The End of Konoha Crush

"Hey, Konoha! Send someone who can speak for you!"

Though Bai Cangshu had called for someone with enough authority, he had already tossed Sarutobi Hiruzen’s corpse toward Jiraiya, who had just driven back several Pains.

By now, large numbers of Konoha Ninja, all covered in wounds, had gathered behind Jiraiya.

No matter how unreliable Jiraiya could be, he was still a top-tier ninja who had earned the title of one of the Sannin during the Third Great Ninja War. After Konoha’s string of upheavals, he was one of the few people they could still rely on.

Jiraiya instinctively caught the flying body, then froze where he stood.

He looked at the charred corpse in his hands, yet he could still make out his teacher’s rigid features.

Jiraiya raised his head and looked at Orochimaru standing dozens of meters away. He wore a Red Cloud Black Robe and stood beside the Mercenary Tao mentioned in the intelligence reports.

"Orochimaru… Sensei is dead…"

Jiraiya’s voice was sorrowful. When Orochimaru had defected, Jiraiya had pursued him for a long time, only to be wounded by him in the end. The two, who had fought side by side since their youth, had ultimately parted on bitter terms.

He could not understand why Orochimaru insisted on doing those things, and Orochimaru could not understand why Jiraiya insisted on remaining in the village.

Seeing the grief on Jiraiya’s face, Orochimaru merely gave a cold smile. His voice remained calm, carrying a chill.

"Yes, what a pity. The Third Hokage died in battle while protecting the village."

There was not the slightest trace of regret in Orochimaru’s tone, and those words chilled Jiraiya’s heart.

Jiraiya took a deep breath and finally confirmed that Orochimaru was completely his enemy now. He stepped in front of the others, staring coldly at Mercenary Tao and Orochimaru. "At this point, what is there left to say?!"

Orochimaru moved a couple of steps aside, while Deva Path Pain, who had not acted much until now, walked forward. Yet the ones who had caused the greatest destruction in Konoha were undoubtedly Animal Path Pain’s Summoning Beasts and Asura Path Pain’s missiles and lasers.

The Six Paths of Pain were overwhelmingly lethal against ordinary ninja, but even the gigantic Summoning Beasts casually summoned by them had to be handled by Jonin-level fighters. Ordinary Chunin and even Special Jonin needed to work together to bring down a single one, and casualties were still easily incurred.

Animal Path Pain could summon dozens of them and grant those Summoning Beasts the ability to split apart, causing them to divide into even more Summoning Beasts after being defeated.

This ability had caused immense destruction throughout Konoha and was the reason Konoha could not gather a large number of ninja to unleash combined ninjutsu against Orochimaru and Mercenary Tao.

Moreover, every Path of Pain possessed the Rinnegan’s perceptive abilities. Ordinary Body Flicker Jutsu, taijutsu, ninjutsu, and thrown attacks were all extremely difficult to make effective.

Though the Six Paths of Pain seemed incapable of dealing meaningful damage against Bai Cangshu and could only rely on Deva Path Pain’s Banshō Ten’in, Shinra Tensei, and Chibaku Tensei for offense and defense, in a battle of this level, any one of them could easily slaughter large numbers of ninja with taijutsu alone.

"We do not intend to completely destroy Konoha."

In truth, Pain’s original plan had been to raze Konoha to the ground and make the world feel pain.

But Mercenary Tao had told him that doing so would do nothing but cause the other ninja villages to unite against Akatsuki, after which Kumogakure, Sunagakure, or Iwagakure would simply take Konoha’s place.

Pain did not understand that logic, but he had understood the core of what Mercenary Tao meant: these ninja villages were merely instruments of violence that accepted orders to wage war, launched plundering campaigns, and were supported by their nations.

The core of that cycle of interests did not lie in the ninja villages.

Thus, he was willing to begin the Five Nations’ Fall plan. He wanted to see whether the "lasting peace and stability" Mercenary Tao spoke of was truly possible.

Though Nagato understood perfectly well that Mercenary Tao could not possibly be a good person—that man was a tyrant who utterly craved chaos—Nagato had been trapped in the spiral of ninja hatred for too long. So long as there was even the slightest hope, he was willing to try.

If war could truly be ended, then even if he personally placed a brutal monarch upon the throne, someone would eventually assassinate him.

"Next, we will withdraw from Konoha. And you will be unable to conceal the fact that Konoha was attacked by us and is now exceedingly weakened."

Deva Path Pain’s tone was calm. He was merely stating what would happen next.

"Ninja of Konoha, war will begin soon. I hope you do not allow this war to end too early."

After saying that, Pain began to float into the air. He still had one final task to complete: he would completely destroy Konoha’s defensive fortifications, leaving Konoha with no natural defenses to rely on.

Seeing this, Jiraiya sensed something was wrong and swiftly formed hand seals, gathering senjutsu Chakra.

The blonde woman standing behind Bai Cangshu said, "I advise you not to do that, Lord Jiraiya. The situation today has already reached the optimal outcome. No matter what you do now, you will only make Konoha’s circumstances worse."

She stepped out from behind Bai Cangshu and the others. Jiraiya was startled. This woman in an Anbu mask possessed an intense amount of natural energy!

With natural energy of that intensity, she should have been eroded by it unless she could balance it with powerful Chakra.

Yet this woman was completely unaffected.

Noticing Jiraiya’s gaze, Heaven’s Will calmly spread her arms. Natural energy radiated from her body as she even spun around, her figure floating slightly as she turned.

Her strength was absolutely not as weak as she had described to the others.

"Lord Jiraiya, what we should be considering now is how to rebuild a new Konoha in two days under these circumstances, and how to successfully protect the village from the coming attacks of multiple ninja villages."

"We?!"

Uchiha Fugaku questioned her coldly. At one point, he had indeed regarded this woman as a possible solution. She had numerous channels of information and was unfathomably mysterious. Both Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō had trusted her greatly.

Moreover, this woman had expressed approval of the Uchiha. He had thought that if she rose to power, the Uchiha’s situation would improve.

But today’s upheaval had made him utterly unable to see through what this woman had been doing all along.

When a powerful enemy attacked, she had silently betrayed the Third Hokage’s side without providing the slightest intelligence warning.

Heaven’s Will chuckled without explaining. She believed that before such an overwhelming gap in power, these ninja would eventually walk the path she wanted.

Her actions were not constrained by any contract or Logic. She merely followed the choices of the most perfect timeline. That was all.

At that moment, a black-haired Uchiha ninja walked over from the direction of the Uchiha compound, blood dripping continuously from the blade in his hand.

Uchiha Fugaku saw Mikoto gripping Sasuke tightly behind his eldest son. Sasuke’s face was covered in tears as he kept calling out, hoping his brother would turn back.

But Uchiha Itachi only paused for a moment before walking to Mercenary Tao’s side without looking back.

"Danzo has been killed."

Bai Cangshu raised an eyebrow. He did not see Uchiha Itachi carrying Danzo’s head and understood roughly what had happened. In the distance, Catherine, floating on a Magic Carpet, made a gesture.

The corner of Bai Cangshu’s mouth lifted. He patted Itachi on the shoulder and said, "Very good. I am satisfied with your slaughter quota."

"Konoha Crush ends here. Next… it is time for us to spread chaos across every land."

Bai Cangshu looked into the distance, where Susanoo was unable to attack Uchiha Obito. It was clear that Uchiha Shisui still had not unleashed that Kotoamatsukami.

He grabbed Uchiha Itachi, turned, and leaped into the air. Stepping repeatedly through empty space, he swiftly departed Konoha with Moonwalk.

Then Deva Path Pain in the sky unleashed a terrifying blast toward Konoha’s Hokage Rock.

The devastating repulsive force shattered Hokage Rock with a thunderous crash, collapsing the entire mountain backward all the way into the forest. There was no longer anything shielding Konoha from behind.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

At that moment, Kakashi, looking somewhat weak, arrived behind Jiraiya along with Shibi Aburame, Chōza Akimichi, Inoichi Yamanaka, and many other leaders of ninja clans.

They had previously scattered across the village to hold back the Summoning Beasts, using the strength of their clans to bring Konoha’s chaos under control.

Behind them, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yūhi, Might Guy, and other ninja of Kakashi’s generation had also gathered, all covered in injuries.

These people had successfully survived today’s calamitous event.

Asuma Sarutobi stared blankly at the charred corpse before Jiraiya and collapsed to his knees in despair. He could only watch those people swiftly vanish into the sky, without even the strength to throw a single Shuriken.

"Where the leaves of Konoha dance, fire too burns without end…"

"The shadow of the fire will illuminate the village, and Konoha will take root and sprout once more."