God, Neither Good nor Evil (3K Second Update)

Bai Cangshu stood naturally on the ground, purple Satsui no Hado burning like flames around his hands while a pitch-black aura radiated from his entire body.

"Power of the soul…"

Human Path Pain, with his long hair, immediately sensed the newly emerged power emanating from Mercenary Tao. It closely resembled the aura of a soul, yet it was more sinister, more twisted, like an evil ghost.

Nagato, secretly controlling Pain, also realized the truth behind Mercenary Tao’s power. It was definitely not taijutsu, but something entirely different from every existing power system.

Buzz~

Deva Path Pain instantly turned and reached with one hand toward Mercenary Tao, who had appeared out of thin air behind Human Path Pain. A powerful suction force emerged. The Rinnegan’s perception was sharp enough that even with Teleportation, they could still react to each other.

But before Banshō Ten’in could erupt, his opponent dispersed into the wind again. His right hand closed around nothing, and just as he was about to lower it, the air before him was instantly emptied. The other Pains, through their shared vision, also saw Mercenary Tao’s tall figure appear before Deva Path Pain.

Shinra Tensei!

The overwhelming repulsive force erupted again.

Boom!

A terrifying collision erupted at nearly point-blank range. A cruel curve formed at Bai Cangshu’s lips as he leaned forward, intense cursed energy continuously surging upward. To some extent, extreme killing intent was also an extremely intense emotion.

As the Satsui no Hado churned within him, Bai Cangshu’s cursed energy reacted violently. If he had not imprinted the Limitless Cursed Technique and begun displaying the traits of the Six Eyes, controlling such turbulent cursed energy would have been extremely difficult.

But correspondingly, with Satoru Gojo entering his body through Yin Spirit Possession, Bai Cangshu’s strength and variety of methods were terrifyingly abundant.

Jujutsu: Stop Force

The repulsive force collided with Limitless, shattering the air before them in an instant.

The massive explosion blasted Deva Path Pain backward.

Deva Path Pain twisted repeatedly through the air before finally stopping after carving a massive trench dozens of meters long into the ground. Damage had already appeared across his body.

Yet Bai Cangshu’s passive defense from Limitless completely blocked the impact.

His mind was now utterly open. Taking one step forward, he instantly appeared before Deva Path Pain again. His fighting style was completely different from that of a ninja—there was no maneuvering, only high-speed advances and direct killing strikes.

A pitch-black Dragon Slayer appeared in his left hand. As he twisted his waist, the Dragon Slayer suddenly swept out, and an ink-black sword light erupted in an instant with a strange shriek through the air.

Ring!

The fan-shaped black sword light slashed down diagonally. Deva Path Pain’s body suddenly burst into a great cloud of smoke, while the sword light sank into the ground.

Puff~

The Dragon Slayer vanished from Bai Cangshu’s hand, and he was sent flying backward at the same time. In midair, a white Spirit Orb shot from his fingertips in an instant.

He rarely used this ability. Most of the time, for Bai Cangshu, who had mastered ki, the Spirit Orb was nowhere near as convenient as the Dodon Ray. But in his current state, he could feel Soul Power surging within him.

A massive Spirit Orb suddenly fired toward Animal Path Pain, who had used Summoning Jutsu to summon Deva Path Pain away.

Preta Path Pain, who had always found little use because he could not capture Chakra energy, stepped in front of the other Pains. Raising both hands, he tried to absorb the Spirit Orb.

The enormous Spirit Orb, over two meters in diameter, struck Preta Path Pain directly. The Rinnegan’s absorption power spread over his body, but pure spiritual power could not be broken down by Chakra. After a brief stalemate, it exploded.

Nagato, secretly controlling Pain, frowned. His body was weak, but he could feel that after Preta Path Pain took that blow, his perception of that body had been somewhat affected.

Clearly, attacks formed from Soul Power had a uniquely negative effect on his Six Paths of Pain.

"Nagato, is this the extent of your pain?!"

Bai Cangshu did not pursue. Standing at a distance with Satsui no Hado surging around his body, countless impulses to kill everyone present arose in his heart, yet he still held himself firmly under control.

If he wanted to become stronger, he could not be ruled by killing intent. He had to surpass the Satsui no Hado and enter the state of a divine being!

Bai Cangshu’s shout brought varied expressions to the faces of the Akatsuki members. Konan felt that she could no longer stand by and watch. She slowly floated upward as large amounts of paper began to appear.

Sasori and Orochimaru had no intention of acting, while Zetsu merely watched the battle from afar.

Konan turned to look at Catherine and Hiranaka Hana within the barrier. If the intelligence was correct, Mercenary Tao was definitely protecting those two.

No matter what his purpose was, as long as they destroyed what he wanted to accomplish, they could naturally affect Mercenary Tao.

Buzz!

Using Blue from the Limitless Cursed Technique, Bai Cangshu teleported again and appeared before the Akatsuki members. Sasori remained unmoved, but Zetsu and Orochimaru instantly pulled back.

"Heh, how is what you’re doing any different from Hanzō back then, Konan…"

Bai Cangshu leaned forward and looked down at the woman who, because she feared Nagato’s excessive exhaustion would get him killed here, instinctively chose to achieve her goal by harming the weak.

Konan’s face went pale. Those words struck her deeply, but she immediately regained her composure as countless sheets of paper flew toward Bai Cangshu.

"What could someone like you possibly understand?!"

"Someone like me?"

Bai Cangshu sneered, taking pleasure in the woman’s anger.

He stood still and allowed the mass of paper to cover him. Air and suffocation—those things could no longer truly kill him, much less…

Whoosh!

Merely because the paper wrapped around his body and prevented him from breathing, it began to catch fire. Bai Cangshu stood amid the flames, completely unaffected.

He only continued mockingly.

"And what makes you think you know what kind of person I am…"

Bai Cangshu spread his arms and allowed Konan to prepare her technique. At this moment, he keenly felt his own strength. Other than special sealing techniques and certain divine artifacts from this world, ordinary methods could hardly kill him.

"You think I am a villain just because I am covered in killing intent, but have you and Nagato killed fewer people than I have?"

"Just because when you kill, you think of some lofty ambition, some ideal peace?"

"Hahahahaha…"

Bai Cangshu covered his face and laughed wildly.

To him, such hollow arguments were absurdly laughable.

In the end, Bai Cangshu believed that Nagato and Konan did not even fully believe in their own ideals. That was why they constantly shouted about pain and peace, and why they were ultimately persuaded by the Child of the World in the original story and abandoned their goal.

Neither of them had possessed such lofty ideals in the beginning. They had merely joined Yahiko in pursuing his dream, and after Yahiko’s cruel death, they chose their current path amid their pain.

"Foolish. Far too foolish."

"You two, your conviction is far too impure. I suppose Yahiko’s dream will never be realized in this lifetime… ha."

Bai Cangshu continued mocking them. Konan’s expression gradually changed, and pain stabbed at her heart as scenes from the past surfaced one by one.

Yahiko’s smile, the little moments shared by the three of them, their beautiful visions of the future, the ordinary people of the Land of Rain who remained impoverished and struggled to survive…

Everything had been destroyed by war and conspiracy, yet in the end, no one paid the price.

She clutched her chest. That pain was still clear.

Slowly raising her head, she looked at Mercenary Tao, who was still spouting "grand nonsense." In her eyes, people like Mercenary Tao had no reverence for human life, casually stripping others of their happiness, then mocking those who had died while holding onto their ideals.

"Someone like you…"

Konan’s tone rose from soft to thunderous, her voice shifting from calm to seemingly containing boundless rage.

"Someone like you can only bring happiness to the world by being completely erased…"

She spread her hands, and countless Explosive Tags began to appear. At the same time, her Dance of the Shikigami began to release. Before releasing this technique, her body was entirely composed of countless folded sheets of paper, and ordinary attacks posed no threat to her.

But when Konan wanted to use the strongest Paper Person of God Technique, she had to consume all of her Chakra and could no longer maintain other ninjutsu, leaving her vulnerable.

Nagato, hidden in the distance while controlling Pain, saw his pupils contract. Through the Rinnegan of several Pains, he clearly saw the increasingly obvious cruel smile at the corner of Mercenary Tao’s lips as Konan began using the Paper Person of God Technique.

"Stop, Konan!"

Nagato struggled with all his strength. He once again felt the terror of having a loved one about to be taken from him. Ignoring the fact that the Rinnegan had nearly drained his body dry, powerful Chakra erupted.

Thump, thump, thump…

One Pain after another, aside from Deva Path Pain, fell to the ground. Within Deva Path Pain’s body, Nagato’s terrifying Chakra began to manifest in full.

Buzz~

An overwhelming suction force that could not be resisted instantly pulled Konan away.

Konan’s technique was interrupted. When she came back to her senses, she was already behind Deva Path Pain. Seeing the other Pains collapsed on the ground, panic filled her heart as she realized Nagato was about to use that technique again.

Anxiousness appeared on her face.

"Let me go. As long as I use that technique, this man will definitely be blasted to ashes. There is no need for you to use that technique…"

But Deva Path Pain shook his head. He was certain that his opponent possessed some ability similar to Space-Time Ninjutsu. There was a considerable chance that Konan’s Paper Person of God Technique would miss, and if that happened, Konan might be in danger as well.

Besides…

Deva Path Pain rose from the ground. The repulsive force allowed him to float directly in the air. Looking down at Mercenary Tao, he spoke.

"Indeed, Konan’s actions and mine can no longer be called justice."

"But justice was never what we sought. All I want is for the world to begin thinking and begin progressing through pain…"

In Nagato’s mind appeared Yahiko’s final words as he died in his arms.

You are the Savior of this world.

A pained smile appeared on his face.

A Savior…

Over the past few years, he had seen too much darkness. This ninja world was twisted to the point that it disgusted him.

Such a world was not worthy of salvation.

Deva Path Pain spread his hands, and terrifying Chakra was about to erupt. Orochimaru and the others had already sensed the dreadful threat and began to retreat.

Deva Path Pain continued.

"We are Pain. We are… gods!"

"Gods are neither good nor evil."