Chapter 102 (Patreon)

The dust had yet to fully settle over Konoha.

From atop the village wall, Mihawk looked across the damaged streets below.

Thousands of presences entered his awareness. Shinobi were already searching the rubble, treating the wounded, and helping civilians escape damaged buildings.

A few presences, however, were gradually fading.

“Mihawk-kun…”

Hinata stared across the battered village, tears glistening in her eyes.

“Konoha…”

Mihawk raised a hand and gently stroked her head.

“The village is still standing.”

His voice softened.

“Anything that was damaged can be rebuilt.”

Hinata lowered her gaze.

“But our home…”

“A building is only part of it.”

Mihawk gently smoothed her long hair.

“As long as you, Hanabi, and I are there, it will still be our home.”

Hinata looked up at him.

The grief in her eyes did not disappear entirely, but his words gradually eased the pain in her expression.

“Yes…”

Mihawk kept his hand on her head for another moment before turning toward the center of the village.

“Stay here.”

Hinata immediately understood what he intended to do.

“I’m going down to deal with the enemy.”

“Mihawk-kun, please be careful.”

Hinata never tried to stop him from making his own decisions, but the worry in her expression was impossible to hide.

“That attack was powerful enough to affect the entire village.”

Mihawk gave her a faint smile.

“That’s exactly why I need to move now.”

He looked toward the Deva Path, which was slowly descending from the sky above the Hokage Building.

“A technique of that scale cannot be used without consequences. His power should still be recovering.”

Mihawk rested one hand on the hilt of his katana.

“Not that it changes anything. Recovered or not, I’m ending this now.”

With that, he stepped off the wall.

His foot struck the empty air.

Bang!

Using Geppo, Mihawk raced toward the center of Konoha.

At almost the exact same moment, two voices rang out from opposite sides of the damaged village.

“Summoning Jutsu!”

“Reverse Summoning Jutsu!”

Boom! Boom!

Two massive clouds of white smoke erupted across Konoha.

The first appeared near the Deva Path.

The five Paths that had withdrawn before the large-scale Shinra Tensei materialized around him, summoned back into the village by the Animal Path.

The Asura Path stood among them.

His mechanical body had been fully restored.

After recovering his severed remains, the Naraka Path had taken him away from the battlefield and repaired him through the King of Hell before the Paths regrouped.

At the same time, three enormous toads appeared on the opposite side of the village.

Their tremendous weight shook the damaged streets beneath them.

Gamabunta stood at the front, with Gamaken and Gamahiro positioned behind him. Gamakichi had also arrived with them.

A figure wearing a red cloak stood atop Gamakichi’s head.

Naruto Uzumaki had returned from Mount Myōboku.

Orange pigmentation surrounded his eyes, and his pupils had taken on the horizontal shape characteristic of Sage Mode.

Elder Fukasaku and Elder Shima stood beside him.

As the summoning smoke dispersed, Naruto looked around.

The excitement in his expression immediately vanished.

Broken rooftops, collapsed buildings, fractured streets, and rising clouds of dust stretched throughout the village.

“This…”

Naruto’s eyes widened.

“This is Konoha?”

He recognized the Hokage Rock and the surviving village walls, but for several seconds, his mind refused to accept the devastation before him.

Before either of the two sages could answer, an explosion of air echoed overhead.

Boom!

Naruto raised his head.

A figure was racing across the sky toward the Six Paths of Pain.

The restored Asura Path reacted immediately.

The top of his head split open like a mechanical hatch. A weapon rose from within, gathering a brilliant mass of chakra at its tip.

The cannon fired.

A concentrated beam of chakra tore through the sky toward Mihawk.

Shhk!

Mihawk drew his katana in a single motion.

A dark-red Ranged Slash flashed through the air.

The crescent-shaped attack split the chakra beam apart, continued forward, and sliced cleanly through the Asura Path’s cannon.

The severed weapon spun through the air before crashing into the rubble below.

Mihawk continued descending through the sky with his katana held loosely at his side.

His red eyes remained fixed on the Deva Path standing at the center of the formation.

“So you’re the leader of the Akatsuki.”

His tone was calm.

“This is our first time meeting face-to-face.”

The Deva Path raised his head and met Mihawk’s gaze.

“Nerona Mihawk.”

His voice was equally composed.

“I have watched you ever since you killed Sasori of the Red Sand.”

The Deva Path studied him closely.

“Kisame and Zetsu both warned me about your strength. Even that man believed you could become an obstacle to our plans.”

His Rinnegan shifted briefly toward the battered village below.

“Even so, I did not expect anyone to stop that Shinra Tensei.”

Although Konoha had suffered considerable damage, most of the village remained standing.

The attack that should have reduced everything within its walls to a crater had been forced back into the sky.

The Deva Path returned his gaze to Mihawk.

“To finally meet you in person is fortunate.”

Mihawk’s gaze briefly shifted toward the other Paths surrounding him.

The Asura Path had already been repaired, while the others had returned to shield the Deva Path.

That alone confirmed his suspicion.

“It seems that last jutsu came at quite a price.”

A faintly amused smile appeared on Mihawk’s face.

“The interval before you can use your power again has not ended yet, has it?”

The Deva Path’s pupils contracted slightly.

Mihawk noticed the subtle reaction.

“Your other bodies withdrew before you launched the attack, then returned the moment it ended.”

He descended through the air as though walking down an invisible staircase.

“You also placed all five of them between us as soon as you saw me approaching.”

His katana lowered beside him.

“You wouldn’t need that much protection if your repulsive force had already recovered.”

Silence followed.

Then the Deva Path spoke.

“You should be in no position to mock me.”

His Rinnegan remained fixed on Mihawk.

“Stopping that attack should have placed an even greater burden on you than using it placed on me.”

For a moment, Mihawk said nothing.

Then, unusually for him, a clear smile spread across his face.

“That?”

He rested the back of his katana against his shoulder.

“I can do that whenever I please.”

The Deva Path stared at him in silence.

“Hmph.”

He clearly did not believe him.

Mihawk’s smile remained.

Whether Pain accepted it or not did not matter. The slightest uncertainty was enough to make an opponent hesitate.

More importantly, Pain’s attempt to turn the question back on him had failed to hide the truth.

“So I was right.”

His measured steps suddenly accelerated.

Bang!

His figure transformed into a dark streak as he shot directly toward the Deva Path.

“Summoning Jutsu!”

The Deva Path immediately retreated behind the other five bodies.

The Animal Path stepped forward, formed a hand seal, and slammed her palm against the ground.

Boom!

A massive cloud of white smoke erupted in Mihawk’s path.

“ROAR!”

An enormous rhinoceros with Rinnegan eyes charged out of the smoke.

Its heavy feet shattered the already damaged street as it thundered toward Mihawk, lowering its horn in preparation to crush him beneath its charge.

“Mihawk!”

Naruto stared at the approaching clash in surprise.

He had only just returned, yet Mihawk was already charging directly into the Six Paths of Pain.

Elder Shima followed his gaze.

“That young swordsman must have realized that Pain’s strongest body is temporarily unable to use its power.”

Naruto clenched his fists.

“That’s Pain?”

“Yes.”

Elder Fukasaku’s expression became solemn.

“They’re the ones responsible for attacking the village.”

Gamabunta narrowed his eyes as Mihawk faced the giant rhinoceros without slowing down.

“Who’s that kid?”

“He’s Nerona Mihawk,” Naruto answered.

Although he had only just arrived, Naruto could already feel the pressure surrounding Mihawk.

“He’s one of Konoha’s shinobi.”

Gamabunta shifted the enormous blade at his waist.

“He’s got some nerve charging the same enemy who killed Jiraiya all by himself.”

Naruto should have been the primary target of the Six Paths of Pain.

However, because his arrival had coincided with Mihawk’s assault, both sides were momentarily focused on each other.

Naruto and the toads had been left to observe the opening exchange.

Among the Six Paths of Pain, the Deva Path possessed the greatest direct combat strength.

Its ability to manipulate attractive and repulsive forces could normally be used again after an interval of approximately five seconds.

Those two techniques alone were enough to suppress most Kage-level shinobi. Even someone as formidable as Orochimaru would have difficulty approaching the Deva Path directly.

Mihawk’s Ranged Slashes were immensely destructive, but as long as the Deva Path’s repulsive force remained available, Nagato could potentially deflect them before they reached their target.

The massive Shinra Tensei, however, had been different.

Using the technique on such an enormous scale had greatly extended the interval before the Deva Path’s power could be used again.

The extended interval had given Mihawk a clean opening, and he had no reason to ignore it.

He planned to kill the Deva Path before its ability recovered.

Nagato understood the danger just as clearly.

Mihawk’s swordsmanship was exactly as Kisame, Zetsu, and the man calling himself Uchiha Madara had described.

It was unnatural, unpredictable, and completely unlike anything previously seen in the shinobi world.

No known school of kenjutsu resembled it.

Even Sakumo Hatake, the legendary White Fang of Konoha, could not be used as an accurate comparison.

The image of the Asura Path being sliced apart continued to replay in Nagato’s mind.

Mihawk’s blade had not merely cut through its reinforced body. The strange force surrounding the sword had penetrated its exterior defenses and destroyed its internal mechanisms along the path of the strike.

Until the Deva Path’s power recovered, Mihawk could not be allowed to reach him.

The giant rhinoceros had been summoned to obstruct his advance.

However, the Animal Path did not wait to see whether it would succeed.

She immediately formed another hand seal.

“Summoning Jutsu!”

Boom!

A gigantic bird appeared above the Six Paths.

Its enormous wings spread across the sky as it released a piercing cry.

The Deva Path leaped onto its back.

With a powerful beat of its wings, the summoned bird rose above the damaged village.

“You determined the limitation of my ability without ever fighting me directly.”

Standing atop the bird, the Deva Path looked down at Mihawk.

“Nerona Mihawk, you truly are not someone who can be underestimated.”

His expression remained cold.

“It appears that before I capture the Nine-Tails, I will have to eliminate you.”

Mihawk looked up at him.

A dismissive smile appeared on his face.

“You’re not the only one who can fly.”