Starting as the mastermind behind Naruto

Chapter 282 The First Person to Die in Battle

"We must proceed according to our plan."

Jiraiya gazed at the distant smoke and fire rising from the battlefield, and said in a deep voice, "Everyone, don't be reckless. We must separate Pain and Konan and defeat them one by one!"

"clear."

The others nodded solemnly.

Beneath the city walls, the ninja combat groups were also listening to their commander-in-chief's instructions, as each unit's ninjas would be responsible for supporting and assisting a specific ninja on the city walls.

Seven ninjas who are individually the strongest in combat.

Seven combat units were responsible for coordinating with these seven ninjas.

The tense atmosphere before the great battle was somewhat frightening.

All seven people present had attended the pre-battle meeting, and they all knew clearly how strong their opponent was—a figure who stood at the very top of the Akatsuki monsters!

Gaara, Rock Lee, and Naruto Uzumaki, who had never experienced such a battle before, began to uncontrollably unleash their chakra, drawing the attention of others.

"What a group of energetic youngsters!"

Mei Terumi covered her red lips with her hand and chuckled a few times, then praised, "So, do you all have girlfriends?"

Lee Rock: "..."

Gaara: "..."

Naruto Uzumaki: "..."

Is now the time to talk about girlfriends?

Let alone those three young brats, aren't Kakashi Hatake, Jiraiya, and Might Guy also three single guys?

However, Mei Terumi's teasing gradually eased the tension on the faces of the three young men, including Rock Lee.

"Alright, let's wrap up our small talk here!"

Jiraiya abruptly clasped his hands together, and Fukasaku and Shima, sitting on his shoulders, simultaneously clasped their hands as well. The three voices shouted in unison, "Sage Mode - Activate!"

The next moment, Jiraiya's aura surged!

Everyone stared in slight surprise at Jiraiya's completely changed appearance, except for Naruto, who frowned and whispered, "The first shadow clone has finished absorbing natural energy. The second shadow clone, prepare to absorb natural energy!"

"Sage Mode - Activated!"

Naruto Uzumaki instantly unleashed the same aura, his eyes gleaming with an orange hue, and his eyes gradually began to resemble those of a frog.

This is the only option we can use, even if it's a clumsy one.

Because Naruto Uzumaki has the Nine-Tails inside him, he can only transform into Sage Mode independently. However, it is obviously impossible to take this into account during battle, so the group came up with two solutions.

The first option: Naruto creates two shadow clones and begins absorbing and storing natural energy in advance. This way, he can directly activate Sage Mode by dispersing the shadow clones and allowing the natural energy within them to return to his main body.

The second option is for Naruto to create more than a dozen shadow clones at once, carefully calculating how much natural energy each shadow clone needs to merge with his body when it returns to his body. After the first shadow clone dissipates, the second shadow clone begins to slowly extract natural energy.

Each shadow clone must keep in mind the amount of natural energy it absorbs, because the amount of natural energy they absorb varies.

This is rather troublesome.

If there is too little, it wastes natural energy.

If there are too many, they will directly cause frogification.

Fortunately, there were still a few toads on Mount Myōboku watching over Naruto's shadow clones as they extracted natural energy. If any part of the process went wrong, they would immediately kill the idle shadow clones and notify Naruto.

This battle.

Konoha really went to great lengths.

"Li, we can't fall behind!"

Might Guy gave Rock Lee a thumbs up, then clenched his fist tightly, and his chakra aura began to surge!

Rock Lee gritted his teeth, his aura gradually synchronizing with Might Guy's: "Yes, Guy-sensei! Eight Gates... Sixth Gate - Gate of View - Open!"

Rock Lee can easily open the sixth gate, and if he wants to risk his life, he can open the seventh gate, but the probability of dying is relatively high.

Might Guy could easily open the sixth gate, and even opening the seventh gate was very simple, but the seventh gate consumed too much energy.

"That's terrifying..."

Gaara stretched out his palm and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He glanced down at Rock Lee and Might Guy, who had activated the Eight Gates, and then at Jiraiya and Naruto, who had activated Sage Mode.

Gaara and Mei Terumi's gazes gradually converged, eventually settling on Kakashi Hatake. They also thought that Kakashi Hatake should have a similar technique.

"Cough cough..."

Kakashi Hatake tugged at his headband and coughed a few times, saying, "I don't have a similar technique, only the Mangekyou Sharingan. I'm sorry to disappoint you two."

"…oh."

Mei Terumi and Gaara slowly withdrew their gazes.

"Alright, let's go!"

Jiraiya was the first to jump off the wall, leading the group towards Pain's location, shouting, "Mei Terumi, attack Konan! I'll attack the strongest Pain! Guy, attack the Pain who can absorb chakra! Kakashi, deal with the Pain who can transform into a weapon! You three kids, hold off the other three Pains!"

"clear!"

The group moved swiftly through the forest, and behind them, thousands of ninjas also entered the forest, chasing after them!

the other side.

The Six Paths of Pain were still slowly advancing towards Konoha.

Asura Path Pain's body transformed into a radar capable of sensing chakra, and he whispered, "Konan, someone's rushing over. Seven of them have extremely strong chakra reactions, and there are thousands more reacting behind them..."

"oh."

Xiao Nan frowned, then waved her hand, scattering the sheets of origami. She said coldly, "So, do you want to engage them in a direct battle now?"

"The real body is right behind us."

Pain slowly raised his palm and said softly, "It doesn't matter if we fight like this. As long as the main body is still there, even if all six Pains are damaged, they can be repaired. This way, they can also experience what it means to be...despair."

"Let's clear the battlefield first!"

After Pain finished speaking, a tremendous repulsive force suddenly erupted from his palm, instantly overturning the forest in front of him!

Driven by repulsive force, the soil and trees, carrying sand and dust, rushed rapidly toward the direction of the Konoha group!

"Then say hello..."

The Asura Path Pain spoke in a deep voice, opening his chest.

Under his chakra radar, cruise missiles emerged and suddenly flew into the air, heading towards Jiraiya and the other seven under his precise control!

"Earth Escape·Earth Style City Bi!"

Jiraiya was the first to bring his palms together, and in a deep voice formed a hand seal, releasing a wide city wall that blocked the surging rubble and giant trees!

"Quicksand Waterfall!"

Gaara stood on the sand mat, watching the missiles fly towards him. He raised his hand and turned the earth into a sandstorm that swept into the air, swallowing the missiles one by one.

The two of them stopped Payne's first wave of attacks.

"Is this the power of Payne?"

Mei Terumi broke out in a cold sweat and whispered, "In a mere instant, they swept away all the obstacles in our sight..."

"Just this one strike..."

Lee Rock's expression turned serious as he said, "It already possesses destructive power comparable to Master Kai's Daytime Tiger!"

Jiraiya nodded solemnly and said in a deep voice, "This is the ability of Pain that Yahiko created... Repulsion! The bomb that just flew by was an ability possessed by a Pain with a ferocious appearance..."

After saying that, Jiraiya added, "Perhaps Nagato just wants to clear out a suitable battlefield and let us know..."

"..."

Everyone fell silent.

"alright."

Jiraiya's serious expression vanished, replaced by a smile: "Since the enemy has greeted us, we should naturally return the greeting! Let's go!"

The group rapidly ascended the city wall of Tuliuchengbi.

When they stood on the city wall, they also saw Pain and Konan waiting for them. This time, they were going to face a powerful enemy!

These are merely puppets manipulated by the enemy.

"Jiraiya-sensei."

Pain slowly raised his head, his Rinnegan motionless in its socket. He simply and calmly spread out his palms: "Although it is a foolish act for a group of mortals to challenge a god, your courage deserves me to build you a suitable burial place."

Pain's gaze shifted slightly, landing on Naruto Uzumaki beside Jiraiya. He said softly, "It seems that's our youngest junior brother, Naruto Uzumaki. Let's take him as the spoils of this battle."

"..."

Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration and looked at Pain, saying, "I can't understand your actions. I heard from the Perverted Sage that if your so-called goal is to bring peace to the ninja world, why did you let Uehara Naraku destroy Sunagakure and Kirigakure!"

"Naruto!"

Jiraiya frowned and glanced at Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto ignored Jiraiya, clenched his fists, and looked at Pain, saying, "This war is clearly unnecessary! If it's for peace..."

"shut up."

Pain interrupted Naruto, slowly raising his hand towards him. A cold voice emanated from his mouth: "I don't like listening to nonsense. What you need to do now is accept your fate and accept the punishment bestowed upon you by the gods for your courage!"

Are all blond-haired people in the ninja world chatterboxes?

Deidara from Akatsuki is annoying enough, and Naruto Uzumaki from Konoha is always so talkative. These blond-haired guys talk too much.

Jiraiya patted Naruto on the shoulder and said softly, "Alright, Naruto, let's take care of all the Pains here first! Nagato won't believe you until he sees the power that someone capable of changing this ninja world has displayed."

"Yes, the lecherous immortal."

Naruto Uzumaki slowly nodded.

"So...are you all ready?"

Jiraiya clenched his left fist and slammed it into his right palm, shouting, "If you're ready... we can go for it!"

"yes!"

After everyone responded loudly, they leaped down the city wall and ran towards Pain and Konan!

"Haa!"

Might Guy and Rock Lee were the fastest. With all six gates open, they were the first to find their respective targets and rushed towards the location of their target, Pain!

"Hmm? Planning to take them down one by one?"

Pain's gaze shifted slightly, settling on the seven enemies, and he sighed softly, "Still so naive, Jiraiya-sensei..."

Click, click…

The Asura Path, standing in front of Pain, quickly changed its form, with thick gun barrels appearing on its body!

The next moment, gunshots rang out!

Countless bullets shot out from the muzzle!

A barrage of bullets converged into a line of fire, blocking all possible directions from which the seven ninjas could rush, forcing them to either dodge or defend themselves!

Immediately afterwards, an exceptionally thick sniper rifle barrel appeared on Shura Path's chest, from which a huge bullet flew directly toward Rock Lee at the forefront!

That shot was incredibly insidious!

"Kamui!"

Kakashi Hatake instantly activated his Mangekyou Sharingan, narrowly absorbing the powerful bullet into the Kamui dimension using his eye technique. He turned and shouted a warning, "Watch out! The weapon on Pain's body..."

Bang!

A second bullet flew over!

A flower of blood bloomed from Kakashi Hatake's chest!

Because Kakashi Hatake had just used his eye technique to save Rock Lee's life, he didn't have time to activate his eye technique before being hit in the chest by the second shot hidden in the Asura Path!

The battle has only just begun…

The first person to sacrifice has appeared!

On the distant Fire Shadow Rock.

Kabuto adjusted his glasses and chuckled, saying, "I never expected the first person to fall in battle would be Mr. Hatake Kakashi..."

"What?"

Obito Uchiha turned to look at Kabuto Yakushi in disbelief, and asked coldly, "How is this possible? Kakashi is the most cunning and treacherous guy, how could he possibly be dead!"

It's hard to know Obito's true feelings after hearing this.

Perhaps he didn't want to see Kakashi Hatake die in battle, or perhaps he wanted to smear Kakashi Hatake's character.

Minato Namikaze clenched his fist and slammed it weakly into the ground, his voice low and somber as he said, "No, Kakashi did indeed die in battle, to save a young boy, to warn his comrades..."

At this moment.

Uehara Naraku and the others were still on their way to Kumogakure.

Uehara Naraku frowned slightly and rubbed his temples. He was observing the battle in Konoha from a distance and had received firsthand information.

Kakashi, in the end, died saving someone, didn't he?

One more chapter to come, later!

Damn it, another 4,000 words!

(End of this chapter)