"What are you doing?"
Inside the Akatsuki base, next to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Deva Path Pain looked at Obito, who was up to something sneaky, and questioned him.
Obito raised his head to look at the Pain. For a moment, he wanted to kill him.
But then Obito remembered that he still wasn't a match for Nagato right now, so he abandoned the idea.
"Hm, just taking a tiny bit of the Ten-Tails' cells. You shouldn't mind, right?"
Mind?
As if.
Pain stared straight at Obito. "You're planning to let Orochimaru run experiments with that, aren't you?"
Back when Nagato hadn't yet summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Obito had plenty of chances to obtain Ten-Tails cells, but he hadn't done so. Now that Orochimaru was back, Obito had made this move. Nagato wasn't stupid—he knew exactly what this was for.
"You're not wrong. I'm preparing it for Orochimaru," Obito admitted openly without trying to hide it.
Pain fell silent for a moment. Perhaps Nagato hadn't expected him to admit it so readily.
Since Pain said nothing, Obito continued. "Orochimaru may be slippery, but combat is his weak point. As long as he can properly research the tailed beast revival technique, we can forgive everything else, can't we?"
After scrutinizing Obito for a while, Pain finally spoke. "If that's what you say, then go ahead."
"But you must understand, Orochimaru is not easy to control. If he manages to control the Ten-Tails, the consequences will be unimaginable."
Nagato had always hesitated when it came to Orochimaru.
Because that man's ambitions were simply too vast. Back then, he had wanted to lay hands on his Rinnegan, and now he wanted Ten-Tails cells. Nagato felt that someone like that could very well slip beyond his control.
Hearing Pain's warning, Obito stopped extracting cells and looked up at him. "That sounds like you think I'm the one planning to make a move."
"Let me ask you this: how much longer do you think you can wait? The peace of the shinobi world, Yahiko's dream—are you just going to give up on them like this?"
"If Kamizuki Hikari keeps dragging his feet, how long do you think it'll take us to collect all nine tailed beasts? The initiative is in his hands now. He knows we need to gather the nine tailed beasts—do you really think we can just let him keep stalling?"
"I can wait. For the peace of the shinobi world, I've already waited sixty years—I don't mind waiting a few more. But what about you? How many more years do you think you have?"
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was constantly draining Nagato's life force. Under these circumstances, Nagato didn't have much time left.
Obito had his own plans.
He needed Nagato to step forward and take the risks for him. He needed Kamizuki Hikari and Nagato to clash, ideally leaving both of them crippled, so he could reap the benefits.
Pain gazed at Obito, staring deeply into him. Finally, he closed his eyes, leaned back, and slumped down.
"Do as you like."
---
This was the first time Nagato had withdrawn control from the Deva Path. He couldn't convince Madara, and deep down, he felt the same way.
Summoning the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to exist in the shinobi world put too much pressure on him.
He wanted to see peace. He wanted to create the ideal world Yahiko had dreamed of.
For that, he was willing to take risks.
Because he knew that once he died, this world would truly be beyond saving.
As for Madara, Nagato no longer wanted to investigate his identity.
All he needed was a peaceful world—a world that fulfilled Yahiko's dream.
Konan stood silently beside Nagato. Watching him lower his head, face full of helplessness, she could only sigh inwardly without saying a word.
To be honest, Konan didn't care much about peace in the shinobi world.
All she wanted was to live together with Yahiko and Nagato.
As for the shinobi world... its peace wasn't really important to her. She didn't want to manage this world. She didn't have such grand ambitions. In her world, there was only room for Nagato and Yahiko.
"Konan... do you think I'm wrong?" Nagato raised his head weakly, looking at the ceiling. Due to the lack of light, it was pitch black.
Konan shook her head. "You're not wrong."
Nagato smiled. "I'm not wrong. Yes... I'm not wrong. I just want Yahiko's dream fulfilled. How is that wrong?"
"Orochimaru can't escape my control. I will create a peaceful world. Only then... can I go to meet Yahiko."
---
In the laboratory.
Orochimaru watched Tobi walk in. He glanced over him once—and immediately noticed the test tube in Tobi's hand.
His eyes lit up.
"I didn't expect you to be so fast. I thought it would take at least a year or two."
Tobi ignored Orochimaru's sarcasm and tossed the test tube to him. "Here's what you wanted. I want to see results within three months. If not..."
He didn't need to finish the sentence. He understood, and so did Orochimaru.
A person's patience has its limits. This time, he had taken a huge risk to give the flesh of the Demonic Statue to Orochimaru. Three months was the longest he could tolerate. If Orochimaru made no progress in that time, he would really have to reconsider how to deal with him.
The fundamental reason he was doing this was that he couldn't control Orochimaru.
More precisely, no one in this world could control Orochimaru. Anyone who tried to harness him would eventually be betrayed and ruined by him.
"Three months... If you want to kill me, just say so." Although Orochimaru coveted the Ten-Tails cells, he also knew that the real purpose of his research was to survive.
"I've never handled the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path before. I'm not sure I can successfully cultivate these cells. The culture medium is limited, and with all the experiments, I can't guarantee results."
"If that's how it turns out, it only proves your research skills aren't up to par. I'll take back the cells, and you'll have to figure out how to transfer the Three-Tails' chakra from your body without dying."
After saying that, Tobi didn't wait for Orochimaru's reply and simply left.
"Space-time ninjutsu, huh?"
"Truly powerful."
Watching the way Tobi departed, Orochimaru felt a pang of envy.
As the Third Hokage's prized disciple, he had once had the chance to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique. But after studying it, he realized he truly couldn't take the first step in training it, so he had given up on space-time ninjutsu.
"I've got the cells of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Time to cultivate them properly!"
With that, Orochimaru immediately opened the test tube, took out the flesh of the Demonic Statue, divided it into small pieces, placed the largest chunk into a new test tube, and began various experiments with the rest.
Now, if Orochimaru wanted to clone the cells of the Demonic Statue, he needed to research what energies they reacted to, which energies could help them divide, and which ones they rejected.
It was a dull, tedious research process—and the one Orochimaru loved most.
Researching the Demonic Statue made him feel like he was walking the path toward the pinnacle of ninjutsu.
He reveled in this feeling.