Chapter 176: The Crushed Nagato

After continuously maxing out his own buffs and entering a state where his base stats would at least not be crushed by Uchiha Feiyu, Uzumaki Nagato, who was floating in the sky, finally let out a breath.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Feiyu, standing on the ground, looked up at Uzumaki Nagato in the sky, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

He had originally planned to finish off Nagato before going to trouble Jiraiya and the others, but he hadn't expected Uzumaki Nagato to summon those two toad immortals from Mount Myoboku directly, which actually saved him quite a bit of trouble.

"Sage Mode, huh... You don't think you're the only one who knows how to use it, do you!"

Although Uchiha Feiyu's appearance had not changed in the slightest, the natural energy surrounding his body seemed to be swallowed by some invisible force, surging madly into his body.

Even the sun in the sky erupted with dazzling radiance for an instant before dimming again; endless light was absorbed by him, and in Nagato's perception, Uchiha Feiyu himself seemed to have turned into an infinite black hole.

"Little Nagato, be careful... The opponent's Sage Mode is terrifying! He can actually absorb so much natural energy!"

"I know... It seems we both underestimated him!"

However, this state did not last long. The original Uchiha Feiyu could remain in Sage Mode at all times, constantly devouring the natural energy produced by the planet, but ever since he discovered he was on the verge of becoming energy-based, he had cut off his own pathways for absorbing natural energy.

That is why he now needs to add the Sage Mode buff when entering battle, and he dares not stay in the Sage state for too long, otherwise he might very well slide directly toward the evolutionary path of the Otsutsuki and become an energy-based lifeform.

It could be said that Madara Uchiha, this reincarnation of Indra, lived a life that was a tragedy of being beaten up by Senju Hashirama; up until his resurrection, this guy had never once won against Senju Hashirama.

A normal Eternal Mangekyo, and he wanted to awaken the Rinnegan by fusing a bit of Senju Hashirama's cells? How could that be possible?

After all, there is a clear reference point for both sides: Kurama's strength would only become stronger compared to a thousand years ago, not weaker. Since the original Kurama could participate in the great war a thousand years ago without being viewed as a burden by Indra and Ashura, it is clear that while its power might be inferior to Indra and Ashura, it was by no means a world of difference.

"Shinra Tensei!"

"How is it possible... That guy... How could that guy possess the power of the Rinnegan?!"

Uchiha Feiyu, floating in the sky, stretched slightly, his joints popping; come to think of it, it had been a long time since he had fought with all his might.

With a boom, two identical repulsive forces collided, and after a moment of stalemate, Nagato was sent flying directly.

Yet as the Ashura of this generation, Senju Hashirama had completely crushed Madara Uchiha, this Indra, even forcing Madara Uchiha to bring in the Nine-Tails as a summon, only to be beaten up by Senju Hashirama all the same!

At the Three-Tomoe stage, Madara Uchiha was beaten up by Senju Hashirama; at the Mangekyo stage, Madara Uchiha was beaten up by Senju Hashirama, who had awakened the Sage Body and Wood Release; at the Eternal Mangekyo stage, Madara Uchiha was beaten up by Senju Hashirama, who had learned Sage Mode!

And Senju Hashirama was even more monstrous. Battles between the reincarnations of Indra and Ashura had always seen Indra holding the upper hand; even in the initial battle between Indra and Ashura, Ashura had to bring the Nine-Tails to contend with him.

Black Zetsu, attached to Nagato, was equally bewildered and muttered a few words. On the surface, it seemed that Senju Hashirama's cells plus the Eternal Mangekyo could potentially awaken the Rinnegan, but in reality, Black Zetsu knew very well that without the chakra of Ashura and Indra, awakening the Rinnegan was purely a pipe dream!

One must know that Madara Uchiha's strength, among the successive generations of Indra, could be counted on one hand—not every generation of Indra had siblings, and not every generation of Indra's siblings could awaken the Mangekyo!

Without the Mangekyo of a sibling, no matter how high the talent of the Indra reincarnation, it was impossible to reach the level of the Eternal Mangekyo. It could be said that Madara Uchiha's strength could at least rank in the top three among the thousand years of Indra reincarnations!

Even in the battle against the eight-tails jinchuriki Killer Bee, Uchiha Feiyu had actually suppressed a lot of his power; at the very least, he hadn't brought out either Sage Mode or the Rinnegan, using only the White Fang Sword Technique and the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.

And in the battle between Madara Uchiha and Senju Hashirama, although Kurama could intervene, the power it displayed was just so-so. In reality, in a one-on-one, even without counting Sharingan Genjutsu and the suppression of tailed beasts by Wood Release, it would be very easy for Madara Uchiha and Senju Hashirama to defeat the Nine-Tails.

From this, it can also be seen that the strength of Madara Uchiha and Senju Hashirama was not much worse than their ancestors; Senju Hashirama might even be slightly stronger than Ashura!

These two reincarnations of Indra and Ashura were already the most talented combination in a thousand years. Even so, after fusing Senju Hashirama's cells, Madara Uchiha spent decades, almost until he was at the end of his rope and physically decrepit, before he awakened the Rinnegan.

"Get ready, don't blink!"

Looking at Nagato standing in the sky, Uchiha Feiyu said leisurely, his body instantly manifesting the Susanoo Armor flickering with lightning, and in an instant, he appeared before Nagato.

Uchiha Feiyu even suspected that Senju Hashirama's strength, even compared to the first Ashura, might have been even greater.

Nagato, sent flying, crashed to the ground and rolled for a moment before standing up, but the look of horror in his eyes as he looked at Uchiha Feiyu standing in the sky could no longer be concealed.

"Theoretically, the Rinnegan is indeed the manifestation of the Sharingan evolving to its final form... However... This guy is just an ordinary Uchiha, how could it be... It's truly baffling."

Yet the ocular power displayed by Uchiha Feiyu made Black Zetsu and Nagato very certain that although the opponent's eyes only had three tomoe, he had indeed awakened the Rinnegan, and his utilization of the Rinnegan was definitely above Nagato's.

This was also a given; Nagato's eyes were transplanted after all, and no matter what, in terms of usage, they could never compare to the native, naturally awakened ones of Uchiha Feiyu.

A look of horror appeared in Nagato's purple Rinnegan, and a terrifying repulsive force erupted from his body once more:

"Shinra Tensei!"

Now feeling the abundant, infinite power within his body, and looking at this opponent before him who was barely worth a fight, Uchiha Feiyu also perked up a little.

When Uchiha Feiyu's gaze turned toward Uzumaki Nagato, Uzumaki Nagato actually had a vague feeling of being locked onto by a natural predator, his body trembling slightly.

"Be careful, Nagato! That guy is about to attack again!"

The toad immortal perched on his shoulder shouted a warning, and at the same time, Uchiha Feiyu transformed into a bolt of lightning, the Black Longsword in his hand slashing down once more!

A rumbling sound exploded in the air, and at the same time, a white, umbrella-shaped air wave was kicked up around Uchiha Feiyu; the mere aftermath of his movement was no less than a standard C-rank or even B-rank Wind Release ninjutsu!

Ever since possessing the Rinnegan, Nagato had never been in a situation where he couldn't see his opponent clearly. However, facing Uchiha Feiyu, who had directly broken the sound barrier and reached five times the speed of sound, he only felt a blur before his eyes, and the blade light was already upon him.

Fortunately, under Sage Mode, Nagato's sensory ability had also greatly increased; even if his eyes couldn't see clearly, he could sense the opponent's attack arriving. In an instant, two more arms grew out from his shoulders, crossing to block the Black Longsword.

With a crack, the two arms instantly shattered into a pile of parts, but Nagato also used this opportunity to escape Uchiha Feiyu's attack range, taking a big breath.

"Asura Path ability? Fancy but useless!"

Not giving Nagato time to catch his breath, Uchiha Feiyu appeared before Nagato again like a teleportation, accompanied by a terrifying sonic boom, and slashed down with the same simple strike.

"Sage Art — Frog Kumite!"

The two toads standing on Nagato's shoulders extended their tiny frog fists, and the invisible energy arms formed by condensed natural energy slammed into the incoming Uchiha Feiyu, holding the Black Longsword Uchiha Feiyu slashed down with in a brief stalemate before being directly shaken away.

However, this tiny bit of stalemate time allowed Nagato to recover his wits; his eyes widened, and he unleashed Shinra Tensei once again.

Only this time, the Shinra Tensei was not meant to attack Uchiha Feiyu, but to directly blast Nagato himself away!

"Tsk, is there any point? If you keep dodging like this, you won't be a match for me!"

Uchiha Feiyu slowly rose from the ground, standing in the sky, and looked down at the rather disheveled Nagato, speaking indifferently.

"Look around you! If you keep dodging like this, the Akatsuki organization will likely be destroyed directly."

Hearing this, Nagato's eyes constricted. He scanned his surroundings; although the battle between the two had only lasted a few rounds of rapid exchanges and he had been in a passive, defensive state, for powerhouses of their level, mere full-speed movement was enough to be called a natural disaster, let alone the use of ninjutsu.

Movement at several times the speed of sound was enough to stir up air ripples approaching B-rank ninjutsu; every casual use of Shinra Tensei was enough to destroy a city block; every slash Uchiha Feiyu made kicked up sword energy capable of splitting mountains...

In a mere dozen seconds, the current Akatsuki base had already been half-destroyed, and the number of Akatsuki ninjas who had died just from being caught in the aftermath was already over a hundred!

Seeing this scene, Nagato's expression was very ugly. One must know that the current Nagato was not the cold-blooded and ruthless Pain from the original work, and these members of the Akatsuki organization were not those heinous, irredeemable rogue ninjas; Nagato still had deep feelings for the current members of the Akatsuki organization.

"Don't waver! Nagato! Facing an opponent like this, we don't have the leisure to control the scale of the battle!"

The two toad immortals sitting on Nagato's shoulders immediately spoke up to warn him. After hearing this, Nagato's expression straightened, and he nodded slightly:

"I understand, Immortal Shima, Immortal Fukasaku!"

Although Nagato felt quite pained by the worthless sacrifice of these Akatsuki members, they were, after all, merely ordinary Akatsuki members who had died, not life-and-death friends of Nagato like Konan and Yahiko, so it was not enough to make Nagato lose his reason.

However, Uchiha Feiyu had only said that offhandedly; seeing that Nagato was not shaken, he did not care and simply slashed down with his blade again.

From the beginning until now, apart from occasionally using Shinra Tensei and the Ten Thousand Transformations Sacred Art, Uchiha Feiyu had relied on his physical constitution, which was strong to the limit, to crush Nagato and leave him in precarious situations.

Although Uchiha Feiyu had now truly stepped over the threshold of the Six Paths Level and possessed all kinds of powerful ninjutsu, he discovered that when facing opponents of the same level, this simplest form of taijutsu was still the most useful.

As for ninjutsu, unless it was some unique Secret Technique, conventional ninjutsu at the Six Paths Level could only serve as an auxiliary ability in battles between peers; it could be used to force back an enemy to regroup, but it lacked any real lethality.

As for Genjutsu, even though Uchiha Feiyu possessed a Secret Technique like the God-Controlling Technique, he had no way to cast it on an opponent who also possessed the Rinnegan, limited by the constraints of chakra energy itself.

Only taijutsu was something that would never go out of style; as long as one's strength was great enough, speed fast enough, and physique strong enough, whether it was Otsutsuki Kaguya or Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, one could finish them off with a single punch.

Just like now, Uchiha Feiyu did not use any powerful offensive ninjutsu, nor did he use any unique Rinnegan Dojutsu; he simply relied on his powerful physique augmented by chakra and the Lightning Release Armor to raise his own strength and speed to an incredible level, and with a casual slash, Nagato had to exhaust all his strength to block it.

Seeing Uchiha Feiyu's blade descending upon him again, and having just recovered from the five-minute cooldown period of Shinra Tensei, Nagato activated Shinra Tensei once more, repelling himself away.

"This won't do, this guy's speed is too fast, his strength is too strong... I can't even catch my breath, we have no way to..."

Uzumaki Nagato no longer had time to ponder the remaining thoughts, because Uchiha Feiyu had appeared in front of him again, and the same blade slashed down at his head once more.

Only this time, while swinging his blade, a faint glimmer flashed in Uchiha Feiyu's eyes as he glanced at a toad sitting on Uzumaki Nagato's shoulder.

In an instant, three Tomoe appeared in the eyes of that toad, and in just a split second, Nagato felt the Immortal Art Chakra within his body, which had been a flawless trinity, tremble.

Immortal Shima, who was on one of his shoulders, had been controlled by Uchiha Feiyu's Genjutsu at this moment and had completely stopped absorbing Natural Energy.

Although for Nagato, he could completely use the power of Yin-Yang Release and the Rinnegan to help Immortal Shima break the Genjutsu within a second, losing the balance of Immortal Art Chakra at this very moment, even without exiting Sage Mode, undoubtedly caused his power to instantly wane by a small margin.

(End of this chapter)