Chapter 503: Why Is Everyone Looking at Me?

Chapter 503: Chapter 503: Why Is Everyone Looking at Me?

Seeing the Third Hokage and Third Tsuchikage appear one after another, Kagami, Shisui, and Itachi all let out long sighs of relief.

After seeing the miserable states of the Fourth Kazekage, Fourth Raikage, and Fourth Mizukage earlier, Kagami had thought that the Third Hokage and Third Tsuchikage had also fallen victim to Nagato.

Now, however, it seemed that wasn’t the case.

In truth, the Third Hokage hadn’t participated in the earlier battle here at all.

When the Deva Path unleashed its large-scale Shinra Tensei upon the village, the Third Hokage, who had been inside the Hokage Building at the time, was the first to notice that something was wrong. He immediately pushed himself to the limit and cast several defensive Earth Style techniques, ensuring that the underground shelters managed to withstand the Deva Path’s massive Shinra Tensei!

However, the Third Hokage himself, who had borne the brunt of the attack, hadn’t fared nearly as well.

Taking that Shinra Tensei head-on, he and the entire Hokage Building were violently blown away and buried beneath layer upon layer of rubble.

It wasn’t until all the fighting within the village had ended that Jiraiya and Tsunade finally managed to dig him out of the ruins.

After learning from the Intelligence Division that the four Kage had already left the village to eliminate the leader of the Akatsuki, the Third Hokage ignored his injuries. After receiving only some basic treatment, he immediately led Jiraiya and Tsunade here.

As far as the Third Hokage was concerned, the destruction of the village was already an accomplished fact. No one could change what had happened.

But if they could eliminate the Akatsuki—the organization threatening the peace of the entire shinobi world—once and for all, then such losses could barely be considered acceptable.

However, the moment they arrived at the cliff, the sight before them left the Third Hokage and the other Konoha shinobi utterly stunned.

They saw elites from the Five Great Shinobi Villages sprawled all across the ground.

They saw the Fourth Mizukage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki having their Tailed Beast chakra absorbed by the bizarre giant.

They saw the Fourth Raikage and Fourth Kazekage lying in pools of blood, their lives hanging in the balance.

And they saw the leader of the Akatsuki standing there silently, seemingly completely unharmed.

At that moment, everyone understood.

This decapitation operation targeting the leader of the Akatsuki had failed.

And it had failed completely and utterly!

As for the Third Tsuchikage, Terumi Mei, Chiyo, and the others who arrived afterward, they had managed to escape because the highly experienced Onoki had immediately realized at the beginning of the battle that their side was simply no match for the Akatsuki leader. Using Dust Release to cover their retreat, he had barely managed to help a small group of elite shinobi from the Five Great Shinobi Villages escape the battlefield.

If they hadn’t seen the Kamigami intervene, followed by the Third Hokage arriving with Konoha’s shinobi, they might not even have dared to risk returning to the battlefield.

In the air.

The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, was deeply conflicted.

After witnessing the Akatsuki leader’s strength firsthand, he knew that if he joined the battle again, there was a very real possibility that he would die here.

For Iwagakure, which currently had no suitable successor to take his place, that would undoubtedly be a devastating blow.

But if they failed to seize this opportunity—now that the Kamigami had intervened—to defeat the Akatsuki, he felt that they might never have another chance to defeat them in the future.

Staring at the pair of Rinnegan in Nagato’s eyes, seemingly filled with an almost magical power, Onoki thought to himself, "So these are the Rinnegan that separate gods from mortals? Who could possibly defeat someone possessing those eyes?"

At that thought, Onoki shifted his gaze toward Kagami.

This was his first time seeing the renowned leader of the Kamigami, whose name had already shaken the shinobi world.

Though he was reluctant to admit it, Onoki understood perfectly well that the main force in this battle was no longer the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

It was the Kamigami.

And the Third Tsuchikage was obviously not the only one looking at Kagami.

In fact, at this moment, even those on the Akatsuki’s side were watching him.

Almost every gaze on the cliff had unconsciously converged upon Kagami.

Because no one could guess what this mysterious leader of the Kamigami would do next.

"Hey, hey, hey! Why the hell are all of you looking at me?!"

Noticing everyone’s gazes locked onto him, Kagami complained inwardly, utterly speechless.

On the surface, as the leader of the Kamigami, he appeared perfectly calm and composed, radiating an indescribable pressure that weighed upon everyone present.

But deep down...

he was nervous as hell.

The situation before him was actually quite clear.

Without even needing to exchange blows, Kagami could tell that the reborn Nagato now far surpassed him in terms of ocular power!

Moreover, Kagami had sealed a portion of his own Tenseigan ocular power into Rei’s left eye using the Transcription Seal. As a result, he was nowhere near his peak condition right now.

Once they actually started fighting, there was a very real chance that his true condition would be exposed. Not only would he fail to kill Nagato, but even the last bit of deterrence he still held over Nagato would vanish completely.

Frankly, if the Gedo Statue weren’t currently extracting the Tailed Beasts from Yagura and Killer B, Kagami wouldn’t have wanted to stay here for even another second.

The Akatsuki had already captured Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, which was essentially the same as obtaining the Two-Tails.

If they were allowed to obtain the Three-Tails and Eight-Tails as well—the strongest among the Jinchuriki—then the other, weaker Jinchuriki would stand even less of a chance against the Akatsuki.

So, even if it was purely for his own sake, Kagami couldn’t simply stand by and allow Nagato to extract the Tailed Beasts from Yagura and Killer B.

Kagami knew that if this standoff continued, sooner or later Nagato and Obito would see through his bluff.

Thus, he could only bite the bullet and take a step forward. In a casual tone, he said, "Looks like I shouldn’t have spared you last time."

Nagato replied coldly, "I’m different from before!"

"Is that so...?" After a brief pause, Kagami deliberately put on a disdainful air. "And what difference does that make?"

Nagato’s gaze turned icy. "You can try me!"

Listening to the exchange between the leader of Kamigami and the leader of the Akatsuki, the shinobi of the Five Great Shinobi Villages secretly breathed sighs of relief.

From the tone of their conversation alone, it was obvious that the Akatsuki leader was the one in the weaker position.

Of course, that also meant that Kamigami was even more terrifying.

But at the very least, Kamigami had yet to commit the same kind of utterly deranged acts as the Akatsuki!

At that moment, Kagami’s expression stiffened slightly.

What he’d said just now...

was actually meant to probe Nagato’s current condition.

Kagami had assumed that even if Nagato hadn’t been injured in the previous battle, he should have consumed a considerable amount of chakra.

But judging from Nagato’s eager posture, it seemed that he still had plenty of strength left for another fight.

And Kagami’s probing words had clearly angered Nagato.

In the current shinobi world, Kagami seemed to be the only person capable of angering Nagato with just a sentence or two. If it were anyone else, Nagato probably wouldn’t even bother getting angry.

Just as Nagato was about to make his move, Obito suddenly stopped him.

Nagato frowned and looked toward Obito, but Obito merely shook his head slightly, signaling for him not to act rashly. Lowering his voice, he said, "Kamigami’s Furin, Homura, and Kawa should all be hiding somewhere nearby. The situation isn’t in our favor. There’s no need for us to fight them head-on here!"

At the mention of Furin, Nagato’s expression immediately grew solemn.

During the previous battle in Konoha, Nagato had already gained some understanding of Furin’s strength through his Six Paths of Pain.

He knew that Furin was an absurdly powerful monster.

Konan, who was standing nearby, asked in confusion, "Homura? Isn’t Homura standing right over there?"