Chapter 189: My Almighty Push is Faster than Yours

The Hidden Leaf Village.

Flames roared, thick smoke billowed, and buildings crumbled into ruins from time to time.

The enormous Planetary Devastation, enveloping the five Tailed Beasts and thousands of ninja, quietly hung mid-air.

The battlefield below fell into an eerie silence, as everyone raised their heads in shock to gaze at the sky.

Seizing this opportunity, Preta Path Pain sprung into action, retrieving the bodies of Animal Path Pain, Asura Path Pain, and Human Path Pain.

At this moment, Naraka Path Pain, who had been hiding in the back without making a move, finally stood out and formed hand seals to cast a jutsu.

Summoning Jutsu.

Boom.

With a tremor on the ground, a ferocious-looking King of Hell, marked with the character "King" on its forehead, rose from beneath the earth.

It opened its big mouth, extended a long purple tongue, and successively rolled the three deceased Pains into its mouth, chewing them thoroughly.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

After a chilling series of chews, the King of Hell opened its mouth again and spat out the three Pains, perfectly intact.

Asura Path Pain, Animal Path Pain, and Human Path Pain were all resurrected.

The Six Paths of Pain were whole again.

Witnessing this scene, whether they were the allied forces or the Leaf shinobi, they all experienced a complete sense of despair.

It turns out, the notion of defeating Pain was an illusion from the very start.

God is invincible.

On the distant clock tower, Tsunade, with her mouth slightly ajar, also looked at the sky in astonishment, murmuring:

"Is this the power of the Rinnegan?"

Through her interactions with the Uchiha clan, she had come to understand many secrets of the Sharingan. One of them was that the Rinnegan was the ultimate evolution of the Sharingan.

Indeed, it was an eye that transcended the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she turned her head to look at Dan, curious about his expression at this moment.

Unexpectedly, Dan remained calm:

"Pain's Planetary Devastation is just so-so. It is said that the Sage of Six Paths created the moon using Planetary Devastation to seal his mother."

"The moon?!"

Hearing this, Tsunade was dumbstruck, immediately raising her head to look for the moon in the sky, but she couldn't see it in broad daylight.

Such a legend... should not be true, right? It's too exaggerated.

She found it hard to believe.

While Tsunade was being continuously startled,

"Hey, isn't that the Third Hokage and Jiraiya over there, along with the Lord of the Land of Fire? Are they planning to abandon the Leaf Village and flee?"

Dan's voice rang again, this time with a hint of mockery.

Huh?

Following Dan's gaze, Tsunade indeed saw the Lord of the Land of Fire fleeing from the western gate of the village, escorted by Jiraiya and the Third Hokage.

Just as Dan said, they had abandoned the Leaf shinobi and the village.

"..."

Tsunade didn't know what to say, a deep disappointment flashing in her eyes.

Meanwhile, at the center of the battlefield.

The Six Paths of Pain made another move.

After intimidating everyone with a single Planetary Devastation, Tendō Pain rose into the air, approaching the giant sphere mid-air.

He sensed the situation inside the sphere, and through the special chakra emitted by the Tailed Beasts, he quickly found their positions.

Then.

Tendō Pain opened his arms, releasing a force of attraction. "Bang, bang, bang," several figures burst out from the surface of the sphere.

It was none other than Yagura Karatachi, Utakata, Killer Bee, Two of Yugito Nii, and Han.

The five Jinchūriki, under the pressure inside the Planetary Devastation, had all fallen into unconsciousness.

Before they could regain consciousness,

Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft.

Tendō Pain shot several black rods from his sleeves, each penetrating the bodies of the five, sealing their chakra points and halting the flow of their chakra.

In this way, these Jinchūriki completely lost their ability to resist.

Whoosh.

Tendō Pain landed back on the ground, scanning his surroundings.

"That guy is looking over here."

Whether they were the allied forces or the Leaf shinobi, they all felt extremely nervous. Their faces were filled with fear, afraid that they might become the next target of Pain's attack.

Danzō, even more so, hid far away, wiping the cold sweat off his forehead, speculating about Pain's next move.

Given the strength Pain has shown today, he might completely defeat the allied forces here, and then seek to unify the Five Great Shinobi Nations, becoming the ruler of the Shinobi world.

After all, no one can stop Pain now.

Contrary to everyone's expectations,

Hmph.

Tendō Pain merely snorted disdainfully, withdrew his gaze, and then, along with the other Pains, took the five Jinchūriki, preparing to turn around and leave.

From beginning to end...

Pain's ambition, or rather, Akatsuki's goal, is not to unite the shinobi world.

If he were to unite the shinobi world by force, it would inevitably lead to a larger scale war. Not only the Leaf Village, but also many small countries and ninja villages would be affected.

The entire shinobi world would fall into prolonged warfare, with countless innocent civilians dying.

Just like the Hidden Rain Village during the Second Great Ninja War.

Moreover.

Pain is well aware that even if he truly unites the shinobi world, what then?

The day he is gone, the shinobi world will inevitably fracture again, war will break out anew, and the world will continue to spiral down into the cycle of breaking and coming together.

The First Hokage once maintained peace in the shinobi world with absolute military power. The result was that as soon as he died, none of the major ninja villages accepted any other, and the Great Ninja War broke out very quickly.

Pain does not intend to walk down the path of failure that Hashirama Senju once tread.

That's why he's capturing the Tailed Beasts.

The harvest from today's operation is quite bountiful.

Counting the Nine-Tails, Pain captured six Tailed Beasts at once, and for the other three Tailed Beasts, there are members of Akatsuki tracking them down.

As long as the nine Tailed Beasts are gathered and fed to the Gedo Statue, an ultimate weapon can be created.

The power of that weapon is enough to destroy any country or ninja village, causing everyone living in the shinobi world to experience deep fear.

And the power of fear will form a deterrent, preventing the various ninja villages from daring to wage war again.

At that time, the shinobi world can step out of the shadow of war and live forever under the bright sunshine.

This is the only way to achieve peace.

Pain is firmly convinced of this.

Seeing the Six Paths of Pain leaving, none of the tens of thousands present dared to step forward to stop them.

At this point, with the Jinchūriki of all the villages including the Mizukage Yagura being taken away by Pain, the Kazekage Rasa dead, and the Fourth Raikage still inside Planetary Devastation.

Only the Tsuchikage Ōnoki was left, hiding further away than anyone else.

This war, originally initiated by the Allied Shinobi Forces to encircle and suppress the Leaf Village, led to this turn of events, resulting in almost all the Kage-level strongmen on the side of the Allied Forces falling.

What will become of this war after Pain leaves?

Many people were left confused.

Suddenly.

Whoosh.

With the sharp sound of tearing through the air, a telegraph pole flew from a distance like lightning, heading straight for the Six Paths of Pain.

Asura Path Pain was the first to turn around, launching a missile from his arm, and with a boom, the telegraph pole flying towards them was blown to pieces.

Was there still someone seeking death?

Tendō Pain and the other Pains also stopped in their tracks, turning around.

Who dared to attack Pain?

Numerous gazes shifted towards the end of the street, where a tall figure was slowly approaching.

The figure was two meters tall, wearing a large high-collared blue robe. His eyes were a pair of blood-red Mangekyō Sharingan, emitting an oppressive aura.

Uchiha Dan.

At this moment, both the Leaf shinobi and the Allied Shinobi Forces, tens of thousands of people held their breath, their eyes following Dan's figure as he walked through the ruins to the center of the battlefield.

Finally.

Dan stopped, standing a dozen meters away from the Six Paths of Pain, engaging in a staring contest.

His appearance set off a buzz among everyone.

Why did Uchiha Dan attack Pain at this time?

Was it to protect the Leaf, or to prevent Pain from taking the five Tailed Beasts, or was it for some other reason... Which side was he on?

This man's every move was always unexpected and inscrutable.

After a few seconds of silence.

Tendō Pain took a step forward, looked at Dan indifferently, and began to speak lightly:

"You must be Uchiha Dan. We finally meet."

Dan was the name that Pain had heard the most in the past six months.

At first, he didn't pay much attention to this man.

But after learning that Dan had led the Uchiha clan to destroy Obito's lair, the "Mountain Graveyard", Pain finally became interested in him.

The strongest of the Uchiha, he seems to have quite an imposing aura. It's just unknown... how capable he really is.

Unlike others.

Pain didn't avoid Dan's gaze, not worried at all about being controlled by the other's genjutsu. Because in front of his Rinnegan, the Sharingan was insignificant.

"Oh? From your tone, it seems like you've been wanting to meet me for a while."

Dan also looked calm, not at all intimidated by Pain's imposing aura.

"In this shinobi world, there aren't many who can arouse the interest of a god. You are barely one of them."

Tendō Pain looked down from above, making a comment on Dan, "Your strength is not bad. It's just a pity that you couldn't become Hokage in the Leaf Village, so you instigated a coup within the Uchiha clan. After the plan failed, you betrayed your clan and returned to the Leaf, only to be dismissed by the Daimyō."

At this point.

Tendō Pain shook his head, showing disdain for Dan's series of actions, and sighed:

"Yet another pitiful man who loses his way in life while chasing after power."

Upon hearing this, Dan laughed:

"It sounds like you know me very well."

"Of course, a god always understands the ugliness of mortals better than they do themselves. Because a god always stands high above, seeing everything more clearly."

Tendō Pain's eyes flashed, his arrogance clear in his words.

He had his reasons for saying so much to Dan.

Tendō Pain's previous plan was to kill Uchiha Dan, but after actually meeting him, he changed his mind on the spot.

Because.

At present, Akatsuki has lost a lot of talents.

With Orochimaru and Sasori dying in succession, and the fracture between Obito and Pain resulting in the loss of valuable assets like Deidara and Kisame, Akatsuki's high-end combat power has been severely depleted.

While Pain is omnipotent, he can't possibly handle everything personally, which would exhaust him.

And the Uchiha Dan in front of him seems to be a good recruit.

With this in mind.

Tendō Pain spoke again, formally extending an invitation to Dan:

"Uchiha Dan, I can give you a chance to live, and that is to join Akatsuki and serve me."

Talents usually have their pride, especially the talents that Akatsuki is interested in.

But that doesn't deter Pain.

If the other party doesn't agree, then they can just beat him into submission. That's how it was done when recruiting Jūgo and Orochimaru, and the results were quite good.

But Dan's response was once again unexpected.

"Alright, I was thinking about that too."

In response to Tendō Pain's invitation, he grinned and readily agreed, "Honestly, I'm tired of this Uchiha outfit. The Akatsuki cloak looks better."

As soon as these words came out, there was an immediate uproar among the crowd.

Many people originally thought that Dan came out at this time to stop Pain, and their impression of him had changed somewhat.

But they didn't expect that he was actually planning to join Pain.

This man, who betrayed his clan and village, had no principles or bottom lines. He was indeed extremely evil.

Even Tendō Pain was taken aback for a moment.

But then he remembered that when he annihilated the three thousand-strong army of the Leaf Village, the news reached the Leaf, and Uchiha Dan claimed to lead the Uchiha clan to surrender to the Hidden Rain Village.

It seems that Dan is indeed a smart man, who has long recognized the power of the Six Paths of Pain.

Those who understand the times are great men.

Dan came to join Pain and Akatsuki.

Is that so?

After Dan agreed to join Akatsuki, his next words took the latter by surprise.

"But since you're recruiting me, you should come to me in person. Hiding behind a few puppets seems a bit insincere, doesn't it?"

Dan looked at Tendō Pain and the other Pains behind him, asking with a seemingly smiling face.

Tendō Pain immediately furrowed his brows, his eyes sharpening: "What do you mean?"

Dan remained calm: "Stop pretending, Nagato. I want to talk face to face with you."

His target was to retrieve Uchiha Madara's Rinnegan, and those eyes were on Nagato.

Dan agreed to join Akatsuki in order to meet Nagato and take his eyes.

Upon hearing Dan say the name Nagato.

Whoosh.

The Six Paths of Pain instantly got into a battle stance.

Tendō Pain looked at Dan coldly, his gaze becoming even sharper.

So, the other party had seen through the secret of the Six Paths of Pain long ago, and even knew that his real body was nearby.

In that case, this Uchiha Dan could not be left alive.

"I've changed my mind. You must die."

After Tendō Pain finished speaking, he raised his right hand and pointed his palm at Dan, who was more than ten meters away.

Banshō Ten'in!

Dan immediately lifted off the ground, floating in mid-air.

"They're fighting!"

The surrounding shinobi saw this and their eyes widened. Although they weren't quite clear about what was happening, it seemed that Pain and Dan had fallen out again, and were about to fight to the death.

Would Uchiha Dan follow in the footsteps of the Fourth Kazekage Rasa?

"So this is Banshō Ten'in, controlling people like puppets. The Rinnegan truly is formidable."

Dan felt the gravitational pull all over his body and gave a calm comment.

How to break this move?

Dan gave a slight smile, looking ahead, his pupils dilating fiercely.

Bursting out with ocular power.

Kamui, activate.

In the next instant, Dan's figure disappeared from the spot.

He appeared in the midst of the Six Paths of Pain, his body producing a trail of white smoke due to the high-speed movement and friction with the air, which slowly rose.

Huh?

Tendō Pain was taken aback, feeling Dan's presence behind him, he subconsciously prepared to activate Shinra Tensei.

However.

"Almighty..." He had just started speaking when he heard Dan's voice booming like a bell by his ear.

Dan spread his arms wide, shouting with a cold tone and an expressionless face:

"Almighty Push!"

My Almighty Push is faster than yours.