"I hope you can still talk big in a moment."
Nagato remained unfazed by Yagura's words, a faint smile lingering on his face.
"Arrogant."
Yagura's tone was tough, but before their battle had even begun, he had already entered Partial Tailed Beast Transformation.
Dropping to all fours, his eyes gleamed with a savage light, his body coiled and ready to strike at any moment.
Behind him, three towering tails stood tall like massive pillars, exuding an imposing presence.
Raging Tailed Beast chakra surged outward like an unstoppable tide, spreading across the battlefield.
His immediate transformation made one thing clear—his wariness of Nagato ran deep.
Reputation carried weight in the shinobi world. Strength defined one's status.
Yagura had never believed Nagato to be someone whose name was built on empty fame.
He fully understood that the opponent before him was incredibly dangerous.
There was no room for carelessness.
Activating Partial Tailed Beast Transformation ahead of time was his way of ensuring he was prepared for the fierce battle ahead.
...
"Banshō Ten'in."
Nagato wasted no more words and struck without hesitation.
Raising his palm outward, he unleashed an invisible force directly at Yagura.
In an instant, a powerful gravitational pull erupted from Nagato's position, like an unseen vortex threatening to drag everything toward him.
"What kind of technique is this?!"
Yagura felt his body being yanked off the ground against his will, his mind reeling in shock.
This power—he had never encountered anything like it before.
Had his face not been concealed by the thick shroud of Tailed Beast chakra, his expression at this moment would have been one to behold.
As his body lifted completely off the ground, Yagura immediately grasped the peril he was in.
Acting swiftly, he drove his tails deep into the earth, anchoring himself in an attempt to resist the tremendous pull.
His three massive tails pierced the ground like iron stakes, embedding themselves firmly into the soil.
For a moment, he felt as if he were battling the raw force of nature itself.
Every second was excruciating!
...
"A mantis trying to stop a chariot."
Nagato's expression remained unchanged, his smile unwavering.
Seeing Yagura stabilize himself, he merely increased the force.
Boom!
With a deafening roar, the very ground Yagura had latched onto shattered, crumbling beneath the sheer force of Nagato's power.
Chunks of earth, rock, and the three entrenched tails were violently torn from the ground.
A massive crater remained in their place, a gaping wound in the battlefield.
Yagura was powerless to resist any further—his body hurtled uncontrollably through the air, straight toward Nagato.
...
"Lord Mizukage!"
Shin Aoki's eyes widened in horror. Without thinking, he rushed forward to assist.
It had barely been a single exchange, and yet Yagura was already in a dire predicament.
He had never expected such a swift and overwhelming disadvantage.
"You still have time to worry about someone else?"
Kakuzu's cold voice rang out, full of disdain.
He found Shin Aoki's concern misplaced—if anything, he should be worrying about himself.
Only a fool lets his attention stray in the middle of a battle.
Among high-level fighters, even the smallest distraction could be fatal.
Before Shin Aoki could react, Kakuzu's fist, connected by black threads, was already flying toward his face.
Bang!
The punch landed squarely, sending Shin Aoki flying backward. He no longer dared to spare a glance toward Yagura.
But before he could even get up, another attack was already upon him.
A combined assault of Water Release and Lightning Release surged forth—
A devastating fusion technique.
A massive water dragon, crackling with lightning, surged toward him, its gaping maw ready to swallow him whole.
Pure terror filled Shin Aoki's eyes—this was no mere illusion.
He could feel the overwhelming power of the jutsu, like an unyielding mountain collapsing toward him.
There was no time to hesitate.
Six tails burst forth from his back like razor-sharp lances.
In an instant, he transformed into a monstrous half-humanoid figure, his body fully enveloped in Tailed Beast chakra.
At the same time, a small Tailed Beast Bomb began forming in front of his mouth.
The jet-black sphere of condensed energy radiated a suffocating pressure, pulsing with lethal power.
...
Boom!
A massive explosion ripped through the battlefield as the Tailed Beast Bomb and Kakuzu's fused jutsu collided in midair.
A shockwave of destruction expanded outward, obliterating everything in its path.
Sand and debris filled the air, uprooting trees and reducing the battlefield to a wasteland.
The scent of smoke and scorched earth spread through the air, while the very sky seemed to distort from the sheer force of the blast.
"Pretty quick reaction."
Kakuzu wasn't surprised. If the Six-Tails Jinchūriki had gone down that easily, it would have been disappointing.
His taunt was met with a furious roar from Shin Aoki.
Now in his Half-Tailed Beast form, Shin Aoki's strength had surged, finally putting an end to his one-sided beating.
Though their battle seemed intense, only a few breaths had passed.
...
Elsewhere, Yagura was firmly restrained by Nagato's Asura Path abilities.
The blue glow of a laser cannon flickered, aimed directly at his forehead.
Nagato was confident—one shot would blow his head clean off.
Yagura, feeling the lethal threat pressing down on him, struggled with all his might.
But the more he fought back, the tighter the mechanical wires constricted around him.
"Give up."
Nagato's cold voice rang in Yagura's ears.
"Ahhh!"
With a deafening roar, an overwhelming surge of Tailed Beast chakra erupted from Yagura's body, crashing outward like a tidal wave.
In an instant, the massive form of the Three-Tails, Isobu, appeared in its entirety before Nagato.
The sheer size and ancient presence of the beast exuded an aura of power, striking fear into all who witnessed it.
The moment Isobu materialized, the sheer force of its emergence snapped the Asura Path's mechanical restraints with a sharp crack.
The sudden shift in target caused Nagato's laser cannon, which had been locked onto Yagura's forehead, to instead blast into Isobu's abdomen.
The immense force of the attack, combined with the pull of gravity, sent Isobu hurtling toward the ground at terrifying speed.
A thick, dark scorch mark marred its stomach, and blood slowly began to seep out—a stark contrast against its massive form.
Clearly, its underbelly was far less armored than the shell on its back.
...
Boom!
Isobu's colossal body crashed to the ground like a falling meteor.
The battlefield trembled violently under the devastating impact, groaning as if struggling to bear the weight.
In that instant, everyone felt the ground beneath them quake violently.
At the point of impact, a massive crater collapsed into existence.
Soil and shattered rock erupted skyward like a fountain, only to rain back down under the pull of gravity.
From the center of the crater, enormous cracks snaked outward, splitting the earth in all directions like a spiderweb.
Debris flew in all directions, and thick clouds of dust rolled across the battlefield, partially obscuring Isobu's towering form within the chaos.