Starting as the mastermind behind Naruto

Chapter 289: Strong in physical skills? He traded it all for intelligence!

Outside Konoha Village.

When Uehara Naraku teleported here, a light flashed in Yakushi Kabuto's eyes, as if he had found his pillar of support, and he immediately pushed up his glasses.

"Lord Naraku!"

After addressing him respectfully, Kabuto praised Uehara Naraku's technique: "As expected of Lord Naraku, you can even use such a space-time technique that allows instantaneous teleportation between Kumogakure and Konoha!"

"No need to praise me, it's basic operation."

After waving his hand, Uehara Naraku looked up at the distant battlefield. Activating his Hunting Senses, his brow furrowed instinctively: "Is the battle only just beginning?"

"That's right, it shouldn't have been even half a minute!"

Kabuto's expression gradually turned serious, and he said in a deep voice, "Lord Jiraiya and Naruto Uzumaki unleashed their Sage Mode, each instantly defeating one of Pain's minions, and Might Guy also defeated the Preta Path, which can absorb chakra!"

Half a minute...

Even before spectators like Kabuto could react, the Human Path Pain, the Hell Path Pain, and the Preta Path Pain had already been defeated.

The Preta Path Pain had already been defeated once before, but Nagato revived him using the Hell Path's abilities and brought him back to life. However, he was defeated again after only half a minute in battle...

It was Might Guy, who was only good at hand-to-hand combat, who took care of it.

This watermelon-headed guy's martial arts skills are ridiculously strong!

"I knew it all along."

Uehara Naraku shook his head, gazing at the blue chakra steam erupting in the distance, his voice gradually lowering as he said, "That Might Guy is far from reaching his limit. Once he truly unleashes his power, he might even be able to defeat Lord Nagato..."

If Might Guy really unleashes his full potential...

The power of the Eighth Gate, the Gate of Death, is something Nagato cannot contend with.

On the battlefield.

Of the Six Paths of Pain, only the Deva Path, Asura Path, and Animal Path remain.

However, they faced an attack from Jiraiya, Naruto Uzumaki, Might Guy, Rock Lee, Gaara, and Mei Terumi, with ninja squads lurking nearby, ready to provide support at any moment.

Even if the remaining three Pain members were stronger, they could only hold their own against the combined attack of Jiraiya and the others for the time being. As time went on, their defeat was almost inevitable.

Jiraiya suddenly clasped his hands together, and the Sage of the Sea and the Sage of Shima, who were standing on his shoulders, joined hands at the same time, working together to release a combination ninjutsu!

"Sage Art: Goemon!"

A sharp glint flashed in Jiraiya's eyes!

After the Preta Path Pain was defeated, no other Pain could absorb chakra, and Jiraiya could finally unleash his full power!

With the aid of Wind Release ninjutsu, the flames, burning the oil, swept towards the remaining three Pain members, the raging flames almost blotting out the sky!

"Shinra Tensei!"

Pain extended his palm, repelled the incoming fire-style ninjutsu, and then retreated behind the Animal Path.

"Jiraiya-sensei."

Pain slowly raised his head, surveying the crowd present, and said softly, "Your power is truly not to be underestimated!"

"Give up, Nagato!"

Jiraiya slowly stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "Your true body's location has been discovered by our people, and only three of the Six Paths of Pain remain. You should know that you have no chance of winning..."

"Jiraiya-sensei!"

Pain coldly interrupted Jiraiya, his voice still unusually calm: "Isn't it too naive for mortals to ask a god to admit defeat? That Byakugan female ninja who detected our location, her name is Hinata, right?"

"Um?"

Naruto nodded, and just as he was about to say something, he suddenly realized something: "Wait, how do you know her name is Hinata!"

"Because she's in my hands."

Pain slowly and deliberately asked, "After a mortal discovers a god's whereabouts and is subsequently discovered by the god, what do you think will happen to her?"

Pain's voice was somewhat cold as he spoke: "Just as you were killing the Preta Path, Human Path, and Hell Path, that female ninja discovered our whereabouts. I must say, she fought very bravely."

"Release Hinata!"

Naruto Uzumaki stared intently at Pain, his face grim, as if trying to see his location through his Rinnegan!

"Naruto Uzumaki, don't always be so naive."

Pain stared at Naruto Uzumaki and said coldly, "If you want to save her, then defeat Pain and stand before me!"

"good!"

Naruto Uzumaki immediately agreed, clenching his fist tightly as he said, "I'm definitely going to take down these guys anyway!"

"They really have a lot of drive..."

Pain coldly stared at Naruto Uzumaki, then glanced at everyone present. The next second, the three Pains suddenly went their separate ways!

This scene made everyone present frown. At first, they did want to separate the Six Paths of Pain to prevent them from fighting together.

However, now that there are only three Pain left, there is no need to continue splitting Pain apart, because the remaining three Pain are all very strong, and even in a two-on-one situation, there is a possibility of them being killed.

Now that they have the upper hand, they definitely want to avoid casualties, because Kakashi Hatake's death was already a huge loss for Konoha.

Now that the three Pains are acting separately, how to allocate their resources has become a major problem, because each Pain is extremely powerful. Even the weakest of them, the Animal Path, can regroup the other two Pains at any time!

"Naruto, let's go hunt down the strongest Pain!"

After a moment's thought, Jiraiya immediately selected the strongest of them all, Pain (the Deva Path). He then continued, "Mizukage, Kazekage, you two are responsible for hunting down the Animal Path; Guy, Lee, you two are responsible for hunting down the Asura Path!"

After Jiraiya finished speaking, his voice became somewhat grave: "If anything unexpected happens, immediately seek backup; if Pain, who is chasing us, is summoned away, send a signal immediately and support your other comrades..."

"clear!"

The six people instantly split into three groups and left.

It must be said that their allocation was fairly reasonable.

Among them, the weakest in terms of individual strength is undoubtedly the Animal Path. However, he can immediately communicate with the Heavenly Path and the Asura Path, which makes the Animal Path particularly dangerous. At least if he encounters the Animal Path communicating and forming hand seals, he can prepare to escape in advance.

If one were to pursue and kill those of the Heavenly Dao and the Asura Dao, it would essentially be suicidal.

Therefore, Jiraiya entrusted the most dangerous task of hunting down the Deva Path to himself and Naruto Uzumaki; he entrusted the task of hunting down the Asura Path, which belonged to Kakashi Hatake, to Might Guy; and he entrusted the Animal Path, which was between danger and safety, to Gaara and Mei Terumi.

Just as they parted ways.

Nagato sat idly in another tree hole created by Konan, as their location was discovered by Konoha ninjas, forcing them to change positions.

There is now another person in this tree hollow.

That was Hinata Hyuga, who had just been captured by Nagato and Konan.

In retrospect, the sensory unit's way of thinking was wrong. They should have left after finally discovering Pain's whereabouts, but unfortunately, they decided to stay and monitor Nagato and Konan's location for the sake of the bigger picture.

Unfortunately, Konan noticed the anomaly, and a group of sensory ninjas were easily killed by Nagato, except for Hinata Hyuga, who was brought back.

A glint flashed in Nagato's Rinnegan.

The next moment, Nagato's expression turned serious: "The plan succeeded. They split into three teams, each chasing down one of the three Pains."

"Do you need me to take action?"

Xiao Nan frowned and spoke.

"Um."

Nagato nodded and continued in a deep voice, "Use the Asura Path to deal with those two strange taijutsu ninjas! Then use the Animal Path to summon you to take care of those two Kage... Finally, deal with Jiraiya-sensei and capture Naruto Uzumaki!"

"…Um."

Xiao Nan nodded.

Seeing that Konan's expression wasn't good, Nagato reached out and touched the ring on his finger, saying softly, "Oh, right, Uehara and Sasori have captured the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki and are on their way back to the organization's base..."

"Really? Naraku has become a reliable ninja too!"

Xiao Nan sighed, a look of surprise flashing across her face, which then slowly turned into a faint smile.

A smile crept onto Nagato's face as he murmured, "I didn't expect to be outdone by a junior... We can't keep Uehara waiting too long!"

In the forest outside Konoha Village.

Might Guy and Rock Lee accelerated wildly, racing against the Asura Path of Pain ahead. Little did they know that a trap awaited them.

Strictly speaking, no one could have imagined that the Asura Path Pain possessed such a terrifying self-destruct capability, because the Asura Path Pain was a puppet that could exert an unparalleled advantage in conventional battles!

"Li, let's have a match!"

Might Guy suddenly unleashed even greater speed, shouting encouragement to his disciples, "Whoever kicks Payne first will carry him and run a hundred laps around the forest!"

"Yes, Teacher Kai!"

Rock Lee gritted his teeth and nodded, his body suddenly bursting with even greater speed.

Rock Lee had no idea that there was anything wrong with his bet with Matt Kay.

Perhaps this is the world of the strong!

Impressive physical skills, right?

It was bought with my intelligence.

This statement was made in jest, because Rock Lee relied entirely on his own efforts.

In this world, besides those genius ninjas, some people who once worked silently to catch up with geniuses have now surpassed them.

For example, this time when he faced Payne.

Might Guy recommended Rock Lee to Tsunade, not Neji Hyuga, the team's genius. Lee was already able to easily open the sixth gate and barely manage to open the seventh.

The Asura Path of Pain stopped in a canyon or mountain stream.

The Rinnegan in the Asura Path's eye sockets watched the two figures rushing towards them, its voice somewhat mechanical: "They've arrived?"

Delivered at midnight!

I need to think about why I've been writing so lately lately!

Go to bed early, I need to get up early tomorrow to write!

(End of this chapter)