According to plan, Moriyue and his group had already returned to the outskirts of Kumogakure. He first met with Nagato. Obito's fate was still unknown, and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path had broken free of his control. Seeing how violently the statue had struggled earlier, Moriyue guessed that Nagato had summoned it.
After all, only those who possessed the Rinnegan were qualified to control the Demonic Statue. The Rinnegan was like a machine's activation credential; only those who possessed it were worthy of becoming sages.
This also showed the importance of bloodlines. The Sage of Six Paths had left behind two bloodlines in the Ninja World: the Uchiha and the Senju Clan. Only these two clans could perfectly wield the inheritance he had left behind, and only they were qualified to become sages.
Naruto might have looked like he had nothing, but his bloodline was far from ordinary. Without the Uzumaki Clan's terrifying Chakra reserves and recovery ability, he would have died in battle long ago.
Although Nagato was also from the Uzumaki Clan, his eyes had not awakened on their own. Under the normal process, the powers of the Uchiha and Senju Clan had to merge before the Rinnegan could evolve. Though the Uzumaki Clan was also a branch of the Senju Clan, it could not awaken the Rinnegan through its own power alone.
"Cough, cough... I never summoned the Demonic Statue..."
He coughed lightly and found Moriyue's question strange. He had kept a low profile during this period, and his body was recovering more slowly than expected. It seemed he would need a few more days before he fully recovered.
"You didn't summon it?"
Moriyue found that strange. Logically, Nagato should have been the only one capable of controlling the Demonic Statue now, but...
Moriyue looked