At the moment more than a dozen lightning spears shot toward them, what could the Six Paths of Pain do?
The Deva Path's Shinra Tensei was still on cooldown.
The Preta Path, using the Two-Tails Jinchūriki's body, was occupied absorbing Dust Release.
The Asura Path, inhabiting Roshi's body and specialized for heavy combat, had just unleashed a barrage of missiles and had no time to react.
The remaining Paths had been separated from the Deva Path by Earth Release: Earth Core, leaving them unable to provide immediate support.
At the critical moment, the Animal Path acted.
"Summoning Technique!"
Hanzō slammed both hands onto the ground. A massive panda-like summoned beast appeared directly in front of the Deva Path, blocking the incoming lightning spears.
Poof!
More summoned creatures appeared one after another, throwing themselves in front of the Deva Path as living shields and surrounding him with layers of protection.
Since the attacks from Ōnoki and the Fourth Raikage had failed to break through, the remaining Paths quickly regrouped around the Deva Path.
The Asura Path's body transformed once more. Armor plates shifted apart, mechanical components unfolded, and rows of artillery barrels extended from both shoulders.
Mechanical Armor.
Super-Powered Rocket.
Asura Attack.
Laser Cannon.
Super-Powered Fire Arrow.
A storm of missiles roared into the sky, sweeping toward the Fourth Raikage like modern artillery.
At that moment, the Deva Path's cooldown ended.
He slowly raised one hand.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Nagato used Shinra Tensei purely as battlefield control while the Asura Path's missile barrage served as the killing blow.
More than a hundred missiles blanketed the battlefield.
The Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode had already dimmed considerably after blocking the earlier volley of lightning spears. If this barrage landed directly, even if he survived, he would lose nearly all combat capability.
The overwhelming repulsive force from Shinra Tensei shoved him directly into the missile barrage.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
A brilliant white beam swept across the sky behind the Fourth Raikage.
Every missile caught within its path disappeared without a trace.
Floating high above, Ōnoki prepared to fire again.
Before he could, a sharp hawk's cry echoed overhead.
A gigantic summoned bird dived from the clouds, its razor-sharp talons flashing with deadly intent.
Ōnoki instantly dropped several meters, narrowly avoiding the claws before floating upward again.
"Earth Release: Earth Fist Technique!"
His stone-covered fist slammed heavily into the creature's back.
Meanwhile, the Animal Path drew a massive sickle, clearly intending to keep the Tsuchikage occupied and prevent him from interfering further.
With Ōnoki tied down, the Naraka Path, using the Fourth Mizukage Yagura's body, stepped forward from beside the Deva Path.
"Water Release: Water Mirror Technique!"
A mirror of water appeared before him.
Moments later, a towering figure stepped out.
It was a perfect water clone of the Fourth Raikage.
This was the first time Nagato had begun using the original ninjutsu possessed by the bodies of the Six Paths.
By the age of ten, Nagato had already mastered all seven chakra nature transformations. His skill with the five basic elemental releases rivaled even the Third Hokage.
He had rarely bothered using them because, in his eyes, ordinary ninjutsu simply could not compare to the power of the Rinnegan.
To Nagato, elemental techniques were little more than entertainment.
When it came time to kill, the Rinnegan was always his weapon of choice.
But the battle had reached a point where three Paths alone were not enough to defeat the Fourth Raikage.
It was time to commit a fourth.
The Water Mirror clone naturally could not rival the real Raikage, but it was more than enough to disrupt his movements.
The Asura Path seized the opening.
Another barrage of missiles covered both the clone and the real Raikage.
Locked in combat with his own duplicate, A had nowhere to evade.
After avoiding one strike from the clone, he smashed aside most of the incoming missiles with brute force, but more than a dozen still exploded against his body.
His already damaged Lightning Release Chakra Mode finally collapsed completely.
The Deva Path stretched out his hand toward the Raikage, who was roughly twenty meters away.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
A tremendous attractive force pulled A toward him.
Although he appeared nearly exhausted, the instant his body closed the distance, an overwhelming surge of Lightning Release erupted from every part of him.
"Lightning Release: Liger Bomb!"
But A was fighting five opponents at once.
The Asura Path, using Roshi's body, intercepted him from the side as torrents of lava erupted from his body.
Lightning Release clashed against Lava Release.
Without the slightest hesitation, A drove his right hand straight into Roshi's neck.
Crack!
The neck snapped instantly.
Roshi's head separated cleanly from his body.
Or rather, it was a literal machine-body separation.
An explosion erupted several meters away.
The violent blast hurled both halves of the Asura Path into nearby stone pillars while molten lava splashed across the battlefield.
The Raikage did not escape unharmed.
The remaining traces of his Lightning Release Chakra Mode shattered under the intense heat, and his right arm was burned black by the lava.
Ignoring the unbearable pain, A attempted to reactivate his chakra armor.
A black receiver suddenly flew in from behind like a spear and pierced straight through his right shoulder.
The moment it entered his body, his chakra flow became sluggish.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Another overwhelming wave of repulsive force blasted him high into the air before slamming him violently back into the ground.
Bones cracked.
His internal organs shifted violently.
His body immediately lost the strength to resist.
The Preta Path, using Yagura's body, placed both hands on A's back.
In an instant, nearly half of the Raikage's chakra was absorbed.
The Human Path, using the Third Mizukage's body, grabbed A by the collar and lifted him into the air.
He reached out, preparing to extract the Fourth Raikage's soul and uncover Killer Bee's location.
"So... the Fourth Raikage is really going to die?"
Nawaki watched the scene unfold with a complicated expression.
Although it sounded like a question, anyone could see the answer.
A was already on the verge of death.
Nawaki sighed.
He had never imagined that the boy he had once encountered by chance inside that cave would one day possess such terrifying power.
As expected of the Rinnegan.
With strength like this, as long as Nagato avoided reckless mistakes, he already stood above the level of the Five Kage.
The Fourth Raikage's defeat was anything but undeserved.
As long as the Deva Path and the Naraka Path remained intact, the Six Paths of Pain could continue operating as a complete system.
The Raikage's speed was extraordinary, but the Six Paths shared vision.
His movements were simply not fast enough to exceed Nagato's reaction speed.
Had A truly reached the level of Eight Gates Guy, five seconds would have been more than enough to strike the Deva Path countless times.
But in reality, even at his peak, the Fourth Raikage was still somewhat slower than Naruto in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
Even Naruto in that state had once been subdued by Edo Tensei Nagato.
Combined with A's unfamiliarity with the Six Paths' abilities, any openings that appeared were impossible for him to exploit.
In the end, he simply fell short.
"Should we save him?" Minato asked.
Hayashi nodded.
The Fourth Raikage still needed to survive.
Whether he lived or died would not greatly affect the overall situation, but if he were killed at the Five Kage Summit, there was no guarantee that the already weakened Kumogakure would continue participating in the coming war.
If he survived, however, he would undoubtedly become the person who hated the Akatsuki the most.
The alliance of the Five Great Nations, which had previously failed to unite, would naturally move forward.
After all, anyone publicly beaten into such a miserable state would seek revenge.
Without making a single visible hand seal, Hayashi activated his technique.
The earth beneath the Six Paths instantly softened into a massive swamp.
The ground itself seemed to come alive.
The Human Path and the Fourth Raikage were swallowed directly into the earth.
"Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation. Yellow Springs Swamp!"
The remaining four Paths were visibly startled by the sudden appearance of the technique and immediately retreated.
Just then, a pitcher plant-like figure emerged from the ground.
White Zetsu spoke excitedly.
"Deva Path, I've found the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, Killer Bee. He's on his way here!"
The moment those words left White Zetsu's mouth, silence fell over the entire summit.