Nagato: What?

Rain Country, Akatsuki Organization.

Black Zetsu and Obito found Nagato sitting in his wheelchair and told him what had happened in Konoha.

At first, Nagato did not care much. He even thought Uchiha Madara had grown old and useless—he had nearly gotten himself killed just destroying one Uchiha Clan. What a loser. But when he heard that the world might be destroyed by someone who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan in despair because of this, he was completely stunned.

"What are you talking about? Madara, are you sure you haven't gone senile?"

Nagato stared fixedly at the two men before him as if they were lunatics spouting nonsense. What did they mean, the world would be destroyed because of the appearance of one Uchiha? Since when had a mere pair of Mangekyō Sharingan possessed the power to destroy the world?

Even Nagato himself, even after obtaining the ultimate weapon, had no confidence in destroying the world. He merely believed he could subdue the entire world through absolute force. That was an entirely different concept from destroying the world.

"Madara, are you two pulling my leg?"

Nagato looked at the two men, shook his head, and laughed. He found the joke quite amusing.

"Nagato, do you think we have any reason to joke with you? Whether it is true or not, you will know once you take a look. Perhaps only your pair of legendary eyes can deal with a monster like that now. If we cannot kill that monster now, this world may truly meet its end!"

Black Zetsu stepped forward and spoke solemnly. He recalled what he had seen then: that blurry figure seemed to be constantly growing larger. That monster was growing. Perhaps now was the critical moment to kill it and put an end to the apocalypse. If they could not kill that monster...

He could only pray that the guy's Dōryoku could not recover automatically and that he would go blind after a while.

Hearing Black Zetsu's words, Nagato fell silent. Deep down, he did not believe such a thing. It went against his common sense. But he also knew that these two would not come all the way to him just to tell such alarmist jokes or play such a baffling prank on him.

"Let's go, Nagato. Get ready. We must kill that monster now!"

Uchiha Obito stepped forward, his scarlet eyes fixed on Nagato's Rinnegan.

"Fine. In that case, I'll go take a look with you."

Nagato nodded. Deep down, he did not believe that a mere pair of Mangekyō Sharingan could destroy the world. His own legendary Rinnegan could not even subdue the entire Ninja World before he acquired the ultimate weapon. It made no sense. But... what if? What if those two were telling the truth?

Nagato's goal had never been to destroy the world, but to subdue it through absolute force and become the Kami of the new world. The destruction of the world was something he absolutely did not want.

Soon, just as dawn was breaking, the group arrived at the Konoha Border. By then, that deathly silent, cold, dim domain had spread beyond Konoha. Within the increasingly dark and blurry domain, traces of white could faintly be seen. It had begun to snow.

In the sky, Uchiha Yue's figure had become increasingly indistinct. Darkness and the faint light of dawn gathered like a river of flowing radiance, all swallowed by him, making him ever stronger, larger, limitless, endless.

"This..."

Nagato sat in his wheelchair, staring blankly at Konoha, which had been utterly destroyed and turned into an empty village, as well as the constantly expanding, blurry, dark domain. He frowned. The scene before him completely exceeded his expectations. Although he had learned what had happened on the way here, seeing it with his own eyes still felt absurd.

This was Konoha, not some small village. To destroy Konoha all by himself—he was truly powerful. Nagato estimated in his heart that he should be able to do the same, to destroy Konoha and such.

But who was he? He was the Kami of the new world with the Rinnegan. And the other party? He was merely an Uchiha with a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan, yet he possessed such power as well.

"Nagato, do you see it? That monster's power is constantly radiating outward. He is absorbing all energy, continuously growing, continuously becoming stronger. If we do not stop him, once that monster's power covers the entire Ninja World, it will be the moment the world is destroyed. No living creature can survive in such a terrifying environment."

Black Zetsu stepped out and looked gravely at the ever-expanding domain. It was larger than before. A pair of Mangekyō Sharingan had kept the Complete Body Susanoo active all this time, while also deploying this bizarre domain that was clearly a Mangekyō Sharingan Dojutsu.

After so long and across such a vast range, if this guy's Dōryoku could not recover, he should have gone blind by now. Yet he appeared completely unharmed, and that domain was still expanding.

The truth was that this guy could automatically restore his Dōryoku!

This was bad. If there was no limit to the expansion of this bizarre domain, then one day this planet would be covered by it. And Black Zetsu would be left with nowhere to flee, doomed to die miserably on this planet.

"What a monster! Nagato, we must find a way to kill this monster. Otherwise, our plan will fail completely."

Uchiha Obito stared fixedly at the enormous figure in the sky. Though it was blurry and dark, it could still barely be seen. He had clearly noticed that the figure had grown more than twice as large as before.

The larger the Susanoo, the stronger it was. They could not let this monster continue growing stronger.

"I see it. You don't need to tell me. You really are..."

Nagato nodded, lowered his voice, took a deep breath, and looked at Konan standing beside him.

"Konan, use the Clone Technique to probe it. See what exactly is going on there."

Nagato spoke. Naturally, he would not so easily believe Black Zetsu and Uchiha Obito. If he did not investigate it himself, who knew what was really happening?

"Alright!"

Konan nodded. The next moment, she formed a paper clone and swiftly entered that area.

When the paper clone reached the edge of the Dead Silence Domain, she happened to see some ants on the ground. The ants had stopped moving; all the energy within them had been absorbed, and they were dead. It was not just these small animals—even the plants inside had withered and died.