Infinite Anime [284-285] (Patreon)

Chapter 284: Star-Slayer

The citizens of the Land of Rain stared in despair at the meteor falling from the sky. Some fled in panic; others stood still and silent, embracing their families.

A meteor of this scale, once it struck, would have enough force to destroy everything in the Land of Rain.

In that hopeless atmosphere, the people prayed to God, hoping Pain would appear to save them.

But the more rational among them thought that even Pain was still only human, while this falling meteor was a true natural disaster.

Outside the Land of Rain's border, a small squad that had just landed watched the meteor hurtling toward the center of the battle in the Land of Rain. The fan-wielding man, Silent Wind, wore a smile, while the captain, Lonely Noise, looked displeased.

"Wind, this isn't what we agreed on."

Lonely Noise stared at the gigantic meteor, thinking that afterward he'd probably only be going into the Land of Rain to collect corpses—how boring.

"Brother Noise, look at the situation. The Calamity is stronger than we thought. The Allied Shinobi Forces of the Five Great Nations barely troubled him, and Nagato's been resting the whole time without striking. How could we possibly beat them?"

Silent Wind shook his feather fan. "We're not all like you. We can't all brawl. Let's be cautious."

According to the original plan, if the Allied Forces could kill Gusion and wear down Nagato a bit, they would consider making a formal move—send Captain Lonely Noise to charge in.

They were a team-fight outfit with coordinated support skills and special tools; even Nagato was someone they dared to test. Plus, Obito had fallen out with Nagato—if he struck at the key moment with space-time ninjutsu to ambush, it wouldn't be impossible.

But to Silent Wind it was still too risky. Against an out-of-category powerhouse like Nagato, one small mistake meant instant party wipe.

The best way was to crush Nagato directly with the meteor—or half-kill him—then they could come in and pick the corpses clean.

As for whether Nagato would meet the meteor head-on, reality had already given the answer.

Silent Wind raised his binoculars and looked at the figure ascending into the sky. A smile first curled his lips—Nagato, to protect the Land of Rain, was indeed going to try to face the meteor head-on, just as he'd predicted.

But then something felt off. He noticed that Nagato climbed up without any hindrance—light and unburdened—not at all the disabled wreck they remembered.

Nagato's disability had been cured!?

Then to what extent could he now exert his power?

Silent Wind felt uneasy. He knew that even within the Kage-plus tier there were big gaps; the leap from Kage-plus to Six Paths level was like heaven and earth.

If gatekeeper-level Kage-plus Nagato had, in Silent Wind's estimate, a comprehensive strength around that of a high-end fourth-tier explorer with an overall stat of about 85, then the strongest Kage-plus might already exceed the fourth tier—entering tier five.

As for Six Paths-level—Kaguya and the like—they weren't at that level yet, so it was hard to gauge.

But their estimate of Nagato's power was based on his sickly, near-death state from before. In that condition, facing a natural meteor dragged down by a Giant Tenseigan's pull, Silent Wind felt Nagato would be 100% crushed to death.

Not only would he die, he wouldn't be able to stop the meteor from destroying the Land of Rain. Gusion and the Allied remnants below would be wiped out in one sweep. Then they could tally the spoils.

"Not good…"

Silent Wind muttered. Judging by Nagato's posture, his state was clearly much better than in the original—he might not be killed outright.

"Hope he holds it. Then at least I get to spar with the Calamity," Lonely Noise said, resting his greatsword on his shoulder, not at all worried—if anything, eager.

"You…" Silent Wind shot him a speechless look, wanting to call him brainless. But seeing Nagato about to act, his attention shifted again.

At that moment, not only Silent Wind's squad but also the people of the Land of Rain noticed the red-haired man soaring to meet the meteor.

"Is… it God?"

"Has someone come to save us?"

"We're saved—God has descended!"

In despair, hope rekindled. Most were ordinary folks; they could only make out that something had flown up, not the person's face, and assumed Pain was going to resist the meteor.

Gusion also watched Nagato's back, wondering if Nagato could handle a meteor this big.

He felt the meteor wasn't as large as the one from Uchiha Madara's Tengai Shinsei, but that was an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Madara's Tengai Shinsei meteors weren't pulled from outer space; their speed was insufficient, so they only devastated several kilometers of battlefield. Otherwise the Shinobi Alliance would have been gone in an instant.

This meteor, though small compared to Tengai Shinsei, was truly falling from space. Its destructive power was many times greater—enough to obliterate the entire Land of Rain!

Nagato wore a grave expression, as if he had resolved himself. Facing the descending meteor, he certainly had the ability to flee.

In fact, if he wished, he could even take Gusion and Konan and escape.

But he wouldn't. The people of the Land of Rain believed in him, and he wouldn't abandon the country where he grew up.

He didn't believe it was a true natural disaster. He could sense chakra traces on the meteor and another ocular power at work. Clearly, some advanced ocular jutsu had dragged it from space and aimed it at the Land of Rain.

Nagato clapped his hands. Bloodshot veins filled his Rinnegan. Ignoring Konan's shouts below, he pushed his output to the maximum.

"Chibaku Tensei!"

His voice was low and forceful as he unleashed his strongest ocular technique at this stage.

A black chakra sphere formed and shot toward the meteor. With immense gravitational force, he intended to tug at the meteor's exterior, dismember it, and bring it under his control.

The idea was sound, but as soon as he tried it, he realized he had been naive.

The meteor's enormous kinetic energy from its high velocity wasn't something he could easily arrest with gravity.

In an instant, the feedback alone drained his chakra at a steep rate, and his ocular power was rapidly consumed.

It wasn't entirely ineffective, though. Under the second external force, the speeding meteor peeled like an onion, layers sloughing off. A huge amount of debris flew toward the black sphere of Chibaku Tensei.

By the time the meteor descended to one kilometer above ground, its size had shrunk to around seventy meters. Nagato, who was dismembering and pulling it, had blood streaming from his features, his Rinnegan shot through with red, blood tears flowing without end.

His body was under extreme strain, but he didn't retreat. He could only be grateful that Gusion had operated on him, leaving his body more at ease. Otherwise he would indeed have had no chance against this meteor.

The meteor was greatly reduced, but at this size and speed it could still flatten a hidden village. Gusion and the others in the core battle zone would be within its impact area.

Nagato didn't want the damage to spread. To everyone's astonishment, he made a bold move.

Facing the falling meteor, he took the stance of a tyrant bearing a great cauldron. "Shinra Tensei!"

Since he couldn't fully dismember it, he would use repulsive force to counter the impact.

But forces act in pairs. Against a high-mass, high-speed body, even with the special nature of Shinra Tensei, Nagato still took a massive reactive force instantly. His skeleton shrieked; under the pressure, tendons began to tear.

"Ahhhhhhhhh—"

Nagato roared, blood pouring from his seven orifices, brutally forcing the meteor's speed down. By the time it neared the ground, it had slowed greatly.

But Nagato had also exhausted his strength at that moment and fainted, dropping through the air like a severed kite string.

Above him, the meteor kept falling. The hot wind warped his face into a twisted caricature.

Moreover, since Nagato had lost consciousness, the other "meteor" he had formed with Chibaku Tensei lost control. Without its gravity source, it shattered and crashed toward the ground.

Seeing this, the Land of Rain's citizens were horrified and hopeless. Even their god couldn't resist a true disaster. Just as they braced for impact, a figure shot up from the ground.

Stepping through flash-steps, trailing dark red lightning as he ascended—it was Gusion.

He activated Raijin Form, Demon God Secret Art, Mazuko Shikai, Sage Mode—everything. He even pushed the Demon God's output further regardless of the strain on his body, absorbing natural energy to empower himself.

In Raijin Mode, his dark red hair streamed back in the burning wind. Crimson dragon scales covered his body, plating his face like iron. Knotted muscles writhed like enraged dragons, as if they would burst free of scale and cloth. Between opening scales, blood spurted, vaporizing into a thin red mist in the heat.

Scarlet eyes held a gorgeous violet hue. As he climbed with flash-steps, Mazuko at his side, every step drew in more power.

He focused his mind to a razor point. Nothing else remained in his eyes. As he passed Nagato's falling body, he struck.

Dark red ryou flowed along the blade of Mazuko, becoming an invisible edge. When Conqueror's Haki wrapped the blade, dark red lightning cracked and flared.

Gusion accelerated again midair, bursting through the red mist like an Asura charging out of hell.

Steel sang.

A scarlet arc lanced through the sky, the blade light carving through the meteor whole.

Secret sword art—Star-Slayer!

The quake-force of his blade surged anew, spreading laterally.

With a thunderous detonation, the meteor split in two, then shattered under the transverse shock, bursting into a rain of fragments that fell in all directions.

In the roaring meteor-shower, Gusion braved the scorching fiery rain, dove, caught the unconscious Nagato, and flash-stepped repeatedly to avoid the densest zone of debris near the blast center.

Thud-thud-thud—

Stones hammered the ground across the Land of Rain, crushing countless buildings. But compared to the devastation the intact meteor would have wrought, this was vastly better; casualties were within a controllable range.

Konan exhaled in relief seeing Gusion save Nagato. She unfolded paper wings and flew toward them to check on Nagato.

As Gusion landed and began to settle his breath, his right arm suddenly slashed backward. The blade met nothing.

A figure coalesced again behind him—Uchiha Obito.

Behind his mask, Obito frowned. He hadn't expected Gusion to be this vigilant even now. The hand he'd extended toward Nagato's eyes had almost been chopped off.

His thinking was simple. Gusion had just overtaxed himself to stop the meteor and was in a post-tension lull. Nagato was unconscious. This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Attacking Gusion might trigger an instinctive defense, so he decided to go straight for Nagato—steal the eyes. With the Rinnegan in hand, he wouldn't need to worry about Gusion anymore.

As for agreements with those mysterious people, he had no intention of honoring them.

Split them evenly? That's only if the other side got them. If he secured both Rinnegan himself, how could he hand one over?

But he hadn't expected Gusion, even now, to anticipate him and foil the attempt.

Gusion propped Nagato up and used Kaido to heal his internal injuries. The trouble was that Nagato had fainted from total chakra and ocular depletion; even if his injuries were healed, he wouldn't be much of a fighter for a while.

Gusion could only lament that he'd underestimated explorers—he'd been sailing too smoothly in this world and had come to think other explorers weren't worth worrying about, nearly suffering a big loss.

If he hadn't cured Nagato's disability, letting him display divine might to stop the meteor, he might have been crushed to death today by those dogs on the moon.

He truly hadn't considered the lunar angle. On the original timeline, Ōtsutsuki Toneri should still be a kid around Naruto's age. But he'd forgotten the moon already housed a Giant Tenseigan the Ōtsutsuki could draw on.

If an explorer made it to the moon and struck a deal, they could indeed arrange a meteor drop.

The problem now was that Gusion didn't know the terms—was it a one-off strike or would they continue to carpet-bomb the ninja world?

He pushed the bad thoughts aside and focused on Obito. Thinking too far ahead was useless. First, kill Obito.

"Calamity, we meet again," Obito said, trying to keep calm before his nemesis. He glanced at Nagato in Gusion's arms. "How about a deal? We split the Rinnegan—one each. I'll tell you its secrets and make you king in the new world."

"Uchiha Madara!!!"

Konan's hateful voice rang out. She sped toward them on paper wings. She had seen him try to ambush Nagato and now heard his words—her fury boiled over.

She also worried—afraid Gusion might waver.

Chapter 285: How to Kill Obito

Gusion looked at Obito as if at an idiot. "Split them? Make me king?"

"How about it? Not a bad bargain, right?"

Obito ignored Konan's charge. In his view, that woman's strength was middling—just paper release and explosive tags. Hardly worth noting.

"Obito, your brain's always been bad. No wonder you were dead last in school."

Gusion mocked him, directly calling him by name.

Being called out rattled Obito. "What are you talking about? I am Uchiha Madara. I'll tell you: these Rinnegan are mine to begin with. Without my help, you can't even tap their power."

"Obito, you don't get it. What qualifies you to negotiate with me? Never mind that I'd never betray Nagato—say I wanted to. He's in my hands. What are you even dreaming about?"

Gusion sneered, then grabbed Konan's arm before she struck, handing Nagato to her. "Get him somewhere safe—farther the better. The assault isn't over."

He wasn't a genius, but his battlefield logic was clear. If the enemy used a meteor as a finisher, those explorers had to be nearby.

Otherwise, once the meteor fell, others might arrive first to loot the bodies—it would be handing them the credit.

So regardless of whether the meteor did the job, those explorers would attack the Land of Rain. Explorers with that kind of nerve and planning wouldn't be weak. Clearly the operation targeted Nagato's Rinnegan; Gusion and the Allied forces were side spoils.

Nagato was half-ruined from stopping the meteor. The enemy wouldn't miss the golden chance. But distance meant they'd need at least six or seven minutes to arrive. Gusion had to eliminate Obito before the unknown enemy showed.

Otherwise, if the explorers pinned him down, Obito could snipe the unconscious Nagato at any time. Konan wouldn't be able to stop it—the original story had proved that.

Especially now that Obito had his original pair of Sharingan back. He could phase into Kamui space and use Kamui offensively—he was stronger than before.

"Calamity, you don't think that just because you wounded me once, you're stronger, do you?"

Behind the mask, Obito's face darkened. "I can kill you and reclaim my eyes."

Gusion regarded him like a fool. "Enough with the act. Don't tell me you really think you're Uchiha Madara."

"Believe what you want. You spurned my offer—then die."

Obito triggered Kamui, aiming to twist space and sever Gusion's body.

But before the space attack fully engaged, Gusion seemed to teleport to Obito's flank, evading Kamui with unhurried ease.

Healing light of the Kaido flickered over his body, repairing skin torn by muscle overexertion. He eyed Obito. "You don't seriously think you're stronger, do you?"

Obito frowned at Gusion's godlike dodge and felt his body briefly numbed by current—he grew more solemn.

Gusion, Mazuko in hand, watched Konan retreat with Nagato, then strolled toward Obito.

Kamui was troublesome but not without weaknesses. In terms of instant effect, his lightning was also near-instant on Obito.

Having reflected after only chopping off three of Obito's limbs last time, Gusion had found the solution.

When Obito used offensive Kamui, he couldn't phase. So when Obito launched Kamui, he'd also be struck by Gusion's lightning.

Even with Hashirama cells, you don't shrug off being shocked. That instant of stiffness would stop Obito from continuing Kamui and expose openings.

If Obito turtled and stayed intangible, he couldn't hurt Gusion either.

And even the turtle strategy had a counter.

In the original, Konan used six hundred billion explosive tags to force Obito into a death corner. His phasing couldn't be maintained forever. His max continuous intangibility was five minutes. In near-endless explosions, the moment phasing ended, death arrived. Only Izanagi let him escape.

In other words, the turtle was not invincible. Once Gusion understood that, his kill route was clear.

"Kamui!"

Retreating, Obito fired the space-time ninjutsu again. The space-cut was practically true damage. He believed one hit would bisect Gusion.

Unfortunately, Gusion's speed was too great. He dodged before the cut completed, and countered with lightning.

Gliding past another attack, Gusion pressed and went for the mind first. "Obito, your biggest mistake was showing up before me in a situation like this."

"I, Uchiha Madara, fear no one. Cross me and you die," Obito said stubbornly.

Gusion snorted. "Don't. You've dragged Madara's mystique through the mud."

He lunged, blade flashing—no grand flourish, only extreme speed and precision—aiming at Obito's neck.

Obito smirked and phased, letting the strike pass. "Useless. You can't touch me."

"Yeah? I thought that needle I fed the dog last time belonged to someone else," Gusion said casually, continuing to swing—strike after strike at the intangible Obito.

Obito flushed with anger, wanting to retort but realizing more words would only invite worse humiliation. He huffed. "Your arrogance ends now. I'll soon cut you in two."

As Gusion rained down blows, Obito's anger cooled. He realized he'd overthought it—Gusion couldn't do anything to him.

Stay calm and he could toy with Gusion. The other simply couldn't touch him.

Right—Nagato himself couldn't do much to him. Without the Rinnegan, what could Gusion do?

"You don't think staying intangible makes you invincible, do you?" Gusion needled, increasing his attack tempo.

A bad feeling pricked Obito. "You can't hurt me."

"This intangibility… has a time limit, doesn't it?"

At that, Obito's face changed under the mask.

Yes—continuous phasing maxed at five minutes. But how did Gusion know?

Tension rose in Obito, though he forced himself calm.

Even if Gusion knew, so what? He could drop intangibility once, then re-enter.

Meanwhile, Gusion's constant swings were burning stamina. The first to falter would be Gusion.

"So what if it does? You still can't defeat me," Obito said as coolly as he could, eyes mocking the empty swings. "Save your strength—or reconsider my offer."

"Impossible?" Gusion's blade never paused. He grinned, showing white teeth. "If intangibility has a time limit, then it's not hard to solve…"

His smile looked feral to Obito. "…I'll just keep swinging without a gap for five minutes straight."

Obito started to say that was impossible—then Gusion's assault grew even fiercer.

In Sage Mode, dragon scales around Gusion's body opened and closed like breathing, exhaling crimson mist. Mazuko's slashes blurred into afterimages.

Daylight and black edge—dark red streaks interlaced like a crimson bulb, entirely enveloping Obito's position.

The gale from the ceaseless strikes blasted rubble and dirt in all directions. The shockwinds shoved everything back. Within seconds, explosions of air cleared the area where they stood.

It was one thing for the surroundings to vanish; even the dirt and gravel underfoot were repelled by the blade gales, leaving Obito suspended with nowhere to plant his feet. That felt ominous.

Obito's phasing in essence shifted the attacked body parts into Kamui space, thus avoiding harm.

Normally, he could phase indefinitely because shifting only part of the body cost little.

But under saturating, wide-area attacks, the load on phasing spiked—so much so that it could last at most seven or eight minutes, even as little as five.

Gusion's dense slashes forced Obito into high-load phasing, shortening his limit—at most five minutes.

Worse, the cleared surroundings left him floating with nothing to push off. He could only keep phasing and tank the storm. To move, he'd need to materialize at least part of his body to generate traction.

He didn't dare. The moment he materialized anything, Gusion would cut him. Even if he did, there was nothing to push off of.

Obito realized a major weakness: he couldn't fly.

Meanwhile, the damned Calamity stayed aloft, relentlessly carving at him everywhere.

A cold shock hit him—he was being driven into a corner!?

Impossible. He had a pair of space-time Mangekyō Sharingan. Shouldn't he counter physical attackers?

How could a brute-force style like Gusion's push him to the brink!?

Yes—he saw Gusion's approach had no fancy tactics—just absolute strength and density of strikes, sealing every avenue, never letting him open any distance.

When the phasing limit hit, the instant he reappeared he'd be diced to pieces.

"I don't believe it!"

Panic crept in. Behind the mask, his face twisted. "How long can you maintain slashes at this intensity!?"

Gusion didn't answer—he showed him.

Empty swings with Mazuko were tiring. A miss pulled your balance with the follow-through, and resisting that inertia took more strength to reset your stance.

In a normal fight, at this intensity—even without counting the recovery effects from Mazuko and other gear—he could go over an hour.

But empty swings only? He couldn't do that that long—but five minutes? More than enough.

As seconds ticked by, his dense blade-work churned the air. The storm bled outward, thinning even the air nearby.

Far away, after carrying Nagato to safety, Konan turned and gaped—Gusion was breaking Obito's absolute defense with brute force.

Thinking it over, she found it plausible. If she were dealing with the masked man, she'd design a clear space with no footing and bombard him with endless tags, forcing constant phasing until it timed out—and then kill him.

Time passed. Sweat poured under Obito's mask. He had never imagined being cornered by a brute's mindless approach.

Fear flickered in both Mangekyō as his brain raced.

What to do—use Izanagi!?

But he'd restored his own eyes. If he used Izanagi now, he had no spare stock. Would he sacrifice a Mangekyō to escape?

No—if he did, with only intangibility or ranged Kamui left, he'd be no match for Gusion. If Gusion could sustain five minutes once, who's to say he couldn't do it again?

Besides, with chakra and ocular stamina spent, his next stretch of continuous phasing wouldn't last as long.

While Obito hesitated over Izanagi, he suddenly noticed Gusion moving his lips mid-fight—but not speaking to him.

Obito stared like he'd seen a ghost. Gusion was reciting something he couldn't understand—like a poem.

Of course Gusion had accounted for Izanagi. He didn't know if Obito had transplanted additional Sharingan into other body parts like Danzō had. But whether for the sake of winning or his own interests, he couldn't allow Obito to use that jutsu.

If Obito blinded Gusion's Mangekyō in the process, that would be a huge loss.