Chapter 168: A Mythic Duel; Long-Range Defeat for Nagato—The New God of Shinobi

"Roooaaar…"

A thunderous roar erupted from the hundred-meter-long Wood Dragon's maw.

Whoosh—

The Wood Dragon parted its gaping jaws, condensing brilliant white light.

That radiance swiftly formed a massive orb, then spewed out a huge white beam at the incoming rockets, tracking missiles, and lasers—its volume and hue far surpassing "Lightning Release: Kirin."

Boom, boom, boom…

The tremendous white beam swallowed all missiles and lasers in a chain of explosions.

Despite Shura Path's barrage, it failed to stall the white beam by even a fraction of a second.

After obliterating Shura Path's salvo, the huge beam did not then descend upon the "mushroom" ranks below. Instead, as the Wood Dragon swiveled its head, the beam slashed upward toward Tendo Pain, who hovered in midair.

At that moment, Tendo Pain alone was floating high, while the other Paths, riding white giant birds, remained somewhat lower—a perfect opportunity.

"Shinra Tensei!"

Tendo Pain hadn't expected Wood Release, a mere kekkei genkai, to harness the Five Nature Transformations as well—nor to spawn such an overpowering "no-hand-seals Lightning Release."

The speed of lightning is extreme, and given the white beam's huge scale and the Wood Dragon's freedom to aim at will, Tendo, merely sustaining flight via gravity, had no way to dodge.

Having just unleashed attraction power, Tendo lifted his palm again, unleashing a fierce repulsion storm.

Repulsion is an invisible gale; unless you possess a defense strong enough to withstand that repulsion, anything—person or object—will be mercilessly blasted and destroyed. Unlike a typical advantage or disadvantage in elemental matches, repulsion is akin to a "rule" no standard Five Nature jutsu can break.

Hence, as the blast wave collided with the giant white beam—Wood Dragon's version of "Kirin"—the two locked in stalemate. The beam had huge chakra behind it, so it wasn't shattered like a forest or a building. Fueled by the Wood Dragon's continuing chakra supply, it inched forward a short distance. Seeing that, Nagato, who controlled Tendo, funneled more chakra into Tendo's repulsion storm. The white beam was promptly pushed backward, even retreating a bit. So the bluish-white pillar and the invisible barrier vied midair—one advancing, the other pushing back.

One might say if the repulsion wave had color, it would resemble a classic "beam struggle" scene.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

While Yagyu and Tendo Pain were locked in that power struggle, the remaining Paths did not sit idle. They seized the moment to attack Yagyu, hoping to give Tendo an edge. Shura Path again transformed into machinery, spitting out missiles of all shapes and sizes, and even a cannon from its head—though not quite matching Yagyu's "Sage Lightning: Kirin"—it still had S-rank might.

Those blasts again rained toward Yagyu. Meanwhile, the other Paths, though less potent, unleashed various Five-Element jutsu—wind, fire, water, lightning—either individually or combining them into multi-layered attacks.

Glancing down at the swirl of physical and magical assaults, each sporting flashy effects, Yagyu praised:

"Not bad for fireworks. But it's daytime—no need for flashy showboating."

He finished, channeling a surge of chakra into the Wood Dragon under his feet.

Much like in the original Valley of the End battle between Hashirama and Madara, where a colossal wooden golem stepped from the vast forest, a huge branch now emerged from the hundred-meter Wood Dragon's belly. Inflating like a balloon, it transformed in moments into a giant wooden hand, large enough to blot out the sky, capable of easily grasping a Tailed Beast. That wooden hand slammed downward.

As it fell, friction with the air ignited brilliant sparks around the wooden palm—like a meteor's fiery aura—so it looked like a Buddha's palm descending to subdue demons. It hurtled toward the five Paths below. All their physical and ninjutsu-based attacks shattered instantly against that flaming wooden hand. No hesitation—riding the white birds, the five Pain bodies fled, trying to escape the strike zone. Yet they were too slow.

Whoosh!

Four red, translucent barrier walls sprang up on the battlefield's east, west, south, and north, blocking the Pain bodies' path. That wasn't all. Even as they rose, the "mushroom ground" beneath them—once parted by small cracks—fused together, rising upward, as if aiming to shield the Konoha nin and White Zetsu from the giant hand above.

But in the next second, including Tendo Pain, all Paths paled. A massive branch sprouted from the merged mushroom ground, in an instant forming a second giant wooden hand, just as enormous as the one descending from above. This one pressed upward from below. From a third-party viewpoint, two colossal wooden palms—like a pair of giant or Buddha's hands—were about to close, while the five escaping "flies" scurried within.

Actually, there were six flies:

At that instant, Yagyu—still contending with Tendo—pulled out a "Kuwana" marked with his own seal, flipping it skyward. Crouching low, he gripped a wooden ring that sprang from the Dragon's body—then both he and the hundred-meter-long Wood Dragon plus the descending giant wooden hand vanished without warning. One second later, they reappeared tens of meters above Tendo Pain.

In a flash, Tendo became the target of the wooden hand's attack too. No time to be shocked, he hurriedly descended to rejoin the other five on a single white bird. Immediately, Preta Path raised both hands, conjuring a translucent dome around the Six Paths. With a pop, the bird vanished in smoke, causing the Six Paths to hover together. Tendo Pain shut his eyes, forcibly channeling chakra from the other five Paths: their reserves rapidly drained via special tools, transferring to Tendo's body.

When the twin wooden hands—one from above, the other from below—closed in with only tens of meters left, Tendo opened his Rinnegan wide, shouting:

"Shinra Tensei!"

Whoosh—

A burst of blinding white light flared between those giant wooden hands, like a white sun. The next instant, the two palms tried pressing that white sun between them, about to crush it.

"So this is the power of a god?"

No one below could behold this epic spectacle, except Orochimaru—who could link with his Edo Tensei undead's field of vision. On the "mushroom ground" outside the barrier, a cracked Edo Tensei body gazed up in shock and awe. In Orochimaru's viewpoint, it looked like a "Buddha's double palm" cradling a white sun—red flames, watery-blue currents, plus lush green wood swirling in a tri-color display. This shattered Orochimaru's worldview, reaffirming his guesses.

"Let me see which legend stands atop—Rinnegan, or the Shinobi God's Wood Release… Pain or Yagyu!"

Orochimaru murmured with excitement.

The result soon appeared:

"That's all?"

Yagyu's eyes glowed red as he stared at Tendo:

"If that's your limit, then vanish."

He crouched again, placing his palm on the Wood Dragon's head, pouring boundless Sage chakra into it like a bursting dam. If it all went into strengthening the Dragon, it might stretch hundreds or a thousand meters, nearly indestructible. But Yagyu instead channeled the chakra through the Dragon into the wooden palms, intensifying the friction aura, raising more fiery streams.

Suddenly, the giant hand again pressed downward bit by bit. Realizing Tendo's plan, Nagato fed even more chakra in. Drip… Reddish fluid trickled from his nose, spattering on the container housing his lower body; his newly revitalized red hair gained a few white strands. Indeed, Nagato's chakra usage exceeded his body's limit. He'd restored his prime externally by siphoning power from the Gedo Statue, but spiritual and physical energy still needed synergy. Using the Gedo's infinite supply was more than half a pseudo–Ten-Tails Jinchūriki. Moreover, Nagato wasn't a true Rinnegan host. He was tapping an external power. While it gave him overwhelming might, it also extracted a terrible price. If Tsunade saw him with microscopic-level vision, she'd realize his life force was nearly gone. Sheer "cell division" had revived his youth; yet human cells only divide so many times. His peak was borrowed from the future, unless he became a genuine Ten-Tails Jinchūriki, ascending beyond humanity's domain.

Oblivious to that, Nagato only craved victory over Yagyu. So he mustered maximum repulsion, hoping to wreck the wooden canopy and break through to bury Konoha. Light flared brighter, the "white sun" swelling further.

Crack, crack…

The lower wooden hand groaned as fissures spread, but they sealed instantly. Yagyu gave a casual laugh:

"If you had eight Tailed Beasts, I might be wary. But you only have four and a half. Not enough."

From below, a wooden branch extended, swiftly forming another Yagyu-shaped Wood Clone. Like its main body, it crouched and placed palms on the ground. Water trickled over the wooden hand, forming a massive "sea-god's" palm. Now from Orochimaru's vantage, "one red, one blue," "fire vs. water"—two monstrous hands squeezed the white sun between them. They rose and fell, trying to unite.

"Hrrrgh…!"

Initially, Tendo believed a Super Shinra Tensei would easily obliterate those giant hands. Now, feeling unstoppable pressure, he wore no aloof expression; with a snarl, he recalled all the chakra from the other Paths, converting it into a howling storm of repulsion. Yet the brilliant glow of that white sun failed to halt the Buddha-like hands from closing.

Boom—

With an absolute surge of chakra, the red and blue wooden hands, from above and below, finally came together. The bright white sun within that gap dissipated at the instant the two palms met. All that remained of six bodies crushed by heaven and earth's might was annihilated, burned to ash, and washed away by the watery current. In the underground base, Nagato, gasping for breath and bleeding from mouth and nose, failed to retrieve Yahiko's corpse in time. He'd already used up all materials from the other Pains' prior resurrection. This time, he truly lost the Six Paths for good.

Thus ended this mythic showdown. The "God of Amegakure" known as Nagato had lost outright, becoming one more stepping stone for Yagyu—the new God of Shinobi in this era.

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