Black Zetsu had imagined Kakashi might join the battle in the Land of Grass, moving at top speed to settle accounts with that crafty old fox, the Third Tsuchikage.
He had also considered that Kakashi might enter the Land of Frost, forcing the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki of the Hidden Cloud to reveal himself—only to be cut down just as the Two-Tails Jinchuriki had been years ago.
But this...
A silent blade of light slashed through the city of steel. A tower, forged entirely of iron, began to tilt and collapse under the weight of that single strike, creating a deafening roar.
Hidden in the shadows, Black Zetsu watched the scene with a mask of indifference.
He never expected this.
He never thought Kakashi would lead his people directly into the heart of Amegakure, the Hidden Rain Village.
While the Akatsuki had taken steps to assist the four great ninja villages, if it came down to a war of occupation, the Akatsuki's influence on the battlefield could never hope to match that of the Great Nations—especially since Pain had yet to make his move.
And yet, the Fifth Hokage had appeared here.
Irritation flared within Black Zetsu, but he suppressed it, returning to Nagato's side to wait for the battle to conclude.
A fine drizzle fell from the sky, soaking their robes.
Rainwater slid down his white hair, trailing past his cheek before dripping away. Kakashi stared calmly at the two figures suspended in the air.
Pain and Konan.
Both possessed the ability to fight in the sky. It was only because of this that they had narrowly avoided his initial strike.
"So, they can fly..."
Hikari looked up at the pair, her tone carrying a strange, unreadable quality.
"I'll leave the woman to you," Kakashi said evenly.
"No problem."
Hikari nodded, a flicker of battle-lust flashing in her eyes. She did not like to fight, but that did not mean she wasn't capable of it.
"Hokage of the Leaf, it seems you have truly decided to set yourself against God."
Arrogant words drifted down from the heavens. Pain's eyes, cold and devoid of emotion, looked down upon Kakashi and Hikari.
"Against you?"
Kakashi let out a soft chuckle. "If you are a god, then I suppose I shall commit deicide today."
"I only hope that a 'god' such as yourself can provide me with a bit of entertainment."
Pain's expression shifted slightly as the words reached him. "Arrogant fool."
As the words fell, several figures appeared atop the surrounding steel towers. Each wore the black cloak with red clouds, each possessed orange hair, and each shared the same gaze: the Rinnegan.
"Experience the power of God..."
As Pain spoke, a man with long hair tied in a ponytail moved first.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Accompanied by the cold command, a massive cloud of white smoke erupted. A giant multi-headed hound with fleshy wings charged out, lunging toward Kakashi.
The Animal Path.
Seeing the beast approach, Kakashi looked at Hikari. She gave a small nod. After years of living together, the two shared an unspoken, seamless coordination.
Hikari drew the long blade from her waist and leaped into the air, flying toward Konan, whose pure white paper wings were unfurled against the rainy sky.
Crimson chakra flowed around her.
A pair of deep red, skeletal wings formed behind her back.
Susano'o!
Yet, Hikari's eyes remained black; she had not even activated her Sharingan.
Kakashi watched this with a touch of inward admiration.
As expected of Hikari.
For those who have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and manifested the Susano'o, if their chakra control is high enough, they can reconstruct the technique through sheer prowess even without their eyes. In the original history, Uchiha Madara had done exactly that immediately after being resurrected by the Rinne Rebirth.
And Hikari was capable of the same feat.
Seeing Hikari approaching with her crimson bone-wings and blade, Konan and Pain exchanged a glance. Konan immediately flew higher into the sky, and Hikari flapped her wings to give chase without hesitation.
Konan's movements were fluid. With a single flap of her paper wings, a swarm of butterflies made from explosive tags swirled toward Hikari.
The blade in Hikari's hand erupted into roaring flames. A crimson flash of light streaked across the sky as a wave of fiery sword-intent burst from the tip of her blade. The countless paper butterflies were consumed by the fire, and the sky was instantly filled with a chain of explosions.
Staring at the blue-haired woman retreating ahead of her, Hikari charged forward with her blade held high.
Konan realized the situation immediately. With a sword as her weapon, she must specialize in close-quarters combat.
Melee was Konan's weakness. She accelerated to maintain distance, utilizing her Dance of the Shikigami to relentlessly whittle down Hikari's chakra. In an instant, the sky was filled with paper butterflies and planes darting toward Hikari.
Hikari's expression didn't waver. Even as a wife and mother, the combat instincts etched into her bones had never faded. Her blade became a blur of light, and a violent storm of fire and steel swept outward. Any paper construct that tried to get close was detonated, turning the entire sky into a domain of explosions and flames.
Neither Kakashi nor Pain spared a second glance for the battle in the sky.
Kakashi had absolute faith that his wife would emerge victorious.
Pain, likewise, trusted Konan. Only he knew the true extent of her strength.
Facing the massive, lunging hound, Kakashi did not hesitate. He reached out into thin air, and a crimson phantom blade formed of chakra solidified in his hand.
He slashed downward. The arc of the blade, infused with the nature of Fire Style, slammed directly into the beast.
The giant hound was cleaved in half instantly.
However, instead of dying, the two halves transformed into two separate, smaller hounds that pounced toward Kakashi again.
But...
Kakashi watched the incoming beasts without moving, as if he were waiting for something.
Suddenly—
A small spark ignited on the hounds' bodies.
One, two, three, four... countless sparks!
The sparks coalesced into a roaring inferno that consumed both beasts. The air was filled with their agonizing howls.
It wasn't long before the hounds were incinerated by the flames, vanishing from the battlefield in a puff of white smoke.
The Deva Path narrowed his eyes at the sight. He used the nature transformation of Fire Style to solve the Multi-Headed Hound...
Was it a coincidence?
Pain knew the hound's abilities better than anyone. A beast that could split infinitely was one of the top-tier summons. To have it dealt with so casually...
He could only describe it as a fluke.
At that moment, the Asura Path, Preta Path, and Human Path charged at Kakashi simultaneously. The Animal Path began to weave signs once more.
The Asura Path ripped away his Akatsuki cloak, revealing a mechanical, sturdy body. He transformed into a three-faced, six-armed form with a serrated iron tail, reaching Kakashi first with incredible speed.
Facing the Asura Path's close-quarters assault, Kakashi remained unperturbed.
Getting too close to him... was a death sentence.
A crackle of lightning, sharp enough to pierce through the sound of the rain, rang out.
White electric arcs began to spread across Kakashi's body. Just as the Asura Path's six arms and iron tail were about to impale him...
A look of deadly seriousness finally appeared in Kakashi's eyes.
Thunder, lightning, and a storm!
He had been silent for too long.
He had been so quiet that the power within his body almost felt foreign to him. In this era, with Hashirama Senju gone and Uchiha Madara not yet resurrected, no one was worthy of making Kakashi go all out.
The battle during the Chunin Exams had been nothing more than a warm-up.
A God?
Pain?
Fine. Let him see what "capital" this man had to claim the title of a God.
The chakra within his body roared like a vast ocean. A blinding white lightning storm erupted around Kakashi!
The ground shattered under the pressure. The surrounding curtain of rain was pulverized by the lightning, evaporating before it could even get close.
The sheer volume of chakra radiating from him was so terrifying it felt as though the air itself had turned into a solid mass.
The Asura Path, being the closest, was paralyzed by the storm before he could even land a blow. His indifferent Rinnegan eyes actually rolled back in their sockets.
The white-haired man slowly raised his hand, his fingers forming a blade, and made a simple horizontal stroke.
The massive head of the Asura Path rolled across the ground, coming to a stop at the feet of the other Paths.
[Nagato's Emotional State +1]
[Chakra +1%]
[Current Chakra: 20,000%]
Currently, Kakashi's chakra was four times that of Naruto as a teenager. In terms of pure chakra volume, he had completely surpassed Hashirama Senju.
Which meant...
"Pain, come. Let me see what right you have to call yourself a God in my presence."
His voice was calm, cool, and indifferent.
Through his research into Lightning Style, Kakashi had mastered the manipulation of electrical currents and magnetic fields.
He began to slowly levitate into the air. Simultaneously, several steel buildings groaned with a bone-chilling screech as they were ripped from their foundations, hovering around him.
Water gushed from broken underground pipes, flooding the earth below.
Nagato, controlling the Paths, was shocked.
Floating in the air and levitating buildings—he could do these things too. But there was one difference.
That chakra... it was so dense it had practically physical weight.
Even he did not possess such a massive, terrifying amount of chakra.
This was...
Though he realized the Fifth Hokage was an unprecedentedly powerful enemy, Nagato felt no urge to retreat.
He was Pain.
He was God.
"Ridiculous. Arrogant."
"You think because you have mastered a bit of power, you can challenge the divine?"
The Deva Path spoke coldly. On the ground, the Animal Path had completed its summons.
A bird, a centipede, a crab, a bull, a rhino, a chameleon, and a lobster.
Seven giant creatures appeared on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the Naraka Path immediately set about reviving the Asura Path.
Kakashi watched this calmly.
He didn't stop the Animal Path from summoning, nor did he stop the Naraka Path from reviving the fallen.
To him, none of it mattered.
He had come to Amegakure today for one reason: to crush, break, and kill Pain.
With Obito Uchiha dead, it was time to dismantle the Akatsuki for good. Once the Akatsuki fell, the likes of Orochimaru or Hiruko wouldn't be able to stir up any trouble—they wouldn't even get past subordinates like Shiranui Genma.
"Is that so?"
Kakashi let out a cold laugh at Pain's words.
Mind and will became one.
The countless steel structures around him twisted under an unseen force, letting out a hair-raising screech. Several of the iron masses were crushed and melded together by Kakashi's control, forming a single, gargantuan ball of steel.
The sphere hurtled toward the Deva Path without hesitation.
Facing such an attack, the Deva Path narrowed his eyes and leveled a hand at the incoming projectile.
"Almighty Push!"
The cold command echoed out.
Boom!
An invisible repulsive force exploded from him. The steel ball was frozen mid-air.
Repulsion against magnetism. Force against force.
The steel ball groaned in agony between the two of them. It twisted, deformed, and twisted again.
At that moment, the seven giant summons charged toward Kakashi.
Kakashi didn't even bother to look at them.
Thunder and lightning roared around him. White and purple interlaced; lightning and electricity coiled. A deafening, piercing sound erupted.
Yang Release: White Lightning and Yin Release: Purple Electricity exploded simultaneously. Thick pillars of lightning radiated outward from Kakashi, ravaging everything in their path.
The earth was plowed into deep trenches, the air was whipped into a thin mist, and the rain was instantly vaporized into steam.
Compared to Pain's self-proclaimed divinity, Kakashi looked more like a true god at this moment.
The God of Lightning.
The giant summoned beasts looked pathetically small in the face of this power.
The Preta Path immediately stepped to the front, a pale blue barrier expanding around him.
Blocking Technique Absorption Seal!
The interlaced white and purple lightning was absorbed, turning into pure chakra that flowed into his body.
Kakashi sneered.
He pointed a hand toward a nearby steel tower that hadn't been uprooted yet and made a gripping motion. The tower acted as if grasped by an invisible giant hand and was... ripped out!
Under Kakashi's control, the entire tower was hurled like a javelin toward the Preta Path.
The Deva Path's heart jolted.
Kakashi was still locked in a struggle of repulsion versus magnetism with him, yet he could simultaneously use Lightning Style to deal with the summons and manipulate a steel tower with magnetism to attack the Preta Path.
The man's chakra control was not inferior to his own.
Troublesome.
The word surfaced in Nagato's mind.
No—not just troublesome. He was terrifying.
The moment the tower was about to crush the Preta Path, the Asura Path stood in front of it and flipped open the top of his skull.
Under the influence of the black receivers, the chakra the Preta Path had just absorbed was funneled into the Asura Path. The laser cannon beneath his skull began to glow with a dangerous light.
A terrifying beam of light shot out from the Asura Path's head. Like a white sword of light, it instantly sliced the incoming tower in two.
Kakashi gave a chilling smile.
An iron rod flew out from nowhere and landed in front of him.
Under the influence of magnetic force, the rod twisted, compressed, and condensed until it was the size of a coin, resting on his fingertip.
"You're in the way."
Kakashi spoke coldly, his gaze fixed on the Asura Path guarding the Preta Path.
As the words left his lips, an orange-yellow light, laced with lightning, shot from his fingertip toward the Asura and Animal Paths.
A common iron rod had been transformed into a weapon of unparalleled, horrific power in Kakashi's hands.
Railgun!
Facing the incoming Railgun, the Preta Path tried to expand the Absorption Seal again. But the moment the pale blue barrier touched it, the Railgun instantly blew his head apart.
The Absorption Seal can absorb chakra. But how do you absorb kinetic force?
Against pure physical force, the so-called Preta Path was nothing more than a normal man.
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