut into two.
And those two halves could never recover again.
Those ten dragon pillars were not physical things at all. They should have been classified as illusory or formless, yet they had still been cut apart.
Before those eyes appeared, Nagato had always been on guard against Hagoromo's "dōjutsu." But when those eyes truly appeared, he still could not understand what was going on.
Then, during that very process of "not understanding," Nagato discovered that his right arm had left his body.
An extremely neat cut appeared at Nagato's shoulder.
In that single instant, Hagoromo had completed a positional shift from extremely far to extremely close, then severed one of Nagato's arms with a standard chopping motion.
The so-called strength of a shinobi was exactly this sort of thing.
Even though he could no longer use senjutsu, and even though his chakra level could no longer support Chidori Current, third stage, Hagoromo's speed could still be very fast.
Fast as lightning.
Fast enough that Nagato, who called himself the god of the world, could not react in time.
"To be honest, I really don't want to see this arm reaching toward me a third time."
Hagoromo's voice rang exceptionally clearly beside the "god's" ear.
That chūnibyō, idiotic, pretentious gesture had long since annoyed him beyond endurance.
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