The Deva Path’s calm voice rang out once again.
BUZZ——!
Terrifying gravitational force erupted once more.
This time—
There was no black mud dragon protecting him.
Fugaku was yanked through the sky full of drifting foam like a kite with its string cut, hurtling directly toward Pain.
The distance closed instantly.
Five meters.
Three meters.
One meter.
And the very moment Fugaku was pulled within reach—
Pain moved.
His left hand shot forward like lightning.
With the terrifying precision granted by the Rinnegan, the black receiver stabbed straight toward Fugaku’s heart.
At the same time, his right hand moved even faster.
Not to strike—
But to deflect.
CLANG!
A crisp metallic collision echoed out.
The Blade of the Underworld Mire Swamp in Fugaku’s hand was skillfully knocked aside before it could threaten the Deva Path.
SCHLK!
The black rod pierced straight through Fugaku’s chest and erupted from his back in a spray of blood.
Clean.
Precise.
Efficient.
Time itself seemed to freeze.
Meanwhile—
Inside the Kamui dimension.
Obito Uchiha peered through the narrow spatial crack, barely able to make out the blurry battle outside.
“He landed it?”
One eyebrow rose beneath the orange mask.
Was the Rinnegan truly superior after all?
Had that troublesome Fugaku…
Actually died just like that?
Then Obito suddenly realized something.
An opportunity.
Space distorted.
His figure abruptly appeared before the observing Hidden Mist shinobi, landing not far from Mikoto, whose eyes were already red with panic.
“Ahem… well…”
He clenched his fist theatrically and coughed twice.
The Sharingan behind his mask gleamed mischievously as he stared at Mikoto.
“Lady Mikoto… I have some bad news for you.”
“Your husband probably only has a few seconds left to live…”
He deliberately paused, savoring her suddenly pale face and tightly clenched fists.
“No… actually…”
“Maybe your husband is already a corpse by now!
Hahahaha!”
Obito laughed exaggeratedly like a ridiculous clown.
Yet because of the overwhelming strength he had displayed earlier, none of the Hidden Mist shinobi dared move recklessly.
Everyone understood.
Without Fugaku restraining him—
They had absolutely no way of dealing with this monster.
Of course, Obito hadn’t appeared just to mock her.
His goal was simple.
Three words.
Mangekyō Sharingan.
His gaze locked firmly onto Mikoto’s eyes, which were fluctuating violently under extreme grief and fury.
The three tomoe were spinning wildly.
Exactly as he expected.
At the moment a Mangekyō awakened under overwhelming emotional shock—
That instant would become the perfect opportunity to seize it.
Compared to a true Mangekyō Sharingan, the ordinary Sharingan he had collected during the Uchiha massacre alongside Itachi were nothing but disposable tools.
Mikoto’s body trembled slightly.
The three tomoe in her eyes nearly blurred into one continuous circle.
“You’re lying!”
A furious yet composed voice suddenly interrupted.
It was Ao.
His forehead protector had already been lifted, revealing the pale Byakugan beneath.
That eye stared fixedly toward the distant battlefield while his voice shook with agitation.
“Fugaku-san isn’t dead!”
“The enemy… the enemy stopped moving!!”
Ao’s words crashed down like cold water.
The violent spinning in Mikoto’s eyes abruptly halted.
She immediately raised her head again and looked toward the battlefield, now becoming visible through the fading foam.
The bubbles were dispersing.
Bursting.
Falling.
And the scene atop the giant crab slowly emerged clearly before everyone.
Fugaku had indeed been pierced through the chest by the black rod.
Blood stained his clothing crimson.
To anyone watching—
He looked mortally wounded.
Meanwhile, Pain still maintained the stabbing posture.
His other hand remained raised, another black rod already formed and aimed directly at Fugaku’s skull.
But—
He had frozen.
No.
Not frozen.
Shaking.
Tiny tremors ran uncontrollably through the Deva Path’s body.
The raised arm hung motionless in midair as though bound by invisible chains, unable to complete the killing strike no matter how hard he tried.
What happened?
That question simultaneously appeared in the minds of everyone present.
Including Obito.
“Hahaha… uh…”
“I just remembered I’ve got something important to do…”
Obito’s tone instantly changed from arrogant mockery to awkward panic.
SWISH!
His body vanished faster than when he had arrived.
“…”
Inside the Kamui dimension once more—
“Black Zetsu!
What the hell happened?!”
Obito stared through the dimensional crack again.
“How would I know?!”
Black Zetsu sounded equally confused, with a trace of unease in his raspy voice.
“…Wait.”
“He didn’t lose, did he?”
Obito scratched his head nervously.
“Shut up, you damn jinx!”
Black Zetsu snapped unusually angrily.
Its yellow pupils flickered violently.
For a thousand years it had patiently planned and cultivated these Rinnegan—the key to reviving its mother.
If everything somehow collapsed here, under circumstances that had seemed completely under control—
Even Black Zetsu would probably want to bury itself underground for another millennium.
Meanwhile—
Atop the giant crab.
“Y-you… wha… did… you…”
The Deva Path’s voice emerged in broken fragments.
His speech lagged and distorted like a malfunctioning transmission signal.
Nagato’s shock far exceeded anyone else’s.
Through the black rod and the Rinnegan connection, what he sensed was utterly bizarre.
The man whose heart had just been pierced should have been dying instantly.
Instead—
An overwhelming life force erupted from Fugaku’s body like a miniature sun.
Hot.
Violent.
Unyielding.
That vitality was so absurdly powerful that even with his heart destroyed, Fugaku remained alive.
No—
Not merely alive.
The wound was healing.
The black rod inside his chest was being devoured at terrifying speed.
Even the shattered heart itself was regenerating impossibly fast.
But that wasn’t what truly horrified Nagato.
The real terror came from something else transmitted through the black rod.
Another force.
A force that was violently attempting to seize control of the Deva Path itself.
Through some incomprehensible ability—
Fugaku was reverse-invading the control link of the legitimate Rinnegan wielder.
How was that even possible?
Hearing Pain’s distorted question, the heavily wounded Fugaku slowly smiled.
He raised the Blade of the Underworld Mire Swamp and glanced at it briefly.
This—
This was the true core ability of the blade.
Devour everything.
Strip away properties.
In Fugaku’s understanding, “properties” were not physical matter.
They were abstract concepts.
Fragments of rules.
The fundamental imprint of an ability.
Stored within bloodlines, chakra, or special creations.
As for how it worked—
Even Fugaku himself didn’t fully understand.
Honestly, it was probably similar to some unnamed Senju lunatic’s ridiculous “clap your hands together and summon anything” privilege.
During the earlier close-quarters clash, Fugaku hadn’t absorbed all those black rods merely to neutralize them.
He had been studying them.
Analyzing their properties.
Of course, that didn’t mean he could create black rods from nothing.
The ability couldn’t materialize objects directly.
Having a 3D printer blueprint didn’t mean you could print with bare hands.
However—
Using his own unique chakra, Fugaku could imitate and reproduce those stolen “properties.”
If one insisted on using an analogy—
It was something like a virtual SIM card.
And now—
The simulated “black rod property” was flowing backward through the real rod piercing his body, violently contesting Nagato’s control over the Deva Path.
SCHLK!
SCHLK!
SCHLK!
SCHLK!
In that brief instant of struggle, Fugaku successfully seized partial control.
The Deva Path’s frozen arm suddenly twisted sideways.
Its palm aimed directly at the nearby Animal Path standing on the crab’s shell.
Several black spikes formed from chakra mimicking the black rod properties shot outward instantly.
The Animal Path did not move at all.
Because Pain’s divided attention during the control struggle prevented Nagato from operating the Animal Path simultaneously.
As a result—
The spikes pierced directly through its limbs and torso, pinning it firmly to the crab’s thick shell.
Fugaku’s priority was obvious.
Eliminate the Animal Path first.
Otherwise Nagato could rapidly summon the remaining Six Paths for reinforcement.
As for Nagato’s real body—
He naturally possessed all six powers himself.
But unless absolutely necessary, Nagato would never dare unleash them directly through his main body on a large scale.
The Demonic Statue’s drain…
The fragility of his true body…
Its hidden location…
Those were his greatest weaknesses.
Once his location became exposed through massive chakra fluctuations—
Defeat would only be a step away.
Of course, if cornered, Nagato would still use those powers.
But his real body was far away from this battlefield.
Even if he immediately summoned the other Paths—
It would still take time.
And what Fugaku needed—
Was precisely this short window.
Thus, under Nagato’s furious yet helpless gaze—
Fugaku slowly raised the Blade of the Underworld Mire Swamp…
And began driving it into the Deva Path’s body.
Countless streams of black sludge poured through the wound and invaded the corpse.
“GLOOP… GLOOP…”
As the sludge spread deeper inside, Nagato realized in horror—
Not only had he completely lost control over the Deva Path—
But the very concept of the “Deva” abilities themselves…
The abstract authority over attraction and repulsion…
Was being sealed away by the invading mire.
In other words…
In other words—
Fugaku was becoming the new “Deva Path.”
Or at the very least…
Part of it.
…
SCHLK!
Fugaku stood up smoothly and casually yanked the remaining half of the black receiver from his chest.
The moment the rod left his body, no additional blood burst out.
Instead—
The wound visibly writhed and healed before everyone’s eyes.
Fresh flesh rapidly intertwined and regenerated.
Within only two or three breaths, the skin beneath his torn clothing had already become flawless once more, as though the fatal impalement moments earlier had merely been an illusion.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Two muffled explosions echoed out.
The gigantic crab summon beneath them and the immobilized Animal Path pinned to its shell both transformed into huge clouds of white smoke before rapidly vanishing.
“Reverse summoning… quick reaction.”
Fugaku narrowed his eyes slightly and muttered under his breath.
Having lost their footing, both he and the temporarily hijacked Deva Path began falling from the air.
But the descent lasted less than half a second.
An invisible force field quietly spread outward from the Deva Path.
The fall stopped instantly.
The two hovered steadily about ten meters above the ground, as though supported by an unseen platform.
Fugaku stood calmly beside the Deva Path, one hand resting casually on its shoulder like he was leaning against an obedient puppet.
He tilted his head slightly and looked deep into the distant forest, seemingly sensing something.
A moment later—
A cold smile curled at his lips.
“Move.”
BOOOOOOM——!!!
Terrifying repulsive force erupted beneath the Deva Path.
The two figures instantly transformed into blurred shadows and shot toward the distant forest at incredible speed.
He had to move fast.
That earlier stunt—
The “reverse corruption” and seizure of the Deva Path’s authority—
Had appeared overwhelmingly brilliant.
It completely outplayed Nagato and instantly reversed the battle.
But only Fugaku himself understood the truth.
He had just used his greatest trump card—
The core storage ability of his left Mangekyō Sharingan.
Its function resembled the Yin Seal somewhat…
But the principles were entirely different.
The Yin Seal could be opened and closed freely, but its storage limit was relatively small.
Fugaku’s eye, however, could store chakra far beyond the limits of his physical body by sealing it inside the Sharingan itself.
The problem was—
Once released, it behaved like a burst dam.
The chakra would flood endlessly toward his right eye and could no longer be sealed again.
And after the right eye converted that chakra into life-force chakra—
The process became even more uncontrollable.
It resembled a blazing inferno.
A roaring flame that continued burning until his body reached its absolute maximum capacity.
Of course, over time, the “capacity” of his body would continue increasing.
But for the foreseeable future—
He still couldn’t fully withstand it.
…
“W-What exactly just happened?”
At the edge of the battlefield, Mikoto stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
“Why does it feel like… that guy suddenly became one of ours?”
Beside her, Mei looked equally stunned.
“Could Fugaku have controlled him with genjutsu?”
…
“Controlled your mother, my ass!”
Inside the Kamui dimension, Obito Uchiha finally exploded into profanity after seeing the scene through the spatial crack.
Even beneath the mask, his face had twisted horribly.
“That’s the damn Rinnegan!
How could it possibly be controlled by ocular genjutsu?!”
Yet despite his yelling, the shock in his heart was no less than the two women outside.
What exactly had Fugaku done?!
Obito understood the Six Paths of Pain extremely well through Black Zetsu and the information left behind by Madara.
Those bodies only existed because Nagato’s crippled form forced him to divide the Six Paths powers among six corpses.
The true source of control and power had always remained with Nagato himself.
The corpses were merely terminals carrying that power.
Nothing more.
But now—
Fugaku had not only made the Deva Path “betray” Nagato—
He could even use its repulsive-force flight ability.
This completely surpassed Obito’s understanding of ninjutsu, bloodline abilities, and even the Rinnegan itself.
This wasn’t ninja-like at all!
“Let’s go after him!”
Beside him, Black Zetsu spoke in a raspy voice carrying unusually obvious anger… and a faint trace of fear.
“…Yeah.”
This time Obito didn’t argue.
His expression turned grave as he nodded silently.
Fugaku’s bizarre powers had already begun threatening his plans—
Perhaps even his own safety.
…
Deep within the forest.
Inside the massive tree disguised by Konan’s paper techniques—
POOF!
The Animal Path was reverse-summoned back.
Konan froze momentarily.
“Nagato… what is this…?”
She had rarely seen Nagato lose composure like this.
Even on the day Hanzo betrayed them and Yahiko died, Nagato’s eyes had only transformed from grief into complete cold determination.
Not this mixture of shock, fury, and utter disbelief.
Nagato did not answer immediately.
Instead, he controlled the returned Animal Path and rapidly formed hand seals.
“Summoning Jutsu!”
POOF!
POOF!
POOF!
POOF!
Four more clouds of smoke exploded outward.
Naraka Path.
Human Path.
Preta Path.
Asura Path.
The remaining four Paths of Pain were instantly summoned to his side.
Yet Nagato’s face showed no sense of security whatsoever.
Instead—
It became even darker.
Through the unique connection of the Rinnegan, he could clearly sense it.
His authority over the “Deva Path” had been forcibly torn apart.
Nearly half of it had been stolen.
The sensation resembled an arm suddenly refusing to obey him—
Or worse—
Trying to strangle him instead.
And even more terrifying—
The enemy was carrying that stolen half of the “Deva Path authority” and charging directly toward Nagato’s real body at astonishing speed.
“Konan.”
Nagato slowly inhaled deeply.
His shriveled chest rose and fell with difficulty, but his voice remained unnaturally calm.
“You should leave first.”
“The battle that comes next…”
“…isn’t something you can survive.”