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A great battle was about to erupt. Shin watched with considerable interest, as did the other Akatsuki members.
They all knew Itachi Uchiha was powerful—no one dared claim they could easily defeat him.
And Pain was the Akatsuki's leader. Some members, in particular, had been thoroughly crushed by Pain before.
"Itachi is doomed..." Kisame Hoshigaki shook his head slightly, a hint of wistfulness in his voice. Even if Itachi could defeat Pain, it would be useless.
There was still the even more terrifying Shin Uzumaki here.
"<Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!>"
Itachi Uchiha struck first, a Fire Dragon roaring towards Pain.
However, as it neared Pain, the Fire Dragon was dispersed by Shinra Tensei.
The other Paths didn't intervene—only the Deva Path engaged Itachi Uchiha. Nagato believed the Deva Path's power alone was sufficient to deal with Itachi.
Indeed, the Deva Path was the powerhouse among the Six Paths of Pain. The combined strength of the other Paths couldn't even compare to the Deva Path.
A gravitational force, like a black hole, erupted from his hand, pulling Itachi Uchiha towards him. Then, a kunai in his hand thrust towards Itachi.
Itachi Uchiha, suspended in mid-air, twisted his body with his core strength, evading Pain's kunai, then kicked towards Pain's head.
Before his kick could land on Pain, Itachi Uchiha was sent flying by the repulsive force, landing ten meters away and sliding back several more.
Itachi Uchiha's legs were deeply embedded in the ground. The initial exchange had yielded no advantage—in fact, he had suffered a significant setback.
Taking the brunt of Shinra Tensei's repulsive force at close range, Itachi Uchiha showed no external injuries, but his internal organs were already damaged.
In this situation, he had to activate his Mangekyō Sharingan. Without it, he wouldn't even get a chance to get close.
Besides, the current Pain hadn't even used his full strength, perhaps not even half.
He didn't use Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi. His opponent possessed the Rinnegan; using Tsukuyomi might backfire on him—and Amaterasu was useless... Though hailed as the strongest physical attack, its actual effectiveness was rather lackluster.
If combined with Kagutsuchi, it would be quite useful. But simple Amaterasu would just be repelled—So, he could only use the ultimate technique, Susanoo.
Susanoo consumed a vast amount of power, and in his current condition, Itachi truly wasn't suited to use it again.
But this was a desperate moment. Fight, and there was still a chance to live, a chance to see Sasuke again. Don't fight, and it was a dead end.
"That's some serious pressure!" Hidan couldn't help but retreat a considerable distance.
This colossal Susanoo—a single blow could probably crush him into a meat patty. Though even being turned into a meat patty wouldn't kill him, Hidan didn't want to experience what that felt like...
Besides, if he was turned into a meat patty, even Kakuzu couldn't save him. After all, how could one stitch a meat patty back together?
"Actually, I'd love to fight Itachi. What a pity I won't get the chance..." Deidara said with a regretful expression.
"Deidara, Itachi Uchiha has a younger brother. You can go bully him—" Shin said to Deidara with a smile.
"Itachi's younger brother? He's just a weakling." Kisame Hoshigaki was quite disdainful. He had met Sasuke Uchiha before, but in Kisame's eyes, Sasuke Uchiha was just a weakling.
"Weakling?" Shin glanced at Kisame Hoshigaki. Sasuke Uchiha indeed had various flaws, but calling him a weakling was a bit much... Perhaps Kisame's current impression of Sasuke Uchiha was still stuck in the past.
The Akatsuki base was completely destroyed—
This was normal. With Pain and Itachi Uchiha fighting, it would be strange if the Akatsuki base wasn't destroyed.
Pain's hands clasped together. He created a black sphere of highly concentrated chakra, then threw it into the sky.
An endless gravitational force emanated from the black sphere. The ground began to tremble, and countless debris were sucked into the sky.
"Holy shit!" Hidan couldn't help but curse, then quickly hugged a nearby tree.
But soon, the tree was also pulled into the sky by the gravitational force. No choice, he had to run quickly, preferably out of this gravitational field.
"Doesn't the leader care about us at all?" Deidara complained.
Fortunately, they were already far away, so they weren't sucked away by the gravity. They were still relatively safe.
Shin stood in place, completely unaffected.
Itachi Uchiha was desperately resisting the gravitational force—actually, if he had destroyed the small black sphere when Chibaku Tensei was first cast, it would have been fine.
The small black sphere was the source of the gravity. Unfortunately, Itachi Uchiha probably hadn't thought of this countermeasure yet.
And once it formed, ordinary attacks couldn't destroy Chibaku Tensei unless one could shatter it in a single blow.
Facing Chibaku Tensei, it was naturally best to resolve it as early as possible; otherwise, it would become very difficult to deal with later.
Chibaku Tensei gradually formed a small planet. Seeing this, Itachi Uchiha knew he couldn't let it continue.
The Susanoo wielded the flame-like Totsuka Blade, thrusting it towards the Chibaku Tensei with all its might.
The Totsuka Blade had no physical form and could extend. This depended on Itachi Uchiha's chakra.
The Totsuka Blade pierced the surface of the Chibaku Tensei but didn't penetrate its core, so it failed to destroy it.
Itachi Uchiha couldn't help but kneel on one knee, his body almost at its limit. Itachi Uchiha desperately consumed Soldier Pills, suppressing all the chakra within his body—
—Compared to Itachi Uchiha, Pain's expression was far too calm, looking as if it were effortless.
But... was it really so??
In a hidden location, Nagato's emaciated body panted heavily. Chibaku Tensei consumed an immense amount of chakra.
Neither of them was doing well, but Nagato's condition was better than Itachi Uchiha's. In terms of raw power, Nagato was still stronger.
"Fall." Pain uttered softly. The Chibaku Tensei in the sky crashed down towards Itachi Uchiha.
Itachi Uchiha's expression changed. He hadn't expected Pain to actually control the Chibaku Tensei to crash down.
If Itachi Uchiha had been sealed within the Chibaku Tensei earlier, it definitely wouldn't be crashing down—instead, Itachi would have been sent into the sky.
However, Itachi Uchiha had resisted and wasn't sealed within it. So, Pain could only use the Chibaku Tensei as an attack—otherwise, the Chibaku Tensei he had painstakingly created would have been a waste of effort.
Such a massive object crashing down… even Susanoo's defense would be instantly shattered.
As for choosing to escape?
The area covered was so large; escape was impossible. It would only reduce his chances of survival. Right now, he could only try to withstand it.
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