Rinnegan

Konan had blue-purple hair, with a pale blue Paper Flower tucked on the right side of her head.

Though she was still young, she had delicate features and natural beauty.

When she grew up, she was sure to become a great beauty.

"It's been so long, Konan. I'm relieved to see you're doing well."

During the Second Shinobi World War, Qingshui had met Konan on the battlefield in the Land of Rain. She had been orphaned by the war.

She'd been in danger at the time, and thinking that having more powerful allies was always a good thing, Qingshui had stepped in to save her.

Of course, besides wanting to have a powerful ally, Qingshui had also helped her because he could relate to her situation.

After being reincarnated in Konoha, he himself had been an orphan.

Because of that, Qingshui had even considered taking Konan back to the Konoha Orphanage.

But it wasn't realistic.

He wouldn't be able to return to Konoha for a while, not during the war.

And since Konan was from the Land of Rain, the Konoha Orphanage might not take her in.

Her situation was quite different from Kabuto Yakushi's.

For one thing, Kabuto had been taken in by the Konoha Orphanage's director, Yakushi Nonō, while Qingshui was just an ordinary Genin.

For another, Yakushi Nonō had met Kabuto during the Kikyo Mountain Battle.

Kikyo Mountain was located in the Land of Fire, where Konoha had a castle.

So there was a good chance Kabuto was actually a citizen of the Land of Fire and could be considered one of their own.

In short, since he couldn't take Konan back to Konoha, Qingshui could only look after her as best he could for a while and teach her how to mold Chakra.

With Chakra, Konan would surely be better able to protect herself than her Original Work counterpart at the same age.

Later, as the Second Shinobi World War intensified, Qingshui had no time to look after Konan anymore, so he could only leave her somewhere relatively safe.

They hadn't seen each other again until now.

"It really is you, Big Brother Qingshui! I missed you so much!"

Once she was sure it was really Qingshui, Konan couldn't hold back any longer and threw herself into his arms.

Qingshui crouched down and hugged her, quietly marveling to himself.

Even though I've already had an influence on things, Konan still met Yahiko and Nagato, and the three of them became Jiraiya's disciples and learned Ninjutsu from him.

Is this the timeline's ability to correct itself?

"So you're the Konoha Ninja Konan told me about—the one who saved her."

Jiraiya looked at Qingshui in surprise.

Having spent over a year with the Three Little Ones, he'd naturally heard Konan tell him about it.

"Compared to you taking Konan and the others in as students and teaching them Ninjutsu, what I did was nothing."

As he spoke with Jiraiya, Qingshui also observed Yahiko and Nagato.

As the leading figure among the Three Little Ones, Yahiko was bold and ambitious.

He hated war and dreamed of becoming a god who would lead the world to peace. He'd also been the one to decide that the three of them should approach Jiraiya and learn Ninjutsu from him.

After all, during a war, ordinary people avoided Ninja at all costs.

They wouldn't dare approach them the way Yahiko had.

But things had worked out well.

Yahiko was looking at Qingshui with curiosity and had struck up a conversation with him.

Nagato, on the other hand, was quiet and withdrawn. With his red hair, he stood silently behind Yahiko, but there was a hint of hostility in his eyes as he watched Qingshui and the others.

Nagato's parents had been killed by Konoha Ninja right in front of him as they tried to protect him.

Even though he'd avenged them on the spot, he still felt hostility toward Konoha Ninja.

But under Jiraiya's guidance, he wasn't as hostile toward Konoha Ninja anymore. Otherwise, he wouldn't have reacted as calmly as he was now.

Though he wasn't as hostile toward Konoha Ninja, it was obviously impossible to expect him to feel close to them.

Qingshui didn't mind.

He simply watched Nagato's Rinnegan in silence.

More precisely, it was the Rinnegan Uchiha Madara had placed in Nagato.

That's right. The Rinnegan in Nagato's eyes hadn't been his from birth.

Uchiha Madara had been very old by the time he awakened the Rinnegan. To keep it from losing its power when he died, he'd deliberately transplanted it into Nagato.

As a member of the Uzumaki Clan, Nagato had enormous Chakra from birth and could bear the Rinnegan.

After entering the room Jiraiya had arranged for him, Qingshui used the Copy Scroll on Nagato.

[Successfully used the Copy Scroll on Nagato. Copy successful.]

[Congratulations, you have obtained the Rinnegan.]

It worked!

Qingshui, the one-shot wonder, cheered inwardly with delight.

As the system's voice rang out, he could clearly feel the changes in his body.

First, his Chakra had increased dramatically. That was a change brought by the Rinnegan.

[C-Rank (78200/100000)]

In an instant, his Chakra had increased from a little over ten thousand to nearly eighty thousand—more than many Elite Jonin had.

Of course, it was still nowhere near Nagato's.

Though he couldn't see Nagato's stats, Qingshui conservatively estimated that his Chakra was in the hundreds of thousands.

It was even possible that it exceeded a million.

And Qingshui was still just a child!

Besides the boost to his Chakra, Qingshui had also automatically mastered every Chakra Nature Transformation. From now on, he'd be able to use any Ninjutsu he unlocked with ease.

"As expected of the Ultimate Eye Technique. Even without counting its abilities, it's already a huge boost for me."

Qingshui took out a mirror and looked at the purple, rippling patterns of the Rinnegan in his eyes. He couldn't help commenting.

The Rinnegan had many abilities, such as the Deva Path's Almighty Push and Universal Pull, and the Stolen Ninja Art: Heavenly Chains of the Preta Path.

Besides these basic abilities, the Rinnegan also had a unique ability of its own.

For example, Uchiha Madara's Rinnegan ability was Limbo: Border Jail, which let him create shadows that ordinary people couldn't see or sense.

And Sasuke Uchiha's Rinnegan ability was Amenotejikara, which let him switch places with a target within a certain range.

After carefully sensing it, Qingshui couldn't find any unique ability in his Rinnegan.

After thinking it over, he realized that it was because he didn't have enough Chakra to use it.

Although the Rinnegan's abilities were all powerful, they also consumed enormous amounts of Chakra.

Even the basic abilities he could use now were limited by his Chakra. He couldn't use them freely the way Nagato had in the Original Work.

He could only save them as trump cards and use them at a critical moment.

Even so, Qingshui's strength had increased greatly.

If he ran into that Rogue Ninja Team again, he could take them all out by himself in an instant.

"As expected, Chakra is my weak point. I have to increase my Chakra as much as I can."

Having a lot of Chakra didn't necessarily make someone strong, but having very little Chakra meant they could never become a top-tier fighter.

Chakra was an important factor in a Ninja's strength.

Once their Chakra was depleted, Ninja weren't much different from ordinary people.

With a sigh, Qingshui put away the Rinnegan, and his eyes returned to normal.

Nagato's Rinnegan didn't belong to him, so he had to keep it activated.

But the Rinnegan Qingshui had copied with the Copy Scroll had awakened in him, so he could turn it off just as Uchiha could deactivate the Sharingan.