Naruto: Mikoto and Tsunade, don't let either of them go.

Konan is different. Whether it was Yahiko in the past or Nagato now, Konan is their Achilles' heel. As long as they control Konan, they might even be willing to let Nagato give up his Rinnegan.

However, Uchiha Kakuzan was still itching to try his hand at the Rinnegan, so he wasn't in a hurry to control Konan. Instead, he let his wood clones make contact with the Six Paths of Pain first.

Seeing that Konan was about to explode after hearing his words, Uchiha Kakuyama quickly restrained his imposing manner and said with a smile, "Let's see which side, these clones or my wood clones, will win."

Chapter 231 The Powers of the Six Paths of Pain

Chapter 231 The Powers of Pain's Six Paths

After speaking to Konan, who was cautiously watching him, Uchiha Kakuyama turned his head away and leisurely looked at the battlefield not far away, completely ignoring Konan who was right next to him.

Konan, standing next to Uchiha Kakuzan, felt a sense of relief upon seeing his posture, but also a surge of resentment. However, despite clenching her fists several times and changing her expression several times, she still couldn't bring herself to completely break ties with the man in front of her.

As Konan also knew, despite the formidable reputation of the Six Paths of Pain, they were nothing more than a few corpses. Apart from Yahiko's body, which could not be discarded, the other five could be abandoned. Even if they were damaged by the enemy, it would only take some effort to find a few more suitable corpses.

Having grown up amidst the brutality of war, Xiao Nan had long understood certain truths: when people die, they are dead, and nothing is ever as important as the living.

Konan took a deep breath and finally gave up the idea of ​​attacking Uchiha Kakuyama. She and Kakuyama looked at the battlefield not far away.

At this time, Pain's Six Paths on the battlefield had just made contact with Uchiha Kagami's wood clone, and then the close combat began.

In fact, under these circumstances, Pain's Six Paths are at a disadvantage, because his six clones have different abilities that can complement each other and create a synergy greater than the sum of its parts.

However, neither of them cared about any of this on the battlefield.

Nagato considered himself a god of the ninja world, so how could he care about such trivial matters? In his view, no one in this world was his match except for Madara Uchiha. Even if Madara Uchiha opposed him, he would fight him without mercy.

Uchiha Kakuzan simply wanted to experience the Rinnegan's abilities in advance, even though Nagato could only use the Rinnegan's basic functions and couldn't use the original owner's unique abilities.

However, none of that matters anymore. In this ninja world, unless Madara Uchiha or Hashirama Senju are resurrected, no matter who comes, they will not be able to let him fight to his heart's content.

Even Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan, could only slightly pique his interest.

The first ones to come into contact with are the summoned beasts summoned by the Animal Path. These are all large summoned beasts, including Cerberus, crows, crabs, rhinoceroses, bulls, chameleons, and Yatagarasu. These summoned beasts all have black chakra rods on their bodies and also possess the Rinnegan. They are considered to be summoned beasts controlled by the Animal Path.

Uchiha Kagura's wood clones all possessed some of the original's characteristics, including immense strength. Furthermore, under Tsunade's tutelage, they had mastered her powerful techniques. Therefore, the moment they made contact with the summoned beasts, the beasts were at a disadvantage; the crab and the crow were instantly blasted into white smoke and returned to the summoning world.

The rampaging rhinoceros and bull were stopped by the wooden clone's fists and were locked in a fierce struggle.

Seeing that things were not going well, the Yatagarasu immediately turned and flew back into the sky, crying out as it threw some explosive spheres downwards.

The most disgusting one is Cerberus, a spirit beast that splits into two after suffering a fatal injury. No one knows its limit; in this battle, it has already split into six.

The largest and best of them all was the giant, invisible chameleon. It was practically exposed in Uchiha Kakuzan's Mangekyou Sharingan, and was sent back to the Summoning World during a brief encounter with one of his wood clones.

Therefore, in this short encounter, only four summoned beasts remained: the rhinoceros, the bull, the Yatagarasu, and the three-headed dog that had split apart.

One of the wood clones, upon seeing the Yatagarasu haphazardly throwing things in the air, immediately formed hand seals.

Earth Release: Light and Heavy Rock Technique

Then, the wooden clone flew towards the Yatagarasu as if it had no weight.

Knowing the power of these wooden clones, the Yatagarasu let out a strange cry when it saw him take flight. It abandoned the battle on the ground, turned its head, and flew upwards. The wooden clone that had used the Light-Heavy Rock Technique chased after it.

The remaining four wooden clones sensed the trouble caused by the rhinoceros and the three-headed dog. They exchanged glances, and three of them took the summoned beasts with them, while the remaining wooden clone chased after the animal path behind the summoned beasts.

The Animal Path, lacking other abilities, saw that the wood clone was targeting him, and that his summoned beasts were unable to arrive in time. He immediately ran towards the nearest being, Pain.

At this moment, Pain's Deva Path was probably the most relaxed of his clones. With him continuously using "Shinra Tensei" and "Bansho Ten'in," his five wood clones were unable to get close to him for the time being.

These five clones were wood clones, the most resilient of all the clones. Even when Pain used Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten'in on them, it did not cause them any damage.

However, the frequent use of Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten'in also tested Pain's chakra reserves, so for a time neither Pain nor his five wood clones could defeat the other.

If we're talking about where the commotion is the biggest, then it has to be the Asura Path, which is practically turning into robots.

Having obtained intelligence from the Animal Realm, the Asura Realm already knew the destructive power of these wooden clones. Therefore, as they approached, the Asura Realm activated all its switches, continuously launching missiles and highly explosive weapons at these wooden clones.

These wood clones then used Wood Release to create layers of protective walls on their way to the Asura Path, since they believed these weapons would still cause them some harm.

If we were to say who is in the most dire straits right now, then it would be the remaining hell realm, hungry ghost realm, and human realm.

The Hell Path is a support-type path, capable of summoning Yama, the King of Hell, to revive the other five paths. Its other offensive capabilities are at most equivalent to taijutsu at the Jonin level.

The ability of the Preta Path is to absorb all chakra and ninjutsu. It was the guy who ambushed Uchiha Itachi and almost drained Itachi dry.

However, he had no advantage when facing Uchiha Kakuzan's wood clones, because these wood clones were very strong in taijutsu. If he wanted to absorb their chakra, he believed that they would destroy him in just two or three rounds.

Chapter 232 Xiao Nan's Hope

Chapter 232 Xiao Nan's Hope

The final human path is even more tragic, because he faces only soulless wooden clones. His ability is to read Shi Xiao's memories and extract souls, so he is basically useless against these wooden clones.

Therefore, after learning about the combat strength of these wood clones from the Animal Path, he avoided them and headed towards Pain's Deva Path.

Faced with this situation, the wood clones split into three parts. One part headed towards the Asura Path, another part went to support the three wood clones facing the summoned beast, and the majority of the rest headed towards the convergence of the Heavenly Path, Animal Path, Human Path, Hell Path, and Hungry Ghost Path, forming an opposing force.

Pain hadn't expected that Uchiha Kakuzan's clone would be so troublesome, and that he would be at a disadvantage even without using his ultimate move.

Moreover, this was without Uchiha Kagami's main body making a move, which made Pain realize that things were in trouble.

Then, just as the Animal Path arrived in front of Pain, it suddenly formed hand seals and used its unique summoning technique.

As he pressed his hand to the ground, he summoned the Asura Path and his summoned beasts, who were engaged in battle, directly to his side, thus escaping the battlefield.

At this point, the Six Paths of Pain no longer proclaimed themselves gods, but instead arranged themselves into formations according to their respective abilities.

As the Six Paths of Pain assembled, the wooden clones on the battlefield also arrived. At this point, the roles of offense and defense had reversed, and the thirty wooden clones had surrounded the Six Paths of Pain.

However, neither side made a move, and the once lively scene fell into silence, with only the light rain continuing to fall.

The reason why this situation occurs is...

Firstly, because Pain was no longer confident that he could defeat the enemies in front of him, let alone capture them.

Secondly, in Uchiha Kakuzan's view, the Six Paths of Pain still have some use. In the future, they will need to collect the Tailed Beasts and revive Uchiha Madara on their own initiative. Given that Uchiha Kakuzan is a dangerous enemy, Uchiha Madara will be revived sooner than before.

Uchiha Kakuzan's goal was to defeat Uchiha Madara and then copy the unique eye techniques of Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan: Ten'ai Kansei and Limbo: Border Jail.

Just as the two groups were facing off, suddenly, the Hell Path and the Hungry Ghost Path grabbed the Animal Path standing next to them, then flung him away and threw him towards the direction of Amegakure (Hidden Rain Village).

As if still worried, Pain, who had maintained a cold and aloof demeanor and remained silent, raised his hand as the Animal Path took flight, casting Shinra Tensei on the Animal Path, sending it flying like a cannonball into the distance.

Uchiha Kakuzan was very familiar with the various abilities of the Six Paths of Pain, and he was also very clear about the abilities of the Animal Path.

Upon seeing Pain's actions, Uchiha Kakuzan immediately realized what was happening and said with interest, "Oh? He's trying to escape."

Immediately afterwards, Uchiha Kakuyama seemed to remember something and looked at the beautiful Konan next to him.

Since Pain, the main patriarch, is already running away, Konan, who is next to him, will probably run away with him as well.

At this moment, Konan was still unaware of what was happening; she was simply looking at the Six Paths of Pain and the wood clones of Uchiha Kagakuyama on the battlefield with some surprise.

Although they had only been in contact briefly, these wooden clones were able to fight Pain's Six Paths to a standstill, and even appeared to have the upper hand on the surface.

Of course, Konan, who knows the Six Paths of Pain, knows that they haven't used their full strength yet. Moreover, Pain, the strongest among them, hasn't even used his signature moves, such as Planetary Devastation and Super Shinra Tensei.

Moreover, the strongest state of the Six Paths of Pain is when they cooperate with each other to bring out their unique ninjutsu.

However, Xiao Nan also knew that the opponent's next battle would be fought with mass-produced wooden clones.

Meanwhile, their true selves were watching the battle below with great interest from beside them.

From his own perception, Uchiha Kakuzan's condition did not decline at all after creating a large number of clones. In other words, the chakra he gave to those wood clones was only a tiny fraction of what he gave himself.

Moreover, Konan suddenly realized something: the person standing next to her was the head of the Uchiha clan. What was the Uchiha clan famous for in the ninja world? Of course, it was the renowned Sharingan.

The reason those two Uchiha clansmen were able to entangle with Pain for so long was because of the various strange and powerful abilities of their Sharingan.

As the head of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Kakuzan only used a wood clone at this time, without even revealing his Sharingan. In other words, Uchiha Kakuzan's wood clone was probably just a probing act, and his true strength was not revealed at all.

So when Konan saw Uchiha Kakuyama suddenly turn his gaze to her, she immediately shuddered. She didn't understand why this important figure would be so interested in someone as unknown as her.

Uchiha Kakuyama looked at Konan standing beside him. Washed by the rain, she looked somewhat pitiful. Under her wary gaze, he suddenly spoke:

"Konan, do you want to revive Yahiko?"

Konan's brain completely shut down after hearing what Uchiha Kakuyama said.

What? Resurrect Yahiko? He has a way to resurrect Yahiko?

Also, how did he know about Yahiko? And how did he know my name is Konan?

Xiao Nan's brain suddenly felt overwhelmed. Just who was this person in front of her?

Why are you so clear about your own affairs?

Could it be that he can really revive Yahiko?

Does that mean I have to pay some price? He couldn't possibly revive Yahiko for no reason.

In that instant, Konan thought of many things, after all, what Uchiha Kakuyama said had a huge impact on her.

Actually, Konan knew of a way to be resurrected, which was Nagato's Rinnegan.

It was only after Nagato developed his Rinnegan further over the past few years that he learned it had this function.

However, when Nagato told her, she felt no joy whatsoever, because the price of using the Rinnegan to revive the dead was simply too high.

Chapter 233 The Price of Resurrection

Chapter 233 The Price of Resurrection

While the Rinnegan possesses the ability to revive the deceased, the price is extremely high: the user must sacrifice their own life. Its side effects are comparable to the Reaper Death Seal, ultimately resulting in death.

The difference is that after using the Reaper Death Seal, the user's soul enters the stomach of the Shinigami, while after using the Rinnegan's resurrection technique—Outer Path—Rinne Rebirth Technique, the user's soul enters the Pure Land, just like a normal death.

In the original story, after Pain invaded Konoha, he caused a large-scale death of the villagers, including Kakashi and Shizune.

However, because they had all died not long ago, still had bodies capable of containing their souls, and their souls had been collected by the Hell Path after their deaths, Nagato was able to revive so many people when he used the Outer Path—the Samsara Rebirth Technique.

In the end, when Madara Uchiha was resurrected, only one person was resurrected.

However, whether it's resurrecting one person or many, those who use the Reincarnation Technique ultimately pay the price with their lives.

In other words, Obito Uchiha briefly reached the Six Paths level, which is why he was still alive and kicking for a while after using the Rinne Rebirth technique.

Actually, it was Masashi Kishimoto who gave Obito Uchiha a power-up, making his bag stacked up to overflowing.

First, he fell from the Six Paths level, and after becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, the Ten-Tails was extracted from his body. At this point, Obito Uchiha already had the conditions for certain death.

Then, Black Zetsu, essentially making use of waste, possessed Obito Uchiha's body and used it to complete the Rinne Rebirth technique, reviving Madara Uchiha. One more death added.

Finally, he joined Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura in fighting the final boss, Kaguya Otsutsuki, before finally dying at her hands.

In other words, Obito Uchiha was like Kakashi in that he used his life to accomplish three things that were destined to kill him, and in the end, he saved Kakashi's life and then happily went to the Pure Land with Rin.

Speaking of which, Kaguya Otsutsuki, that thousand-year-old recluse, was quite pitiful. First, she was sealed away for a thousand years by her two filial sons. After finally getting out, she was still tricked by the eldest son, the Sage of Six Paths, and then sealed away again.

During the time she was resurrected, she pitifully killed one person, who was already on the death list: Uchiha Obito.

But that's a digression; let's get back to the topic of resurrection.

Since the price of resurrection is too high, it can be said to be a life for a life, so how could Konan possibly use the life of Nagato, who is also her close friend and family member, to exchange for Yahiko's life?

Moreover, after Yahiko's death, the grief-stricken Nagato has turned to the dark side. In his view, only by making everyone in the world feel his pain will the world be filled with people who desire peace.

Therefore, later on, whether it was collecting the tailed beasts or attacking Konoha, he always carried out the same actions.

However, under Naruto's persuasive words, he gave up his own wish and his life, resurrected the dead people of Konoha, and placed all his hopes for world peace on Naruto.

Actually, Konan didn't have such a big wish in her heart. She just wanted to quietly stay by Yahiko and Nagato's side and be with them.

After Yahiko died for her life, Konan only had Nagato as her closest friend and family.

But now, Konan has learned about the resurrection from a stranger named Uchiha Kakuyama.

Although Konan didn't want to believe it, the person who said those words was the head of the Uchiha clan.

Even the impossible, when spoken by him, would make people think deeply.

Moreover, this concerns the resurrection of Yahiko.

Konan is willing to try anything as long as the cost isn't Nagato's life.

That's why Konan reacted so strongly after hearing what Uchiha Kakuyama said. In her heart, she had also fantasized that if the price of reviving Yahiko wasn't Nagato's life, she would not hesitate to do it, even if it meant she could never become a ninja again, or she would go blind or deaf.

In such a short period of time, Xiao Nan seemed to have a brainstorming session, thinking about many, many things.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Kakuzan, who had been watching Konan the whole time, saw her ever-changing, unpredictable expressions and knew that he had achieved his goal, so he smiled slightly.

Just as Konan composed herself and was about to speak, Uchiha Kakuzan spoke up at the opportune moment.

"Don't worry, I mean you no harm. I'll wait for you here until midnight tonight, then I'll go back. If you're interested, come find me."

Konan was completely confused by what Uchiha Kakuyama said. She didn't understand why they had to meet at midnight when she was right there.