"Feel the pain."
"Think about the pain."
"Accept the pain."
"Understand the pain."
"Those who do not know pain, cannot understand true peace!"
"I will not forget Yahiko's pain!"
"From now on, the world will feel pain!"
"Shinra Tensei!"
Nagato gathered all his strength into the Heavenly Path Pain. All five Pains outside the Leaf Village collapsed. He unleashed his strongest move, Shinra Tensei. Starting from the center of the Leaf Village, all things were repelled by an immense repulsive force, directly transforming a prosperous village into a gaping crater.
Only Li Xing's Four Crimson Ray Formation remained. Li Xing, holding Tsunade aloft, conjured a Truth-Seeking Ball with one hand to shield himself.
As for Tsunade, having heeded Li Xing's warning, she had already instructed Katsuyu to envelop everyone beforehand, thus protecting all the villagers and ninjas.
When the Heavenly Path Pain's super Shinra Tensei ended, Tsunade saw the Leaf Village reduced to nothingness before her and bit her lip fiercely.
"Unforgivable! To destroy the treasure passed down by the First Hokage... Li Xing, if you still recognize me as your master, then let me go! Let me settle this with Pain!"
Li Xing naturally would not allow Tsunade to go fight. Instead, he held her tighter. "What's wrong? Don't you always hug me? Now that it's reversed, you want to break free? You wound my heart!"
"Besides, the chakra stored on your forehead is depleted. What can you do in this state? Let's just hope for the savior of the Leaf, Uzumaki Naruto, to appear!"
"You..." Tsunade turned to look at Li Xing, wanting to struggle but lacking the strength. Li Xing had grown, no longer a child to be easily handled.
Just then, Li Xing heard Sakura's cry from above. "Hurry back! Naruto!"
Li Xing shook his head. "Lady Tsunade, your disciple is truly lacking! Instead of waiting for Naruto, you should be saving those who are buried. If mere shouting could kill enemies, then she would be quite strong."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, Sakura doesn't understand what she should be doing. As a medical ninja, her priority should be treating the injured, not crying out in despair."
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Just as Li Xing finished speaking, Shima-Sennin, who was out procuring food, summoned Naruto from Mount Myōboku, along with the three great toads of Mount Myōboku.
Gamabunta, Gamaken, and Gamahiro. On top of Gamabunta's head were Bunta's son, Gamatatsu, Fukasaku-Sennin, and Naruto, clad in a red robe and carrying a scroll.
"However, sometimes shouting can be useful. The savior of the Leaf has arrived." Li Xing, seeing Naruto's appearance, carried Tsunade to a convenient pile of ruins to rest.
"Li Xing, tell me, what did you mean by Heavenly Path Pain earlier? Is this the ability of the Heavenly Path Pain?" Tsunade suddenly recalled Li Xing's previous words, focusing on the term "Heavenly Path." Perhaps Li Xing knew Pain's secret.
"It's fine to tell you. Pain is composed of six corpses, divided into Six Paths, named after the Six Paths of Buddhist reincarnation: Heavenly Path, Human Path, Animal Path are the upper three; Asura Path, Hell Path, and Preta Path are the lower three."
"The Heavenly Path Pain's previous move was called Shinra Tensei, a skill that repels all things. Besides that, there is also Banshō Ten'in and Chibaku Tensei. However, using Shinra Tensei has a five-second cooldown."
Tsunade was familiar with Buddhism, but the Six Paths of Reincarnation was something she had never heard of. She continued to inquire about the abilities of the other Pains.
Li Xing chuckled and suddenly reached into Tsunade's chest, pulling out the slug clone hidden within.
"Master Tsunade, I know you too well. With your personality, would you really stay here and watch? You wanted Katsuyu to eavesdrop for intel to pass to Naruto. Do you think I wouldn't sense a summoning beast? Wouldn't you agree? Miss Katsuyu?"
Tsunade was shocked and tried to snatch Katsuyu from Li Xing's grasp, but Li Xing raised his hand slightly, naturally pulling Tsunade into his embrace.
"You're tired, get some proper rest!"
With that, Li Xing gently kissed Tsunade's lips. The Hundred Healings Mark on Tsunade's forehead reappeared, but she lost consciousness and fell asleep.
Below, Naruto, after a moment of confusion, finally realized this was the Leaf Village. Through Sage Mode's sensory abilities, Naruto knew many had died here, and his gaze towards the Heavenly Path Pain grew sharp.
"Fine, I'll tell you Pain's information. Human Path, mind intrusion; Animal Path, summoning; Preta Path, Absorption Seal; Asura Path, Asura form, missile arm; Hell Path, soul absorption, reincarnation; Outer Path, revival."
Li Xing then explained each Pain's abilities to Katsuyu in his hands. However, there was one thing Li Xing didn't mention: the secret of the Outer Path's true body.
"That's all the intel, catch!"
Li Xing threw Katsuyu in his hands forcefully towards Naruto. Naruto, currently in Sage Mode, easily caught the flying slug.
Katsuyu then repeated Li Xing's words to Naruto. After understanding, Naruto had Katsuyu notify everyone not to come, leaving this to him alone.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Li Xing had found Katsuyu soft when holding her earlier, so he summoned a part of Katsuyu's body himself.
"It's you! You can summon me too?"
Li Xing, too lazy to bicker with Katsuyu, took out a blanket and covered Katsuyu's body with it, then lay down with Tsunade on top of it.
"Don't fidget! Watch the battle properly, and enjoy the duel between these two children of prophecy."
...
Below, the Asura Path threw the Animal Path back into the Leaf Village again. The remaining Pains reappeared in the same manner.
At this time, the Heavenly Path's abilities had not yet recovered, requiring the other Pains to stall for time.
The Asura Path was the first to transform into its Asura form, that is, three heads and six arms. It then shed its clothes and charged directly at Naruto.
Naruto instantly appeared above the Asura Path Pain and struck it with a single punch, incapacitating it.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
The Animal Path Pain began using its summoning jutsu, bringing forth a large rhinoceros and charging ferociously at Naruto.
Naruto condensed chakra at the soles of his feet and blocked the rhinoceros's charge with his bare hands. He then threw it forcefully into the sky.
Seeing that a single summoning could not stop Naruto's offensive, the Animal Path Pain slammed its hands on the ground and summoned a bull and a hellhound.
"Sage Art, Frog Call!"
Fukasaku-Sennin and Shima-Sennin leaped into the air, and the two toads croaked in unison, causing the bull and hellhound to halt their advance.
Naruto, taking advantage of the situation, passed through the two summoned beasts and formed hand seals.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Naruto ran, and in conjunction with his shadow clones, conjured two Rasengan.
"Sage Art, Big Ball Rasengan!"
Two shadow clones attacked the bull and hellhound together, launching them into the sky. Then, Gamabunta, Gamaken, and Gamahiro each took on a summoned beast and began a fierce beating.
Seeing this, the Preta Path Pain rushed to the front and engaged Naruto's main body in combat. With the intel provided by Katsuyu, Naruto knew that this Pain could absorb ninjutsu, so he opted for taijutsu.
In the taijutsu exchange, Naruto's punch missed. Suddenly, the Preta Path Pain's face was struck by a punch, and it was sent flying backward.
Frog Kumite, a unique attack method in Sage Mode, uses surrounding natural energy to form a part of the body to attack enemies. This is why it appeared as if the attack had missed, yet it was still hit.