Hinata walked with steady steps, her breathing completely undisturbed, and stepped straight into that perilous corridor. The paper folded shut silently behind her, isolating the inner and outer worlds once again.
At the end of the corridor was a space filled with flashing indicator lights, flickering screens, and complex pipelines; the heavy smell of medicine and the scent of decaying life were suffocating.
In the center, curled up on a metal chair shaped like a giant spider and covered in slots and connecting wires, was a figure so gaunt it was terrifying, with withered red hair draped loosely.
Chakra pipes of varying thicknesses and those black metal rods were deeply inserted into his back and limbs, connecting him tightly to this device and to the distant Pain.
His cheeks were deeply sunken, his eye sockets like two black holes. Only those slowly rotating, ripple-patterned Rinnegan, flashing with an eerie and weary purple light, proved that within this near-corpse shell, there still existed a powerful and pained Soul.
Hinata felt he should change his clothes and turn the chair into a golden toilet; he relied on the equipment to sustain his life, his body like a mummy, without the ability to move freely.
If this isn't the Emperor, then what is?
It's exactly the same, completely not OOC.
She had said it—she must have Transmigration into the Warhammer world.
Nagato lifted his head with difficulty, his Rinnegan gaze landing on Hinata, who had walked in.
That gaze seemed to carry a thousand jun of weight, capable of piercing through flesh and skin, reaching deep into the Soul.
"Hyuga... Hinata." His voice was dry and hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing together.
"You said... someone is using us... who is it?"
Hinata stood in this confined space, which concentrated countless tragedies, paranoia, and despair.
She met that pair of Rinnegan, which symbolized the power of the "Six Paths" but were currently filled with confusion and Pain, and gave her answer clearly and calmly.
"Uchiha Madara, and a man named Uchiha Obito."
Her words exploded in this enclosed space like a thunderclap.
"Their ultimate goal is not what you pursue—making the world feel Pain to achieve peace—but to launch the Infinite Tsukuyomi that covers the entire world, dragging all living beings into an eternal dream, and becoming the nutrients to awaken and sustain the God Tree. Collecting the Tailed Beast and resurrecting the Ten-Tails are indispensable steps to achieve this goal. And the Akatsuki Organization you founded, all the betrayal and Pain you have experienced, and even this pair of Rinnegan, are just key chapters in a script meticulously woven and guided by them to realize this ancient conspiracy."
In Nagato's deeply sunken eye sockets, the Rinnegan suddenly radiated a terrifying purple light. His skeletal body trembled violently due to extreme shock and the tremor before the collapse of a certain belief, and the connected pipes made creaking sounds.
Hinata continued.
"He lied to you, telling you that collecting the Tailed Beast was to create Tailed Beast weapons, and then you could make the world feel Pain, thereby fulfilling your dream of peace."
Nagato fell into silence.
The Rinnegan were dim and uncertain, reflecting the surging yet unformed torrents within his heart.
He tried to look back, tried to find clues in the past to support or refute, but everything was too confusing and elusive.
"It seems memories cannot give you a clear answer." Hinata interrupted Nagato's chaotic thoughts.
"Some truths are buried too deep and wrapped too well in lies. For example, this pair of Rinnegan that you regard as symbols of destiny and power."
Nagato suddenly lifted his eyelids, his Rinnegan instantly focusing on Hinata's face.
"It was not something you were born with, Nagato." Hinata's words were clear and direct, like an ice pick piercing through the fog.
"It was transplanted into you by Uchiha Madara when you were young. You were chosen precisely because you are a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan, possessing the immense vitality and Chakra to carry these eyes and drive specific Forbidden Jutsu in the future. You, from the very beginning, were the chosen vessel."
"Transplanted?" Konan frowned. This was even more shocking than the previous "using," directly shaking a part of the Foundation of Nagato's existence.
Nagato's body shook violently, and the connected pipes made a harsh friction sound.
His chapped lips parted, but he could not make a sound, only a hoarse stream of air squeezed from his throat.
Transplanted? This pair of eyes that brought him power, Pain, and the so-called "mission of a god" were put in by someone else? Not a choice of destiny, not a gift of Pain, but a long-premeditated plan?
Hinata did not give him a chance to breathe, her words like continuous arrows, pointing straight to the core.
"Uchiha Madara needed a suitable pair of eyes to execute his long-term plan, and also needed a suitable caster to launch the Rinne Tensei Jutsu in the future to resurrect him. You were his carefully selected, perhaps even the only, vessel that met the conditions. Your Akatsuki Organization, from philosophy to action, has completely fallen under the control and use of his successor, Uchiha Obito, to collect the Tailed Beast through your hands."
Her gaze landed on Nagato's skeletal body, which relied entirely on external equipment to maintain life, her tone calm but every word piercing the heart.
"Haven't you noticed? As you frequently use the power of the Rinnegan to drive Pain and control the Gedo Statue, your vitality is draining at an unprecedented speed. You also use it to control other Puppets and exercise divine authority; the burden on your body is devastating. You are burning your own life, paving the way for their plan."
Nagato subconsciously looked at his hands, which were filled with pipes; that red hair, which once belonged to the Uzumaki Clan and symbolized vitality, was now withered like grass.
In the past, he regarded this as the price that must be paid to realize the ideal of peace, as proof of bearing the power of a god.
But now it felt more like a slow and certain murder, a squeezing of the vessel's value.
"When you are exhausted and have completed the collection of most of the Tailed Beast, or when they believe the time is ripe."
Her voice was exceptionally clear in this dead-silent space.
"Uchiha Obito will come to retrieve these Rinnegan that originally belonged to them. Look at yourself now; will you have the ability to resist then? Your death, to them, is nothing more than a pre-written step in their plan to clear out an expired vessel."
"No... impossible..."
Nagato finally found his voice.
"He guided me... he gave me the path to peace... these eyes... are my power... they are me..."
"He gave you a path leading to a cliff, and a pair of glasses that made you unable to see the illusions beneath your feet."
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