Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 150 Gods Don't Show Health Bars (Updated 3/3)

Pain Deva Path's preparations were finally complete, and Nagato's will descended upon it, taking over the control of the compressed chakra in Deva Path's place.

【Super Shinra Tensei】

Rumble—!

Centered on Tiandao's body, a spherical repulsive shockwave spread out.

The shockwave traveled at speeds far exceeding the speed of sound, thus compressing the air and creating a sound barrier, producing a series of muffled, booming sounds.

Wide, radiating cracks appeared on the ground beneath the Heavenly Dao's feet. The towering trees around him were torn apart instantly, like wheat being harvested by a sickle, and then disappeared into the spreading repulsive rings.

At this moment, it is not only the earth and forests that are affected, but also the space of several hundred meters centered on the Heavenly Dao.

The vast space was filled with non-air-induced folds, and fish-scale-like interference ripples appeared for a moment before shattering, then transforming into violent spatial tremors.

Because he did not reclaim the power of the other Six Paths of Pain, Nagato's [Super Shinra Tensei], performed through the Deva Path, did not reach its strongest level.

However, the power of such a repulsive shockwave still exceeds the scope of ninjutsu.

If it were to erupt in Amegakure, it would inevitably destroy all the steel buildings, turning the entire village into ruins and killing everyone below the rank of Jonin on the spot.

If it were to erupt in the center of Konoha Village, it could destroy half of the village, including iconic buildings such as the Hokage Rock and the Hokage Building, which would be completely wiped out.

Even the complete version of [Wood Release: Advent of a World of Trees], personally unleashed by Hashirama Senju, could not withstand [Super Shinra Tensei].

However, Xia Zuo's [Birth of the Tree World] can resist it because each tree is imbued with the power of Magnet Release, and the electromagnetic force enhances the tree's resilience and defense.

The repulsive shockwave of [Super Shinra Tensei] only spread 1300 meters before being blocked by the massive energy consumed by the layers of giant trees that were covered in electric arcs.

"This is impossible!!"

"That's absolutely impossible!!!"

"God! How could this be! Defeated by a ninja!!"

Nagato couldn't believe that his [Super Shinra Tensei], which he unleashed with all his might through the Heavenly Dao, could be blocked by a mere Wood Release Kekkei Genkai.

His near-collapse distorted the Heavenly Dao, which should have been expressionless; his facial muscles twitched as the black rod tore them apart, causing blood to flow.

"god?"

As a user of Wood Release, Xia Zuo controlled all information in the forest, and he heard Nagato's wails through the Six Paths of Pain.

Xia Zuo laughed loudly and said, "Hahaha, what is a god?"

"Those who are divine and enlightened, those who are untouchable! Those who wield the laws of heaven and earth! Those who carry out divine punishment!"

"Most importantly, God is an omnipotent and powerful being, a great being whose health bar will never be revealed no matter how his enemies attack him!"

"Nagato (whispering), you cripple, you can easily kill someone with half health, what right do you have to call yourself a god?"

"In the ninja world, there are only two gods that I can truly acknowledge."

"You are not, nor is Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, because you are all people within my reach. How could I possibly consider you gods?"

Xia Zuo stood atop a newly grown giant tree, looking at the distorted expression on Tendo's face, and asked with a smile, "Now I'm going to take away the Konoha ninjas. Who objects? Who agrees?"

Pain Deva Path slowly raised his head and looked at Xia Zuo, saying, "You mere Fifth Hokage, with your mere Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, think you can make a god bow down? You're courting death."

Xia Zuo asked curiously, "Nagato, you don't even dare to appear in front of me. You have to use the power of the Rinnegan in a scattered manner. You have no hope of winning at all."

"The way you are right now, even though you can't win, you're stubbornly refusing to admit defeat, which is really putting me in a difficult position."

"Do you expect me to destroy all your Pain puppets and eliminate the core members of Akatsuki before you admit defeat?"

"Or perhaps, the only option is to kill Konan?"

This last sentence completely enraged Nagato.

Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan have helped, supported, and encouraged each other since childhood. They survived to adulthood in the war-torn Land of Rain, and their bond is irreplaceable.

Especially after Yahiko was killed by Hanzo, Konan and Nagato, who were lucky enough to survive, regarded each other as treasures, as beings more important than their own lives.

Both of them were willing to die for each other without hesitation.

Nagato could disregard his Pain puppets because they could be replenished and manufactured at any time.

He could also disregard the core members of the Second Akatsuki, because there had been many changes in the core members over the years, and it would be easy to replenish them from the five great ninja villages.

But Nagato cannot ignore Konan.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Fifth Hokage Natsume, how dare you lay a finger on Konan! I will kill you!"

Xia Zuo laughed: "Kill me? You think you can?"

"Fine, I'll destroy all your toys first, maybe that will calm you down."

Nagato's [Super Shinra Tensei] did not achieve the desired effect and failed to rescue all the Akatsuki members from the Wood Release forest.

But he still managed to rescue several of Payne's.

Payne, the Animal Path, was the first to attack. He slammed his hands on the ground, channeling the power of his Rinnegan into them, and unleashed a massive summoning array on the ground.

Animal Realm - Spirit Summoning Technique - Amplifying Spirit Summoning Technique

Amidst a mountain of white smoke, a three-headed hellhound, an egg-laying Yatagarasu with a beak full of sharp spikes, and a chameleon that appeared and disappeared instantly.

Xia Zuo knew a lot about these three "little" creatures.

Ignoring the movements of the hellhound and the chameleon, he first focused his attention on the Yatagarasu.

【Magnetic Escape - Earth Magnetic Elemental Light】

Xia Zuo used Magnet Release to connect with the Earth's magnetic field and, with the help of the Yatagarasu's enormous body, applied a tremendous electromagnetic force, forcibly pressing the Yatagarasu to the ground.

Then Xia Zuo puffed out his chest and spat out clear seawater at the giant summoning beast.

[Water Escape·Big Explosive Water Wave]

Kisame Hoshigaki, the honest member of the Akatsuki, stepped forward despite his injuries and quickly formed hand seals to perform the same ninjutsu.

[Water Escape·Big Explosive Water Wave]

Kisame Hoshigaki's mastery of Water Release was clearly superior, and the water he released was more powerful and fierce, creating waves that directly knocked back Natsu's Water Release.

Two identical water-escape techniques created a massive amount of water, turning the entire battlefield into a vast ocean. The surging waves crashed and splashed, then turned into a torrential downpour.

The bodies of the Yatagarasu and the Hellhound were completely soaked. The Hellhound looked increasingly disheveled, and the Yatagarasu's feathers were so heavy that it could no longer fly.

Surprisingly, the chameleon, which can turn invisible, did not leave any trace.

It's unclear whether it was simply lucky to be outside the area affected by the downpour, or whether its camouflage ability was so strong that it could not only conceal itself but also hide the nearby rainwater.

As Kisame's giant wave crashed down, Xia Zuo felt that the prelude to the next ninjutsu was ready, so he once again stirred up his surging chakra and unleashed an even more deadly ninjutsu.

【Ice Release: Ice Age】

Centered on Xia Zuo's palm as it slapped the water's surface, the chill spread wildly, and the surging waves quickly turned into thick ice porridge, then froze less than 10 meters in front of Xia Zuo.

Giant waves turned into icebergs, seawater into ice fields, forests into icy jungles, and even the two enormous spirit beasts were completely frozen.

The three-headed hellhound and the Yatagarasu, which was pressed to the ground, were both turned into living ice sculptures.

Fortunately, the hellhound and the Yatagarasu are huge and are both warm-blooded animals. Although they were frozen like dogs, they were not in danger of losing their lives and were even able to struggle to some extent.

On the contrary, the chameleon, which had been hiding, was forced to break its cloaking because its limbs were frozen.

The chameleon looked at Xia Zuo, who was creating the cold, opened its mouth to aim, and then stuck out its long tongue, wanting to take Xia Zuo's life.

But chameleons are already slow-moving, and now, affected by the cold, they are even slower, which is frustrating.

When Xia Zuo saw the chameleon open its mouth, he raised his right hand and pointed at it.

Ice Release: Freezing Ray

A beam of light, almost black and blue, shot from Xia Zuo's fingertip. The cold air it emitted condensed into water vapor along its path, creating a crystal-clear, snow-white ice crystal track. Even carbon dioxide formed snowflakes.

The Freeze Ray hit the chameleon's mouth, instantly freezing its tongue, which was poised to strike.

Blue frost spread from the chameleon's head, merging with the chill rising from its feet at its knees, turning the giant summoned beast into a massive block of ice inside and out.

The chameleon died, but its resistance drew Xia Zuo's attention, buying time for Hell Path.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Payne Hell Path traversed through layers of forest, approaching the human path which had turned into a dried-up corpse, and grabbed the corpse, stuffing it into a mouth the size of a doorway.

Just as the Hell Path began to chew, just as he was about to leap away from the location of the Human Path's corpse, black runes appeared beneath his feet.

The densely packed runes formed a complex three-layered structure, creating a powerful binding force that firmly controlled the Hell Path on the ground.

Immediately afterwards, white light flashed repeatedly within the rune array, and two explosive talismans appeared through a spirit medium and were firmly attached to Hell Path's legs.

[Sealing Technique - Array Symbol Transcribing - Multiplicative Explosive Talisman Array]

The detonating talisman exploded upon contact with flesh, but the energy of the explosion reflected a larger rune array, which then summoned four more detonating talismans, which were then attached to Hell Path's body and exploded once more.

Then came a series of explosions, each one summoning twice the number of explosive tags: 8, 16, 32...

64 photos, 128 photos.

The detonation of the 128 explosive tags created a deafening explosion, igniting a giant fireball and sending a mushroom cloud soaring into the sky.

The Hell Path was reduced to dust and completely vanished in the violent explosion, also suspending the [Mutual Multiplication Explosive Talisman Technique].

The operation.

Having destroyed the Hell Path, Xia Zuo let out a hearty laugh: "Finally caught the Hell Path of Pain, capable of resurrecting other puppets."

"Nagato, aren't you going to admit defeat?"

Pain's expression returned to calm, but his aura remained terrifyingly gloomy.

He looked at Xia Zuo with his pale purple Rinnegan and said with absolute certainty, "You actually know Pain's information that Orochimaru and Itachi Uchiha didn't know."

"So, do you know?"

"The more Pain's Six Paths die, the stronger the power concentrated on the Deva Path becomes."

Xia Zuo sneered, "Of course I know. When I split into the Human Path, the aura of your Heavenly Path toy nearly doubled. It's obvious that you've absorbed the power of another Pain."

"But I also know that once the power of the Six Paths of Pain is concentrated in the Deva Path, he won't be able to exert his full power for long, otherwise he will damage this body."

"This is a puppet made from Yahiko's corpse. I don't think you, Nagato, would be willing to part with it."

Pain's expression remained unchanged, but his breathing became disordered, clearly indicating that Xia Zuo had hit his weak point.

Xia Zuo suddenly chuckled: "Most importantly, I'm not talking to this toy."

Nagato, who was hiding in the shadows, was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, and then he was horrified.

Xia Zuo's displayed strength was so astonishing that it unknowingly attracted Nagato's full attention, causing him to overlook the commotion around him.

It wasn't until Xia Zuo reminded him that he snapped back to reality in shock, and his Rinnegan immediately "saw" a person in his surroundings.

Xia Zuo.

Nagato quickly realized that this Natsusa was not the real person, but a clone created by Wood Release.

To Nagato's greatest surprise, Xia Zuo's Wood Release clone was standing right behind him, pressed tightly against his wheelchair.

The clone of Natsuki was holding a kunai made of solidified ice crystals, pressed tightly against Nagato's throat, ready to sever Nagato's vitals with a single movement.

But Nagato and Natsume both knew that this was impossible, at least not with kunai formed by ice release.

Nagato possessed the Rinnegan for a long time, and during the process of his body adapting to the Rinnegan, he developed many extraordinary abilities.

For example, the moment Nagato noticed the ice-elemental kunai, his skin forcibly plundered the ice-elemental chakra, causing the ice crystal kunai to instantly sublimate and evaporate.

At the same time, a powerful repulsive force erupted, violently sending Xia Zuo's Wood Release clone flying, crashing directly into the wall of the secret chamber, breaking its limbs and neck.

If it's a regular clone, it will disappear when its chakra is stolen.

Even the Shadow Clone Technique of Konoha Village would turn into a puff of white smoke under such a fierce repulsive force.

Even though this Wood Release clone had crashed into the wall and was almost completely destroyed, its head could still turn and even let out a hearty laugh.

Xia Zuo's laughter was hearty and triumphant, which made Nagato frown involuntarily.

He kept reviewing his actions and checking his surroundings, fearing that he might have left a flaw somewhere, or that Xia Zuo might have already laid a deadly trap.

However, Nagato found nothing and could only look at Xia Zuo's clone with suspicion.

Xia Zuo activated his Wood Release chakra, and a small arm grew from his forehead, pointing to Nagato's neck, where there was a thin, shallow wound from which a tiny bit of blood was flowing.

Xia Zuo said smugly, "Nagato, gods cannot show their health bars in front of people, and I have already seen yours."