Madara gritted his teeth.
"Admit what?"
"Admit that you didn't steal your Rinnegan. You awakened it yourself."
"What makes you say that?"
Ren did not answer at once.
Madara's Rinnegan slowly turned as he tried to establish a connection with Ren's eyes.
He possessed a genuine Rinnegan and knew its ocular power intimately.
In the past, he had even used a hidden connection to influence Nagato's eyes from afar, triggering their ocular power at a crucial moment.
If Ren's eyes had come from Nagato, or had any connection to him, Madara could interfere with them.
"Rinnegan are connected by nature," Madara said quietly.
"If you got those eyes from Nagato, you couldn't have completely severed their connection to me."
His ocular power spread without a sound.
Following the Rinnegan's resonance, Madara's will tried to invade Ren's eyes.
But the next instant, his expression froze.
Ren's Rinnegan became a sealed abyss, shutting out every trace of foreign ocular power.
Madara tried several more times and received no response at all.
"That's impossible."
Black Zetsu noticed the change too.
"Madara, what happened?"
"There's no connection," Madara said grimly.
"Those eyes have no connection to Nagato."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm not mistaken."
Madara stared hard at Ren.
"I could influence Nagato through the Rinnegan because his eyes were connected to mine. But Ren's eyes are completely different."
"His ocular power carries neither Nagato's presence nor any trace of mine."
"He really did awaken those eyes himself."
The expressions of the Uchiha Clan members around them shifted once more.
Nanami looked at Ren, unable to hide the reverence in her eyes.
Jian Zhen let out a long breath.
"The clan leader awakened the Rinnegan through his own power."
"When word gets out, the entire Shinobi World will be shaken."
Black Zetsu ignored the discussion.