"Now's our chance!"
"Obito, why aren't you making a move?"
"That guy, Uchiha Keizumi—hasn't he already been restrained by Nagato's puppet?"
White Zetsu couldn't help voicing his confusion as he looked at Obito, who remained unmoving beside him.
"It's not that I'm not moving—it's that I'm moving slowly, carefully, methodically. Even if Uchiha Keizumi looks like he's been controlled, his Susanoo isn't something you can just break through that easily."
Obito shot White Zetsu a glance. He was fairly sure he hadn't offended this guy, right?
So why did it feel like White Zetsu had been constantly egging him on to go die lately? Had his body already been thoroughly studied by White Zetsu, and now he was preparing to research something else?
Like maybe testing whether Obito could be stitched back together and revived after dying?
"Black Zetsu, are the Six Paths controlled by Nagato a match for Uchiha Keizumi?"
Ignoring White Zetsu, Obito turned to Black Zetsu instead.
"If Nagato's body were in better condition, defeating—or even killing—Uchiha Keizumi wouldn't be difficult."
"But you know what Nagato's condition is like. The Rinnegan is too much of a burden on him. Killing Uchiha Keizumi will be hard. As for the odds of victory… maybe sixty to seventy percent?"
Black Zetsu spoke with some uncertainty. There were simply too many strange things about Uchiha Keizumi.
The only good news was that Black Zetsu had roughly figured out one of Keizumi's Mangekyō abilities. The Flame of Judgment was indeed unstoppable against the guilty—but if the opponent bore no sin, it would have little effect.
But even setting that aside, Keizumi's Susanoo combined with Wood Release was already enough to dominate the ninja world—let alone the fact that he also possessed Lava Release and other kekkei genkai.
The reason Black Zetsu estimated a sixty to seventy percent chance was because Nagato's intelligence had never been exposed. The abilities of the Six Paths could overwhelm anyone who wasn't prepared.
"Only sixty to seventy percent…"
"That's not high enough."
Obito frowned. He wanted Keizumi to die without a doubt—not some ambiguous probability.
"However, Uchiha Keizumi isn't without weaknesses."
You could say Obito wasn't the sharpest mind—but you couldn't say he lacked talent when it came to scheming.
At this moment, his gaze had already shifted to Uchiha Izumi and Tachibana Jirō, who were watching the battle from afar.
Obito's thinking was simple: if you, Uchiha Keizumi, are a champion of justice, then surely you wouldn't want to watch your subordinate and your ninja beast die right in front of you, would you?
"Let's go. We'll capture that Uchiha Izumi and that ninja cat."
Without hesitation, Obito activated Kamui. Black Zetsu and White Zetsu followed him as they were pulled into the Kamui space.
...
Farther away on the battlefield, Keizumi was completely unaware of Obito's plan. As the other Six Paths controlled by Nagato joined the fight, the battle grew increasingly intense.
The Asura Path activated countless mechanisms across its body, launching missile after missile toward Keizumi.
The Animal Path controlled three massive summoned beasts, constantly harassing him. They couldn't break through Keizumi's Susanoo, but they could effectively divide his attention.
As for the Naraka Path, its greatest role on the battlefield was simply reviving those three massive summoned beasts.
The Preta Path continuously absorbed Keizumi's chakra. Yet what left it baffled was that Keizumi's chakra seemed inexhaustible—no matter how much it absorbed, it had no effect.
Against any normal ninja, the Preta Path's ability would be utterly despair-inducing.
After all, it could not only absorb chakra but also nullify ninjutsu.
But for Keizumi, he simply stood atop his Susanoo, fighting in the most straightforward way—overpowering everything with brute force.
Whether it was the Susanoo itself or the sword light it wielded, none of it fell within the category of chakra that could be absorbed. The Preta Path had no way to deal with it.
The Human Path, meanwhile, was practically useless. It could extract a person's soul—normally a terrifying ability. Even so-called immortals like Kakuzu and Hidan would have no chance against it.
But Susanoo was the manifestation of Mangekyō Sharingan's ocular power—the ultimate expression of Yin Release. To extract Keizumi's soul, it would first have to touch him—but protected within Susanoo, he was completely unreachable.
As for the shared vision of the Rinnegan?
There was only one opponent—Uchiha Keizumi. What difference did shared vision make?
'This situation… is not looking good…'
Farther away, Konan and Kakuzu were holding back the rampaging Wood Dragon. Konan could already see Nagato's predicament—the Six Paths' first battle had not produced much effect.
'If this continues… Nagato will have to use those forbidden techniques…'
Konan sighed inwardly. The Akatsuki had mobilized in full force this time. In terms of raw strength, they could have launched a direct assault on any of the Five Great Ninja Villages.
Yet Kakuzu and the others had not entered the main battlefield at all.
As for Konan—although she could summon explosive tags for a short time, even an amount equivalent to three hundred million explosive tags wouldn't so much as dirty Keizumi's clothes. She knew clearly that she couldn't intervene in this battle.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
Just as Konan had expected, Nagato was fighting under immense pressure. Even the Deva Path, the main combat force, couldn't break Keizumi's Susanoo in a short time.
All he could do was repeatedly use Banshō Ten'in, mixed with Shinra Tensei—using attraction and repulsion to constantly wear down Keizumi's Susanoo and deflect the sword slashes.
As for Keizumi, he was beginning to understand why Uchiha Madara had grown so arrogant.
Once the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan's Susanoo was activated, the opponent could exhaust themselves to death and still not touch even a corner of his clothing. In such an unequal battle, anyone would come to see ninjas as nothing more than clowns.
'Will he summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path?'
'Nagato's Shinra Tensei and Banshō Ten'in can interfere with me—but defeating me is nearly impossible.'
'If he wants to win, he has only one option—summon the Demonic Statue.'
For once, Uchiha Keizumi's eyes flickered with emotion.
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path… or rather, the Ten-Tails—the creation of the Ōtsutsuki clan that once drained all the natural energy from the ninja world, the very reason the world had become what it was today.
Keizumi couldn't even imagine what kind of "justice" it would be… if he were to completely annihilate the Demonic Statue.