Signing In at the Hidden Rain Tower! Obtaining the Rinnegan (Beginner), Taking the First Step Toward the Power of the Six Paths

Rain washed over Hanzo of the Salamander's dried bloodstains.

Kamizuki Yu turned around and looked at Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan.

"Let's go." His voice broke the dead silence.

Yahiko's body jolted as he barely recovered from his overwhelming shock. His lips trembled. "W-Where... where are we going?"

Kamizuki Yu raised a hand and pointed toward the tallest structure in the Hidden Rain Village—the former stronghold of Hanzo of the Salamander, a tower of power.

"There."

Yahiko followed his gaze. It was the symbol of the Hidden Rain Village, and once, a goal far beyond their reach.

Nagato and Konan were still reeling from the shock of Hanzo's effortless death. Hearing this, they merely followed Kamizuki Yu on instinct.

The four walked through the rain.

Behind the ruined buildings lining the streets, remnants of the Rain ninja poked their heads out and watched them.

When their eyes fell upon Kamizuki Yu's calm face and the three following closely behind him, fear spread through every Rain ninja's heart.

Someone dropped his weapon and fell to his knees with a clatter, trembling violently.

More chose to turn and flee, scrambling into the deep shadows of the alleyways as though they could not escape fast enough.

No one dared step forward to question them, much less stop them.

The road leading to the tower was completely unobstructed.

Kamizuki Yu showed no further reaction. Clearing out such small fry would have taken some effort anyway. This saved him the trouble.

The entrance to the tower was a mess, yet not a single guard was in sight.

The tower's interior was dim, permeated by a stale stench mixed with blood.

Kamizuki Yu stopped.

A faint pull came from deep within the tower.

It was not a clear direction, but more like a hidden resonance between powers of the same origin.

The chakra within him, especially the ocular power in his eyes, reacted to it.

"Nagato," Kamizuki Yu called.

Nagato froze and looked up at him.

"What do your eyes feel?"

Nagato instinctively activated his Rinnegan, and the purple ripples spread faintly. After sensing carefully for a moment, he shook his head in confusion. "It's... it's chaotic. But in the direction of the tower's summit, there seems to be a... familiarity I can't describe."

That sense of familiarity was faintly connected to his own Rinnegan.

Kamizuki Yu nodded slightly. It seemed there really was something at the top of this tower.

Instead of taking the usual route, he turned toward a secluded passageway.

"Follow me."

Yahiko and Konan exchanged a glance, then followed without the slightest hesitation.

The passage wound upward, dark and twisting.

At last, a heavy stone door appeared before them.

Pushing it open, they were met with a broad, open view of the tower's summit.

It was a vast circular stone chamber. Fierce winds poured through several gaping, broken windows, howling like mournful wails.

At the center of the chamber stood only a solitary, massive seat, carved from unknown black stone and emanating oppression and majesty.

It was the throne of Hanzo of the Salamander.

Kamizuki Yu slowly walked toward the seat.

From dealing with Hanzo to arriving here, it all felt like following a predetermined process.

In his previous life, he had worked himself to death for KPIs. In this life, he grew stronger by signing in. In a sense, the driving force was no different.

Only this time, the reward for his "KPI" might exceed all imagination.

He stopped before the seat.

[System, sign in at the Hidden Rain Tower.]

The familiar electronic voice sounded in his mind right on cue.

[Ding! Sign-in at the Hidden Rain Tower successful!]

[Congratulations, Host! You have obtained: Rinnegan (Beginner, can grow, does not conflict with your Eternal Mangekyō, can be fused and evolved)!]

In an instant, a vast torrent of ocular power beyond description emerged from the void and surged wildly into Kamizuki Yu's eyes!

This power was not violent, yet it was incomparably pure and boundlessly immense.

The pattern of his Eternal Mangekyō spun rapidly within his deep eyes.

Around the outer edge of that pattern, rings of mysterious pale-purple ripples appeared from nowhere. Like ripples spreading across water, they intertwined and fused with the Mangekyō's design.

Moments later, the purple ripples gradually faded, merging flawlessly into his original eye pattern until they could no longer be distinguished from one another.

A warm sensation spread through his eyes, followed by an unprecedented clarity.

The world was utterly transformed in his perception.

The faint sound of raindrops striking the stone atop the tower, every grain of dust carried on the wind, the fearful breathing of surviving Rain ninja in distant streets... everything became incomparably clear, as if he could see through to its very essence.

The paths of chakra flowing through Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan also took on an entirely new, far more detailed form in his eyes.

Kamizuki Yu slowly closed his eyes.

A massive stream of information instantly flooded his mind.

The essence of chakra, the mysteries of Yin-Yang Release, the foundations of the power of the Six Paths...

This knowledge was not a collection of facts to be memorized. It became an instinctive understanding, deeply branded into his soul.

At this moment, the very dimension of his understanding of the world underwent an earth-shattering transformation.

Just as Kamizuki Yu's eyes completed their evolution—

"Urgh!"

Nagato let out a pained grunt, staggered back two steps, and involuntarily covered his eyes with both hands.

The Rinnegan transplanted into him by Madara now fluctuated violently beyond his control, blooming with an unprecedented dazzling purple radiance.

A tremor originating from the Rinnegan itself made his entire body shake.

"Th-This..." Nagato's voice was hoarse with shock.

He lowered his hands. His eyes, filled with purple ripples, stared fixedly at Kamizuki Yu.

They were filled with horror and disbelief.

His Rinnegan was "looking up"!

Yes, an instinctive reaction akin to a subject worshipping a king was clearly conveyed from his own eyes to his consciousness.

They shared the same origin, yet this power was purer, vaster, and more... supreme!

Before this newly born ocular power belonging to Kamizuki Yu, his Rinnegan felt the suppression and... reverence of something like its very source!

Yahiko and Konan were startled by Nagato's abnormal state.

"Nagato, what's wrong?" Yahiko hurried forward and asked anxiously.

Konan also watched Nagato nervously, then looked at the calm-faced Kamizuki Yu, her heart full of confusion.

Kamizuki Yu opened his eyes.

They were deep, and at first glance seemed no different from before. But upon closer inspection, one could see that his pupils appeared to contain an endless starry sky, encompassing all things.

He raised a hand and loosely clenched it.

The chakra within his body moved at his will, its nature quietly transforming toward the level of the Six Paths.

His control over energy had reached perfection.

"Your eyes are responding to me." Kamizuki Yu looked at Nagato and stated a fact.

Nagato nodded with difficulty, his throat dry. The sense of submission transmitted by his own Rinnegan shook his mind so deeply that he could barely think.

He had never heard of such a thing!

"Mr. Kamizuki, you... you truly..." Yahiko looked at Kamizuki Yu, but the words he wanted to ask lodged in his throat.

He could not accurately describe the change in Kamizuki Yu, but the feeling was even more unfathomable than when he had killed Hanzo.

If the Kamizuki Yu from before had been a towering mountain, inspiring awe.

Then the Kamizuki Yu now was a vast ocean, with a power beneath its calm surface capable of swallowing everything.

Konan felt the same.

She could clearly sense that even the air around Kamizuki Yu seemed to have congealed, filled with an ancient and boundless aura.

It was not merely strength, but a leap in the very level of life itself.

Awe grew wildly within the hearts of all three.

Kamizuki Yu offered no further explanation.

He turned and walked to a broken window at the tower's summit, looking down at the Hidden Rain Village still shrouded in rain below.

It was a scene of ruin, but it also meant new life.

"A new era has begun."

His voice was not loud, yet it reached Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan with perfect clarity.