In reality, the fiery whirlwind vanished, and Lin Nan’s figure reappeared. He wasn’t burned, but his body was riddled with black rods, his reanimated form also somewhat shattered, and his face bore a pallor of decay.
“Mr. Lin!” Naruto exclaimed, startled.
It turned out that the moment Lin Nan was enveloped by the fiery whirlwind, he had created a clone that used its intangibility to enter the Kamui dimension. His main body had then followed the White Mask into it.
The White Mask stood not far away, his chest ripped open, the bloody wound rapidly healing. Though his face was hidden, Lin Nan could sense the hatred and malice emanating from beneath the mask.
“I’m fine!” Lin Nan waved his hand, halting the release of Chibaku Tensei. He calmly pulled out a black rod and threw it at the White Mask.
The White Mask didn’t move; the black rod passed straight through him.
Rocks and trees, not yet fully pulled into the sky, continued to fall. Lin Nan simply watched the White Mask with a placid expression.
When a large boulder obscured their line of sight, the White Mask clasped his hands together.
“Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu), beasts!”
With a bang, the colossal meteorite suspended in the sky, resembling a small moon, began to tremble violently. Cracks spread across its surface, and the heads of several massive Tailed Beasts, cloaked in chakra resembling blood mist, emerged.
“Roar!”
The Tailed Beasts let out roars, their cries seemingly filled with infinite pain and rage, yet their eyes held only intense killing intent, devoid of any reason.
“Oh, one is indeed missing!” Lin Nan remarked sarcastically, ignoring the newly freed Tailed Beasts.
The White Mask tilted his head slightly, a barely perceptible tremor running through his shoulder. The Two-Tails was missing. The strength of Tailed Beasts wasn’t determined solely by their tails; it wasn’t as if the Nine-Tails was the strongest and the One-Tail the weakest. Lin Nan knew that Chibaku Tensei couldn't seal the Nine-Tails, but it was more than sufficient to seal any other Tailed Beast. Therefore, Lin Nan had randomly reinforced the seal on one Tailed Beast. In essence, his Chibaku Tensei was prepared for only one Tailed Beast, the others merely incidental.
With any one of the nine Tailed Beasts missing, the Ten-Tails couldn't be revived. Whether the Ten-Tails could be revived was, in the grand scheme of things, of little consequence to Lin Nan. Everything he was doing now was solely to annoy the White Mask. If he couldn't kill him, he would at least drive him mad. In this regard, he was invincible!
The White Mask formed hand seals again, controlling the Tailed Beasts to furiously dig at the Chibaku Tensei’s meteorite, believing that slightly reducing its size would loosen the seal.
“With my power surging, why would I let you succeed? Oh yeah!”
Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails, behind Lin Nan, watched this with concern and immediately moved to intervene. Lin Nan, however, stopped Killer Bee and Naruto, telling them to just watch.
Lin Nan didn't interrupt the White Mask either. He calmly took out another black rod, examined it briefly, and then a dark, alluring flame ignited upon it.
“Amaterasu!”
Lin Nan’s gaze then turned to the sky. Like eggs burning, the black flames began to spread across the meteorite. As Lin Nan’s blood dripped, the black flames ravenously surged towards the Tailed Beasts.
“Amaterasu? Lin Nan, you’ve gone too far!” the White Mask roared, immediately ordering the Tailed Beasts to evade. However, unlike himself, the Tailed Beasts were large targets. Soon, they were all engulfed by the black flames, their struggles futile.
Amaterasu was known as the ultimate physical attack for a reason, even if it hadn't historically burned anyone to death. Once Amaterasu flames attached themselves to an object, they would burn until completely extinguished. Thus, no matter how the Tailed Beasts thrashed and resisted, their efforts were in vain. Before long, they weakened and plummeted to the ground. Amaterasu was incredibly effective against Tailed Beasts.
Lin Nan, the perpetrator, mused, “Kagutsuchi might be even more effective!”
As the five Tailed Beasts were consumed by the black flames, unable to extricate themselves, Lin Nan turned his attention to the White Mask. The White Mask remained still, and the Amaterasu flames only burned behind him. Lin Nan deactivated Amaterasu, knowing it was useless; he merely wanted to intimidate the White Mask.
Then, Lin Nan looked at the White Mask mockingly. “What can you do now?”
Behind the White Mask, the Tailed Beasts writhed in agony, their screams echoing, yet the White Mask simply watched. Faced with Lin Nan’s taunt, he grew even more silent.
“Hahaha!” Lin Nan laughed maniacally, as if he were the villain. “You’ve been lurking in the Akatsuki for so many years, orchestrating schemes, manipulating countless pawns. When you felt the time was ripe, you even ignited the Fourth Great Ninja War. People feared you; you felt even fate was on your side. All these things made you feel as if your goal was drawing nearer, but!”
Lin Nan suddenly shouted, the black rods on his body falling to the ground. His riddled body then slowly began to heal. “Do you see? All of it was in vain! You cannot stop me. You can't change anything. You can only watch as the tools that would help you achieve your great endeavor disappear one by one. The Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails can only watch, powerless to capture them. Now, the entire battlefield is slowly sinking. Your goal grows further away, and all the circumstances are slipping from your control!”
“Obito, tell me, what can you do now? Speak!”
Obito stood frozen, speechless. Naruto and Killer Bee embraced each other, trembling.
“Laughing so grandly on the battlefield, I thought you were the villain! Oh yeah…”
Lin Nan glared back, and Killer Bee immediately fell silent.
“You can’t do anything. It’s all wishful thinking. Even if you make even the slightest progress, it has nothing to do with you. You haven't changed, Obito, you’re still as useless as ever!”
Finally, Lin Nan sneered, feeling much better. The White Mask finally spoke, as if a long-suppressed outburst, hysterical yet maintaining a sliver of reason.
“What do you know? You’re just a pawn I used and discarded, a rat clinging to life after being reanimated. What right do you have to bark at me?”
“This world has no light, no hope, only despair!”
“Even if, as you say, it is all in vain in the end, but in a world of despair, why not make it more despairing? Just like you slowly suffocating in the deep sea, waiting for annihilation in despair!”
“Hahahaha…” The White Mask laughed. He truly lived up to his reputation as one of the Four Heavenly Laughs; his laughter was indeed boisterous.
A flash of ruthlessness flickered in Lin Nan’s eyes, but he quickly laughed, “Good thing, you’ll just be blown into a bloody mess. Where’s the despair and suffocation then!”
The White Mask said darkly, “Since that is the case, then I shall let you witness even deeper despair!”
“Gedo Mazō (Outer Path — Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique)!”