Different Lives

Land of Rain.

Hanma slowly ran along the border, like a lion patrolling its territory.

He expanded Predator Domain to its limit. Drizzling Blood Qi blanketed the earth, meticulously probing the Chakra of every living thing.

Yet on his shoulder was a vacuum zone completely devoid of Blood Qi, where a well-behaved, adorable little girl sat with her legs dangling.

Hanma narrowed his eyes, feeling a faint sense of dejection.

I thought I could just snatch Nagato's Rinnegan, but I found Konan instead?

He turned his head and looked at the adorable young Konan, consoling himself that the trip had not been entirely wasted.

Well, at least I gained something. Nawaki has been studying Explosive Tags, and now a future master has come along.

If Nawaki doesn't measure up and fails to seize this opportunity, he can't blame his brother-in-law for not finding him a wife.

This was already Hanma's third circuit around the Land of Rain. The Amegakure Ninja forces had been frightened into paranoia by him and no longer dared cross the border.

After all, Blood Qi brimming with malice was far too conspicuous, and Hanzo was indeed deeply wary of a monster like him who was immune to poison.

Hanzo had made it clear to the Sunagakure Ninja that if Hanma was not held up on another battlefield, he would absolutely not make a move.

Influenced by Hanma, the Amegakure Ninja formed an iron-clad defensive formation like a turtle shell, leaving Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya speechless.

Even though Hanma had repeatedly emphasized Hanzo's might, the three of them still looked forward to fighting him.

After all, this was the first time Hiruzen's team had joined forces as the main force in a campaign against an entire country. In their hearts, their combined strength was beyond Hanzo's ability to match.

For that reason, Tsunade had already contacted Hanma and expressed her slight dissatisfaction.

"If you're not going to help them attack the Amegakure Ninja, then put away your Blood Qi. Don't make such a spectacle of yourself and disrupt the battle plan they've worked out."

Feeling the Blood Qi withdraw, Hanma still could not sense any high-level special Chakra. He could only helplessly abandon his plan to seize the Rinnegan.

He had thought that, with his foreknowledge, he could complete the first wave of attacks on old Uchiha Madara before Black Zetsu did. He had not expected it to be nothing more than wishful thinking.

That shouldn't be right. Nagato should already have the Rinnegan. I remember he revealed them when his parents were killed...

Could they have been transplanted during the war? No, that's not right either. They should have been switched at birth, otherwise Nagato's parents would have noticed...

So he should have them. How did this happen?

Hanma racked his brains, trying to figure out where things had gone wrong.

Though he pursued the ultimate violence of taijutsu, he was an exceptionally cautious man at heart. He did not want Nagato to simply grow up like this.

Although he did not cultivate ocular techniques and firmly believed that his path of taijutsu was absolutely correct, who would willingly let such a treasure slip away?

Hanma, who aspired to become the freest man in the Shinobi World, had no interest in following any plot.

Since he was already here, and had Deep Blue as his cheat, he had to carve out his own story.

Besides, he was living quite comfortably in the Shinobi World. He might even get married and have children in the future.

Wasn't leaving behind such a hidden danger just asking for trouble?

Besides, Nagato was only eight or nine years old. There was no need for him to bear the immense burden of the Rinnegan.

And Hanma was a legitimate descendant of the Uchiha, of impeccable pedigree. It was only right for him to safeguard his elder ancestor's precious eyes.

But now, his plan and hopes had fallen through. He even began deeply doubting his youth, sinking into a rare spell of low spirits.

After all, when he had been a child, he had mopped floors for an entire month just to buy a comic book.

In truth, Hanma had not failed his own hard work. His memory was not wrong. In the original timeline, Uchiha Madara had indeed given Nagato the Rinnegan around the time of the Second Shinobi War.

He had simply forgotten one variable and underestimated himself. Uchiha Madara had always been watching him and even held a trace of wariness toward him.

Two years earlier, at the Konoha border.

"Nagato, come help Mom carry the groceries. These are good things bought from Konoha. I'll make meat for dinner tonight!"

"Okay!"

The warm family of three carried full baskets of vegetables, bathed in the lingering warmth of the sunset, and walked home hand in hand.

His father was a physician from the Land of Rain named Ise.

His mother was from the Uzumaki Clan, named Fuso. She had beautiful red hair and could cook wonderfully.

Nagato looked at his family with joy in his eyes. At that moment, he felt incomparably fulfilled.

But he did not realize that a nightmare was about to descend in the next second.

Boom—!

With a thunderous explosion, a violent Great Fireball Jutsu suddenly appeared and swallowed the family of three.

The Konoha ninja who had appeared out of nowhere killed his parents without any reason. Nagato was severely injured as well, his entire body on the verge of death.

As he lay dying, Nagato barely opened his eyes and etched into his memory a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.

A bearded ninja and a tall, thin Konoha ninja chatted while smoking, then slit his parents' throats with a single stroke.

Their relaxed, indifferent manner was just like Nagato's family buying meat at the market moments earlier.

"Sigh, that Uchiha guy isn't taking mercenary jobs anymore. My Special Jonin issue still hasn't been settled. It's really irritating."

"Hey, there's nothing we can do about that. Didn't Minister Shinnosuke already hint at it? Don't go too far. We're ninja, after all."

"Hmph. You're already a Special Jonin now, getting an extra ten percent commission on every mission. Feels great, doesn't it?!"

"Come on, it doesn't matter. Didn't the minister say we could show some leniency now? We'll turn these two Land of Rain ninja in as spies. The minister will give you credit for it."

"Sigh, how do you think he got that minister position? Does he think nobody knows? I just hope he leaves us commoner ninja a way to survive."

After that, the two men hoisted his parents onto their shoulders and slowly walked away.

Nagato roared in fury, but his body, burned by the flames, could not make a sound. Grief and rage intertwined within him as he passed out.

When he woke again, he was in a dim cave.

An old man had saved him, and a group of strange white creatures surrounded him.

Nagato thanked the old man, but the old man said there was no need. It was his mission, a link in his fate.

That old man was Uchiha Madara.

Everything had been orchestrated by Madara. Through Sharingan Genjutsu, he had stirred the greed of those two Konoha ninja and forcibly created this tragedy.

Madara had become very old after awakening the Rinnegan. He could only sustain his life through the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, hiding underground.

Both to pass the time and to select his "successor," he had always used White Zetsu to monitor every major and minor event involving the Uchiha.

Over the past two years, Madara had begun paying attention to Hanma. At first, he had merely watched for amusement, dismissing him with disdain. But Hanma's rapid growth shocked him, and Madara felt deeply regretful over Hanma.

Hanma should have been his finest successor. He had not awakened his eyes, yet possessed a body even more like a Sage Body than the Senju.

After two or three years of observation, Madara had seen Hanma's patience, persistence, greed, even his love for the world, as well as his formidable strength that was already terrifying despite not being fully developed.

But what had left the deepest impression on him was Hanma's yearning for power deep within his heart.

From the age of twenty onward, Madara had watched Hanma repeatedly use his own flesh to endure all manner of high-powered ninjutsu, even leaping from cliffs hundreds and thousands of times just to temper his body.

As a peerless hero who had survived the Warring States Period, Madara possessed a keen eye for judging people and vast experience, but this was the first time he had witnessed such a scene.

Regarding Hanma, who could commit such insane acts, Madara firmly believed that if he followed his original plan and let Nagato grow up freely in the Shinobi World, then he could only pray that Nagato would never encounter this clansman of his.

If they met, Madara dared to stake his bond with Hashirama on it: Nagato's eyes would definitely be taken by Hanma.

When faced with such an outstanding clansman, Madara sometimes felt a faint regret. He should have guided Hanma earlier, or simply eliminated him.

But Nagato could not be abandoned. He was the vessel Madara had spent years searching for through White Zetsu, possessing the exceptional bloodlines of both the Senju and Uzumaki Clan, with outstanding talent.

By Madara's estimation, Nagato could fully bear both Rinnegan and unleash their terrifying power.

To prevent trouble before it arose, Madara had put on a grand performance before the war even began and won Nagato's heart.

Because of Hanma's sudden rise and Madara's caution, Nagato ended up enjoying Obito's storyline.

At this moment, Hanma was listening to Konan's story, while Madara was explaining his understanding of the Shinobi World and war to Nagato.

The two people who should have depended on each other for survival were taken away by two Uchiha and set upon different lives.

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