Chapter 61 — "Nagato, You're No God… I Am."
As Yujiro had said before—
smashing the Six Paths of Pain didn't count as victory.
Only when Nagato fell would the battle truly be won.
And Nagato, in truth?
He wasn't some divine being.
He was a crippled skeleton of a man—thin as a stick, frail as paper.
If anyone could just get close to him,
they could probably knock him out with a single punch.
The problem was—
getting close.
---
The moment Yujiro pointed at his hidden position,
Nagato's pupils shrank to needle points.
His breath hitched.
And before Yujiro could even open his mouth again—
"Chibaku Tensei!!!"
It wasn't the Deva Path that cast it this time.
Nagato himself unleashed the jutsu.
A black sphere shot into the storm-darkened sky,
radiating a crushing gravitational pull.
The very earth began to scream.
Trees, boulders, shards of metal, and rivers of rain were ripped upward—
and so were the people.
The Chibaku Tensei, an S-rank sealing technique powerful enough to trap even a tailed beast.
A technique worthy of gods.
And it was descending upon them now like divine judgment.
---
"Shit—talk about overkill!"
Yujiro dug his heels into the mud, lightning crackling across his armor as the pull intensified.
He could feel the pressure crushing his ribs, pulling every nerve in his body toward that dark, swirling core above.
That tiny black sphere—
that was the key.
The weak point.
He remembered it clearly.
Even the "invincible" Rinnegan technique had a flaw—
the black gravitational core itself.
Destroy it before the floating sphere finishes forming, and the Chibaku Tensei collapses.
Easy to say.
Hard as hell to do.
The question was—
did they have the firepower for it?
---
Yujiro turned to the white-haired Sannin beside him, his grin wild.
"Hey, sensei—
remember that little trick you and Minato worked on together?"
Jiraiya's eyes widened—then he laughed, the kind of laugh that shook the storm itself.
"OHHHHH!!!
You mean that one?!"
"Yeah, that one! Let's blow the damn sky apart!"
---
Lightning surged around Yujiro's body, fusing with the crimson glow of his Fire Release chakra.
He poured every last drop of energy into his blades—
one sparking like thunder, the other burning like the sun.
Beside him, Jiraiya's hands spun in a furious blur,
a massive orb of chakra forming between his palms, growing—
bigger,
denser,
roaring with nature energy until it eclipsed him in blue light.
"Sage Art—Super Giant Rasengan!!!"
---
The black sphere above them pulsed,
its gravitational field warping the air into rippling waves.
Even the rain was being pulled upward in thin, glittering streams.
But Yujiro and Jiraiya didn't back down.
"On three!"
"Three?!"
"Yeah! One, two—GO!!!"
---
The two launched their attacks simultaneously—
Yujiro leaping into the air, twin blades spiraling with lightning and flame,
Jiraiya driving his titanic Rasengan upward with a feral roar.
The black core screamed as it absorbed fragments of stone and lightning—
until it met force equal to its hunger.
The moment their strikes connected,
the heavens exploded.
---
A blinding flash split the world in two.
Lightning and flame roared across the sky as the gravitational core shattered—
a deafening shockwave ripping through the clouds and tearing the rain apart.
Chunks of the half-formed Chibaku Tensei plummeted like meteorites,
crashing into the flooded earth below with the fury of collapsing gods.
The storm turned red with fire and fury.
---
Yujiro landed hard, kneeling as the pressure finally broke.
His armor cracked with lightning, steam rising from his skin—
but he was laughing.
"Nagato, you idiot…"
"You're not a god."
He rose slowly, his eyes glowing scarlet through the haze.
"I am."
The blue sphere of chakra collided head-on with the black gravitational core—
and although they were both "orbs of light," today, light would not help light.
If there were an MVP for this fight,
Jiraiya would easily take second place,
right after Uchiha Yujiro himself.
---
At the same time, Tsunade and Orochimaru made their move.
Two high-level, A-rank offensive jutsu tore through the storm,
hurtling toward the black sphere like twin comets.
They weren't known for long-range techniques,
but the destructive force of their attacks rivaled even Yujiro's Chidori Sharp Spear.
All their strikes—fire, lightning, raw chakra—
hit the swirling black core simultaneously,
disrupting it just before the technique could fully stabilize.
A shudder rippled through the sky.
The black hole's gravity snapped—
and the suspended rain, rocks, and trees
came crashing down all at once in a chaotic deluge,
turning the battlefield into a storm of mud and broken stone.
---
"Nani?!"
Nagato's eyes went wide.
It was his umpteenth moment of shock that day.
He had already realized his intel had been leaked—
but this much? This precisely?
Even Chibaku Tensei couldn't save him?
Then what—Super Shinra Tensei next?
The truth was, Nagato was not yet the cold, untouchable god he would become a decade later.
His technique was perfect, but his battlefield composure wasn't.
When things went sideways—he hesitated.
And while he hesitated—Yujiro's squad didn't.
---
"Hold the line!"
At Yujiro's command, the Three Legendary Sannin and their summons moved in perfect unison,
blocking the advance of the remaining Paths of Pain and the wave of monstrous beasts summoned by the Animal Path.
A colossal crab, a two-headed dog, a chameleon the size of a fortress—
they all lunged forward, only to meet Manda, Katsuyu, and Gamabunta head-on.
The entire battlefield became chaos incarnate.
Rockets and lasers fired by the Asura Path cut through the rain like meteors,
colliding with fireballs, acid, and summon beasts in an apocalyptic ballet of chakra and destruction.
For a moment, it felt like the world had lost all sense of time and place—
as if this wasn't the shinobi era, but some futuristic war zone.
---
Meanwhile, Orochimaru, who had spent most of the fight "scratching scales" (barely contributing),
finally began to show why he was a legend.
His body was like a nightmare that refused to die—
a perfect tank and controller in one.
Substitution Jutsu: Great Serpent Flow!
Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!
Soft Physique Modification!
You could blow him up, smash him, slice him apart—
and he'd just grow it all back, hissing.
If things got too dangerous, he'd just summon a giant snake to take the hit,
or pull out his Triple Rashomon Gates to tank a barrage.
Even if he got two arms and three legs blown off—
he'd regrow them before you blinked.
And if he couldn't?
Well, Tsunade had him covered.
One flick of her hand, one Katsuyu clone thrown his way,
and he'd be patched up in seconds.
All the effort Pain's side spent tearing him apart went straight to waste—
you could almost hear the collective "damn it" from Nagato's corner.
And Tsunade herself? Protected to perfection.
She didn't need to worry about being targeted—
Jiraiya's Sage Arts and Yujiro's lightning armor kept every enemy far away.
One Goemon, one Super Giant Rasengan,
and even gods had to take cover.
---
This—this was the legendary Team Konoha Sannin.
Orochimaru tanked.
Jiraiya attacked.
Tsunade healed.
Together, their synergy exploded into a force far greater than any of them alone.
Even with one Path of Pain down and five remaining,
they were still being pushed back—
because Uchiha Yujiro had already broken through,
standing face-to-face with Nagato himself.
---
Nagato's eyes flickered with both awe and fear.
He had prepared for this possibility—
but now that it was real,
he felt the unease creep up his spine.
Still, he consoled himself:
"I have these eyes.
I am destined to win."
---
Yujiro, meanwhile, had already sized him up.
The frail, red-haired boy in the wheelchair—
this was Uzumaki Nagato, the so-called "God of Pain."
Unlike the future husk of a man he'd one day become—skin clinging to bone—
this version of Nagato still looked almost human.
Thin, pale, yes—but not yet death's shadow.
Though what really caught Yujiro's attention…
were the black chakra rods embedded through his back.
They pulsed faintly with each breath,
draining him, feeding the power of the Six Paths,
siphoning away his life bit by bit.
Yujiro frowned.
"Those rods aren't just conduits," he thought.
"They're eating him alive."
With that fragile, wasting body,
living past forty would be a miracle.
And from the look of him—
well, the guy wasn't exactly destined to… continue the Uzumaki bloodline.
"Poor bastard," Yujiro thought pityingly.
"He's going to die a virgin."
That look—
that look of condescending pity—
stabbed straight into Nagato's chest like a kunai.
For a second, his killing intent flared.
He nearly used Universal Pull to drag Yujiro in and skewer him right there.
But before he could—
---
Yujiro spoke.
"So, Nagato… have you thought of an answer yet?"
The question made him hesitate.
Yujiro's tone was calm, confident, unshaken—
the exact same tone he'd used earlier, before all the chaos began.
"The question I asked you before," Yujiro continued.
"Do you have your answer?"
Of course, Nagato didn't.
How could he?
And before he could respond—
Yujiro smiled.
"Then surrender," he said lightly.
"Because I already have mine."
He stepped closer, lightning sparking at his feet.
"I know how to bring true satisfaction to the people.
How to make barren lands thrive.
How to keep peace—without fear, without power, without gods."
"Even after my death, the shinobi world will remain at peace."
His voice rose, echoing through the storm.
"So, if you truly want to change the world—
if you want to build the era of peace that Yahiko dreamed of—
then kneel."
Yujiro's crimson eyes burned with divine arrogance.
"You're not a god, Nagato."
He raised his blade—
lightning crackling like thunder through the rain.
"I am."
---