Sasori stared at Ōnoki for a long ti, unwilling to look away. The reason was simple—his Dust Release was excellent, powerful, and incredibly intimidating. He wanted it.
As for how to obtain Dust Release…
Sasori planned to wait until their leader killed Ōnoki, then go collect the body and turn it into a human puppet far surpassing the Third Kazekage.
A human puppet… capable of using Dust Release.
With Konan's order given, Kakuzu and Sasori no longer had any intention of slacking off. Their gazes shifted toward the Iwagakure shinobi who were retreating in an organized withdrawal.
The aftershocks of Ōnoki and Pain's battle had left the ground scorched everywhere by Dust Release disintegration, and cratered by Shinra Tensei. That was precisely why Ōnoki had insisted on having Kitsuchi lead the Iwagakure forces away.
As for Deidara, who had joined the battlefield, he had clearly overestimated himself.
He could only watch the battle between Ōnoki and Pain from the sidelines. Occasionally, he would throw out clay bombs, trying to assist, but those bombs were almost always detonated prematurely before they could even reach Pain.
During this ti, Ōnoki launched two more Dust Release attacks, but each ti, the Deva Path of Pain deflected them with pinpoint Shinra Tensei.
His breathing grew heavier. His body beca increasingly stiff. Even his back was already soaked through with sweat.
"Old man, where the hell did this guy co from? How is he this strong…"
Deidara stood back-to-back with Ōnoki. He did have so use—at least whenever that strange gravitational force fell upon Ōnoki, Deidara's clay bombs forced Pain to divert his attention and evade.
It wasn't as if Pain hadn't considered killing Deidara outright. But the mont he shifted his focus toward Deidara, Ōnoki's threat level would spike again.
"A bunch of lunatics!"
Ōnoki stared fixedly at Pain. In his eyes, Pain was nothing but insane.
Sure, maybe so people in Iwagakure had secretly skimd money from the Akatsuki… but that didn't justify launching a full-scale war over it, did it?
Looking at Iwagakure's current losses, Ōnoki felt genuine pain.
"But it's about ti!"
"It's ti to bring this farce to an end!"
Ōnoki muttered to himself. During the earlier exchanges, he had deliberately been using the aftershocks of his Dust Release to reshape the terrain.
On the surface, the craters and fractures looked like re battle damage.
But in reality… they ford a massive stone formation.
"Earth Release: Moving Earth Core!"
Ōnoki instantly lost his buoyancy, dropping to the ground and slamming his hand against it.
The earth trembled violently. Massive slabs of rock surged upward, forming a specialized cage that perfectly trapped Pain in the center.
Only when Ōnoki activated the technique did Pain sense sothing off. But as his Rinnegan scanned the surroundings, he realized the positions of the rising stone pillars had been calculated with extre precision, sealing off every possible angle of escape.
The older generation of shinobi truly had their depth.
"But you think this is enough to restrain ?"
Pain raised his hand, preparing to blast the stones apart with Shinra Tensei—but the mont he moved, Ōnoki moved as well.
"Now!"
At Ōnoki's shout, Deidara—who had been montarily stunned in the air—reacted instantly.
He threw out clumps of clay, sealing every gap in the stone formation. The excess clay poured into the interior, detonating violently within.
At the sa ti, Ōnoki used the Lightweight Rock Technique to accelerate himself to the limit.
In his hand, what had once been a cubic Dust Release now condensed into a pure white beam.
This was Ōnoki's trump card.
By further compressing Dust Release, it lost its large-scale disintegration capability—but in exchange, it gained speed and penetrating power that exceeded all limits.
Inside the stone formation, the Deva Path of Pain's Rinnegan trembled.
Ōnoki's long-prepared strike, built upon the battlefield itself, was enough to inflict irreversible damage on this body.
If it were any of the other Paths, Nagato could afford to lose them.
But this Deva Path… this was Yahiko's body.
How could he allow it to be destroyed?
Pain released Shinra Tensei almost instantly. The repulsive force blasted the surrounding stones away, sending debris flying like artillery shells.
But Ōnoki had anticipated this.
Using the flying debris as cover, he continued his charge toward Pain.
In that instant, the white beam in Ōnoki's hand flashed like the scythe of death, thrusting straight toward Pain's chest.
Snap!
Just as relief began to appear on Ōnoki's face, a pale hand appeared out of nowhere, seizing his wrist and dragging him downward at high speed.
Ōnoki turned his head in disbelief.
Just monts ago… his Dust Release had been about to pierce Pain.
Where had this person co from?
But when he saw who had stopped him, his disbelief instantly turned into shock.
"How is this possible…"
The one who had stopped him wasn't anyone else—it was the Asura Path, the last remaining one among the Six Paths.
Though its body looked battered and broken, the mont Ōnoki looked at it, he noticed—
Its eyes were the sa Rinnegan as Pain's.
"So there's… another one with the sa eyes…"
Not far away, Deidara's grin froze.
After fighting alongside Ōnoki for so long, he had already guessed that Pain's power was tied to those strange eyes.
But now… there was a second person with the sa eyes?
As the Asura Path forcibly twisted Ōnoki's wrist, Ōnoki's face turned deathly pale.
Whether from the pain… or the despair brought by the Asura Path's appearance—it was impossible to tell.
"Deidara, go!"
Ōnoki's voice was resolute. He no longer had the mind to think about anything else.
The Akatsuki's strength ran far deeper than anyone had imagined.
Ōnoki no longer believed he could survive—but Deidara had to.
Only if Deidara lived would Iwagakure's Kekkei Tōta not truly vanish.
"Go!"
When he sensed that Deidara hadn't moved, Ōnoki acted decisively.
He severed his own forearm.
Breaking free from the Asura Path's grip, he roared again.
"Old man…"
Deidara was genuinely shaken now.
He wanted to charge forward and fight Pain to the death—but he knew full well he was no match.
"Go?"
"None of you are going anywhere. Iwagakure must pay the price for its actions."
Floating in the sky, Pain slowly spread his arms.
Around him, an even more terrifying surge of chakra began to gather.
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