Hidden Rain Village.
Here, the rain washes over towering iron towers and pipes all year round, as if the sky itself is weeping for this trauma-ridden land.
In the hidden core of the tallest building, Nagato's skeletal main body sat within a specialized apparatus. His flame-red hair appeared somewhat dull under the dim lighting, though it was already much better than the previous deathly paleness that symbolized his exhausted vitality.
The incredible ability Hinata possessed had brought more than just a bit of physical recovery; it was a beam of light that pierced through the "reality" he had firmly believed in for years.
Uchiha Obito... that name kept surfacing in his mind.
He repeatedly searched through his memories. From the founding of the Akatsuki Organization until now, among all known intelligence on its members, there was no such person.
Aside from Uchiha Itachi, those who possessed the Sharingan were only the man claiming to be Uchiha Madara and the eccentric, flamboyant Tobi who wore the spiral mask.
"Konan," he called out.
Paper fluttered and converged into a human form. Konan stood silently by his side, her cold gaze carrying a hint of concern.
"You are still thinking about what Hyuga Hinata said."
Konan wasn't asking; she was stating a fact. Since that meeting, the time Nagato spent lost in thought had clearly lengthened.
"The information she provided contains contradictions with our known reality that cannot be ignored."
"Nagato." Konan stood beside him, unconsciously folding a piece of white paper in her hands.
"Do you... believe her?"
Believe? Nagato took a deep breath.
Should he believe a Hyuga Main Family Young Miss who had suddenly appeared with incredible power and seemed to know many secrets? Or should he believe that Uchiha Madara?
"She possesses power we cannot comprehend. She easily repaired parts of my body that were overtaxed by the Rinnegan. This kind of power transcends Medical Ninjutsu—it even transcends the scope of Ninjutsu itself."
He looked at the red strands of hair that represented his vitality.
"This proves she at least has the ability to perform miracles, but that doesn't mean her words are the truth."
He paused, attempting to analyze the existing information.
Nagato's voice lowered.
"Madara guided the use of these eyes, provided intelligence on the Gedo Statue and the Tailed Beasts, and painted a picture of nurturing peace through Pain. If scrutinized from the perspective of exploitation, it all fits perfectly. He led us, in our despair, onto a path of collecting Tailed Beasts and creating weapons, while Akatsuki became a tool for him to achieve some unknown purpose."
This realization made his chest feel tight, as if he had returned to the day Yahiko died before his eyes.
Konan's gaze sharpened.
"These eyes don't belong to me either..." he murmured in a low voice, carrying a sense of absurd chill.
These eyes were the source of his power, his self-proclaimed proof of being a "god," and the price he paid for bearing all sin and Pain.
If they never belonged to him from the start, then for what purpose was every drain on his life force, every piercing Pain he endured while driving this body, creating Pain, and using those Forbidden Jutsu over the last decade or so? Was it to pay the price for a lie?
Nagato's tone took on a mocking edge as he let out a cold laugh.
"She said that when I die, these eyes will be reclaimed. Heh, just like a tool—once it's broken or useless, it will be taken back by the owner."
His death was part of someone else's plan.
Madara never truly cared about his or Akatsuki's ideals, Yahiko's dream, his own Pain, Konan's loyalty, or the Hidden Rain Village. Everything felt like a joke.
"We need verification." Konan's voice was resolute, interrupting Nagato's increasingly dark thoughts. The paper butterfly in her hand took flight, circling around Nagato.
"I know." Nagato closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He reopened his Rinnegan. What swirled within was no longer absolute indifference or conviction, but deep doubt and calculation.
"Hyuga Hinata provided no evidence, only conclusions. This could be the truth, or it could be a more sophisticated scheme to drive a wedge between us and Madara. But regardless, a rift has already been created."
Nagato analyzed the situation.
"Our invasion failed. Madara will certainly come to inquire about the situation soon. We will have an opportunity then."
"What should we do?" Konan asked. She was already prepared for battle or something worse.
"We only need to deviate from his route and observe his attitude and reaction."
Konan nodded, then hesitated as if she wanted to say something more.
"Then what if..." Konan paused.
"What if the results of the probe suggest that what Hinata said is true..."
Nagato fell silent.
This silence lasted longer than any before it—long enough to hear the monotonous echo of rain seeping through the gaps in the iron tower and dripping onto the metal pipes.
If what Hinata said is true.
Those six words repeatedly crashed through his mind.
If those eyes truly belonged to someone else; if Yahiko's death, Akatsuki's shift, and the current state of the Hidden Rain Village were all just links in some larger conspiracy; if everything he had done over the last decade, burning his life away, was merely paving the way for some faceless "Uchiha Obito" or "Uchiha Madara."
Then what was the point of it all?
He remembered Yahiko's warm smile. He remembered when the three of them relied on each other, still talking about their ridiculous dream of "peace" amidst the mud and hunger.
He remembered the weight and warmth of Yahiko's body as it was impaled by the Kunai he held when he died.
He remembered how, amidst extreme grief and Madara's words, he had personally fashioned his best friend's corpse into the first "Pain."
If even that grief and determination had been part of the calculation...
A cold, almost destructive rage began to slowly sprout deep within his withered body, but it was immediately covered by a deeper exhaustion and emptiness.
Rage requires strength, and what he felt at this moment was a sense of being completely hollowed out.
What remained after the collapse of belief was not rubble, but a bottomless Void Realm.
"...If that's the case, then Yahiko died in vain."
Konan's body swayed slightly, and the paper butterfly in her hand landed on Nagato's shoulder.
"The path we walked, the blood we shed, everything we built and destroyed... it all becomes a joke."
He continued speaking, every word sounding as if it were squeezed out of a shattered chest.
"It wasn't that we chose this painful path toward peace, but that someone meticulously designed this painful path for us to lead toward some purpose of his."
He slowly turned his eyes toward Konan. In those Rinnegan, the indifference and conviction that once belonged to a "god" had long since vanished, replaced by exhaustion.
"Konan, what... what have we been doing all these years?"
Konan looked at him, and for the first time, a visible Pain emerged in her cold eyes.
She stepped forward, her fingers gently covering Nagato's withered hand.
"I don't know if what Hyuga Hinata said is true." Konan's voice was very low, yet clear, like a steel wire piercing through the rain.
"But if... if that possibility is real, Nagato, Yahiko's death will not be a joke."
Nagato's eyelashes trembled.
"His dream was real." Konan said word by word, as if trying to use these words to re-anchor something.
"The 'us' he believed in was real. Our determination to change this world that makes the Land of Rain weep forever was also real at that moment. Even if the beginning of it all stemmed from deception and exploitation, that feeling and every step we took are real."
She slightly tightened her fingers.
"Now that we know we might have been deceived, that the eyes might not belong to you, and that the future might have been designed—it is only now that it is truly our turn to choose the path ahead for ourselves."
Nagato's hollow eyes seemed to regain a faint focus because of these words.
Choice?
Yes, verifying the truth was a choice in itself. After knowing the possibility of being exploited, would he continue to act as a Puppet, or... "Madara will be here soon." Nagato's voice regained a bit of stability.
"In front of him, we cannot show any abnormality. The failure at Konoha needs an explanation, but our conviction cannot waver. At least, we cannot let him see any wavering."
Konan nodded and dispersed into sheets of paper...
------------------------
There are already 70+ chapters available on my Patreon!
The story will continue to update 1 chapter per day on Webnovel,
while early access chapters are posted on Patreon.
Maybe it's not worth it today but it could be later
[email protected]/Kazenova223
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"