Liuli walked onto the land of Amegakure with a sack of rice in his right hand. His steps were light, but in this shinobi village controlled by Pain, its unique sensory ninjutsu had already detected his arrival.
Amegakure, a mysterious village hidden among the mountains, was now shrouded in a murderous atmosphere.
Pain, the leader of Amegakure, stood high above the village, gazing down at the world he controlled.
His eyes were deep and cold, as if all life seemed insignificant to him.
Yet when he closed his eyes and carefully sensed the chakra on Liuli, a trace of unusual surprise flashed across his face.
"Hmm?" Pain murmured, seeming somewhat surprised by Liuli's arrival.
He had planned to speak with Itachi Uchiha, assign a new mission, and perhaps even recruit another member.
But Liuli's sudden arrival had thrown his plans into disarray.
Liuli had no idea he had caught Pain's attention. He continued walking through the village at his own pace, his unhurried steps making it seem as though he was admiring the unfamiliar place.
"Amegakure seems to have developed pretty well, but it can't compare to Konoha."
"The villagers' living conditions aren't as good as Konoha's, either. Well, I'll be leaving after I stir things up, so it's not my problem."
Itachi Uchiha noticed Pain's reaction. His panicked expression seemed to suggest he was afraid of something.
Pain didn't act immediately. Instead, he silently observed Liuli's every move.
He wondered who this unexpected visitor was—and what his purpose might be.
Nagato, who controlled Pain from behind the scenes, fixed his gaze on a stranger who had just entered the village—Liuli.
Liuli held a sack of rice in his right hand. He seemed perfectly ordinary, yet Pain sensed something unusual about him.
But the moment Pain's gaze fell on Liuli's eyes, his entire body froze.
What was he seeing? It was the Rinnegan—and not an ordinary one. Six tomoe were linked across it! Even Pain, with all his experience, had never seen anything like it.
The Rinnegan was one of the most mysterious and powerful eyes in the shinobi world.
It possessed the power to see through everything and control life and death. It was a power countless shinobi dreamed of obtaining.
Yet the Rinnegan in Liuli's eyes was different. The six tomoe seemed to hold endless secrets and power, inspiring dread in anyone who saw them.
Nagato's heart surged with shock. As the leader of Amegakure, he knew just how powerful and rare the Rinnegan was.
But he had never heard of anyone having six tomoe in their Rinnegan.
What was going on? Who was this Liuli? Why did he possess such a bizarre Rinnegan?
"How is this possible? He has the Rinnegan?" Nagato was stunned—or perhaps it was simply that he had never seen the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan before.
Konan noticed Nagato's stunned expression.
"How is this possible? He has the Rinnegan?" Nagato was stunned, his eyes wide as if they might pop out of their sockets.
He had never seen a Six-Tomoe Rinnegan before. The shock he felt was beyond words.
Konan noticed Nagato's unusual reaction and turned to look. The Rinnegan in Liuli's eyes drew her in at once, and she stared in disbelief.
"Th-this can't be real, can it?" Konan asked, her voice trembling.
Nagato didn't answer. He remained immersed in shock. After a long while, he finally came to his senses, taking a deep breath as he tried to calm himself.
"It's real," Nagato said, his voice low and hoarse. "He really has the Rinnegan, and it's in the Six-Tomoe form. I've never seen power like this."
"Maybe we could ask Madara Uchiha. He's lived for over a thousand years, so he should know what's going on."
Konan's suggestion lingered in the air, as though waiting for Nagato's response.
But, to her surprise, Nagato shook his head and rejected the idea.
"No. Not yet." Nagato's voice was low and firm, his decision leaving no room for argument.
He looked at Konan with a deep gaze, as if trying to convey all his worry and deliberation through his eyes.
Konan paused, looking at Nagato in confusion. She knew that Nagato and Madara Uchiha had a complicated history, but she didn't understand why he was so determined to refuse Madara's help.
"Why?" Konan asked, her voice tinged with curiosity and confusion. "Madara Uchiha is the only person we know who might understand the Six-Tomoe form of the Rinnegan. If we don't ask him, who else can we turn to?"
Nagato fell silent for a while, as though searching for the right words. His eyes drifted into the distance, a complicated emotion flashing across them. Then he spoke slowly, his voice heavy with helplessness.
"Madara Uchiha has indeed lived a long time, and he may know something about the Rinnegan," Nagato conceded. "But that doesn't mean we should disturb him so easily. He's no longer the Madara Uchiha who once dominated the world. He's an old man, worn down by time and weakened. Besides, he's grown increasingly solitary and eccentric. We can't be sure he'll give us the answers we want."
Konan frowned at his words. She knew what Nagato said was true. Madara Uchiha was no longer the powerful man he had once been.
Still, she said unwillingly, "But we can't just give up, can we? This stranger's Rinnegan is far too important to us. If we can learn its secrets, perhaps we'll find a new breakthrough."
"And we don't even know whether he's a new enemy or a friend. We have to do something, don't we?"
Nagato sighed. He understood Konan's worries and hopes, but he had his own concerns to weigh. He glanced at Liuli, a resolute light flashing in his eyes.
"First, have Pain and the other members take action. Then we'll look into what's going on," Nagato said firmly. "We're only putting off disturbing Madara Uchiha for now."
He had to act quickly and uncover Liuli's identity and purpose. In Nagato's eyes, Liuli, with both the Rinnegan and the Mangekyō Sharingan, was undoubtedly an unprecedented threat.
Such power was enough to shake the entire shinobi world, and might even change the balance of power.
Nagato knew he couldn't sit by and do nothing. As the leader of the Akatsuki, it was his duty and responsibility to protect the organization's interests.
He couldn't let someone like Liuli become an unpredictable factor, much less allow him to do as he pleased.
"All right, I'll go take a look, too," Konan said. She understood Nagato's concerns and his resolve.
As his partner, she was willing to fight by his side and face this unknown challenge together.
Nagato nodded in agreement. He turned to Konan, determination shining in his eyes. "Good. Be careful. This man seems very powerful. His other eye is a Mangekyō Sharingan, but its pattern is different from Itachi Uchiha's. We don't know how strong he really is, or what he's after. So we have to proceed carefully and avoid letting him realize what we're planning."
Konan's expression turned grave. She understood what Nagato meant. Liuli's strength was unfathomable, and his identity and purpose were a mystery. They had to tread carefully and avoid tipping him off.
After discussing it, the two decided to split up and act.
"Tch, Nagato still hasn't shown up. Looks like I'll have to make a bit of a scene. I'll start with Susanoo."
A playful smile curled Liuli's lips, as if he were taunting the air around him. He slowly raised both hands and formed a complex hand seal. Then a vast surge of chakra burst from his body.
With a deafening roar, a massive figure gradually appeared behind Liuli.
It was a towering warrior clad in armor and wielding a blade, its entire body radiating a suffocating pressure.
Flames blazed in its eyes, as if it would burn any enemy who dared challenge it to ashes.
This was Susanoo, one of the Uchiha Clan's ultimate secret techniques. Only Uchiha who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan could summon this powerful warrior.
The air around them seemed to freeze under the force of its overwhelming presence.
Nagato and Konan felt the heart-pounding pressure, too. Liuli was using "Susanoo—Fourth Stage."
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