With the appearance of the Perfect Susanoo, the battlefield momentarily froze. Every combatant's gaze was inexorably drawn, fixed upon this unbelievable behemoth.
"Haha… Hahaha! This is the divine power of my Uchiha clan!" Watching the Perfect Susanoo manifested by Jizo, Uchiha Hiroomi's face twisted into an expression of fanatical fervor, and he muttered madly, almost reverently, under his breath. The sheer existence of a Perfect Susanoo completely surpassed the comprehension and experience of everyone present.
A flicker of distant recollection passed through Kakuzu's ancient eyes. "Another Madara Uchiha has appeared!" he rasped, his voice heavy with the weight of memory. Kakuzu had lived through the era when Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha had dominated the ninja world, their power absolute. Yet, this was the first time he had ever witnessed a Perfect Susanoo with his own eyes. In his earlier, less formidable days, he simply hadn't been qualified to behold such earth-shattering power.
Beside them, Hidan was already yelling, his usual bravado tinged with genuine fear, "Hey, hey, hey! This is ridiculously freaky, man! This thing's beyond psycho!" Faced with a being that could undoubtedly crush him by merely lifting a foot, even the immortal Hidan was terrified.
Nagato's expression was as grim and turbulent as a stormy sea, his eyes fixed intently on the colossal Perfect Susanoo. His fists were unconsciously clenched so tight his knuckles were white. At this moment, Nagato had utterly lost his usual godlike composure. He, who had always regarded himself as a divine being, for the very first time felt a gnawing uncertainty about his ability to defeat an enemy.
After manifesting the Perfect Susanoo, Jizo paid no attention to the psychological earthquake rippling through the Akatsuki members. He slightly lifted the Susanoo's massive foot.
THUD!
This single step from the Perfect Susanoo immediately caused the very earth beneath them to tremble violently. Next, the Susanoo's right hand moved to the hilt of one of its colossal swords. With a fluid motion, it drew the blade.
RUMBLE!
A blinding flash of the blade, and an invisible, unstoppable wave of pure sword energy erupted outwards. A distant mountain, miles away, was directly cleaved in half at its waist, the top sliding off in a slow-motion avalanche of rock and debris. The thunderous sound of its destruction echoed across the lunar landscape.
A one-slash kill! A map-altering attack! Watching the devastating effect of this single strike unleashed by Jizo's Susanoo, these two thoughts immediately flashed through Tatsuya's mind. In his previous life, although Tatsuya had seen similar scenes in the anime, he hadn't experienced the sheer scale and power firsthand. The impression then was nowhere near as visceral or profound as it was now, witnessing it with his own eyes. However, comparing the effect of Jizo's strike to the legendary displays of Madara Uchiha back then, Jizo's Perfect Susanoo still seemed somewhat inferior in raw destructive output.
While Tatsuya had the mental space to make such analytical observations, the Akatsuki members directly facing the aftermath of this attack were in no such mood. A devastating storm of concussive force and razor-sharp air currents swept across their position. The Animal Path, Preta Path, and Asura Path of the Six Paths of Pain were instantly obliterated, their forms ripped apart by the shockwave. The Tendo Path, Human Path, and Naraka Path, though more durable, were also violently blown high into the air, tumbling uncontrollably. Konan, ever vigilant, shielded Nagato's vulnerable real body, utilizing the repulsive force of a Shinra Tensei—likely projected by the nearby Tendo Path or perhaps a weaker version from Nagato himself—to rapidly evade the worst of the blast.
The thick dust and choking smoke raised by the violent explosion gradually began to disperse. On the ravaged battlefield, the faces of all the surviving Akatsuki members had turned extremely grim, almost ashen. The difference in power was simply too vast, too demoralizing.
For a long moment, a heavy, stunned silence fell over the battlefield.
Amidst this oppressive silence, Tendo Pain's body slowly began to ascend into the air, rising higher and higher.
"Nagato, what are you doing?" Seeing Tendo Pain slowly rising into the sky, Konan's expression changed instantly to one of alarm, and she turned her worried gaze to Nagato. Just as Konan spoke, the Human Path and Naraka Path, which had managed to retreat some distance away but were clearly damaged, suddenly faltered and collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
"This battle..." Nagato began, his hands clasped together, his eyes closed as he calmly gathered an immense amount of chakra. "We cannot lose again!" he declared, his voice deep and resonant with unshakable resolve.
"But that technique… it will consume your life force!" Konan's voice was tinged with desperate anxiety.
Nagato replied, his voice unwavering, "I can't concern myself with that now. His very existence is a constant, unacceptable obstacle to our plans! Moreover, if we lose this battle, the Akatsuki will likely fall apart immediately."
Hearing this, Konan opened her mouth, a protest on her lips, but ultimately, she couldn't bring herself to say anything more. The conviction in Nagato's voice was absolute.
Not far behind Nagato, positioned to his left and right, Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori, and Deidara also noticed Tendo Pain's ominous ascent. A sliver of desperate hope began to rise in their hearts, which had previously sunk to the lowest depths of despair.
"Let's go!" At the entrance to the Moon's spatial passage, the three combat clones Tatsuya had assigned to Guren ignored the cataclysmic commotion behind them. Taking advantage of the crucial moment when all the Akatsuki members were utterly distracted by the overwhelming battle, they quickly pulled Guren along and darted into the shimmering portal. A flash of white light, and the four figures vanished from the Moon's inner world.
Unseen by the combatants, in the deep shadows of a forest not far from the spatial passage, Obito and Zetsu's figures remained hidden.
"Huh! Those few people escaped through the spatial passage!" White Zetsu's characteristic voice sounded, having observed Guren and the three clones disappear.
"A bunch of small fry. Pay them no mind," Obito said indifferently, his single visible eye never leaving the distant battlefield, his voice flat and dismissive. The Perfect Susanoo manifested by Jizo had not only made Nagato feel a profound sense of crisis, but Obito's heart was also exceptionally heavy with foreboding. This was a level of power he hadn't anticipated encountering so soon.
Beside Obito, Black Zetsu's eyes flickered incessantly with a strange, unreadable light. He had never expected that after Indra and Madara Uchiha, someone else could actually awaken and manifest a Perfect Susanoo. This development was completely outside his meticulously crafted, centuries-old plans.
White Zetsu's attention, however, wasn't focused on the distant battlefield; he was still staring anxiously at the entrance to the spatial passage. "What if they destroy the spatial passage on their way out?" he fretted.
However, this time, White Zetsu's worried question received no reply from either Obito or Black Zetsu. Their entire focus was riveted elsewhere, because a dramatic new development was unfolding on the battlefield.
Under everyone's transfixed gaze, Tendo Pain flew directly up to a height of several tens of meters in mid-air. He gazed down imperiously at Jizo's Perfect Susanoo, slowly extended both his hands, palms open, and bellowed in a deep, resonant voice that seemed to shake the very air:
"Cho Shinra Tensei!"
The moment Tendo Pain's voice fell, an incomparably powerful, all-encompassing repulsive force erupted violently from between his outstretched hands.
RUMBLE!
The sheer power of this super-strong, invisible repulsive force was on a completely different plane of existence compared to Tendo Pain's previous, more localized attacks. The immense force, radiating outwards as if it would tear space itself asunder, shot directly towards the massive Perfect Susanoo.
Inside the cockpit of the giant Susanoo, Jizo felt his body begin to slide backward involuntarily. Thud, thud, thud! Losing its balance under the colossal, irresistible pressure, the Perfect Susanoo began to stumble backward awkwardly, its massive feet gouging craters in the lunar surface. The ground beneath the Susanoo's feet was directly scoured away, a thick layer of earth, sand, shattered rocks, and uprooted vegetation all sent flying into the distance along with the retreating Perfect Susanoo. Wherever the wave of force passed, the vast sea surface nearby was thrown into monstrous, towering waves. This single attack was like a true natural disaster, reshaping the landscape in an instant.
After several agonizing minutes, the cataclysmic, world-altering scene gradually began to calm. Looking at the utterly devastated, apocalyptic landscape before them, all the Akatsuki members were struck dumb, silent in the face of such overwhelming destruction.
On the battlefield, a thick, choking layer of dust and smoke now completely obscured the sky. High in the air, Tendo Pain's body descended slowly through the murky, dust-filled area and landed softly on the ravaged ground.
In the distant, swirling dust cloud, the massive, awe-inspiring form of the Perfect Susanoo was no longer visible.
Nagato's frail body was trembling slightly, and he was panting heavily from the exertion. His eyes, however, were fixed with deadly intensity on the dust-covered area in the distance. He needed to confirm, beyond any doubt, whether that single, all-out Super Shinra Tensei had truly defeated the Divine Court's Uchiha warrior.
Whoosh~
Beside him, a familiar spatial vortex swirled into existence, and Obito and Zetsu's figures materialized silently next to Nagato.