At this moment, Nagato was seated in a massive, machine-mounted wheelchair, gripping a piece of paper tightly in his hand. His hands trembled as he sat in silence, head bowed, lost in thought.
Only after a long while did he finally stir, snapping out of the whirlwind of emotions the note had stirred—shock, fury, and, in the end, heartbreak.
The second he finished reading the intel Konan had relayed, he had been ready to mobilize the entire Akatsuki and personally execute Obito and Black Zetsu—those two heartless traitors.
But Konan's final words stopped him cold:
"Calm down. I'll handle it when I return."
It was her way of telling him to stay rational. The news she heard on the battlefield, though likely true, was still unconfirmed. And if it proved false, acting too soon could destroy everything they'd built.
But above all—there was the truth about the Rinnegan.
Konan had seen it with her own eyes—after Madara's reincarnation, he wielded the power of the Six Paths, the same as Nagato and the Paths of Pain. Even someone like Konoha's Hokage advisor, Uchiha Hikaru, had awakened and used the same power.
That revelation shattered the godlike image Nagato held of himself. Leaning back in his chair, he stared at his legs, touched his eyes, and let out a bitter laugh in the solitude of that dark room.
"Ha...ha…"
"Jiraiya-sensei… there was never any such thing as the Sage's Eye. These eyes were just tools in someone else's plan."
"I'm no god. Just... a pawn."
But the next moment, a blaze of hatred burned in his eyes. It crackled and surged like raw chakra, and with a snarl, he slammed his fist into the armrest of the wheelchair.
"Uchiha Madara. Uchiha Obito..."
"You used me. Made me a vessel. Took my legs. And I endured it."
"These eyes let me protect Yahiko and Konan during the war. They brought us to Jiraiya-sensei."
"But you shouldn't have—you shouldn't have killed Yahiko!!"
From the shadows, the figure of the Deva Path—Yahiko's body—stepped forward slowly, its presence casting a heavy silence across the room.
Nagato looked at that face—the face that had always stood before him like a shield. Yahiko. His brother. His friend. His leader.
["Tiny? What a weird name…"]
["Nagato! How long are you going to keep crying? That won't change anything. Not this country, not anything."]
["The organization is called Akatsuki. It means the light before the dawn—fitting, right?"]
["You and Konan... you have to survive. You two... you're the real hope."]
Yahiko's voice echoed again and again in Nagato's mind, each word slicing deep into his soul. His eyes welled up with tears.
He tilted his head back at a 45-degree angle, biting back the emotion. He wouldn't let them fall. Not now.
"You said crying wouldn't help—just like this broken world. But tell me... what the hell am I supposed to do now?"
"If I never had the Rinnegan... would I still be the savior you believed in?"
While Nagato spiraled into his own darkness, Obito and Black Zetsu had already escaped the battlefield near Konoha's gates, retreating to their hidden base.
Inside, thousands of White Zetsu were being grown—rows upon rows of them, all dormant, eyes closed. Each one was connected to thick white tendrils that twisted upward into the shadows.
Obito slumped against a wall and slid down to the floor. He clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms, eyes wide with rage and disbelief.
"Damn it! Not even Madara could handle that bastard Hikaru?!"
"If that's the case... what the hell happens to the Moon's Eye Plan?!"
"Forget summoning the Ten-Tails. I can't even deal with the Nine-Tails right now!"
Black Zetsu observed silently. Something felt off.
He knows the Infinite Tsukuyomi on the Uchiha Stone Tablet was a lie... So why wasn't he reacting?
Black Zetsu narrowed his eyes.
It was time to test him.
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Send Power Stones
Bonus Chapter at 150 Power Stone
Second Bonus Chapter - 300 Power Stones
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