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Restricted by the Heavenly Prison curse, Fu dared not leave the confines of the deep lake. As a result, even after unleashing her Tailed Beast Mode, she still found it incredibly difficult to mount any truly lethal counterattack against Konan.
Naruto shook his head stubbornly.
He did not want to abandon Fu.
Before long, Konan shifted her target directly onto Naruto.
Countless sheets of paper danced and swirled chaotically through the air, bypassing Fu entirely to strike directly at the young boy.
Naruto immediately dove beneath the surface of the water. The paper shuriken, however, did not follow him in.
When he poked his head back above the surface, he saw Fu had once again placed herself squarely between him and the enemy.
"Bullying a mere child... Is this truly the extent of the Akatsuki's capabilities?" Fu taunted.
"For the sake of peace, certain sacrifices are necessary," Konan replied.
The countless sheets of paper once again began to converge and gather around Konan's form.
At that precise moment, the Deva Path appeared atop a utility pole at the edge of the deep lake. Gazing at the fully transformed Fu, he declared, "Leave this one to me. You handle the brat."
"Understood," Konan nodded.
Her lower body dissolved into an innumerable swarm of paper sheets, sweeping past Fu.
Fu prepared to unleash a jutsu to intercept Konan, but suddenly, an immense, irresistible gravitational force yanked her violently from the water.
The instant she left the protection of the lake, flames erupted across her body. Searing, excruciating pain flooded every fiber of her being.
Before Fu could even react, she found herself dragged directly beside the Deva Path. A pitch-black chakra rod was brutally driven through her abdomen.
Fu's hands clamped desperately around the rod, yet she forced her mouth open. A Tailed Beast Bomb began to materialize within her jaws.
"Almighty Push!" the Deva Path shouted.
A colossal repulsive force slammed into Fu, blasting her backwards and plunging her once more into the depths of the deep lake.
Immediately following, a tremendous burst of energy exploded upwards from beneath the water's surface.
Fu, her consciousness rapidly slipping away, edged one step closer to complete Tailed Beast transformation. Her body swelled and grew increasingly monstrous.
"You are Chomei, are you not?" a voice suddenly called out.
"Are you addressing me?!" the transformed Fu bellowed in response.
Yet another immense pulling force seized hold of the Seven-Tails, dragging both the beast and Fu into a large, brown-colored earthenware jar.
Mui, clutching the Amber Purifying Pot, promptly sealed the lid tight the moment they were inside.
Naruto, now nearly entirely cocooned within Konan's paper sheets, watched helplessly as Fu was sucked into the Amber Purifying Pot. His eyes widened in horror, and a raging inferno of fury ignited within his heart.
"Why are you doing this to her?!" Naruto demanded.
"Because we require the power of the tailed beasts. Her life or death is utterly inconsequential. The sole reason she was here is because she is a jinchuriki. And the very same applies to you," Konan stated. With a flick of her wrist, a single sheet of white paper adhered itself to Naruto's face.
Afterward, Konan began using the sheets of paper to lift Naruto out of the deep lake.
But just then, an immense burst of chakra erupted from within the paper binding.
Konan had already half-turned to leave, but she immediately detected this unceasing torrent of chakra.
"Mui!" Konan shouted urgently, preparing to have Mui open the Amber Purifying Pot once more. But the paper encasing Naruto suddenly burst apart, and a Tailed Beast—still maintaining a vaguely humanoid form—appeared within her field of vision.
One, two, three, four, five...
Five tails in total.
Konan stared at Naruto in astonishment. With the boy now entering his Tailed Beast transformation, the situation had abruptly become significantly more troublesome.
"The Nine-Tails..."
Mui opened the Amber Purifying Pot once more. The Nine-Tails, however, offered no reply. Instead, it immediately launched itself into the air, unleashing a relentless, uninterrupted barrage of attacks.
Caught off guard, Konan was forced into a continuous retreat. Still, she quickly regained her composure. When Naruto's wild assault finally missed its mark, countless sheets of paper once again plastered themselves across his body.
"Detonate!" Konan cried out.
The paper sheets exploded simultaneously. Naruto plummeted rapidly towards the water below, but just as he was about to strike the surface, an extraordinarily long tongue shot up from the depths. It not only caught Naruto but coiled tightly around him, dragging him down into the lake.
"Universal Pull!"
The Deva Path bellowed. The entire lake seemed to "boil" as a towering column of water erupted dozens of meters high. The very toad that had just pulled Naruto into the water with its tongue was forcibly yanked out of the lake as well.
At the same time, several enormous fireballs came hurtling in alongside it.
"Almighty Push!" The Deva Path extended his hand towards the incoming fireballs, and their trajectory instantly reversed.
The toad was sent crashing down, shattered and broken. Seizing the opportunity, Mui swiftly drew both Naruto and the Nine-Tails into the Amber Purifying Pot.
Konan, seeing that both the Seven-Tails and the Nine-Tails were now secured, felt a measure of relief. Her gaze then shifted towards the direction from which the fireballs had come, and she saw Jiraiya standing upon the water's surface, glaring at them with unbridled fury.
"Konan, Nagato... it has been a long time," Jiraiya said, forcibly suppressing his turbulent emotions and addressing his former students in the calmest tone he could muster.
"Jiraiya-sensei, it has indeed been a while," Konan replied, her voice cold. "You should not have come here."
"Haha... I have reasons that left me no choice," Jiraiya responded, feigning a lightness he did not feel. All the while, his peripheral vision never strayed from the Amber Purifying Pot. When he saw Mui preparing to carry the pot away, his anxiety spiked.
Naruto was right there, within arm's reach, and Mui was about to spirit him off. Jiraiya immediately moved to snatch the pot back.
But suddenly, an overwhelming repulsive force crashed into him, blasting him backwards. By the time he had struggled back to his feet, Mui was already out of sight.
"So now, your 'reason' is gone, isn't that right?" Konan stated icily.
Jiraiya's brow furrowed deeply. His gaze shifted between Konan and the Deva Path. "I remember you were both such good children. What on earth happened to turn you into this? Where is Yahiko?"
"Yahiko is dead," Konan answered flatly.
Jiraiya was momentarily stunned, but then a grim understanding dawned on him. "Yahiko died... so that is why you..."
"This has nothing to do with you, does it? After all, when Yahiko's life hung in the balance, you were nowhere to be found. You merely heard the news of his death. We, on the other hand, witnessed the light fading from his eyes with our own eyes. That grief... it is something you will never be able to comprehend. Oh, and by the way, Naruto has just been sealed into the Amber Purifying Pot. How does that feel? The pain Yahiko's death left upon us surpasses the sealing of Naruto a hundredfold."
"Yahiko's dying wish was to bring peace to the world. And yet, aren't your current actions the complete antithesis of his dream?"
"You are wrong. Our goal is exactly the same as his. It is just that Yahiko's death taught us that the path to 'peace' is not a single road. And he... he eliminated one wrong path: negotiation. So we must now select a different path," the Deva Path stated.
"And what if the path you have chosen is also wrong?"
"Then others may continue to choose anew... However, the likelihood of that is negligible. Because we now possess the power of the Ten-Tails, and no one in the entire shinobi world can possibly resist its chakra. Jiraiya-sensei, since you have appeared here, you can also abandon any hope of leaving this place alive," the Deva Path declared.
Jiraiya smiled, a weary but resolute smile. "Even though you say that, I still have to try. I am going to rescue Naruto. So, for the time being, I have no intention of leaving either!"
Jiraiya brought his hands together, forming hand seals. In a burst of smoke, two toads materialized, one perched on each of his shoulders.
"Jiraiya-boy, why have you summoned us at a time like this?" Fukasaku asked, clearly puzzled.
"I had no other choice. The opponents are a bit... troublesome," Jiraiya replied, his expression grim and utterly serious.