Chapter – 357 Gedo Mazo vs Golden Sword

On Uchiha Shinichi and Biwa Juzo's side.

The sudden strange disappearance of all the Kuchiyose made Uchiha Shinichi and Biwa Juzo a bit confused, both Shinichi and Juzo have the same thought, 'This wasn't part of the plan that Pain told us…'

But they could still see the planetary orb up in the sky, 'Since Hachibi's Jinchuriki is captured. Does Pain intend to do something else?'

However, their connection with Pain was severed…

Juzo said, "Shinichi fall back… something strange is going on… we need to determine what that is before we continue our actions…"

Shinichi nodded, he naturally had no problem with this approach… at least this way he won't have to fight unnecessarily… with that intention, Shinichi and Juzo leaped backward.

Without Uchiha Shinichi, Biwa Juzo, all those Kuchiyose restraining them, the remaining shinobi of the Kumo unit that has already suffered heavy casualties, got some breathing period, and in this breathing period, they finally arrived at the place where Jiraiya and the others were standing.

Shinichi and Juzo were also close but they standing on top of a building.

Jiraiya and others of course noticed Shinichi and Juzo, but they did not rush to attack

An unnamed Kumo Jonin gave a quick glance to the battlefield, then asked Jiraiya, "Jiraiya-dono, where is Bee-sama?"

Jiraiya said while pointing at the planetary orb floating high in the sky, "Killer Bee was sealed inside that thing up there by the Leader of the Akatsuki Organization."

"What?!" – The entire Kumo unit was shocked by what Jiraiya said, and the second an unnamed Kumo Jonin asked hurriedly, "But the leader of the Akatsuki Organization has been defeated, right? So, how can Bee-sama still be sealed?"

Jiraiya pointed at the corpses of Pain Rikudo lying on the ground and said, "These people are just corpses… neither of them was the true leader of the Akatsuki Organization… The true leader of the Akatsuki Organization seems to be a puppeteer controlling these six puppets… and he is probably still alive."

"What?!" – again everyone was shocked, they all saw just how strong these six individuals, each with the Rinnegan were… and now they are finding out that these are nothing but puppets? So how strong is the puppeteer controlling such incredible puppets is?

Shinichi had a thoughtful look, 'I had a feeling that something is strange about them… it turns out that they are just puppets… hmm, so who exactly is the man behind these puppets?'

Juzo said, "… Since Pain is still alive, and Hachibi is captured, we should now increase the intensity of the assault to full scale and eliminate all of the shinobi of the tri-Alliance…"

Shinichi nodded and said, "That's what we were supposed to do, but should we? Their number is quite a lot, Sannin Jiraiya, Uchiha Shisui, Hyuga Kuroto, Hatake Kakashi, Might Guy, then so many of Kumo Jonin Class shinobi, even if I can't die because of my Mangekyou Sharingan techniques, but facing so many of them is not possible…"

Juzo nodded, then looked at the sky, "Right, additionally Konan is also nowhere to be seen… And I don't see Zetsu either…"

…

High in the sky.

Konan was flying towards the location where Nagato is hiding and controlling Pain Rikudo.

The sudden stopping of Pain Rikudo panicked Konan, and she was immediately going to appear near Nagato.

'He had no reason to stop so suddenly, that too when he was just about to kill all of them… something must have gone wrong… his health…? Nagato has gotten so weak even since then… Did he push himself too much this time?' – A lot of thoughts were going on inside her mind, she did not think of the possibility of any of the enemy attacking Nagato, well why not?

It is simple.

Firstly, aside from her, 'Madara', and Zetsu are the only two people who are aware of the secret of Pain Rikudo…

Secondly, she wants to deny the possibility that someone has found Nagato… because that could be dangerous. If the enemy can bypass all the sensors without alerting Nagato, then that means he is extremely dangerous. So, Konan wants to deny this possibility… because it's not going to happen.

Just when she was about to disappear and reappear near Nagato, a whole lot of crows flew out of nowhere and flocked around her…

She obviously realized that these crows are not so simple, and spoke, "Show yourself…"

At her words, some of the crows gathered forming the silhouette of a person with black wings.

Konan's eyes widened as soon as she realized who this person is… "You are…!"

Boom…

Before Konan could speak anything further there was a loud explosion further ahead in the direction, she was flying in… and this explosion coupled with the silhouette of the person hovering in front of her made her worst fear come true.

…

"Now we have to find where the leader of the Akatsuki is hiding…" – Kakashi said.

Before anyone could give any reply, suddenly there was a loud explosion from afar…

Boom…

Immediately afterward a dazzling Golden light flashed, illuminating the gloomy grey sky and cutting through the thick rain clouds… nobody could open their eyes in the face of that dazzling golden light.

Roar…

Before anyone could adapt to the sudden emergence of the dazzling golden light, a roar that shook the soul of all individuals suddenly resounded throughout Amegakure.

The Roar was strong enough to shatter all the glasses and literally caused storms to rage all over Amegakure.

Accompanied by the roar that shocked the soul, a huge black shadow appeared.

Those who were of a hardened heart were not affected by this roar for very long, and intently looked in the direction of the roar, all they saw was a huge earthen colored humanoid figure with a mummified appearance and nine closed eyes… its brown body was made up of withered and dried wood and it had ten protrusion like the wooden stakes behind it.

"Gedo Statue?" – Shinichi and Juzo looked at each other with surprise when they saw Gedo Mazo appearing on the battlefield all of a sudden.

During all of Akatsuki's secret gatherings, also during their virtual meeting by the use of 'Gentoshin no Jutsu' (Magic Lantern Body Technique) they have seen Gedo Mazo several times, but every one of the Akatsuki always thought that it is just a statue.

It is because the true plans of Akatsuki to capture Bijuu have not yet started, the members of Akatsuki are generally informed but they are not exactly clear, therefore, what exactly is Gedo Mazo is unknown to everyone, other than believing that it is some sort of statue, therefore, they generally call it Gedo Statue.

Soon everyone noticed the Golden Light turning into a Golden Sword hundreds of meters long extending up to the heavens.

The Golden Chakra Sword that extended up the heavens was severely slashed down at Gedo Mazo…

Gedo Mazo also roared heavily and raised its arms to attack someone.

Whoosh… Boom… Slash… Explosion…

As the huge arm was waved, the surrounding towers that came in their way were all swept away and collapsed like dried branches.

The movements of Gedo Mazo caused huge tremors and were accompanied by smoke and dust.

The resulting destruction caused by the Golden Sword and Gedo Mazo was so catastrophic that nobody had the time to look at the two, the huge tremors and collapsing buildings and the flying boulders were the dangers that they had to survive against.

There were even some Kumo shinobi who were somewhat unlucky and were directly hit by iron spears or something heavy and died on the spot.

Getting out of the range of damage was of utmost importance… whether it was the side of tri-alliance or the Akatsuki… both sides had to retreat.

The two Susanoo users protected their comrades, Shisui protected those of tri-Alliance, while Shinichi protected Juzo, and escaped the immediate vicinity of Gedo Mazo and the Golden Sword.

Even when retreated far away, neither side took the lead in starting a battle but tacitly avoided any conflict for the time being and looked at the distant Giant Sword and Giant Statue in confrontation.

Everyone can only vaguely see that the huge shadow was raging all over Amegakure, it seemed to be unstoppable, and wherever it goes it causes utter destruction… leaving only rubble and mess.

Then there is the dazzling golden sword which is hundreds of meters long, wherever the light passes through that place is divided into two parts with an incredibly smooth surface… Each of its slashes cuts through everything in its path… but for some reason, it saw unable to cause any severe damage to the giant wooden statue…

Looking at such a scene, everyone can't help but show horrifying looks.

Because of the distance and thick cover of smoke, nobody other than 'Kuroto' could see exactly what is going on, so everyone's gaze present landed on 'Kuroto' who has the Byakugan… The only person who can give them an insight into the exact situation.

"What actually happened there?" – Jiraiya asked with an incredibly serious expression, this is the first time he has ever seen something like this… he can feel the incredible amount of vitality oozing out of that wooden statue.

At the same time, he could feel incredible danger from the Golden Sword… his goosebumps had all stood up in nervousness.

Feeling the gazes on his, Kuroto focused on the distant shadow past the thick cover of smoke and said, "Well, there is that Giant Wooden Statue… and the Golden Sword… someone is controlling the wooden statue while the other person who is using that Golden Sword is flying and fighting that person…"

"Who is fighting who…?" – Kakashi asked. Such a level of confrontation has far exceeded his understanding of shinobi… at the same time, it also made him helpless that they don't know who is fighting.

Kuroto said, "My guess is that… one is the true leader of Akatsuki… the man behind these puppets, as for the other one… well I don't know…"

Shisui thought silently, 'Kuroto-san… you must win…' – Shisui was obviously aware of who was fighting who.

Shinichi is also the same… and while looking at the two people in confrontation, he nodded with a grin, "So, that's what happened…"

Having been defeated once by Kuroto, Shinichi obviously recognizes the Golden Sword.

Moreover, as the battle progressed, Shinichi and Juzo have also received a thought wave from Nagato that currently, he is fighting the leader of Amatsukami, Yama. Shinichi is obviously aware that Yama is Kuroto… So, he easily understood what has happened.

Biwa Juzo who stood on the side murmured to Shinichi, "I never expected that Pain would be so powerful… moreover, Yama, the leader of Amatsukami seems to be stronger…"

Shinichi nodded with a smirk, "Heh… it's been so long since I am witnessing a good fight."

Juzo glanced around him and reminded Shinichi, "That's all well and good, but do not forget that enemy is still near us, moreover, now that the leader of Amatsukami is also nearby, there are a hundred percent chances that the other members of Amatsukami, that being Suijin, Homusubi, and the Wind Nature user are also somewhere nearby…"

Shinichi nodded casually without paying much attention to Juzo's words, "Yeah-yeah…"

…

At the same time somewhere in the skies of Amegakure.

'Kuroto-san was right… Genjutsu does not work on her… and if I use Amaterasu, she can just discard those papers… and reappear in the other ones… I am unable to fully use the Susano'o either… It appears that I am still not strong enough to kill her, so looks like I will just be stalling her so that she does not interfere in that fight by any means.' – thought Homusubi as the black feathers of his pair of wings collided with the paper arrows from the Konan's wings.

Konan was furious now… Homusubi is perfectly stopping all her advantage with his own Jutsu… and strangely enough, his Jutsu seems to be much similar to my 'Shikigami no Mai'… this made Konan can't help but wonder, 'Just who is he behind that mask…?'

Moreover, he is known to possess Mangekyou Sharingan… and has not displayed the strongest ability of Mangekyou Sharingan… the Susano'o.'

But more than herself, she is worried about Nagato, the fact that Nagato has summoned the Gedo Mazo must mean that the leader of Amatsukami he is fighting against is too strong for him to be able to handle normally…

And being a sensor-nin, she can sense the Chakra of Yama, and it is shocking to see someone possess such vast chakra… those Chakra volumes are as high as she has ever sensed… even… even higher than Nagato's…!

…

Outside Amegakure, on the side of the first unit led by Hokage.

Looking at the raging storms and lightning, coupled with the Roars, it wasn't hard for Tobi to figure out the cause, and he was rather surprised, "What exactly happened that prompted Nagato to summon Gedo Mazo and even summon the Nibi's Jinchuriki from here just when she was about to kill the Ino-Shika-Cho Patriarch…?"

Currently, he was standing on the big tree he has made with Mokuton. While in one hand he held the corpse of an Anbu and in the other hand he held 'Kongonyoi' (Adamantine Staff) of Sandaime Hokage.

Sandaime looked at all the injured and killed Anbu, as well as the injured Ino-Shika-Cho Patriarch, Sandaime can't help but think bitterly, "I never expected that a day would come when the Konoha would be damaged by someone who has inherited Mokuton of Shodaime Hokage-sama!"

.

.

Read up to Chapter - 611 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. Page: p-atreon.com/Milta_translations