After Sailing with the Pirate King, I Returned to Konoha - 190

Chapter 190: King of Hell? Gradually Disappearing Humanity

In just one exchange, the Animal Path was destroyed, and the Preta Path was half-obliterated.

Only the Asura Path could barely hold its own against Karin, and this was while Karin hadn't even used her full abilities.

Meanwhile, Naruto had just finished dismantling one Pain and was about to continue forward when the Deva Path's skill cooldown finally ended.

"Shinra Tensei!"

Another repulsive force exploded outward. This time, Nagato used more chakra, aiming to completely open the distance.

Simultaneously, the Naraka Path began summoning an existence from another world. Surrounded by a circle of purple flames, a massive head emerged—this was the Naraka Path's special ability: summoning the King of Hell.

This head possessed the ability to discern others' lies and extract souls. More crucially, it could completely repair damaged or even deceased members of the Six Paths of Pain.

Taking advantage of Shinra Tensei's opening, the Preta Path dragged its half-destroyed body back to the Deva Path's side. The King of Hell's head opened its massive mouth and swallowed it whole.

In less than a few seconds, a perfectly intact Preta Path reappeared. Sasuke's entire attack sequence had been wasted.

In the distance, the knocked-back Naruto squinted at this scene but didn't rashly attack. He sensed something strange from that head—a kind of instinctive craving for evolution.

Something within that head seemed to be attracting him.

The so-called "King of Hell head" was actually just a "partial projection" of some existence that Nagato summoned from another dimension using his Rinnegan abilities. Including the Asura Path's weapons and the Animal Path's summoned creatures, these things that clearly weren't native to the ninja world all came from different dimensions.

Even Nagato himself couldn't fully explain the nature of these things.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

At this moment, Jiraiya's voice finally arrived. Naruto turned to see Jiraiya landing beside him, already in Sage Mode with Fukasaku and Shima perched on his shoulders.

"Looks like the enemy has healing abilities. We need to crush that guy in one go." Jiraiya was referring to the Naraka Path Pain.

Focus the healer first in team fights—very reasonable.

"Let me—"

"No." Naruto suddenly interrupted. "Jiraiya-sensei, leave that one to me."

Jiraiya stared at Naruto somewhat dazedly. By now, he'd also noticed that Naruto's emotions seemed genuinely off. However, with enemies before them, there was no time to investigate further.

So he nodded and rushed toward the Human Path with Fukasaku and Shima.

"Hey, Papa, did you sense it?" Shima Sage used "Sage Art: Amphibian Technique" to fix herself on Jiraiya's shoulder, helping him extract and condense natural energy while saying to Fukasaku beside her.

Hearing this, Fukasaku only nodded. "Ah... that Naruto kid—"

The two old toads spoke cryptically. Jiraiya wanted to ask, but his opponents had already attacked.

The Human Path Pain didn't seem to possess the long-range attack capabilities of the other Pains. This was evident from how he charged forward, gripping two pitch-black spikes.

Still, Jiraiya didn't dare underestimate him.

"Boy, you prepare the oil. Papa, you use Wind Release." Shima cast aside those strange feelings and issued commands to the other two.

"Got it!"

"Understood!"

One person and two toads formed hand seals simultaneously, then spat out wind, oil, and flames, respectively.

"Sage Art: Goemon!"

Burning oil swept toward the opposing Pains like a tidal wave. The scorching flames spread rapidly under Wind Release enhancement. This wasn't ordinary fire—its essence was condensed using senjutsu chakra, with destructive power and durability far exceeding normal jutsu.

Even Karin and Sasuke had to pull back to avoid being caught in the sea of flames.

"Wow! Jiraiya-sensei, you're this powerful?"

This was Karin's first time seeing Jiraiya fight at full strength. Previously, she'd only seen him use techniques like the Rasengan.

Sasuke watched the overwhelming sea of flames without speaking. This jutsu's power far exceeded his Fire Release—both in destructive capability and range.

Of course, as long as it was fire, he wasn't afraid. The Misfortune Wolf could naturally devour flames. Such attacks were merely supplements to Sasuke.

The opposing Human Path lacked the ability to ignore Sage Art: Goemon, but fortunately, he didn't have to wait for death.

The fully restored Preta Path struck again, palms raised forward, immediately absorbing all the flames, oil waves, and hurricane.

When facing pure ninjutsu, the Preta Path still held significant advantages.

The Human Path seized this opportunity, rapidly attacking Jiraiya. His attacks needed close proximity to take effect.

"Don't space out, Jiraiya-sensei!"

Seeing Jiraiya briefly frozen after casting his sage technique, Karin dove straight down from midair, crashing toward the Human Path.

The black rods were made of unknown material—even clashing with metal wings, they held their ground. Clearly, the Human Path's close-combat taijutsu exceeded the other puppets considerably. He wielded two black rods with blinding speed, fighting the beast-form Karin to a standstill.

At this moment, the Asura Path also charged in, initiating a fierce duel with the Calamity Fire-wreathed Sasuke.

When Calamity Fire struck those weapons, it immediately made them more fragile and aged. They shattered with casual contact.

But the Asura Path had nothing if not weapons in abundance. If one blade broke, he had more.

Sasuke, momentarily careless, was hit by lasers and missiles, adding several wounds to his body. But these injuries not only failed to slow Sasuke—they further enhanced his power.

"Karma" was still activating. Sasuke's attack power and reaction time rose another level. Soon the Asura Path fell into disadvantage.

The Deva Path wanted to help, but Naruto had already arrived. With Shinra Tensei still on cooldown, he could only use close combat like the Human Path to attack Naruto.

Though inferior to the Human Path, the Deva Path's physical abilities were quite excellent. After all, Yahiko had been a student recognized by Jiraiya.

Unfortunately, the Deva Path didn't delay long before Naruto kicked him away. His true target was the Naraka Path.

More precisely, the King of Hell projection summoned by the Naraka Path.