At the moment Yama’s Golden Sword chopped through Nagato’s neck, Nagato’s Rinnegan flashed, and a change happened…
Yama who couldn’t perceive the sudden change used his Golden Sword to cut through Nagato’s body unimpeded.
Slash… Puff…
The Golden Sword fell, and instantly, and slashed through Nagato and the ground behind him, as a result, another fissure extending up to several hundred meters appeared on the ground.
There was another earthquake, and the smoke and dust soared through the sky!
Although the battlefield was filled with dust, it didn’t hinder Yama’s vision as he looked at his Golden Sword and the place where he cut Nagato… but for some strange reason, rather than being relieved for having killed Nagato, Yama’s expression turned into a frown…
He could feel it, a moment ago he really cut through Nagato’s body, a solid physical body not the Shadow Clone kind of thing… but strangely enough, both, Nagato’s body, and the blood that was supposed to have been present here are missing!
This just didn’t make any sense!
“Was I affected by some Genjutsu?” muttered Yama with a confused expression… but soon denied this possibility because there is no disruption in his Chakra Flow…
‘If I wasn’t in a Genjutsu, and I did feel as if I cut through a body, then why is there no dead body of Nagato? And if there is no dead body… then who did I cut earlier? Moreover, the fact that there is no dead body here, does that mean Nagato is still alive?’ – thought Yama with a doubtful expression on his face as he tried to analyze what exactly happened in that short instant…
Yama had an intuitive feeling that the threat of Nagato still exists… No! it’s better to say that Yama is quite certain of his feeling… The threat of Nagato has really not been dealt with!
And being certain of his feeling, Yama vigilantly scanned the battlefield to find Nagato’s real position…
Not far away, Nagato knelt on the ground, his chest undulating violently as he desperately gasped…
His body was shivering, his heart was beating fiercely, all his goosebumps were erected, and cold sweat was overflowing from his sweat pores…
Just a moment ago, Nagato was able to feel the breath of death encroaching on him… and he knows in his heart that if he was even a microsecond late in doing what he did, he would have definitely died under the slash of Yama’s Golden Sword!
There is no ‘otherwise’, ‘but’ or ‘if’ here… It was an absolute case…! Had that sword touched him, his neck would have been chopped off and instantly turned into dust!
The reason why Nagato is ‘absolutely’ certain about the fact even his Sage physique granted to him by the combination of Uzumaki and Hashirama DNA would not be able to withstand that sword for more than an instant is that one of his ‘Shadows’ that he used to change position with his real body has now turned into dust after being cut by that Golden Sword!
That’s right!
At the moment the blade of Yama’s Golden Sword was about to slash through his neck, Nagato used the ‘Body Replacement Technique’ with one of his Four Shadows and barely avoided death at a hair’s breadth.
Although he avoided death by a very small margin, the breath of death is still lingering on his body, and the scene where his ‘Shadow’ instantly turned into dust at the moment of being slashed by the Golden still makes his heart shiver!
If instead of his ‘Shadow’, it was him slashed by the Golden Sword, the result would have been exactly the same… he too would have instantly turned into dust!
‘Damn it! His Jutsu is definitely a combination of more than 3 Chakra Natures… otherwise, it’s completely impossible for it to disintegrate my Shadow!’ thought Nagato while spitting out the blood stuck in his throat, then stood up slowly.
It has been already mentioned repeatedly that since having transplanted the Hashirama Cells Nagato has mastered new Dojutsu…
The new Rinnegan Dojutsu he has awakened is ‘Limbo: Border Jail!’.
After awakening ‘Limbo: Border Jail!’, Nagato is able to project his shadow into ‘Limbo’, an invisible world that coexists with the physical world but is ordinarily impossible to detect or perceive.
With the pair of Rinnegan, Nagato can form up to four shadows. Each shadow has the same abilities as the real Nagato, with the added advantage of being untraceable. The shadows can attack targets, giving the appearance of an inexplicable force knocking them down, or they can defend Nagato, giving the appearance of an invisible wall around him. The shadows are invulnerable to any kind of physical damage and can not be harmed through conventional means. A shadow’s very formation can be used defensively, taking Nagato’s place mid-attack as a sort of Body Replacement Technique. Of course, after a certain amount of time, a shadow will need to return to Nagato’s body, and he will likewise need to wait a certain amount of time before he can reform it.
In the face of Yama’s sudden attack just now, Nagato abruptly replaced position with one of his Shadows to survive.
Based on all the characteristics and abilities that the Limbo Shadows have, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that these four Shadows even surpass Nagato’s main body.
Precisely why, from the fact that Yama’s sword completely destroyed one of his ‘Limbo shadows’, Nagato knows that if that sword were to even touch his main body, then he would definitely die… After all, the Limbo Clones are basically himself, other than the added advantage of being untraceable, and if even they couldn’t survive Yama’s sword, then how can he survive?
The Limbo Clones can be reformed after a certain amount of time, even if they are destroyed, but he, himself can not reform, therefore, Nagato knows that he must be more cautious when dealing with Yama… at the same time, he also knows that he must take initiative… and decided to use Limbo Clones to attack Yama.
Limbo Clones are his advantage… both numerically, as well as strategically… Nagato knows that Yama shouldn’t be able to see or sense his Limbo Clones, and one can’t fight something you can’t see or sense… Moreover, with his Limbo Clones, Nagato will be able to overwhelm Yama using the numerical advantage!
If ‘one’ him, can’t defeat Yama, then ‘two’ him will do so, if ‘two’ can’t then ‘three’ will, and if even the ‘three’ can’t, then ‘four’ and ‘five’ will definitely defeat him!
Nagato doesn’t believe that Yama can fight against ‘five’ him at the same time, and still come out as the winner… Therefore, although a little scared, Nagato is also absolutely confident that he will be able to defeat Yama!
So, with all these thoughts in his mind, Nagato projected the other three Limbo Clones and made them attack Yama.
Yama didn’t know Nagato’s complicated thoughts, he was still pondering about how Nagato avoided his slash at such a close distance… ‘Just how exactly did he do it?’
That slash just a few moments ago, Nagato should not have been able to avoid by any conventional means, and Yama is fairly certain that it wasn’t a Shadow Clone that he killed because a mere Shadow clone would never give such a firm touch at the moment of being slashed by something like ‘Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!’.
Therefore, Yama is quite confused and unable to deduce what exactly happened… Of course, all these thoughts didn’t stop Yama from quickly finding the position of Nagato…
Just as Yama discovered Nagato hidden within the cover of smoke and dust, he found out that Nagato was looking in his direction… or more like, Nagato’s gaze was specifically locked on his body… which surprised Yama.
‘He shouldn’t be able to see me through the cover of smoke, does that mean he has also learned sensory Jutsu?’ thought Yama.
It is exactly as Yama thought, although Nagato’s Rinnegan doesn’t allow him to see through dust and smoke, Uzumaki Clan’s unique Chakra sensory Jutsu ‘Mind’s Eye of Kagura’ still allowed him to find the position of Yama even through the obstruction of smoke and dust.
Anyway, that’s not important… what’s important is that Yama could see Chakra gathering in Nagato’s Rinnegan… which means Nagato is trying to do something.
What exactly is Nagato trying to do, Yama is not sure… and Yama couldn’t just make another attack on Nagato without figuring out how exactly Nagato dodged the previous attack… after all, that scene was extremely bizarre…
So, with this intention, Yama quietly waited for Nagato to make his move…
After a few moments of waiting and observing, Yama felt two dim ‘things’ approaching him… one from the left side, and the other from the right side…
‘Huh…? What is that?’ thought Yama with a shocked expression.
Even with his Tenseigan fully activated, Yama couldn’t clearly recognize what exactly are the two ‘things’ approaching him at an extremely fast speed, therefore, he was extremely shocked… ‘Is there still some kind of Jutsu that even the Tenseigan can’t perceive?’
But Yama didn’t have enough time to get his answer or make any deduction, as the two ‘things’ had already approached him and attacked him.
Bang Bang Bang Bang
Accompanied by the muffled sound of fists and feet hitting his body, Yama’s figure flew back sharply, and heavily slammed into the ground!
Puff… Blood spurted out of his mouth at the moment of collision!
‘What the hell….?’ This was the only question in his mind, as it was going numb, and his body was painful. In just a short exchange that took place a few instants ago, he was hit more than several dozen times, and each hit he took was strong enough to smash mountains!
Slammed heavily on the ground, Yama resisted the pain he was feeling and fiercely waved his Golden Sword to force the two ‘things’ back, then he too took some more distance from Nagato.
Up until this moment, Yama hasn’t clearly seen what those two ‘things’ were!
But one thing that Yama has understood through pain is the fact the raw power of those ‘two’ things is high enough to smash mountains into rubble… which is completely inconsistent with their small size… moreover, the two ’things’ are fast enough to somewhat keep up with Yama’s speed, and also managed to hurt him!
You must know that when using the Tenseigan Chakra Mode, Yama’s speed and strength are improved by several dimensions… and, because of the coating of Tenseigan Chakra, normal attacks can’t even get past the defence of the Chakra Cloak, much less hurt him… and yet, those two ‘things’ could hurt him…!
This fact implies just how much raw strength those two ‘things have, and this fact also made Yama raise the threat level of Nagato higher…
Of course, Yama wasn’t the only one shocked… Nagato on the other side was even more surprised than Yama, and thought, ‘He can perceive my Limbo Clones? Just how…? Limbo Clones should only be perceivable through the Rinnegan that can see through space! Does that mean he really has the Rinnegan?’
Because the Limbo Clones do not exist in the physical world, they can not be perceived by conventional means…
Although Yama was able to coincidently destroy his first Limbo Clone, Nagato didn’t think that Yama can perceive his Limbo Clone… but not it seems that that might not the case, and he more and more felt that Yama might also possess the Rinnegan!
To see the Limbo World, one needs the Rinnegan, and to sense the existence of the Limbo World, one must have sensory skills at the level of Six-Path Sennin Mode…
Of course, Yama has neither, neither does he have the Rinnegan, nor has he mastered the Six Path Sennin Mode, but the insight of his Tenseigan is no inferior to the Rinnegan… Although Tenseigan can’t see through space unlike the Rinnegan, it can still see Chakra.
The Limbo Clones, although existing in the Limbo world, they are still Chakra… and Yama’s Tenseigan is allowing him to see that Chakra, albeit barely, and unclearly because the Limbo Clones are present in a different dimension!
This is also the reason why Yama called Nagato’s Limbo Clones, ‘those two things’ rather than ‘those two people’.
But Nagato doesn’t know this fact… he felt that Yama is able to see his Limbo Clones which made him completely shocked.
Nagato clearly understands that besides all their special abilities, the main reason why Limbo Clones are extremely powerful is because of other people’s inability to perceive them…
Obviously, you can’t defend or attack something you can neither see nor sense…
But if someone can perceive them, the threat of the Limbo Clones will obviously be reduced! Although the Limbo Clones will still give him a numerical advantage against Yama, it won’t be like before when just looking at Yama was more than enough to kill him!
Moreover, for those standing at the pinnacle of the Shinobi World, such as Yama who can turn anything they attack into dust, the numerical advantage won’t be much advantageous!
Thinking of all these conclusions, Nagato more and more felt that his initial absurd idea might just be true… Yama might just indeed be his so-called ‘Natural Enemy’!