Transplantation

Previously, when Nagato was practicing senjutsu, he had completely neglected the Cerberus. After using it as a mount to reach the Black Pool, he hadn't paid it any mind.

This silly dog wasn't like the summoning beasts in the Three Great Sage Regions; it didn't possess the intelligence of a normal person.

Since Nagato hadn't given it any orders, it didn't know what it was supposed to do. It had stayed in the acid mist, being constantly corroded, yelping in pain. Instinctively, it wanted to get as far away from the Black Pool as possible, yet it didn't dare to truly distance itself from its master, Nagato. Now, crouching on the ground, one of its dog heads had been corroded into three, and it seemed to have been driven half-mad by the acid mist.

Seeing Nagato approach, the three large heads of the Cerberus all looked toward him in unison. Their expressions were pitiful, and the dog eyes were even glistening with tears.

Because the Black Receivers on Nagato's body had disappeared, not only did the Pain bodies recover, but at this moment, even the eyes of the Cerberus returned to their original state, appearing much more lively.

Shikkotsu Forest was indeed worthy of being a Sage Region; Nagato felt that after staying here for such a short time, the Cerberus's intelligence had increased slightly, evolving from an absolute moron into a simple-minded one.

"Summoning Jutsu."

Upon seeing the Cerberus, Nagato decisively summoned the Asura Path, which was only wearing pants, from the Black Pool to prevent its corpse from being corroded by the acid mist. He then tossed the Asura Path onto the Cerberus, continuing to use the beast as a transport vehicle.

The three heads of the Cerberus lifted up in excitement, appearing quite happy. Carrying the Asura Path, it followed behind Nagato, and the man and dog returned along the path they had come.

Before long, they saw shadows of various sizes in the distance; it must have been Konan and the others.

"Is that you, Nagato?"

Just as he drew near, Nagato heard Konan's voice.

By the moonlight, he could see Konan's figure standing there in the green mist. She was clearly still standing in the spot where she had parted from Nagato, as if she hadn't moved a single step, while the Pain bodies were scattered on the ground around her.

"It's me," Nagato replied.

After a moment of hesitation, Konan immediately walked toward him.

"Did you succeed in learning the senjutsu?"

Seeing Nagato, Konan asked, her voice very calm.

Nagato looked at her face, which was somewhat weary from a lack of rest, and nodded: "I succeeded."

A smile appeared on Konan's face: "I knew you would succeed!"

There was undisguised joy in her voice.

It was as if she had been confident all along.

Katsuyu, lying on Nagato's back, helplessly turned its head to the side and muttered to itself.

Who knows who it was that had pulled out all their Explosive Tags the moment they saw the Pain bodies suddenly collapse earlier.

She had looked so fierce, as if she were about to blow up Shikkotsu Forest right then and there, which had scared the main body of Katsuyu quite a bit.

Fortunately, Nagato had left a Lizard here, otherwise, Katsuyu wouldn't have known how to explain to Konan the fact that Nagato was still alive. Because Konan didn't trust it at all, nor was she willing to go to the Black Pool with Katsuyu to confirm if Nagato was still alive.

Thinking of how fierce Konan had been at that time, Katsuyu still broke into a cold sweat; it had lived in Shikkotsu Forest for so many years, and it had almost been blown up by someone due to a misunderstanding—who could it go to for justice?

Nagato walked back with Konan and saw that Tsunade was currently wrapped tightly in Explosive Tags. He immediately understood that when Konan was alone here earlier, she hadn't been as relaxed as she appeared now.

"A hostage..." Konan whispered by way of explanation.

Clearly, if Nagato had died, not only would she have blown up Shikkotsu Forest, but Tsunade would have had to die along with it. As for Hinata, who was right next to Tsunade, she certainly wouldn't have survived either.

"Well done..." Nagato nodded in understanding and gave Konan a thumbs-up, feeling that this girl was incredibly steady in her actions. Her methods were good, the type you could team up with to climb the ranks.

He walked toward the unconscious Tsunade and pressed his hand onto her head.

To be honest, Nagato felt more and more that kidnapping Tsunade had been the right decision. This old woman was like a living search engine; if there was something he didn't understand, he could just search it. Whatever knowledge he wanted to know, he could just extract it from her brain—it was extremely convenient.

Soon, through the ability of the Human Path, Nagato obtained the intelligence he wanted from Tsunade's mind.

After closing his eyes and memorizing it for a while, he said to Konan: "Konan, bring me the Byakugan and the Sharingan."

He intended to transplant these two types of eyes. Especially the Sharingan; the sooner he transplanted it, the better. This was his trump card for dealing with Obito.

Konan handed the three eyes, sealed in paper from a paper bag, to Nagato: "You intend to transplant these eyes now?"

Although she didn't quite understand Nagato's actions, Konan had no intention of stopping him, nor would she ask too many questions.

Nagato nodded, took the three eyes, and cut open his own left arm right in front of Konan.

As if he couldn't feel the pain, Nagato didn't even blink when cutting himself, which made Katsuyu sigh: "You really are a freak." Having grown accustomed to exquisite medical techniques, it really couldn't stand Nagato's wild methods.

At this moment, chakra gathered in Nagato's right hand, sharp as a blade. Although it looked somewhat similar to the Chakra Scalpel of a proper medical ninja, if one had to call this thing a blade, it could only be described as a qualified butcher's knife.

It was fine for chopping meat and cutting Nagato, but if it were used to perform surgery on a normal person, it would certainly kill the patient.

After Nagato's left arm was cut open, the skin and the cross-section of the muscles were exposed. It looked somewhat terrifying, yet strangely, not a single drop of blood flowed out.

"Is this the effect of using senjutsu?" Konan couldn't help but ask.

"Not necessarily," Katsuyu, lying on Nagato's back, replied. "Nagato is the first human to learn the senjutsu of Shikkotsu Forest. Even I don't know how many changes his body has undergone. Perhaps this state is just his body's new normal."

Nagato ignored the conversation between Katsuyu and Konan. At this moment, he was like an elementary school student focused on repairing a home appliance, earnestly stuffing a Byakugan into the wound on his left arm.

Then, he brought the split wound together and let it begin to heal.

"What is the use of doing this? You don't have the visual nerves connected," Katsuyu reminded him. Its temper was truly good; although it didn't approve of Nagato's behavior of relying on "other people's power," it still offered suggestions to Nagato from a positive perspective.

"Not needed," Nagato replied. As the wound on his forearm healed rapidly, he controlled the meridians there, following the intelligence he had searched from Tsunade, and connected them to the Byakugan.

Once the wound had completely healed, his forearm looked no different from before. Nagato clenched his left fist, feeling that the Byakugan had already grown perfectly inside his forearm, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.