Uchiha Ling felt that Nagato, who was walking over, was a bit off, but his massive Chakra indeed confirmed it was Nagato; Yahiko didn't possess such a vast amount of Chakra and vitality.
Meanwhile, Black Zetsu on the other side sensed the anomaly, but he merely found it amusing and made no other unnecessary movements.
Danzo and Hanzo stood on the cliff, watching Nagato slowly approach from the hillside, especially when they saw his purple, ringed Rinnegan, their eyes gleamed with fervent greed.
One wanted to use the Rinnegan to suppress his Hashirama cells arm and to gain enough power to reclaim the Hokage position in Konoha.
The other wanted to rely on the legendary Rinnegan to slow down his own aging, or to gain immense power to make the Amegakure great again.
Both, by coincidence, coveted the Rinnegan for their own ambitions, not once thinking of benefiting the Ninja World. If Uchiha Ling had obtained it, then the Ninjas of the Ninja World would truly be 'blessed.'
Before Uchiha Ling could ponder how to 'bless' the Ninja World, Nagato had already been brought before Danzo and Hanzo. His red hair covered one eye, making him look somewhat unconventional.
However, at this moment, no one cared whether his hairstyle was unconventional or not; instead, everyone was focused on his contact lenses, even Konan, who was sprawled on the ground.
"Nagato! Run! They want to take your Rinnegan! Hurry and run!"
Konan, like a kidnapped heroine in a third-rate TV drama, cried out loudly for the protagonist to leave and not mind her. This trope felt a bit cliché, and Uchiha Ling pursed her lips.
Nagato, with his god-like purple eyes, gazed at Konan writhing on the ground, his expression devoid of extra emotion. But then again, Nagato was expressionless before Yahiko's death.
Uchiha Ling was a bit curious why Nagato didn't unleash a high-power Shinra Tensei from such close proximity. Although Konan would also be blown away, couldn't someone catch Konan from that direction to successfully rescue her?
Uchiha Ling thought it might be because Nagato at this stage hadn't fully mastered the Rinnegan; for the past decade or so, he had only passively nurtured the Rinnegan with his body.
It wasn't until Yahiko's death, when he used the "mobile toilet," that he truly awakened and established a deep connection with the Rinnegan, thus enabling him to begin using it.
It's like Kakashi's Sharingan; he awakened his Mangekyo when he used Chidori to kill Rin, yet he didn't use Kamui for the first time until Deidara captured Gaara.
It seems that using eyes that aren't one's own ultimately has limitations, requiring continuous time to adapt and master, otherwise, they're as useless as decorative contact lenses.
"Rinnegan, hand it over! Otherwise, this woman will die."
Hanzo placed his scythe-like Ninja tool at Konan's neck, ready to sever her head like cutting grass with a slight pull. Surely, this would cause Nagato to go berserk, right?
It couldn't be that Nagato preferred Yahiko over Konan, could it? Just like Kakashi and Obito in the later stages, they didn't care about Rin; their eyes were only for each other.
After all, it would be simple for Obito to use Edo Tensei on Rin and then use Reincarnation Rebirth to revive her, but he didn't revive Rin. And it would also be simple for him to take back Kakashi's Sharingan, but he chose not to.
From this, it's clear that the person who said, "This is hell," when Rin died, ultimately valued his good friend Kakashi more than Rin, who could have been revived. (Nonsense, don't mind it.)
No wonder Rin in the Pure Land became a bit jealous when she found out, leading to the "ghostly vengeance" during the Great War. These are the consequences.
Uchiha Ling's thoughts wandered uncontrollably, and Nagato, who had been silent for a long time, finally reacted. He looked indifferently at Konan's tear-streaked face, then turned his gaze to another direction.
At this moment, a light rain began to fall, and the gloomy weather overshadowed the last ray of sunlight, as if taking away the last hope, setting the mood.
Uchiha Ling almost wanted to play some background music, like Neji's Death, Sadness and Sorrow, or May Rain.
"Hurry up and hand it over! Do you want this woman to die?"
Hanzo lightly grazed Konan's slender, pale neck with the blade, drawing a cut. Drops of blood mixed with rainwater rolled down in large beads.
"Stop! Let Konan go, and it's yours." Nagato slowly extended his hand towards his eyeballs. Raindrops formed streams on his face, as if he were crying.
"Yameru! Stop! Nagato, hurry and run!" Konan tried to slam her neck onto the scythe's blade, attempting to commit suicide, but how could Hanzo, an experienced Kage-level Ninja, make a mistake?
Hanzo merely adjusted the blade casually; no matter how Konan tried to move her neck to commit suicide, she couldn't, and the scythe remained tightly pressed against her neck.
"Listen, Konan, Yahiko and I don't want to see you die. If our dream comes true without you by our side, perhaps we wouldn't feel the joy of success."
Nagato demonstrated what it meant to be ruthless by directly gouging out his own eyeballs. In the original story, only Kakashi and Madara experienced this kind of pain.
Nagato held two eyeballs in his hands; his eye sockets were empty, and blood flowed from them, but it was washed away by the rain.
Amidst Konan's wails, Nagato threw the two eyeballs in his hands directly towards the two sides of the cliff, positions he had pre-determined.
Hanzo and Danzo were both ruthless individuals who only trusted themselves. Without a second thought, they jumped off the cliff, each scrambling for an eyeball, while Nagato immediately went to Konan's side.
Although he couldn't see, he still fumbled to untie Konan's ropes. Konan, crying, helped Nagato stand up.
A cruel glint flashed in Hanzo's eyes as he jumped off the cliff. He formed hand signs, triggering the hidden Exploding Tags, then caught the bloody Rinnegan.
"No, it's the scent of Exploding Tags!" Nagato was the first to smell the Exploding Tags. As a member of the Uzumaki Clan, his perception was strong, and he realized the Exploding Tags had already wrapped around their legs.
"Yahiko! Take Konan and go!" Nagato ripped off Konan's pant leg and pushed Konan towards Yahiko, who burst out of the ground.
Konan watched tearfully as she moved away from Nagato. The Exploding Tags were slowly climbing onto Nagato's body. At that moment, she saw Nagato smile gently at him, a gentle smile she had never seen before.
"You and Konan... you must survive, no matter what! Because... Yahiko, you are the savior of this world."
Yahiko, with a cold expression, caught Konan and quickly jumped off the cliff. An explosion echoed from the cliff, and tears fell from both of their eyes.
"Damn it, this isn't the Rinnegan at all!" At this moment, Danzo, who had caught an eyeball at the bottom of the cliff, looked at the ordinary eye in his hand and furiously crushed it.
He looked at Yahiko, who was holding Konan, and noticed a Rinnegan in Yahiko's eye. He instantly realized he had been tricked.
It turned out that upon their arrival, Nagato had already transplanted a Rinnegan to Yahiko. Although it caused Yahiko's blonde hair to turn somewhat grayish-white and drained some of his vitality, it allowed Yahiko to barely endure it.
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