It took Susanoo two slashes just to cut off one arm from the Gedo Statue.
That made Jie raise his evaluation of the Gedo Statue's defense by another level.
Nagato also found it hard to believe. After using that strange jutsu, Jie had cut off the Gedo Statue's right arm with only two strikes.
But Nagato had no time to think about it. Seeing that Jie had no intention of stopping, he immediately controlled the Deva Path and pushed both hands forward.
"Almighty Push!"
Nagato no longer hoped Almighty Push could hurt Jie. He only wanted to stop him for a moment and buy a little time.
A powerful repulsive force rushed forward. Susanoo's massive size made the pressure Jie had to withstand even stronger, but this time, he had no intention of backing down.
Wasn't it just a head-on clash?
Who was afraid?
That thought flashed through his mind, and Jie controlled Susanoo to raise its forty-meter-long sword before slashing straight at the Deva Path.
Under that massive blade, even the terrifying repulsive force of Almighty Push suddenly did not seem so terrifying anymore.
The repulsive force and the great sword collided, sending ripples through the air. But the pressure from that sword was real.
Even with Almighty Push resisting it, Jie's sword still came down firmly and quickly. Nagato had no way to face it head-on, so he could only control the Deva Path and dodge to the side.
The moment he dodged, Almighty Push naturally could no longer be maintained. Without Almighty Push blocking it, Jie's sword became even faster.
The sword fell.
Even though Jie did not deliberately release sword energy this time, the power contained in the forty-meter-long blade still spread out from the sword in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, the sword mark stretched for dozens of kilometers, splitting the entire Kumogakure in two.
From a distance, Yugito almost wanted to cry when she saw it.
What sin had she committed?
Why had she suddenly thought of holding an alliance meeting?
If the Fourth Raikage had not insisted on taking advantage of Konoha, Kumogakure and Konoha would never have gone to war.
If there had been no war, the Fourth Raikage would not have died at Jie's hands, and she would not have been forced into the position of Fifth Raikage.
If she had not become the Fifth Raikage, there would have been no alliance agreement, no joint exam, and none of this would have happened.
The current Kumogakure should have been a place where its ninja lived in peace, not a field of ruins like this.
So, in the end, was all of this the Fourth Raikage's fault?
At this point, Yugito no longer cared who was to blame. She only wanted this whole mess to end. After that, she would resign as Raikage and live freely in the ninja world as a tailed beast.
When Nagato saw the mark left behind by Jie's sword, cold sweat instantly slid down his forehead.
So close.
Just a little more, and Yahiko's body would have been gone. Seeing that Jie was about to attack again, Nagato finally received Konan's message.
"I've already sent the message. The Akatsuki members will evacuate as soon as possible."
"Nagato, we should retreat too."
Hearing Konan's words, Nagato finally let out a breath of relief.
"Great, Konan. In that case, I'll bring Yahiko's body back now."
Nagato forced a faint smile.
To him, the other Paths of Pain were only puppets. As long as he had corpses, they could be replaced at any time. But Yahiko's corpse was different.
The Deva Path was his friend.
After controlling Yahiko's body to take one last deep look at Jie, Nagato immediately began forming hand seals.
At that moment, Jie was just about to continue attacking when the Gedo Statue turned into a puff of white smoke and disappeared from in front of him.
The Deva Path also formed a strange hand sign, looking as if it was ready to escape at any moment.
Naturally, Jie was not happy when he saw that.
They came when they wanted and left when they wanted. What did Pain think Kumogakure was?
A public toilet?
Jie quickly dispelled Susanoo and rushed to the Deva Path's side in a flash. But when he reached the Deva Path, he found that it had stopped moving.
'What's going on? The control clearly hasn't been cut off, but the jutsu stopped midway. Did something happen on Nagato's side?'
Looking at the Deva Path's slightly trembling body, Jie did not rush to attack. He observed it for a moment, confused.
Still, to be safe, Jie first left a Flying Thunder God mark on the Deva Path. That way, he would not have to worry about Nagato playing tricks and summoning the Deva Path away.
He might even be able to use Nagato's move to locate Nagato himself.
But right now, Nagato was not in a good situation.
Konan stood beside Nagato, waiting for him to summon Yahiko's body back so they could retreat. But just then, a pitch-black shadow crawled onto Nagato's body and interrupted his jutsu.
"Black Zetsu?"
"Black Zetsu, what are you trying to do?"
"Are you betraying the Akatsuki?"
After seeing the black shadow reveal its form, Konan immediately recognized it as Black Zetsu. She had not expected Black Zetsu to be able to split from White Zetsu like this.
"Betrayal?"
"That's not quite right."
"The Akatsuki has always been controlled from behind the scenes by Lord Madara and me. Right now, I'm only taking back the authority Lord Madara granted to Nagato."
Black Zetsu controlled half of Nagato's body and spoke in a slow voice.
"No... impossible."
"The Akatsuki... was clearly built through my and Yahiko's efforts. How could it... how could it be controlled by you from behind the scenes?"
Nagato desperately tried to take back control of his body, but under Black Zetsu's suppression, he could barely even speak complete sentences.
"Is that so?"
"Do you really think those eyes of yours were yours from birth?"
"An ordinary member of the Uzumaki clan being born with the legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths. Don't you find that ridiculous?"
"From the moment you were born, Lord Madara had already chosen you as the sacrifice for those eyes."
Black Zetsu spoke quietly.
"What!"
After hearing what Black Zetsu revealed, both Nagato and Konan were shocked.
So that was how Nagato had obtained the Rinnegan? No wonder using the Rinnegan placed such a huge burden on him.
"If you're revealing this now, aren't you afraid we'll fight you to the death?"
"Let Nagato go. Otherwise, I'll destroy those eyes!"
Konan shouted coldly at Black Zetsu.
Since the Rinnegan was not Nagato's eyes to begin with, Konan no longer had anything to hesitate over.
"Destroy the eyes? You can try."
"Lord Madara is already on his way. Do you really think you can succeed?"
Black Zetsu let out a disdainful laugh and spoke calmly.
Hearing that, Konan instantly fell silent.
Black Zetsu actually had backup.
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