Chapter 101 (Patreon)

“What… was that ability?”

The Human Path stared wide-eyed at the Asura Path, which Mihawk had cut in half with a single strike.

Through the Six Paths’ shared vision—and because all six bodies were controlled by the same person—Nagato had witnessed exactly what happened to the Asura Path.

However, what unsettled him was not the fact that Mihawk had severed the body.

It was what had happened at the moment of contact.

Mihawk’s katana had first collided with the serrated blade formed from the Asura Path’s arm. Yet instead of stopping at the weapon’s surface, an unseen force had flowed directly through it.

The impact had penetrated the reinforced metal and erupted inside the Asura Path’s body.

Gears, chakra conduits, mechanical joints, and the black chakra receivers controlling the body had all been torn apart from within. By the time Mihawk’s blade completed its downward swing, the Asura Path’s internal structure had already been destroyed.

The body had not merely been cut in half.

Everything connected to the point of impact had been ripped apart from the inside out.

There had been no complicated sword movement and no visible technique Nagato could study. Mihawk’s blade had touched the Asura Path only once, yet the damage had spread far beyond the point of contact.

Against an attack like that, blocking with a weapon might be no different from allowing the blade to strike the body directly.

A single mistake could cost someone their head.

I can’t let him get close until I understand how that ability works.

The moment that thought crossed Nagato’s mind, the Human Path abandoned his fight with Hinata.

He turned and fled without hesitation, bounding across the rooftops before disappearing into the distance.

The objective of the assault on Konoha was to capture the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki. There was no reason to risk another Path in a needless battle against Mihawk.

Among the Six Paths of Pain, the Deva Path, Animal Path, and Asura Path possessed the greatest direct combat ability.

The other bodies were far more specialized. The Preta Path could absorb chakra-based techniques, while the Human Path and Naraka Path relied primarily on their unique abilities. In a direct one-on-one battle, even Kakashi had a chance of defeating them.

If the Asura Path could not handle Mihawk, then the Deva Path would likely have to face him personally.

Mihawk watched the Human Path retreat, momentarily taken aback.

“He actually ran away?”

A faint smile appeared on his face.

“That doesn’t seem like something the leader of the Akatsuki would do.”

Hinata walked over to him and said softly, “Perhaps he was afraid of you, Mihawk-kun.”

Mihawk slid his katana back into its sheath, then raised a hand and gently stroked her long hair.

“When did you pick up that kind of flattery from Hanabi?”

Hinata blinked, unsure how to respond.

Mihawk’s expression soon turned serious again.

“Hinata, use your Byakugan and find the remaining Paths.”

“Yes.”

Although she wondered why Mihawk was not relying on his own sensory abilities, Hinata obediently brought her hands together.

“Byakugan!”

The veins around her eyes bulged as her vision expanded across the village.

Hinata carefully searched the surrounding streets and buildings, tracking every visible enemy within her range.

After a short while, she reported, “There’s one southwest of us at seven o’clock. I can see others at eleven o’clock and three o’clock ahead of us. The one who just fled is among them. There’s also one at nine o’clock and another at four o’clock.”

Mihawk frowned slightly.

“Describe them.”

“Yes.”

Hinata focused on each target in turn.

“Not counting the one who just escaped, one of them has summoned several enormous creatures. Another is surrounded by a chakra barrier that appears capable of absorbing chakra. One of them has gone toward the Hokage Building, but I still don’t know what his ability—”

“Wait.”

Mihawk abruptly interrupted her.

His voice had become unusually grave.

“You said one of them went to the Hokage Building?”

Hinata looked at him in confusion but nodded.

“Yes.”

Mihawk immediately grabbed her hand and raced toward the village’s outer wall.

His sudden acceleration was so great that Hinata barely had time to react.

Fortunately, Mihawk kept a firm hold on her hand. After stumbling during the first step, she regained her balance and matched his movements as they leaped from rooftop to rooftop.

“Mihawk-kun, what’s wrong?”

“There’s no time to explain.”

Mihawk did not slow down.

“We need to move faster.”

He had originally intended to locate the Deva Path before it could unleash a large-scale Shinra Tensei.

However, he had never expected his Observation Haki to fail to locate it in time.

The Six Paths of Pain were corpses. They possessed chakra, but no genuine life force of their own. Unless one of them was actively fighting or releasing a noticeable amount of chakra, their presence was far more difficult to distinguish among the thousands of people scattered throughout Konoha.

Even with Mihawk’s presence in this world, the village had still been pushed toward the same fate—complete destruction.

Hinata had said that one of Pain’s bodies had gone to the Hokage Building.

There was only one reason for the Deva Path to position himself at the center of the village.

Mihawk tightened his grip on Hinata’s hand.

The memories returned by his shadow clone had already confirmed that Hanabi was safe inside the shelter. Hinata, however, was still beside him.

He might still have time to reach the Deva Path, but he could not guarantee that he would be able to prevent the large-scale Shinra Tensei from being activated.

Faced with a choice between immediately confronting Pain and first ensuring Hinata’s safety, Mihawk chose Hinata.

In the original story, she had survived the attack.

But this was no longer the untouched story he remembered. His existence had already changed too many things.

He refused to gamble her life on events unfolding exactly as they once had.

Hinata studied Mihawk’s profile as they ran.

She had never seen such a serious expression on the face of the person she loved.

Her own expression gradually became solemn. Without asking any more questions, she followed him toward the wall at the edge of the village.

Not long after they departed, another figure appeared beside the Asura Path’s severed body.

It was the Naraka Path.

Meanwhile, Mihawk continued running with Hinata while expanding his Observation Haki across Konoha.

He could sense Tsunade’s presence near the Hokage Building.

Even if he turned back now, he might already be too late to prevent the Deva Path from activating its technique.

Just as they neared the outer wall, Mihawk glanced back toward the Hokage Building.

A small figure was slowly rising into the sky above it.

Higher and higher he ascended, his black cloak decorated with red clouds clearly visible beneath the sunlight.

Mihawk’s eyes narrowed.

His steps slowed for only an instant before he bent down, swept Hinata into his arms, and held her in a princess carry.

“M-Mihawk-kun?”

Hinata barely had time to speak before Mihawk kicked against the air.

Using Geppo, he carried her upward and crossed the remaining distance to the top of the village wall.

The moment they landed, Hinata’s Byakugan widened.

“Mihawk-kun, the other people who attacked Konoha… They suddenly disappeared.”

“Yeah.”

Mihawk’s gaze remained fixed on the Deva Path floating above the village.

“They retreated so they wouldn’t be caught in what’s coming.”

Hinata did not understand what he meant.

Mihawk offered no further explanation.

What was about to happen would likely be the widest-reaching and most destructive jutsu he had ever witnessed.

High above the Hokage Building, the Deva Path spread his arms.

His distant voice drifted faintly through the air, yet the moment Mihawk heard it, a deep sense of unease settled over the village.

“Now…”

The sun hung high overhead, its pale light falling across Konoha.

“This world shall know pain.”

The Deva Path’s Rinnegan stared down upon the village.

“Shinra Tensei!”

“Hinata, stay behind me.”

Mihawk’s voice was calm, but it carried a weight that allowed no argument.

Hinata immediately stepped behind him.

Mihawk lowered his center of gravity and placed both hands around the hilt of his katana.

He entered a deep sword stance.

His hair and the cloth around his neck began whipping wildly, even though the air surrounding him had fallen unnaturally still.

Dark, purplish energy leaked from his body.

It flowed over his shoulders, wound around his arms, and gathered along the sheathed katana like flickering flames.

Crack!

The stone beneath Mihawk’s feet fractured.

Thin cracks spread across the top of the village wall as the pressure surrounding him continued to rise.

A crimson radiance appeared within his red eyes. Two faint trails of red light streamed from their corners as his gaze locked onto the Deva Path high above Konoha.

The technique he was about to use did not belong to Hawkeye Mihawk.

It was something Nerona Mihawk had developed himself.

In his previous life, he had watched Zoro create powerful tornadoes through swordsmanship alone. By swinging his blades with overwhelming speed and strength, Zoro could twist the surrounding air into a violent storm filled with countless cutting currents.

Mihawk had taken that principle and pushed it in a different direction.

Rather than creating a tornado that tore everything inside it apart, he used Advanced Armament Haki and extreme sword speed to compress countless strikes into a single, layered storm front.

Each swing forced the air outward.

When thousands of those invisible swings were stacked together, they produced an opposing pressure powerful enough to resemble repulsion itself.

Mihawk’s grip tightened.

From the distant sky, the Deva Path noticed the purplish aura gathering around him.

“Nerona Mihawk…”

His expression remained unchanged.

“Useless.”

BOOM!

Invisible repulsive force erupted from the Deva Path.

Beginning above the Hokage Building, a circular shock wave expanded outward, descending upon Konoha like the judgment of a god.

At that same instant, Mihawk moved.

Shhk!

His katana flashed from its sheath.

Then it disappeared.

Mihawk’s arms moved so quickly that even the naked eye could no longer follow them.

To Hinata, it almost appeared as though he had drawn his sword only once.

Even with her Byakugan, Hinata could only perceive a distorted mass of motion surrounding his body. Mihawk’s blade was moving so quickly that she could no longer distinguish one strike from the next.

Dark-purplish Haki trailed behind every movement.

Hundreds of slashes became thousands.

The air in front of Mihawk twisted violently.

A massive storm of compressed air and invisible blades erupted from the village wall.

Instead of traveling forward as a narrow attack, the storm spread across the sky above Konoha at astonishing speed. Its countless rotating layers curved around the village center, forming an enormous hemispherical storm front beneath and around the Deva Path.

“One-Sword Style…”

Mihawk completed one final swing.

“Tempest Reversal!”

BOOM!

The blade storm collided with Shinra Tensei above the center of Konoha.

For a single instant, everything became silent.

Then the sky exploded.

The collision of the two forces produced a thunderous detonation that could be heard far beyond the village.

Shinra Tensei attempted to expand outward in every direction, but Mihawk’s storm struck it before the repulsive force could fully descend upon Konoha.

Countless layers of compressed air crashed into the invisible wave.

One force pushed outward.

The other drove against it with thousands of overlapping blades.

The atmosphere warped between them.

Clouds above Konoha were torn apart, forming a vast circular opening in the sky.

The Deva Path’s cloak thrashed violently around him.

For the first time since ascending above the village, his expression changed.

“What?”

The storm did not cut through Shinra Tensei.

Instead, the layered storm front caught the expanding repulsive force before it could sweep freely across Konoha. It could not erase Shinra Tensei, but it compressed the technique’s outward expansion and redirected most of its destructive pressure toward the open sky.

The two powers ground against each other above Konoha.

Dark-purplish arcs flashed throughout the storm while circular distortions repeatedly rippled through the air.

Mihawk’s sandals slid several inches across the fractured wall but his stance did not break.

“Hmph…”

The crimson glow in his eyes intensified.

BOOOOM!

The opposing forces could no longer contain each other.

A colossal shock wave erupted above Konoha.

Although Mihawk had prevented Shinra Tensei from expanding with enough force to erase the village, the impact created by the collision still descended across Konoha like a massive hurricane.

Windows shattered throughout the village.

Roofs were torn from buildings.

Trees were uprooted, signboards were ripped away, and weaker structures collapsed beneath the violent pressure.

Streets split apart as deep cracks raced through the ground. Debris was thrown into the air, while countless shinobi and civilians were knocked from their feet.

The area surrounding the Hokage Building suffered the greatest damage.

Several nearby buildings crumbled, and the streets around the village center were carved apart by the descending shock wave.

Yet the destruction stopped there.

There was no enormous crater swallowing Konoha.

The village was not flattened.

Large portions of Konoha remained standing. Its hospital, clan compounds, defensive walls, evacuation shelters, and most of its residential districts had escaped complete destruction.

Konoha had been battered by the collision of two monstrous powers, but it had not been erased.

High above the village, the remaining force of Shinra Tensei was driven into the sky.

The blade storm carried it upward before both powers finally dispersed among the shattered clouds.

Silence gradually returned.

Dust rose from countless damaged streets, but through that dust, the outline of Konoha remained clearly visible.

The village still stood.

Hinata stared at the scene before her, unable to speak.

She had seen the wave that was about to descend upon Konoha.

Had Mihawk failed to stop it, there would have been nothing left.

“Mihawk-kun…”

Mihawk remained motionless for several seconds.

Then he slowly returned his katana to its sheath.

Click.

The dark-purplish aura surrounding him faded.

The crimson trails flowing from his eyes disappeared, and the immense pressure bearing down on the village wall finally vanished.

Mihawk looked across the damaged village.

A trace of frustration crossed his face when he saw the collapsed buildings and ruined streets.

He had not been able to stop every fragment of the resulting shock wave.

But he had done what he could.

Most importantly, Konoha had survived.

Mihawk had stopped Shinra Tensei from destroying the village.