The Six-Armed Heavenly Zombie King is one of the strongest killer moves a Rank Five Gu Master can use.
At its core was the Borrowed Strength Gu, supported by six Flying Zombie Gu and the four elemental Gu of Sky, Earth, Fire, and Water.
Eleven Gu activated simultaneously.
For the first time, Shinho felt what it truly meant to possess boundless strength.
But the Six-Armed Heavenly Zombie King wasn't just about strength, it also greatly enhanced pain immunity, physical resilience, and regeneration.
Shinho slowly descended from the air.
Due to his enormous size, everyone had to crane their necks to look up at him.
At close range, they could see every terrifying detail of this monstrous god-like figure.
There was not a single part of it that wasn't horrifying.
"This… is not a creature that belongs in the Shinobi World," Jiraiya muttered.
"That brat!" Tsunade huffed with slight annoyance.
"If he had transformed earlier, I wouldn't have worried so much."
"This body… it's perfect!" Might Guy let out an odd exclamation.
As a taijutsu master, he didn't know what the Six-Armed Heavenly Zombie King was exactly, but he could tell just from its form, the raw, explosive power it contained was undeniable.
"Nagato…" Konan hesitated, wanting to say something.
She wanted to persuade Nagato to retreat, but she didn't know how to phrase it.
Deva Path took a deep breath.
The fact that Chibaku Tensei had been effortlessly shattered had shaken his confidence.
But the battle wasn't over yet.
Deva Path clapped his hands together.
Behind him, the Asura Path, Human Path, Animal Path, and Naraka Path all collapsed backwards, in addition to the preta path which was already destroyed.
The six paths merged into one, causing the aura around Deva Path to surge like a raging storm. His chakra reached its peak.
The Six Paths of Pain were essentially six clones, dividing Nagato's chakra among them.
Now, with the six paths split, Shinho's Six-Armed Heavenly Zombie King made him feel an unprecedented level of threat.
Whether as Deva Path or the other paths, none of them stood a chance individually.
The only hope was the unification of the Six Paths.
In the original storyline, it was only under this same circumstance that Deva Path had unleashed the devastating Shinra Tensei to destroy Konoha.
"What's happening?" Might Guy scratched his head in astonishment. "His chakra just increased at least fivefold!"
"That's… a corpse!" Tsunade's eyes narrowed, "Judging by the fallen bodies, they're already dead, and their dead bodies were turned into puppets."
"It's Nagato!" Jiraiya's eyes lit up as if struck by a revelation.
"The only one who's ever had the Rinnegan… is Nagato."
The Rinnegan, the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths.
No one had ever witnessed its full extent.
Now, seeing this display firsthand, they quickly pieced everything together.
After all, they were some of the finest jonin in the shinobi world.
"So… does that mean Yahiko is dead?" Tsunade asked, realization dawning on her.
"Nagato!" Jiraiya couldn't help but call out, "What… what is going on here?"
"This is the pain I've endured." Deva Path's gaze softened as he spoke.
"Jiraiya-sensei, my pain surpasses yours, it made me into a god."
"A god?"
Shinho let out a low, menacing chuckle.
In the form of the Six-Armed Heavenly Zombie King, his laughter was terrifyingly mocking.
Deva Path recalled Shinho's words from earlier, when he had said he would show them the true power of a god.
He slowly raised his hands.
Shinra Tensei!
The air warped.
An invisible shockwave erupted outward.
The ground cracked apart, debris and dust forming a swirling storm.
The unification of the Six Paths made Shinra Tensei exponentially more terrifying than when Deva Path had used it alone.
Shinho stood still.
A powerful force struck his enormous body.
He swayed slightly.
The invisible shockwave was suddenly reversed.
Deva Path's expression faltered as he was caught off guard by the rebound force and was sent flying.
He skidded across the ground, carving two deep trenches as he slid.
When Shinra Tensei encounters something immovable, the backlash is unavoidable.
In the original story, Deva Path had similarly been sent flying after attempting to use Shinra Tensei against Naruto in his six-tailed form.
Konan's mouth opened in disbelief.
Even the combined strength of the Six Paths was this powerless?
Her heart sank.
This time… they might really lose.
Deva Path's heart pounded furiously.
Bansho Ten'in!
The sound of rushing wind filled the air.
Chakra turned into a raging current, pulling everything around it toward him like a tidal wave.
But Shinho remained rooted in place.
Deva Path flicked his wrists.
Black chakra rods shot out.
The rods struck Shinho's massive body. only to be deflected as if they'd hit the hardest diamond.
"This… is impossible!"
Deva Path who had managed to remain stoic all this time, finally showed a crack on his demeanor.
The power he claimed was godlike now seemed utterly powerless in the face of Shinho.
How could this be?
It felt as though he had fallen into an inescapable nightmare.
"So… this is the extent of what you call the power of a god??"
Shinho brushed the dust off his massive frame and spoke calmly.
"If your attacks are ineffective… why don't you try mine?"
Deva Path instinctively tensed, his eyes narrowing with wariness.
With a thunderous boom, Shinho took a step forward.
The ground beneath him seemed to detonate with each step.
Deva Path blinked—and Shinho was already upon him.
So fast!
Despite his enormous size, Shinho's speed was astonishing.
If not for his Rinnegan, Deva Path wouldn't have been able to track him at all.
Eight massive arms lifted, and eight fists rained down like a storm of meteors.
Shinra Tensei!
Deva Path reacted swiftly.
The invisible shockwave slammed into Shinho's massive form.
Just like before, the rebound force sent Deva Path flying.
Crack!
Shinho's fist crashed into the ground.
Centered around Shinho, the earth split apart, creating deep, bottomless fissures.
Deva Path barely had a moment to catch his breath before freezing in place.
Shinho was in front of him again.
In less than five seconds.
The cooldown period for Shinra Tensei hadn't ended yet.
It felt like an entire mountain range had fallen from the sky onto Pain's body.
Without the ability to resist, his body was flung like a cannonball into the ground.
Boom!
A massive plume of dust shot into the sky.
"Pain!"
Konan rushed forward a few steps.
But in the next moment, she stopped in her tracks.
Deva Path's condition was tragic, his body had a massive hole, and his limbs were mangled beyond recognition.
If it were an ordinary person, they'd have been dead from such injuries.
But this body was a corpse.
Konan pressed her lips together.
Deva Path was now enveloped in an almost infinite amount of chakra.
Was Nagato really prepared to destroy Yahiko's body just to defeat Shinho?
This was the second time Konan had seen Nagato lose control.
The first was when Yahiko had been killed by Hanzo.
"This… is the true power of a god!"
Deva Path roared.
Chakra surged around him like a storm, blasting away everything nearby.
Even Konan had to step back.
Deva Path floated into the air.
The very light around him seemed to warp, and his chakra radiated an unimaginable force.
Shinho knew exactly what Pain was about to do.
In truth, Shinho had allowed this opportunity to arise by holding back.
Sensing the colossal ocean-like chakra, he raised an eyebrow.
That's not enough pressure.
He was already certain he could withstand the Shinra Tensei he used on Konoha in the original timeline.
After all, it was a wide-area jutsu.
When used against a single target, its potential was largely wasted.
But Deva Path had no other choice, this was his most powerful technique.
Having lost all composure, Pain was ready to sacrifice everything for one final gamble.
Shinho glanced at the Blood Curtain Skyflower Gu's barrier.
Though he wanted to test whether it could endure the attack, the sight of Tsunade and the others made him choose a more cautious approach.
"Shinho Aburame!"
Deva Path spread his arms wide and shouted, "Feel the pain! ALMIGHTY PUSH!"
In an instant, the space around Deva Path wrapped.
Battle Space Gu!
And both Shinho and Deva Path disappeared.
The apocalyptic scene was abruptly dissipated.
…
In a Special Spatial Dimension
Unimaginable repulsive force spread outward from Deva Path.
The space around him twisted, and everything in its range was utterly annihilated.
"Die!"
Pain's tone was cold, laced with triumph.
He was the true god!
Shinho was nothing more than a false deity!
BOOM!
A massive wave of chakra struck both Shinho and the ground like a nuclear detonation, sending shockwaves dozens of meters high.
The deafening roar echoed endlessly, swallowing everything in the visible space.
In the next instant—
Deva Path froze.
In the midst of the shockwave—
Shinho shot upward into the sky.
His body was covered in wounds, but in the blink of an eye, they healed completely.
Without the ability to feel pain, Shinho remained completely unbothered.
He threw a punch.
Deva Path plummeted straight into the ground.
"Yahiko… I'm sorry."
Nagato knew that Yahiko's body was beyond saving now.
But just then, he felt an odd lightness.
Deva Path instinctively looked up, only to see the giant Shinho gripping him tightly with one hand.
The Battle Space Gu's effects dissipated at that moment and the two reappeared in the real world.
"Pain?!"
Konan's voice trembled.
In her memory, Deva Path, who always stood above all as a god, now looked as helpless as a chick caught in an eagle's talon.
"Shinho won!"
Shizune clenched her fists, unable to hide her excitement.
Tsunade let out a sigh of relief.
The sheer force of this Shinra Tensei had felt terrifying to them, who were only observing from a distance.
On top of that, when the two had suddenly disappeared, her anxiety had reached its peak.
"So this… is the power of a god," Jiraiya muttered, swallowing hard.
Before today, he had believed that his Sage Mode could handle any foe.
Now, it was clear, Shinho could have easily defeated him.
A thought suddenly struck him, the Great Toad Sage's prophecy.
Who exactly was the Child of Prophecy?
Could the Child of Prophecy truly surpass Shinho?
"It truly is…"
Even Might Guy, usually full of energy, had a rare serious expression as he observed Shinho's form.
This was the pinnacle of physical body, the path he sought to pursue in his training.
Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, and others stood in stunned silence, their faces filled with shock.
In that moment, Shinho, the new Hokage, reached the peak in terms of prestige.
…
The Pure Land
A boundless, empty expanse of the soul's resting place.
"What kind of power is this?"
The Sage of Six Paths watched the scene before him, his expression filled with doubt.
At first, he thought it was sage chakra.
But the emergence of the Six-Armed Heavenly Zombie King made him reconsider.
Death energy.
To manipulate death energy with a living body, this was far beyond his imagination.
This was not something any form of sage arts could accomplish.
The Sage of Six Paths tightened his grip on his black staff.
The shinobi world was already unrecognizable to him.
His original plan had been to wait for the reincarnations of Asura and Indra to grow stronger before intervening at the crucial moment.
But Shinho's appearance had disrupted all his expectations.