At this moment, Nagato's mind was a complete blank.
He could not understand!
What exactly was happening before his eyes? Why did merging with that White Zetsu cause such a massive change in him?
Immediately after.
He subconsciously tried to stand up, and to his surprise, he actually stood up unsteadily.
Even if walking was indeed a bit difficult, it wasn't because White Zetsu's recovery power was insufficient; it was simply because he had been paralyzed in a wheelchair for a long time, so he still needed some time to relearn how to walk.
The thought of being able to rid himself of the wheelchair in the future filled Nagato's heart with an indescribable complexity!
"Why?"
After a long silence, Nagato spoke up in confusion.
Yes!
At this moment, although he was certain that Black Zetsu and Obito harbored no ill will, he still couldn't quite understand why the two were helping him.
After all, to some extent, they couldn't exactly be considered friends!
To this.
Obito merely gave Nagato an indifferent look and then said in a calm tone, "Because you are still useful at this stage. At the very least, before the plan is completed, we cannot let you die so easily."
"The Akatsuki Organization still needs you as its leader for what's to come," Black Zetsu spoke sinisterly, a cold light flickering in his eyes.
Clearly.
Although he had technically saved Nagato today, Black Zetsu still found Nagato disagreeable.
Compared to Obito, who could still be fooled, this kid Nagato was quite disobedient.
For this same reason, no matter how important the Rinnegan was, and even though Nagato had been nearly sucked dry into a husk, Black Zetsu had never thought of lending him a hand, choosing instead to quietly watch Nagato remain half-dead.
For Black Zetsu, as long as Nagato could hold on until the Tailed Beasts were collected, when Uchiha Madara was eventually resurrected via Edo Tensei, it would naturally be time for Nagato to die.
There was no other way!
Even when he was half-dead, Nagato dared to call himself a god; what would happen if his body regained its health?
Not to mention...
Nagato wasn't as easy to deceive as Obito. It had been so long since the Akatsuki Organization was founded, yet he had never treated Black Zetsu as one of his own, always remaining guarded and even ordering him around...
So, sigh!
If he hadn't seen Nagato on the verge of death, he really wouldn't have wanted to help him.
But even so.
He had never considered directly injecting Nagato with Hashirama cells, choosing instead to let White Zetsu merge directly into Nagato's body.
Black Zetsu's idea was quite simple.
If Nagato was obedient in the future, he would let White Zetsu stay inside him, serving as a way to monitor Nagato for him.
If Nagato was disobedient, he would have White Zetsu leave!
One must know that Nagato's current physical recovery was being sustained by White Zetsu's special ability; as soon as White Zetsu left Nagato's body, Nagato's health would collapse instantly.
Conversely.
If he had directly injected Hashirama cells, Nagato could have fully recovered, but Black Zetsu would have lost the possibility of controlling him.
"Fine, I understand!"
While Black Zetsu was silently thinking, Nagato gave a faint nod.
He could certainly sense something was off with Black Zetsu and knew that while Black Zetsu was helping him, he was also surely hiding some schemes he didn't understand.
But it didn't matter!
Anyway, he had lived long enough.
As long as he could hold on until the day the Tailed Beast Deterrence Plan was completed, and rescue Konan and settle her safely in the process, that would be enough.
Yes!
The plan to rescue Konan he mentioned earlier wasn't a trick to deceive the two; he truly wanted to rescue her.
The reason was also simple!
Although he really wanted Konan to be protected by Konoha, it was definitely not in this current manner.
On one hand.
Although Konoha was currently run by the Uchiha, they were still not as trustworthy as his teacher, Jiraiya.
On the other hand.
He also had many things he hadn't clearly explained to Konan and needed to rescue her to plan things out slowly.
Third, and most importantly!
Regarding the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style currently on Konan, Nagato did not want her to be sealed; he needed to find a way to break the seal.
Finally.
He would find a way to locate Jiraiya and then hand Konan over to him.
With someone like Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, stepping in, Konan would surely live a better life in Konoha, or at the very least, she wouldn't have to continue living under a seal.
Taking a deep breath, Nagato spoke.
"Since I have recovered, our Akatsuki Organization should resume its operations."
"As for Konoha, we'll give up on it for now!"
"From today onwards, all members of the Akatsuki Organization will mobilize and begin wreaking havoc throughout the Ninja World. We must make the entire Ninja World as chaotic as possible."
"Let's move."
Nagato's tone was very calm. He didn't mention Black Zetsu's potential schemes but instead directly issued the combat orders.
Immediately after.
After notifying everyone via the Magic Lantern Body Technique, he took the Six Paths of Pain out of a sealing scroll and then directly controlled them to depart.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
As Nagato left, Obito said very resentfully, "I really didn't want to help Nagato regain his health. This will make it even harder to keep him in check in the future."
"Don't worry, it's not a big problem," Black Zetsu said in a sinister yet calm tone.
Seeing the confused look on Obito's face, Black Zetsu explained simply, "We didn't inject him with Hashirama or White Zetsu cells; we're merely relying on White Zetsu's ability to stabilize his body."
"We can have White Zetsu leave at any time, and then Nagato will return to his previous decrepit state."
"And there's one more crucial point: Madara placed a cursed seal on Nagato's body, which allows Madara to take control of him at a critical moment."
"Nagato is just a pawn; he cannot escape our control!"
Black Zetsu spoke with total composure.
But hearing this made Obito very unhappy, because he didn't actually want to resurrect Uchiha Madara. He had long ago secretly decided that he would take Uchiha Madara's place as the one to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi...
Therefore.
For someone like him who lacked the ability to control Nagato, the current situation was certainly not what he wanted to see. However, since it wasn't yet time to turn against Black Zetsu, Obito chose to remain silent despite his displeasure.
However, unfortunately.
Obito was not good at acting at all, so he was easily noticed by Black Zetsu.
Black Zetsu's eyes darted around, and he immediately whispered, "By the way, Obito!"
"There's a piece of intelligence I'm sure you'll want to know: your little girlfriend, Rin Nohara, has been resurrected."
"Nagato reached an agreement with Uchiha Jin, and then Nagato resurrected her using the Rinne Rebirth Jutsu. Furthermore, I heard that Uchiha Jin and Rin Nohara are already set to be married."
"Their wedding—Obito, do you want to attend?"