Uzumaki Nagato's withered body trembled slightly in his seat, but not from pain; rather, it stemmed from a deeper, more thorough spiritual shock.
Hinata's words were like the sharpest scalpel, dissecting the cognitive world he had built over the past few decades until it lay in tatters.
His eyes were transplanted, his tissues used, his life calculated; even the grief and indignation brought about by Yahiko's death might have been reduced to fuel for another's conspiracy.
All of this almost completely negated the meaning of his existence.
He slowly lifted his heavy eyelids. In those Rinnegan that he had just learned did not belong to him, the purple light was chaotic and weak as he stared fixedly at the girl before him, who was unnervingly calm.
"Why..." Uzumaki Nagato's voice was as hoarse as a broken bellows, each word consuming a massive amount of mental effort.
"You... why do you know these things? Truths that even Uchiha Madara tried his best to hide, truths that I myself had never perceived? Who exactly are you? Why would a Konoha Ninja know this?"
His questioning was filled with confusion, pain, and a glimmer of grasping at the final straw while teetering on the edge of despair.
He needed an explanation, a reason that would allow him to understand this maddening reversal.
Hinata watched him quietly for a few seconds.
She did not answer Uzumaki Nagato's interrogation, nor did she attempt to persuade him with more words.
She simply raised her right hand slightly, pressing her index and middle fingers together. A strange aura of light, so faint it was almost invisible yet causing the surrounding air to ripple slightly, lingered at her fingertips.
It was not the blue light of Chakra, nor was it the energy color of any known Ninjutsu, but a glimmer that was purer and closer to the essence of the Origin of life.
Hinata tapped her fingertip lightly, and that glimmer, like a living firefly, quietly detached from her fingertips and drifted toward Uzumaki Nagato's withered chest, silently sinking into his body, which was riddled with tubes.
Uzumaki Nagato's whole body stiffened.
The next instant, an indescribable, warm, and majestic force of Life Qi, like melting snow in early spring, suddenly flowed through his nearly dried-up Meridians and cells.
This power was gentle yet irresistible. Wherever it passed, those tissues—decayed, blocked, and necrotic from long-term overdraft, drug stimulation, and the burden of the Rinnegan—began to be repaired, nourished, and awakened at a speed visible to the naked eye!
"Ugh... Ah..." Uzumaki Nagato couldn't help but let out a groan mixed with pain and extreme comfort.
He felt his cold limbs begin to warm up, his body, heavy as lead, seemed to have shed a thousand-pound burden, and even his breathing became smoother than ever before.
Konan was horrified at the sight.
"What did you do!?" she exclaimed, preparing to attack.
"Wait... wait, Konan!"
Uzumaki Nagato called out to stop her. Gasping for breath as he felt the changes in his body, he felt better than he ever had; his body was no longer weak, and he felt a long-lost vitality.
What shocked him even more was that his long red hair, which had become withered and dull due to severe loss of vitality, actually began to regain a vibrant and lustrous crimson color, starting from the roots.
Although his body remained thin and the Origin of life drained by the Rinnegan and the Gedo Statue could not be replenished instantly, that bone-deep sense of weakness and exhaustion had been largely dispelled, replaced by a long-lost, clear sensation of being "alive."
"This... this is..." Uzumaki Nagato looked down at his hands, which had regained some color, in disbelief. He then looked up abruptly at Hinata, his Rinnegan filled with shock and incomprehension.
This was definitely not Medical Ninjutsu! Even Tsunade's Creation Rebirth could not bring about such a fundamental change in such a short time, let alone rejuvenate withered hair! This was completely beyond his cognitive scope of "power" and "healing."
And even more shocked than Uzumaki Nagato, perhaps even deeply shaken, was Konan.
Beneath her eyeshadow, those eyes had clearly witnessed Uzumaki Nagato's decline over these years. Watching him tortured by pain, watching him wither day by day, watching him burn the last of his life for that ethereal "ideal," her heart felt like it was being cut by knives, yet she was powerless to change it. She could only turn all her pain and worry into colder protection and more resolute execution.
She had long since prepared for the worst in her heart, ready to accompany him to the very end.
But what was she seeing now?
Uzumaki Nagato's deathly gray complexion had regained some vitality, his dry red hair had become vibrant again, and even the lingering, death-like aura of decay had faded significantly! Although he was still far from healthy, this was undoubtedly a world-shaking change! It was a miracle!
Konan's body couldn't help but tremble slightly. Although she remained restrained and expressionless, those eyes, usually filled with vigilance, could not suppress the surging waves of disbelief, ecstasy, and the relief of long-hidden heartache.
Hinata seemed to have anticipated their intense reactions, and she slowly withdrew her hand.
"A small greeting gift," she said in a calm tone.
"Your body has been depleted for too long, and the burden of the Rinnegan has not been lifted. This can only provide temporary relief; it treats the symptoms, not the root cause."
She paused, her gaze sweeping over Uzumaki Nagato's still-shocked face, and continued.
"Telling you this and helping to alleviate your pain is not to gain your trust or gratitude. I just want you to know that the rules by which this world operates are perhaps more complex than what you have been guided to see. Darkness and schemes do exist, as you have experienced—being schemed against by Danzo and Hanzou, which led to the death of Yahiko and the deviation of your path."
Hearing the names "Danzo" and "Hanzou," the eyes of both Uzumaki Nagato and Konan sharpened simultaneously, and the old hatred and pain were stirred up once again.
"Danzo has already been dealt with. He has paid the price for everything he did."
This meant that a blood feud had been avenged. Although it could not bring Yahiko back, it had made one of the main culprits pay the price.
This world did not seem to be entirely controlled by conspirators like "Uchiha Madara," or despicable people like Hanzou and Danzo.
"This world is not entirely darkness, Uzumaki Nagato," Hinata finally said, watching him with a calm gaze.
"And it is not entirely lies and exploitation. At the very least, you now know part of the truth, and your body is temporarily at ease. You have time to think carefully—think about what you truly desire, think about the dream you all had when you first gathered together, and think about what you, Uzumaki Nagato, truly want to do and can do after knowing all of this."
After finishing, she did not linger, not even glancing at Konan's extremely complex expression, and turned around directly.
"Stop the attack. Don't scare my little sister."
Hinata's figure soon disappeared at the end of the corridor, and the paper closed, re-sealing Uzumaki Nagato and Konan in this space filled with the dim light of instruments and heavy thoughts.
Silence descended once again.
Uzumaki Nagato sat there in a daze, feeling that strange, warm Life Qi flowing slowly through his body, watching his lustrous red hair fall over his shoulders.
The pain of having his cognition overturned still remained, but his body brought a sense of ease he had never felt before.
Konan walked slowly to Uzumaki Nagato's side and reached out, seemingly wanting to touch his hair, which had regained its color, but her fingertips trembled slightly just as they were about to make contact, and eventually, they only rested lightly on his cold metal chair back.
She looked up, gazing in the direction Hinata had left.
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