Nagato was decisive.
As soon as he saw that the Six Paths of Pain could not do anything to Jie, he summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Couldn't he have struggled a little longer? Wouldn't it have been nice to use Planetary Devastation and set off some fireworks?
But it did not matter. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was far more valuable than Planetary Devastation.
Hidden in the dark, Black Zetsu felt a trace of unease when he saw the Demonic Statue suddenly appear.
"He summoned Mother's body this quickly?"
"But using Mother's body against Jie Uchiha… isn't that too risky?" Black Zetsu thought silently.
Jie's swordsmanship was too sharp. Even though Black Zetsu had existed for over a thousand years, he had never seen anyone whose swordsmanship could compare to Jie's.
Even the former Konoha's White Fang was far below the current Jie Uchiha in swordsmanship.
Mother's body, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, contained Six Paths-level power. Ordinary attacks could not harm it at all.
But against a monster like Jie, even Black Zetsu was not completely sure.
"Jie Uchiha's growth is truly frightening. He clearly isn't the reincarnation of Indra or Asura, yet he reached this level through his own talent."
"Maybe it's time to revive Madara Uchiha."
"Those are Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan, after all. Even though Nagato has used them for decades, he still can't bring out their true power."
"If no one can stand against Jie Uchiha, then this generation's Indra and Asura still won't follow the path I planned for them."
"And reviving Mother will be even farther away." Thinking this, Black Zetsu slowly sank into the ground and left to prepare his next plan.
On the conference platform, everyone stopped fighting when they saw the Demonic Statue appear.
"What is that thing?"
"How can it be so huge?"
Onoki could hardly believe his eyes. He had lived for so long, but he had never seen such a massive summon. Even the Tailed Beasts were not that large.
"So this is the Akatsuki's trump card? Just what kind of people am I working with?"
Seeing the pressure coming from the Demonic Statue, Mei Terumi felt a trace of unease. Only when both sides were on similar levels could it be called cooperation.
But now, the situation seemed to have quietly changed.
Summoning the Demonic Statue had clearly used a huge amount of Nagato's chakra.
For a moment, aside from the Deva Path, the remaining Pain puppets all collapsed to the ground and temporarily lost the ability to move.
"Jie Uchiha, I admit your strength has exceeded my expectations. But before the true power of a god, you cannot resist."
"Feel the strike of a god." The Deva Path spoke calmly.
As soon as he finished, the Demonic Statue roared. One of its huge hands rose high and slammed down toward Jie.
The Demonic Statue truly deserved to be the husk of the Ten-Tails.
Even after losing its once-powerful chakra, its body alone carried enough pressure to make people tremble.
At the very least, Jie felt that even with his advanced Sage Body and the strong body he had built through years of Lightning Release body tempering, taking that strike head-on would not end well.
He even felt that if he activated Susanoo and used every enhancement he had, it would still be hard to withstand the Demonic Statue's full-power blow.
But since he could not block it, Jie simply did not block it.
The Demonic Statue's attack looked terrifying. To outsiders, its speed was already too fast to react to.
But in Jie's eyes, it was honestly slow.
With a flash, Jie disappeared from where he stood. The next second, the Demonic Statue's huge hand smashed into the conference platform.
It struck the exact spot where Jie had been standing.
"Brother!"
"Brother Jie!"
"Big Brother Hokage!"
Because of the powerful aftershocks from the battles between the Kage, the Joint Chunin Exams had already been forced to stop.
The three little ones had also left the arena and hidden in a concealed corner closer to the conference platform, continuing to watch.
With their current strength, they could not clearly follow the fight between Jie and the Demonic Statue.
All they saw was the Demonic Statue's palm crashing down while Jie's figure vanished.
Although none of them believed Jie would die from that attack, the Demonic Statue's terrifying power still made them extremely worried.
"Is that Sasuke over there?" Itachi, who was watching from the side, heard their cries and immediately frowned.
Without making it obvious, he glanced toward the source of the sound. Three small heads peeking out entered his view.
"It really is Sasuke."
"Did Brother bring Sasuke here to take part in the Joint Chunin Exams?"
"I didn't expect that only after five years, Sasuke would go from a child to such a strong Chunin." Thinking of this, a faint smile appeared on Itachi's face.
As expected, the Uchiha clan produced geniuses.
Whether it was his eldest brother, Jie, himself, or his younger brother, Sasuke, all of them were rare talents.
But Itachi did not have time to think about it for long.
The Demonic Statue made its next move.
Itachi quietly adjusted his position and tried to stand in front of the three little ones.
That way, even if the aftershocks from Jie's battle with the Demonic Statue reached them, he could reduce some of the danger.
Although Itachi did not want to admit it, he understood one thing. His own strength was not bad, but he was still not qualified to join Jie's battle.
Whether it was Pain or the Demonic Statue, neither was an opponent the current him could reach. He might be able to stall for a short while, but winning was impossible.
At that moment, the Demonic Statue raised its other hand and smashed it down in another direction.
Jie's figure had just appeared there, only to vanish again.
Boom!
Another loud crash rang out.
The entire conference platform in the arena had been completely reduced to ruins. Not even the slightest trace remained to show that a building had once stood there.
No matter how tough human-made structures were, under the Demonic Statue's powerful and careless attacks, they were all crushed into powder.
After dodging several heavy swings from the Demonic Statue, Jie finally felt a little annoyed.
'Just because I haven't gotten serious, you think I'm harmless?'
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