Nagato moved.
The instant his chakra surged, Naruto's arms flicked outward. His Hokage robes slipped from his shoulders in one fluid motion, the white and red fabric catching the air like wings as it sailed backward in a perfect arc.
"Sasuke! Catch!"
The Uchiha's eye twitched. He was currently in the middle of coordinating a six-person beatdown on Kakuzu, his Sharingan tracking three simultaneous attack vectors, and Naruto wanted him to play catch?
I'm not your personal valet, Sasuke thought with barely suppressed irritation.
But decades of partnership—lifetimes, really—meant his body moved before his brain finished complaining. He disengaged from the Kakuzu pile-on with a flicker of movement, appearing where the robe would land and snatching it from the air with practiced ease.
"Got it," he called back, folding the garment over his arm with more care than he'd admit to. The Hokage robes were important to Naruto, even if the idiot treated them like laundry sometimes.
Beneath the robes, Naruto wore his usual black combat shirt and orange pants. Without the formal attire, he looked younger, more like the street fighter who'd grown up brawling in Konoha's back alleys than the village leader who commanded armies.
His muscles coiled, ready.
Nagato's hand rose. Deva Path mirrored the gesture perfectly, Yahiko's preserved corpse moving with eerie synchronization.
"Almighty Pull!"
The air twisted. Reality bent around Deva Path's outstretched palm as gravitational force erupted outward, reaching for Naruto like invisible chains. Every loose object in a fifty-meter radius—kunai, shuriken, bits of broken stone—shot toward the Rinnegan wielder's position.
Naruto felt the tug immediately. A pulling sensation against his entire body, trying to drag him forward.
Interesting, he thought, analyzing the technique. Gravity manipulation. The force is... minimal. Maybe equivalent to a category-five hurricane? Strong enough to lift most ninja off their feet, but...
He could have resisted easily. His physical strength exceeded the pull by orders of magnitude. But where was the fun in that?
Let's see what they've got planned.
Naruto relaxed his stance, allowing the Stepping technique to carry him forward as if the gravity was overwhelming his resistance. His body slid across the wet stone, accelerating toward Deva Path.
Nagato's lips curved upward behind his curtain of red hair. Got him. I overestimated his resistance to the Rinnegan's power.
Sasuke, watching from his position near the Kakuzu fight, smiled too. But his expression carried contempt, not triumph. Here we go again. Naruto's playing with his food.
The other Paths moved simultaneously, a coordinated assault designed to capitalize on Naruto's apparent vulnerability.
Animal Path's hands blurred through seals. "Summoning Jutsu!"
Two bursts of smoke erupted. The first resolved into a massive three-headed dog, each head the size of a horse, wings sprouting from its shoulders like some unholy fusion of cerberus and gargoyle. Its mouths dripped saliva, teeth like shortswords clicking together with hunger.
The second summoning was subtler—a chameleon the size of a wagon. Its scales rippled, color shifting to match the surrounding stone and smoke until it vanished completely, invisible save for the faint distortion where its body displaced rain.
The hellhound charged immediately, claws gouging stone as it built speed. Its trajectory calculated perfectly to intercept Naruto's sliding approach.
Preta Path positioned itself defensively, hands already glowing with the unique chakra absorption seal.
Human Path circled left, fingers twitching.
Naraka Path held the rear position, already forming the seals to summon the King of Hell.
All six Paths working in concert, chakra synchronized, tactics coordinated by Nagato's singular consciousness controlling them all.
Naruto's body slid closer. Thirty meters. Twenty. Ten.
The hellhound leaped, three sets of jaws opening wide, aiming to intercept him mid-flight. Fangs descended toward his torso.
One centimeter remained between teeth and flesh.
Nagato's smile froze.
Naruto's trajectory changed. Not slowed, not stopped—changed. His body pivoted mid-slide with impossible precision, the Stepping technique redirecting his momentum at a ninety-degree angle.
The hellhound's jaws snapped shut on empty air.
Naruto shot past like a bullet, his new vector carrying him directly at Animal Path instead of Deva Path.
The Universal Pull was a feint, Nagato realized, shock rippling through his concentration. He let himself be pulled to get close, then redirected at the last instant!
But realizations didn't translate to reactions fast enough.
Naruto materialized behind Animal Path, the distance crossed faster than the eye could track.
His fist drew back. A simple, straightforward punch. Nothing fancy. Just kinetic energy and perfect form.
Too simple, Nagato thought. But Deidara and Sasori fell to these 'simple' attacks. I can't underestimate—
Preta Path flickered into position, interposing itself between Naruto's fist and Animal Path's vulnerable back. The corpse's hands rose, and a translucent barrier snapped into existence—the Sealing Technique Absorption Seal, capable of devouring any chakra-based attack.
Naruto's punch connected with the barrier.
CRACK.
The shield didn't absorb the attack. It shattered like glass struck by a sledgehammer, fragments of chakra dispersing into nothing.
Preta Path's eyes widened—a reflexive expression programmed into the corpse despite no consciousness residing within to feel surprise.
The fist continued through the broken barrier without slowing.
WHAM.
It buried itself in Preta Path's stomach, driving deep. For a microsecond, nothing happened. Then the force transferred.
Preta Path's entire body deformed around the impact point. Ribs cracked. Organs that no longer functioned crushed. The black receivers embedded throughout the corpse's nervous system shattered from the shockwave.
The body flew backward like a cannonball, tumbling end over end before crashing to the ground sixty meters away.
Completely still. The chakra animating it had been disrupted so thoroughly that even Nagato's control couldn't maintain the connection.
Preta Path. Dead. Again.
A purple tongue unfurled from the shadows behind Naraka Path—the King of Hell manifesting partially, its grotesque form hovering between dimensions. The tongue wrapped around Preta Path's corpse just before it would have struck the ground, dragging it into the King's mouth with disturbing speed.
Hell Path's technique activated. Chewing sounds echoed—wet, organic, wrong. The King of Hell was consuming the damaged body, repairing it through its unique resurrection ability.
Nagato's tactical mind raced. Rokudō—the Six Paths of Pain—should be superior to ordinary fighters. These are bodies enhanced by the Rinnegan, coordinated by perfect chakra control. But he defeated one with a single punch, just like Deidara and Sasori.
The realization settled like lead in his stomach. I'm not fighting an ordinary opponent. I'm fighting a monster in human skin.
But analysis wouldn't save him. Only action.
Naruto's attention had already shifted. He'd watched Hell Path snatch the corpse, noted the technique, calculated.
Resurrection ability. Interesting. So killing them once isn't permanent as long as that one survives.
His gaze locked onto Animal Path, who was attempting to retreat while forming new seals.
"Let's see how durable you really are."
Naruto vanished.
Animal Path managed three steps before he materialized in front of her. This time, Naruto consciously increased the force behind his strike—not maximum output, but significantly more than he'd used on Preta Path.
His fist met her chest.
BOOM.
Animal Path didn't fly backward. Her body exploded, fragmenting from the sheer kinetic energy. Limbs separated. The torso burst like overripe fruit. Pieces scattered across the plaza in a grotesque spray.
The hellhound and chameleon vanished mid-attack, their summoning contracts severed the instant their summoner died.
Two Paths down in under ten seconds.
Naruto turned to face Hell Path, who'd just finished resurrecting Preta Path. The restored corpse stepped from the King of Hell's mouth, body pristine despite having been pulverized moments ago.
"Ah," Naruto said mildly, as if discovering an interesting fact. "So that's how it works. You're the healer." He smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "Guess I should kill you first then."
He took one step forward.
Panic—actual, genuine panic—surged through Nagato's consciousness. He's targeting Hell Path. Without the resurrection ability, I can't sustain the Six Paths. Every loss becomes permanent.
The entire strategy collapsed if Hell Path died.
Nagato poured chakra into Deva Path, drawing from the reserves of the other Paths simultaneously. The concentration required was immense, the strain immediate, but he had no choice.
I have to stop him. Whatever the cost.
Yahiko's corpse raised both hands. Chakra erupted from its body in visible waves, distorting the air like heat haze.
"UNIVERSAL PULL!"
The gravity manipulation amplified a hundredfold. What had been a gentle tug became a crushing force, strong enough to uproot trees, to tear buildings from their foundations.
And simultaneously:
"UNIVERSAL PULL!"
Repulsive force exploded outward in a sphere extending kilometers in every direction.
Konan felt it the instant Nagato committed to the technique. Her body dissolved into paper butterflies immediately, wings catching updrafts as she flew upward and away from the blast radius.
Nagato's using it, she thought, watching from above. The technique that destroyed the Hidden Rain Village once before. He's that desperate already.
She knew what it meant. The Akatsuki headquarters—every building, every street, every carefully constructed defensive position—was about to be erased.
But if they didn't stop Naruto now, the Akatsuki organization would be erased anyway.
Win first. Rebuild after.
Naruto stopped his advance toward Hell Path, sensing the massive chakra buildup. This wasn't a technique to dodge or ignore. This was area devastation on a catastrophic scale.
Interesting, he thought, genuine curiosity replacing his earlier casual demeanor. Now we're seeing real power.
The combined techniques activated.
Gravitational force pulled everything toward Deva Path's position. Simultaneously, repulsive force pushed everything away. The contradiction created a zone of absolute destruction, where matter was simultaneously compressed and torn apart.
Buildings disintegrated. The ground itself lifted in massive sheets, stone fragmenting into gravel, gravel into sand, sand into dust. Trees that had stood for decades became splinters in microseconds.
The shockwave expanded outward like a physical wall, visible through the distortion it created in the air.
Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochimaru, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Nine-Tails all felt it simultaneously—a pressure wave that made their danger senses scream.
"MOVE!" Tsunade didn't wait for agreement, grabbing Jiraiya by the collar and Body Flickering away.
Orochimaru's body dissolved into snakes that scattered in twelve directions.
Kakashi grabbed Kakuzu—who'd been in the middle of complaining about unfair treatment—and ran, chakra enhancing his speed beyond normal limits.
Sasuke, still holding Naruto's Hokage robes, activated his Susanoo. Skeletal ribs manifested around him, purple chakra forming a defensive barrier as he retreated.
Nine-Tails simply grew to full size—all nine tails spreading wide, creating a chakra shield as he bounded away on massive paws.
They cleared the immediate blast radius with seconds to spare.
Behind them, the Akatsuki headquarters ceased to exist.
The central tower where Nagato had lived for years—gone, reduced to airborne particles. The surrounding buildings where core members had trained and planned—obliterated. The plaza where countless Rain ninja had assembled—scoured clean down to bedrock.
Everything within ten kilometers became a wasteland. Not destroyed—erased. As if a god had reached down and simply deleted that portion of reality.
The technique finally ended, chakra exhaustion forcing it to dissipate.
Silence fell. Even the eternal rain seemed shocked into stillness.
At the center of the devastation, surrounded by a perfect circle of destruction, two figures remained standing.
Nagato, still seated in his wheelchair, breathing hard. Sweat poured down his face despite the cool air. That technique had consumed nearly half his chakra reserves in one burst.