Chapter 277: The Great Sage
Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 277: The Great Sage
The energy emanating from Naruto could no longer be called chakra. It was a combination of several sources, all perfectly melded together, refined and purified by his own cultivation method.
As he approached the realm of a Spirit Transformation cultivator, the energy contained in his body and soul was going to go through several changes. The ultimate goal was to refine his own Divine Energy.
This was a necessary step before a mortal could perform their Apotheosis and become a real 'Immortal'.
Naruto, however, was already several steps ahead of what would be considered normal at this stage of cultivation. Thanks to possessing an incredibly powerful Divine Artifact and his Cosmic Assimilation technique that allowed him to absorb energy from all sources, he was able to seep a small amount of Divine Energy from the Golden Scripture and combine it with his own.
The amount of Divine Energy in his system could be considered absolutely tiny, but anything else would have killed him on the spot.
However, even those small traces were able to transform and enhance his cultivation far beyond what would normally be possible.
The golden aura surrounding his body was the result of this union.
Yin Chakra, Yang Chakra, Natural Energy, and Divine Energy. With this, he was able to push his body beyond what it should be capable of.
All his chakra gates were now fully open. This is what they referred to as the 'Eight Gates' technique, the kinjutsu that usually ends with the death of the user. But for Naruto, it was different.
His golden energy caused him no harm, no matter how much he channeled through his veins. In fact, it healed him constantly, fixing any imperfections or wounds he could have. This was a side effect of the 'Life Chi' contained within the Natural Energies flowing through him.
However, even with that tremendous amount of energy coursing through his veins and manifesting on the outside as an aura, everything around Naruto remained extremely calm and serene. There were no violent outbursts of metaphysical forces.
"What is going on?" Asuma and the rest were staring in awe at the figure of Naruto.
"There is something different… I don't know what he has done, but his chakra has completely changed." Kakashi had uncovered his Sharingan and used it to examine his former student.
"It's beautiful…" Kurenai commented, earning a look from Asuma.
Naruto's long blonde hair was floating as if it were underwater and shone with a golden light. Even his piercing blue eyes had adopted the same golden tone as the aura surrounding him.
This was also affecting Pain himself. He had suddenly stopped his assault, and all his puppets stood in place, staring at him, as if he wasn't sure what to do now.
"Have you lost your will to fight already?... No, it's too soon for that." Naruto's golden eyes moved to the large head they called the King of Hell. As long as it remained intact, Pain would be able to reform his puppets.
Naruto lifted his left hand, and something made of his own golden chakra formed above the Naraka Path puppet, the one who controlled the head.
The other puppets reacted immediately and went to protect their most important member.
"Pointless." Naruto's construction took the shape of a massive hand that went on to grab the head with a powerful grip.
Before Pain could make it release its hold on the head, it was crushed into a bloody pulp and disappeared.
As the golden hand vanished, it left behind a series of seals.
"You won't be able to call it again." Naruto told them.
The Deva Path flew into the air, while the rest went directly for Naruto.
This one looked up. "You think I'll let you do that?"
Dozens of clones came into existence all around Naruto and engaged in combat with the puppets as he flew into the sky after the Deva Path one, who was going to use his control over gravity in a desperate attempt to cause as much damage as possible.
Naruto had to stop this one first because he was the most likely to cause collateral damage with his ability.
Deva Path Pain looked down at the approaching Naruto and immediately made use of his full power. "Almighty Push!"
Naruto made a gesture with his right hand. "Great Sage Art… Buddha Palm."
A massive golden palm appeared in front of him and intercepted Pain's attempt to break everything apart.
The palm then continued traveling until it made contact with the Deva Path puppet. The palm then closed instantly, trapping the puppet in its grasp.
The energy forming the palm became more violent and unstable.
"Boom!"
A powerful explosion covered the sky in flames and smoke. When it cleared up, there was no trace left of the Deva Path puppet.
Naruto looked down and saw one of his clones destroying the Human Path puppet. This one only had power over human souls and could do nothing to his clone, so it had become an easy target.
The Naraka Path went next. Since it had lost its ability to call the King of Hell and resurrect the other puppets, its usefulness in combat was none, and it became another easy prey to his clones.
Naruto teleported behind the Animal Path one and drove a Rasengan through its back.
As soon as the puppet went down, all the summoned creatures disappeared as well.
The Asura Path was putting up a decent fight, with all its mechanical limbs and firearms. It managed to dispel two clones before it went down.
The last one left was the Preta Path puppet...the first one that Naruto had destroyed.
"I hate having to kill things twice…" He sent his clones to tear it apart without using any ninjutsu.
And with that… all Six Paths had been defeated. Once he had taken away their ability to recover the destroyed puppets, they all came crashing down very quickly.
"You did it! You defeated Pain." Maito Gai cheered.
"Is that really all? It seems a bit underwhelming for the leader of Akatsuki." Kakashi felt that something was missing.
"It's not all." Tsunade knew better. "Naruto, the message that Jiraiya left behind…"
"I know." He interrupted her. "These were all toys, controlled from afar by the real Pain."
"Wait, so the real one was not among these?" Asuma asked.
"I can deploy all the available agents to try to find him. He shouldn't be too far from here." Tsunade suggested.
"There is no need." Naruto's golden eyes looked into the distance, and he smiled. He could feel his exact location. "Like the Hyūga likes to say… you are inside my range."
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