Chapter 228 - 226: Naruko vs. Pain

Chapter 228: Chapter 226: Naruko vs. Pain

The original location of the shrine in the Land of Swamps.

Now, it had turned into a massive crater. In the distance, Neji, who hadn’t arrived yet, caught Rock Lee, who had been caught in the edge of the Shinra Tensei.

"Lee, are you okay?"

Neji carried the unconscious Shrine Maiden Shion with one arm while supporting Rock Lee with the other.

"I’m fine, but Kano-chan and Naruko are up ahead!"

Rock Lee stood up again, wanting to go rescue them, but was stopped by Neji.

"Given an attack like that, I’m afraid their chances are slim. I don’t know what kind of entity could cause such severe destruction. Let’s not act rashly. You take care of the Shrine Maiden, and I’ll go scout. Byakugan!"

Neji activated his Byakugan and saw six figures wearing red-cloud black robes. They were fighting some pitch-black tentacles. Among them, he recognized one as Kano’s Shadow Deer Tube.

"Akatsuki Organization?"

Neji muttered to himself, while sharing the intel he saw with Rock Lee.

"The others are still alive, but they’re heavily injured. I’m going to provide rescue... Naruko, the Nine-Tailed inside Naruko has gone berserk!"

...

Naruko, who hadn’t been seriously injured, woke up from her coma, her mind still a bit foggy. Recalling what happened before she passed out, she crawled out from the Hunting Horn.

"Just now, Kano-chan... Kano-chan!"

What met her eyes was a scene of despair.

Her jacket, which she had draped over Kano, was now tattered, and what remained was soaked in blood. Beside it lay Kano’s broken ninja tool pouch.

At that moment, her mind went blank, and negative emotions—sadness, anger, hatred—surged into her heart.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!"

In an instant, she achieved a 6-tailed transformation. The black-red Chakra cloak surged like a raging fire. With every step, Naruko’s six tails lashed out wildly, causing the earth to crack with every landing. Amidst the smoke and dust, her scarlet slit pupils locked onto the Six Paths of Pain.

"Oh? The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is here too. Then it’s perfect timing to retrieve the Nine-Tails as well."

Pain stood motionless, waiting quietly for the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to charge. The repulsive force of Shinra Tensei erupted suddenly, and an invisible shockwave swept over like a tsunami. Naruko, who had charged forward fueled by anger, was instantly sent flying as if she had slammed into a wall.

Naruko crawled out of the crater, her six tails converging, and she looked up as dark red Chakra condensed. Since close-quarters combat wasn’t working, she decided to try a long-range attack.

A high-concentration dark purple Chakra sphere formed, and Naruko swallowed it in one gulp. Then, she aimed at Pain.

Void Dog Cannon! (Crossed out)

Tailed Beast Ball!

The scorching beam of light plowed a deep trench into the ground. It was hard to imagine what kind of entity could block an attack like that.

The Six Paths of Pain remained unresponsive, as if they didn’t consider the Nine-Tails a threat. Only the Preta Path stepped forward and spread its arms. No matter how powerful the force, as long as it was Chakra, it would absorb it for you to see.

However, Naruko thrust her hands into the ground. A rumble followed, and dark red hands emerged from under the Preta Path’s feet, grabbing its body and dragging it underground.

The remaining light beam collided with the Deva Path’s Shinra Tensei—amidst the roar of clashing Chakra, Naruko had transformed into an afterimage and pounced to close range, her sharp claws tearing through the air, aiming straight for the Deva Path’s face.

Forced to dodge, the Deva Path was blocked by the Asura Path, which instantly intercepted. Its six mechanical arms fired missiles simultaneously, but they were easily swallowed by Naruko’s small Tailed Beast Ball. After the searing light faded, the Asura Path’s body had been blasted to pieces.

"Bansho Ten’in."

The Deva Path commanded coldly. An invisible gravitational force pulled suddenly, and the turbulent Chakra around Naruko instantly stagnated as she was dragged toward the Deva Path. The Deva Path held a black rod, ready to pin her down at any moment. But she exerted force mid-air, slamming all six tails against the ground simultaneously. Chakra erupted like a volcano, and she used raw strength to break free from the gravitational pull.

The Human Path stepped forward aggressively, raising its hand to grab Naruko, but Naruko shoved a mass of ordinary Chakra into its mouth and detonated it—amidst the massive explosion, both the Human Path and Naruko were sent flying.

In a short time, three of the Pains had been rendered combat-incapable, but this wasn’t a major problem, as the Naraka Path was fine, and the other damaged Pains could be repaired quickly.

"It seems I underestimated you. However, my Pain is greater than yours!"

Naruko didn’t back down either. Another tail appeared behind her, and an exoskeleton emerged segment by segment, covering her petite body, making her look much larger.

She then charged at Pain again. Her attacks became increasingly manic, devoid of any technique or strategy, relying entirely on raw power.

Pain was getting irritated now. He had come to save the world today, but this Nine-Tails Jinchuriki insisted on picking a fight with him. Even though all matters related to Jinchuriki were supposed to be handled by Kashi, he had to deal with this Nine-Tails Jinchuriki himself today.

Just as he was thinking this, someone contacted him from Nagato’s side. Konan rushed into Nagato’s room, anxiously conveying the news she had just received.

"Kashi contacted me just now, saying you blasted her with Shinra Tensei. Didn’t you check if there was anyone around before you used your ultimate move?"

Nagato also felt a sense of foreboding.

"And she told me that she managed to escape using Space-Time Ninjutsu. Everyone inside were her friends. If your ultimate move hurts them, Kashi is going to be angry."

Viewing the scene through Pain’s perspective, there were indeed two heavily injured, one lightly injured, another being beaten up by him, and one left with only a piece of clothing...

"And you killed her summon, so she can’t use Space-Time Ninjutsu to go back now."

Nagato broke into a cold sweat again. Were the three monsters he killed earlier not Moryo?

"Kashi said she’s trying to find a way to get back quickly, so don’t fight her friends. You aren’t fighting her friends, are you?"

"Ah, haha, how could that be? I’m a peace-loving person. I’ve already gotten familiar with her friends; we’ve hit it off."

"That’s for the best. Otherwise, you’ll be the one to coax Kashi when she gets angry."

Kano was considered a pet of the Akatsuki Organization; not only was she beautiful and sweet-voiced, but she would also bring good things to them. From time to time, she would even sing for everyone in the group chat. Though they couldn’t help but fall asleep after listening to the songs, the dreams they had were quite pleasant. So everyone pampered her and didn’t assign her any troublesome work.

At this moment, Sasuke also woke up, and he reacted quickly. In his memory, it was Kano who had used the Shadow Ninja to protect him and Sakura. Even so, he and Sakura had still been sent flying by the powerful repulsive force. At the critical moment, it was Sakura who had taken most of the damage for him, which was why he hadn’t been seriously injured.

"You guy."

He stood up, wanting to find the others, only to see the berserk Naruko chasing Pain around, and Pain wasn’t even fighting back.

"Stop, we aren’t enemies! I’m here to eliminate Moryo too! I’m your friend’s superior! My teacher, Jiraiya, is also from Konoha!"

Pain tried to make the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki calm down. These people were Kashi’s friends, and he had promised Kashi not to hurt her friends and family.

However, Naruko had already lost her reason, or rather, she didn’t want to regain it.

"Hey, kid! Calm down!" Kurama reminded Naruko, "You can’t keep absorbing my Chakra; you can’t control it. The other party doesn’t seem to be an enemy; you don’t need to fight anymore! Stop! If you keep going like this, your body won’t be able to take it!"

The Nine-Tailed controlled the Chakra within her, not letting Naruko take it all at once. Instead, it desperately tried to maintain her sanity, preventing her from losing complete control.

Yet Naruko cried with tears, roaring in sadness and anger.

"Kano is dead; I have no heart left to distinguish right from wrong! Kurama, lend me your power to kill him and avenge Kano. After that, this body is yours!"

Kurama sighed as well. It had previously wanted to break the seal in such a way. Ever since listening to that little girl’s words, it had actually been looking forward to a life of peaceful coexistence. However, humans were so fragile, even a powerhouse like the Hokage could be killed by a single swipe of its claw.

Not to mention that under such power, the little girl hadn’t even been able to leave a corpse. Since she was already dead, it would just let go of that unrealized delusion and go back to its old line of work.

...

At this moment in Konoha Village, Kano had already informed Tsunade of the emergency. Although Tsunade had a headache regarding Kano’s behavior of causing big trouble as soon as she left Konoha, she still summoned three people within a few minutes.

Raido Namiashi, Iwashi Tatami, and Shiranui Genma.

"You are responsible for using the Flying Thunder God Formation to send Kano to the Land of Swamps!"

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