The summoned beasts had plunged into a chaotic battle with Konoha's shinobi.
The giant centipede swung its tail, sending several Konoha shinobi flying. Then, with dozens of legs moving in unison, it crushed the ones in its path into pulp.
The horned rhinoceros rampaged through the village structures, smashing into everything in its way. The shinobi who tried to stop it were sent flying without even a chance to resist.
The other ground-based summoned beasts used their massive size and brute strength to wreak havoc, leaving Konoha's defenders either seriously injured or dead.
Asura Pain, now fully mechanized, resembled a metal monster. It unleashed a storm of attacks: saw-blade tail, arm-launched missiles, laser cannons, relentlessly suppressing the Konoha forces with overwhelming firepower.
Still, Konoha's counterattack was fierce and unrelenting. Various ninjutsu and thrown weapons came together in a coordinated strike toward Asura Pain and Animal Pain.
At that moment, the three-headed hellhound stepped in front of them, shielding the two from the barrage with its body.
The concentrated chakra attacks exploded in a black cloud of smoke, engulfing the massive beast.
But just a second later, under the stunned gazes of the Konoha shinobi, the smoke burst open, and now four three-headed hellhounds emerged, charging in different directions. Asura Pain and Animal Pain remained completely unharmed.
In the sky, the Yatagarasu (giant crow) flapped its wings and dove straight for the rear lines, specifically the medical corps.
As a mindless, lifeless summon, it held no fear or hesitation. Suicide attacks were the most effective way it could be utilized.
Like a crashing aircraft, Yatagarasu plummeted toward the medics with tremendous force.
"Scatter!"
Someone shouted in panic as the bird came down. The medical ninjas scrambled to get out of the way.
Still, several unlucky medics were crushed to death beneath the falling creature. Yet the Yatagarasu, seemingly unaffected by the crash, soon rose back into the air, preparing for another assault.
Though Konoha's shinobi had quickly formed a defensive formation, they were rapidly overwhelmed by the combined might of six massive summons and Asura Pain's mechanical weaponry.
After all, this was only the vanguard. With fewer than 200 shinobi, they couldn't suppress Asura and Animal Pain alone.
The shared vision granted by the Rinnegan disrupted Konoha's attempts to isolate and eliminate Asura Pain. The battlefield, now entrenched in Konoha's urban center, made the summoned beasts even harder to deal with.
The chaos created by Asura Pain and the beasts successfully attracted more and more Konoha shinobi, but as a result, the pressure on the two Pains would only increase, eventually crushing them. When that happened, they'd simply be discarded.
Meanwhile, Human Pain and Naraka Pain had separated from the main conflict, moving through the village and intercepting shinobi en route to the main battlefield.
Unnoticed by the Konoha forces, shinobi were being picked off one by one.
Human Pain grabbed a young man, extracted his soul, and searched his memories, but found nothing. The target didn't know where the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki was.
The assaults from the other Pain Paths had only just begun and would continue drawing Konoha's forces.
But once the strongest shinobi began to regroup and coordinate, the Six Paths of Pain would face greater resistance, and would no longer be able to act so freely.
If by that time the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki still hadn't been located, they would have to target those likely to know.
With a flicker of movement, Human Pain appeared behind another Konoha shinobi on a rooftop. Before the target could react, he placed a palm on the man's head and soul extracted cleanly.
The ninja's face twisted slightly in agony before collapsing, lifeless.
"Nothing."
Human Pain jumped down from the rooftop and entered a narrow alley where Naraka Pain was already waiting.
Without a word, Naraka Pain summoned the King of Hell. Its massive maw opened, releasing the collected souls one by one.
Human Pain placed his hand on each, examining their memories.
The result? Still nothing.
"A full month's time… and not a single person has seen the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki?"
Nagato frowned, troubled by the result relayed from Human Pain . On the other side of the village, powerful opponents were beginning to appear in the paths of Asura and Deva.
—
South of Konoha, near the Hokage Rock, stood the Hokage's office. Roughly two kilometers from it, Deva Pain and Preta Pain stood side by side.
The area was now a wide, circular stretch of barren ground, about 700 meters in diameter. Around its edge, piles of building rubble formed a makeshift wall.
No one else was present in this area, only the two Pains.
Just moments earlier, Deva Pain had used Shinra Tensei to obliterate the terrain and scatter the surrounding shinobi, interrupting their coordinated attack.
The technique wasn't meant to kill, it was meant to break their formation.
"What the hell kind of jutsu is that?"
Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga, brothers from the Hyuga Clan, climbed out from the rubble in disarray. A few other Hyuga shinobi rose alongside them.
As taijutsu users, the Hyuga had led the charge, but ended up being blown away the hardest.
Several of their less durable comrades now lay unconscious and barely breathing beneath the debris.
The medical team rushed in to tend to the wounded.
"It looked like… repulsion?" Hizashi muttered in confusion.
"It's very likely," Hiashi nodded slightly, agreeing with Hizashi's observation.
Both of them had sustained minor injuries, not serious, but not insignificant either. Still, others were in worse shape, and the medical team needed to prioritize the critically wounded first.
The scattered Konoha shinobi gritted their teeth through the pain and began reorganizing their formation.
Deva Pain's gaze swept sideways, instantly taking in the faces of the surrounding shinobi. The target wasn't among them. Neither had any of the other Six Paths of Pain found the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.Still, most of Konoha's elite shinobi had already arrived.
And then...
Whoosh!
A special marked kunai embedded itself at an angle into the scorched earth.
Deva Pain and Preta Pain both turned their attention to the kunai.
In the blink of an eye, a figure suddenly appeared in front of it. His body was slightly leaned forward, red-and-white cloak fluttering in the air. His striking blonde hair gleamed in the sunlight, and his sapphire-blue eyes locked intensely onto the two Pains.
In his right hand, he held a kunai identical to the one lodged in the ground.
Deva and Preta Pain showed no expression.
The man who had arrived was none other than the Fourth Hokage, one of the most powerful shinobi in the village.
"It's the Fourth Hokage!"
The surrounding Konoha shinobi, upon seeing him, visibly relaxed. With the Fourth Hokage here, they felt like they had a real chance.
Staring at the Rinnegan-wielding Deva and Preta Pains, Minato's brows furrowed. In a cold voice, he asked, "Are you the leader of Amegakure?"
Deva Pain remained silent. More and more Konoha shinobi were arriving from all directions, yet still there was no sign of the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
So, where had the target gone?
Whoosh!
A Konoha ninja flashed to Minato's side and quickly relayed the intel gathered during the earlier battle, brief, efficient, and straight to the point.
Hearing the report, Minato's eyes grew grave.
At the same time, Konoha's major clan elites and renowned shinobi began encircling all six of the Pain Paths, including the stealthy Human Pain and Naraka Pain, who had been covertly gathering intel.
"Causing chaos just to buy time for intel gathering, is that your strategy?"
Kakashi stood firmly, a blade in hand, eyes coldly fixed on Human and Naraka Pain not far ahead.
By his side were Rin, Obito, and several other skilled shinobi, ready for the real battle to begin.
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Currently on Chapter 581 - The Second Front