Following the plan, the Six Paths of Pain first hurled the Animal Path straight down from above Konoha, deliberately misleading the enemy and throwing the village's defenses into confusion.
They couldn't enter the same way Uchiha Itachi and Kisame had. Itachi had once served in Konoha's Anbu and knew how to pass through the village's barrier.
Once the Animal Path landed inside, it immediately summoned the others. The Asura Path, Naraka Path, and the rest quickly sprang into action, plunging the entire village into chaos.
The situation became critical in an instant.
Just as Fifth Hokage Tsunade tried to summon Uzumaki Naruto back from his training at Mount Myoboku, she was stopped by Konoha's two advisor elders, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado.
Danzo had persuaded them both to oppose bringing Naruto back.
Even after Tsunade refused to listen, Danzo personally intervened and killed the messenger toad that was supposed to travel to Mount Myoboku and summon Uzumaki Naruto.
"What a useless pair. They've gotten older without gaining any competence at all. Tsunade completely intimidated them. Still, this should keep the Nine-Tails contained."
Danzo spoke coldly as he ran the messenger toad through with his sword.
The sight enraged everyone, even Seventh Hokage Naruto, who already knew how this battle had unfolded.
By the time he had returned, Deva Path Pain had already destroyed all of Konoha. He had always wondered why no one had called him back.
So Danzo had killed the messenger.
"Danzo!"
Uchiha Sasuke growled under his breath. The Sharingan appeared in his eyes as murderous intent surged through him. The mere sight of Danzo made it difficult for him to control himself.
Tsunade's expression grew grave as well.
What Danzo had done was an unmistakable challenge to her authority as Hokage. No wonder Jiraiya had warned her about him in the previous video.
Even so, she hadn't expected him to be brazen enough to go this far.
Jiraiya was furious beyond words. Watching Shimura Danzo do such a thing made him want to drive his fist straight into the man's face.
Namikaze Minato, meanwhile, looked deeply troubled.
These are Konoha's elders?
Especially Shimura Danzo.
No wonder Kaede Kitahara's diary said he had committed every kind of evil imaginable. Whenever something terrible happened in the Shinobi World and no one could find the culprit, they could always blame Danzo.
Judging by this, the description wasn't far off at all.
The man was rotten to the core.
But Minato intended to become Hokage in the future. If he wanted to truly control the village and become a Hokage with real authority, these advisors were obstacles he would have to overcome.
In the middle of a crisis, Shimura Danzo not only refused to help, but actively made things worse.
His claim that he was protecting the Nine-Tails from falling into the hands of the Akatsuki Organization might have sounded noble, but forcing everyone else to risk their lives while he stayed out of the battle was disgustingly cowardly.
Not a single Root ninja appeared throughout the entire incident.
Minato suddenly remembered something.
During the earlier video of the Nine-Tails' attack, he had only seen Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen leading the Anbu into battle. Root hadn't made a single move.
At the time, Minato had assumed the video simply hadn't shown them.
Now, it seemed far more likely that Danzo had never intended to intervene in the first place.
When the village faced disaster, Danzo had no intention of fighting. Instead, he sat back and watched both sides tear each other apart.
Was he waiting to seize the Hokage's seat?
A rare flicker of killing intent appeared in Namikaze Minato's eyes.
Could Konoha truly afford to keep an elder who harbored such treacherous ambitions?
And there was no telling how many other plots Danzo had orchestrated from the shadows.
Without realizing it, Namikaze Minato had already begun viewing the situation from the perspective of the Fourth Hokage.
Future Sixth Hokage Hatake Kakashi felt the same way. Danzo could not be allowed to remain.
The scene infuriated him just as much.
In the past, Shimura Danzo had been an untouchable figure in Kakashi's eyes, one of the village elders who stood far above ordinary shinobi.
But Kakashi had now reached Kage Level himself. In terms of strength, he was already Danzo's equal, and he would one day become Hokage as well.
Mentally, he could finally regard Shimura Danzo as an equal.
Then he saw himself appear in the video.
Umino Iruka was about to be struck by Deva Path Pain when Kakashi arrived at the last possible second and saved him.
"Then answer me this," Deva Path Pain said coldly as he stared at Hatake Kakashi. "Where is the Nine-Tails?"
"Everything you've done is pointless. The people here are different from ordinary villagers. Not one of them would betray a comrade, even if it cost them their life."
Hatake Kakashi opened his Sharingan and faced Deva Path Pain head-on.
Deva Path Pain responded without hesitation. He lashed out with a kick so fast that it left an afterimage behind.
Hatake Kakashi had clearly grown much stronger since the beginning of the story. He narrowly avoided the terrifying strike, then immediately used an Earth-Style Wall to trap Deva Path Pain inside.
The wall even bore Kakashi's signature dog-head carvings, making it difficult to tell whether he truly suffered from low chakra reserves or not.
In the next instant, Deva Path Pain formed a black rod and drove it through Hatake Kakashi's shoulder.
Kakashi seized the opportunity.
Raikiri flared to life in his hand, and he lunged straight for Deva Path Pain. However, Deva Path Pain's Rinnegan disrupted his movements at the critical moment, causing the Raikiri to smash into the Earth-Style Wall instead.
"What tremendous ocular power. Nagato's visual prowess truly surpasses my own."
As Uchiha Itachi watched the video, he felt the immense power erupting from Deva Path Pain's Rinnegan.
It had disrupted Hatake Kakashi's movements in an instant, forcing his Raikiri off course.
Such overwhelming visual prowess was truly unprecedented.
Among every dōjutsu wielder Itachi had ever encountered, Nagato might very well have been the strongest.
"Damn it. That ocular power is incredible."
Uchiha Sasuke sensed the same terrifying force spilling from the Rinnegan.
It was something only fellow dōjutsu wielders could truly perceive.
That single exchange had already demonstrated the Rinnegan's overwhelming visual power.
"Impossible. How could any dōjutsu kekkei genkai be stronger than the Sharingan?"
Uchiha Sasuke couldn't believe it.
More importantly, he refused to believe it.
In his heart, the Sharingan was the strongest dōjutsu in the world. Beyond the ordinary Sharingan lay the Mangekyo Sharingan, and beyond that, the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
The Sharingan was supposed to be unrivaled.
And yet the Rinnegan's superiority was undeniable.
"Impossible. My Sharingan simply hasn't evolved into the Mangekyo Sharingan yet. Once it does, it'll definitely surpass that so-called Rinnegan."
Uchiha Sasuke ground his teeth as he spoke.
"What was that just now?" Hatake Kakashi asked in shock.
"Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi. It's an honor to meet you," Deva Path Pain said. "Where is the Nine-Tails?"
Hatake Kakashi clearly had no intention of answering.
He charged forward with Raikiri in hand, only to be blasted away by an invisible force in the next instant.
"What kind of Ninjutsu was that? It wasn't anything like a shock wave. Everything surrounding him was blown away, with him at the center."
Hatake Kakashi forced himself to remain calm and analyzed what had happened.
He immediately used Chidori Current to probe Deva Path Pain's limits, but a small-scale Shinra Tensei repelled it with ease.
At the same time, the Asura Path dropped from the sky and blocked Hatake Kakashi's escape route.
"So Jiraiya-sama fought six enemies like this? That must've been one hell of a battle."
After only a brief exchange, Hatake Kakashi had already experienced firsthand just how formidable the Six Paths of Pain were.
Then Deva Path Pain used Bansho Ten'in to drag Kakashi toward him.
This previously unseen ability immediately caught the attention of everyone except Seventh Hokage Naruto.
A crucial new piece of information had appeared.
Among the Six Paths, Deva Path Pain was clearly the most difficult to fight.
Everyone already knew he possessed some kind of repulsive Ninjutsu powerful enough to flatten Konoha with a single attack. Now it was clear that he could also pull people toward himself.
At the last possible moment, Hatake Kakashi's teammates, including Akimichi Choza, arrived to help.
Their attacks were completely ineffective against Deva Path Pain. Shinra Tensei sent them all flying.
Even so, during that brief exchange, Hatake Kakashi managed to determine that Deva Path Pain's abilities involved attractive and repulsive forces.
He also discovered that those powers had limits and required a brief interval between uses.
Kakashi even devised a strategy around the opening created after Deva Path Pain used Shinra Tensei.
He nearly killed Deva Path Pain with Raikiri, only for the Asura Path to block the fatal strike with its own body at the crucial moment.
The interception wasted the precious opening Kakashi had worked so hard to create, and Deva Path Pain immediately inflicted a devastating injury on him.
Even so, the entire sequence displayed Hatake Kakashi's combat intelligence to perfection.
Against an ordinary opponent, Kakashi's strategy would already have ended the battle.
"Excellent work, Kakashi. You've improved tremendously."
In the past timeline, Namikaze Minato watched Hatake Kakashi's battle with a gratified smile.
There was no question that Kakashi had undergone a complete transformation in the three years since he first appeared in the diary.
Back then, he hadn't even been a match for Orochimaru. He hadn't possessed the strength to take Orochimaru down with him, even if he sacrificed his own life.
At the time, Namikaze Minato had believed Kakashi was wasting his talent.
In Minato's eyes, Hatake Kakashi possessed astonishing potential as a shinobi. Reaching Kage Level should have been effortless for him.
And yet he had ultimately remained nothing more than an Elite Jonin.
That would have been an impressive achievement for an ordinary person, but for someone with Hatake Kakashi's talent, it was an unforgivable waste.
He had been surviving on his old accomplishments.
Minato also blamed himself.
He had died far too early as Kakashi's teacher. Had he lived, he never would have allowed Kakashi to sink so deeply into despair and stagnation.
Three years later, however, Hatake Kakashi had clearly recognized the problem.
His strength had improved dramatically during that time, even if Deva Path Pain had still nearly killed him.
The progress was undeniable.
Kakashi was the only one who had managed to pose a genuine threat to Deva Path Pain.
Akimichi Choza, Akimichi Choji, and the others who arrived as reinforcements could do little more than support him.
Some of them were even struck down almost instantly.