"Not only in the Hidden Mist… it seems the entire ninja world is saying it."
"You're the strongest Mizukage in Mist's history—and the strongest among the current Five Kage."
Nagato spoke through the Deva Path as the Six Paths of Pain moved into formation, standing across the frozen lake in a wide fan shape.
Shigure didn't bother preparing a stance.
He simply lifted his hand and beckoned.
Seeing that gesture, Nagato's Rinnegan narrowed.
In the next heartbeat, the Six Paths of Pain rushed forward.
The first to reach Shigure was the Asura Path.
The Asura Path's close-combat power was monstrous—enhanced limbs, rotating arms, built-in weapons. Its taijutsu was overwhelming.
But Shigure didn't even step back. He simply caught the blow with one hand.
Boom! Boom!
Sonic booms ripped through the air as Asura Path unleashed a flurry of mechanical strikes.
Shigure didn't move an inch.
Then the Human Path joined in, attacking in perfect coordination.
"Good strength… but far too slow."
Bang! Bang!
With two casual punches, Shigure sent both bodies skidding violently across the ice.
Nagato's eyes widened.
His two strongest taijutsu bodies couldn't even budge Shigure.
The Asura and Human Paths spun across the ice, halted themselves, and rushed forward again.
Shigure regarded them with amused curiosity.
The Rinnegan really is something…
If they didn't have Six Paths power bolstering them, my Armament Haki would've shattered their bodies outright.
This time, as they closed in from both sides, their black receivers shot toward Shigure's chest—aiming to disrupt his chakra flow.
Shigure's hands blurred.
He caught both rods between his palms and snapped them cleanly.
So they've realized taijutsu alone can't hurt me.
Shigure smiled faintly.
A massive shadow suddenly swallowed his figure.
Shigure glanced upward as a giant summoned bird dove from the sky—sent by the Animal Path.
He flickered backward, letting the enormous bird crash into the ice where he had been standing.
Almost immediately, a colossal rhinoceros summoned beast thundered forward, charging at him like a living avalanche.
The entire frozen crater shook.
Shigure stepped forward and threw a single punch.
BOOM—!
The impact blasted the charging beast backward.
Deva Path raised his hand.
Shinra Tensei.
Repulsive force exploded, slamming the rhinoceros back toward Shigure like a launched boulder.
Shigure's right arm darkened as black matter wrapped around his hand—
Nagato's eyes sharpened.
What is he doing…?
The black matter dissolved.
In Shigure's grip appeared a ninja sword.
Water surged around the blade.
Water Breathing — First Form: Water Surface Slash.
Swish!
A razor-thin water arc tore through the air, cleaving the rhinoceros cleanly in half.
Two clouds of white smoke rose where the beast had been.
Shigure lowered the sword—Zangetsu—a faint smile on his lips.
"My turn."
He raised the blade high.
An overwhelming surge of chakra erupted from it—a crimson pillar of energy blasting straight into the sky.
The Nine-Tails' chakra reacted instinctively, swirling around the blade.
Thunder cracked overhead.
A massive spiral vortex tore into the clouds as black lightning erupted wildly.
Konoha shinobi froze, stunned by the sight.
"Getsuga Tenshō!"
Shigure swung downward.
A crimson crescent wave ripped across the ice toward the Deva Path.
The Preta Path leapt ahead.
Its hands pressed forward.
Absorption Technique.
A curtain of white chakra expanded—pulling in Shigure's slash with tremendous suction.
But—
The next instant, a second beam of light split off, bypassing the Preta Path entirely, streaking straight toward the Deva Path.
A blur flashed across the battlefield.
Before anyone processed what had happened,
Shigure's face was already inches from the Deva Path's.
"It's impressive that you can wield the Rinnegan to this extent, Nagato…"
"But your strength is still far, far below mine."
Shinra Tensei!
The moment Shigure's blade was about to slice through the Deva Path's neck, a sudden blast of repulsive force erupted.
Shigure was blasted backward across the ice—so fast it bordered on instantaneous.
Shigure caught his balance as he landed in the distance.
At almost the same time, the crimson Getsuga Tenshō he had unleashed earlier was fully absorbed by the Preta Path.
Shigure's feet skidded to a stop—right beside the Preta Path.
He tilted his head toward it.
"How was the absorption?" he asked lightly. "Comfortable?"
Nagato's heart tightened.
Not good.
A heartbeat later—
Shing—!!
Shigure's blade pierced cleanly through the Preta Path's torso.
One strike.
One kill.
Black lightning crawled and crackled along the length of his sword.
Nagato stared in shock.
What kind of power produces that black lightning?
He had no answer—because he had never seen such a thing.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Asura Path and Human Path lunged again, attacking simultaneously.
But this time, Shigure didn't wait.
He spoke a single word.
"ROOM."
A sphere of energy expanded instantly from around him.
Nagato's Rinnegan trembled—he had no idea what this ninjutsu was.
Shigure vanished.
He reappeared behind the Asura Path.
His fist tore straight through the Asura Path's head, shattering its mechanical skull.
He grabbed the limp body, spun once, and hurled it into the Human Path with crushing force.
Before Nagato even processed the movement—
Shigure was already in front of the Human Path.
"What are you doing?" Shigure asked calmly.
"Are you holding back now?"
A clean arc of his blade—
Shing!
The Human Path's head dropped to the ice.
Another body fell.
Another Path erased.
Nagato felt cold sweat forming on his back.
What kind of technique was that movement?
He had never seen anything like it—not space-time ninjutsu, not shunshin, not teleportation.
It was as if Shigure had simply rewritten reality to place himself wherever he wanted.
On the Konoha side, ninja began shouting, unable to contain their shock.
"He's too strong!"
"Even Hokage-sama struggled against these people!"
"And this man eliminated three of them in moments!"
"At this pace, the fight will be over any minute!"
"That red attack earlier—if it hadn't been absorbed, it might've wiped out the whole battlefield!"
Their eyes were filled with awe.
In the shadows, Obito watched silently.
His single Sharingan widened behind the mask, fixed on Shigure standing upon the ice.
Tailed Beast chakra.
He could feel it—radiating from Shigure's body, surging violently, unmistakably.
Impossible…
How does he still have Tailed Beast chakra?
He had extracted every Tailed Beast fragment Shigure once possessed and distributed them among Kirigakure shinobi.
By all logic, Shigure should have none left.
So how…?
Did he secretly keep some for himself?
Or…