A terrifying repulsive force erupted from Pain's center. The air twisted with a shrill screech, and the surrounding rain was blown away in an instant, forming a brief vacuum.
It was like an invisible giant hammer smashing into Hanzo, who had nowhere to brace himself. With a thunderous crash, even the heavy water cannon that tore through the air was violently forced back.
"What?" Hanzo's expression shifted.
Attraction and repulsion switched without warning. He had no time to react and was slammed hard by the combined force of the repulsion and the reversed water cannon. His body crashed uncontrollably toward the ground, where Human Path had already appeared like a phantom below, five fingers hooked with a chilling intent to seize his soul.
But just before contact, the falling figure suddenly turned into a pool of water. It was the Water Body Flicker Technique.
Hanzo had once used this Ninjutsu to evade Orochimaru's Hidden Shadow Snake Hands and Jiraiya's Needle Jizo, and he had also used it to avoid the Chakra dragon attack released by Nagato through the Outer Path Statue. In the next moment, his figure appeared silently behind Asura Path.
The Kusarigama was already back in his hand. He spun his body and slashed out with the chained sickle, aiming straight for the head, silent and clean like a reaper at work.
However, Asura Path did not turn around, yet seemed to see him in a blind spot. A sharp "kacha" sounded as a jagged blade shot out from his back.
Clang!
The blade collided with the sickle, sparks flying as a piercing metallic screech echoed across the area. Feeling the heavy force and realizing he had somehow been exposed, Hanzo's expression grew grim.
What was going on, and how had this one detected him? Before he could think it through, another "kacha" rang out.
Asura Path suddenly grabbed his hands, and an extra arm extended from his shoulder, forming a cold and vicious cannon barrel before Hanzo's eyes. A blinding beam rapidly gathered within it.
Asura's assault.
A chill ran through Hanzo as he shouted sharply, calling out Ibuse. Almost the instant the sound left his mouth, a massive tail slammed down with crushing force.
With a heavy crash, Asura Path expressionlessly crushed Hanzo's wrist. Chakra burst under his feet as he retreated at high speed, the tail barely grazing past and smashing the ground into a web of cracked marks.
"Pointless struggle."
Tendo Pain raised his arm toward Hanzo again. As he was about to use Universal Pull, the salamander suddenly turned and swept its thick tail.
Everything in its path was as fragile as foam, yet at the end of the swing it halted as if it had struck a solid wall. Powerful repulsion rose before the stopped tail, slowly forcing the massive limb back.
Tendo Pain stared at the terrifying salamander and spoke coldly, telling it to leave. A deafening explosion followed as the repulsive force overwhelmed the salamander's strength.
Ibuse's enormous body slid backward dozens of meters, its limbs carving deep trenches into the ground. Watching the massive creature, Pain, who had remained expressionless until now, finally frowned.
Hanzo was known on the battlefield as a "Deadly Poison Weapon," and most of that reputation came from this salamander named Ibuse. He had not expected that even now, Hanzo could still summon it, when according to Zetsu's information, age should have left him unable to fight at full strength.
Even so, Pain spoke coldly, saying it changed nothing and that all resistance was futile. Hanzo appeared atop the salamander's head, staring at the four figures in black cloaks with red clouds in the distance while enduring the pain in his wrist.
Such strange powers. If his guess was right, that "Yahiko" used attraction and impact, and the bald one clearly hid various weapons inside his body.
Only the long-haired man and the woman remained unknown, yet instinct told Hanzo that the long-haired man was extremely dangerous. A man long dead, no sign of Ninjutsu, the same eyes, and that unexplained detection earlier.
Working together with Ibuse to continue pressuring Tendo Pain, Hanzo kept analyzing the information on the three before him. With another bang, Ibuse's attack was blocked once more by Shinra Tensei.
Hanzo froze for a moment and noticed a slight delay in Pain's response. If there was no limit on the number of uses, then perhaps there was an interval instead.
"Ibuse!"
With that thought, Hanzo bent down without hesitation and pressed the diamond-shaped mark on his palm against the salamander. The Chakra he had accumulated poured into Ibuse.
He had already found Pain's weakness, an interval of five to six seconds between attacks. No wonder the first move had been to cripple his hand.
Unfortunately, Pain would not give him that chance. With sharp whistling sounds, Asura Path twisted his arm open and fired several rockets trailing flames, sealing off every route around Hanzo.
With his wrist crushed and unable to form hand signs, Hanzo sensed danger and growled as Ibuse lifted its thick neck and inhaled deeply. Vast amounts of rainwater were drawn in, forming a white vortex in its mouth.
In the next instant, it threw its head back and opened its jaws wide. A dense purple-black poisonous fog poured out like a breached flood.
The fog spread wide and fast, and even more frightening, it sank and dispersed through the rain, forming a lethal zone. The air filled with a sharp stench, and the ground hissed as it was corroded.
The missiles caught in the fog were corroded almost instantly, melting away within seconds. Asura Path within the attack range also melted rapidly, exposing internal machinery that began to dissolve.
At that moment, Human Path appeared in front of Tendo Pain. The latter raised his arm and aimed behind him.
With a massive blast, powerful repulsion struck from behind Human Path, tearing up the ground and flinging it away. Human Path was thrown like a cannonball into the poison fog, his body visibly corroding, yet his hand still managed to touch the salamander's body.
Soul extraction.
Human Path's Rinnegan glimmered with a dark light as his right hand seized the salamander's belly. Nagato poured most of his Chakra into Human Path, forcibly drawing the salamander's soul out of its body.
This was the one Pain whose abilities Hanzo knew nothing about. His face changed as he asked what kind of technique that was.
At the same moment, Tendo Pain's Rinnegan turned, and his outstretched palm grasped at the air. "Universal Pull!"
A tremendous suction seized Hanzo at full force, and almost instantly he was dragged helplessly through the air. At the same time, his wrist gave a sharp sound as it finally healed under the effect of the wedge.
Before he could raise his hand to form seals, Asura Path's fist detached at the wrist and slammed into him, smashing him down. Human Path appeared below and caught Hanzo's rigid body.
Hanzo's pupils shrank as if an invisible hand had seized his soul. Intense pain and weakness flooded his entire body.
"It's over."
Floating in the air, Tendo Pain looked down at Hanzo, whose soul was being stripped away by Human Path. His calm voice carried no emotion as he said that challenging a god was folly.
As the words fell, Human Path remained expressionless and clenched his five fingers tightly. At that instant, an extremely powerful suppressing force surged out, pinning Hanzo's soul in place like a nail and stopping the extraction.