Boom!
A shockwave surged.
Naruto was blown back dozens of meters, and only when the wave receded did he barely manage to stop himself midair.
The two Nine-Tails were in even worse shape. Most of their power was inside Naruto at the moment, and it was only by biting his shoulders and gripping with claws and tails that they weren't blown away.
"Naruto, you should've held back your spiritual pressure earlier," grumbled the Yang Nine-Tails.
Both foxes bared their fangs, looking frustrated.
Though they managed not to be thrown away, their teeth were still aching from biting him earlier—Naruto remained completely unscathed.
Naruto said nothing.
He spread out his sensory perception.
Several kilometers away, Karin's presence was clear and stable. She wasn't affected by the blast and was already retreating from the "battlefield."
He relaxed and flash-stepped back.
"She's unharmed?" Pain spoke.
Naruto smiled. "What an impressive technique."
"You flattened everything for several kilometers around."
Pain spoke coldly, raising his hand. "This is the power of a god."
"You think that's a compliment?" Naruto chuckled and shook his head.
Pain's raised hand paused.
"If you had concentrated that last attack a bit more," Naruto said quietly, sensing the energy within Pain's puppet body, "you might've actually injured me."
Life, soul, chakra—
All nearly exhausted.
The receivers buzzed with interference, and chakra transmission was now intermittent.
"You can't fight anymore." Naruto raised his sword. "If that kind of attack already left you spent…"
"Then this is where it ends."
Blue-purple hair flew into view, and a sharp voice cried out: "Don't even think about it!"
A flurry of paper shuriken like a violent storm whooshed through the air with deadly wind.
But—
The Yin Nine-Tails flicked its tail, scattering them with ease.
"You plan to stop me?" Naruto turned to her.
Konan raised a hand. "Pain bought us time…"
"Let me show you my technique!"
She gathered chakra.
"Divine Paper Art."
Nearby trees, rocks—even part of Kisame's water sphere—crumbled like paper, transforming into paper sheets and swarming Naruto, encasing him in a sphere.
These weren't ordinary paper.
They were—
Explosive tags.
Konan poured all her chakra into the technique, but a trace of confusion flickered in her eyes.
It had gone too smoothly.
Not even Sasori or Deidara had caught him this easily.
Another thought surfaced—
Maybe it was the aftermath of Pain's technique. Naruto looked unscathed, but maybe he wasn't as unaffected as he claimed.
"This is my ultimate jutsu," Konan said quietly but firmly. "I prepared six hundred billion explosive tags for this."
"But…"
"You refused to enter Amegakure, wasting all my effort."
"I only managed to draw one billion tags this time—but that should be more than enough."
"Now be buried!"
She clenched her fist.
But the explosion never came—pain shot through her chest instead.
Konan looked down.
A golden blade pierced through her heart from behind.
"That's it?" Naruto's voice held disappointment. "I thought you'd show me something as interesting as the Rinnegan."
Konan turned, catching a glimpse of half of Naruto's face.
"You figured it out, didn't you?"
"My power is beyond your understanding."
"Yet you still used such conventional tactics."
Pain's voice trembled, no longer cold. It was filled with struggle and fury. "You bastard!"
"You killed Konan!"
Naruto pulled out the blade.
Her blue-purple-haired body fell.
"You'll see her again in the Pure Land," he said softly, flash-stepping forward to strike at Pain.
A mechanical puppet intercepted. Chakra surged inside it as its Akatsuki cloak tore apart, sprouting six arms from its body just like Naruto. Its head split into two more faces on either side.
It attacked, each hand forming different types of weapons.
A serrated "tongue" grew from its back like Sasori's.
"So flashy," Naruto remarked.
Two quick stabs sliced off its arms. Two more hands clasped together, summoning golden chains to bind the puppet tightly.
Then a hand covered its head.
No incantation.
"Hado #31: Shakkaho."
A red light burst from his palm, engulfing the puppet and reducing it to ashes.
The weakened blast continued forward, not slowing down, heading straight for Pain.
One puppet—until now unmoving—finally acted.
It flashed forward, shielding Pain with both hands raised.
"Shakkaho" struck it.
No explosion. No flames.
The red fireball pushed the puppet back, nearly reaching Pain.
But in the process, it began to dissolve.
Naruto was surprised.
This technique reminded him of the Truth-Seeking Orbs.
But this was perhaps even stronger—likely due to the Rinnegan.
It could absorb energy—chakra, even soul power.
But absorbing "soul power" seemed too much for the puppet. Just a moment of contact scorched its palms raw, exposing bone.
It could absorb energy…
But what about physical attacks?
Naruto dropped the puppet and flash-stepped forward, slashing.
Two puppets attacked him from both sides.
They had the numbers advantage.
But they were controlled remotely, and their chakra wasn't fully restored.
Scattered and chaotic—just a few strikes, and the puppets were destroyed and fell into the water.
But the water was now empty.
Kisame had disappeared.
Naruto sensed his escaping chakra and asked, "Who wants to go?"
"Let me stretch a bit," the Yin Nine-Tails said, following Naruto's gaze. "The other me has been handling things so far."
"It's my turn now."
The Yang Nine-Tails nodded.
The Yin Nine-Tails leaped down, body rapidly expanding, smashing a paw into the ground.
"Amazing…" Pain raised both hands. "Since becoming a god, you're the first to push me this far."
"But this ends here…"
He brought his palms close—not clasped.
The Rinnegan's power surged.
A black orb the size of a walnut floated up.
"Have you heard the legend of the Sage of Six Paths?" Pain asked.
Naruto didn't answer, and simply slashed at him.
"The moon was created by the Sage of Six Paths."
"And the technique he used… was this one."
Pain threw the black orb.
It floated midair, growing larger.
A gravitational force far stronger than Shinra Tensei radiated out.
Naruto couldn't advance.
Pain raised his head, pouring all his chakra into the Rinnegan to accelerate the technique's formation.
The pull tore up ground and stone, drawing them toward the orb, forming a sphere.
Naruto was pulled in like the others.
Even Kisame, the Yin Nine-Tails chasing him, and the corpses—everything became part of the sphere.
Only Karin, who had escaped far enough during the Shinra Tensei, avoided its grasp.
Naruto's golden body was crushed by debris, his face slowly covered by stones.
They locked eyes.
Pain raised both hands and roared:
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
"Feel pain, think about pain, accept pain—"
"Then, understand pain!"
"Chibaku Tensei!!"
With his final shout, Naruto's eyes were buried in stone.
A massive crater formed across nearly ten kilometers of land.
Above it—
A floating stone sphere, about six to seven kilometers wide, hovered midair.
Uzumaki Naruto was sealed inside.
Amegakure.
In the dark room…
"Uzumaki Naruto is a formidable opponent," Nagato said quietly, looking at Jiraiya—who was pinned to the ground by black rods, suppressed by Rinnegan power. "He nearly reached the limits of human potential."
"But in the end, he is not a god."
Jiraiya was shocked. "You killed Naruto?"
"No," Nagato shook his head. "He's sealed."
"But he… killed Konan."
Jiraiya was stunned, her blue-purple hair flashing in his mind.
Nagato sighed. "Sensei, accept your fate."
"A god cannot be defied."
Jiraiya closed his eyes in silence.
On the Pain statue at Amegakure.
"It's over," said Uchiha Itachi, staring at the stone sphere with a heavy voice. "The leader has captured the Nine-Tails."
"What incredible power."
"For a ninja to reach this level…"
Masked Uchiha turned and walked away. "Those are the Sage of Six Paths' eyes."
"Let's go."
"We need to take care of Jiraiya, or Nagato—"
He never finished.
A massive surge of energy suddenly spread out—so intense, even from a distance, it sent a psychic shockwave that made their scalps tingle and backs shiver.
Masked Uchiha quickly turned around.
Itachi looked too, eyes wide in shock.
The "satellite"-like sphere created by the Rinnegan trembled violently.
An immense power quaked from within.
And then, the rock shattered.
Crumbled into dust, falling like rain.
Golden light burst forth.
Nine tails pierced through the stone shell.
Then a sword.
A massive crimson sword, huge enough only a giant could wield it, impossibly sharp, stabbed through the sphere—and Pain's body too.
Beneath the dark, repressive sky—
A blade as wide as Pain's entire torso lifted him high into the air, hanging beneath the sun.
Boom!
Another golden blade slashed from the other side of the sphere, destroying all remaining bindings.
Revealing the massive figure within.
A golden Nine-Tails, two-headed, six-armed.
Nearly a hundred meters tall, blocking out the sky.
Naruto stood at its throat, eyes cold, glaring at Pain.
"Impressive technique."
"But you're too weak."
(End of Chapter)