"Yes, we're both students of Jiraiya-sensei." Nagato's expression was perfectly calm, giving no hint of what he was thinking.
"Nagato..." Konan looked at him with worry and concern.
Ever since Yahiko had been killed by Hanzo of the Salamander, Nagato had thrown himself into mastering the Rinnegan's many abilities. By creating six Six Paths Puppets, he could bring the Rinnegan's six powers into full effect while reducing the strain it placed on his own body.
When he had summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path back then, he had only borrowed its physical strength. He hadn't used any chakra-related techniques, such as the Chakra Dragon from the original story. As a result, the Black Receivers that had extended from the statue to drain chakra from Nagato in the original story had never appeared.
Aside from his physical weakness, Nagato hadn't exhausted much of his life force.
For an Uzumaki, a clan renowned for its vast chakra reserves, the strain was still within what his body could bear.
With enough time to recuperate, he might even make a full recovery.
Nagato had also avoided Hanzo's Paper Bomb trap, so his legs were still intact.
In short, apart from his physical weakness—which prevented him from fighting enemies for long with his own body—everything else worked normally. He wasn't as emaciated as he had been in the original story.
Yet Nagato was even more calculating than he had been in the original story.
"I'm fine, Konan." At this point, Konan was the only person Nagato still cared about.
"But he's our senior. I mean, he studied under Jiraiya-sensei the longest, and he may be stronger than us. That could be why he became Hokage." Until there was no other choice, Konan still cherished her bond with Jiraiya and didn't want to fight